What's The Purpose?

(Author unknown)

An Old Farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home, and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the farmer, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”

“Praise choruses?” Said his wife. “What are those?”

“Oh they’re okay. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked his wife.

The farmer said, “Well it’s like this. If I were to say to you: ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:

Martha, Martha, Martha, oh, Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA,

the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows,

the white cows, the black and white cows,

the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn,

are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn,

the CORN, CORN, CORN.

“If I did that; then repeated the whole thing two or three times, well, that would be a praise chorus.”

(And now for the other side of the story)

A young, new Christian visited relatives one weekend and attended their small-town church. He came home, and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the young man, “it was good. They did something different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.”

“Hymns?” said his wife. “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like regular songs, only different,” said the young man.

“Well, what’s the difference?” Asked his wife.

The young man said, “Well, it’s like this. If I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well, that would be a regular song. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:

O Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry;

Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth;

Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by

To the righteous, inimitable, glorious, truth.

For the way of the animals who can explain;

There in their heads is no shadow of sense.

Hearkenest they in God’s sun or His rain,

Unless from mild, tempting corn they are

Fenced.

Yea, those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,

Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens

Eschewed.

Then goaded by minions of darkness and night,

They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.

So look to that bright shining day by and by,

Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn,

Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry

And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.

“Then, if I were to do only verses one, three, and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn.”

We laugh at this great analogy of how hymns or contemporary songs can be viewed based on cultural influences. But instead of giving a lesson on how culture changes our perception, I would like to talk about how particulars can distract us from our main purpose. I used the illustration from worship music, and for the sake of argument I will continue with the worship trend but like any proverb its moral is universally applied.

The styles of worship music have been widely debated but the problem is not with the style, archaism, or repetition of music. Those are specifics. The problem is defining what the purpose of worship is. When we reflect on the purpose it will reveal more truth. But sadly we many times just assume the purpose without carefully analyzing it.

For example, here are two false purposes attributed to worship music: One, music has been viewed as mostly secular and two, worship has been viewed as mostly religious. Both are common misconceptions that are not true but because no one addresses the purpose they become commonly accepted.

Music is not mostly secular. In actuality, there is no sacred secular divide with music. By this I mean music is neither sinful nor holy. Truth, it is what you make it. Music can be used as one of many tools to amplify the worshipful experience or it can be used to prolong an emotional fantasy. The music will reflect what you want to make it and amplify that desire. This is why it is more important to understand what worship is because music will only embellish your preconceived idea.

Worship is not just for the religious but worship is a predetermined fate. Everyone worships because everyone chooses. The lifestyle you choose determines what you worship. Everything that chooses immediately has the obligation to worship something. Even in the crazy form of deciding not to worship, you still choose, therefore you worship still. Your form of worship is simply pleasing yourself because you see your decision as the highest form of choice and therefore you obey your impulses. This is an abstract concept that many don't understand. But until we understand our purpose as worshipers, we will always debate about the particulars of worship songs.

Your purpose for worship is simple. It is experiencing God or the work of his hands and responding.

If you aren't experiencing God or you don't have an idea of what to worship God for, then how can you worship someone you don't know, experience, or even enjoy? Many people don't enjoy God. I love John Crowder's quote from his book, The Esctasy of Loving God. He says, "The thing from which you derive the most pleasure is the very thing you worship." I know many Christians who don't find pleasure in God. This makes me wonder if they are experiencing the same God I am because my God gives me enjoyment and fulfillment. I can worship Jesus and I can do it for hours, days on end. It's my life. My God gives me purpose.

In conclusion, I challenge you to let go of the nitpicking and go to the root or purpose of your given situation. Hopefully you will find the Creator and the work of His hands and worship Him.

Short story from:

Kraeuter, Tom. Guiding Your Church Through a Worship Transition: A Practical Handbook for Worship Renewal. Lynnwood, WA: Emerald Books, 2003. (pages 163-165 Guiding your church through a worship transition by Tom Kraeuter)

STEP OUTSIDE

Ancient pagan societies worshiped the sun because they realized the sun’s importance to their survival. In fact, because many early civilizations were agricultural they depended on the sunny whether as their primary food source. Through natural human logic they reasoned they had to worship something that was more powerful than them. In other words, they realized they could not survive without the sun therefore it served as a higher entity that deserved higher recognition.

Even as time passed and cultures evolved there was still this same concept that the ancient pagans had but it manifested differently: ancient mythology, the feudal system, the great chain of being, kings, and popes, etcetera. The overarching theme is, because you are bigger and more powerful, I depend on you and I will worship you.

Our 21st century way of living has become so self-centric and self-dependent that we have rebelled against the recognition of any power bigger or greater than our self. Though, we still use the same sun, as the ancient pagans, we now think that it is all about us and therefore we have no obligation to give merit or appreciation to it for our survival. Our position of dependency hasn’t changed but our reaction to this reality has. Modern day citizens worship an even smaller god now than the sun, they worship themselves. We have relied on our knowledge and enlightened minds to carry us to the place of deity. Instead of critically identifying our dependency upon these greater powers, we’ve rationalize them away and reasoned that they are in place only for our own satisfaction.

It amazes me how humans can be surrounded by a complex and powerful creation whether huge brawny trees, ferocious waves, shooting stars, or category 5 hurricanes and yet still dedicate most of our time to worrying about minute things that get us nowhere in life. Instead, I think, we should be completely amazed at creation, its immensity and our dependency to it. Moreover, today, we have reduced the grandeur of life into a small self-absorbed reality that pertains to nothing outside of our work schedule, family, or church.

