The Heart of Worship - Conclusion

Worship is the assigning of worth to the One most worthy. To diminish that task with entertainment or mere emotionalism is to take away from the awesome worthiness of God. We must not surrender to the world’s concepts of entertainment or modern ideas of emotionally loving God. We cannot surrender to the notion that “people don’t understand that stuff”, to the dumbing down of the believer. We must press on to the highest places, giving to God more and more glory. We must decrease; He must increase. He must be the audience with we as the performers. We must teach and admonish with song, include the Word as worship, and engage the minds before attempting to drive by emotion. God deserves the best we have to offer.

A song entitled “The Heart of Worship”, by Matt Redman, has a chorus that goes like this:

I'm coming back to the heart of worship,
And it's all about You, all about You Jesus.
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it.
When it's all about You, all about you Jesus.

Herein is captured chief among my concerns. We’ve made worship into something it’s not. It is not a warm feeling about God, although warm feelings about God may accompany worship. It is not a good song or well-done performance, although we need to give God our best. While we should certainly appreciate those who lead us in worship, they cannot be our focus in worship. God deserves more than warm feelings and good performances. He deserves a heart of worship. He deserves people whose lifestyles reflect His worth. He deserves our minds, transformed and new.

Consider, for a moment, the two approaches: “A good performance” and “leading in worship”. There will, of course, be striking similarities. Both should be well done. The worship team should be worshipping as they sing in both cases. There may be spoken interaction in both cases. But there will also be fundamental differences. When leading worship, the aim will be to direct the congregation in worship. There will be a constant sensitivity to the congregation. Are we bringing them along? Are we teaching and admonishing with music? Are they enjoying the music or participating in it? Have we given them a reason to worship, or are we just “showing the way”?

This attention to the worship needs of the congregation will manifest itself in many seemingly small ways. Is the sound balanced properly so they catch words rather than skillful playing? Are the ushers or others distracting? Are the musicians adding to or detracting from their attention to God? Are those who are in front dressing in a way that draws attention to themselves? Are they saying and doing things that point the congregation to God? The differences will seem subtle, but the overall effect will be large. The congregation may not be able to answer the question, “How was the worship team today?”, but they will certainly be able to answer, “How was worship today?”

We don’t need to come into the presence of a good worship team. We don’t need to come into church to be taught cleverly. We need to see God. We need to be in His presence. We need to worship Him in spirit and in truth. All in all, the pastor, the worship team, those who minister by serving in a myriad of ways must bring the church into the presence of God and leave them there. The church does not need to go home impressed with the sermon or the music – they need to go home impressed with God.