Worship that is comprehensible to unbelievers?
In the documents for the special Presbytery on Worship in July there is an article by Timothy Keller on ‘Worship Wars.’ Timothy Keller makes a number of points concerning the presence of unbelievers at the Lord’s Day worship services. Consider these two points:
1. Non-believers are expected to be present in Christian worship. In Acts 2 it happens by word-of-mouth excitement. In I Corinthians 14 it is probably the result of personal invitation by Christian friends. But Paul in Corinthians 14:23 expects both "unbelievers" and "the unlearned" (literally "a seeker"-- "one who does not understand") to be present in worship.
2. Non-believers must find the praise of Christians to be comprehensible. In Acts 2 it happens by miraculous divine intervention. In I Corinthians 14 it happens by human design and effort. But it cannot be missed that Paul directly tells a local congregation to adapt its worship because of the presence of unbelievers. It is a false dichotomy to insist that if we are seeking to please God we must not ask what the unchurched feel or think about our worship.
If I understand these two points Timothy Keller is giving those who lead the congregation in public worship the task of making the praise given to God in song, prayer and preaching comprehensible to unbelievers. From a Biblical perspective can I fulfill this task? Before answering this question consider the following two passages: 1 Corinthians 2:14, ‘But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.’ 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, ‘But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.’
Unbelievers are described in these two passages as the natural man and those who are perishing. Paul says 6 things about unbelievers.
1. Unbelievers do not receive the things of the Spirit of God.
2. Unbelievers cannot know spiritual things.
3. Unbelievers do not have the capability to discerning spiritual things.
4. Unbelievers regard spiritual things as foolishness.
5. Satan keeps the minds of unbelievers in a state of darkness (blinded).
6. The Gospel is veiled to unbelievers.
These 6 things make the task of presenting praise to God in a way that is comprehensible to unbelievers impossible. All our praise to God must be filled with spiritual things – our worship service is packed with spiritual things which unbelievers do not and cannot receive, know or discern. From an unbeliever’s point of view according to these two passages spiritual things are foolishness. The mind of the unbeliever is in spiritual darkness because Satan has blinded them. How can you make spiritual things comprehensible to unbelievers? You can’t.
What does the word comprehensible mean? If you look up the word in a dictionary you will get an answer along the following lines: capable of being comprehended or understood. Comprehensive means all inclusive. An extensive mental range or grasp: comprehensive understanding. If you comprehend something you understand it, you grasp the meaning and you know the concepts. The unbeliever needs to be born again before he can comprehend spiritual truth. A babe in Christ has a grasp and understanding of spiritual truth that an unbeliever who is a genius does not have and cannot have, unless given it is given by the Holy Spirit.
The inability of unbelievers to think and grasp spiritual truth is difficult to understand because it is so clear, plain and simply to even the most immature believer. I came across this anecdote concerning Albert Einstein and found it helpful in understanding how a mind lacking spiritual light cannot see spiritual things. Here is the article about Albert Einstein -
“About a year before he died, Albert Einstein described himself in a letter to Hans Muehsam as a ‘deeply religious unbeliever’ (March 30, 1954). Einstein was fascinated with the beauty, rationality and complexity of nature. He had a Cosmic Awe for the mystery of the world he strove so mightily to understand. ‘The eternal mystery of the world.’ he once wrote, ‘is its comprehensibility.’ Einstein repudiated charges that he was an atheist, and criticized the intolerance of those whom he called ‘the fanatical atheists.’ But Einstein never attended worship services. He didn't pray. He rejected doctrines like miracles and the afterlife. When asked about claims that he believed in a personal God, he categorically rejected the idea as ‘a lie that is systematically repeated,’ even though he clearly and consistently denied it (March 24, 1954). Einstein didn't believe in a God who was in any sense personal or who, as he put it, ‘concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.’”
Albert Einstein could not see that God concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings. That is extraordinary because even a dim witted believer would grasp, understand and rejoice in the spiritual truth of John 3:16, ‘For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.’ The cross of Christ declares through a megaphone that God cares about the fates and actions of human beings. The spiritual darkness of Albert Einstein was dark indeed and no matter how you tried you would never make spiritual things comprehensible to him. Making spiritual truths comprehensible to unbelievers is the work of God’s great grace.
Now I need to answer the question I put earlier - from a Biblical perspective can I fulfill this task of making the praise given to God during worship services, in song, prayer and preaching comprehensible to unbelievers? No I can’t. And thank God he has not called me to the task described by Timothy Keller.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
What is Luck
What is luck?
Luck is a word that has featured a lot in discussions about the destruction brought by the flood and cyclone Yasi. It is said that those who have lost everything had bad-luck and those lost nothing had good-luck. Queensland will arise from the mud and rubble and rebuild the state because they are ‘Queenslanders’ and live in Australia which is the Lucky Country. Some who escaped drowning in the flood were lucky as they were able to hold onto a pole or climb into a tree. Whether or not your insurance company will pay for flood is a matter of luck.
