The Big Diehl

I am “for” Expressive Worship. One of the greatest things about expressive worship is the emotion that often comes with it. Emotion is most certainly a way that we can worship God (see the scriptures listed in the post prior to this). We worship God with our emotions, but we do not worship God because of our emotions. That’s an important difference. We should worship God whether we feel like it or not. Sometimes in our Christian walks, we have “high spots.”

I think all Christians can relate to the high spots.

Some Christians go on a missions trip, have an amazing God-encounter, and then come home and within a few days or weeks everything is just like it was before the trip. What a waste.

The most common example is probably church camp. I recently heard one young man refer to it as a “camp high,” where you have a massive God-encounter at camp and come home and everything goes back to the way it was before. He came back from church camp excited because he did not experience a “camp high.” He said he did not want a “camp high” because there was just emotion attached to it. He is not alone. I’ve heard this attitude over and over again — people don’t want a “high spot” because it goes back to the way it was and is surrounded on emotions.

Every time I hear that I feel sick. Seriously — I just puked a little bit in my mouth. That’s stupid, folks.

The stupid thing is NOT the mountain top experience. We should strive to give God everything we have and to have mountain-top, emotion-filled experiences. Mountain-top, emotion-filled experiences are all throughout the Bible. If we read through it quickly without chewing on it, we fail to realize the emotion that occurred in some of the Bible stories. When the Ark of the Covenant came into Jerusalem, David danced naked — certainly that was a result of emotion! There are numerous examples of the disciples’ emotional responses after their encounters with Christ in the gospels. People that were healed got up and danced and shouted about how they were just healed. Kings ripped off their clothes and and covered themselves with ashes to be humble before God — certainly there was emotion there. They all worshiped with their emotions! We should seek God-encounters and embrace the emotions that may occur with it. That’s not stupid.

The stupid thing is that people let their life go back to the way it was before. What a complete waste! The examples in the Bible of people who had mountain-top experiences — those experiences changed their lives. We need mountain top experiences — its part of life. When you have a God-encounter take advantage of it. Maybe there is emotion involved . . . there probably is! Who gives a rip? It’s a God encounter! Are there seriously Christians who are so intellectual that they will avoid a God encounter if emotions are involved? That’s sad, but its true.

I realize some people are more emotional than others. The emotion “standard” is not “jump six times, raise hands for 10 minutes, and shout during the songs.” That mindset is exactly why “emotion” has a sour taste to many Christians. The emotion “standard” is that we each appropriately express what is on the inside of us. I am “for” Expressive Worship, even if it includes emotion. The line is crossed however, when the emotion becomes the worship. We worship God with our emotions.

This is a tangent from my current “Top 10 Things I Am ‘For’” blog series, but I’m so excited I had to put it up right now.

We all know Evel Knievel. He had a reputation of being wild! Drugs, alcohol, women, partying — you name it. I just read read that his wife had given him the book, “The Case For Christ,” and he read it. In his own words, “I just got on my knees and prayed that God would put His arms around me and never, ever, ever let me go.” Evel gave his testimony of Salvation last Easter Sunday at a large church in Florida – and over 500 people committed their lives to Christ as a response to his testimony. Way Cool.

I am “for” expressive worship. Yesterday I talked about how worship is our response to God. We respond with our expressions. Worship without an expression isn’t worship at all!

I think the key to expressing our worship is to simply express what it on the inside of us; responding to our savior. There are many ways to express our worship to God. Let me list a few of them:

Sacrifice. (Rom. 12:1-2, Heb. 13:15, 1 Pet. 2:5, Psm. 51:17).

With Our Spirit AND Mind. (1 Cor. 14:15-17)

With Our Emotions. (Ps. 47:1, Phil. 4:4, Ps. 46:10, Hab. 2:20)

With Physical Expressions. Kneeling or bowing in worship or reverence (Phil. 2:9-10, Micah 6:6-8). Lifting hands (Lam. 3:40-41; Ps. 63:3-4). Dancing with joy (Ps. 149:3). These are just a few descriptions –I do not believe there is a limit to them at all. However it may be interesting to note the emotion that is involved with nearly every physical expression.

With Our Lives. “If you are not a private worshipper, you will not likely be a public worshipper. You may go to church, and go through all the motions. But you will not likely really worship. Trying to worship publicly, not having worshipped privately, is like the dry heaves: You are trying to bring up something you don’t have in you.” – Paul Faulkner.

The most important expression we can give to God should be seen by the way we live our lives. Let your life be an expression of worship. Worship cannot exist without an expression.

I’m not focused on what I’m against. I am for Expressive Worship.

Tomorrow I will make a post specifically about the “emotion” expression. I’m dedicating a post specifically to the “emotion” expression because I think its often misunderstood and misconstrued. I’ve been working on it for months, literally (so please read the whole thing!). I’m pumped!

I am “for” expressive worship. Seeing as I’m a worship pastor and this is at the core of my daily focus, I thought it would be alright if I do a few blog posts on the 8th thing that I am “for.” This is the first of three parts.

