An Unusual Church
October 6, 2025
Recently I attended an unusual church (for today). The auditorium had pews, a pulpit, an orchestra “pit,” and a choir “loft.” The service included a lot of singing — 1 or 2 chorus(es) and four hymns (all verses) — from the hymn book. There were no colored lights, no screens, no “worship team.” It looked and felt like church as it used to be.
Today churches are trying to be more modern. Some have neon lights and spot-lighted banners against the darkness of the auditorium. Some have removed the “choir loft” and decorated the back wall with accent lights making a stage for performances. Of course, PowerPoint projected on a screen (sometimes two) with all its graphics is common place. But then a church should be “modern,” right?
Consider Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind….” The word world refers to a chronological world. In other words, don’t be conformed to this age — this modern age. The word conform implies a pressure to make something into another image. There is a constant pressure to make Christians (and churches) look and act like this modern age. We should resist such pressure and be changed completely by the renewing of our understanding. Perhaps, the desire to be “modern” (like this age) is, at least, ill-advised and even more, a sin against God.
Also, when Moses was instructing the people of Israel before they went into the Promised Land, he gave them specific instructions about the world that they were entering. In Deuteronomy 12:29-32, Moses told them that when they entered the land they were not use the methods of the world around them to worship God. “You must not worship the Lord your God in their way,” Deu 12:31.
In summary, we should not try to be “modern” in our worship. Neither should we worship God in the same way that people in the world worship their gods (no matter what gods they have).
What does it mean to honor your parents?
During the summer of 1970, after my freshman year of college, a group of young people from our church yearned to go on a mission trip. With only a few weeks to prepare and execute the trip, we decided to conduct a Vacation Bible School for Brother L. C. Easterling in the “hollers” of Kentucky. Harold Register (later to become my father-in-law), agreed to lead and chaperone the trip. During one of our preparatory prayer meetings, he challenged us with 2 Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and from throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” Thus began my dream for a perfect heart. At first, I thought that a perfect heart was impossible during this lifetime. Of course, Christ would make me perfect when this life was over. I knew that, but that was not feasible during this life. But why would God place such a statement in His Word? Did He not know that there was no such thing? As I studied the Scriptures and dreamed the dream, I realized that a person can indeed have a perfect heart in this life. Let it first be seen that people were instructed to have a perfect heart toward God. After Solomon dedicated the temple to the Lord, he challenged the people, “Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God” (1 Kings 8:61). For Solomon to use such words is only natural. His father, David, had challenged him to do the same, “Know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind.” Both David and Solomon obviously thought that a perfect heart was a possibility. Along with David’s charge to Solomon to have a perfect heart, he also prayed that God would give Solomon such a heart. “And give unto my son a perfect heart…” (1 Chronicles 29:19). Surely, a perfect heart was possible, but only with God’s help. Thus it is prudent to pray that God will give us a heart perfect toward Him. Not only does the Scripture attest to the possibility of a perfect heart, it states that certain people had perfect hearts. Hezekiah, when faced with death, pleaded with God to remember “how I walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart” (2 Kings 20:3). His request was answered with a fifteen year extension to his life. In 1 Kings 11:4, the writer exposes Solomon’s imperfect heart while asserting that David had a perfect heart, “[Solomon’s] heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father” (cf. 1 Kings 15:3). Moreover, it is directly stated that Asa, King of Judah, had a heart “perfect with the Lord all his days” (1 Kings 15:13). By looking at the context of the above verse (and others), we can determine what it means to have a perfect heart. In 1 Kings 8:61, the perfect heart is coupled with walking in God’s statutes and keeping His commandments. In 2 Kings 20:3, it is related to walking before the Lord in truth. The associations in 1 Chronicles 28:9 are a willing mind and seeking God. When receiving offerings for the temple, the willingness of the people to give is connected with a perfect heart (1 Chronicles 29:9). As David prayed for Solomon, he defined the perfect heart, “to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things” (1 Chronicles 29:19). In chapter 16 of 2 Chronicles, the antithesis of the perfect heart is trusting in someone/something other than God. So to have a perfect heart is to obey God willingly and truthfully with all our hearts, trusting Him alone for the outcome. At times, however, it appears that a perfect heart (inward) does not always result in perfect actions (outward). David had a perfect heart, yet he committed adultery and murder. In spite of his perfect heart, Asa placed his trust in men rather than in God. Remember, “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Knowing that we have a sinful nature, God looks past the smoke screen of our outward actions to see the true condition of our hearts. So a dream of a perfect heart is not just fantasy. It is a possibility, it is reasonable! May God grant me (and you) a perfect heart to do His will.