There was a great deal of talk over the past 30+ years about churches becoming more “seeker-sensitive”. That meant we needed to remove impediments to worship that were keeping non-Christians (or “seekers”) away. It often involved removing things off-putting to seekers from worship that were deemed nonessentials. So churches removed offering plates and used offering boxes in the lobby that were easier for seekers to walk past without guilt. Suits were traded in by pastors for more casual attire. Organs were dumped for guitars and drums.
Though some of these were met with great consternation, none of these changes constituted unfaithfulness to the Biblical concept of worship. Some may have even helped more authentic worship happen in certain environments. However, while everyone was asking “what do seekers want” or “what do church members want”, there was one question people often forgot to ask:
“What does GOD want from our worship services?”
While I can agree we need to remove any man-made stumbling block to people coming to Christ, worship must first be sensitive to what God wants. That’s because worship is by definition about God…to God… for God! If He is not pleased, has worship even really happened?
Much like the tree falling unheard in a forest, if we sing songs but God refuses to listen, have we really worshipped?
There is nothing more important in the life of a Christian than worship. While prayer, Bible study, and witnessing are important disciplines of the mature Christian life, they can become hollow, legalistic exercises without the oil of worship. However, for most Christians worship is approached rather casually, as if it’s just something we do because there’s nothing good on Sunday morning TV. And because many are neglecting God’s desires in worship, too many churches are now suffering and dying.
The remedy to the sickness in our churches is to practice God-Centered worship. Worship God accepts will revive and resurrect many of our churches, and from the number of church closures we currently face, it couldn’t happen any faster. We need to ask ourselves what God wants from our worship before our churches become spiritual deserts and historical relics.
“Man-Centered” Vs. “God-Centered” Worship
You get something totally different in worship when you realize God is supposed to be the audience and not people.
WHEN WORSHIP IS MAN-CENTERED…
– We are in charge, not God
– What we can achieve is only the sum of our own efforts
– Even when we succeed, real joy is not present
– Our goal is for our talents to receive glory
– But those talents ultimately fall short of their full potential
– Our desire to succeed is fueled by fear of man’s rejection
But when pleasing God is the focus, the difference in fruit is striking.
WHEN WORSHIP IS GOD-CENTERED…
– We are unconcerned with how well we have performed
- Our Goals become less self-serving and more God focused
- God moves despite our level of ability
- Fear of failure is absent as desire to please God becomes primary
- Getting the credit is not only unimportant, but discouraged
– The end result goes far beyond the abilities of the individual
IN GOD-CENTERED WORSHIP, I MUST PARTICIPATE
I’ve known people who say, “Although I just stand quietly during the worship services, I still worship in my own way.” But most every reference in the Bible to Worship and Praise involves the worshipper doing something. In the Bible, they sang, or clapped, or shouted. They lifted hands, knelt, or occasionally fell prostrate. Meditation and silent prayer was also a part of worship, but was done in expectation of God speaking and never in lieu of active participation.
Biblical worship was, by nature, overt, demonstrative, and proactive. Never does the Bible say, “Give glory to God with your passive resignation”.
Worship was never meant to be a “spectator sport”, where the congregation just looks on. Our Father not only desires the worship of those on the platform who sing or play, He also wants unashamed worship from each of His children in the congregation. Each person’s worship is precious to Him, with each one giving praise with their own unique way.
But you may say, “Aren’t you judging others who may not be as animated as you? How can you know their hearts?”
Well, I can’t. The Bible says I don’t even know my own heart, much less anyone else’s. I do know people are “wired” quite differently when it comes to expressing emotions. My wife Dawn is what most people would call “even-tempered”. Her highs are not too high, and her lows are mostly undetectable. I envy her “smooth sailing” nature, and often wish I could trade with her. I am the emotional one in our family. So while Dawn will hear a certain song and respond with a pleasant smile, you can look over and see me blubbering as if I’m sitting on Oprah’s couch!
Does my emotion mean I love Jesus more than Dawn does? Of course not. People respond to God differently. We express the very same love and passion for God in our own unique ways. But individuality can never be an excuse for not participating in worship. God wants praise from each of us, and it’s our individuality that makes it special, no matter how elaborate or subdued.
