God and the Irreverent Church

Pastors today have a tendency to deliver blasé messages that, at best, teach us merely how to walk through the world as good people. A particularly excellent message (for a modern pastor, anyway) might even expound on the way to treat our neighbors. But mostly we are taught how to manage our finances, what the qualifications are of a good church leader, or why we need to give to missions.

They rarely if ever teach us how to treat God.

This seems like a major oversight to me, considering the tremendous emphasis the bible places on treatment of God by God’s people. I mean, the bible does kind of go on and on about this particular subject, vigorously stressing the importance of treating God properly. This inculcation is especially made clear in Hebrews 12:28 ‘Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.’

Boom, there it is: Reverence and godly fear.

Sadly, we are no longer taught to revere God. There is remarkably, disturbingly, little respect shown for God during church services, let alone outside the church. We may honor Him with our mouths, but our hearts are, in truth, far from Him (Matthew 15:8).

And this appalling failure commences before church even starts, in the sanctuary. Years ago pastors would close the doors to the sanctuary before service began, with the understanding that those who entered through these doors would do it with mouths closed and hearts open. We were to enter God’s holy place with reverence, keeping silent before Him, meditating on His word. The term ‘sanctuary’ denotes a holy, or sacred, place. Today when you enter the church sanctuary you are assaulted by what sounds disturbingly like a middle school cafeteria; people are standing around yammering away, sipping their lattes, in a hubbub that is distinctly irreverent.

You find no respect for God in God’s house.

This may seem like a petty point to some, but it is indicative of a larger problem in modern Christian society, and it serves as a display of our disrespect toward our Creator: there is no longer any place where we show God the reverence He deserves.

For Christian piety and godly fear to thrive (and they must, or our faith will continue to crumble) we must find a place besides our bedroom, where we shut our mouths and honor God. In Leviticus 19:30 God commands His people: ‘You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.’ Ecclesiastes 5:2 commands us to rein in our blathering: ‘Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hasty before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few.’

If church services are classes for the Christian education, and our pastors are the teachers, then our Christian education is incomplete and our pastors are failing us.

Above all else in this world, we need to revere our God. It is clear that for some time now our ‘teachers’ and those in control of the church have been steadily relegating the Creator of the universe to the role of an impersonal ideal. This way God appears more acceptable to larger numbers of people (which means more money for those running the show). They figure that if they can whittle God down from His 'IN THE BEGINNING GOD' immeasurable self, to a generalized sense of good, then their attendance figures will increase, with an attendant increase in income. This is why church and religion have become big business.

And it all began with an improper irreverent view of Almighty God.

Think on this: Does your pastor permit idle chatter in the sanctuary before the start of services? Does he play loud obnoxious music—that focuses on us rather than on our Savior—that grieves God? (Amos 5:23). Does he fail to offer a moment of silence to permit the Holy Spirit to move through the assembly?

Is it possible your pastor is failing you, failing in his duty to you? If so, you might want to consider spending more time alone with God. Also, make it your duty to keep silent while you sit in your pew or chair at church, choosing to meditate on God’s great word before the services begin, instead of indulging in idle and irreverent chatter. Be an example of a reverent servant of God.