Acts 29 Today

Hello and welcome to another edition of ACTS 29 TODAY (now its your turn ).

Well first HAPPY NEW YEAR and I pray it is a wonderful and productive year for you, now that doesn’t mean it will necessarily be what you may hope for but more of what you need.

OK next on the list is the Sunday morning order of service and how and where did such a thing come from. Well like most things it turns out to be just another tradition of man.

I am not go into go into all of the history of this but just some headlines and then some of the problems this tradition creates. Basically it goes something like this.

Greeting: is given by an usher or appointed or volunteer, and hopefully they are more excited than most of the people coming in the building.

Opening prayer: given by the pastor or song leader.

Song service: led by a professional, song leader, choir, or worship team. Lasting 30 to 45 min.

Announcements: upcoming church events given by the pastor or another leader.

Offering: usually accompanied by a special song or soloist, and if its a prosperity church you might get a small teaching about how you must tithe 10% of your income to be blessed.

Sermon: given by the pastor and lasting 30 to 45 min many hoping for the 30 and checking their watches every 2 min after that first 30 min.

After service: alter call, the Lords supper, and prayer for the sick.

Benediction: A blessing from the pastor.

With minor rearrangements, this is the unbroken liturgy that 365 million protestants across the globe  observe religiously week after week. And for the last 500 years FEW PEOPLE HAVE SAID ….. WHY?

 Notice the structure (1) singing (2) sermon (3) closing prayer or song.

But why? Again it is due to the titanic power of tradition, and this Sunday morning tradition has been set in concrete for 500 years…….NEVER TO BE MOVED.

Pastors today say they go by the book, but you can read the book thru and thru and NEVER FIND…ANYTHING THAT REMOTELY RESEMBLES THIS ORDER OF SERVICE ( in their defense however the lack of truthfulness is due to ignorance rather than overt deception).

The meetings in the early church were marked by every member functioning, freedom, vibrancy, and open participation. The first century church was a fluid gathering, NOT A STATIC RITUAL. And it was often unpredictable, unlike the contemporary service. Furthermore it was NOT patterned after the Jewish synagogue as some have suggested. Instead, it was totally unique to the culture.

SO WHERE DID THE PROTESTANT ORDER OF WORSHIP COME FROM?

It has its basic roots in the medieval Catholic Mass. This Mass did not originate with the New Testament but grew out of ancient Judaism and Paganism. Much of this tradition came from a mixture of heathenism, magic, and Christianity.

You can study this out for yourself and get all the details, but in a nut shell Martin Luther had a campaign against the Catholic Mass. At the end of the day, Luther made preaching, rather than the Eucharist (communion) the center of the gathering. Luther said that ” the preaching and teaching of GODS word is the most important part of divine service.” This tradition of man has stuck to this day, and yet has NO BIBLICAL PRECEDENCE. THE PULPIT IS THE THRONE OF THE PROTESTANT PASTOR.

Tragically Luther did not realize that you cannot put new wine into old wine skins.  At no time did Luther or any of the other mainstream reformers demonstrate a desire to RETURN TO THE PRINCIPLES OF THE FIRST CENTURY CHURCH. They set out merely to REFORM THE THEOLOGY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. Under Luther’s influence, the Protestant pastor simply REPLACED THE CATHOLIC PRIEST.

MANY ADJUSTMENTS, NO VITAL CHANGE

Many other contributions were made along the way, BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY. All Protestant traditions share the same UN-biblical features in their order of worship: THEY OFFICIATED BY AND DIRECTED BY A CLERGYMAN, THEY MAKE THE SERMON CENTRAL, AND THE PEOPLE ARE PASSIVE AND NOT PERMITTED TO MINISTER (SPECTATOR SPORT).

Unfortunately, neither the Catholics nor Protestants were successful in allowing Jesus Christ to be the center and head of their gatherings. Nor where they successful at liberating and unleashing the body of Christ to minister to one another in the gathering, as the new testament envisions.

Because of the reformation, the Bible replaced the Eucharist and the pastor replaced the priest. But there is still a person directing Gods people and rendering them as silent spectators. The reformers dramatically failed  to put their finger ON THE NERVE OF THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM.

A CLERGY LED SERVICE…..ATTENDED BY A PASSIVE LAITY.

is it over yet

Well that’s enough for this edition, next week we will look at.

WHATS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

Check out http://www.simplechurch.com for more information on house church.

Until next time remember….NOBODY CARES HOW MUCH YOU KNOW…..UNTIL THEY KNOW…HOW MUCH YOU CARE.

Larry