IN “GOD-CENTERED” WORSHIP, THERE IS FREEDOM
There are as many different ways to worship as there are worshippers. Each one of us is different, and each believer expresses his or her love for the Lord somewhat differently. But the one ingredient that must be in every worship service of every church is freedom. Each one of us must be free to worship in the way God is leading us, within the specific boundaries dictated by Scripture.
We must allow God to create an environment in worship where each believer feels the freedom to express what is in his or her heart to God. But I have found that this level of freedom is especially hard for most men. Some may tell you worship is just not a “guy thing”, but some men simply do not feel free to express their love for God with any emotion.
In fact, men are actually pretty emotional, in certain settings. You’ve seen them on the tee ball field with a bunch of 6 year olds playing a game, not even keeping score. Still, some dad will be screaming his head off at the ref who called his kid “out”. I’ve seen tears, screams, and jumping in the air from men. Someone simply gave them permission to do those things in sports.
My friend, tell me how God deserves any less passion from you than you would give a football team? Real worship encompasses the whole person, including the full range of their human emotions. For years we’ve assumed showing a full range of emotions in church is inappropriate, but that is not what the Bible says.
If you ever want to take an emotional roller coaster ride, just read what a great warrior like David wrote in the Psalms. David poured out his whole heart upon the Lord in worship, and God deserves nothing less from each of us. Yet the same man who acts like a lunatic when his college team wins on Saturday will sit comatose during worship on Sunday! We are afraid: afraid of what other’s will think, afraid of what we will do that will be misinterpreted. And that fear keeps us from worshipping the way we truly desire. This grieves the heart of God, because He desires us to worship that way too.
Some hide behind denominational monikers so we can have a “pass” from freedom in worship. It’s just not part of our religious tradition to be expressive. But no matter what church you’re in, God expects your congregation to allow and encourage Biblical expressions of praise within your worship services. If what the Bible says is good is against your church’s rules, then your church needs to change! A church that limits that expression to singing only is a church that is limiting how its people can bless God…and how God will bless them in return.
For years, I stiff-armed God with my involvement in praise because I didn’t want people to think I was a “holy roller”. I remain a happy Southern Baptist, but I have to admit we have let the excesses of a few keep many of us frozen like dead men in our pews. Our fear of excess has allowed the pendulum to swing to the extreme of dry and barren formality. We have made “dignity” and “appropriateness” the hills our churches will die on. And believe me, they’re dying fast.
What many of us call dignity in worship is really just spiritual rigor mortise setting in. We need to die to our dignity and worship the Lord with the humility of little children again.
IN “GOD-CENTERED” WORSHIP, WE ARE MINISTERING TO GOD
The most amazing fallacy about worship today is that we believers think it must be done to our liking. How funny that we could make worship about us, when it is all about us ministering to God. How strange to take the one truly special thing that we can do to bless God, and do it specifically so it will bless us.
I learned so much about God’s desire for our worship when I became a father. The most wonderful experience I have with my children is when they say, “Daddy, I love you”, and they cuddle up in my lap. God encouraged us to address Him as “Abba Father”, which would be the equivalent of saying “Daddy” in our culture. God is saying that He desires the same intimacy and tenderness with us that a father desires from His children.
Your individual worship, embodying all the nuance and uniqueness of who you are, is your best gift to God as His child. You may do other acts of service, such as giving to the poor, teaching a Bible class, or visiting the sick, but those things will never replace the gift of your voice lifted in song, your hands raised in praise. But some Christians seem to be saying, “I’ll give you my life and my service. But please keep your distance, God. I’m not willing to risk showing you how I feel about you in front of everybody else.”
Of all the things we can do in the name of Jesus, the one thing that ministers solely to God is worship. Feeding the poor or teaching a class is part of our spiritual worship, sure. But when we do those things, we are mainly blessing the church. When we worship, our focus is on blessing only the Lord. Worship is the one gift we can give to God and God alone!
“GOD-CENTERED” WORSHIP IS THE BELIEVER’S PRIORITY
I was listening to Dr David Jeremiah preach recently, and I will never forget his response to a couple of his church members. In complimenting him on how great his preaching was, they told him, “We love your preaching so much, we don’t even come for the music part of the service. All we show up for is the sermon!” The pastor looked sadly at the couple and said, “If you are skipping everything in the service except for my sermon, then my preaching hasn’t done you much good!” In spite of their attempt to stroke his ego, Dr Jeremiah really understood the importance of worship in the believer’s life as well as in the Bible.
