"God is spirit, and those who are worshipping Him must be worshipping in spirit and truth"
Johns Account 4: 24, Concordant New Testament
I recall one Sunday morning back in the day as I was preparing for another church service when I was approached by a good friend of my mothers who attended the same church. As I recall, she was very worried as she had just come back from a run before church and didn't have time to change clothes before services began. In her mind, far too many worshippers would be looking down on her "Non church" apparel, which made her pretty self conscious. I was reminded of this episode the other night when I came across a video from some unknown pastor who was admonishing his congregation for not "Honoring the Lord" with their apparel each and every Sunday. Apparently this padre had an issue with the partially revealing clothing of some of the youngsters in the pews. I get it. However, my first thought upon watching this video was something along the lines of, do we really need something else to drive people away from our churches? It's really no secret that our churches have been shedding membership over the past few decades. I have heard many of the reasons people give for leaving the church, from seeing it as too judgmental to having to follow far too many traditions and practices. Remember, it is Jesus Himself who decried His woes to the Pharisees of His day for those very same reasons {Matthews Account 23:13-33}. Jesus admonished the leaders of the synagogues of His day for placing too much emphasis on the traditions and practices of their religion while neglecting the needs of the people. Tell me, how much emphasis would Jesus place on someone wearing jogging clothes to church on a Sunday morning? Is this what's truly important to a church? Or, as I believe, should we be focusing our efforts on more important issues, like a closer relationship with the Father?
I'll admit that there came a time when I personally became uninterested with the mainstream church for my own reasons. I have not walked into a Sunday church service in over 20 years, and yet my faith in the Lord has never been stronger. In my opinion, those within the church spend far too much time worrying about appearance and not much time concerned about substance. Sure, a shiny new church building looks impressive, and your services might have award winning Christian music, but is this truly what's important in the eyes of the Father? Jesus didn't think so. In fact, Jesus never considered ones appearance to be paramount to a good worshipper. What He DOES say is that those who worship the Father do so "In spirit and truth" {Johns Account 14:24}. The Father is in spirit, so those who come to Him must be of the spirit as well. True, authentic worship is the desire of the Father. If this were not true, Jesus would not have proclaimed it. Buildings and traditions will fade with time, but the Father will be forever with us. Ask yourself, where is your heart? Is your heart centered on the physical appearances of the church, or is it centered on knowing a relationship with God? The church will tell us that a relationship with God is dependent upon His forgiveness of that sin in our life. The Father tells us that ship has sailed. We have already been redeemed through the willing sacrifice of Christ Jesus on the cross {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}. What you will seldom hear spoken from any church pulpit is that the Father has redeemed you, and that He is waiting for you to know Him as He has known and loved you. THAT is more important to Him than whatever clothes you wear.
"But, whenever you may be making a reception, invite the poor, the cripples, the lame, the blind, and happy will you be, for they have nothing to repay you, for it will be repaid you in the resurrection for the just"
Lukes Account 14: 13-14, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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