Don't Take The Soul Out Of The Sinner

Doug Wilson says it well in his book Future Men: "Sin is parasitic and cannot function without some good attributes that it seeks to corrupt.  Consequently, faith must distinguish that which must be preserved and developed and that which must be abandoned as sin."  This truth is tremendously profound, and if understood and applied correctly, can be used to keep many from the follies of lawlessness and legalism.

Athletic events and concerts are simply a case of faithful worship gone bad.  Sin, as a slave master, has so corrupted the individual that the image of God within is used for evil ends.  As Christians who have been called to the ministry of reconciliation, we must, in a surgeon-like way, seek the mortification of sin while preserving/developing the person's faith and worship.

So when we see thousands screaming their heads off at a Dave Matthews concert, we should marvel at the desire, ability and capacity within each individual to worship another.  Their relentless faith in an individual provokes the sacrificial spending of time, energy, and resources.  I think of the stories of people who camp out for days just to get tickets!  How can we not see glorious attributes here built so deeply within the image of God?.   How can we not marvel at the strength of faith and worship?

What do we do?  We simply tell them they are stupid.  Why?  Well, I can't speak for everyone, but I can give a reasonable stab at it.  Its because most critical Christians are jealous.  We are being out-worshipped.  We only wish we had a taste for Christ that they have for Dave.

In short, to squelch the passion would be fatal, leading to an all-too-familiar stoic legalism.  To leave the passion unattended and without redirection would be fatal as well, leading to a reckless lawlessness.  We must only redirect the worship by proclaiming, in the Gospel, a superior Object of worship.  The gospel alone has the power to kill the parasitic sin while bringing life to the dead heart.  And the gospel alone has the power to restore and redeem the image of God in the individual, to draw their worship back to Christ.

But before we go out to proclaim that Good News, we should probably pray that the Spirit would ignite a passion within us that at least resembles the worship seen here (only the object of our worship would be Christ).