by Keith Sharp
Too many Christians, just like their unsaved counterparts, are impressed by appearances rather than structure; are seeking thrills and excitement rather than substance; are more apt to respond to emotional manipulation rather than to rational discourse… The problem is that the main business of entertainment is to please the crowd, but the main purpose of authentic Christianity is to please the Lord (Gary Gilley, This Little Church Went to Market. 31, emphasis mine, KS).
The Lord’s church is not in the entertainment business. It’s a spiritual relationship (John 18:36; Romans 14:17; Ephesians 1:3,22-23). It is not wrong to enjoy worshiping the Lord and hearing the message of Christ proclaimed, but the goals of our public assemblies are to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31) and to edify one another (1 Corinthians 14:26) not to entertain. If you don’t find the worship assembly to be fun, just get over it. That’s not our purpose. It’s not about pleasing you or me. It’s about pleasing the Lord. “For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10b). “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him” (2 Corinthians 5:8-9).
