MIXED WORSHIP AND WORLDLY CHURCHIN'

Please read; Exodus 32:1-7 "These are the gods O Israel that brought you up out of Egypt."

Good Morning Good People,

It is extremely early on Sunday morning and I am not a morning person. I am up nursing an injury to my right foot and will be laid aside for a few days. It may take me all day to finish.


Fame, Prestige, Popularity, Buildings, Television, Media..... and the Hierarchy of Titles , Lust for Power, Influence and Mammon are the great idols of the church in America. In recent history, the absurdity of the introduction of a widely popular gospel music singer as "The Prince of Praise and Worship"startled me. I recall thinking: "What? How can one who claims to love the presence of GOD and gives testimony to being called to bring GOD's people there have such a presumptuous name?" The focus of worship is Christ Jesus. If we are truly worshipping Him all crowns should be cast at His feet. What I saw of "the prince's" ministry was a frenzied, piece of religious entertainment as he cajoled, shouted and manipulated the audience into an immediate reaction to his music.

I then watched TBN and for 2 hours as each guest personality was introduced, they were hailed as; Premier, Greatest, Most Anointed, ministers of the Biggest, Newest, Fastest Growing, etc., blah, blah blah, yada, yada, ya..... well, you get the point. There was so much self congratulation going on it was embarrassing to watch. As each guest minister entered the set they did so to real and canned applause. The applause machine signaled when it was time to appreciate a certain point made by the guest. The applause machine welcomed the celebrity soloist and signaled the end of their music set. It was almost like watching a 70's sitcom. Remember the applause machine that told you what to laugh at? I wonder if one of those machines could increase the appeal of my sermons? Hmmmmmm. Titles, fame, applause, popularity, fans, er, I mean followers, compounds, planes, Bentleys, Rolls Royces, etc. Fame is a seductive mistress. She will lure you away from a pure heart.

Why have we become so focused on these outward signs of religious success? What is this over emphasis on the title by which we are called? Apostle, Prophet, Master Prophet, etc. , (Incidentally, what is a Master Prophet!?) Grace, Eminence, and on and on it goes.

You can see this strange influence in many local churches as pastors begin to distinguish themselves by appropriating new titles for themselves and in many cases for their wives . Biblically speaking, there really isn't any precedent for adding the word apostle ( prophet, pastor, evangelist, etc.,) to your name as a title. An apostle was a unique function of the select few that God appointed to be the foundation of the church; Christ being the Chief Cornerstone. I believe there are present day apostles in the sense that they are similarly called to extend the kingdom of GOD in the earth by church planting, mentoring and teaching pastors and the like. That is not to say that the word apostle should precede their names. "Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of GOD...." 1 Cor. 1:1. This is how Paul repeatedly refers to himself in his writings in the New Testament. If indeed, you have the call from GOD to apostolic work the fruit of that work will bear it out. Philip was chosen to assist the apostles as a deacon. He later became an evangelist. Acts 21:8 describes him as Philip, the evangelist. My point is his calling did not become a part of his name. Oh, how we love and lust after that type of recognition.

The cult of celebrity is an insidious trend today. You can see this in our country's approach to news reporting. drunken celebs, celebrity divorces, child custody cases, rehab stints, etc. When did these become news worthy events? In America we don't have a royal family so I think we laud our celebrities. A similar thing is happening in the church. We love and praise our celebrities. We flock to their meetings, conferences and festivals hoping to hear a message that will change our lives. We attempt to emulate people that we know merely through carefully crafted and edited media manipulations. They woo us with their sermonic wizardry and catchy phrases. We pay handsomely for the opportunity to hear them and buy souvenirs of the event in the form of books, cd's, dvd's, etc. We pay monthly donations (fan club fees?) for the privilege to sit in special sections at the next meeting (front row seats?) or special luncheons after the service or meeting (back stage passes?). We hope for an opportunity to be able to see the minister up close and personal and get a private "word" from them (autograph signing?). We mistakenly and tragically compare our local ministers and pastors to these icons and judge their effectiveness by what we see on television.

In the scripture text above, the people of GOD grew weary of waiting for Moses' return from the mountain in the LORD's presence. So they approach Aaron and ask for him to design a god with which they were more familiar; an image, something familiar to their previous experience in Egypt. At Aaron's command they pulled off earrings from both genders and Aaron made an idol of gold; a golden calf. Then came the exclamation: "This is your god, O Israel that brought you out of Egypt." The text goes on to say that Aaron then announced the celebration of a feast to the LORD. What? A feast to the LORD with a strange god in the midst? When I see what is going on in many Christian circles I think a similar thing is happening today.

Have we become bored with the LORD's way? Have we been so deeply influenced by the cultural norms that instead of changing the world the world is changing us? Have we begun to trust in the gods we have fashioned with our own hands? What our spiritual mothers and fathers brought forth through prayer, fasting, consecrated living and sacrifice do we now think can be replaced by "seed gifts", marketing techniques and networking? The Israelites took what had value to them (gold) and made it a god. Is it possible that we have built gods that reflect our twisted values? Now before you think, "Awww , saint james is just jealous or anti-success, let me say this: I am neither. I do question the definition of success from a biblical world view. What do you say?