By Jack Glover

Many efforts have been made to make the church fit what man wants instead of man complying with what God wants. At present I’m in Memphis, Tenn., and on yesterday’s local news much was being said about the hip-hop church.

I gather (from local news comment) that some hip-hop churches exist in Memphis, but the news was about a Catholic priest in New York and the hip-hop church he has started. The report included the reading of some of Psalm 23 as rewritten in hip-hop language, and showed some of their hip-hop dancing and singing as worship.

Do you suppose God was pleased?

Now before you go all bananas on me, notice a few things from the scriptures. God, not man, determines how He is to be worshiped (John 4:24), He has said what to include in worship to himand how to do it. The worship is to: 1) be orderly (I Cor.14:4); 2) include singing (without instruments), teaching, prayer, the Lord’s Supper and contributions (on the first day of the week); and 3) be edifying, according to truth.

Read I Corinthians 14, and you will see that even those who spoke in tongues (a spiritual gift at the time) had to follow God’s regulations. Worship always has been bound by His scriptures, and when man added something new or changed it, the worship was never acceptable to God.

Remember worship is to please God, not man.