The 5 Deadly Sins of Worship Services | ChurchCentral.com

The 5 Deadly Sins of Worship Services | ChurchCentral.com


O.K., I've got my "mad" on today. Just indulge me, dear friends. Here's my personal list of the 5 Deadly Sins in Worship. I bet you could write your own list. Do it, and send it to me!


State the obvious

It's oh so tempting to tell a really attractive person that YOU think they're attractive—as though they hadn't noticed it themselves. Complimenting, after all, is just a form of showing affection and an expression of affirmation—nothing wrong with that. But, it can also be used to manipulate and imply, in some kind of naive way, that you have control over that person—that your impression "seals" their identity.

If I tell you how handsome or beautiful you are, I am calibrating (I believe) the standard by which you will be perceived by others. I feel powerful and, maybe, handsome myself—by proximity.

In countless church services, I have seen the same principle apply. If a pastor says, "What a beautiful solo," he/she gets a piece of the action. Their opinion of it elevates them inappropriately, not the musical expression of faith.

I once (horrors) closed out a service by saying, "Wasn't that an incredible call to action!" The congregation jumped to their feet to affirm the message, its delivery, and the messenger who brought it. Good, right? No, it was not a good idea and it meant a long, soulful talk with our fearless leader. He said that I had completely obliterated the application part of his sermon. By affirming the message, the messenger, and the nobleness of his sermon, I had undone the challenge he was giving. I stated the obvious. Bad idea!

Surprise the players (most particularly the pastor)

Some platform people think it will be o.k. if they insert "a little something" into the service that has not been discussed prior. How has this backfired—let me count the ways. No one and I mean no one wants to be surprised by a loose canon in a service of worship!

That doesn't mean you have to script everything in advance, but pastors should never have to hide a grimace because one of their colleagues decides to have an impromptu slideshow of the pastor's early years (oh yes, this happens all the time to celebrate the pastor's tenure). In one case, the pastor had to completely scrap the sermon because of time. He ended up being embarrassed and humiliated by his bear skin rug shot, and much more. I have learned the hard way to never surprise people on the platform.

Go overtime

I conducted thousands of rehearsals with various ensembles over the years. I had one basic rule—start on time and end on time. I think this should be a rule for worship services as well. O.K., here's where you rail against me about the Holy Spirit being in charge of how long worship services should go. I agree, and if you can honestly say the lack of punctuality in closing the service was because the Holy Spirit spoke to you—go for it.

Most often, we are late because we were sloppy in execution. Congregants know the difference. Holy Spirit vs. bad planning—they know! Those dear folks are holding us responsible to keep other church-scheduled events in sequence. Rightly so. Heaven knows the average church has enough activities on any given Sunday to more than fill a dance card.

Respecting people's time is a way of defining the orderliness of God's love and thoughts about us. Respect is, in many ways, at the heart of faith. At least that's true for me.

Announce in worship

The reason churches often make announcements after the service has begun, is that they want everyone to hear them, and lots of people walk in late. If you personally and honestly believe that you have appropriate justification for announcing the potluck dinner on Wednesday directly after the prayer of confession—again, go for it.

Entertain

I don't like long pauses in conversations. They make me uncomfortable, edgy, and restless. I'm getting over it the more I learn to listen. I no longer fill in every gap in every conversation as I was once wont to do.

Church services are often planned in the same nervous manor of the awkward conversational pause. Certainly we should move services with intentionality and good pacing, but trying to fill every space with jolly used car salesman misdirected enthusiasm, can kill the the very thing we seek most—Holy dialogue with our Creator.

Why Have A Music Program?

There have been a lot of debate over the years about music programs and the styles of these programs. Why is this issue so important? Why have music programs at all?

I have been involved in music programs most of my life. Over the last six years, I have run, coordinated, and directed a music program from the ground floor up. Currently I find myself involved in starting yet another music program. Let me share with you what I believe to be the four fold purpose of a music program:

(1) Share the gospel of Christ through song.
(2) Encourage believers in their walk with Christ.
(3) Lead the congregation in worship
(4) Provide an avenue through which individuals may share their talent. We believe that talent is a gift from God, and that to be good stewards of that talent, we should develop people’s talent and return that talent back to God.



Scripture has a lot to say about using the gift of music and singing unto the Lord. We accomplish the command of praising Christ through music in a variety of different ways: congregational singing, instrumental praises, special music, choir, and various guest groups. This does not differ much from church to church.

Recently, I preached a message regarding a music program and why I believe that it is so important. Why do we have a music program? Is it something that we do mainly out of tradition? Is there a Biblical model and basis for such a model?

There are many places throughout the OT, where God specifically records for us the use of music programs being used to lift up praises to God:

* Levite Choir is in 2 Chronicles 5
* The book of Ezra records the fulfillment of God’s promise to restore Israel to her land after 70 years of captivity in Babylon. The book shows Ezra’s return to Jerusalem to help bring spiritual revival to the people. We find when they did a census of the people of God, there were 42,360 and there were among them a choir of 200 singing men and women. Most of these where the Levites again (2:41) with 128 singers… then, Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem with the blessing of the king and rebuilds the wall in 52 days (Nehemiah 6:15). Nehemiah recorded everyone that had a part and was in the city. The number was 42,360. They now though had 245 people singing (vs. 66, 67).
* We know that David organized official choirs or singers and instruments in the temple. He knew the power that music played in worship. Psalms, which David is credited for writing a great majority, is the earliest hymn book in our tradition.
From the material provided in Chronicles and Psalms, we learn that Heman, Asaph, and Jeduthen were directors of separate temple choirs. (Heman’s choir, for example, was called “The Sons of Korah.”)

