“We have a tendency to look for wonder in our experience, and we mistake heroic actions for real heroes. It’s one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying even the remotest attention to us. If we are not looking for halos, we at least want something that will make people say, “What a wonderful man of prayer he is!” or, “What a great woman of devotion she is!” If you are properly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the lofty height where no one would ever notice you personally. All that is noticed is the power of God coming through you all the time.”
– Oswald Chambers
In Matthew 4, we see the following scene where Jesus is being tempted by Satan in the desert:
“Then the devil took Him along into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and he said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written:
‘He will give His angels orders concerning You, and on their hands they will lift You up, so that You do not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Matthew 4:5-7
Jesus was tempted to create a spectacle to get people’s attention. He would stand on the top until a crowd formed, then throw Himself down. It would be a great show, one that would get people excited and talking. Surely, God the Father would rescue Jesus from harm. Jesus would be an overnight sensation, a rock star. They would be dying for His next performance.
Jesus shut it down. He doesn’t do spectacles. He wasn’t interested in attracting a crowd or wowing them with a big event. Jesus thinned out the crowd and wasn’t out to impress anyone. He surely wasn’t there to entertain them.
“Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.”
John 5:54
“After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”
John 6:66-67
One of my daughters asked me to visit a new church with her last weekend, to which I agreed. It was one of the biggest churches in the state of Arizona. The main sanctuary was fronted by a large, covered patio, with tables, chairs and sofas underneath. Video screens were everywhere, playing ESPN and other sports shows.
We walk inside. To the left is a café with an espresso bar serving coffee drinks and dessert items, with plenty of tables and chairs. To the right are more video screens playing sports programs. A Los Angeles Rams football helmet is onscreen.
We enter the sanctuary and sit down. It looks like it can hold around 700. People are cruising in with coffee cups. The atmosphere is casual, relaxed. A large video screen is on the wall behind the stage, 50’ wide by 30’ tall, with two more large screens on either side. What might be described as lounge music is playing. A countdown timer is on the big screen showing the seconds until the service is scheduled to start.
The worship band is on stage. As the last second expires, the worship band launches into a driving song; the mega-watt sound system roars to life with such intensity that I can feel it physically. Forget about hearing your neighbor sing.
Several songs later the pastor, begins his message. We hear about the “life skills needed” to carry out God’s commands. One of those life skills was humility. Nothing is said about the daily battles to pierce our flesh to the wall, the hours in prayer required, or the ongoing spiritual warfare against an enemy who comes at us to thwart the crucified life. We need only to adopt the proper skill set for a particular situation.
That may work for a Christian rock star, but we mere mortals need more.
At the one-hour mark the service ends, and the rush for the doors is on.
I couldn’t help wondering what Jesus would have thought about the video screens showing sports entertainment in His house of prayer. Or the espresso bar that was as big as many coffee shops. Or the spectacle.
Were people more impressed by the spectacle, or God? Did they encounter His presence? When the music is so loud that your brain is overwhelmed with a wall of sound, I don’t see how. Spiritual power comes from prayer, in the quiet place. Prayer meetings are not spectacles; rock stars generally avoid them. Maybe that’s why they’ve vanished from so many churches.
“By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored.”
– Leviticus 10:3
“These I will bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.”
Isaiah 56:7
“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
Matthew 21:12-13
We’re on dangerous ground when we start treating God like a rock star, expecting Him to put on a show to entertain us. We might as well ask Jesus to jump off a roof. How can anyone take God seriously when football games are playing in the church? Bringing entertainment into the church has made it just another entertainment option. Topics like porn, sex, sin, hell, or spiritual warfare, ahh, well, that’s not fun. Prayer meetings? This is America. We’re too sophisticated for that.
We like the big Christians name with hundreds of thousands of followers, some who expect to be treated like rock stars. Jim Cymbala, senior pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle in NY, writes:
“I am dismayed at the contracts required by some contemporary Christian musical groups. To perform a concert at your church, the stated fee will be in either four or five figures, plus round-trip airfare—often in first class, not coach. Every detail of the accommodations is spelled out, down to “sushi for twenty persons” waiting at the hotel, in one case. All this is done so that the group can stand before an inner-city audience and exhort the people to “just trust the Lord for all your needs.”
Yet the churches that hold prayer meetings often find it hard to get a handful of God’s people to show up. Francis Chan shares the following:
“Years ago, my friend from India drove me to a speaking engagement in Dallas. When he heard the music and saw the lights, he said, “You Americans are funny. You won’t show up unless there’s a good speaker or band. In India, people get excited just to pray. He proceeded to tell me how believers back home love communion and how they flock to simple prayer gatherings. David Platt echoes this. ‘I am struck by our reliance upon having just the right speaker and just the right musician who can attract the most people to a worship service.’”
Does “flocking to a prayer meeting” describe your experience with other believers or your church? I can’t help wondering how many from the church we visited last weekend, or who attended the Christian rock concert pictured above, would be excited about attending a prayer meeting where there would be no band, entertainment, speaker system, or noise. Effective, spirit-filled prayer meetings tend to have stretches of silence.
In a prayer meeting, God is the main attraction.
Who is the main attraction at your church?
Around 20 years ago I attended a church service I’ll never forget in Colorado Springs. They had a guest from England speak that day. It didn’t take long to see he was living on a different plane than the rest of us. There was an uncommon quiet strength about him; peace mingled with fire. There were no jokes to set up the faithful, no playing games. It was clear that he was a sold-out follower of Christ. This is the mark of someone who spends ample time in prayer and has made God their all. Whether the crowd is entertained or happy doesn’t enter their mindset. They share the message God gives them, no matter how it lands and without regard to self. This death of self is what gives the Holy Spirit free reign to speak through them in power and conviction.
“When we say, “What a wonderful personality, what a fascinating person, and what wonderful insight!” then what opportunity does the gospel of God have through all of that? It cannot get through, because the attraction is to the messenger and not the message. If a person attracts through his personality, that becomes his appeal. If, however, he is identified with the Lord Himself, then the appeal becomes what Jesus Christ can do. The danger is to glory in men, yet Jesus says we are to lift up only Him.”
– Oswald Chambers
It’s important that every believer steps back from time to time, takes a hard look at the Bible, and filters their life, their relationship with God, and their church experience through Scripture and asks the hard questions. Does this really line up with God’s word? What is the fruit of it? How does God see this? Am I really walking with Him and is He truly the first love of my life? What is He asking me to do now?
I encourage you to read the book of Acts. Then take a look at your church and your walk.
An entertainment and comfort driven church is going to be prone to churning out lukewarm believers. You don’t want to be a part of that crowd.
“Most of us live only within the level of consciousness— consciously serving and consciously devoted to God. This shows immaturity and the fact that we’re not yet living the real Christian life. Maturity is produced in the life of a child of God on the unconscious level, until we become so totally surrendered to God that we are not even aware of being used by Him. When we are consciously aware of being used as broken bread and poured-out wine, we have yet another level to reach— a level where all awareness of ourselves and of what God is doing through us is completely eliminated. A saint is never consciously a saint— a saint is consciously dependent on God.”
– Oswald Chambers
