Worship Wars Part I

Worship Wars:

Part I

Is God Glorified in the continual battle of traditional vs. contemporary?

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor…..Live in harmony with one another. …live peaceably with all….Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:9-21

War is a horrible term if you truly think about it. People die, friendships are torn, blood is shed, and people are never the same afterwards. When we think about war on the national level, it is necessary for our freedoms and others freedoms. However when we think of war in more a localized way, it is almost never a necessity, yet a travesty. Think about localized wars that you have seen in your lifetime: family wars, city wars, political wars, and even church wars. When we think about war in a localized sense it is always brutal, and many times, in the end, everyone loses.

In my brevity of a lifetime, I have seen what I consider one of the sickest, most despicable, and immature wars the modern church has ever seen. Worship Wars. Even the name is demoralizing. I believe that music is Satan’s greatest tool in the church today – it has split churches, divided bodies into two services, causes an uncountable number of fights, and causes “Christians” to destroy each other with hurtful words, acts, and deeds. Why is there such a hatred and passion connected with the tunes that go along with the text in churches? Why is there such a rebellion against what is new and such a disconnect and removal from what is old?

I have many questions and very few answers in regarding this topic. This topic is one that I wrestle with day in and day out and keeps me from sleeping many nights. God has called me to lead His people in the Worship of Him. God has called me to lead His people, in unity, as the church, to worship Him. Our greatest call as a Christian is to Love God first and foremost, and to love others as we love ourselves (Matt 22:36-40). There is much selfishness in the church today. Those who truly follow Christ will love others as they love themselves. The reason that there are worship wars are present in our churches are because of selfishness on both parties and an unwillingness to come together in unity for the sake of the cross.

One of the greatest pastors and theologians of our days, I am convinced, is John Piper. John Piper is famous for saying, “God is most Glorified when we are most satisfied in Him”. Creation has One Purpose. The Glory of God. If we truly desire to glorify God, then what do we find satification in? If we find satification in pews, hymnals, chairs, tv screens, coffee bars, a certain translation of the bible, attire, ect., then God is not Glorified in our church or in our lives. We must repent of our traditions and religion (whether they be of traditional baptist or contemporary baptist), and find our satisification in Christ alone or else we will die in our tradition. “Are we going to die in our religion, or are we going to die in our devotion?” This is a question the church has had to face throughout all of its history and we face it again today. Will we war over personal preferences at the expense of disobeying the second greatest commandment and not glorifying God? I truly pray the answer is, “no”.

Is God Glorified in the continual battle of traditional vs. contemporary?

No, Satan is. God desires unity in His church.

Sources: http://www.desiringgod.org; http://www.brookhills.org;

Let's not Be Anxious

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:25-34

I love people. I love talking to people. If you have known me for any length of time you probably know this about me. One of my favorite things to do during the week is to go get coffee with people to talk and see how God is working in their lives, I do this almost everyday with different individuals, usually either younger than me or somewhere similar to my age. My blog is even called coffeeshopgod. During the course of these conversations, conversations on the phone, and my life, I have noticed something in general about people. We are anxious about our lives.

It seems as if we as a culture are always looking for the next step. It starts at a younger age and continues through life. A drivers license, high school graduation, college, college graduation, marriage, job, children, children’s drivers license, children’s high school graduation, children’s college, children’s marriage, grandchildren, retirement, ect.. There is nothing inherently wrong with being excited about any of these events, but when the expectancy of or lack of these events alter your satisfaction/joy, then there is a problem. Each day is a gift from the Lord.

I am as guilty as anyone. I am anxious for graduation from Seminary. I worry about financial issues. I make plans for tomorrow and wish today would hurry up and get over. Each day is a gift and God has us in each situation in life for a reason. Let’s take joy in where the Lord has us each day.

Is Your Church Missional?

Is Your Church Missional?

Are you as a church effective in your community? Sure we have services Sundays and Wednesdays, meetings almost every other night, activities, and fellowships. We are all very active and busy. You may have visitors every Sunday, many whom are invited by many of you, others who wonder in because we are located so closely to a freeway. But are you as a church effective in your community?

I have been thinking this week about ways that as a church we can be more effective in our communities as a light in a darkened world. If we are going to be missional churches that have passion for our communities then it takes a lot of work. We cannot just expect to have church on Sunday and have people show up and become followers of Christ. What are some ways that we can began to love on our communities with the ultimate hope of showing and sharing the gospel?

Food is one. People love food. Is there a business or school where you could as a church began to intentionally feed the employees as just a simple thank you from your church? Could you imagine the message that would send and the doors that one simple act of love might open if you fed all the employees of the local Wal-Mart? God would work through that.


What are some other ways that you could reach out to our community through acts of love with the ultimate hope of sharing the gospel? I encourage you to think about that this week, pray about it, and let God show you ways we can become more intentional missionally. Time is short. Death is near. If we have a true gospel theology then it demands an urgent missiology. I don’t know about you, but my time on earth is short, and the harvest is plentiful. Does your heart burn for the lost? Do you know the lost? Are you surrounded by the lost?

And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Mark 2:16-17

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Matthew 9:37

True Gospel Theology Demands an Urgent Missiology

True Gospel Theology Demands an Urgent Missiology

Death is upon us. Each day you hear of tragic accidents, family members, elderly people, freak accidents, and many other ways that people meet death. It is no secret or surprise that each day we have the possibility of meeting death. Each breath, and each moment we have is a gift. At any point we could meet death. Then why do we often have the mentality that we are somehow promised tomorrow? We save up, make plans, have retirement, and take for granted that we are given tomorrow? Not that it is bad to plan ahead, but we should never take tomorrow for granted.

As Christians unless we realize the brevity of our life, and more so the brevity of others lives, then we will never have an urgency for the gospel. Billions around the world who have never heard the name of Christ, millions around our very metroplex who have never heard the true gospel, and their life is fleeting. We must retain a missional lifestyle. Not a lifestyle of bible beating, or telling others that they are going to hell in the first sentence that you meet them, but a missional lifestyle. In the world that we live in today we must earn the right to share the gospel. We get to know someone first, find out their needs, meet their needs, and then share the gospel.


Life is short. Death is upon us. If we really believe what is in the bible, if we really take it serious, then our gospel theology will demand an urgent missiology. “Those who are the most effective in reaching the many are the most passionate about reaching the One”. Lets seek God passionately like there is no tomorrow for us, or for them.

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23