A couple of days ago, a church member expressed to me in an e-mail message her sadness over the spirit of corporate worship during our Sunday morning services. ¬†I asked if I could share her thoughts on TruthWalk in the hopes of generating some discussion. ¬†She agreed if I did so anonymously, so that the readership could focus on the content of what was said rather than the personality behind it. ¬†I can say as pastor that this person is growing in her faith, has been honest about her own struggles, and loves First Baptist Church. ¬†So don’t think of this Christian sister as looking down her long, self-righteous nose at the rest of the congregation. ¬†She is simply sharing a concern in the hopes of correcting the problem as she perceives it.
I have been very sad about something that I have noticed in our church, Praise and Worship time.  It makes me so sad that I am, one of but so few that even move, never mind sing during this time.  I tried to tell myself that well, maybe that is just how Conservative Baptists churches are or maybe the Northeast is just a little different but I no longer think this is so.  I think it may be something else.  
This is from Mike Cleveland’s study today in
The Lord’s Table:To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, says this: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” Revelation 3:14-16
This scares me when I read it and I think of so many who merely stand during the songs and not even whisper the songs. 
The definition of Praise  and Worship from Dictionary.com:
Praise:
| to express approval or admiration of; commend; extol. |
| to offer grateful homage to (God or a deity), as in words or song. |
Worship:
| 1. | reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred. |
| 2. | formal or ceremonious rendering of such honor and homage: They attended worship this morning. |
| 3. | adoring reverence or regard: excessive worship of business success. |
| 4. | the object of adoring reverence or regard. |
This verse also clearly captures worship to me:
Revelations 5:8-14
I am just so sad that I don’t see this.¬† I get upset with myself when I am uncomfortable being the only one who is clapping and I stop because I feel ‘silly’.¬†¬†
It isn’t just that.¬† I have also been burdened by the shortage of giving.¬† I wondered how come this is so despite the letters pleading, the powerpoint presentations of the damage to the building and the explanation of taking care of the property, etc.¬†¬† Then I went to my old church a couple of weekends ago. Their praise and worship is much different than ours. The songs are about the same except the praise and worship team moves, smiles, claps and so forth.¬† The church sings, claps and moves.¬† Some sway their hands in the air. It seems like a celebration at times and then when the song gets slow and more serious, people seem to honestly feel the words.¬† Why do I mention this?¬† It’s their giving. They give more than they have a budget for every week. The church is over its yearly goal and it is July.¬† Is there a cor
relation between the praise¬† and worship of the church and the giving? I submit that there is. I don’t mean a good show put on by the team is what we need to do but an honest and heartful praise and worship of our Lord during this time may bring about change. How do we do this? I really don’t know but I will pray, pray, pray.¬†
Pastor Yusef on WEZE said something astonishing today. He wanted to know why the people who will scream themselves hoarse during an athletic event, stand, shout, clap and have no care in the world what a fool they make of themselves can’t seem to even open their mouths or move a finger during praise and worship.¬† I know it struck me pretty hard.¬† I¬†immediately thought of our praise and worship and it made me sad.¬†¬†¬†
Maybe some senseless rambling of a tired person who should be in bed right now but it was on my heart to bring it up today.¬† I probably should have just emailed this to Pastor Nick but I don’t have his email address so you are the lucky recipient.
It’s interesting that you feel “silly” for being the only one clapping and I make a concerted effort not to move while singing because I don’t want my moving to be a distraction… so, my “not moving” can be a distraction too? I had not considered that.
I have always struggled with the difference between authentic worship and emotional facsimile. I think I am getting to a place where, while I am worshiping at the same time as the ‚Äúbody‚Äù around me, I am not really there; as I am singing the songs, my mind is off approaching the throne, carried by the notes of the music. During praise and worship at church, it is a time for me to talk to God, asking Him to further prepare my heart for the message that I know He has for me. It is a time when I ask the Lord to clear my mind of all the baggage that I brought with me (you know the husband, kids, traffic, lunch, etc‚Ķthe mind-clutter that forms as we breathe) and “Open The Eyes Of My Heart”.
