Religious Worship and the Natural Man
Aug 28th, 2008 by Nathan White
I found this John Owen excerpt proper considering yesterday’s post about church gimmicks and boosting attendance:
“…evangelical theology insists that the glory of religious worship is its internal and spiritual nature…To the natural man, therefore, no religious worship is pleasing unless he can see something of glory and splendor.”
“Notional religion must ever devise new rites, novel ceremonies, and so on until the whole of worship is converted into empty, superstitious, theatrical farrago of worldly rites all dished up in a rich sauce of idolatry.” – Biblical Theology, p665 (emphasis mine)
Above, Owen rightly identifies a cause of idolatry and apostasy within the church: an abandonment of the simple, God-given ordinances of worship in favor of more spectacular, showy, man-pleasing extravaganzas.
To the natural and unbelieving heart, the church must have gimmicks, entertainment, and some kind of visible glory, such as speaking in tongues, or even extravagant music that appeals to our emotions and makes us feel good. For the simple, God-given ordinances of singing Psalms and Hymns to God’s glory alone, prayer, the preaching of the word, and the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper is simply too boring and seemingly ineffective for the natural man to accept.
Interestingly enough, I think this desire for ‘visible glory’ shows itself in a number of ways. Consider the desire for ‘instant’ conversions, large altar calls with people getting saved right then and there, otherwise we might deem the service some kind of failure; consider how we deem church as unprofitable if the preacher doesn’t give us something practical or profound that we can take home with that day; consider how our emotions must be fed to ‘feel’ the presence or glory of God for us to deem it worthwhile; consider how offerings/giving is setup on a successful/unsuccessful scale, etc. Regardless, instant, visible glory is seemingly all this culture wants in church.
So what is the role of a church? It is the role of the church to figure out how to get people in the door, or is obeying our God in how He has instructed us to gather and worship? Is the role of the church to feed the desires of the people in order to get them in and get them to stay, or is it to feed the desires of God through the worship He has instituted?
My friends, though we may want to have larger fellowships, and though we DO want unbelievers to walk into our gatherings, when these desires supersede the clear instruction of scripture in that we are to gather to worship the Lord Jesus Christ through the means which He has given us, we then give ourselves to idolatry and thus feed the natural, sinful corruptions of man in his fallen state.
Sure, I agree, the musical shows, dramas, comedy, video-clips, gimmicks, programs, youth and singles functions, giveaways, etc., do indeed make the church attractive and entertaining, but they undermine the very gospel itself by making worship all about us and our desires rather than all about God and what He has commanded. Let us go back to what God has already said –and examine where we’re not walking in obedience, rather than searching for the new ‘thing’ and excitement to make church more pleasing to those who hate God and His instituted worship. Anything less is, well, idolatrous and vain self-worship.
“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
farrago-
Nice word.
I posted a link to this at Parchment and Pen. There was a discussion there concerning “Seeker Friendly”.
Great post. God has only recently opened my eyes to His incredible sovereignty over all things, and this post seems to perfectly describe the kind of churches I’ve experienced.
Josh–
Thanks for the kind words. Good to have you stop by. Tell me, how did God open your eyes to His sovereignty? What did He use principally (besides Rom 9 of course); how long did it take; how long were you persuaded by the other position? I’d love to briefly hear your story.
I first attended a southern baptist church in 2001, where I responded to a Billy Sunday-style invitation. I sat under Steve Flockhart until he was “called” to West Palm Beach and all of his lies were exposed. Not too long afterward I experienced what I thought was “ministry burnout”, as I was teaching sunday school at the time. I was also praying about joining J.R. Lee with his church plant in your area. As opportunity after opportunity fell through, I began to accept that God did not want me to go.
This began almost a year of being out of church and questioning everything I’d been taught. God began to soften my heart, and I had a desire to read His Word. I picked up a book my friend had given me “Debating Calvinism” and began to study it. God used that book to direct me to Romans 9, and I was floored with the clarity of the message! I have been forever changed by the Gospel. God has given me a hunger for knowledge, and so I have been reading as much as I can every day. God is incredible, and the glory is all His!
