Worship, MTV Style. All style, no substance?

The next time you think about it, open your weekend newspaper and look at the selection of churches advertised in your city. You’re probably not likely to see very many ads offering “church services” to the reader. In fact, the term you might be more likely to encounter to describe church is “worship service.”

Worship. Think about it.  When you hear the word, what immediately comes to your mind? The sound of a 400 voice choir backed up by a pipe organ and piano? A 200 voice choir singing with an orchestra, complete with drums and brass? Or do you think of an ensemble with a keyboardist? Perhaps you picture a rock praise band with a three guitar onslaught?  Do your thoughts even go beyond music?

Just exactly what is worship? Can it be defined? How is it practiced? How is it best introduced into a corporate worship service? Is there a right way or a wrong way to worship?

As a high school student in Florida back in the very late seventies, about the only contemporary “worship” services I encountered were those that might by today’s standards be called “traditional” worship services.   This worship experience essentially would have been the standard Baptist service which began with the doxology, followed by the first and last verses of “Sweet, Sweet Spirit,” “Love Lifted Me,” and “Near the Cross,” ending 140 verses (or so it sometimes seemed) of “Just as I Am,” “The Savior is Waiting,” and I “Have Decided to Follow Jesus.” The occasional youth rally might feature some more upbeat praise music from a couple of vocalists with acoustic guitars, tambourines and limited vocabularies, but it seemed most of the songs we sang were somehow more appropriate for a kumbaya campfire sing-a-long rather than church. Even in the early eighties when I was in youth work, guitars were still largely considered the supreme evil instrument in most churches outside of southern California or suburban Chicago. Even Truth, hardly considered a rock band by followers of today’s Christian music industry, was advised to mellow down the music when they came to my church, I later learned, after seeing them in concert at a charismatic church.  Amy Grant was only moderately acceptable, even before she moved to the rock-oriented Christian tunes and the pop crossover albums. Often, even any slow music written by anyone with bushy, long hair (e.g. Keith Green) was suspect by those whose gospel music collection was limited to George Beverly Shea, The Happy Goodmans and the Blackwood Brothers.

In college I ventured from my Baptist roots and, with friends, occasionally visited Calvary Assembly of God Church in Orlando, where I first heard songs that could be classified by today’s music as “worship choruses.” Songs like “Shield About Me” that were sung to God, instead of about God. Songs that often were backed up by (gasp) an electronic keyboard, electric guitars, drums and a bass. Through the eighties and nineties as I grew in faith and theological understanding about God and who He is, I fellowshipped and visited at a variety of churches that ranged from old-time Southern Baptist to bapticostal, from Pentecostal to Reformed Presbyterian. I’ve heard choirs, orchestras, and bands, both good and bad, loud and mellow. I’ve been in contemporary churches whose bands belted out 21st century music, traditional churches whose choirs and orchestras played nineties music (“blended!”), and liturgical churches who appeared to be stuck in the 1600s.  I’ve often vocalized to those sitting near me that if I hear “Pass it On” one more time I’m going to dig my leisure suit and Elton John platform shoes out of the basement for my next church visit.  I’ll take it over “It’s a Small World,” but not by much.

Personally, I love to hear a variety of music. Traditional hymns and newer worship choruses.  Even so,  I still enjoy hearing many of the seventies songs and choruses that haven’t been overused, though I wouldn’t expect my church’s worship leader to sing them every single Sunday. And, I absolutely love many of the new songs I hear coming from our good friends at Passion.

That having been said, I have at the same directed my attention to a disquieting trend developing over the past decade in many churches. As the nature of my business sometimes requires travel, I am afforded the opportunity to visit different churches from time to time. In so doing, I often encounter church music that feels like little more than entertainment.

Just what is true Worship? Does your church worship, or entertain? And does it even matter? I believe it matters, and matters mightily. Worship is the core of what we are called to do as believers. We cannot be Christians and not worship. Those of us who call ourselves Christians are adherents of Christianity, not churchianity (although some church worship services and preaching methods leave me wondering at times).

So, what is worship? Can we really say that there is a right way to worship and a wrong way? Or is it a purely personal decision, and anything goes?