As for the giving, we were a part of a church that was fairly well blessed financially and what I noticed is that we stopped asking God for the things we needed and started checking with the budget guys. While I am not saying that a church can’t have money and faith, it does seem that you have a lot more faith and godly humility when the finances are always a miracle away. This is not to excuse disobedience and say we shouldn’t tithe though.
I was talking with someone who is attending the Lord’s Table Bible study and she said that the thing is we need to ask before we eat “is this for the glory of the Lord”; she went on to say that we can ask that about every thing that we do. So when I am standing in line at Walmart (Dunkin Donuts, Building 19… even the Salvation Army store!) I should ask, is my purchase glorifying to the Lord? If I made fewer purchases for “tomorrow”, I would have less clutter in my house and more money for God. Hey! That sounds like a plan.
I think most importantly we have to remember why we even gather for corporate worship. I can relate to the writers concern – in the sense that I too have a personal preference in some styles of music. My upbeat extroverted characteristic traits enjoys “clap your hands” kind of music. On the same note…I too marvel at a hearty wonderful hymn full of scripture that is belted out by faithful saints. What must be eminent is our hearts adoration of God – and making sure that we prepare our hearts for worship so we can glorify God as we offer Him our spiritual service of worship. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans it’s the MERCIES OF GOD which motivates us. This drives the believer to worship! Not the style of music – or if folks clap their hands. I went to a charismatic Pentecostal church when I was 18 years old b/c I grew up in a local Baptist church – which back then if you clapped your hands – heads turned to stare. I realized years later that is was just emotion and mood that was “what made me feel good” when I would attend a service at this ‘new’ church. The teaching was short and shallow – and music lasted about 1hr and 20 minutes. Going before my God with a purer heart than yesterday b/c of His grace sanctifying me as I continue to learn His Word daily is EXTRAORDINARY! And if I get to clap my hands too…Halleluiah!!!
John MacArthur writes this from a sermon on Corporate Worship:
I agree that there’s nothing more exhilarating and joyful and even in a sense instructive than this kind of corporate worship. But it is only true worship to the degree that it is infused with your heart adoration of God. And the more you know of God, the more you infuse into your worship. That’s why I feel so badly about the death of the hymns. You could go to a lot of churches and never hear the music you heard this morning. You could go to most churches and never hear that. That’s tragic because the hymns carry theology in a profound way. They also carry it in a subtle way. And there are a lot of people who can’t sing the hymns because they don’t get it because they don’t know enough theology to pick up the subtleties and the nuances.
I love to sing the hymns because they’re not just flatly apparent. They draw up the deeper things. That’s why they’ve lasted for centuries. And you bring to your worship only what your heart brings to your worship. And if the primary experience for you is the groove of the tune, that’s not worship. And your content with the 7-11 choruses, seven words repeated eleven times, that doesn’t say a whole lot for the depth of your theology. You’re not infusing that experience of song with much soul knowledge.
So having said that, let‚Äôs look at our text a little bit and ask a few simple questions. What should motivate our worship? What should motivate our worship? Not the introduction to the tune, not the beginning of the band or the orchestra or the organ or the choir. What should motivate our worship? Verse 1, ‚ÄúI urge you therefore, brethren…here it comes…by the mercies of God.‚Äù We should be motivated by the mercies of God, to offer to God spiritual service of worship.
