Your Senses In Worship

“YOUR SENSES IN WORSHIP”

Lamentations 3.51

From time to time, we are thrilled that people visit our worship services. We are delighted to welcome them. We should go out of our way to be hospitable to them. We are frequently satisfied that guests are responding to our invitations to worship with us. We seek only God’s best for them while they are here.

That said, let us remember that whether we find welcome strangers in our midst or not, our gatherings are most frequently to worship God, sometimes to serve God. For example, on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening, we assemble to pray, preach, sing, and give, all in the context of worshiping God, with serving ministry opportunities interspersed on every one of those occasions.

The fourth time I would like us to assemble each week is primarily for outreach and evangelism (hence our more casual but still modest attire). Yes, even Saturday nights at 6:00 PM, we can engage in worship. Sometimes we pray. Sometimes there are somewhat abbreviated sermons. Sometimes we sing. But we do not typically worship through an offering. Instead, I desire that we worship God by investing our time to reach out and welcome those we want to introduce to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

In a portion of Scripture where the Apostle Paul explains the superiority of the gift of prophecy (preaching) over the gift of tongues, we see an exciting byproduct of our worship. What beautiful things can happen when a visitor is present during a congregation’s worship? Those worshiping God may find that a visitor in our midst will also begin to worship God. I read from First Corinthians 14.24-25:

24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:

25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

So, you see, our Church is all about worship. We engage in many different activities, with our goal as a distinctive approach to worshiping the one true and living God. Admittedly, this sets us apart from too many congregations. In many congregations noted for their devotion to worship, the stifling nature of the formalism of the results of their services in worship becomes ritual, which is not actually worship.

In other gatherings, where little thought is given to worship, the freewheeling and irreverent approach of their services bears little or no resemblance to worship as it is found in the Bible and at least subconsciously conveys to those present a God Who is neither terrible in majesty nor high and lifted up. Both extremes of worship should grieve us.

I admit that it is a fine line separating the stifling formalism of worship that results in ritual being the main thing and the undisciplined and casual approach to worship that resembles some party or entertainment. At Calvary Road Baptist Church, we seek to be neither ritualistic nor entertaining.

We also have no interest in inviting others to join us in worship so that we might teach them rituals, on the one hand, or so that we might entertain them, on the other hand. We invite them to join us in worshiping God and are not committed to inviting those already involved in a Gospel preaching ministry.

Our approach to worship seems so tragically novel in this day and age that it is no surprise to me that those who respond to our invitations to worship with us are sometimes puzzled about what we are up to. Some might be disappointed to see those leading the worship dressed in business attire rather than traditional ecclesiastical robes.

However, our purpose is not to set ourselves apart from those we are leading in worship but to clearly state by our appearance that we are who you are and that there is no essential difference between us insofar as stature or innate holiness is concerned. The best of us are sinners saved by God’s grace.

Others are disappointed that we dress in business attire rather than Hawaiian shirts, Bermuda shorts, and sandals. However, our purpose is not to pretend that the conscious decision to worship the high and holy God is like going to Wal-Mart or Home Depot. Worship is nothing like going to Wal-Mart or Home Depot.

Worship is intentional, so we seek to set an example for our visitors to follow. Our goal is not to make visitors feel either comfortable or uncomfortable. Our goal is to worship God and cordially invite visitors who join us to follow our lead in this respect and modify their approach to worshiping God to harmonize with our approach.

At the same time, our approach to worship is not one-upmanship. Nor is it a fashion plate competition. That is, we are not in the business of trying to under-dress or out-dress anyone. If you only have two pairs of overalls, it is appropriate for you to wear your nicer-looking pair to the gathered worship of God.

If you have shoes, it is inappropriate to wear sandals to worship God. If you have a Hawaiian shirt, do not wear a T-shirt. If you have a dress shirt, wearing it to Church is not wrong. If you ladies have skirts or dresses, it is not inappropriate to dress modestly when attending worship in the house of God. Our goal is to show the angels that our worship of God is intentional and purposeful.

The point I seek to make in so many words is that our Church’s approach to worship differs from that of many congregations. We have reasons for choosing the path we have embraced, and we have no intention of demanding anyone who worships with us modify their attire. After all, there are many Churches nearby whose members dress similarly, where you might more comfortably fit in. More power to you. My preference, however, is for our visitors to worship with us again.

