Cannot Be Silent

Spencer Moreau

Recently, I’ve heard and seen a lot of complaining about worshipping loudly and passionately. And I’m not even talking about Casa View specifically, but about the church at large. It’s almost like there is this expectation that as you grow older and more mature in your faith, the less passionate in worship you are supposed to become. People expect you to be “civilized” and “proper”. I can’t help but ask “why”? Why is it perfectly acceptable for us to gather at our high school football stadium to cheer for our home team, while we show up at church only to sit in our chair and wish the old boring pastor’s (not mentioning any names…. Hadley…cough cough.) sermon would end already so we could get that cute girl’s digits? If Jesus is who we say He is, our Savior and Lord, this attitude is crazy to me! We will loose our voice from screaming so much and get a cold from sitting in the rain at the football game, but we excuse ourselves from church if it’s sprinkling outside. What if our passion for God was as great as (or even more than) our passion for high school football?

The book of Psalms is a book of songs, poems, and poetic prayers to God written by David and Solomon. You can find just about anything in this book. Psalms has 150 chapters, the most in the entire Bible. Chapter 150 is considered the “praise” chapter, which is considered to be a picture of what passionate worship to God should look like. Psalm 150 says…

“Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and lyre,

praise him with timbrel and dancing,

praise him with the strings and pipe,

praise him with the clash of cymbals,

praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.”

I don’t know if you’ve ever stood next to someone with a trumpet or with cymbals, but they are stinkin’ loud. A trumpet can be heard from very far off, and a cymbal could break an eardrum! All this to say, there is a theme throughout the Bible of loud and passionate praise to God. Even some of the most known saints of history weren’t very quiet themselves. That is why we identify VERVE Youth Church with “Where PASSION meets PURPOSE”. First, we strive to be a church known for our passion for Jesus Christ and all He has done for us. Secondly, that passion isn't done is selfishness or for show, we want to live our lives with a purpose, to worship and glorify God with every step we take. Don’t misunderstand me, there is a time to be silent, worshipping God with head bowed meditating on the great things that He has done for us. There is a time to humble yourself on your knees, bowing silently in awe of our wonderful Creator. But when you truly realize what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross, you cannot help but shout, dance, praise, and give your life to Him completely. I have been reading a book by A.W. Tozer titled “What Happened To Worship?”, where he says this:

“The Holy Spirit does not operate by anyone’s preconceived idea or formula. But this I know: When the Holy Spirit of God comes among us with His anointing, we become a worshipping people. This may be hard for some to admit, but when we are truly worshipping and adoring the God of ALL GRACE and of ALL LOVE and of ALL MERCY and of ALL TRUTH, we may not be quiet enough to please everyone.”

Tonight at VERVE in our “Back To The Basics” series, we will be talking about worship. Find a time before tonight to prepare yourself to enter into His presence. Think on God’s grace, love, mercy, and truth. Pray for God to remove any distractions that might hinder your worship to Him. Then walk into tonight and simply worship.