Newness

Sometimes, we need a change.  Whether it’s a new haircut, new clothing, new house, or even a new look for your blog–we all enjoy the effect of variety.  Our houses of worship often implement the latest in audio and visual technology so that the message of the Bible is clearly and effectively communicated.  Change can be very good.

When it comes to worship, however, change often comes to a grinding halt.  We have our traditions, passed down through at least decades and perhaps centuries, that we cling to tenaciously.  Now, don’t get me wrong–traditions can be very good.

There comes a point, two of them actually, where these traditions and methods can be very bad: (1) when they are discarded solely for the sake of relevance or (2) when they are discounted, mostly unintentionally, by their “vain repetition.”

I have a message for churches in one of these categories: you are grievously hurting the cause of Jesus Christ through your heartless worship and self-indulgence!  Your worship is heartless if you are simply going through the motions of liturgy without focusing your attention of the Object of your worship.  Your worship is filled with self-indulgence if you are consumed with the “latest and greatest” faddish- and performance-based approach to worship without consideration of the maturing of the flock of God or your Divine audience.

One of the reasons I can’t stand seeker-sensitive ministries is because they appear to obsessed with one thing: giving people what they want.  Such a man-focused ministry results in spiritually anemic believers.  These churches are great at attracting crowds and do some things quite well (like facilitating relational ministry) but so many of their people are easily shaken in their faith and have not been taught to discern.  Many of them are carnal Christians, who enjoy the privileges of their spiritual family but also like to be “of” the world.  I fear that many of them will say “Lord, Lord” but will be turned away from Paradise because they do not really know the Lord.  They are self-indulgent rather than self-debasing.  The issue is pride.

There is another type of ministry, however, that is more subtle in its vice.  This type of ministry looks pretty neat and clean on the outside, but their church meetings are more of a “sacred club” than an appointment with God.  The content of their liturgy and worship is theologically sound, but the expression of their worship is dead.  Stoicism is masked in terms such as “reverent” and “sober” when the reality is that there is little worship taking place.  These types of churches hold to the ancient without embracing the modern.  They dwell on what has been to the exclusion of what is.  They are afraid of contemporary culture because of their fear that it will overwhelm their congregation with its sinful attractions.  And so they avoid it–almost completely.  They take their error one step further however: they call their worship authentic and discount any other ministries who would embrace a more contemporary or relevant expression or methodology in their worship.  They believe themselves to be more holy because of their tradition.  And thus, their error is the same as the first example: pride.  They have embraced the error of the Pharisees–that tradition can rise to the same level of importance as doctrine itself.

As I survey the ecclesiastical landscape today, I see many churches falling into both extremes.  And yet, if both are indeed wrong, there must be a proper approach to worship in 2006.  I believe that approach is sourced in a single word: newness.

The Christian life has always been about its unique newness.  The Psalms are replete with mentions of the new song (Psalm 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1).  I have to stop here and correct a teaching which has permeated much of fundamentalism through a book by Tim Fisher entitled “The Battle for Christian Music.”  Before I address the issue, I want to say that Tim Fisher is a wonderful Christian man.  I have no reason at all to doubt his motivation in ministry or passion for Christ.  I thoroughly enjoy just about everything his company has produced.  However, his chapter on “The New Song Principle” offers as its premise that whenever the “new song” is used in Scripture it refers to a new quality of music, not a new kind of music.  I agree with him to a point.  The “new” rope used on Samson was not a special kind of rope.  The “new” cart used to pull the Ark of the Covenant wasn’t a special kind of cart.  They were just new, never used.  They were fresh.  However, in every illustration he uses from that point on, he uses the “new song principle” to talk about a new kind of music–a music that doesn’t remind the believer of the old way of life.   Fisher creates a paradox for Bible students: he correctly defines the Hebrew word for “new” but then uses it in exactly the way he did NOT define the word.  What is the new song principle?  Simply, that we are to sing songs that are new–not a new kind of music necessarily, but rather new compositions.  Church who are bound to traditionalism are often suspect of new compositions, even from God-fearing believers.  Churches given to self-indulgence will discard all songs of the past for the newest songs being written.  We are, however, commanded to sing both new songs to the Lord as well as the rich heritage of songs in our history.  There is a balance.

Paul teaches us not to serve by the “oldness of the letter” but rather by the “newness of the spirit” (Romans 7:6).  Christ’s inauguration of the New Covenant brings in things that are qualitatively “newer,” expressed in such basic concepts as new wineskins, new teaching, new commandment, new creation, new man, new name, new song, new Jerusalem and all things new (Rev. 21:5).  According to 2 Corinthians 5:17, to the Christian all things are becoming new.  There is constant expectation of newness associated with the follower of Christ.  This must be applied to our church worship as well.  While we should not recklessly discard the good traditions of the past, we must also not discount songs that are new and reflect the qualitative newness of the Christian life.

If you are enslaved into a “only new” or “only old” mindset regarding the worship of God, you should repent of the pride which has infested your soul and interfered in the whole-hearted worship of God.  The question isn’t really whether your worship is “new” or “old”; rather, the question is why are you worshipping the way that you do?  Hearts that are enjoying the constant newness of the Christian life will find both contemporary and spontaneous expression of that newness as well as find identity and value in the hymns of days past.  God enjoys variety and desires that we find that variety in our worship as well.  Such variety is reflective of our Creator and our imitation of His attributes brings glory to Him.