Our church is very thoughtful. We don’t get very emotional in our services. There is rare clapping and hand-raising during worship, but other than that, it’s pretty cerebral. The sermons are intellectual, and we mix in liturgical elements to further stimulate the mind towards Christ. You have to think at Harmony Church. We don’t want to spoon feed.
But at the same time, we desire to stir passions for the glory of God and the good of Greenville.
Our affections for Christ are instrumental in our growth in Him. We don’t have to get emotional every time a certain song is played or sentence is said. We do, however, have to constantly remind ourselves of three things:
- Where we came from
- Who saved us
- How our salvation was accomplished
This is where theology meets the streets. We were totally depraved, incapable of saving ourselves. No matter how hard we struggle, how mightily we try to get rid of our garbage…we always fall short (Romans 1). God chose to give us up to our own passions for a while. But His goodness leads to repentance. He sent His Son to die for us while we were yet sinners. Jesus came to earth in a fleshsuit, lived for 30 years in relative obscurity, and then began His ministry mission. His mission was this: to live the life we cannot live, and to die the death that we should have died. He did this on the Cross of Calvary. The Glorious Exchange happened here: we get His righteousness, He takes our sinfulness. What a trade! And out of joy, this should result in one emotion with many manifestations: joy.
Our joy in our salvation, and in our Savior, results in us seeing the world like Jesus did. It results in us gathering with other believers for the purpose of reaching our city and showing it the same joy that was shown to us. It results in constant study of the One who saved us through Scripture. Joy leads us into spiritual conversation (prayer) with the One who saved us.
So yes, our beliefs should ‘click’ in our heads. It should make sense to us. We should pursue the questions that plague our faith. But in addition to our quest for an intellectual grasp of our salvation, the work of Christ should also place within our heart a passion for His glory that eclipses all other purposes in life.
