Is It Time For Church “Worship” To Grow Up?

Worship!  The very word conjures up powerful images of devotion that can take many forms…except of course in church today where it tends to conjure up visions of that 30 minutes of singing at the start of a weekly church service.

When I first became a Christian back in the late ’70s that portion of the Sunday service where the congregation all sang together was just called  “music” or “praise”  and the guy (or pastor’s wife) who led the “music” tended to be called the “music minister”.

Slowly in the ’80s with rising visibility of musicians who specialized in leading Christians in this particular style of corporate expression and fueled by new music labels such as Maranatha and Hosanna!,  that 30 minutes at the beginning of every evangelical / charismatic church service got referred to as “Praise & Worship”

Then somewhere along the way in the late 1990’s with the rise of Hillsong, Vineyard, and many Christian artists changing their music styles to produce more Christian anthems for corporate expression, the notion of “praise” got mostly dropped.  Yep, we were “coming back to the heart of Worship”… and like Beyonce Knowles just one day became Beyonce!, somehow that nice singing time at the start of every  church gathering (because charismatic / evangelicals are nothing if not predictable 🙂 ) just became Worship!

Old Testament Worship vs. New

Much of what the modern evangelical church considers “worship” is inspired by displays of piety found in the Old Testament.  Followers of God danced and sang outside the tabernacle, the temple, and the Ark of the Covenant.  But if you went to any surrounding pagan nation you would find them dancing and singing before their gods and idols as well.  That was because “the gods” were “out there…somewhere”!

Jesus came and with his final sacrifice tore down the curtain that separated us from God.  Now “the gods” are not “out there” but instead the Spirit of Christ resides within us.  Acts of worship now take place when we allow that nature of Christ in our heart to bring his “way” to ourselves and the world around. Cornelius was a perfect example of this new worship God was drawing his people towards…

There was a man named Cornelius who lived in Caesarea, captain of the Italian Guard stationed there. He was a thoroughly good man. He had led everyone in his house to live worshipfully before God, was always helping people in need, and had the habit of prayer. One day about three o’clock in the afternoon he had a vision. An angel of God, as real as his next-door neighbor, came in and said, “Cornelius.”

Cornelius stared hard, wondering if he was seeing things. Then he said, “What do you want, sir?”

The angel said, “Your prayers and neighborly acts have brought you to God’s attention.

Acts 10:1-6

You want to know what God really loves?  What he really sees as “worship”?  It’s when we act like HE would act. When we behave like HE  would behave.  Like any good father, God feels that warm tingly feeling when he sees his children putting into practice the parenting he instilled in them.  Worship in the New Testament is obedience demonstrated in mirroring the teachings and life of Jesus Christ!

But, we don’t really want “worship” to be:

• loving our enemies,
• giving to those in need,
• bringing light to dark places in the world 

We want worship to be dancing as David danced!

It’s a whole lot easier and more fun…

When I was a Child…

I have a 5 year old named Ethan.  The way I feel Ethan’s love is when he jumps in my arms, calls me papa, gives me butterfly kisses, and play wrestles together ending with me blowing on his belly to his delight and laughter.  For lack of a better term, this is how my 5 yr old “worships” me.

I have an 18 year old as well named Gabriel.  His way of showing love has changed and matured.  We don’t do “butterfly kisses”, wrestle, and safe to say, I don’t blow on his belly anymore.  The way I receive devotion or again, for the lack of a better term, “worship” from Gabriel is when we spend time together talking, when he shares with me his life, asks my opinion on an issue, and puts into practice acts of kindness towards those around him his mother and I have taught him.

That lights up my heart more than anything!

I love both boys and enjoy the way each one shows their “devotion” to me but if my 18 yr old started acting like my 5 yr old in the way he related to me I would be a bit concerned.

Yet we do this in modern church services all the time.

We purposely bypass the New Testament where the primary way of worshiping the Lord is through communion with God manifesting in kindness to those around (i.e. obeying his teachings) and prefer instead to use the Old Testament model of singing and dancing for showing devotion to God.  Which begs the question…

When is modern church worship going to “grow up”?

Now I say “primary” way of worship because even my 18 yr old son will still give me a hug and an occasional peck on the cheek (usually reserved for when I will be away travelling for a while) as an act of love and devotion.  Likewise, the church should be encouraged in corporate expressions of devotion with their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Just for the record, I believe singing and music in our church gatherings can be a very beneficial thing but when we singularly refer to that as “worship” we have gone off the rails.  And how do I know we have gone off the rails?

Because when someone introduces themselves as a “worship leader” I know that they are a musician…what else could they be?  In today’s church, music is what “worship” is.

And worship is SO much more!

There is more to say of course but that should wrap it up for Part 1

Peace,

Steve