What do we mean by that? What are the mercies of God, plural? Well essentially it is everything that God has given us in mercy. That means everything God has given us that we don‚Äôt deserve, and that would include everything because we don‚Äôt deserve anything. Everything that we have from God is a mercy. And, in fact, that‚Äôs Paul‚Äôs way to sum up chapters 1 through 11. That‚Äôs right. The mercies of God are those great spiritual realities of which Paul has been writing through the opening eleven chapters of this great epistle. And if you were to go back in to Romans, here you would find this kind of list. Here are things of which Paul has written that can be included in the category the mercies of God…eternal love, eternal grace, the Holy Spirit, everlasting peace, eternal joy, saving faith, comfort, strength, wisdom, hope, patience, kindness, honor, glory, righteousness, security, eternal life, forgiveness, reconciliation, justification, sanctification, freedom, resurrection sonship and on going intercession…and more. That‚Äôs the sum of what Paul has been telling us is ours in salvation through chapters 1 through 11.
What is your response to the mercies of God? I think the psalmist said it well. Psalm 116:12, “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward us?” When I count up the benefits, the mercies of God that are given to me, what shall I render to the Lord? That’s the question the psalmist asks. And here Paul gives us an answer. “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God because of the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship.” As a result of this mighty work of Christ at the cross, as a result of the salvation that has come to us through the cross and the resurrection, we should be moved, motivated, compelled, driven by the staggering mercies of God given to us to worship Him.
Then what generates, what produces true worship is a grasp of salvation’s richness, a grasp of the glories of saving grace. That is why when Paul comes to the end of listing the mercies of God, he’s about to burst. And so in verse 33 of chapter 11 of Romans, he bursts forth with these words, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways, for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor, or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again? It is all inscrutable, it is all undeserved. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to Him be the glory forever, amen.” That is pure worship. There’s no tune, there’s no music, nobody started plucking some kind of stringed instrument. It was an explosion of praise in contemplation of eleven chapters of inspired truth about the riches of God given to an undeserving sinner. Paul goes on in chapters 12, 13, 14, 15 and in the last chapter, chapter 16, but he can’t contain himself. At the end of chapter 16 and again it comes out. Verse 25, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but is now manifest, and by the Scripture of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God has been made known to all the nations leading to obedience of faith to the only wise God through Jesus Christ be the glory forever. Amen.” It’s all to Him. He starts in verse 25, “To Him who establishes us according to the gospel through the preaching of the cross, to Him who has given us the revelation of the mystery, meaning the New Testament, the scriptures, to Him who has brought all nations to salvation, leading to the obedience of faith, to Him be all the glory through Jesus Christ.”
The Apostle Paul has these doxological outbursts all through his writing in some of the most amazing places. They appear again and again. One that I love is at the end of chapter 3 in Ephesians, “Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, He has given us mercies that are unimaginable. To Him who is able to do this according to the power that works in us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Bottom line, the more scripture you know, the more doctrine you know, the more worship you give.
It is motivated by, spawned by, originated by knowledge…knowledge…knowledge. Philippians, it‚Äôs a simple doxology, Paul has been talking in Philippians about the things that God gives us. Verse 19, Philippians 4, ‚ÄúMy God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.‚Äù Just pull that statement apart. God will give you
in Christ everything you need according to His infinite riches. Having said that, he can’t contain worship and he bursts out with, “Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” These kinds of things always comes in response to a contemplation of the glories of salvation.
In writing to Timothy, Paul rehearses his own testimony at the end of 1 Timothy 1, he says, ‚ÄúI was formerly…verse 13…a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. And then this…and yet I was shown mercy…I was shown mercy.‚Äù And then he comes to the doxology, ‚ÄúNow to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.‚Äù That‚Äôs worship. It comes from a heart overwhelmed with the mercies of God associated with the cross.
That‚Äôs the motivation to worship. Music or no music, this style, that style, any style, my heart is so overflowing with the truths of the mercies of God that whether I‚Äôm in Grace Church or in Russia or whether I‚Äôm in the mountains of South America somewhere or wherever I might be on this planet, whatever it is that I‚Äôm hearing, even a simple chorus, I can infuse by my understanding of these things with richness that not everybody understands and it becomes for me a worshiping expression. I bring my worship to the music…and so do you.
