Striped Candy Worship

It is now common practice in most evangelical churches to offer the people, especially the young people, a maximum of entertainment and a minimum of serious instruction. It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend meeting where the only attraction is God. One can only conclude that God's professed children are bored with Him, for they must be wooed to meeting with a stick of striped candy in the form of religious movies, games, and refreshments.

This has influenced the whole pattern of church life, and even brought into being a new type of church architecture designed to house the golden calf.

So we have the strange anomaly of orthodoxy in creed and heterodoxy in practice. The striped candy technique has been so fully integrated into our present religious thinking that it is simply taken for granted. Its victims never dream that it is not a part of the teachings of Christ and His apostles.

Any objections to the carryings-on of our present golden calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, "But we are winning them!" And winning them to what? To true discipleship? To cross carrying? To self denial? To separation from the world? To crucifixion of the flesh? To holy living? To nobility of character? To a despising of the world's treasures? To hard self-discipline? To love for God? To total commital to Christ? Of course, the answer to all these questions is "no."

Quote from "Man: The Dwelling Place of God." by A.W. Tozer

When were these words written? Take a guess. I can't be exactly sure, but sometime during the 50's or early 60's when A.W. Tozer was editor of The Alliance. I'm sure the talk about striped candy tipped you off that they may have been written a while ago, but the part about how the church looks sounds eerily familiar.

I especially am drawn to the response of some when we confront them with talk of "golden calf Christianity." "But we are winning them," they say. And Tozer replies winning them to what? If anything makes my heart burn it is this. What are our churches winning people to? We see baptisms and memberships, but are these things our mission? Is that what we are here for?

Lately I've been listening to John Piper's sermon series on John. A thought from John, (the Gospel, not Piper) is pounding in my head. That there were a group of people who believed in the signs and wonders of Jesus, but Jesus would not entrust Himself to them. What is that all about? People were showing up in crowds and really believed that He could do miracles, but He was rejecting them. Why? Doesn't Jesus want everybody? Why would He reject those who come believing?

Because, it says in John 3, He knew their hearts. He knew that they were coming for the striped candy, for the miracles. And Jesus is no candy man. He is not a peddler of sweet satisfaction, but the Savior of sinners. We love to quote II Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." We focus on the wishing part and not the repentance. But what does Peter go on to say?

II Peter 3:10-11, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!"

We are not attracting people with striped candy. Our worship is not for them. Our small groups are not for them. Our churches are not for them. Our worship is backwards because our theology is backwards, and our theology is backwards because our worship is backwards. It begins, is sustained, and ends with the glory of God. Let us stop making our striped candy and start proclaiming the saving power and riches of Jesus Christ!