“In other words [Marshall McCluhan says], technologies create new social patterns and behaviors… Essentially the idea behind [his] phrase “the medium is the message” is this: we shape our tools, and then they shape us. What McCluhan wanted us to look at was the reciprocal effect that our tools and technologies have on us. They are not neutral things. They impact us deeply—much more than we are wont to believe—and we would do well to really think about what effects they have on us…including the ones the church has traditionally used. One of the most significant and frightening aspects of this phenomenon is the electronic media, and here McCluhan sounded a particularly prophetic note [from 1964]. When one considers the electronic media like television, radio, and the Internet, it’s not difficult to see that they are extensions of the human capacity for thinking. McCluhan says that electronic media are extensions of human consciousness, and as a result we are in global embrace and have leased out our consciousness to corporate interests. The media moguls have in effect rented out our consciousness and are selling it back to us at a profit. In short, we are being shaped by the dollar and by corporate interests.” [“The Shaping Of Things To Come: Innovation and Mission For The 21st Century Church,” by Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch. Emphasis mine.]
“…all the saving events and all the saving blessings of the gospel are means of getting obstacles out of the way so that we might know and enjoy God most fully. Propitiation, redemption, forgiveness, imputation [of righteousness], sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven—none of these is good news except for one reason: they bring us to God for our everlasting enjoyment of him. If we believe all these things have happened to us, but do not embrace them for the sake of getting to God, they have not happened to us. Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven [even] if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It’s a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don’t want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel.”[“God Is The Gospel,” John Piper]
“It is to be feared that there are some who profess religion with an appearance of strictness, [yet] who never separate themselves from all other occasions to meditate on Christ and his glory; and yet, with a strange inconsistency of apprehensions, they will profess that they desire nothing more than to behold his glory in heaven forever. But it is evident, even in the light of reason, that these things are irreconcilable. It is impossible that he who never meditates with delight on the glory of Christ here in this world, who labors not to behold it by faith as it is revealed in Scripture, should ever have any real gracious desire to behold it in heaven. They may love and desire the fruition of their own imaginations; they cannot do so of the glory of Christ, of which they are ignorant, and with which they are unacquainted. It is, therefore, to be lamented that men can find time for, and have inclinations to think and meditate on, other things, it may be earthly and vain; but have neither heart, nor inclination, nor leisure, to meditate on this glorious object. What is the faith and love which such men possess?” [“The Glory of Christ: His Office and Grace,” John Owen (1684)]
“To worship the Lord is—in the world’s eyes—a waste of time. It is, indeed, a royal waste of time, but a waste nonetheless. By engaging in it, we don’t accomplish anything useful in our society’s terms. Worship ought not to be construed in a utilitarian way. Its purpose is not to gain numbers nor for our churches to be seen as successful. Rather, the entire reason for our worship is that God deserves it. Moreover, it isn’t even useful for earning points with God, for what we do in worship won’t change one whit how God feels about us…Worship is a royal waste of time, but indeed it is royal, for it immerses us in the regal splendor of the King of the cosmos. The churches’ worship provides opportunities for us to enjoy God’s presence in corporate ways that take us out of time and into the eternal purposes of God’s kingdom. As a result, we shall be changed—but not because of anything we do. God, on whom we are centered and to whom we submit, will transform us by his Revelation of himself.” [“A Royal ‘Waste’ of Time: The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World,” Marva Dawn]
