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Contemporary Worship -A Final Appeal

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Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, 
1 Timothy 5:1 ESV

I close this week with an appeal to my fellow senior saints, or as my friend Dave Duncan calls us, fellow “Keen-agers.” God has graciously allowed us to live long and placed us individually in His church as He has seen best. I wholeheartedly agree with many of you, that I wish they would turn the volume down and that our young worship team would sing all the verses to the occasional hymn that they offer us. But then I remember how our Pastor preaches the gospel as straight-up from the Bibe as anyone I have sat under in the fifty plus years I have been a Christian. He and his wife have lived with integrity, raised three boys who are serving in the church and then adopted two more boys who were in foster care. I also recall that our church currently has a team of 25 members visiting a children’s ministry in Kenya which we have supported for over twenty years. More importantly, hundreds of people of not just our youth, but of every generation are led to faith in Christ and baptized each year. Sure, there are plenty of things I wish were different, but walking away and finding a quieter and more comfortable church that is doing little to carry the Gospel into our world is not an option for me. So, as I finish this series on finding, “What is Good in Contemporary Worship,” let me close with this: my favorite contemporary worship song that we sing at Generations Christian Church.

Sunday Meditations

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“He who loves the Lord, loves also the assemblies in which His name is adored.” Charles Spurgeon

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV

While we often take these verses of Paul’s letter to be his counsel for our individual lives, they are better and more fully understood when we remember he was writing to the church. What better way to go to church this morning than to carry these words as a treasure in our hearts? Pray always and give thanks together, no matter what we are facing. These two will be the bookends that hold all the rest of our meeting together and are God’s best and highest desire for us as we gather together on His special day.

Heaven’s Beauty Shop

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After my grandfather came from Italy, he became a barber and all six of his children had to pitch in to help in the shop. That shop was where my dad learned his barbering. As a young man dad went off to the war and after coming home settled on opening a beauty salon. On Mondays, dad closed the store for cleaning and while I helped sweep the floors and clean the chairs, we had some of our best talks. Dad loved telling stories and one of his favorites was how many of the ladies washed their hair before coming in, even though they knew he would wash it again. They just couldn’t stand the idea of him seeing that their hair dirty! Now you might think that silly, but sometimes we do the same thing when we go to church. Think of church as Heaven’s beauty shop, where God has a message and fellowship prepared for us that can help us with our dirty hair and give us a loving style again. But instead, of coming to ask God for His help, we decide that we better get ourselves washed up at home, so maybe He won’t notice. Even crazier is that, unlike dad’s clientele, we do not even have to pay the bill. Instead, God has chosen to pay in advance at Calvary, for everything we have ever done. He is not angry when we come with our needs and problems, instead He is ready to wash away our sin and exchange it for grace and beauty and leaves us a new lifestyle. Then, He proudly shows anyone who wants to know that our hair as well as our soul is squeaky clean and ready for Heaven! The hymn “Just as I Am”, reminds us how Jesus calls us to come.