A Lifestyle of Worship
(Worship is not just a song service, but in this article I’m reflecting on over 10 years experience in leading worship music services. Please understand worship is a life choice, not just a music service)
Worship has been said to be “giving 100% of your minds attention and 100% of your hearts affection to something or someone”. If that is true, then is what we often do as we gather in our churches for a worship service really worship at all? I’ve been involved in leading worship in song services for over a decade now. I have seen people who genuinely engage in passionate worship. I have also seen those who are either distracted from, or just plain opposed to an attitude of worship. Playing in the band Jabez, a traveling music ministry, for 9 years afforded me the opportunity to see many aspects of corporate worship.
I don't believe that any one style of music has precedence over the others. I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church that had a difficult time adjusting to modern worship music. That was something I never could understand. Many of the people at the church honestly believed that there was only one style of music and only certain songs that could be used in a worship service. The problem with that kind of mentality is, for example, if a southern gospel piano accompanied hymn is the only thing pleasing to God, then what about the Christ followers in Africa or China? Do they have to learn songs in English and learn to play a piano in order to truly honor God or exalt Him in worship? It is extremely arrogant to imagine that you have the only sacred music that pleases God. If you believe that your preference of music is the only correct form of worship music, then you have elevated your preferences to above the Biblical standard and are in danger of idolatry. You could be worshipping the songs, not the God whom the songs are meant to exalt.
Style is just one of the many distractions of authentic worship. If the lyrics are true and exalt Christ, then the style of the accompaniment is not an issue. The bible says we must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
A major concern of mine is the lack of passion in many worship services. I was involved in prison ministry for about 6 years. I often think about my very first prison visit. Jabez was invited to play at a maximum security prison by a friend of mine who was serving out his sentence there and had given his life to Christ at a chapel service. We went in with ideas shaped by television of a rowdy crowd of hooligans only gazing our way in attempt to aim the food they would be throwing at us. It was quite different. Since we had a friend on the inside the word was out that a Christian rock band was coming in. Upon arriving we went through the usual ordeal involved in bringing a trailer load of equipment into a maximum security environment. Once we were through the first 2 checkpoints we were greeted by about 25 inmates that insisted we not carry anything one step further. They grabbed all our gear and graciously whisked it away to the stage area. The room we were playing in was the chapel building. As we got set up, some of the guys brought each one of us a cup filled with ice water. One of them said, “we don't have anything to offer you but water, but we will bring you all the water you can drink”. As it came time for chapel to start, the room quickly filled to its 375 person capacity. Some who were waiting to get in were turned away.
I have never experienced such an overwhelming feeling of anticipation from an audience as we began to play. When we hit the song in our set that they knew by heart, their voices joined together and literally began to drown out our 4000 watt PA system. They didn’t have any songbooks or projection screens for lyrics, but that didn’t hinder their singing one bit.
As we went on to sing songs that spoke of forgiveness and mercy and the all sufficient grace of God, I looked around the room and saw tears streaming down faces all over. Huge, burly men covered in tattoos and scars were broken in the presence of Almighty God. As the night went on every time my cup of water tilted more than an inch as I drank from it someone would grab it and refill it to the top. God was moving in that place stirring the hearts of those men like nothing I had ever witnessed in a church before.
When it was over they wouldn’t let us pick up anything. They packed all our gear for us and carried it as far as the fences would allow them. They ask us to pray for them and their families, and everyone of them shook our hands and hugged our necks. It took us about 15 minutes to make it from the stage to the door, as many of them wanted to share things with us on our way out. One fellow in particular was holding a napkin. He held it up to show me he had written the lyrics on it to one of the songs I sang that night. He was a hispanic gentleman who looked to be in his 40’s. He had a scar a half inch deep that ran most of the way down his check and it was puddled with tears. He said “ I wrote down the words to that song because God spoke to me through it. The next time you come back I will know the words by heart and I’m going to sing them as loud as I can”. I have never experienced such earnest appreciation for our visiting and such an amazing attitude of servanthood.
By contrast, a week or so later we played at a church and we were still on fire from the experience with the prison crowd. We played our hearts out to a group of about 50 people in an auditorium that seated about 300. Most of those who were there looked as if they wished they were somewhere else. Mumbling through the words and looking at their watches you could see the genuine disinterest of the crowd. We were excited to be in God’s house worshipping Him and it appeared that we were the only ones who were. Now I know it isn't in everyone’s nature to swing from the lights in excitement during a music service, but it bothers me that many people who claim to love God with all their heart get way more excited talking about; their favorite football team, race car driver, or the biggest fish they’ve ever caught, than they do singing or talking about what God has done. At the end of our set the room was vacant in what seemed like just seconds after the last prayer and the pastor said on his way out the door “we are going to eat so if you don't mind, turn out the lights and lock the door when you guys are done loading up”.
To me it begs the question: where is the passion? People often say to me as I play the piano in a worship service “you look like you are just lost in worship”. I guess the reason I get so in to worship is, like those inmates, I haven’t become so religious that I’ve forgotten what I was saved from. My life was a mess when Jesus radically changed me. On the outside it looked like I had it all together in every way. The apostle Paul said he was “chief of the sinners” and I say I was “chief of the hypocrites”. I would come home sometimes at 6 AM on Sunday from a drug and alcohol binge that began on Thursday so I could sober up and clean up to go to church to direct the choir. I never went to a party and stood in the corner, I was either the DJ or playing in the band. Likewise I didn't go to church and sit on the back pew, I was always on the stage. My life was hopelessly consumed by drugs, alcohol, pornography, lies, and a lifestyle of self serving ambition. The church folk didn’t know who I was on the outside, but unfortunately many of those on the outside knew I went to church. And many knew I served in a ministry position. I cannot fathom how many people may have been turned away from the Gospel of Christ because of the life I lived. I cannot compose the words to express my gratitude to Jesus Christ who saved me from my sin in spite of the shame I brought on His name with my lifestyle. He loved me so much that he died in my place and now He calls me His own. That’s why I get lost in worship. It’s because the Holy Spirit can sing songs of gratitude through me when words are insufficient to ascribe the worth of the only one deserving of my worship. Sometimes my heart sings through the keys of the piano without my mouth ever uttering a word.
So what I ask of you is this. Engage worship. The songs that are played in a church service aren’t just to fill up the time slot. It’s a means to an end. They are the catalyst for God’s people to unite their voices and more importantly their hearts in honor and reverence to Him. We are created to worship. So the next time the musicians begin to play, think about who God is, and what He has done. Even If you don't like the style, how the song leader is dressed, how long you’ve been standing, or anything else just consider this; in Acts Chapter 16 Paul and Silas were severely beaten and thrown into prison for preaching the Gospel. They were not put in an air conditioned cell block with cable television like the ones we know, but a dungeon. Shackled, bruised, and broken, they sang hymns and praised the name of Jesus anyway! They didn’t focus on the situation at hand. They clung to the promise and hope of Eternal Glory! Put your focus on the incomprehensible grace and mercy of Jesus Christ and worship Him with all your might!