Should I Ever Go Through the Motions in Worship?

00:00:00.000 | Well, happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

00:00:05.580 | This episode releases on the evening of the holiday, and we pray that your day has been

00:00:08.800 | full of gratitude for God's kindness.

00:00:11.280 | And Pastor John, as we look forward now to another weekend, today's timely question is

00:00:15.360 | about corporate worship.

00:00:16.840 | It's from a listener named Scott.

00:00:18.760 | "Dear Pastor John and Tony, thank you for this podcast.

00:00:22.660 | On this show, I've heard you say that no one can truly worship God without enjoying Him.

00:00:28.440 | It's been a big indictment to me for the many occasions in church when I have participated

00:00:32.840 | in the service without any feelings of joy in God for who He is.

00:00:37.680 | So my question is, should we still try to worship God even when we aren't enjoying Him?

00:00:42.980 | Or should we wait for the enjoyment to come first, seeking it out prior to the beginning

00:00:46.760 | of our musical worship?

00:00:48.280 | I have a feeling you're going to say that we should go ahead and try and pray for enjoyment.

00:00:52.660 | So then can we work back from an action to a state of heart?

00:00:56.560 | That is, can going through the motions of worship produce in us the sort of heart that

00:01:00.560 | would bring forth that same worship spontaneously?"

00:01:03.920 | Pastor John, what would you say to Scott?

00:01:07.720 | The short answer to that last question is yes.

00:01:10.760 | You can't work backward like that.

00:01:14.160 | That is possible if, if, if, if done in the right way.

00:01:22.480 | And before I try to sum up what that right way is, let me point Scott to pages 96 and

00:01:31.760 | 97 of the book Desiring God, because that's where I pose this very question and give it

00:01:39.640 | the best answer I know how.

00:01:40.960 | So pages 96 and 97, I think it's the most recent edition of Desiring God.

00:01:45.440 | In that section I actually use the moment of worship and the act of our giving a tithe

00:01:51.920 | in that moment as an act of worship when I don't feel like it.

00:01:56.640 | Should I give a tithe when I don't feel like it as the, you know, the plane is coming down

00:02:00.480 | the aisle and I have to choose whether to do that act of worship because I ought to

00:02:06.400 | and I don't feel like it or not.

00:02:09.680 | But instead of just rehearsing what I wrote on those pages, which seems cheap, let me

00:02:15.840 | come at it another way and use another analogy.

00:02:18.800 | I have been really helped by a couple of books by Edward John Carnell, who used to teach

00:02:25.760 | at Fuller Seminary over 50 years ago and died just before I got there as a student.

00:02:32.560 | But some of his legacy remained.

00:02:34.360 | And in his really amazing book called Christian Commitment, and if you can get it, it's timeless

00:02:41.760 | in its penetration.

00:02:43.520 | So Christian Commitment, it's called.

00:02:46.280 | Not what you think probably when you hear that phrase.

00:02:48.920 | He says this, "Suppose a husband asks his wife if he must kiss her goodnight.

00:02:55.320 | Her answer is, 'You must, but not that kind of must.'

00:03:01.920 | What she means is this," and I'm still quoting Carnell, "What she means is this, 'Unless

00:03:10.160 | a spontaneous affection for my person motivates you, your overtures are stripped of all moral

00:03:20.600 | value.'"

00:03:21.600 | So this is like me saying no one can truly worship God without enjoying him.

00:03:32.600 | He's saying no one can kiss his wife with any moral value if it doesn't come from a

00:03:40.000 | spontaneous affection rather than simply, "I guess I have to because that's what husbands

00:03:44.320 | and spouses do," like tithing or singing a hymn in church or whatever.

00:03:48.240 | That's the analogy.

00:03:50.320 | But now let's analyze what Carnell says a little more closely.

00:03:55.440 | He doesn't give the whole truth here.

00:03:58.960 | What he says is basically right, I think, but he points to the truth.

00:04:05.440 | The wife says, "Yes, you do have to kiss me goodnight."

00:04:10.880 | In other words, it is for a good husband a moral obligation.

00:04:17.320 | And what she means is that showing outward affection for a wife is what a husband ought

00:04:25.560 | to do.

00:04:26.640 | He ought to do that.

00:04:29.040 | No outward affection, failure of duty.

00:04:31.960 | It's a duty, and he ought to do his duty.

00:04:35.760 | And she admits that.

00:04:37.360 | But then she makes the amazingly penetrating observation that there are different ways

00:04:43.260 | to perform a duty.

00:04:45.280 | And some are empty, and some are full.

00:04:48.280 | Some have moral value, and some don't have moral value.

00:04:52.680 | So Jesus said in vain, in vain, empty, "Do people worship me because their heart is far

00:04:58.000 | from me?"

00:04:59.000 | So Jesus knew exactly what she's talking about.

00:05:00.800 | She probably got it from Jesus, right?

00:05:02.440 | "Of course it is their duty to worship me," Jesus would say, or God would say, "but their

00:05:08.800 | outward forms of worship have lost all moral value because they're empty.

00:05:14.320 | They don't have any affection in them for me."

00:05:17.640 | Now, my question is, is there no third alternative between an empty, duty-driven, perfunctory

00:05:27.680 | kiss on the one hand, and a spontaneously joyful, affectionate, warm, heartfelt, mouth-to-mouth

00:05:37.640 | kiss on the other hand?

00:05:39.580 | Anything in between those two?

