“You are unworthy. I am unworthy. We are all unworthy.”
So spoke a “worship leader” at a worship service I attended recently.
I understand what (I think) he was trying to say. I couldn’t help but wonder, though, how beneficial it is to stand before a crowd of youth and tell them in an emphatic voice, that they are unworthy. The intent was clear to me. Being a recovering fundamentalist, I come from the side of the church that is no stranger to the felt need to make sure all listeners know they are sinners in need of grace.
I agree that the amazing thing about grace is that it is unmerited, undeserved, given freely. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 )
As he continued to share, I searched my memory of the scriptures for this pattern of persuasion. Sure, there are times when the prophets heaped condemnation on particular people and groups, but wasn’t that for specific sins, wrongs, and failures?
A quick search for the word “unworthy” on the Bible Gateway found very little. I searched five translations, and found a maximum of four uses of the word in any one translation. In none of them is it used the same way as this guy used it.
I recall Jesus calling the pharisees a bunch of white-washed tombs, full of death but dressed up nicely, but this collection of youth could hardly be confused with pharisees.
I think there are more effective ways of communicating the gospel to youth that to condemn them as unworthy. I think there are more effective ways of communicating God’s unconditional love of us them declaring us unworthy.
What do you think?
4 Comments
July 10, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I’m reminded of Bonhoeffer who criticized the notion that the gospel is “good news that can only be heard once a person has been brought low by the bad news.”
Something just seems wrong about bad news having to precede the good news…
July 10, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Hmm … I have bad news and I have good news. Which do you want first? We usually say “bad.” Get it over with.
Unworthy of what? Out of context it can mean, unworthy of friendship, of love, of success, of any of the good things in life. A sense of unworthiness underlies many people’s chaotic life choices. I’m not worthy of a decent marriage, of an honorable life partner, of a stable family, of a happy life, so I make a habit of stupid choices that deny me the things I’m not worthy of. Probably what the person meant, in context, is that we were/are unworthy of Christ’s sacrifice for us (all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory …), but in essence it probably goes back to the old Calvinist-vs-Arminian issue of “total depravity.” I personally don’t buy total depravity. You can do good things even without knowing Christ … it will just never be enough to earn a relationship with Him. It’s a gift. I view sin as a “crack in the mirror” — or, a distortion, like the wacky old mirror that once belonged to my great-grandmother … if you stood in the right place, your face was stretched all out of proportion. A distortion in the Imago Dei … it never can be quite right without Him.
July 16, 2008 at 6:31 am
When Mel told me about this worship experience, I could not help but laugh. She said that some of the students were quite shocked at what they saw/heard last week.
July 18, 2008 at 7:59 pm
If you haven’t seen Rob Bell’s new video, “The Gods Aren’t Angry”, I would recommend it. It speaks directly to the history of our general unworthiness mindset.