Jon Green

Lately I have had several conversations that have caused me to revisit a constant tension in the world of church subculture. That tension exists around the very simple things in our spiritual lives. Do I need to sing CCM songs in order to worship properly? Do I need to watch a Beth Moore, or Rick Warren video in order to understand how the scriptures apply to my life? Do I need to go through that Bible study workbook in order to study my bible? Not to say that these products are bad, but they are all products around which a market industry has sprung. An industry that creates need for itself through advertising how "life changing" or "spiritually enriching" each next thing will be - much a like a carnival barker. Every year I get 15 different invitations to the "most challenging, life changing conference you'll experience." Oddly enough all 15 invitations have different addresses, dates, and titles on them. But, then I read the Gospels and see Jesus react to this kind of marketing in regard to worshiping God.

In all of the Gospels, a story is recorded of Jesus going in and cleansing the Temple of the moneychangers and people who sold sacrifices to people unprepared for worship. He's angry and these people don't meet peaceful, tolerance Jesus. They meet crack you over the head with your table, whip your butt Jesus. If you look at what was going on, all of the services being provided in the Temple court probably started fairly innocently and developed into things that were insidious and harmful for God's people. The rationale for the money changers could have been one of providing resources for God's people to enter into a richer, more fulfilling relationship with God.

Every once in a while I wonder where the line is between worship music, bible study workbooks, conferences, and prayer journals being of service to God's people and ripping them off. Or worse yet, do these things give us the illusion of an encounter with Jesus when what we really need is a whip of straw across our backsides and a stern reminder to be houses of prayer?