Experiential Jesus, 2

Often times we go to church in search of and hoping for an “encounter.”  Many churches spend a lot of resources trying to create an atmosphere conducive to the desired experience.  As a result, we look to the worship leader to “bring us into His presence.”  This may be through a lively music set or through passionate preaching, and I am not saying that we should not have either of these.  I wonder though, should these be necessary for us to recognize “the presence.”  Do we value our corporate worship services based on our emotional reaction to the events? (i.e. music, preaching)  Does the emotional reaction validate the authenticity of the worship service?  Is Jesus more present when we feel the butterflies in our stomachs, shake, laugh, or cry?  These experiences may be valuable, but do they make Jesus real?  Or are we only responding to Experiential Jesus?

I asked before if Paul’s experience on the Damascus road made “truth” (Jesus) real.  I also related the ten who Jesus healed to the question of experiences making truth real, as only one returned to Jesus after.  Let’s take a quick look at Elijah.  You can read the story in 1 Kings 18.  With everything that happened on Mt. Carmel, the next generation was just as wicked as the previous (Ahaziah, Ahab’s son became king after him, 1 Kings 22:51).  It seems that if the experience made it real to those that were present at Mt. Carmel that YHWH is the one true God, then it was not quite real enough to raise their children in this understanding.  With the ten lepers who Jesus healed (Luke 17:11-18), they were healed, but they were not confronted with the undeniable truth that Jesus is the Christ.  This undeniable truth, Peter knew (Matt. 16:16), had to be revealed.  For Paul, I don’t think that the fact that he was knocked off his horse and then spoke to the risen Lord changed him, but more a series of events, orchestrated by the Holy Spirit that created cognitive dissonance for him, that brought him to the place of receiving the truth.  By receiving the truth, he was changed.  (Acts 9) 

Cognitive dissonance is the internal discomfort that arises when you hold a belief as truth and then are faced with new information that challenges or conflicts with your belief.  The choice is whether you will integrate the new information and change your belief or ignore the information and hold on to your old belief, therefore rejecting the dissonance.  For three days Paul prayed after being blinded by light.  In this time, I believe, Paul was working through this dissonance.  When Ananias entered the room that Paul was in, Paul could have commanded him to be taken to prison, but he didn’t.  Paul had been blinded and forced to take the new information seriously, and in the course of three days Paul had made the decision to receive Jesus as Messiah.  We can infer from scripture that this time was necessary for Paul to work through the information, as both Paul and Ananias were in Damascus and it would not have taken him three days to travel across town to Straight Street.  The experience provided Paul with a frame of reference, but it was not what changed him.  Three days in prayer and the truth revealed changed him.

I said that I would talk about Romans 10:17, but let’s start with verse 21.  But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”  In context, Paul is making the assertion that God has not given up on the Israelites, but they have not received.  Paul cites, just prior, Old Testament passages that show that they have had ample opportunity to receive what was revealed.  And not only that, but the Old Testament is full of various experiences that Israel witnessed.  But they didn’t receive by faith.  So, Paul says that faith comes by hearing (Literally: faith comes from an act of hearing), and hearing by the word of Christ. (Literally: the report by the Word of Christ)  So, faith (or belief/reality) comes from an active listening, not an emotional experience, although, an emotional experience can be a result of listening.  So, why do we chase after an experience, when hearing is the issue, and more than that the Word of Christ?  The value in our worship services is not the emotions that are produced, but the Word spoken (in music or preaching) that is heard (heard with a response).  Emotions are good, but they are not a prerequisite for an authentic Christianity, the Word of Christ is.  What it produces is beyond how we feel about it.  It is even more than what we think.  It is what we feel and think should be guided by.

What is it that we hear?  What is the Word of Christ that is heard and produces faith?  “I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Deut. 31:6; Heb. 13:5; Matt. 28:20)  “I will not leave you orphaned… I will send the Comforter (Holy Spirit).” (John 14:18-31)  “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there I am.” (Matt. 18:20)  That is the faith that we enter worship holding to.  The “encounter” is present, He never left.  He entered the room with us, and he will leave with us.  That is why we worship, not because of how an “experience” may feel.