Author: W. Keith Brenton

Worship or Entertainment?

/ W. Keith Brenton / 8 Comments

Does a moment like this have to be classified as one or the other?

For those of you who believe that moments like the one depicted above cannot be both worship and entertainment, how do you come to that conclusion if there is even just one person in the audience who is uplifted by it and drawn closer to God?

And if you are not drawn closer to God when a certain thing takes place in a gathered worship, is it not the very spirit of the golden rule to give yourself to it in order to encourage others – as long as it is not something specifically forbidden by God?

If a song of praise does not speak to your heart, should you stop singing it because it does not make you happy – even if it brings someone else joy and closer proximity to the heart of Christ?

If a song of praise makes you happy, should you stop singing it because it is also entertaining you?

Does God forbid joy in the praise of his people? Or desire it?

Just asking.

P.S. I must apologize for the darkness of the video as seen in some browsers. The script responsible for the transparency of the black background is the cause. Some browsers place the video image on top of it, and some beneath. My regrets. If your browser shows it too dark, view it here on YouTube.

Permitted and Forbidden

/ W. Keith Brenton / 6 Comments

One point of view:

“Whatever is not mentioned in scripture is forbidden in worship.”

Another point of view:

“Whatever is not mentioned in scripture is permitted in worship.”

Both are absurd.

Vendors hawking popcorn in the aisles between pews are not mentioned in scripture. Should they be permitted?

Standing while singing in the assembly of Christ’s followers is not mentioned in scripture. Should it be forbidden?

I submit that both points of view are ridiculous because they seek to exclude the other in all circumstances.

I submit that both points of view are preposterous because they imply that scripture is designed almost solely to provide laws and rules and regulations which must be followed to the letter, even if the letter is silent.

I submit that both points of view are ludicrous because they define worship as if it were something that can only happen when believers are assembled on a Sunday morning for an hour or two.

I submit that any two honest believers can come to polar opposite conclusions about what scripture says is worship acceptable to God and still be siblings in Christ and accepted by God. I can say that because differences in what is offered as worship to God go all the way back to the land east of Eden and Genesis 4. God is sovereign. He can look with favor on what is offered, or not. But His judgment upon the one who offers it is not based upon the content of the gift offered in worship. It is based upon the heart and conduct of the giver.

God told Cain: “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

But it would be equally absurd to conclude that the heart of the giver has no effect on the content of the gift offered in worship. God would later outline sacrifices of the firstfruits from both the land and the flocks/herds. Jesus would recommend reconciling with someone with whom there was conflict before offering a gift of worship. Did His advice end with the altar?

Can we worship God together whole-heartedly if we are distracted by feelings of contempt toward those we have judged to offer an unworthy gift of worship? Or those we have judged to be criticizing our own gifts of worship?

Can we worship day-to-day, by the way we serve Him, hobbled by those concerns?

Is judgment really our role in the first place?

Wouldn’t it be worship to recognize it as His, and leave it to Him to do perfectly?

There are plenty of places in scripture which describe what God accepts as worship. Prayer. Singing. Giving gratefully. Communion with Him and each other at His table. Evangelism. But that’s not all. There’s more, much more:

Selflessness. Sacrifice. Generosity. Benevolence. Forgiveness of others. Mercy. Justice. Penitence. Humility. Love. Joy. Peace-brokering. Patience. Kindness. Gentleness. Self-control. Teaching. Exemplifying Christ. Fasting. Servitude. Obeisance. Obedience. Hospitality. Faith. Courage. Childlikeness.

You can’t fit all of that into two hours on Sunday.

And it makes no sense to focus almost solely on legislating and enforcing the tithe of the mint and the rue and the anise and the cummin – at the neglect of these far weightier matters.

Let’s use our best judgment and fullest heart to present Him our gifts of worship with consciences clear and free of judging others.

Let’s do what God clearly says to do: what He has permitted.

Let’s abstain from what God clearly says to avoid: what He has forbidden.