Transitioning from outward appearance to inward thoughts and considerations, let me pose a question. Are you inclined to live out your life based on logic and Bible principles rather than insisting on maximizing your comfort level? I want to live that way, and I hope you are. Based upon that premise, let me urge you to take one step in that direction by turning in your Bible to the Old Testament book of Lamentations. Our text for this evening is Lamentations 3.51:

“Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.”

What is observed in this verse is that what a person sees affects his heart. Is that observation significant? It certainly is, for it is with the heart that man believes unto righteousness, Romans 10.10.

Three considerations in light of our concern for worship, as it is informed by Lamentations 3.51:

#1 - SENSES GATHER INFORMATION

This seems too obvious to have to state. However, suppose you spend time listening to well-informed people. In that case, you will eventually realize that such people frequently spend much time addressing the basics of matters that somewhat less brilliant often overlook. Your senses gather information.

Your eyes capture images. Your nose captures scents. Your tongue captures tastes. Your skin captures sensations. Your ears capture sounds. You may not have given much thought to your inability to control the information your senses capture. Only your eyes are entirely under your direction and control, looking only at what you choose to look at or seeing nothing at all should you choose to close your eyes. However, even if your eyes respond so quickly to sights in your field of view, sounds your ears pick up, or vibrations, your sense of touch detects that your gaze is typically more rapidly responsive than your conscious decision-making can always control.

A little chemistry and biology for you in this regard. The body processes vitamin C to manufacture naturally occurring cortisone (though a different name calls it), a steroid used by the body to regulate the sensitivity of the nerve endings, much like the squelch knob on old-fashioned communication devices adjusts the sensitivity of the reception of the incoming signal. Cortisone is so potent that my cortisone shots were very effective painkillers. Insufficient vitamin C, or difficulty metabolizing vitamin C (such as those of us with allergies have), and your nerves become too sensitive, bombarding you with sensory input in the form of itchy eyes, sneezing, and scratching if you have allergies. There is pollen in the air, or seeing, hearing, or feeling everything if you tend to be hyperactive. For people like me, higher doses of vitamin C and the absolute importance of a good night’s sleep every night cannot be overstated, as well as somewhat subdued colors and sounds.

What does this information about the five senses have to do with worship? First, remember that other people’s senses also gather information. How is your conduct affecting other people’s attempts to worship? Is it not amazing that so many parents of young children seem not to hear the howling and squealing in what are supposed to be quiet zones? My mother effectively persuaded my brother and me to be quiet in quiet zones, though we howled like monkeys most other times. It was not until I was an adult that my mom informed me that my brother and I never owned a noise-making toy. Second, worship is integrally related to information, which brings me to the next main point.

#2 - GATHERING AND RESPONDING TO INFORMATION IS CRUCIAL TO WORSHIP

In Scriptural worship, Bible-based and Bible-informed worship, God’s people consciously direct their attention toward God’s Word, toward God’s person, or toward God’s Son, God’s Spirit, or some aspect of God’s program. Information can be acquired via reading God’s Word, but more importantly, it is gathered in worship from the teaching and preaching of God’s Word. This is why turning from page to page and reading the Bible, which is wonderful at other times, can be downright distracting and devilish during worship. Why? Because it is distracting to you as well as to other people. More on this shortly.

Would anyone challenge my assertion that gathering and responding to information is crucial to worship? Is it not especially important for the uninformed or the unsaved person to focus on the information most conducive to enhancing worship? Thus, someone in the house of God must sit where he can see the preacher or teacher, where he can hear the preacher or teacher, in an environment where what he sees, what he hears, what he tastes, what he smells, and what he feels does not work to distract his attention. Therefore, you can appreciate the inherent disadvantage of sitting in the back of the auditorium. You subject yourself to needless stimulation and distraction from everyone in your field of view in front of you, while those in front gaze only on the preacher. Perhaps some good students sit in the back of university classrooms, but if you attended a good school, you usually observed the brilliant ones sitting as close to the front as they could.

Imagine what worship would be like if you sat undisturbed and the preacher revealed something to you about God’s glorious nature that you had never before considered. Suddenly, you are overwhelmed with joy, awe, gratitude, and appreciation of God and His goodness like never before. Are you not thrilled no one leaned over to say something to you at that moment, that no one dropped his Bible at that moment, or that the back of your chair was not suddenly grabbed so someone could get up in the middle of it all at that moment and go to the rest room? Consider also that it is in your power to give that same opportunity to worship to those around you. That is why it is important to remain seated during worship. “They don’t have to look at me when I get up.” Oh, yes, they do!