For the sake of this discussion, lets focus on the component of worship called music. Understand that true worship extends to the entire life of a believer.  Read in your Bible about references to Worship and see what is really being referenced.  For example, when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness and asked him to bow down and worship him, was he asking Jesus to sing a chorus with his name associated with it?  Perhaps that was a part of it, but the greater goal was to get Jesus to deliver his entire being to Satan–his thoughts, his desires, his affections, his treasures, everything within him.  His heart, essentially.  Randy Pope rightfully refers to worship as “the Christian’s Career.”  Biblical worship is more than music.

Corporate musical worship is but a part of the sum total of what we call Worship.   We focus more on it perhaps because it is more visible, and hence, more controversial. One of the hottest topics pastor’s have to deal with as we are rolling into the new millennium is related to the type of music the church has. If you doubt this, just ask your pastor; if you live in a community with any degree of diversity (not just cultural or racial, but in terms of general demographics related to age, income, and upbringing), I would venture to say that your pastor gets more complaints and “helpful suggestions” about music than anything else.  More revealingly, ask yourself what motivated you to choose the church in which you worship:  was it theology, or was it the worship experience?  Sadly, most churches could change their theology and lose very few members or attenders, but let the church leadership change the music style, and they’ll leave in droves.  I sometimes think that all a cult would need to do to pull thousands of young Christians into it is to add a cool band to the mix.  We need to be discerning about what true worship is.

True Worship leads the worshipper to focus on God, not on human performers

True worship leads the congregation to focus on God, not on themselves or the person on stage. The worship leader who is performing for his own glory often carries himself or herself with an aura of self-awareness; their persona is more like that of a performer at an entertainment venue. Body movements and facial expressions are no different than they would be at a Friday night concert. That’s not to say that there is anything inherently evil with a Friday night concert consisting of upbeat, non-religious, non offensive songs.  Not at all.  I am simply saying that what is appropriate for a football game or concert is not necessarily appropriate for a worship service before a Holy, Almighty God. True Worship is led by a worshipper who is singing unto God and leading people to do the same. True Worship is not led by a performer trying to demonstrate his or her talent in a self-promoting, self-exulting manner. True Worship brings about an attitude of humility, both in the leader and the participants.

True Worship occurs when music is sung by people unto God without regard for the thoughts of others, rather than sung by people with the intent to entertain, at best, or to not offend, at least.

This touches on a trend in our churches today that is both encouraging and disturbing at the same time. It centers around the philosophy of the “seeker sensitive” churches. On one hand, I welcome efforts to eliminate cultural barriers to church attendance. We should be “sensitive” to unbelievers who come into our places of worship. We should offer worship styles that are consistent with the preferences in whatever cultural environment we find ourselves. We should seek to teach by speaking the cultural languages of the areas in which our local church is placed, which most certainly will include music. We certainly wouldn’t expect to reach Chinese people without speaking the Chinese language. The reality is that our country consists of people from diverse backgrounds, upbringings and cultures. The person from the country may relate differently than the person in the city. The person who loves southern gospel quartet music may relate differently than the person who loves jazz. It is commendable to try to speak the language of those who have not yet come to faith in Jesus so that they can understand the gospel.  I am pleased to see that many churches are “seeker sensitive” to the degree that they structure services in a fashion that is designed to remove those things from the service that some might find objectionable which are not rooted in the gospel of the cross.

But we should not cross over the line that takes us from being “seeker sensitive” to being “seeker driven.” Churches who seek as a primary goal to make the unbeliever “comfortable” have, in some instances but not all, gone too far in making people “comfortable.” In our haste to reach people with the gospel by removing cultural barriers which make people uncomfortable (i.e. robes, pipe organs, dark auditoriums, opera-esque solos, 1950’s choirs, 1970’s orchestras, formal dress, obnoxious speakers who reinforce negative, stereotypical images of slick TV evangelists), some churches are removing any and all music and teaching which a supposed majority of unchurched or unsaved people find offensive. I am convinced that if our sole goal is to make unbelievers comfortable, to the extent of eliminating true Bible teaching and worship, we are in the process removing the one Person from the worship services who can move people to come to Christ–and whose manner of doing so often causes people to be uncomfortable–the Holy Spirit. Let’s not forget that salvation is accompanied by repentance, and repentance is generated by an awareness of one’s deep sin, often called conviction.  And conviction can only come from the Spirit of God, working in a person’s life once they have heard the gospel. If our primary goal (as opposed to a secondary goal) is to make people comfortable, we forfeit the more honorable goal of seeing changed lives.  And yet if we go to the other extreme and completely disregard the lost person and deliberately make them uncomfortable through non-biblical requirements and ceremonies, we are equally off-target.