Let’s see the Word for what it is: an eclipse pinhole through which His perfect glory is projected on our lives; not a magnifying glass on the imperfections of His worshipers.

Let’s not try to make it say more or less than it says; interpret it to mean more or less than it means; quote Him as saying more or less than He has said.

Let’s let Him decide what is permitted and what is forbidden … who has obeyed and who has disobeyed … and whether He will show mercy or mete justice.

To me, any other point of view is, well, absurd.

A Life of Worship

/ W. Keith Brenton / 6 Comments

Some months ago i proposed the positioning line “A Life of Worship” for the newly-conjoined ZOE Group | New Wineskins Web site before the advisory committee, believing that it encapsulated the objective mutually sought by both the online magazine and the inspirational worship ministry.

“Worship” and “serve” are two words that occur together frequently in scripture. I think there’s a reason for that.

I think that serving God – letting Him work through us – gives us a glimpse of His work first-hand, and it inspires the praise He alone deserves.

I think that worshiping God – giving Him due credit for what He has done, whether through us or not – inspires the kind of selflessness and humility that are a prerequisite for God working powerfully through us.

They go hand-in-hand.

They are not segregated by time or space. We do not just worship between 8:30 a.m. and noon on Sundays, and serve only the remaining waking hours of our week. (“Enter to worship; depart to serve” is a charming sentiment, but it is certainly not scriptural.)

We serve by worshiping. We worship by serving.

A life of worship is a 24/7 lifestyle. Christ is not an article of formal wear we put on in order to look nice at church. In baptism, we put on Christ, never again for Him to be shrugged off and hung up because of the inconvenience He might cause in our lives.

We live like Him out of respect, gratitude, indebtedness, willing servitude.

Paul puts it this way to the flock he has not yet met in Rome:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” ~ Romans 12:1

We offer our bodies because He offered His.

And if we deem His example too exalted to imitate, may I suggest an humble, human one: a aged woman; the Theresa of Calcutta of century one:

There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. ~ Luke 2:36-38

What a tribute in three concisely-worded verses! I count these choices of hers worthy of enumerating separately:

  1. She never left the temple.
  2. She worshiped night and day.
  3. She fasted and prayed.
  4. She gave thanks to God.
  5. She told about Jesus to all who would listen.

Anna lived a life of worship.

Her example may seem extreme, but I truly believe that if you and I just chose one of those avenues of service, and prayed for guidance in it and focused solely on it until it had mastered us … then another … and another … if we only were mastered by two or three of them, we would still be well on our way to a life of worship.

And God would be very, very praised.

Assumption and Presumption

/ W. Keith Brenton / 5 Comments

I’ve blogged before about some of the dangers of scriptural interpretation … the false dilemma, concatenation of unrelated scriptures, cherry-picking the scriptures we like at the expense of those we don’t, and others.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned the one logical fallacy that is perhaps the most lethal to accurate interpretation: making an unwarranted assumption.

As an example, I excerpt a comment I made on JP Manzi’s Return of the Prodigal Blogger:

Why would anyone assume that when 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, “”For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” that it means God will save everyone, whether they accept or reject His Son, no matter what? Even in the face of dozens or hundreds of scripture passages to the contrary? How can you separate that scripture from its context? Above it is a mention of those who have fallen asleep in Christ. Below it is a mention of those who are Christ’s enemies, to be put under His feet.

Paul even negates this logical fallacy in those verses:
The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

There are times when “everything” doesn’t literally mean “everything.” There are times when “all” doesn’t literally mean “all.”

Here, “all” must be interpreted to mean “all believers” (to whom Paul was writing; not to unbelievers) in order to be consistent with other scripture.

Paul’s words address a heresy that no resurrection occurs; not a belief that God saves everyone, so one must be cautious about making them say something more – or different – than they were intended to say.

In the end, I think the answer to the question “Why?” above is that people will make unwarranted assumptions – and other grave errors in scriptural interpretation – because they desperately want to reach and believe the conclusion to which they feel it leads. Even if it means leaving out the phrase “by faith in His blood” in Romans 3:25-26 and all those other scriptures which weigh in heavily against it.