#3 - SOME INFORMATION, HOWEVER, IS DETRIMENTAL TO WORSHIP

What if you are in an auditorium where a projector screen or a television monitor is being used? Have you ever been in such a setting? Then you have observed that eyes are tempted to constantly flit between the person speaking and the larger screen where his image appears. Is that not in itself a distraction? Studies have shown that it is! Did you also know that your optic nerve does not function while your eye is in motion? Thus, while your eye is tracking back and forth between the preacher and the image on the screen, your vision is gathering no information! That is detrimental to worship.

Additionally, when someone gets up and moves around for any reason or enters or leaves the room, and someone looks at him, information is gathered by the eyes that serve no purpose in worshiping God. I am not suggesting you not go to the restroom when you need to. I suggest you intentionally visit the restroom before the service begins and go during the service only when truly necessary.

What about hearing things that are detrimental to worship? Can the crackling of wrapping paper being removed from hard candy be a distraction detrimental to worship? Hello! How about unrelated or unsupportive comments that you hear spoken by someone in front of you, behind you, or at your side? Ever been driven nuts, not by a creaking door, but by the frustrated reactions of someone who creates more diversion by his harrumphing than by the creaking door?

Sometimes a person finds certain aromas or scents distracting because of allergies to certain fragrances. If we had a large auditorium, perhaps we could arrange for a fragrance-free zone. However, such is simply not possible at present, so our best course of action is good personal hygiene and self-restraint when it comes to using so much of cheap fragrances. Sisters need to help their brothers, just as wives need to help their husbands, saying when necessary, “Enough with so much of the cheap cologne. Get good stuff and use less.”

When people come into our auditorium, I think it is beautiful for you to help them relax with a few well-chosen words before the service begins. As well, perhaps an appropriate “Amen” or well-placed but non-distracting “Uh-huh” during the sermon would be a helpful and not at all disturbing bit of reinforcement. However, what place does the wisecrack have? What is the point of disagreeing with a comment that I have made? Is it a goal to undermine a speaker’s effectiveness, to establish to the visitor that you disagree with the preacher, or might it be better to allow the preacher to deliver his entire sermon before weighing in on what was said that you think you might disagree with before taking in the complete presentation? The point that I seek to make is that the great purpose of you sitting with a visitor during worship is not what you will say or do, but the benefit to the visitor of you saying or doing absolutely nothing to distract him from gathering information and responding to truths useful to his worship of God.

Focusing just on the eyes, and recognizing that this process I have described occurs to a degree with every one of our senses, allow me to describe the processing of information that comes to you by sight. If your eye wanders from here to there, or from this to that, so will your heart wander. Our text substantiates that claim. Is that what you want to happen when you are gathered to worship God?

I mention this because when our eyes discover any new, pleasing, or curious object, they will transport that information to our mind and heart, where it will be debated pro and con and then decided upon. That is a neurological certainty.

Is that a good thing to happen, especially when you are supposed to be about worshiping God, using the means of grace? Will such activity not grieve the Spirit of God and keep your heart’s attention away from what is beneficial to you and others?

The problem is that once our eyes take our heart to one place of distraction, they will then take our heart immediately to yet another place of distraction.

We read, “Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.” We also know that one’s heart also affects his eyes. Jeremiah was writing about the heartache that resulted from seeing Jewish women suffering during the siege of the city. But the principle applies to everything we see.

If your heart is not set on the Lord, your eyes will wander away from those opportunities to gather useful information to worship God. So, without the discipline necessary to impose some measure of control on your senses, you may never properly worship God.

You may imagine that you will decide afresh and anew to worship God and not let your heart wander away. However, the failure to control what you see means you are like the man who locks a steel door to keep himself safe while leaving his window open for burglars to come through. Good intentions are not enough if you fail to exercise self-control over your senses.

We can also see how important it is for parents to exert control over their children’s impulses while impressing on them and coercing them to improve their ability to restrain themselves and control their impulses. Why so? So they will someday be able to worship God and not be tugged this way and that by random stimuli that distracts them.

May I make an additional suggestion in closing? Romans 13.14:

“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”

Think ahead when you come to Church. Who do you usually sit with? Does that person distract you by how he looks, what he says, and what he does? If so, I would suggest you courteously arrange to sit elsewhere. After all, the person who distracts you from worshiping God is more dangerous to you than the Devil himself.

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