Worship is a relationship that takes place between us and God. Who is the instigator of this relationship?

John 4:23 says that God is seeking out worshipers. God is seeking us! Humans instinctively find some object of full spiritual devotion. At the point where the sought (that’s us) realize the unmatched worth of the seeker, combustion (our worship) will occur.

Because of this I believe that God starts the worship relationship. Worship is our response to God. Has God done anything at all for you? Does God mean anything to you? If he does, then respond to Him!

For you intellectuals out there, this “response” model can be seen all throughout the Psalms. I call it the “Why-How” model. Take Psalms 100 for example. The first four verses describe a response to the attributes of God in verse 5.

This isn’t about what I’m against — I am for Expressive Worship.

I am “for” tithes and offerings.

There’s no need to re-say what I’ve already said. Refresh your memory and read my blunt post on tithing here.

I’m not talking about what I’m against. I am for tithes and offerings. I’ve tried it. It works. I will continue to be consistent in my giving until I’m dead. I’m closing comments on this particular post because I want to transfer the conversation to the other post. Go over there and post comments.

I am “for” bible chewing.

So many Christians claim that they want to know God more, yet they have not read His Word! So many people claim that they want to hear God’s voice but they haven’t even looked in the Word — the very place where His Voice has been recorded! The Bible is a valuable treasure that we need to hang onto. Here’s some tips -

Read Hunks. In Richard Foster’s book, Streams of Living Water, he wrote, “The popular devotional practice of a brief Bible reading each morning is a little like trying to take a shower one drop at a time. Just as we simply cannot get a shower that way, we simply cannot become a biblically saturated person that way. So read entire sections of books of the Bible in one sitting.” He went on to say that it is far better to read hunks of scripture once a week than it is to read little portions of it each day. This makes a lot of sense if you’d think about it. We can misunderstand scripture without understanding the context by which it was written.

Memorize Hunks. A lot of people memorize individual verses such as Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Although this isn’t all bad, I don’t think its most effective. If we memorize in hunks, then we’ll really digest the thought process of the author. If you would memorize and chew on the entire book of Philipians you would see that in Phil. 4:13, Paul clearly was not speaking of being able to do anything — but rather being able to stand firm in the midst of all adversity and persecution. See — chewing on hunks of scripture can even help you see the true meaning of a verse.

Bottom Line? We need to hide God’s word in our hearts! (Ps. 119:11) Knowing verses “word for word” isn’t the issue – but I don’t think JUST reading the Bible does the trick either. Chew on it — “memorize” it. I’m using the term “memorize” loosely because I think it can be a very prideful thing, but the important thing is that we chew on it — get everything you can out of the scriptures.

I’m not concerned with what I’m against. I am for Bible Memorization.

I hate it when Christians spend so much time telling everyone what they are against that its unclear what they are actually for. When sharing the message of salvation with someone, topics of evolution and abortion are completely irrelevant to the discussion — yet I’ve seen Christians try to evangelize by arguing about abortion.

I hate it when individual Christians do the same thing — usually its in the form of negative talk. Let’s pick our battles carefully. Yesterday I threw together a funny list of stuff I’m against; I intentionally didn’t spend a lot of time on it. Here’s todays list of the top ten things I am for:

10) Bible memorization.

9) Tithes and offerings.

8 ) Expressive Worship.

7) Budgets.

6) Honesty.

5) Church growth.

4) Attitude and Motive.

3) The Ministry of the Holy Spirit.

2) Mentoring through relationship.

1) Salvation.

I will discuss each of these ten things in more detail in the next ten blog posts.

10) Boring Meetings (ones where no preparations were made).

9) Long Grass.

8 ) Drugs.

7) Wardrobe malfunctions. Definitely against those.

6) Vegetarians.

5) Libertarians.

4) Those Penny Loafer shoes without a penny in them – that’s ridiculous! They’re called “PENNY Loafers” for a reason. It is so out of style to wear Penny Loafers without the penny. Geesh!

3) Hate, Gossip, Negativity, and Inconsistency.

2) Top Ten Lists.

1) Diet Soda.

I just received an email from a person that I really think highly of. They said, “You’re one of my favorite guys, Adam!” Do you have any idea how awesome that made me feel? I smiled hugely when I read that. And I’m still smiling. Wow. Talk about an ego boost – it wasn’t just somebody saying, “You’re cool” — it was coming from someone I really think highly of. His words contained so much power.

For somebody, YOU ARE the person that they really think highly of. You are the best in the world at something; and you can reach and connect with certain people better than anyone else in the world. Negative speakers say things that discourage others (can anyone say GOSSIP). Let’s try to be positive speakers and say things to people that will encourage others.

If you’re a negative speaker, KNOCK IT OFF!

If you’re listening to discouraging talk or gossip, let it stop with you!

By the way, covering up gossip as a prayer request is still gossip, “We need to pray for Susie, do you know what Susie did? I just can’t believe it . . .” That’s religionized gossip, but its still gossip.

Words contain power. Use with caution!

[In regards to your spiritual holiness . . .] “You never win when you compromise.”

-Bishop Paul E. Paino