Has Your Worship Been Stolen?

After writing last week about tradition and methodology in the church, I began to think about worship. A few thoughts came to mind that follow. As noted last week, God is desirous of true worshippers; those who worship from the heart, in faith, and with pure motives. My purpose here is not to trot out the scriptures of David dancing before the Lord or to otherwise try and argue for a variety of worship styles. Style and methods are not as important as to understand what true worship is.

Though we know this, we need to be reminded that a spiritual battle rages around us. There are very real implications of this. The devil wars against believers with many strategies, some blatant and some subtle. I believe that one tactic of the devil is to rob God of worship and believers of the joy of worshiping. The list of ways he has accomplished this in the church is endless, but fruitless arguments over music styles is one way he has had great success in our culture today. Our focus has been removed from praising God to whose way of praising God is better. Bitterness and pride become impediments to true worship and thus rob God of the focus of our affections, destroy relationships between churches and individual believers, and demonstrates to the unbelieving world around us how fractured we are.


Singing along half-heartedly while our mind is somewhere else. I've been in the church a long time and know many songs. How many times have I mouthed the words to a song while my mind wandered aimlessly out the door? How many times have I not considered the meaning of the words I am singing?

Convincing believers that worship is just singing and praying. We go to church on Sunday because we are commanded not to forsake the assembling of believers. Corporate worship is valuable for many reasons. Corporate worship is not, however, all there is to worship. More on that in the next paragraph.


Another tactic the devil may use, and let me say this carefully, may be digging so deeply for doctrine, that we have missed some things closer to the surface. Looking at scripture with a microscope is good and necessary, but we also need to stand back and look at the entire picture as well. What do I mean? The bible has a lot to say about the life of King David. Scripture calls him a man after God's own heart. I believe the church would do well to analyze the life of this man, including the way David worshipped. I'm not talking about style here, I'm talking about substance. Step back and look at the book of Psalms as a whole; this man incorporated worship into his lifestyle (I know, David didn't write all of Psalms). David experienced the joy of true worship and his worship was acceptable to the Lord.


Let us not get hung up on style over substance. True worship spills out of our hearts and into our lives. Don't let the devil rob God of your worship. Better still, let US not rob God of worship due Him.

Keep Smiling

Do you know what the shortest verse in the Bible is? No, the other one. I Thessalonians 5:16 where Paul commands the Thessalonians to "rejoice always." Actually, this verse is the first two words of a sentence. The rest of it says, "...pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." These are easy words to read over and I have had these verses memorized for years, but practically applying them in my everyday life? Well, as the bumper sticker says, "Be patient with me. God isn't finished with me yet!"

Applying the principle of rejoicing and giving thanks for all things should have a huge impact on those who live and work around us. Think of it. Management at work bungles another call and creates yet another unintelligible policy for everyone to follow. Do I: a) Complain with everyone else, or b) Keep a smile on my face and be thankful that I'm employed. Which of the former will cause you to stand out the most? Grumbling and complaining knocks the wind right out of our testimony. Whining and griping should not characterize believers. What about the recent election results? Whoops, I already blew that one!

Consider this with me. Paul and Silas were stripped, beaten and chained up in prison for casting a demon out of a young girl who was being used for profit by wicked men (Acts 16:16-34). Smarting from a savage beating and locked away in a filthy prison after doing good, if anyone had a right to be angry or depressed, it was Paul and Silas. However, as you may already know, these men were "praying and singing hymns to God." The result in the end was the salvation of a jailer and his entire household, and a few very astonished fellow prisoners, I'm sure. When Paul commands the Thessalonians to rejoice always, pray, and give thanks in all things, he speaks from experience and practiced what he preached.

Given what Paul went through to bring the gospel to the gentiles and the attitude he had while doing it, I can certainly rejoice, pray, and be thankful in all things while I bring dial tone to my subscribers. After all, no one has beaten me yet.

Tradition and Faithfulness.

Why do we do things the way we do? An interesting question to stop and think about sometimes, when you have the time to stop and think, that is. I had the opportunity seven years ago to serve with a group of people to plant a church in Paso Robles where we asked this question in regards to the traditional order of a church service and even church government. How much of what we do at church is mandated in scripture and how much of what we do is traditional? Isn't it interesting how sacred tradition can become? I wonder how many churches have run off a worship leader or pastor who tried to put songs on a projector and get rid of the hymnals?

Methods or traditions in our churches are often the constructs of man that are morally neutral, becoming good or evil based upon the heart of the man or woman who follows them. For instance, music is always a battleground in Christendom. One group will say hymns are the only acceptable way to sing praise to the Lord and another will say that hymns are out dated and only contemporary music is relevant for today's church (for example, remember). I submit to you that both are sinning if they are not singing as to the Lord. Whether we sing an old hymn or new, traditional or not, if it is not sung in faith wholeheartedly to the Lord, it is sinful. God is desirous of true worshipers and not a particular song; the principle then is true worship, the methods may vary. Remember, methods equals tradition; tradition equals methods.

Methods are the means used to minister in various groups and cultures. We see different methods of ministry in scripture; the apostle Paul preached differently in the synagogues than he did at the Areopagus in Athens. Methods are wrong when they are done with improper motives, faithlessly, or directly defy principles found in scripture. King Saul, for instance, became impatient as Samuel was delayed in his arrival and presumptuously offered sacrifices to the Lord. It was good to offer sacrifice to the Lord, if you were a priest, that is. What is the principle? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. Saul's sacrifice was a faithless act and in direct defiance to God's law. We have to be careful here in churchdom not to elevate our tradition or distinctive on par with or above the substance of scripture. Ask the Pharisees what Jesus thought of their traditions. Ask ourselves what He may think of ours.