THE CHANGE MOVEMENT

The Assault on Worship

INTRODUCTION

A. Much of the change being promoted among the Lord’s
church today is centered around worship

1. These changes include church music, lifting up hands,
handclapping, drama, female leadership, observing
religious holidays, dedicating babies, the Lord’s Supper,
Sunday night cluster groups, children’s worship, preaching
style and worship environment.

2. Each of these items will be addressed in other lessons

B. One can see that a primary objective of the change agents is
to renovate and restructure the worship practices of the
church

DISCUSSION

A. What does the Bible say regarding acceptable
worship?

1. The New Testament begins and ends with worship

a. Matthew 4:10

b. Revelation 22:9

2. At least four kinds of worship are alluded to in the
New Testament

a. Ignorant worship (Acts 17:23)

b. Vain worship (Mat. 15:9)

c. Will worship (Col. 2:23)

d. Spiritual worship (Jn. 4:24)

3. Inherent in each of these kinds of worship is authority

a. Worship is either right or wrong depending on God’s
will – the only right worship is authorized by God

b. Jesus emphasized this John 4:23-24

4. Correct worship possesses the:

a. Proper audience – God

1) True worshippers worship God

2) Ephesians 5:19-20

b. Proper attitude – in spirit

1) Be mentally and emotionally involved

2) Ephesians 5:19 – in your heart

3) Psalm 122:1

4) Worshipping in spirit takes real effort – unfortunately,
the current climate in the church tends to treat worship
as a time of entertaining the worshipper and catering to
the worshipper’s wants

5) As a result many worshippers have lost the deep,
reverent mindset to please God and not self

6) This lax attitude is especially evident in the change
that has come over many congregations with regard to
dress

a) Much of the casual clothing worn in the local church
assemblies is a direct manifestation of a casual
attitude toward worship

b) Worshippers are wearing casual clothing that they
would not think of wearing for a wedding, a funeral,
or even jury duty

c) Dress unquestionably reflects attitude and can
also create attitude – Just ask the military.

c. Proper actions – in truth

1) Worship must be done:

a) Decently and in order (1 Cor. 14:40)

b) Acceptably (Heb. 12:28)

2) The current assault on worship includes an attempt to
dodge the clear import of the expression “in truth”

3) Some are falsely saying that “in truth” in simply a
Hebraism meaning to worship sincerely and devotedly
– But let’s notice…

B. God’s View on the Matter of Truth

1. God has always required essentially two facets of response
to His will: the right action with the right attitude

a. John 4:24

b. Joshua 24:14

c. Ecclesiastes 12:13

d. Acts 10:35

e. Deuteronomy 10:12-13

f. Romans 1:9

2. To emphasize on dimension of obedience over another is
to hamper one’s acceptance by God

3. God has not changed in His insistence upon man’s loving
obedience to His instructions

a. John 14:15

b. John 15:14

c. 1 John 5:3

4. The Psalmist understood that God’s truth consisted of
God’s written word

a. Psalm 119:30, 43, 142, 151, 160

b. Jesus taught the same thing

1) John 17:17

2) John 12:47-48

5. Worshipping God “in truth” is equivalent to “doing
truth,” which entails “deeds” or external actions which
are prescribed by God

C. Current Worship Tendencies

1. Some churches of Christ are operating on the basis of
inappropriate, unbiblical objectives and goals in worship

a. Some churches have “worship committees” or
“praise teams” who apparently have no clue as what
their real responsibility is: to plan and structure
worship so that the focus is on God – not the
worshipper

b. In keeping with the tone and tenor of our entertainment
crazed culture, some in the church feel that worship
ought to be entertaining

c. Can’t we see that entertaining ourselves, satisfying
our own needs, reviving our interest to escape our
boredom, and attempting to attract others with these
manmade lure – are all simply unbiblical, cheap,
inferior substitutes for simple, meaningful, spiritual
worship?

2. Instead of attempting to renovate worship for our own
benefit, what we need to do is cultivate our appetites for
pure, New Testament worship

a. We need to stick with the simple worship behaviors
dictated in Scripture

b. We need to learn to like them because they are good for
us

c. If we resist them, and look for new and exciting ways
to worship, we are showing a childhood rebellion –
this is will worship (Col. 2:23)

3. If worship has become boring and unmeaningful to a
member, so much so, that he feels the need to change
churches or liven up the worship assembly with
theatrics, he has a spiritual, internal problem – a heart
problem

a. Repetitiveness and sameness are not inherently bad.

b. God had enjoined repetition and lack of change in many
areas and expects us to keep it that way

c. Your mate expects the same!

1) Shame on the man who puts away the wife of his
youth because she is getting old and she’s the same
women he married 20 or thirty years ago.

2) Likewise, shame on the Christian who puts away the
simply worship of the New Testament church because
it is the same old things

d. Just because an action is the same and predictable,
that action need not necessarily be boring – that
depends on the attitude of the individual

e. Manipulating external gadgets and gimmickry will not
revive a genuine, heartfelt attitude of worship

CONCLUSION

A. Worship has come under attack by the change agents

B. We must not fall prey to these voices who wish to resist or
soften the instructions of God

C. May God help us to worship Him in accordance with His
revealed will!