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Entertainment or Worship?

By Wayne Rodgers

In a world of great confusion, how does the honest person find his way through all of the religious teaching of the day to “get to the bottom of it?”  We live in the “entertainment age” today.  This idea has taken over the church in many places, because people want to be entertained and feel good about what they are doing. However, our very purpose is to worship God. Consider: Rev. 4:11, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Somewhere we have went wrong in our thinking.  We have become selfish in thinking that while we are giving our very best worship to God, we should be entertained as well.  Where is the Bible authority for that?  John 4:23-24 says, “But the hour cometh and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him, must worship Him in spirit and truth.”  These verses say nothing about our entertainment. It tells us to worship “in spirit” which has to do with our attitude.  Are we approaching God sincerely, reverently, spiritually?  The verses tell us also that our worship is to be “in truth.”  In other words, we should be willing to do what God has commanded, particularly the New Testament.  Instead man has improvised and added that which has become entertainment to man, not worship to God. Our task should be to reverentially approach God in a way that brings glory and honor and praise to God.  We do so according to truth.  May we have the respect and attitude of David:  “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD” (Psalm 122:1).

So that we might be pleasing to God, let us worship the Creator with the right attitude and according to His word.  It provides the means by which we learn of God’s will and are then given the opportunity to show that we believe by our obedience (Heb. 5:8-9; John 8:32; 1 Pet. 1:22).