Who Stopped The Party?

by Robert C. Smith

God invented the party. It was how we were supposed to worship Him! But somewhere along the way, the celebration got lost.

“Nobody partied like Israel in the Old Testament. In any one year, they celebrated SEVEN FESTIVALS,” Chuck Singleton, our Senior Pastor, said in a recent message. However, by the time Jesus came on the scene, those parties had become so few and far between they had virtually stopped!

And what did continue had scant resemblance to the joy of the Old Testament celebrations.

Today, in many Christian churches, the party has stopped. You can’t find it anywhere!

Essential to those festivals (yes, you can call them parties) was the “dance!” We had a sample of biblical dancing right down in front here at Loveland. Some members came down and demonstrated the kind of circular dance that had been done for generations. “Those dances were all designed to magnify the name and person of JESUS,” asserted Pastor Chuck.

Jesus was no kind of party pooper. He dined with ‘tax-collectors and sinners.’ He went to a party one day and turned water into wine, (His first recorded miracle). Was that a coincidence, or was it something more?

Could it have been by Divine appointment?

Jesus confronted His accusers about His ‘party’ reputation, “Saying, We played the flute for you, And you did not dance … “ (Matt. 11: 17a).

So what does this mean for us, today?

Loveland got the point. Many, old and young danced down the aisles of the church, some brought their instruments and dancing shoes. My lovely wife danced until she fell down and to my amazement – unhurt – she got up and continued to dance.

However, the show stoppers were what some called ‘Deaconettes!’ They wouldn’t settle for just sitting on the front row of the Church and praying (although they did that). They jumped up and “got their party on for Jesus.”

Share on

Start typing and press Enter to search

Shopping Cart