Six Of The Biggest Lies About Worship:
1. Our goal in worship.
- Lie #1: Worship is when we talk about God.
- Truth #1: Worship is when we come into the presence of God.
- Psalm 22:23; Psalm 50:15; Revelation 4:9-11.
- Theologian and author Frederick Buechner: “For many years now I have taken to going to church less and less because I find so little there of what I hunger for. It is a sense of the presence of God that I hunger for.”
2. The result of worship.
- Lie #2: Good worship leaves me feeling pleased.
- Truth #2: Good worship leaves God feeling pleased.
- Ephesians 5:10 (NIV) - “. . . find out what pleases the Lord.”
- Most Christians believe that they are the audience; in truth, God is the audience.
- Also, sometimes good worship leaves me feeling heavy.
3. Our focus in worship.
- Lie #3: In worship, the focus is on the people on stage.
- Truth #3: In worship, the focus is on God.
- Isaiah 6:1-2.
- We need to take the focus off the performance and put it on the praise.
4. Our pathway to worship.
- Lie #4: Good worship happens when the music and sermon are good.
- Truth #4: Good worship happens when we worship in spirit and truth.
- John 4:21-24.
- It’s easy to focus on one side or the other of “in spirit and truth.” Some churches seem to focus on how excited they can get while others sit like bumps on a log while doctrinal truth is conveyed. We need to worship with all of our spirit and worship in the truth of the Bible’s teachings.
- Although the Lord certainly deserves our best and we should endeavor that our worship be characterized by excellence, in the end it’s far more important that our hearts are in tune than that our instruments are in tune.
5. Our preparation for worship.
- Lie #5: Worship happens in church.
- Truth #5: Worship is an everyday thing.
- Psalm 35:28; Psalm 119:164.
- Worship can happen anytime we are open to the reality and presence of God. It may be in a treestand on a cold November morning as you see God’s creation. It may in your living room on a Tuesday evening as you look at your family and are filled with gratitude to God for giving them to you.
- “Trying to genuinely worship publicly without having had significant times of private worship is like having the dry heaves. You’re trying to bring up something that isn’t there.”
- Along the same lines, often people will emphasize what you wear to church, as though the proper preparation is time in your closet picking out your clothes. In truth, the proper preparation for worship includes time in your closet - your prayer closet, as you get your heart ready.
6. Our passion for worship.
- Lie #6: I’m willing to worship if this thing takes off.
- Truth #6: I’m willing to worship if it’s me alone.
- John 12:43.
- Many of us are willing to jump on the bandwagon if a sermon or a service gets going, but we are supposed to have a passion for worship that gives us the desire to be a leader and not a follower when it comes to worship. We are to be yielding ourselves to the Spirit without consideration of others’ actions or motives within a worship service. We came to worship, even if we’re the only one really giving our heart.