I don’t thing it’s a coincidence that out of Ten Commandments, the first, second, and fourth deal with areas of worship. God wanted us to see that worshipping Him is to be our first priority. God took seven chapters in Leviticus just to tell how to organize the logistics of the worship area. Also, the Tabernacle of worship was placed in the center of encampment of God’s people specifically to show that all of life should revolve around worship. Worship is the one thing we are doing now that will continue on throughout eternity. Since it will be God’s priority for how we spend our days then, we ought to make it our priority now!
I had always thought that the first priority of the church was to win the lost. While this is certainly high on the list, God demands that we worship Him first of all. The Christian life is designed so that all our good works – witnessing, tithing, service – are meant to be an overflow from our worship life. Otherwise, even these necessary things become just dead works. True obedience to God begins by bowing the whole person before God’s throne as a living sacrifice. This is why Isaiah, after experiencing what was probably the ultimate in face-to-face worship with an awesome God, responded by saying “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6). When we put worship in the right place, evangelism is a natural result of being in God’s presence.
In Luke 10, we can all remember the story of Mary, who just wanted to be at Jesus feet adoring Him, and Martha, who insisted on being church hostess for the day. When faced with Martha’s rebuke for Mary’s lack of assistance, Jesus said, “…only one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen the better.” To put it more bluntly: God doesn’t want your service most of all, God wants you! I believe He would be saying to many of us “thanks so much for teaching that Sunday School class, singing in the choir, and the offering was nice, but … could we just spend a little time together first?” Jesus is letting us know that His preference is for us to know Him intimately over just being busy about His business.
“GOD-CENTERED” WORSHIP BRINGS HEALING
God’s Word tells us to put on the “garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” I believe much of the depression we see in fellow Christians is due to a lack of worship. If you ever stood on the platform at church and looked out, you’d be stunned at the large numbers of unhappy, unfulfilled, and just plain miserable people you’d see. And while some of them may have sins from which they have not repented, many of them are suffering because they do not know the healing power of worship in their lives.
One Sunday at the church I served in Tennessee, I did something that I had never done before in a worship service. As we were experiencing a time of intimate and passionate worship, I stopped the music and asked if there was anyone in the congregation who had a need only God could meet. Several hands went up around the auditorium. I then felt led to ask those people to come forward and kneel at the altar to pray. As I heard the words come out of my mouth, a rush of fear went through me as I wondered if anyone would respond.
We were not used to looking spiritually “needy” in our church. Spiritual “transparency” was not the norm, and I had no idea what would happen next. But to my amazement, first one…then another…then tens of people started streaming down the aisles to the altar. They were kneeling, some weeping openly, some by themselves and some in couples.
I then asked if our people would come and “lay hands” on the people at the altar! Laying on of hands was something that only happened during Deacon Ordination, when the older deacons would try to mess up the hair of the new rookies as much as possible. But I found out that night that it deeply ministers to people in a time of need.
This became something that the congregation urged me to continue in future service, and praying together over people in need at the altar became a regular part of our worship. Many times during these moments of altar ministry, I would feel a dear brother’s hand on my shoulder and hear him speak my name to the Father. Even though by nature I am a loner and have been hurt in the past by people who abused my friendship, God made it clear to me in these worship times just how much I needed other people.
“GOD-CENTERED” WORSHIP DRAWS PEOPLE TO GOD
In addition to ministering to the Lord, your worship has a residual effect on those around you, and especially upon the lost. While the worship service is meant for the Body of Christ to give pleasure to the Father, it also has the ability to show the world the life-changing power and joy that is found in the presence of the Lord. In passionate, God-sensitive worship, they will see that we really mean what we are saying about God. But emotionless, sterile worship will in turn inoculate them from catching what we have!
Worship takes our attention away from the problems that seem to be so insurmountable and focuses us on God – the ultimate solution to every problem. When we see Him in all of His power, we see how truly small our problems are in comparison. Worship is the great perspective-giver. We see the world, and our problems, from a “God’s-eye view”. And when God is put in His proper place, nothing else is really that important. When we stop focusing inward with self-pity and focus upward with worship, we see that nothing besides our relationship with God matters.
When we, as a congregation, decide to make worship a time of ministering to God instead of living up to the expectations of those around us, we will see His love poured out on us and our church in a way we never imagined. That’s what happens every time when you put God at the center of your worship.
