It is ironic that so much of the division that exists among Christians in the world since the time of Christ has been wrought by our inability to agree how what is the best way to honor and worship the Lord. In visiting many different religious orders it has been my observation that there is very little, a minute amount in fact, that most groups disagree on and virtually all the disagreements stem from how we men think God wants us to worship Him. I know that He must be shaking His head with sadness and dismay at this state of affairs among His creation.
Our preoccupation with form rather than function when it comes to worship is appalling. Without question every denomination believes that they alone have the "silver bullet" formula for pleasing God with worship. Yet, searching the scripture, since the days of Moses' law very little has been written the how of worship relative to the why of worship.
It is also amazing that no group has the courage to stand up and proclaim "we have it all figured out." Each group knows they have shortcomings but expect those to be covered by grace, but they just can not bring themselves to admit that grace may also be claimed by any other group.
A certain fellowship with which I am familiar teaches as doctrine that God shows His will through Command, Example and Necessary Inference. Even the simplest business could not function under such an ambiguous and subjective means of arriving at directives. And who decides,, by the way, which examples are to be bound and just what is to be inferred from this style of interpretation? I prefer to rest my faith in Jesus when He said in John 12:48 that he would ascertain my destiny relative to the things He has "said." What kind of God would God be if He judged us based on what He didn't say, but left for us to figure out?
In Col. chapter 3, Paul states that whatever we do we should do in His (the Lord's) name and for His glory. That word "whatever" interests me and I hope it does you too!
There can be dozens of examples of Biblical actions shown that churches just simply do not do. Likewise, practically anything can be inferred if one is creative in their use of the scripture. Best just stick with what Jesus stated and follow the things He told us to do.
I personally am doing my best to worship in a pleasing way and honor Jesus with my life. I encourage you to do the same while following what He said. I refuse to tolerate division in the Body because we can't agree on form any longer. What good is the form if we've lost sight of the function?
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