In the end, the answer is intellectual dishonesty and arrogant presumption.

My Hair is Short Again

/ W. Keith Brenton / 9 Comments

I finally put some items on eBay … to finance some giving that I did last month.

I know that’s probably a really backwards way to approach Luke 12:33, but the need was urgent last month even though I couldn’t afford to help. So I did anyway. I stepped out on faith a bit.

If you haven’t heard my diatribe “What the Rich Man Lacked”, you may not know that I started letting my hair grow in April after running across notes from a chapel address two years before about the rich young ruler. I let my hair grow from that moment to remind myself that I needed to at least try to do what Jesus recommends in that passage – and insists on, to the extreme, before the rich young guy can follow Him.

Having long hair is a constant annoyance to me, so it was an effective reminder.

As it happened, a friend I used to work with had to be off from his minimum-wage job for hernia surgery for about three weeks last month. He and his wife are Hurricane Katrina refugees, land-locked in Little Rock with no transportation or way to support her kids back home. They needed to eat, to pay for her medications, to keep their electricity on during the hottest part of Arkansas summer.

So now I’m trying to sell some of my possessions to finance helping out back then.

I’ve bought plenty of stuff there, but have never sold anything on eBay before. (Well, okay, I sold a video game my son couldn’t use on his computer. He lost money on it.)

I tried several times over the last month, only to have the picture gallery part of the selling software lock up my Safari browser and then my Mac repeatedly. I finally decided to go with just one free picture.

The first item I listed sold within an hour. It felt really good.

Was that a nudge from above?

I’m Really Not Against ‘Distinctive’

/ W. Keith Brenton / 12 Comments

But I really am against churches trying to be distinctive from each other to the point that they will not share in the fellowship of Christ with each other, or make arbitrary matters of distinction a test for that fellowship.

A commenter recently wondered why I do not leave the churches in the heritage we share because I don’t believe they should strive to be “distinctive.” I think it’s a legitimate question, and it deserves an answer.

This commenter felt I was rejecting 2000 years of church history. The fact is, the last 200 years of church history in our fellowship – churches of Christ – began with the re-founders’ desire (expressed in The Last Will and Testament of Springfield Presbytery)

“We will that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large: for there is but one body and one spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling.”

I do not at all reject the fact that for a couple thousand years before that, and after, churches of all hues, colors, faiths, beliefs and practices have divvied up the “Body of Christ at large” in order to be distinctive from each other, but I do not believe those instances to be examples that should be imitated.

Churches sometimes look for distinctiveness in all the wrong places … for instance, in arcane practices and beliefs that have no real basis in scripture.

And for some reason incomprehensible to me, the members of those churches feel that God wants that.

“Come out from them, says the Lord” is an encouragement to not associate with idolators, not believers.

And I think it’s worth noting that a word translated “distinctive” is not found in any of the major translations of the Bible.

As a general rule, I find that churches and fellowships who insist on being distinctive do so because of a mindset that believes that they are doing all the right things in all the right ways according to scripture.

A cursory examination of Romans 3 will put the lie to that perception.

As a general rule, I also find that an insistence on being distinctive results in an exclusionary mindset that can become judgmental, accusatory, condemnatory, and divisive.

A quick perusal of John 17 will prove that is not at all what Jesus prayed for His followers.

So how can Christians be distinctive?

By imitating Christ, to begin with. By proclaiming good news to the poor. By living simply and giving sacrificially. By accepting others as He has accepted us.

That will be sufficiently distinctive from the rest of the world as to cause people to take notice.

And, hopefully, for them to be drawn closer to God through His Son.

Is Sarcasm Scriptural?

/ W. Keith Brenton / 5 Comments

A commenter with a tender heart and a positive mindset was offended, I think, by the tone of one of my recent posts – specifically, its sarcasm.

Is sarcasm an offensive way to communicate a concept?

Obviously, for this fellow, it was.

Is it effective? For him, it wasn’t.

Is it scriptural?

