Heartland is the local mega-church in my town. Their shtick is – “A different way to do church.” It is not the Catholic way. It is not the Lutheran way. It is not the Baptist way. It is a different way. This is a good thing, right? Everyone should be able to worship in a way of their own choosing. The large membership at Heartland would seem to agree. I am not so sure.
One of the many reasons I am Catholic is 1 Samuel 15. In this story in Scripture God orders King Saul to go and put to death King Agag and the people of Amalek. God is very clear in his instructions to King Saul.
“Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
Instead of doing what he was instructed to do King Saul takes Agag alive. He kills all of the people of Amalek but keeps the best animals for himself. Saul only destroys the worthless possessions of Amalek. When God saw what King Saul had done he became angry with him and regretted making him King of Israel. Saul tells the profit Samuel that he brought back these things to sacrifice to the Lord. Samuel tells Saul –
“For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
He has also rejected you from being king.”
Then Saul was removed as king of Israel and his neighbor was made king. God told Saul how he wanted something done but Saul thought he knew better. Saul did it his way and paid a steep price for it.
“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.”
Jesus founded the Catholic Church. He set up the leadership of that Church and gave them the authority to rule over it. He taught the Church how he wanted the Church to worship God. 1500 years later a man came along who thought he knew better than the Church on how to worship God. This man’s name was Martin Luther. He was a man after King Saul’s heart. He cast aside what Jesus’ Church taught to implement his own opinion. Martin Luther knew better than the Church about what Jesus wanted. Martin uncorked the bottle and there was an explosion of people who thought they knew better than the person before them. Personal opinion replaced teaching that came directly from Jesus lips.
Today we have almost 40,000 different faith communities, each worshipping the Lord in a way they see fit. There is only one Church that worships in the way Jesus instructed. If God truly loves obedience more than sacrifice then a different way to do church seems like a very bad idea to me. We are called to have a personal relationship with Jesus, not a personal church. Jesus has instructed us on how he wants us to worship so to ignore that and to ignore the Church he founded and gave authority to seems extremely arrogant and dangerous to me.
Go ahead and worship God in your way. As for me, I will worship him in his way.
