by Dennis Abernathy<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to today. Many want shorter sermons, with less Scripture and more wit, less identification and exposure of sin, and smooth speech with less doctrinal content. People don’t want to be reminded of their sins. Calls for modesty, faithfulness, and godly living are held in disdain. Social drinking is justified, sexual immorality is becoming the norm, and gambling is becoming an epidemic. Entertainment has become our religion, and religion our entertainment! Many avoid Bible classes and worship services to do other things they desire. Instead of “seeking first the kingdom of God<\/em>” (Matthew 6: 33), such is way down the priority list.<\/p>\n The prophet Isaiah echoed the same theme in Isaiah 43. In Isaiah 43:22, God said: “But you have not called upon Me…and you have been weary of Me, O Israel.<\/em>” Sadly, many of God’s people today have become weary of God’s ways and of the exertion and effort necessary to serve Him. But, the sad thing about “worship weariness” is that it wearies God. In Isaiah 43:24, God said: “But you have burdened Me with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities.<\/em>“<\/p>\n The Psalmist said: “I was glad when they said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord<\/em>” (Psalms 122: 1). How much better off we would be today if our attitude toward worship and service to God was the attitude expressed in this psalm. Worship should not be a weariness or burden but a joy and an attitude of gladness for the opportunity to worship our God, the Creator of the world.<\/p>\n Think on these things.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 wit, less identification and exposure…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[759,84,635],"class_list":["post-67837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-entertainment","tag-worship","tag-zeal"],"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":67837,"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":3274,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/restoring-gods-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":67837,"position":1},"title":"Restoring God’s Religion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: II Kings 18:1-6 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Without a doubt our society has slipped in its desire to follow God \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sin and the acceptance of sinful practice has become prevalent. We have convinced ourselves as a society to be proud of our tolerance of sin. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Churches are losing members. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In their panic,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42252,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/worship-or-entertainment\/","url_meta":{"origin":67837,"position":2},"title":"Worship or Entertainment?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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\/2022\/01\/entertainment-worship-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":57527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-evangelism-dying\/","url_meta":{"origin":67837,"position":3},"title":"Is Evangelism Dying?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Lloyd Gale In a recent column of the Christian Science Monitor, Michael Spencer wrote; \"We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billion dollars we have spent on our youth\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":81545,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-entertainment-and-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":67837,"position":4},"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":85515,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-a-standard-for-our-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":67837,"position":5},"title":"Is There a Standard for Our Worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dave Hart How shall we decide what should and should not be a part of our worship? A quick look at the religious world reveals many distinct worship practices and customs. Some hold that the activity of worship is not as important as the attitude of worship. Others maintain\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67837","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=67837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67837\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}