That having been said, let’s not water down our worship services. Get rid of the robes, yes. Wear casual clothes, ok. Bring in a band, no problem. But when we start removing from our services the songs that lead to true worship,  we ”have erred. The unbeliever needs to see Christians in worship…true Biblical worship. The Bible makes it very clear that the preaching of the cross is offensive and foolish to those who are not believers. If a pagan can repeatedly attend our worship services over an extended time period without either coming to Christ or eventually being somewhat offended, it may be that we are not preaching truth and we are not worshipping…because both activities will eventually convict the unbelievers who is truly seeking and open their eyes to realize they need Christ…or it will cause their hearts to further harden, and deaden their proclivity to respond to the gospel.

True Worship is better led by people who are mature believers

It is my conviction that True Worship is typically led by people who are mature believers, not just the best singers in the church. Let me ask you: who is asked to lead worship or sing in bands in your fellowship or Bible study group: the unrepentant, aspiring nightclub singer, or the moderate singing talent with a life that consistently glorifies God? The former is more likely to “perform,” and the latter is more likely to lead the participants to True Worship. Be careful who you place in leadership positions, particularly in the area of worship responsibility.  Musical ability should obviously be a required job description for someone truly called to this role, as those God calls to this role He also gifts; but some level of spiritual maturity and discernment ought to be equally, if not considerably more, important.

True Worship is not determined so much by style of delivery as attitude of delivery, both by the leader and the participant

So, what style of music is true worship? Is it the country church with its gospel quartets? Is it the urban church and its soulful music? Is it the affluent church with its high church pipe organ and choir? Is it the suburban church with its choir, orchestra and old-time hymns? Is it the other suburban church across the street with an ensemble and semi-contemporary choruses? Is it the campus church with its rock-and-roll? Is it the 140 year old country church singing hymns as they were written in the 1800’s? Is it the liturgical church in the old-money community still holding on to Handel? Is it the arts district church with a guy playing a flute surrounded by candles and finger paint?  Is it the church with no instruments whatsoever?

All of the above. None of the above.

Although I don’t particularly care for every style of music mentioned above, I’ve learned that I can worship in any of these settings if my attitude and heart is appropriate. I cannot worship in any environment if my heart and attitude is harboring unrepentant sin. But, I can be entertained by an emotional display of good music regardless of the state of my heart. I can be entertained by traditional music, and I can be entertained by contemporary music.  I know, I’ve been there.  Nonetheless, the primary responsibility for worship lies within me. The secondary responsibility, to an extent one might argue, lies with the attitude of the person leading worship. We are all singing to God. Whether we are on a stage or a pew or a chair, our attitude is most important to Him.  Whether it is contemporary or traditional is irrelevant.   After all, today’s traditional music was yesterday’s contemporary music, as evidenced by the observation that one of the top CCM songs of 1981 is now being recorded and sold in the latest seniors-friendly Gaither Homecoming series.  There will come a day when today’s young people will become tomorrow’s old folks insisting that their church return to the traditional good-old-days songs from Passion, Hillsong and Vineyard.

Let’s be careful not to define worship as a musical style, and in so doing imply that the only people who are spiritual are those who like OUR style of music.  Again,  I have to confess, I love many of the hymns. In part, I love them because they are rich doctrinal songs that take me back to the cross. Also, I must admit, I love them because I grew up in the church and the songs remind me of my spiritual childhood (and physical adolescence).  I love them because God used them to convict me of unrepentant sin in my life during a period of disobedience.  But lets be honest, it is often no easy task to separate good feelings we derive from spiritual activity from those that may in reality be more nostalgic in nature. Let’s remember this as we evaluate the worship in our churches, and be hesitant to complain JUST because the style is a generation or two above or below ours.  Otherwise we become little more than a congregation of professional critics, more concerned with feel-good music and feel-good theology than a true worship and life-changing experience with Almighty God.  Don’t get caught up in an attitude of superiority; some seem convinced that nothing worth singing has been written since the 1970’s and Bill Gaither while others insist that any song older than ten days old is to be discarded.

