Needed, A New Way to Meet #5 – Beyond Traditional Church: Experiencing Christ as Head

They are trying to bring worship into meetings today; all I have seen of it seems terribly inadequate. It’s beautiful songs; you’re supposed to be raising your hands now. Now am I being unfair? Some of you are much more acquainted with this than I am. Can’t you help me at all? I don’t want to be unfair here. Was that right? The worship movement gives people a chance to praise, raise their hands, or… A lot of it is terribly inadequate.

I’m going to address the subject, but it never gets addressed: the means of worship. We’re talking about worship; we’re not talking about…. That’s the hardest kind of meeting there is. I don’t think most of us have ever seen one. I’ve seen a few, and I’m hungry to see a bunch more. Sometimes I like to pick all the people I like to ask to stay home. If you’ve been in one, you have to be prepared for that kind of meeting. If you’ve been in one, you know you have to be prepared. That is my personal experience.

I’m going to talk to you about it. You’ve got to have it to balance the other kind of meetings. No, I retract that. You need meetings of worship and adoration to counteract meetings of joy and delight, which will always, always cancel out a meeting of adoration. Have you had a meeting of adoration? Somebody gets bored with it and breaks in with… Do Lord. No, you’ve never been to a meeting like that. Bless you. We have one person in this room who says no. I’d like to see other people who you can say yes to that. We’ve had singing this weekend. We’ve had two different kinds of singing. We get really happy and excited, and we’ve had songs like Majesty; I always mix them together. Try not to separate them entirely. If you’re going to have your hoedown, then have your hoedown. Well, why not announce a meeting of adoration in which you come to worship? You’ve got to have both kinds, or you’re in trouble.

Sometimes it is good that they mix, but sometimes you have to separate the two to recognize that and know when to transition from one to the other. I almost missed that; we need meetings of adoration to balance the meetings of joy and delight. We can have both in one meeting, but we need to distinguish between the two, talk about it, and know the difference.

My next point is we also need some meetings that most of us have never seen in our lives, and that’s meetings of true, profound worship. I’m going to take a stab at telling you how, but you can’t go do this. Don’t even try; it’ll be a bust. Now maybe you can; maybe I’m not. We’re going to do it next summer right here. We’re going to have one meeting of adoration. If we fail, fine. At least we’ll know we tried. I’m not sure I’m right, but this is all I know.

First, you’ve got to announce that’s what it’s going to be. You’ve got to work at it like crazy for weeks. What is it going to take? The one thing it takes is preaching on the glory of Christ until you see Him, and everything in you aches to worship Him. Secondly, I recommend a room that is darkened. Third, I recommend a room with very few chairs, only for people over 56 years old. Place chairs along the edge of the room for people who need to sit and can no longer kneel. I would clear the floor and leave space for brothers and sisters who can kneel. You’re going to be kneeling, and then I will share that this meeting is for worship, to do something few will ever do: truly worship.

I would ask that the meeting begin with a very long time of quiet, with hearts full of the glory of Christ, and now from this point on, you will not understand what I mean or say. I would take that meeting off the earth, remove it from space, and remove it from time. That meeting needs to be, from my viewpoint, how it has to be…has to take place somewhere other than this planet. You cannot do it on the earth. I recommend that you join that multitude that man can’t number. Go through the open door that John said existed, that was recorded in Revelation, and join another age, another period of time, another realm, another world, and worship Christ with all the host of the redeemed.

Now, we need songs that reflect that profound glory. That’s why I’m not afraid, and why I’m always concerned about losing our heritage. I still like “Crown Him with Many Crowns.” I still like “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and I love “Worthy is the Lamb,” and we have written a second stanza for it. We don’t sing it the way it’s usually sung, but I’ve noticed others have done this too. When it comes to the end, we have…and I’ve seen others too…come to that point and sing, “Thou art worthy,” and then they don’t sing the rest. Then they sing, “Thou art worthy,” and then sing it again, “Thou art worthy.” And then again, “Thou art worthy.” Then end with a crescendo, “Oh Lord.”

I rewrote the second stanza of it. I like it even better than the first one. I like that; I love it. We sang “All Hail the Power of Jesus” last night to a classical tune. Many of you have never heard it. Brothers and sisters, it’s rapturous when people put their hearts, souls, and bodies into it. Another one is…I read it to you, “The New Jerusalem” will lift the roof. But there is none to compare to that one which was written in a trance. Are you familiar with the story? If you are not familiar with the story, I will tell you. I assume that Handel was a believer. He ran into the room, sat down at his organ, and stayed there for seven days. He did not eat a single bite. I believe that is correct. Is that correct? Is anybody more familiar with this story than I am?

He wrote down “The Hallelujah Chorus” and didn’t remember writing it. People were afraid for his life. He was in there playing that thing at the organ, and he’d growl if anybody came to the door. Food at the door, water at the door…he didn’t eat. During the night, he did not sleep; he did not eat; he sat there at that organ, and he wrote that. The last part was the Hallelujah Chorus, which, to me, is the greatest and best part; in fact, I don’t remember much of the rest.

I don’t think angels can improve on the Hallelujah Chorus. It is a glorious expression of praise, and I think the church of Jesus Christ should be able to sing that thing. Why do we think these things have to be relegated to choirs? The same goes for “The Lord’s Prayer,” and it absolutely should be a solo. I watched 2,000 Baptist preachers sing “The Lord’s Prayer” in one day, and I still haven’t recovered. I love that; it beats “Arky, Arky.”

I’m telling brothers and sisters, lift your hands in praise and adoration and all of that stuff, but I’m addressing something that has not been addressed. I’m talking about worshipping our Lord in another realm. I’m talking about worshipping Him with our bodies, our souls, and our spirits. I want to explore that. Twice in my life, I’ve tried to do something more radical than that, and you won’t understand what I’m saying. I’m going to do it again one of these days. I went, and both times someone sold peanuts and popcorn right in the middle of it. I got this dream; I got this hope of holding a meeting outside of time and space. A full-blown meeting outside of time and space with nobody present but the Father and the Son… wholly in the Godhead.