{"id":42252,"date":"2022-01-20T15:53:42","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T21:53:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=42252"},"modified":"2022-01-20T15:53:42","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T21:53:42","slug":"worship-or-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/worship-or-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"Worship or Entertainment?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Bob Prichard<\/p>\n

\"\"In our entertainment-oriented culture, many churches find themselves trying to ‘outdo’ themselves with more and more elaborate additions to worship. What began as special music by a choir becomes a full orchestra with professional soloists. A dramatic reading necessitates a full Broadway stage production. And as long as those who come to worship enjoy what is offered, anything goes. The expectation is that sermons will be shorter, wittier, and more uplifting. Anything in worship that cannot be ‘jazzed up’ must be abandoned as boring – and there is nothing worse than being boring, we are led to believe.<\/p>\n

The problem with this entertainment orientation is that the very object of worship is forgotten. God is the ‘audience’ in worship. Jesus told the Samaritan woman that ignorant worship was unacceptable to God, even though it may have been sincere or enjoyable. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth<\/em>” (John 4:24). To worship God in spirit and truth means that worship must be from the heart, not just outward acts and that it must be done in exact obedience to God’s commands. The worship must be directed to Him, not to the whims of the worshipers.<\/p>\n

God’s regulations for worship as set out in the New Testament are neither boring nor out of date. They are God-centered, while entertainment is man-centered.<\/p>\n

There is nothing wrong with the worshiper enjoying worship. God intended worship to bless His children. But when worship is merely window dressing for an entertaining performance, it cannot please God. The apostle warned, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God<\/em>” (II John 1:9). Paul condemned things that “have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship<\/em>” (Colossians 2:23). ‘Will worship’ is that worship fashioned after man’s desires.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bob Prichard In our entertainment-oriented culture, many churches find themselves trying to ‘outdo’ themselves with more and more elaborate additions to worship. What began as special music by a choir becomes a full orchestra with professional soloists. A dramatic reading necessitates a full Broadway stage production. And as long as those who come to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[759,152,84],"class_list":["post-42252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-entertainment","tag-social-activities","tag-worship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40063,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/worship-as-entertainment\/","url_meta":{"origin":42252,"position":0},"title":"Worship as Entertainment","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mark Roberts via\u00a0Abundant Life Romans 1 challenges us with its chilling words \"they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man\" (vv. 22-23). Man has the propensity to change God and the worship of God into what he desires. Instead\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Entertainment-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":81545,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-entertainment-and-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":42252,"position":1},"title":"What is the difference between entertainment and worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Minister, My question to you is, can you kindly explain the difference between true worship and Christian concerts using sufficient Bible passages? I have friends in various denominations who attend concerts organized by various so-called Christian bodies, where gospel singers are invited to perform and do all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67837,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/worship-weariness\/","url_meta":{"origin":42252,"position":2},"title":"Worship Weariness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Abernathy Malachi said Israel was weary, bored, and tired of worship. (Malachi 1: 13). It was too demanding and had become a grievous chore rather than an exalted privilege, a burden instead of a blessing. Fast forward to today. Many want shorter sermons, with less Scripture and more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23279,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-virtual-choirs-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":42252,"position":3},"title":"Are virtual choirs wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, With the advent of social media, we hear about these virtual choirs. Do Christians have the authority to do virtual choirs and post them on Facebook? Doesn't this constitute entertainment because they have an audience? Answer: I can play the card game Solitaire and find it entertaining, even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15946,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-group-choir-sing-if-it-is-after-the-worship-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":42252,"position":4},"title":"Can a group (choir) sing if it is after the worship service?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a member of the church of Christ and I want to know is group singing OK during a fellowship? Of course, the fellowship service is dismissed and then the group singing begins. Can you please help me with this? Answer: Your terminology is confusing to me because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2380,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-pursue-a-career-singing-pop-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":42252,"position":5},"title":"Can I pursue a career singing pop music?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can I pursue a singing career in pop music? I have an opportunity to get myself out there, but I would like to know if it is OK to pursue a career in entertainment because I don't want to lose my soul. Please, I would love an answer. I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}