lying to god in worship

I have been part of the Presbyterian Global Fellowship’s conference on missional church (see personal blog) and one of the speakers was Mark Labberton. I had never heard of him, but I have to say that I think he was brilliant. I ran out to buy his book, The Dangerous Act of Worship, and was not disappointed. Here is a quote from p.71…

Our central lie is in the discrepancy between the language of worship and the actions of worship. We confess “Jesus is Lord” but only submit to the part of Christ’s authority that fits our grand personal designs, doesn’t cause pain, doesn’t disrupt the American dream, doesn’t draw us across ethnic and racial divisions, doesn’t add the pressure of too much guilt, doesn’t mean forgiving as we have been forgiven, doesn’t ask for more than a check to show compassion. We “sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” expressing our desire to know Jesus, but the Jesus we want to know is the sanitized Jesus that looks a lot like us when we think we are at our best. Despite God’s Word to the contrary, we think we can say that we love God and yet hate our neighbor, neglect the widow, forget the orphan, fail to visit the prisoner, ignore the oppressed. Its the sign of disordered love. When we do this, our worship becomes a lie to God.
–Mark Labberton, The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God’s Call to Justice (Downers Grove: IVP, 2007), 71

August 18, 2008 | Filed Under following jesus, quotes |  

Comments

10 Responses to “lying to god in worship”

  1. Isaiah on August 18th, 2008 10:42 am

    Too true.

    Something that all Christians, regardless their background, need to hear.

  2. Scott K on August 18th, 2008 1:25 pm

    Hey Alan.
    I was at PGF and really enjoyed hearing you on both occasions that you spoke. Great quote from Labberton. Going to get that one tomorrow.

  3. Peggy on August 18th, 2008 4:21 pm

    The Abbess concurs wholeheartedly…was just having that conversation with a neighbor yesterday!

  4. David Phillips on August 18th, 2008 11:34 pm

    Alan,

    Great word…now I’ll have to go buy another book!

  5. armany on August 19th, 2008 1:41 am

    Thanks for the suggestion
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  6. Richie "Rich" Merritt on August 20th, 2008 10:22 pm

    Great Post and quote!

    Good stuff!

  7. Frank Wilder on August 21st, 2008 7:32 am

    Amazing Alan. Thanks for the tip.

  8. l on August 27th, 2008 10:49 pm

    tasty tidbit

  9. Steve Mac on September 1st, 2008 12:16 pm

    Hi Al - great quote.

    Have you noted too how ahistorical the songs are? If western style Buddhism ever gets a praise and worship movement we could sell them heaps of other-worldly, ungrounded songs that encourage disconnection from the world.

  10. Mike on September 2nd, 2008 7:32 am

    1. to Steve Mac - amen!
    2. is it possible that in worship we invite people to fondle the idea of worship, the emotional echo of sensing true surrender before God? I often times am struck by how those most resistant to Christ’s transforming work in their lives 167 hours a week can be so rapturously enthralled for 45 minutes of excellently programmed worship. Is it lying to God inferrentially through self-delusion?

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