00:05:41.340 | And Scott's question is, is it possible to work back from the kiss that doesn't have

00:05:49.920 | affection to the kiss that does have affection?

00:05:53.520 | And I said, "Yes, can the act of kissing without affection be a proper step toward

00:06:00.880 | kissing with affection?"

00:06:03.720 | So Scott's raising the very question I'm raising when I wrote those pages and right now.

00:06:09.240 | Is there a third kind of kiss?

00:06:11.840 | And I would argue that there absolutely is a third kind of kiss between a mere perfunctory,

00:06:17.800 | empty, emotionless kiss on the one hand, and a full-blooded, romantic, affectionate kiss

00:06:23.760 | on the other hand.

00:06:24.760 | And that third kind of kiss, while not having the robust, full affections of delight and

00:06:31.680 | cherishing, nevertheless is not the same as a mere perfunctory, empty, hypocritical, emotionless

00:06:42.840 | kiss.

00:06:44.600 | So what are the marks?

00:06:46.520 | That's the key question.

00:06:47.520 | I think he's asking, and I'm asking, what are the marks of this third kind of kiss or

00:06:53.120 | third kind of act of worship on Sunday morning?

00:06:56.840 | Here they are.

00:06:57.840 | Here are the marks of this good kiss, which is not all it should be.

00:07:03.120 | And I say good because it's not fake.

00:07:07.040 | It's not hypocritical.

00:07:08.320 | Number one, the heart behind this kiss does not say, "Oh, well, it's the action that counts.

00:07:16.280 | Action doesn't matter.

00:07:17.960 | Husbands are supposed to kiss their wife.

00:07:19.440 | I'll just do the act."

00:07:21.520 | The heart behind this third kind of kiss renounces such a way of kissing.

00:07:27.840 | Number two, it regrets the absence of appropriate affection for the wife.

00:07:34.720 | It regrets.

00:07:36.040 | This is a sadness to him.

00:07:38.800 | He does not justify it.

00:07:41.580 | He laments it.

00:07:43.220 | He repents of it.

00:07:46.240 | He's not going to say, "Oh, it's just because I'm tired," or whatever.

00:07:50.120 | Number three, he is not content with this state of affairs, and whatever the cause is,

00:07:58.600 | he wants it to change.

00:08:00.280 | He wants to do all he can to see his proper affections restored.

00:08:07.180 | He wants the affections that he doesn't have.

00:08:11.700 | He is like the psalmist in Psalm 51, "Restore to me the joy of my kissing the Lord."

00:08:20.880 | He says, "Restore to me the joy of my salvation, kissing her."

00:08:25.100 | Number four, he whispers a silent prayer to God to give him grace, help him feel for his

00:08:34.280 | wife, to restore what's gone away for a day or gone away for a year.

00:08:39.360 | He really prays.

00:08:40.880 | Number five, he kisses her, kisses her in hope, humble hope that the very act of kissing

00:08:49.640 | will be part, not the whole, but part of God's way of restoring his affections.

00:08:57.040 | Six, he takes whatever other steps he can to remove obstacles to affection and to restore

00:09:05.240 | his heart for his wife.

00:09:06.800 | So, Scott's question was—this is a direct quote, now, if I remember what you said—"Can

00:09:12.800 | going through the motions of worship produce in us the sort of heart that would bring forth

00:09:21.400 | the same worship spontaneously?"

00:09:24.600 | And my answer is, it's probably not helpful to call this kind of kissing or worshipping

00:09:33.240 | "going through the motions."

00:09:35.400 | That has too many ugly connotations.

00:09:37.720 | But if he means singing the songs, praying the prayers, giving the tithe, listening to

00:09:45.480 | the sermon, with these six steps in play, then yes.

00:09:51.840 | Yes.

00:09:52.840 | This is a third way of worship between robust, fully engaged, affectional expression on the

00:10:00.800 | one hand, and lifeless, empty, hypocritical, going through the motions on the other hand.

00:10:08.440 | And that third way, as inadequate as it is for our complete satisfaction, and God's

00:10:18.240 | fullest honor, is a good strategy for getting to where we ought to be.

00:10:24.480 | That's a great analogy.

00:10:26.560 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:10:27.560 | And thank you for listening to the podcast over at our online home.

00:10:30.600 | You can explore all of our episodes in our archive of about 1,300 episodes to date now.

00:10:35.480 | There you can see a list of our most popular episodes, read full transcripts, and submit

00:10:38.640 | a question you might be wrestling with yourself.

00:10:40.600 | For all of that, go to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:10:45.760 | And also be sure to subscribe to us in your favorite podcast app.

00:10:49.160 | Well, next week we are back with three episodes about Christian hedonism.

00:10:53.920 | It's the heart of what we do here.

00:10:56.640 | On Monday, we're going to look at the relationship between Christian hedonism and Reformed theology.

00:11:00.440 | And on Wednesday, we're going to look at Pastor John's expectations and hopes and fears about

00:11:05.800 | the future of Christian hedonism after he's gone.

00:11:08.940 | And then we end the week on Friday looking at the name Desiring God and some alternatives

00:11:13.440 | and why Pastor John settled on the phrase Desiring God.

00:11:17.080 | It's an important week coming up, but today, happy Thanksgiving again on behalf of Pastor

00:11:20.840 | John and the whole team at Desiring God.

00:11:22.760 | Thanks for listening.

00:11:23.760 | We'll see you back here on Monday.

00:11:24.760 | [End of Audio]

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Should I Ever Go Through the Motions in Worship?

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