May/June 2004
HE ASKED ME TO REMIND YOU
Convictions Cause Division!
by Steve Brown| Do you think that the worship in your church causes the angels to cover their ears and run or, on the other hand, puts them to sleep? |
Do you know the difference between a worship leader
and a terrorist?
You can negotiate with a terrorist!
If you have ever served on the worship committee, on a worship team,
as a worship leader, on the leadership/elder/deacon board, as a pastor, a Sunday School teacher, a youth pastor
or as a visible member of your church, then you have probably been involved
in “worship wars.” That’s where people with very strong
convictions about worship, in general, and what is appropriate in music,
in particular, decide that their convictions are worth dying for—and
sometimes do.
Have you been wounded in the worship wars? Do you have scars? Have you
left a church over those wars? Do you think that the worship in your
church causes the angels to cover their ears and run or, on the other
hand, puts them to sleep?
Well, Steve, you’re thinking, so you’ve finally decided to
address the subject of worship.
Are you crazy? Do I have “stupid” written on my forehead?
There are some hills on which I would be willing to die and the “worship
hill” is not one of them. I already have a whole lot of people
angry with me about a whole lot of stuff—and I don’t need to add
to it. Besides, I’m not even a pastor anymore.
They pay pastors to deal with that sort of thing and that’s way above my
pay scale. I don’t go to church meetings at which those things
are decided anymore; and there isn’t enough money in the church budget
to get me to serve on a worship
committee.
Some of my friends are on the traditional side of the worship wars, and
some of my friends are on the contemporary side of the worship wars.
I… uh…well…I stand with my friends.
And that brings me to the point. What I want to say applies to a whole
lot of areas in which Christians are divided.
First, let me give you a truism: Convictions, by their very nature, cause
division. The only people who fight are people who believe that there
is something about which to fight.
Therefore, those of us who are convinced as conservative evangelicals,
as Calvinists, as Armenians, as Dispensationalists, etc. must be very
careful that the hills on which we die are the hills on which God would
have us to die. The trick is to know the difference between a hill on
which God would have us to die and a hill on which God would, as it were,
want us to have a picnic. The trick is to know the difference.
How do you know which hill is worth dying on or, better yet, which hill
God would call you to fight and to die on? I’m not sure I have
all the answers to that question. In fact, I’m not sure I have
very many answers. When I do, ask me again. I will, at that time, speak
from Sinai. And if, at that time, you should contradict me, we’ll
have a war.
And that’s the problem, isn’t it? We sin because we are sinners
and, because we are sinners, we fight with our brothers and sisters in
Christ. There are, I think, some particular sins that play into this
subject of wars between Christians, and I want to mention some of those.
I think it is best for me to name my sins in this area and, if you can
identify with my sins, you might repent and become a spiritual giant
like me.
Sorry.
The Holy Spirit just reminded me that, while I’m more aware of
my sins than I was, I haven’t been fixed yet. So, let me confess
some things to you. Maybe we can be guilty together.
First, I love to be right. I can’t tell you how much I like to
win arguments and to be proven right. My favorite phrase is, “I
told you so,” and I use it as often as I possibly can. It’s
not just in the areas of doctrine and theology—it’s about
everything. One time I drove 20 miles in the wrong direction just so
I wouldn’t have to admit to my wife that I was lost. I guess I
thought that if I drove fast enough in the wrong direction, it would
become the right direction. (Let me teach you something about driving
and about life: Making really good time in the wrong direction doesn’t
change the fact that it’s the wrong direction.)
There is an interesting account in Acts 15 of an early church fight.
(Oh yes, the early Christians were sinners, too.) You will find there
an account of the first major church gathering, dealing with a major division in the church. But, at the end of that account, there is a statement
by Luke that is quite puzzling: “And there arose a sharp disagreement,
so that they separated from each other” (v. 39). It turned out
that both Paul and Barnabas were right in their convictions because God
honored both of them. The world is big enough for both of them to be
right and to be wrong.
Second, I love to be self-righteous. Self-righteousness is a wonderful drug, and I must confess
that I’m addicted to it. I think that Pharisees are killing the
church, and that their legalism is destroying the joy of Christians.
I believe that their arrogance and false purity is an abomination directly from the pit of hell. And you have
no idea how good it makes me feel to say that.
Third, I love to be right and righteous in God’s name. If I can
baptize my self-righteousness and my need to be right, then I can become a mighty warrior for him. Pagans fight because they also like
to be right and righteous. We fight because we are being right and righteous
in God’s name.
Jesus said to the most religiously committed people of his time, the
people who had major—and most of the time—proper convictions, “You
also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of
hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:28). On another occasion,
he said that if our goodness didn’t exceed theirs (and they were
really good), we couldn’t even get into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew
5:20).
I’m running out of space here; but, of course, the answer is Jesus.
The closer we are to him, the closer we are to one another. The more
we are loved and forgiven, the easier it is to love and forgive. The
more we see him in all of his glory and power, the less important our
glory and power. The more we worship him as the King, the less need we
have to rule. It is not about me (and that’s my problem); it is
about him.
Yeah, convictions are very important. Truth does divide and taking a
stand is often a judgment of stands taken by others. The eternal verities
of the Christian faith are absolute and should never be compromised.
(For those of us who are theological conservatives, those are fewer than
we think; for theological liberals, those are far more numerous than
you might think.) There are some hills on which we should die.
But there are also hills that weren’t meant for battles.
How do you know the difference? Just ask me and I’ll tell you.
But in case you aren’t about to do that, let me tell you how:
If you really don’t care whether you are right or wrong but only
care for God’s truth…
…
if you aren’t prideful about being right…
…
and if you refuse to baptize your views and do battle in the name of
Jesus…
…
then you’ll know.
He asked me to remind you.
—
Steve Brown