Musings On Worship Pt. 1: What Is It All About?

Worship: What is it all about?

There has been quite a number of discussions on worship at my church during our mid-week prayer meetings. In the spirit of humility, I would say that the ideas I have received from various people in our congregation have inspired this post and several others that will follow.

As the leader of a growing worship team, I am joining the conversation to give a few views on worship, praise and, probably, devotion.

In this first blog, I’ll address the things I think we do wrong to put our focus on when we worship and why I think we get it wrong. It may not the best approach to use as the first part of a discussion/talk on worship, but, anyway, who cares? (Oh, you care, right?) I’ll try my best to speak with the perspective of a lead singer where necessary and with the perspective of a normal Christian in some places.

Here are some of the things that we always seem to worry about but we shouldn’t:

1. We are worried that worship is about us.

Here is an example of how this issue eats us up:

Did I sing well? Were the people pleased? Did they sing along? Was my voice good? I think I need to be drinking more water before worship… And the left side of the congregation were just staring at me… Why were they not dancing or singing along? I think the other leader in our worship set led better than I did... I am letting this team down... I am a bad worship leader… My voice is not so good: it is shaky and bad and with a poor vocal range, and less ornamental… not just as smooth as so-and-so’s voice…

And it goes on and on.

The above concerns may be true and good (and they should be addressed because they affect the quality of music and the morale of the team), but they are not central to determining whether the objectives in every worship session have been met by the person leading worship. 

Some of the objectives that should always be met in a worship session are;

(a)  To aspire to lead people in worship while under the guidance and the influence of the Holy Spirit.

What we mean by this is this: we should ensure that we are not, in the moment when we are holding that microphone and leading people before God, depending entirely on ourselves but on the strength, wisdom and power of God through the Holy Spirit. Yes, we have skills, but we should depend on the Holy Spirit to use those skills to bless His people and to glorify Himself through us.

(b)  To ensure that no one is left behind as we lead worship. I wrote about this in this post from 2013: Do Not Come Alone!

(c)  To ensure that God is central when we lead the congregation (or even ourselves) in worship: that the music, the sound(s), the voices and everything in the worship service is being done to glorify God; that we are decreasing as servants as He increases as our/the Master. 

Worship is not about how good we can sing/lead, or how well-known we are, or how our team flows and blends well. It is about God. The person leading worship, the worship team and the congregation are just subtitles to the whole story. They are pixels in the big picture. The big picture is God Himself.

Note: Lead yourself first into God, and everything else will simply fall into its rightful place.

2. We are worried and we therefore think that worship is about the congregation we are leading.

We always tend to think that people’s (or the congregation’s) satisfaction with the music we are making qualifies to be called “a great worship experience”. Let me remind us this: people think all sorts of things about all sorts of things all the time. Come on, they (I hear they are evangelicals) even think Donald Trump will make a great president.

The quality and flow of music are a good thing during worship because they ensure order and direction but that is not entirely what worship is all about. Worship in not only about having “an experience” but about holistically experiencing Christ. Those are two different things. The first one is superficial/shallow while the second one is deep and eternal.

It is better we sit around and sing one "boring" song that will enable us holistically experience Christ than sing strings of songs that are but noise to His ears.

Sometimes - and these times are many – I feel like telling some members of the congregation that they should not expect the worship leader to "read their lives" and “sing that song that exactly suits their situation” on a given Sunday. That can’t happen. It should not happen. Worship is not about them; worship is about God.

3. We are worried that our church’s locality and how modern it is in both the music style and the instruments used affect worship.

Musical instruments, whether good, modern, archaic or bad, don’t worship God. Being in a mega church somewhere in a big city does not guarantee us a place before the beautiful Throne of God whenever we lift our voices and hearts to Him in worship.

The prophet Isaiah once wrote and said,

​“For Sheol does not thank You; death does not praise You; those who go down to the pit do not hope for Your faithfulness.” (Isa 38:18, ESV),

He understood one thing about worship: lifeless things don’t know how to give worship to a living God. Heis God to the living, not to the dead. God may cause stones, hills, tress etc. to act in awe of Him and give Him praise yes, but not out of their own will. Only living beings can give praise out of their our will; and only man can give thanks and worship God in spirit and in truth. And that is the kind of worship God is looking for, isn't it?

Therefore, as worship leaders, we should stop complaining about poor sound quality, shoddy musical instruments, faulty microphones and dead keyboards because these things are not the ones worshipping God; no, we are the ones that worship Him. Instead, as we pray that we may have better musical instruments, we should put our focus on the One receiving worship and if that worship deserves Him.

I know of tiny instrument-less churches that experience Christ in their worship services more and better than what happens in most mega/big churches. The reason is simple: they are putting their focus where it should be when they come to worship: they are fixing their eyes on Jesus, and putting their hope in the One who sits upon the Throne in Heaven. That is what worship is all about!

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In this regard, we realize that we are mostly never worried that worship is about God. This should worry us. It should be our main concern whenever we gather to worship: that worship is not about us, but about God.

It is about us approaching His throne with awe and reverence and fear and trembling and honor and.... worship. It is about Him leading us through the whole process because we know not how to do it on our own. It is about our hearts meeting with His own heart in a union that is rare. It is the meeting place between Heaven and earth. It is about Him meeting His people when they gather to worship Him. It is about our voices rising up to His throne to give Him the honor that He deserves. Worship’s most central place is God Himself, because without Him, there can never be us and there can never be meaning in what we are giving to Him (what we would call worship) and there can never be hearts that acknowledge His Name.

So, worship leader, the next time you are holding that microphone and are preparing to lead God’s people to Him, remember that IT IS ALL ABOUT GOD. Not about your voice, not about your abilities, not about your team, not about the congregation, but it is all about God.

  

Cc.     1. Matt Redman – Heart of Worship.

2. (1Corinthians 10:31, ESV) “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Bonface Morris.