Have you ever heard pastors say that church services should have the same excitement and thrill of a professional football game? I’ve even preached one. Many years ago, I told my congregation they should get just as excited about God as they do for their favorite sports team.
But recently I’ve realized a flaw in this way of thinking: God is not a sport. I don’t know that we should be “giving a cheer for God” or “giving God a hand” or shout and jump up and down for Him so that He plays better.
While we’re at it, He’s not a rock star either, who shows up on Sunday morning, complete with amped-up speakers, strobe lights, and fog machines. Nor is He a Wheel-of-Fortune game show host, who makes witty comments while we spin the wheel, cross our fingers, and hope for the vacation to Jamaica.
Yet we can find all of these models at work in one way or another in many of our modern churches. To keep people coming, we keep them excited and entertained.
I’m not against excitement or entertainment. I love sports, rock concerts, and game shows as much as anyone. I just don’t think they provide a good picture of God, or of how it looks to worship Him in spirit and truth.
While it’s true that mega churches do a good job of creating excitement and enthusiasm, even they admit they don’t do the best at developing devoted followers of Jesus who are able to spread the Kingdom of God.
Of course, we must not fall into the opposite trap either. God is not a classroom professor who passes out class notes and pop quizzes three times a week to caffeine-guzzling grad students. Worshiping Him is not about filling our notebooks with Bible facts.
If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus in the Gospels. If you want to know how the church should look, once again, look at Jesus in the Gospels. We are, after all, the body of Christ.
Jeremy
I think you’re right. I have had similar thoughts before. I’ve always found it kind of weird when pastors/speakers want the congregation to give God a round of applause or a loud shout like at a sporting event. They then try to make you feel guilty about not cheering like you do at your favorite team. God is not looking for our applause during a Christian meeting. He wants a life of obedience to him. Do you think these pastors that constantly do this do it out of selfish motives? As in they just want to feel like their congregation is excited regardless of what is really in the hearts of the people. I’m not sure, and I’m certainly not trying to judge anyone. What is your take?
Josh,
That’s a good question. It is difficult to judge the motives of others. For myself, I know that when I did it, I was trying to get people excited about God and about “coming to church.” If you can raise their excitement level, they are more likely to come back and invite their friends. I don’t think it ever really worked in my case…