I’m the first comment?! Your kidding…
Anyway, I heard something recently that challenged me a while ago and got me thinking, the speaker said “Is God the center of your life or is God a hobby of yours.” OUCH!!!! I had to really ask myself that. Honestly, I wasn’t too sure how “in the center” God really was. I took a look, how often was quiet time or prayer the first thing I did in the morning. Was I daily studying the word or just reading a line or a paragraph so I could check ‘Read Your Bible’ off my list of daily accomplishments. When I prayed, was I also making that a check mark on my list or did I really want to consult with the Lord. These were hard questions to answer and I was the only one who knew the right answer. It helped me figure out why I was doing what I was doing in my spiritual practices and to do even bible reading for the right reason!
The Bible shows us all kinds of worship styles, from singing/shouting/dancing/clapping to falling flat on our faces/being quiet/kneeling, etc.
Interestingly, the Bible doesn’t endorse any one of them as being the only true measure of whether real worship is taking place.
Worship comes when we center our hearts and minds on Jesus Christ, and are open to what he wants to give to us as we meet as a group of believers. The result may be seen in a whole range of emotional responses as he works in each of our hearts . . . and the response of one worshipper may not be anything like the response of another, because Christ is working diffently in different people.
I think we sometimes focus too much on our “worship” as an act which we are performing, a work which we are doing, rather than seeing our time of worship as a meeting in the presence of the living Lord. It’s at least as much about what he wants to do as we meet, if not more. The old Germans called the worship service “Gottesdienst” – God’s Service. They meant to emphasize that it’s a time when he seeks to serve us through the Word more than we are offering up a “service” to him.
Apparently, there are only four FBC attendees who’ve found it necessary to defend, in one way or another, their lack of gusto during worship. What about the other 300ish at FBC? Well, I’ll reduce that number to 299. (wink)
I actually have difficulty singing boldly in church, because I find myself too often focusing on HOW I’m singing (literally, “Is this the right place for vibrato?” “Did I hit that note right?” etc.), instead of WHAT, WHY and TO WHOM I’m singing. Hymns particularly distract me, quite regularly, because some melodies tax even trained vocal cords. Even worse, I draw blanks when I try to visualize David dancing before the Lord. I really have no idea what form that would take, but I’ve no doubt the Lord was pleased. If I saw you dance in church, Sister, and I were honest with myself, I couldn’t judge what you were doing, if I knew you sincerely sought to glorify the Lord.
What’s been said by the others who’ve responded to the blog is all true. True worship is an expression of the heart. Matthew 6 is pregnant with examples of how God judges the heart, instead of outward appearances. If that’s the case, then, unless people find ways to show outwardly their worshipful hearts, it’s got to be an impossible task for human beings to accurately judge whether others are really trying to worship the Lord on Sunday mornings. Now, I’m going to presume my own conclusion, and suggest that most people in fact DO visibly represent, through physically communicative means, their interest in corporately worshipping the Lord.
While Jesus was not speaking in the context of corporate worship, He did nevertheless say that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth” speaks (Matthew 12:34). Out of the abundance of love, adoration, exaltation, etc. we have for the Lord, we will speak–be it in conversation in the lobby, in the form of song at 9:30, or when the photocopier jams at work. Most people who are really grateful to be at FBC will sing the songs in real worship, I’ve little doubt, because that’s the reason for which they came to the praise and worship service. Some will sing, but not to the Lord, and others will not sing–also not to the Lord–but it’s not for us to know who is or is not really worshipping God.
Thus, I suggest the following: it’s quite possible that the people who responded to the blog are the “outliers” in the FBC population. After all, no one who sang at the top of his lungs is going to reply, “Hey, I was singing on Sunday, and sincerely meant every word I sang!” and nor will anyone who came to church and thought more about the weather than the music respond, “Yeah, I was there, and I wasn’t singing because I didn’t care.” However, it’s still going to be impossible to tell who were singing whole-heartedly, and who were not.
