Honor or Worship

A couple of weeks ago my wife was informed by a friend that they had witnessed something quite unusual while attending a Christian Leadership Conference. Apparently, a psalmist had led the group in worship. As I understand he had a marvelous voice-angelic. People said his voice was beautiful. So far, so good. Up to this point nothing beyond his talent was out of the ordinary. But as I hear people say-"Wait for it."

Our friend states that the man left the pulpit and walked down the steps to prevent himself before the host pastor. As the host pastor stood before him the man laid himself prostrate before the pastor and took hold of his ankles. Another friend of mine that was present at the event described the moment as "uncomfortable."

After I stopped laughing with my friends at their description of the event I had a feeling of sadness. I was sad because I asked myself, "Where is the line between giving someone honor and giving someone worship?" I have seen on more than one occasion during a church service where someone dropped to their knees and bowed their heads before the pastor as an act of honor. At some level it would seem to be a humbling act. However, when you consider the entire picture and atmosphere it becomes a little frightening.

The same pastor that had his ankles grabbed and folks kneel before him is often quoted by his members as though they were quoting scripture. I remember watching an interview with a member from that particular church that had authored a book. This women wasn't five minutes into the interview before she began to credit her pastor for practically everything she was. There was also a group of women that accompanied her from that congregation that began to fall over each other to do the same. Such behavior has been encouraged by the pastor and his staff under the guise of "honor."

I would like to say that this is an isolated incident limited to only that church. But I have seen Christian leaders from across the nation encourage people to do the same. I have also seen local members of smaller congregations give the same "honor" to their pastors. Members afraid to speak about disagreements either to their pastor or in general. This is not done as an act of solidarity but out of fear for saying something bad about "God's anointed under-shepard." More and more pastors are being recognized as a special class of Christian worthy of honor, accolades, praise, blessing......"Worship."

I have no doubt that there is a place for giving honor to those that have served us well as pastors and leaders. I am all for showing gratitude to those individuals that have impacted our eternal souls for the good. But there is a line between showing respect and offering worship. Pastors are not super Christians. John Bevere rights about this in his blog, The Enemies Secret Strategy . Lets give honor where honor is due and Worship the only one truly worthy of it-Jesus Christ.