As I listen to what people said about luck, I found myself asking, ‘What is luck?’ People used the word luck in three different ways. To some luck referred to things that were beyond a particular person or group of people’s control. Things within human control are determined by what we do or do not do – a simple cause and effect. When human efforts fail because the force of the water or wind are simply too great, then the outcome depends on good or bad luck. Others speak of luck almost as the wrath of Mother Nature - we were unlucky because Mother Nature was against us and the force of the flood was too much for the levees. Others use the word luck is a very fatalistic way. ‘I lost my home, it is sad, but I guess that is the luck of the draw, what you get is what you get.’ I heard a Weather forecaster say, ‘It was just unlucky that the rains coincided with a week of high tides.’ Listening to what people say, it seems to me that Australians certainly believe in luck, but exactly what it is and how it operates is difficult to determine.
Sportsmen seem to believe in luck as a form of superstition. Many go through weird rituals to ensure that they experience good luck while on the sports field. It is said that every time Steve Waugh played a match he carried a red handkerchief which was given to him by his late grandfather in his left pocket. Neil McKenzie of South Africa sought to changes his bad luck by resorting to some strange behaviour. He makes sure that all toilets seats are down and closed before leaving the dressing room to go out to bat. When your belief in luck includes superstition it implies looking for help from a force outside of yourself.
We have all heard about symbols of luck - a four leaf clover, a horse shoe, a breast bone of a chicken, a falling star, a cricket on the mantel piece or a rabbit’s foot. The rabbit’s foot has always troubled me as it is obvious that the rabbit was very unlucky. Maybe the rabbit’s bad luck will bring you good luck? In Brisbane over the past ten years the practice of feng-shui has gained considerable popularity. Any devotee to feng-shui will tell you how to avoid bad luck, ‘Certain features in your external environment can adversely affect the feng shui of your building. These 'poison arrows' can be responsible for ill-fortune in the form of robbery, legal entanglement or serious illness. It is, therefore, necessary to identify the not-so-obvious 'poison arrows' in your environment and to deal with them.’ Superstition is like a cancer, it grows and places a great restraint on people’s freedoms.
Do Christians believe in luck? Those who know, understand and apply the Scriptures do not, but many in ignorance still cling to superstitions linked to cultural influences. The doctrine that stands as a bulwark against the concept of luck is the doctrine of God’s Providence. This doctrine is spelt out in the fifth chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Paragraph 1 of Chapter 5 tells us: God, the great Creator of all things, upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible fore-knowledge and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.
Paragraph 5 tells us how God’s providence impacts on believers: The most wise, righteous, and gracious God does often leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to reveal to them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they be humbled and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support unto himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends.
Paragraph 6 tells us how God’s providence impacts on unbelievers: As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous judge, for former sins, doth blind and harden, from them he not only withholds his grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings and wrought upon in their hearts, but sometimes also withdraws the gifts which they had and exposes them to such objects as their corruption makes occasion of sin; and withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan; whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, even under those means which God uses for the softening of others.
God is in control of all things, there is no luck or random chance. What is luck? Looking at it from a practical point of view I would say three things about luck:
1. Luck is an earplug that stops people hearing God calling people to repent of their sins and turn to him.
2, Luck is a blindfold that stops people seeing the hand and power of God – if men and women saw God and his mighty power they would fear him.
3. Luck is the wind that blows out the light of the mind – it keeps the mind in darkness and therefore from seeking answers from the God of all grace.
Believers have the promise of Romans 8:28, ‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.’ Notice this is something we KNOW not hope or think. God’s providence is always ordering things for my spiritual good.
Unbelievers often vent anger at a God they do not know or understand. What God sends in mercy to alarm them about the reality of life and death – they read as unwarranted and unnecessary punishment. They ask the question: ‘What have I done to God to deserve this?’ They have assumed that they have not offended God. They should stop and think for a moment. The God of the Bible tells them that he is their Creator and they live in his world, they depend on him for life: for food to eat, water to drink, air to breathe, skills to enrich lives and opportunities to earn their daily bread. God tells them that they are totally and completely dependant upon him for all things. Now when an unbeliever asks, ‘What have I done to deserve this?’ We should answer, ‘You have ignored God on whom you are totally dependant and have behaved in a way that declares you do not believe he exists.’ What you have done by ignoring him deserves far severer suffering than you have received – you need to repent and believe in Christ Jesus in order to be reconciled to God.
