A few days ago, my son cause a bit of a stir when he came into the room with a bottle of root beer. Our new Brazilian friend Robson jumped out of his seat and shouted, “Oh my gosh, Billy, you let your son drink beer?” I couldn’t tell if he was serious, so I casually shrugged my shoulders and said, “No, that’s not beer.” He got even more exasperated, and pointing to the label, continued to freak out, “Look! It says ‘beer’ right here!” I realized he was serious.
After some more conversation, we found out that they don’t have such a thing as root beer in Brazil. No wonder he thought it was beer! All he saw was what looked just like a beer bottle, with beer on the label. He had never seen or heard of root beer.
It was then that we introduced him to amazing taste of root beer, and the magical world of root beer floats. Robson is now a huge fan!
I remember the first time I walked into a church with musical instruments for worship. Until then, I had never seen or heard anyone worship God with anything other than hymns accompanied by an organ, at the most. They were up there with guitars, drums, keyboards, and other things, leading the people through songs. It was like a rock band in church! People were raising their hands and everything. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was really upset. I refused to participate with all these people acting so irreverent.
After the service was over, I was sharing my disdain with the friend who took me there. I was going off about how you had to be serious in church and that God doesn’t want us rocking out, and explaining how I thought the whole thing was just a big show. I was even criticizing the lyrics.
I have a good friend. He didn’t get upset. He didn’t tell me I was foolish or judgmental. He gently showed me some Scriptures that I hadn’t read before. Specifically from the Psalms.
First, Psalm 150, which says,
“Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”
Well, I suppose that just about covers all of it. I had to either ignore the Bible or come to grips with the fact that I was wrong. But my friend didn’t stop there. He gave me many more scriptures, including Psalm 134:2, which tells us to “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.” I guess I couldn’t judge those people about that anymore either. Then he showed me how the lyrics of each of the songs they sang, which I had criticized, were actually word for word right out of the Bible. They were older than the hymns I thought were so ancient and right!
Once I realized that I was wrong, I didn’t want to be stiff-necked. I immediately changed course. I would rather worship God the way He wants to be worshiped than in some ritualistic manner. It’s so freeing when you realize that what God wants is true worship that comes from a pure heart. Jesus said that the true worshipers worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4) Sometimes that happens in a Psalm. Other times, it may be a hymn. Sometimes its a brand new song. Sometimes its accompanied by music, and sometimes not. What’s important is worship that is in spirit and in truth.
Have you ever looked at the way someone else worships God with judgment in your heart? Remember David’s wife Michal. (2Samuel 6) Yikes! Don’t be Michal.