The fact that emphasis was placed on the temple singing being directed and accompanied by musicians can not be overlooked. The great value of a choir from Biblical times to present, is to glorify Christ through words of music (music that is beyond that capacity of the congregation).

Choirs are found before, during and after the temple in the OT, and they are a part of worship. We even see in the NT what appears to be a choir in heaven. Choirs are biblical (2 Chronicles 5:12-14; Nehemiah 12:31-40; Revelation 19:1-6).

One thing is clear, we are commanded to praise Him!

Psalm 18:49 - "…sing praises unto thy name."
Psalm 100:2 - "…come before His presence with singing."
Psalm 105:2-4 - "Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him."

We have various Old Testament examples of singing and praising in the temple. There are also several commands given in the New Testament regarding worshiping Christ through music. My favorite is found in Colossians 3:16 - "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."

(Music programs teach and train people to sing musically.)

In short, music programs fulfill the Old Testament examples of praising and it fulfill the New Testament command of teaching and training others to sing for the Lord.

What Is Worship?

I am going to open the proverbial "can of worms" here. It seems like churches and church leaders are debating this huge topic of worship for some time now. Recently, I have been teaching and developing a curriculum on the subject of worship. So, that is where a variety of the following has come. I do not claim originality for all of the information below. This blog is simply a tool that I hope, as I have assimilated information, is a help and blessing to others. Some of the following was gathered from books, blogs, seminars, as well as personal study.

The worship portion of our corporate church services has become a subject of great debate. To some it is so confusing that they have thrown up their arms in surrender. They accept any and all types of music sung or performed in any and all styles. To others, the worship service has been simplified to a formula leaving no room for any other interpretation. A set of rules has been established for determining correct worship and you dare not challenge them or you will be labeled a traitor.

I wonder what God thinks of our church worship services? On the one side a Believer stands in a congregation of people who look and sound an awful lot like the world. He raises his hands in praise and to the best of his knowledge, sincerely sings to God as the screaming electric guitar and deafening trap set create a “mood” for his worship. The music is sensual, the singers are carnal, and the environment is worldly. On the other hand, the Christian stands in a congregation of dead, lifeless people, whose minds are anywhere but on the task of worship. He mumbles through a hymn written 200 years ago and struggles to keep his brain engaged. The music is boring, the singers are lifeless, and because of this, the environment is no more godly than the previous illustration. Which one pleases God?

Unfortunately, the majority of churches that preach the gospel in America would fit in one of the two scenarios described above. They are either a contemporary church with carnal, worldly music, or, they are a conservative church with boring, dead music. The contemporary congregation claims to be more godly because they are more sincere. The conservative church thinks they are more godly because they do not use rock music. What has happened to God’s people that they have reduced worship to a style of music?

Understand this: you cannot set a mood for, induce, create, or perform worship. Worship is something that takes place in the heart. It is produced in the mind and soul between a Believer and God. It can happen inside a person’s head as he silently praises God. It can take place in spoken monologue as a believer prays to His Savior. It can be set to music. But the music is not worship. It is simply a vehicle by which worship is carried. Let’s work with this basic definition of worship: Acknowledging the “worth-ship” of God. In other words, praising God for who He is and what He has done.

When we go to church it is our responsibility to make sure that we worship. It is not the job of the worship leader, music pastor, or minister of music. It is not dependent upon the song selection, or the talent of the musicians. It is a duty of mine to discipline my heart and mind to worship God! No one can do that for me. I must do it myself.

Here is the problem: Our churches, conservative and contemporary alike, have rallied around a style of music rather than around their God. It is my experience that a high percentage of churches have music programs that are either sincere but sensual or conservative but dead! Why is this the case? I believe it is because we are more concerned with music style than true worship of God. You do not have to read much of the New Testament to discover that believers are not to be like the world. That truth alone is going to rule out the majority of contemporary churches. On the other hand, God does not have very good things to say about those who leave their first love and worship Him without engaging the mind. Who are we fooling? God wants our hearts, minds, and souls! He wants us to be sold out to him.

Could it be that the level of enthusiasm in our voice mirrors the level of commitment in our relationship with Christ? How many of us are living the principles of Scripture day in and day out? How many of us are busy about the one task God left us on earth to do…share Jesus with a lost world who desperately needs Him. I truly believe that if our congregations, and even our pastors were out in the world sharing their faith, pointing souls to Christ, meditating on His word, and worshipping Him in private, our corporate worship services would look entirely different. Maybe the reason that we have difficulty genuinely praising God on Sunday for who He is and what He has done for us, is because we are not choosing to experience the wonderful relationship with Him throughout the week that only a truly committed believer can know.

When we sing to God in a dull, boring, lifeless way, He is no more pleased with that than with the contemporary musician who sings Scriptural words set to a rock beat. Neither pleases God! Singing to God in that way is like wearing a T-shirt that says, “I’m not in God’s will!” It is like waving a huge red flag over your head that says you are not experiencing a joyful relationship with Christ!

The bottom line is this - Godly believers love to worship and praise God! You do not have to coax, prod, or convince them to sing to their Lord. Their joyful song of praise is evident because it is a lifestyle for them. It is not something that they “put on” for church on Sunday. If Fundamental churches are going to continue to please God in the new century they have got to wake up to the fact that boring does not equal godly! Our music programs should honor Christ in their musical style, in the presentation by the performers, and even in their associations, but that should not reduce them to being dead and lifeless! Our music should be alive, full of vigor and enthusiasm, exciting, and relevant. Our God is not boring and neither is the Christian life. If you are experiencing that kind of a relationship with Him during the week it will be obvious on Sunday. Our music should represent Him!