How foolish!

The sun keeps everyone warm and gives every living thing energy or life as we know it. It displays a picturesque array of colors in the sky when combined with our atmosphere. Approximately one million earths can fit inside of the sun. According to Mike Rushford, “4.5 pounds of sunlight hits the earth each second.” Our sun is only a medium size star, yet it is about 109 times wider than the earth!

Many people go about the course of the evening with only a small recognition of the sun’s importance to their survival and its vast actuality. We’d much rather meditate on things in our sphere of control like: chores, hunger, relational acceptance, entertainment, and overall pleasure, then be grateful in the trust and grace of something much bigger than us.

Imagine fighting a star. You would disintegrate within 180 million Km, let alone up close and personal. Our selfish mindset provides a perfect façade for fear and worry to entrap us. We live in a selfish reality that doesn’t line up with what is really happening around us. Yes, we might be able to out think a sun but believe me a sun is more powerful than what I will ever be. When we serve our self and don’t give appreciation to the greater things that give us survival, we are endowed to live in fear, constant worry, and denial.

I don’t encourage anyone to worship creation, like James Cameron's award winning movie Avatar insinuates, because we know that a star, a tree, and creation in general can be beautiful and powerful but in reality, it can’t hear or appreciate our praise, even if we gave it. Creation, at times, might have more power but it’s not like it chooses to prolong our life! No, there is one greater who controls and who created these gigantic entities. He wants our worship. He wants us to live in peace and trust in Him. His name is Jesus Christ, and he came to restore us to our right mind.

Back up, get out of this weird mentality that life is all about you and embrace the high probability that there is a God that loves you and has created these huge powerful and beautiful things to save you from living a purposeless life of living only for yourself. Those of you who know YHWH yet still live in this false reality of self-idolatry; wake up, because even pagans worship an unknown sun-god. Why do you still not entrust your life to the LORD of Life? Who are you in comparison to the Son?

The Passive Critic

There is a passive critic movement! This sounds like an oxymoron but through the resources of technology and specifically the internet, it has become possible to sit on your duff and still let your voice be heard to the entire world. This movement has been fueled by the internet and as a result it has created a bunch of passive mud-slinging cowards. I first have to explain to you what a passive critic is:


The passive critic always points out the problems but never comes up with solutions to fix them. In fact, he never intends to fix the problem; instead because he is displeased with himself, he uses destructive words to pull others into the same hole he currently wallows in. Many of our present day internet writers have become just that, destructive with their words and unproductive in their actions. We have 15 year olds telling Dr’s how to do the operation and we have agnostic bozos trying to give lectures on spiritual truths. They have no real answers, only complaints, and their own insecurity leaks into the fine print of every blog, email, chat-room, and excerpt they share to the world.


Every tool should be used to perform a task but since when did writing become the task of destruction? Even the dialectics pushed on towards a greater synthesis! But ever increasingly the negative critic of today uses destructive tactics to “out-scream”, “out-charm”, and “out-humor” the voice of anyone who has a solution to the world’s problems. “I want an answer!” He taunts about the church, “But not yours!” The passive critic is happy with his false-knowing that everyone is wrong but himself.


Since when has writing a solution become offensive? In today’s generation we cheer for the man who admits he knows nothing and we condone the man who speaks of absolute truth. The passive critic rejoices when others fail to be right because according to him, no one is right and the “no one is right” group is always right! Therefore, the main job for him is to ridicule, criticize, and destroy everyone who claims to know “the solution.” The power of life and death is in the tongue, yet we congratulate those that speak death by nominating them “most honest writer of the year”. Why illuminate the problems when you could be thinking about the solution? And yes, I know the solution. And yes, you should know the solution too but I will get into that later.


It has gotten so bad that today if you don’t speak about how the earth is going to hell in a hand basket you aren’t considered credible to some degree. We laugh at this with the extreme examples such as, global warming or the nihilistic movement but even through humor we have embraced this behavior. Negative humor has become so destructive that it quenches the true creativity that only comes through encouragement and absolute truth.


Who is brave enough anymore to claim a thesis of absolutes? The destructive movement is invading our culture but most importantly it has invaded our college campuses and is attempting to keep God’s truth out of education. In the education realm we’ve categorize people who believe in absolutes as narrow-minded and immature. Yet the entire purpose of education is to understand and you cannot have understanding without absolute truth.


It is about time that the unashamed, unafraid, “fools”, according to the world, step up and claim CHRIST as the solution. We have been taught it at church but it is now that the WORD becomes Flesh in our lives. Let us no longer talk about the problems or talk about the solution but let us LIVE the LIFE that Christ has called us to live. Be transformed by Christ; by the renewing of your mind and you will see heaven come to earth because the kingdom of God is inside all those who are born again. The world longs for a solution and CHRIST is that solution. Christ dwells in us, so we now must be the light of men. (John 1:3) Invite the power of God to cultivate your life for the sake of others. Stop discouraging and stop ridiculing, if you don’t have a solution, shut up... You are no help to the human race or the kingdom of God. You are selfish and you are being used by Satan to destroy the work of God.This is the time the Bride of Christ will rise and be glorified by GOD.


I write this to you with my deepest convictions as the Lord has revealed it to his servant.