In the end, then, Christ was really saying, “Don’t get caught up in what other people are doing—whether it looks good to you or bad.” Looks can, and will, be deceiving. Even if some (many?) fail to sing because their hearts are in the wrong places, try not to let that get in the way of you praising the Lord. No doubt, your challenging words will be an exhortation to some Brothers and Sisters who are faltering in worship, but, if you truly believe the Lord is being glorified at FBC, getting caught up in what that glory looks or should look like might not be something upon which the Lord wishes us to focus too heavily, since He will judge the worshippers.
Dear Sister, if you really want to know whether Believers are truly worshipping the Lord at FBC, perhaps (to give them the benefit of the doubt) they will always fail to provide adequate external signs; but, if you praise the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength, and brothers or sisters try, in some way, to quench the Holy Spirit’s moving inside you, I bet you’ll have all the evidence you need to conclude that they’re not worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth (see 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22, speaking of Christian conduct).
I think there are some things we do well as a church body, and others that can be improved upon. During times of prayer, and when Pastor Matt is preaching, I think we do a good job of quieting our hearts and worshiping God in spirit and in truth. However, it seems that when we’re singing, there are too many making trips to the bathroom or coming in late. We don’t want to be doing things that would represent a distraction to somebody else who is trying to give his complete attention to God.
I have the personal tendency to favor more modern Christian worship music. That personal preference does make it easier for me to worship in that framework.
That being said it is important to be able to be able to worship God regardless of what songs are being sung. One thing I’ve found helpful with slower hymns is to use the opportunity the slower music provides to concentrate more on what I am singing (It can’t make my actual singing quality any worse then it already is).
Whether those around me are clapping or raising hands or not bothers me less than those who simply are standing there staring off into space. There is something about standing amongst others that are worshipping with their hearts that drives any distractions from your minds. I’ve been to contemporary concerts where that happens (and those that I didn’t feel that). I’ve also been to Men’s retreats and similar locations where the joyful singing of a hymn has instilled the same.
To try to clarify:
1/ God is less concerned about whether one claps, raises hands, sings hymns, sings choruses or worship songs then what is happening to them inwardly – are they worshipping God, going through the motions or just dead.
2/ If one feels that there clapping, raising hands, etc. is how God wants them to worship then I think they should do it. If they fight it down they will be suppressing the worship that God is due.
3/ Worship styles vary and have different strengths and weeknesses. Each of us needs to strive to be able to worship regardless of the style. As brothers and sisters recognizing that we aren’t called to be cookie cutter copies of each other.
I do find one thing really interesting in every comment so far. The writer equated the apparent lack of zeal for praise and worship as a symptom to a problem ALONG WITH their apparent lack of giving as well. Either no one chose to comment on it or it got missed but the style of/lack of worship was not the only thing the writer used to conclude that there was something lacking. Food for thought!
Dear Anonymous,
Good point.
It should be noted that the writer carefully pointed out one thing: “correlation,” not “cause and effect.” If there is a correlation, it is possibly because both “effects” (giving and worship) stem from a common root “cause,” and neither giving nor worship is a cause for the other.
That said, it’s probably obvious that one who loves the Lord with his whole heart will (though, imperfectly) give everything he has to God, and hold back in not an iota of anything with which he’s blessed, be it money or the opportunity to worship the Lord.
That said, I would be interested to know how much a given percentage of givers, based on their amount of giving, accounts for overall donation to the church. For example, there’s something like an “80/20″ rule in the federal tax system (don’t quote me on this)–the top 20 percent of earners in the country pay 80 percent of the total taxes collected. Similarly, I bet the ten largest givers in a typical church of 100 givers donate ‘way more than 10 percent of the total church collections.
In a church, my guess, GUESS, is that the people responsible for the largest amounts of giving are not the ones most likely to be “swaying and moving.” Thus, a church that sways and moves may say nothing for how much is picked up in the plate each week.