Gospel focussed gatherings
If we're convinced that worship is about:
- All of life
- motivated out of thankfulness
- to be conducted with respect and awe
Surely this, then, should shape how our Christian meetings should happen.
It's a bit silly, then, to get caught up in not using worship for a church service, because it is a special part of the whole of life and so certainly falls under the category of worship.
In context, Hebrews 13:15 is talking about a sacrifice of praise as primarily one done outside the camp, as it were.
Corporate worship should be appealing to the whole person. Don't ignore any one aspect.
Exhortation for change
It is, in Scripture, designed to have a life-transforming outcome.
Exhortation is the antidote to apostasy.
Hebrews 5, everybody should be moving towards the point where they are able to participate in the ministry of exhortation.
Defn from Paul: An appeal on the basis of instruction. (David's synthesised understanding from all of Paul, not an argument from a single verse) Ie, "I beseech you, based on the mercies of God, to ...".
Three elements to Christian communication:
- Proclamation, expounding the truths.
- Teaching, relating that to our Christian life.
- Appeal, if this is not there, then we're not teaching in a NT way.
Easy for appeal to be disconnected from teaching, but also easy for teaching to be unapplied.
Should we use illustration in sermons? Well, if you ask Paul what appeal is, he'd say paraklesis, it's ramming the message home and getting people on board with something.
How does Paul engage in exhortation? Romans 15:30, appeal to you by LJC and the love of the Spirit, etc
He appeals on the basis of some aspect of the character of God in his mercy towards us. It's the meek Christ who's appealing to you, not just me, Paul.
1 Corinthians 2 has often been misunderstood as saying that Paul never used any rhetoric.
Emotional engagement
Romans 12:9-15. Several of these commands involve emotional content. Very strongly so. We are to 'burn' or 'boil' for the lord. (zeon).
Spirit-directed prophecy or preaching, will stir up the body of Christ.
Romans 12:15, simple but covers the highs and lows of life. We're encouraged to be empathetic, being with people in all cases. Does our congregational life make it difficult for us to follow these commands? How well do we know each other? Is our culture so intellectualised that emotion is discouraged? Is there room for testimony and personal reflection. Do we have enough pastoral contact to know if the preaching is getting through and relating?
I remember hearing at Barney's Broadway a person giving a testimony about having an ingrown toenail, and thinking, "why are we giving time to this?!?!?!". But as time went on it became clear how this had overtaken this person's life, and that they wanted to give thanks to God for bringing them out of it.
Unavoidable public grief or joy
How did they handle the fact that someone had died overnight, when they had chapel the next morning?
Leading such events appropriately is difficult, because you can be overwhelmed by strong emotions.
I saw a minister leaving, giving his final sermon, and the preacher spent the whole message sobbing and crying. At first good, allowing the congregation to express their emotion too, but after that it became distracting because though the congregation had grieved, he'd not finished yet. It made the message unclear and made people think about the minister instead of the message.
Planned public grief or joy
Sermons or whole services designed to move people to repentance over something!
Obviously not contrived or manipulative, but Paul's 3rd letter to the Corinthians was designed to encourage godly grief, which might lead to the salvation of many. And even godly grief will only last for a while, because it's not the end in itself, but it's the practical repentence. Ie, what do people go out and do after this?
Or perhaps to elicit joy?
Joy is an understanding of existence that covers elation and depression, because one is able to see past particular events and see them in the context of a God who stands above all events, and behind them.
Words and music
BK - people fear emotions, instead of over-emotionalism.
Emotions give no indication of the heart's commitment. (*Pete* really? I thought we were saying they're a part of the mix? But I take the point. Someone can be excited and not actually end up doing the thing they're excited about.)
Expressing biblical truth together
The poetry of prayer. How we talk to God. God has given us a way of talking to him that's not simply prosaic.
The epistles also engage your emotions, not just the gospels (that Peter Bolt is about to speak on).
The Psalms as enabling us to express difficult and the full-range of emotions to God. Why don't we use the Psalms for this? Why not use the words God has given us to help us in this? Why have we abandoned it altogether?
We rely massively on songs to teach theology. Songs have completely replaced the practise of reciting of biblical texts together. (he didn't yell this, just thought it was an interesting point so I bolded it.)
Are we abandoning Biblical resources and categories in our prayers and liturgy?
*reads out a Puritan prayer* (Wow, that was pretty amazing.)
We live in a prosaic culture. We're supposed to be plain, unemotional and non-rhetorical. As well as losing biblical content from our services, we're losing its emotion. Public prayers are often bland and predictable.
Experiencing God's Spirit together
It's the Holy Spirit's task to make possible an experience of God's love. The Spirit works in every area of our personality. Love is key, to both our relationship with God and with others. This is holisticly true and connected. It should encompass our whole person.
Worshipping without emotion is not the offering of our whole self to Christ that the New Testament envisions and commands.
Questions:
Q:
A: Some Bible translations are bland because they're seeking to make things simple and easy to understand.
Q: What makes your critique of modern church simply a feature of your grey hair? (Asked with apologies and grace)
A: I want people to pray the Bible!! And what I hear in services is so insipid!
Q: I want that too! But I'm picking up your critique of the blandness, and seeing some difference there. Eminem is the master of words!
A: We're saying get hyped up on words, and music is a vehicle for that. (Sorry, this was a convoluted discussion with lots of interjections and I'm not sure any of us understood everything that each contributor was getting at exactly)
Q: Is "emotion as an end in itself" the wrong thing to be scared of? What's the problem with emotionalism?
A: We should all ask ourselves, 'what are we scared of' what are we trying to avoid'? A good end to work to is 'love one another with a brotherly affection'.