At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” – 1 Kings 18:27

“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ – Jesus, Matthew 23:16

As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! – Paul, Galatians 5:12

That’s three small examples out of one big, big book.

I agree that it’s best for my conversation be “.. always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

Point taken, Ted.

Still, on a rare occasion, I reserve the right sharpen my quill, ink it with as much grace as I can find, and dry the ink with the salt of good taste.

And if the salt gets in a small wound – well, at least it might serve as antiseptic.

Six Years Ago Today …

/ W. Keith Brenton / 2 Comments

… I got up, ate breakfast with Angi, watched her take the kids on to school, sat down in front of the television and turned it on.

I didn’t usually do that, because I was still working as the Web Content Manager for the site of the Abilene Reporter-News though we had moved to Little Rock just three months before, and I had worked until about 1:30 a.m. putting the news from that day’s edition on the site from my home office.

I turned the TV on just in time to see Katie Couric get an odd look on her face and say something to the effect that there was a report of a jetliner crashing into a building in New York. Within a few seconds, there was a camera shot of smoke pouring from the side of one of the World Trade Center building.

After shaking the sleepy, shocked stupor from my head, I went to my computer and started setting up a special news page that would refresh every few minutes with the latest information, and started typing it in and uploading it as quickly as I heard it from the television in the other room.

It was behind me, and turned so that I couldn’t see it. So I was spared seeing much of what America saw happening live.

After a while, I went back to the living room and plugged in a six-hour videotape to record the disaster.

I still haven’t been able to watch it.

September 11, 2001 has left an indelible scar on everyone in the civilized world who has heard or seen what happened and is old enough to understand.

For those who lost dear ones that day, or have lost loved ones in the conflicts since then, the scar is much deeper.

The date 9-11 has become an emergency call to all of us to wake up to the danger of listening and unquestioningly obeying men who claim to speak for God, but speak words of hatred and urge actions of destruction.

The site of the WTC stands as an empty symbol of something which should be there, but is no more; an anti-landmark in tribute to the futility of prejudice against other faiths – or lack of faiths – and to the outpouring of common love and courage in the aftermath that speaks well of the human heart which remains unmoved by such prejudice.

A crater in Pennsylvania gives testimony to the power of ordinary people who would not surrender to evil, even at peril to their own lives.

And a rebuilt, identical section of obliterated Pentagon silently declares that life must go on and threats must be countered and freedom to choose wisely must always be defended.

Six years ago today, by late afternoon, I finished posting the horrific news and – emotionally spent; physically exhausted – let the next shift take over.

My day closed with a hastily-assembled prayer meeting with my church family.

We prayed for the victims. We prayed for the missing. We prayed for their families. We prayed for the rescuers. We prayed for the nation.

And in one particularly difficult and memorable prayer, we prayed for our enemies.

Then I went home, put my kids to bed and finally wept the tears I had no time for that day.

Philemon’s Song

/ W. Keith Brenton / 6 Comments

Paul:
I’m in chains, bound to You, Lord
with a ‘son’ who slaves for me
I return him to his master
Set him free
Set him free.

Break me now, break me always
when my heart’s too hard to see
that I’m the point of grace
Set me free
Set me free.

Onesimus:
I ran away from a brother
who has always enslaved me
now my ‘father’ sends me to him
Set me free
Set me free.

Break me now, break me always
when my heart’s too hard to see
that I’m the point of grace
Lord, set me free
Set me free.

Philemon:
I once owned this useless one
who now bows and offers me
a plea from my dear brother
to set him free
Set him free.

Break me now, break me always
when my heart’s too hard to see
that I’m the point of grace
Lord, set me free
Set me free.

Christians:
Enslaved to laws that showed us sin
and how our lives should be
we forged yet more such fetters
Not of Thee
Not of Thee.

Break me now, break me always
when my heart’s too hard to see
that I’m the point of grace
Lord, set me free
Set me free.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” – Galatians 5:1

Break us now, break us always
when our hearts won’t let us see
that we’re the point of grace
Lord, set us free
Set us free.