Sincerity in church worship
If you attend a church other than one that follows a strict formal structure, you probably start off the service with music and singing. In a lot of churches this is called the worship service. It is common these days to have a team of singers and musicians up on the platform singing songs and leading the congregation in singing and worship.
What is this for? Our time of singing and worship is supposed to be a time for us to praise our God who is worthy of our praise.
Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Isaiah 12:5
This sounds like it should be easy but as human beings with difficult lives and various opinions, worship can sometimes be very difficult. Age differences in members of the congregation can also cause some strife. Do we like the music? Do we like the leaders? Is the music too loud? Why do we have drums? Why don't we sing the old hymns? Why are we clapping? Why aren't we clapping?
A worship service can even be divisive to a church. UNLESS - as individuals we make sure that we are sincere in our worship and we keep our minds on the one we are supposed to be worshiping. We will never find a perfect church and of course, when we get there, it wouldn't be perfect anymore anyway.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! Psalms 100:1-3
As members of the congregation, we must stay focused. Sing to the glory of the Lord, not looking around, and trying to keep our minds off of our struggles. I have difficulty because as a musician, I hear every wrong or flat note, or every missed chord. It bothers me when songs are in a key that is too low or too high. I often have to close my eyes and pray during worship in order to redirect my mind away from critiquing my singing and the music of others, and back to the words and the worship of the Lord.
As worship leaders, we must also stay focused. This can be difficult when you are trying to sing or play the best you can and not look foolish. Being a leader is a heavy responsibility. You job is to lead the people to worship with their whole hearts, not just to watch or listen to you, but to draw closer to God, not just have a good time, and to prepare their hearts for the message, allowing no distractions.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. John 4:23
I was at a church, not my own, a couple weeks ago. I've seen and participated in many types of worship services. I've seen the old style with hymns and choruses and I've seen very modern services. But this week I saw things I'd never seen before and they distracted me from worship. My spirit was disturbed and I could not, no matter how hard I tried, get into an attitude of worship.
I'm not saying this type of worship is wrong but it was distracting to me. The music was great. The musicians, of which there were many, were also very talented. It was modern music but not anything I had heard before so I wonder if it may have been written by the musicians for that particular church which is wonderful. The congregation was very involved and were singing and clapping seemingly sincerely worshiping.
Sounds good, right? But three things distracted me. First, the head or leader of the worship team often went off on his own, which to those of us who didn't know the songs made it difficult to learn them enough to get into worship. It felt like a performance more than an encouragement for us to worship.
Also, although I believe in dancing and moving as the spirit leads, six women were assigned places throughout the sanctuary to dance with flags and ribbons on sticks. Their movements were somewhat overly expressive and distracted me. I wondered why they had to be assigned to dance and why the spirit was not just allowed to move. I also wondered what purpose the flags had but more than that, why only women? Men dance in the spirit too. King David often danced before the Lord.
And David danced before the LORD with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. 2 Samuel 6:14
And yet, even with the dancing and the performance, I could have seen some of the reasoning behind it and been able to worship. However, the third thing that distracted me was rotating, flashing, colored lights. I can not seem to find a reason for these lights. While I was in that church and others were appearing to worship around me, my heart hurt and my spirit cried. I had to sit down and pray just to prepare myself for the message. I still don't know if this is my problem or if others in the service were there singing and having a great time, but not truly, sincerely worshiping God. I will not know until we meet the Lord.
Now this is just my opinion. You can take it or leave it. But to me, no matter what type of music, no matter what style of singing or instruments, no matter how many people are up there on the platform there are a few things that we, as the congregation worshiping, need.
First, we need the Holy Spirit to lead, singing through the leaders and through us. We need to see the team worshiping and following the Holy Spirit's leading, even if we just sing one song over and over again. We need to hear the melody stronger than the harmony so that we, especially those who do not consider themselves singers, can sing along easily and learn. We need to be encouraged to participate by the actions of the team. And we need a time of reverence and awe.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe. Hebrews 12:28
What it all comes down to, though, is us. We need to worship in spirit and in truth. No matter where we are or what is going on around us, it is up to us to worship with sincerity. I failed at that church. I missed an opportunity to tune out the world and worship my Father. Others may have different ideas and it is not mine or yours to judge. It is only our responsibility to worship the only one worthy of worship.
