Worship isn’t just a matter of taste.

Steve Brown:
Worship isn’t just a matter of taste. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
That was Steve Brown. And this is Key Life, we’re dedicated to the teaching that the only people who get any better are those who know that if they don’t get any better, God will still love them, anyway. Steve is an author, seminary professor and our teacher on Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re looking at the concept of family in the Bible. And it’s the last paragraph of the second chapter of the book of Acts, as we continue with our study in Acts. We’re talking about what does it mean to be a brother and sister in Christ? What does it mean to be family? And we’ve seen that it’s based in belief. It’s what you believe. The brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God sounds wonderful, but it’s just not true. The creaturehood of man under the creative God of the universe, that’s true. Everybody is created in God’s image. That’s why I’m pro life. That’s why I’m willing to listen to people who disagree with me, because everybody is valuable, but they’re not family, because family is built on belief. And then we saw, we spent most of yesterday talking about necessity, being the impetus of real brotherhood. We absolutely need each other. I said, when I quoted John Wesley.

If your heart be as my heart, give me your hand.

And I added to that. If you’re as scared as I am, give me your hand. If you’re as worried about the church as I am, give me your hand. If you are a sinner like me, give me your hand. Give me your hand because we have got to walk together or we’re going to die separately. We do need it, I may have told you this story, I have a friend who’s in heaven now, he was a dentist and his name was Ed Tinney. And Ed Tinney loved me, and I loved him. And, one time I was invited to speak for a large men’s club when they brought their wives for their annual banquet. And the reason they invited me was because I told good jokes, and you know, that’s what they wanted for an after dinner speaker. And I told the president when he asked me, I said, you know, you need to know something that’s changed in me. I still tell pretty good jokes. But that’s not the main thing I do. I talk about Jesus. And if you’d rather find somebody else who just tells jokes, don’t invite me. He said, I’ll get back to you. And then he, and he did. And he said, I brought it up to the board and we want you to come and say whatever you want to. And the vote was six to four. So, anyway, I showed up and it was a party time and they were all having a good time. And I was at the head table and I thought, good heavens. I think what I was going to teach, was a little bit strong for this bunch. I think I’m going to tell good jokes and maybe say a good word about God and make people feel good and then we’ll bring it. And then I noticed that Ed Tinney, my friend, he was sitting in the back of this large assembly place with tables and where we were having dinner. I noticed him walking up to the head table and he had purpose in his eyes, and he walked behind the head table. He leaned up, put his hand on my shoulder, not softly and leaned over and whispered in my ear, don’t you back off one bit, I’m praying for you. And then he walked off. I needed that, didn’t I? I mean, I needed a brother that said, don’t shilly shally. And you need a brother or sister who says that to you too. Or we will shilly shally, necessity is the mother of invention, but necessity is the mother of family also. Let me show you something else. And this is interesting, worship is the glue of family. Worship is the glue of family. Look at the 45th verse of that second chapter.

And they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them all as any as needed. Day by day, attending the temple together.

What does that mean? They were worshiping daily. They were going to church. They, they saw worship more important than the party. Now, we’re all for worship. I mean, that’s like being, if you’re against worship, you’re against a motherhood and apple pie and the flag, everybody says that, but you know, I know a church here in Orlando that’s become a gigantic church and their preaching is alright. It’s alright. I’m a homiletics professor and I could do some critiques there. You know, the people aren’t that nice to be honest with you and the music is good, but that’s not the reason. Do you know early on, and I’ve known this church from the beginning, back when it started in a school, and they met in that school for years and then grew and then moved into a skating rink and then moved into a gigantic building. And there were 10,000 people that were, and do you know what they decided that above all else, their mission would be, you’re not going to believe this, worship. That the priority of everything they did would be worship, and they poured all of their money and all of their talent and all of their time and all of their efforts into a lot of things, but the main thing was always there. It’s about worship. And God honored it, just as God honored these men and women in the first century. He honored their worship, because that’s why we were created. What is the chief end of man? That’s it. That’s why we’re here. And that’s why the church issue year, we are a worshiping community, worship isn’t a matter of taste. You can take it or leave it. Worship, whether you raise your hands and dance in the aisles, whether you use Gregorian chants, whether you burn incense, whether you sing with a gigantic choir or have somebody banging on a guitar and a drum. It’s worship, and worship is good. My friend and colleague Reggie Kidd, we taught together for years, and now he’s the Dean of the Cathedral here in Orlando. And, I love Reggie a lot. His wife worked for Key Life for a long time, but he wrote a book on worship a number of years ago, With One Voice. And it’s the best book on worship I have ever read. In fact, I’ve recommended it and I think it’s still in print, With One Voice. And he talks about how different styles of worship compliment the body of Christ. The blues brothers, Bubba, country music and Bach, classical music. And he talks about how all of that is the voice of the people of God in worship. And it is the cause of unity and family and power. So don’t put that on the back burner. If you want to be a part of a family that makes a difference in this world, then you’ve got to see worship as the very center of who you are and the very center of what the family is, we’re here to feed the poor, of course. We’re here for them to evangelize. I mean, they don’t have anybody but us to tell them the truth. We’re here because we need each other. And we’ve talked a lot about that, but let me tell you something. At the bottom line of all of that, we’re gathered here to worship. It’s what this whole thing is all about. My friend and colleague, Richard Pratt says that when somebody goes to a restaurant, and they sit at the table, the waiter doesn’t say to the people at the table, I’m going to sit down and you wait on me, because this is getting old, that I’m waiting on you. He said, oh no, the waiter is there to serve the people who are eating the meal. And that’s worship, we’re here to serve and praise and glorify and worship and honor the sovereign God of the universe who loved us and forgave us. And called us to himself. And so worship and you got to cut slack, because people have different tastes. You just gotta do that. I’m an old guy and I have some strong views. I mean, I think if you don’t have a major pipe organ in the church and play it, then it’s not church. And Jesus said, that’s dumb. It is, because the young man who’s playing that guitar with such skill is doing the same thing your PhD did when he was playing the organ in the church where you grew up. Bottom line, it’s worship dummy. It’s worship, and worship is the stuff of which the family of God is made. You hear a lot about worship wars today. Is that crazy? You know, there are some things that we ought to fight about, I guess. I mean, I am of course right about doctrine and you’re wrong. We can fight about that, but how can you fight about worship? Man, if I worship, that’s the gasoline that makes this bus go. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. That wraps up another great week of teaching from Steve on Acts, as we looked at the last paragraph of acts 2, of course, if you missed anything or if you just want to listen again, be sure to visit us at keylife.org. And don’t forget to join us again tomorrow for Friday Q & A, some great questions on deck for Steve and Pete to answer tomorrow.So, now that we’re on the back half of 2021, let me ask you, have you claimed your copy of the 2021 edition of Key Life Magazine yet? If not, listen you have actually played your cards, right. No kidding, if you order it now, you can get your copy of Key Life Magazine for half off the regular price. So, um, basically, uh, it’s free. You’re going to get great articles from Steve, Robin DeMurga, Chad West and Chris Wachter. And it’s all in the 2021 edition of Key Life Magazine. And we would love to send it to you today. So just call 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] and ask for the magazine. If you’d like to mail your request, send it to

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