Luck is a word that has featured a lot in discussions about the destruction brought by the flood and cyclone Yasi. It is said that those who have lost everything had bad-luck and those lost nothing had good-luck. Queensland will arise from the mud and rubble and rebuild the state because they are ‘Queenslanders’ and live in Australia which is the Lucky Country. Some who escaped drowning in the flood were lucky as they were able to hold onto a pole or climb into a tree. Whether or not your insurance company will pay for flood is a matter of luck.
As I listen to what people said about luck, I found myself asking, ‘What is luck?’ People used the word luck in three different ways. To some luck referred to things that were beyond a particular person or group of people’s control. Things within human control are determined by what we do or do not do – a simple cause and effect. When human efforts fail because the force of the water or wind are simply too great, then the outcome depends on good or bad luck. Others speak of luck almost as the wrath of Mother Nature - we were unlucky because Mother Nature was against us and the force of the flood was too much for the levees. Others use the word luck is a very fatalistic way. ‘I lost my home, it is sad, but I guess that is the luck of the draw, what you get is what you get.’ I heard a Weather forecaster say, ‘It was just unlucky that the rains coincided with a week of high tides.’ Listening to what people say, it seems to me that Australians certainly believe in luck, but exactly what it is and how it operates is difficult to determine.
Sportsmen seem to believe in luck as a form of superstition. Many go through weird rituals to ensure that they experience good luck while on the sports field. It is said that every time Steve Waugh played a match he carried a red handkerchief which was given to him by his late grandfather in his left pocket. Neil McKenzie of South Africa sought to changes his bad luck by resorting to some strange behaviour. He makes sure that all toilets seats are down and closed before leaving the dressing room to go out to bat. When your belief in luck includes superstition it implies looking for help from a force outside of yourself.
We have all heard about symbols of luck - a four leaf clover, a horse shoe, a breast bone of a chicken, a falling star, a cricket on the mantel piece or a rabbit’s foot. The rabbit’s foot has always troubled me as it is obvious that the rabbit was very unlucky. Maybe the rabbit’s bad luck will bring you good luck? In Brisbane over the past ten years the practice of feng-shui has gained considerable popularity. Any devotee to feng-shui will tell you how to avoid bad luck, ‘Certain features in your external environment can adversely affect the feng shui of your building. These 'poison arrows' can be responsible for ill-fortune in the form of robbery, legal entanglement or serious illness. It is, therefore, necessary to identify the not-so-obvious 'poison arrows' in your environment and to deal with them.’ Superstition is like a cancer, it grows and places a great restraint on people’s freedoms.
Do Christians believe in luck? Those who know, understand and apply the Scriptures do not, but many in ignorance still cling to superstitions linked to cultural influences. The doctrine that stands as a bulwark against the concept of luck is the doctrine of God’s Providence. This doctrine is spelt out in the fifth chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Paragraph 1 of Chapter 5 tells us: God, the great Creator of all things, upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible fore-knowledge and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.
Paragraph 5 tells us how God’s providence impacts on believers: The most wise, righteous, and gracious God does often leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to reveal to them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they be humbled and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support unto himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends.
Paragraph 6 tells us how God’s providence impacts on unbelievers: As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous judge, for former sins, doth blind and harden, from them he not only withholds his grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings and wrought upon in their hearts, but sometimes also withdraws the gifts which they had and exposes them to such objects as their corruption makes occasion of sin; and withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan; whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, even under those means which God uses for the softening of others.
God is in control of all things, there is no luck or random chance. What is luck? Looking at it from a practical point of view I would say three things about luck:
1. Luck is an earplug that stops people hearing God calling people to repent of their sins and turn to him.
2, Luck is a blindfold that stops people seeing the hand and power of God – if men and women saw God and his mighty power they would fear him.
3. Luck is the wind that blows out the light of the mind – it keeps the mind in darkness and therefore from seeking answers from the God of all grace.
Believers have the promise of Romans 8:28, ‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.’ Notice this is something we KNOW not hope or think. God’s providence is always ordering things for my spiritual good.
Unbelievers often vent anger at a God they do not know or understand. What God sends in mercy to alarm them about the reality of life and death – they read as unwarranted and unnecessary punishment. They ask the question: ‘What have I done to God to deserve this?’ They have assumed that they have not offended God. They should stop and think for a moment. The God of the Bible tells them that he is their Creator and they live in his world, they depend on him for life: for food to eat, water to drink, air to breathe, skills to enrich lives and opportunities to earn their daily bread. God tells them that they are totally and completely dependant upon him for all things. Now when an unbeliever asks, ‘What have I done to deserve this?’ We should answer, ‘You have ignored God on whom you are totally dependant and have behaved in a way that declares you do not believe he exists.’ What you have done by ignoring him deserves far severer suffering than you have received – you need to repent and believe in Christ Jesus in order to be reconciled to God.
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