True Worship is consistent theologically, with words that contain rich doctrine

Although I very much love many of the new choruses sung in contemporary churches, and am thankful for the flood of terrific new songs that give glory and praise to Christ, some have pointed out that a growing number of songs, and particularly some of the contemporary Christian music popular songs, are very weak theologically. I am not alone in this observation; other artists and theologians have written extensively on this subject.  Yes, many old hymns may not be terribly upbeat and breezy, but the doctrine they contain is rich beyond measure. Songs like “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” communicate the gospel so powerfully, completely and reverently. True Worship is theologically correct and doctrinally sound. John 4:23 makes it clear: God is looking for people who worship in spirit and in truth.  Sadly, your favorite song on local Christian radio may not only be lacking in good theology, it may even be promoting a dangerous “new age” theology. Don’t be sucked into the mindset that doctrine doesn’t matter. It matters greatly. It’s important. It was important to Jesus, it was important to Paul, it was important to the apostles, it was important to the early church, and it ought to be important to you.  Theology is important. In our quest for unity in the Body, we have in some circles compromised critical doctrine that one must understand to fully accept and appreciate the love of God, the depravity of man,  the way of salvation, and the gift of grace. “All that matters is Jesus” sure does sound good on television, but it is far from truth. “Who is Jesus” is the question that must be answered first. The person who dismisses doctrine with a sweep of the hand while announcing brashly that “all that matters is Jesus” may be talking about the mythical Jesus, the new age Jesus, or the non-divine Jesus equated with Buddha, Allah or the Hindu…a Jesus who cannot save, who did not redeem, who did not die, who was not virgin born, who did not come back from the dead, who is not coming back again soon, and who thus has no power to redeem. That is not a Jesus to worship. The Jesus to worship has the power to save, to redeem, is God incarnate and a member of the Trinity, was virgin born, did live a sinless life, did die a substitutionary death, did come back from the dead, and is coming again to judge and to rule. To encourage sound doctrine, as we are instructed by the Bible to do, we must have sound Bible teaching…and sound worship. That means that the songs we sing should be sound theologically…grounded not in minor denominational preferences, eschatalogical scenarios, political issues, or modern day experiential so-called revelation, but in sound, systematic, historical Bible interpretation as believed through the ages by the Christian Church.  Remember that the gist of many of Paul’s New Testament book were warnings written to churches who were pursuing a false Jesus, both in terms of theology and practice.  Those who say doctrine doesn’t matter haven’t considered the New Testament in it’s context.

True Worship prepares our hearts for sound biblical teaching

In most worship gatherings, teaching will be a part of the worship service, as it is through teaching that the truths of scripture are imparted, stimulating us to study God’s Word for ourselves even further. True worship brings us humbly to the throne of God, prepares our hearts for truth which we may not otherwise be inclined to hear and apply. True worship does not take the place of Bible teaching; it prepares our hearts for it. After all, the only absolute truth we have about God is what He has written in the Words of the Bible.

In conclusion, let me say this.  As believers, we long to live for Him, to Worship Him and learn more about Him. Most of us would agree that we would want to worship as Jesus worshipped.  Few of us would admit it, but do we not tend to believe deep down that the way WE worship is the way Jesus worshipped?  Yet do we really take the time to study the Word to determine what Jesus has said?  Or do we just want to experience exuberant entertainment and feel our adrenaline pumping?

A few years ago it was trendy to wear banners and shirts that announced to the world that we want to live our lives after the motto “What Would Jesus Do.” While that is most certainly an admirable aspiration, remember that a child cannot do what his Father wants him to do unless he has first heard what his Father has asked him to do. One pastor summed it up thusly: “You cannot know what Jesus would do, until you know what Jesus has said.”  And the only way to know that is to read the Bible.

(c) 1999, updated 2006 Josh D. RIley | worship.com