Is God Listening, part whatever

I was in a church once that had a banner displayed in front that succinctly defined worhsip for all in the congregation. "Worship is our response to God's extravagant grace," it boldly read. I think this is accurate. I think that all worship, offering, and sacrifice that we bring on Sunday morning(or otherwise) is a response, and where there is a response there has been an initiation. For a worshipper, or worshipping church, to respond to God means that God's initiating role has been seen, and acknowledged or received.

God's initiative is found deep within every (re)action of Israel or the early church. It burns at Creation- the desire to pursue someone capable of receiving his unquenchable love. It sprints forward in Genesis 3 when God, seeing his beloved fall from perfection, makes obvious his intent to pursue lost mankind. Instead of "smokin' 'em and starting over," as one pastor insists he would do if he had been in charge, God plows ahead with history in hot pursuit of his wayward ones despite the ravaging effects of sin, because the "present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed" in his people[Rom 8:18]. It is to this reckless act of love, proven finally on the cross, that offering and worship respond.

As my old church was inclined to teach, "God's service to us" is what brought us together on Sunday morning. The implication is that our service to him was simply the result, the overflow. To have truly received the grace that God offered in his cross-death is to, responsively, boil over with praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and sacrifice. The grace with which God has covered his people can't help but manifest in the life of the church in terms of mercy, justice, and forgiveness. If these things are absent, continually and in spite of Biblical correction, can the "service" of the church really be said to be worship? Doesn't this absence indicate that the church has not truly received the grace, given to make them holy in God's sight, that has been lavished upon them? Theologian Don Williams acknowledges that the evangelical church considers the the Bible "inerrant," and the "word of God." His question in response is "is it functioning that way in the life of the church?"

As the lady who inquired about my church(mentioned in part 2) demonstrated, the questions we seem to be asking in our evangelical churches are "Are we orthodox?" "Do we teach correct doctrine?" "Do we preach scripture?" "Is our liturgy sound?" This unfortunately is an easy way out. 'Yes' answers to these are not standalone requirements. If this was all the Church is called to, reformation and revival would depend on us, not the Holy Spirit. More prudent questions for a church-seeker like this woman might be "is this church demonstrating the abundant life that Christ promised?" "Is this church full of Biblical Joy and Liberation from sin?" "Is the mercy and grace of God manifested in the everyday life of this church?" Because a 'yes' answer to these latter questions will mean that the other criteria have fallen into line as result.

Jesus' accusation in Matthew 23:23, that the Pharisees have tithed their spices without practicing justice, mercy, and faithfulness, is of course completed thus: "You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former." None of this has been a call to stop tithing, sacrificing, or worshipping God in the name of first correcting our motives. As Grace insists, the motive and the internal affairs of the heart do not disqualify someone from service in God's Kingdom. Should we return European Jews to the concentration camps because the allied forces' motive in World War II was not necessarily to free them? The Biblical witness answers that with stories of God's Kingdom work faithfully performed by murderers and losers such as Moses, David, Mary Magdalene, Peter, Paul, Solomon, and Samson. King Saul, though despicable and selfish, was used by God to set into action God's sovereign will.