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’" Luke 4:8
What is this for? Our time of singing and worship is supposed to be a time for us to praise our God who is worthy of our praise.
Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Isaiah 12:5
This sounds like it should be easy but as human beings with difficult lives and various opinions, worship can sometimes be very difficult. Age differences in members of the congregation can also cause some strife. Do we like the music? Do we like the leaders? Is the music too loud? Why do we have drums? Why don't we sing the old hymns? Why are we clapping? Why aren't we clapping?
A worship service can even be divisive to a church. UNLESS - as individuals we make sure that we are sincere in our worship and we keep our minds on the one we are supposed to be worshiping. We will never find a perfect church and of course, when we get there, it wouldn't be perfect anymore anyway.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! Psalms 100:1-3
As members of the congregation, we must stay focused. Sing to the glory of the Lord, not looking around, and trying to keep our minds off of our struggles. I have difficulty because as a musician, I hear every wrong or flat note, or every missed chord. It bothers me when songs are in a key that is too low or too high. I often have to close my eyes and pray during worship in order to redirect my mind away from critiquing my singing and the music of others, and back to the words and the worship of the Lord.
As worship leaders, we must also stay focused. This can be difficult when you are trying to sing or play the best you can and not look foolish. Being a leader is a heavy responsibility. You job is to lead the people to worship with their whole hearts, not just to watch or listen to you, but to draw closer to God, not just have a good time, and to prepare their hearts for the message, allowing no distractions.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. John 4:23
I was at a church, not my own, a couple weeks ago. I've seen and participated in many types of worship services. I've seen the old style with hymns and choruses and I've seen very modern services. But this week I saw things I'd never seen before and they distracted me from worship. My spirit was disturbed and I could not, no matter how hard I tried, get into an attitude of worship.
I'm not saying this type of worship is wrong but it was distracting to me. The music was great. The musicians, of which there were many, were also very talented. It was modern music but not anything I had heard before so I wonder if it may have been written by the musicians for that particular church which is wonderful. The congregation was very involved and were singing and clapping seemingly sincerely worshiping.
Sounds good, right? But three things distracted me. First, the head or leader of the worship team often went off on his own, which to those of us who didn't know the songs made it difficult to learn them enough to get into worship. It felt like a performance more than an encouragement for us to worship.
Also, although I believe in dancing and moving as the spirit leads, six women were assigned places throughout the sanctuary to dance with flags and ribbons on sticks. Their movements were somewhat overly expressive and distracted me. I wondered why they had to be assigned to dance and why the spirit was not just allowed to move. I also wondered what purpose the flags had but more than that, why only women? Men dance in the spirit too. King David often danced before the Lord.
And David danced before the LORD with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. 2 Samuel 6:14
And yet, even with the dancing and the performance, I could have seen some of the reasoning behind it and been able to worship. However, the third thing that distracted me was rotating, flashing, colored lights. I can not seem to find a reason for these lights. While I was in that church and others were appearing to worship around me, my heart hurt and my spirit cried. I had to sit down and pray just to prepare myself for the message. I still don't know if this is my problem or if others in the service were there singing and having a great time, but not truly, sincerely worshiping God. I will not know until we meet the Lord.
First, we need the Holy Spirit to lead, singing through the leaders and through us. We need to see the team worshiping and following the Holy Spirit's leading, even if we just sing one song over and over again. We need to hear the melody stronger than the harmony so that we, especially those who do not consider themselves singers, can sing along easily and learn. We need to be encouraged to participate by the actions of the team. And we need a time of reverence and awe.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe. Hebrews 12:28
What it all comes down to, though, is us. We need to worship in spirit and in truth. No matter where we are or what is going on around us, it is up to us to worship with sincerity. I failed at that church. I missed an opportunity to tune out the world and worship my Father. Others may have different ideas and it is not mine or yours to judge. It is only our responsibility to worship the only one worthy of worship.
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’" Luke 4:8
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