When Rethinking Sunday Worship Follow the Humble
It has been said that the Puritans are the Redwoods of the Christian faith. If the statement about the Puritans is true, and there is plenty of supporting evidence, what made them so?
The following is from a Puritan prayer from the book The Valley of Vision.
"Thou Righteous and Holy Sovereign,
In whose hand is my life and whose are all my ways,
Keep me from fluttering about religion;
fix me firm in it,
for I am irresolute;
my decisions are smoke and vapor,
and I do not glorify You,
or behave according to your will;
Cut me not off before my thoughts grow
to responses,
and budding of my soul into full flower,
for You are forbearing and good,
patient and kind.
Save me from myself,
from the artifices and deceits of sin,
from the treachery of my perverse nature,
from denying Your charge against my offences,
from a life of continual rebellion against thee,
from wrong principle, views, and ends;
for I know that all my thoughts, affections,
desires and pursuits are alienated from thee.
I have acted as if I hated thee, although You are
love itself;
have contrived to tempt thee to the uttermost,
to wear out thy patince;
have lived evilly in word and action.
Had I been a prince
I would long ago have crushed such a rebel;
Had I been a father
I would long since have rejected my child.
O, thou Father of my spirit,
Thou King of my life,
cast me not into destruction,
drive me not from thy presence,
but wound my heart that it may be healed;
break it that thine own hand
may make it whole."
How might the average churchgoer view such honesty in prayer today?
Would such a one be considered a reproach to the church?
I suggest that the Puritan I have set before us was painfully honest about himself and was born out of humility of heart. I further assert that the only way to authentic holiness is accomplished no other way.
When Rethinking Sunday Worship Follow the Honest
When Paul wrote to the Ephesians in 4:17-19, he described the walk of Gentile sinners, "So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness."
When Paul began this section of his letter, he wrote, "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.'"
Paul used all very godly terms to describe how brothers and sisters should interact with one another. The question remains, how do we get there?
When Rethinking Sunday Worship, Do Not Follow Those Desiring First Place, 3 John 9 and 10
When recounting Paul's activities in Troas in Acts 20:7, Luke used a specific term about how Paul communicated when they had gathered to break bread, remembering The Lord's Supper. "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul [began] talking to them..."
Talking in Greek is "dialegomai," or to discuss. "getting a conclusion across" by exchanging thoughts (logic) – "mingling thought with thought, to ponder (revolve in the mind)" (J. Thayer). occurs 13 times in the NT, usually of believers exercising "dialectical reasoning." Strongs Concordance says it this way. "This word is the process of giving and receiving information with someone to reach a deeper understanding – a "going back-and-forth" of thoughts and ideas so people can better know the Lord (His Word, will). Doing this is perhaps the most telling characteristic of the growing Christian!"
In context, Paul undoubtedly shared a word from God. "...and he prolonged his message until midnight." Logos is used here, which is used of Christ in John 1, "In the beginning was the Word (logos) as the expression of God. Christ is the living Word, just as the Bible is His written Word. However, when describing the incident of the boy falling off a ledge, Luke reused the same word, "...and as Paul kept on talking..." dialegomai. The Apostle, who had one-on-one interviews with the resurrected Christ, had something to share, but he did not use the Greek standing model to lecture or preach. He saved that for marketplace evangelism.
When Rethinking Sunday Worship, we ought to consider the need for transparency, dialogue, and honesty about our present condition amidst a materialistic, comfort-driven culture. This culture presses upon all believers probably far more than we are willing to admit. Lukewarm is a term used in the well-received movie The Forge regarding today's church.
Do we think lukewarm defines others but not ourselves?
Is sitting and listening to a lecture on a Sunday morning more soul-transforming than honest dialogue in fellowship with other honest travelers on their way to heaven? The most profitable morning services that my wife and I attended during the past 50 years contained fifteen to twenty minutes of prayer. We would do far better to pray more than we talk when we gather on the first day of the week.
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