I’m going to be mentioning a blog in tomorrow’s Short Rounds, but why wait till then to quote from it? It’s called The Discipler, and is done by a friend of mine named Mike Hines. I’ve been to Myanmar with Mike 3 times, would have been 4 but he can’t make it this year.

He wrote a thought provoking post a few days ago on emotion and worship that got me thinking. Here’s some of what he wrote:

He indicated that all of the emotion surrounding the use of music in the church surprised him. He emphasized that worship services today are all about feeling. He rightly pointed out that historically Protestant Christianity focused on content rather than feeling. In other words, orthdox or fundamental Christianity was more about understanding the Gospel and responding to it than about feeling. Genuine repentance depends on understanding sin, its effects, and the solution so an individual can make a clear and informed decision.

The emphasis on feeling harkens back to Frelinghuysen, a Reformed preacher on the east coast in the 1700s. Frelinghuysen said God could not be known, but he could be felt. Worship and Christian living depended on a feeling of utter dependence on God. He associated no content with that feeling. Those holding to biblical Christianity said God can be known through the Word. The Word reveals Jesus to us in historic testimony that can be understood and applied.

The “conservative” Bible-centered church today has accepted the idea that at its root, Christianity is felt not comprehended. The term emotion or feeling is not used, however. The term utilized is “experience.” [Source]

Two important notes: The Sweet he references is Leonard Sweet, well known Author and futurist, etc. Frelinghuysen, who I had never heard of before but am not surprised Mike had as he knows more church history than I do, is referenced at Wikipedia . Here’s a little more info about him from Wikipedia.

An eloquent preacher who published numerous sermons, he struggled against indifferentism and empty formalism. His theories conflicted with the orthodox views of Henry Boel and others, who challenged Frelinghuysen’s religious emotionalism and unauthorized practices. As one of the fearless missionaries of the first Great Awakening in America, Frelinghuysen stressed tangible religious experiences. He trained young men for the clergy, often ordaining them without permission.

Frelinghuysen (anyone out there able to pronounce that name?) is a prime example of the age old struggle that pits emotion and experience on one side against content and structure on the other.

As Mike said, we are living in an age where experience is where it’s at. The American church has largely bought into evaluating a worship service by one and only one criteria, How did it make me feel?

If I feel good and uplifted then it was a great service. If I shed tears, or felt moved or deeply effected, it was a good service. Others might say if I learned something then it was a good service.

Judging a worship service by how it made me feel, or how it didn’t make me feel, is wrong pure and simple. It’s short sighted and carnal even!

I’m not saying our feeling aren’t important, and I’m not saying we ought not to experience God either. I would say that experiencing God cannot be limited to my emotions, because God isn’t limited to my emotions, or to anything other than His Word and His Character.

What I do want to remind myself and everyone else about is this: We aren’t supposed to be the focus of worship – GOD IS!

The real test of worship if God’s approval of the worship we offer to Him and nothing else. If God is pleased then it’s good! We gather to worship Him, and not to please ourselves!

To be honest with you, I think every single one of us does evaluate services that way. I believe it’s simply unavoidable. It’s even okay as long as we also evaluate it by God’s Word and standards and always keep Him in mind first and ourselves second.

Even if everything in the service was perfect, and everyone attending came out moved and touched and better informed about our Lord and more determined to serve Him more, it would still have been a failure as a worship service if they spent that time focused on themselves rather than on God!

The basics of Christian Worship isn’t complicated at all really, it’s simply to express our love and devotion to God, and our commitment to follow Him in a way that pleases Him. Because God is what worship is all about – not us!

Let’s all try and remember that this Sunday okay?