Well, not taking the kids out. Noël and I wrote an article in our first year or two at Bethlehem making the case that we will not have a children’s church, but the children will be in worship services after about age 3. And my argument was this: Where else will a 3-year-old, 4-year-old, 5-year-old, 6-year-old, 7-year-old boy, say, learn what the heart of a mature man toward God is if he doesn’t see his dad sing, if he doesn’t see his dad pray, if he doesn’t see his dad bow down in holy reverence? There’s so much more going on in a good experience of worship.
Worshiping with Head and Heart
The other thing that came to my mind when I heard that question was that the word experience is viewed negatively because it’s got connotations of empty emotionalism. “That was just an experience.” But the word experience in English is necessary. I mean, it’s a good word. Worship is an experience — it is. And it needs to be fleshed out as to what kind of experience it is. And what makes it good is that there is truth, and there is a response to that truth in understanding; and there is worth and beauty and greatness, and there is a response to that in affections.
Now, that little summary came from a sentence by Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards says, “God glorifies himself in the world in two ways. He glorifies himself by his glory being seen [meaning known, understood] and his glory being delighted in. He who sees God’s glory does not glorify him so much as he who also delights in that glory.” Now, when I read that sentence, I thought, He’s so absolutely right.
You heard me say yesterday, “God will not be half-glorified,” meaning that he doesn’t want a doctrinally straight church with zero experience of affections, and he doesn’t want a church with all over-the-top emotions and affections and almost no rich understanding of the nature of God and what he’s done in the world.
So, what I’m looking for in a good experience of worship is this: Is there richness of truth here — truth in the welcome, truth in the prayers, truth in the preaching, truth in the singing? Are the lyrics of the songs permeated with the biblical truth that is loved in this church? And do these people give some evidence that it makes the difference — like it touches anybody? Does anybody feel anything here? Because if this church is totally blank — I mean, if it is emotionless — I’m thinking, “God is not prized here. God is not valued here. God is not cherished here. God is not enjoyed here.” That’s just not worship. I don’t care how true the doctrine is or how straight the preaching is. So those are massively crucial things, I think, for worship to be a good experience.