MEISM WORSHIP

Today we have many names for the types of worship in our church services. Since the world through TV, Radio and the Internet has been teaching that "we can have it our way" and that "it's all about us", the church has begun to follow suit with the teaching that "worship is for us".  We like to be treated special and as a result we're abandoning the teachings of the Bible in order to create a country club setting to include nearly everyone.  We don't want to offend anyone with God's word yet we offend the elders with modern music in hopes of drawing the youth to church at the expense of no one being converted to the True Gospel but instead to more self centered, MEISM worship.

In the abandonment and failure to obey the great commission,  "go ye therefore ....", the church is seeking easier ways to draw crowds and still have a successful outward appearance. We're putting aside the Biblical, time proven way that God builds churches and instead are now using programs and business marketing schemes to build the church.  With this new method of church building, Christ is no longer the builder of the church, we are.  You may have heard talk about "my church", "my people", and "my class".  It is all about me, my church, my programs and it's for MY benefit in other words, “What’s in it for ME?”.

It is certainly no surprise that there are groups of people that won't come to church unless the worship and the music is centered around the Have It Our Way, "MEISM" worship.  Perhaps we need to hear the shocking truth; worship is not in any way about us.  The purpose of worship is not to extole us in any way.  Church is not to suite our purposes. The church school lessons are not for our glory.  Bible study is not for our glory.  Giving tithes is not for our glory. All these things are to glorify our Lord.

You may think that these statements are inaccurate, but I say that this proves you and I have already been programmed with "MEISM" thoughts, and these thoughts are not the solution, but instead our problem.  How did we get to this?  On the internet there are many viruses that can cause havoc with a computer, however the most dangerous viruses are actually the little Trojan Horse viruses that do nothing more that open up some vulnerable ports so that other devious intruders and wolves can enter to secretly get your credit card number, passwords, email contacts and other private treasures.  The most treacherous Trojan Horse viruses do not even reveal their presence but silently in the background continue to do more and more harm as time passes.  Many of these viruses simply open up vulnerable ports and then erase themselves so that the true source of the evil symptoms can not easily be detected or understood.

In the same way that computer Trojan Horse viruses attack computers, you and I are being filled with MEISM thoughts, because our adversary, the Devil has been invading and eroding our inner core of understanding in order to corrupt our very souls.  Through music, TV, the Internet, books and other sources, we are being slowly poisoned with misunderstanding about the true purpose of our existence and this misunderstanding is carried directly into our worship methods. 

You see, WORSHIP is all for the glory and purpose of God. It is for God's church, his people, his services and it is not in any way about you or me; It‘s all about HIM.  With this understanding, we can then be blessed, but only as the Lord does the blessing, and with this understanding and right attitude toward true worship, He will.  All expectation of benefits to us must be totally removed from our thoughts in order for us to truly Worship God.  We must forget ourselves and focus on Christ and His work, otherwise we are worshiping ourselves .  If worship is anything about our self desires, then we are not worshipping God, but are instead engaged in MEISM worship and this evil is the sin of idolatry. And what are the wages of sin, but DEATH?   (See Romans 6:23)

Source: Way Truth Life Ministry   http://www.wtlministry.org   Updated 4-18-2002