You see, it is not just teachers that we gather around ourselves as our darkness deepens. It is worship leaders as music as well. Think about it. What is a typical Sunday service like now in the apostate church? You go in for less than an hour and a half. Your worship set opens with you singing to God about how you guys are friends. You follow that with Oh How He Loves Us, where you actually sing to God that You are His portion. Next is the Blessing of Abraham [WA1] where you scream at God like a petulant child about getting your inheritance. You shift to slower worship songs and find yourself in the middle of a new Hillsong about how God just couldn't stand to be in heaven without you and wrap the set up with a "Jesus is my Boyfriend" song. You then hear a self-absorbed sermonette about you. A little Christianese thrown in with some Jesus fragments but no doubt that you are facing your giant the in the Valley of Elah waiting for your Ziklag moment, so you can accept your Elijah mantle! Hallelujah! Pass the offering plate! Friend of God is the reassurance of you are, even when you are not. Here is final portion of the lyrics:
God
Almighty
Lord of glory
You have called me friend
It's
amazing
So amazing
It's amazing
You call me friend
Has God almighty called you friend? He considered Abraham a friend according to Hebrews. The only other verses that make sense are the key verses for today. We could get into the fact that this was an exchange between Jesus and His specific disciples and not necessarily a prescriptive text for all of us. For the sake of this discussion we only need to go back one verse that people often leave out of this discussion; verse 14:
You are my friends if you do what I command you. -- John 15:14 (ESV)
Everyone wants to try on that crown of glory. The crown of thorns? Eh, not so much. Everyone wants to sing about being a friend of God but few will do the necessary work. Jesus lays it out very clearly for us. If you are my friends, then you will do what I command. Are we bearing fruit for the kingdom? Do we love each other in the family of God? Or are we just practicing sloppy agape. Where God loves everyone without exception or question. Where once you say an eight-word prayer you never have to examine yourself again and never have to carry your cross daily.
Yet there goes all of Churchianity every Sunday. Hands raised and dancing to Friend of God. The end times assault on sound doctrine is well underway but one of the most targeted areas that is rarely guarded is worship. Beloved, this is what we say to God. It is what we say about God. It forms what we believe about God. There is a huge difference between How Great Thou Art and How much He Loves Me. One is worship of God and the other is worship of self. There is likewise a huge difference between What aa Friend We Have in Jesus and I am a Friend of God. One is focused on Jesus and the other is focused on self. I am not saying everything has to be hymns either. I have heard contemporary music that is biblically sound, we just need to watch that we are not propping up false ministries that lead people away from Christ. Jesus Culture, Hillsong or Elevation music can all put out sound songs but that does not mean we should ever give the time of day to the evil forces behind their music. Bill Jonson, Brian Houston and Steven Furtick should never be tacitly endorsed by a discerning Christian.
Finally,
do not even try the lame "we all worship differently" argument. When you spend
worship time singing about you and sermon time hearing about you -- do not then
tell me you worship God. There is nothing new under the sun beloved. This is
the same sin of Lucifer desiring to be God. It is the same sin from the fall of
man when Eve wanted to be like God. Man has been recreating God in his own
image ever since. Do not get caught up in the sins of churchianity and what is
socially expedient. Take a stand for what it is that you sing to the one you
claim is your Lord and Savior. The bible is about Him beloved. this world is
about His return. The very least we can do when offering up praise is that it
be about the one we are claiming to praise.
Friend of God? I am still working on being a servant of God.