Josh–
Wow, you have really changed directions. Ironically, we have a lot of the same background: I attended First Baptist Woodstock (Johnny Hunt) for 10 years as a young man. There I met J.R. Lee; there I was around people close to Flockhart (though, I cannot recall ever meeting him). But I was an unbeliever, a false convert, and a wicked man those 10 years, until the Lord saved me in 2003, through another ministry, after which I left the church about 2 months after my conversion.
But maybe you found me through my post here where I mentioned JR? I was criticized a lot for my (ironically) criticism of JR, though mostly in private. JR is a nice guy, well-liked, with some seemingly good intentions, but if we are to be men of the scripture we must speak out and rebuke such false gospels, and this out of love for our Lord and the purity of the gospel once for all delivered to the saints.
It seems as though we may have been down some of the same roads, my friend. If there is any advice or direction that I can lend to you, or resources that I can point you to in helping you sort out some of these issues, please let me know, anytime. My email is at the top right of this page, and I’d be glad to be any assistance that I can.
Indeed, when the Lord opens our eyes and brings out the clarity of His word before us, it is most definitely a life-changer. I’ve had to abandon many good friends and many noble professors of faith out of conviction of God’s word, and I’m sure you will have to as well. May we certainly be men of the book, to the praise and glory of God alone.
“For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh…”
Thank you for the encouragement. I will certainly contact you if I have any questions.
Josh–
One more thing: looking back at my last comment I realize that I shouldn’t have lumped you in with my own criticism of JR. I’m sorry about that. Of course, those are my words and my views, and it was my confrontation (both public and private) with JR. I did not mean to bring you into all of that.
Anytime we disagree with our friends or brethren, we must be loving, patient, kind, etc., exemplifying a trust in God’s sovereignty in the power of the Word to convict. When I first came out of FBCW and free will theology, I made a fool of myself with some things I said about Johnny Hunt and others whom I disagreed with. Yes, technically I was right on the doctrine, but my attitude and harsh rejection of them is now sorely regretted. You can learn from my mistake there and continue to be friends and stuff with those whom you’ve previously been with and previously agreed with, all the while lovingly calling them to the truth.
And regarding resources, one book that you of all people should put at the top of your list: John MacArthur’s Ashamed of the Gospel. This book was written in the early nineties to combat the seeker-sensitive movement, and let me just say that it is just as relevant today as it was then. It will no doubt stand the test of time as a classic and thoroughly biblical work. With this, I think, you’ll see the unbreakable chain between taking scripture seriously, to affirming the sovereignty of God and His glory in all things, to rejecting appeal to and confidence in the flesh of man, and the supremacy of worshiping God as He has revealed Himself.
Much grace my friend,
Nathan
Nathan-
Don’t worry, I wasn’t offended with what you said. I appreciate the advice about lovingly calling people to the truth. I pray that God would allow me to be that way since, like you said, it is easy to beat them over the head with correct doctrine without love. A friend of mine had a similar experience and he has told me in recent days how he’s regretted some of the things he said while he was newly converted.
I’ll also put that book on my list.
Thanks again,
Josh
Hi Nathan,
Bit late on this one, but I always think that Hart and Meuther make a very important point than harmonizes with Owen’s points in their book “With Reverence and Awe”, they write,
Paul
Paul–
Thanks for providing the quote; it is indeed a good one. I can attest to growing up in the church over 20 years before I ever heard such a thing. It certainly takes concerted effort (aided by the Holy Spirit and scripture) to rid ourselves of these natural presuppositions. Owen hits on this again and again all throughout BT.
On another note, I have the Hart book sitting on my shelf, but I haven’t read it just yet. I’ve heard some mixed reviews on it. In fact, even today I saw that it was mentioned somewhat negatively in this post. But I do look forward to reading it.
Yes Nathan,
There is some controversy over there at present concerning how the authors view Reformed confessionalism as a “grid of interpretation” for Scripture and in particular – worship.
Whatever the merit or otherwise of those discussions I believe the foundational principles they set out in the first few chapters are soundly biblical.