Being a worship leader seems to require me to answer some common questions in casual conversation after church. The second most common one usually relates to people’s desire to either play/sing on the worship team or learn how to. I have been asked to give quite a few guitar lessons. But the question I almost always get asked without fail is, “have you heard the new worship song by such and such?” Nine times out of ten I have no idea what song they are talking about nor the artist. The questioner seems almost dumbfounded that their worship leader doesn’t have a clue about what’s popular in Christian music.
That’s because I simply don’t listen to Christian Radio - or modern pop-worship in general.
Part of my job is to find and provide new worship songs to my body. But the key word is worship - songs that glorify and lift up God. They must give him the praise and honor he deserves - revering him and articulating his many attributes in a way that leads the believer to abandon himself and focus on God. It’s not that the Christian top 40 doesn’t provide edifying, encouraging or thoughtful songs - many are - this is not an article coming against modern Christian music. However, much of what goes for worship is either not really focussed on praising and honoring God but on men. While we go to church to “stimulate one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24) we go into worship to give the kind of honor that is proclaimed in Revelation 4:
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”
Notice how the elders are in symbolic abandon, throwing their benefits and authority (crowns) down and simply praising God for who he is. This is where purity in worship is found.
By contrast, take a song like Friend of God by Michael Gungor, nominated for a dove award for “song of the year.” I must say that I love the song, it is encouraging and inspiring and reminds me of God’s love for me. But it is not appropriate as a worship song - which is how the song is used in many churches:
Who am I that you are mindful of me
That you hear me when I call
Is it true that You are thinking of me
How You love me
It’s amazing
I am a friend of God
I am a friend of God
I am a friend of God
He calls me friend
God almighty, Lord of Glory, You have called me friend
When the song is sung - who is being worshiped? Repeating the phrase “I am a friend of God” over and over again is encouraging, but the subject of the song is clearly man, not God. The language of the song is scriptural (paraphrases David) and doctrinally sound - but the subject matter is better suited for personal inspiration rather than corporate worship.
The song is redeemed a bit as a worship song only by implication: that God is good because he choses to love men and call them friend despite their sin. This is a pretty big stretch with the current lyrics and a lot of blanks have to be filled in (the song never discusses man’s sin) by the more astute believer as they are not specified in the song. To the new or uneducated believer, using this in worship would encourage the idea that God is like a buddy - ignoring the qualifiers of that relationship. Obviously, while all of scripture can’t really be summarized in one four minute song; the critical components of the idea could easily be explained in a second verse at least. But as it stands, the song is a good example of an accurate, uplifting message - but not really worship.
Worship is not a catch all for good feelings and inspiring thoughts. It is a specific and holy act defined in scripture as forsaking one’s self and deliberately acknowledging God. Worship reveres God and honors him - it leaves the believer behind. More than just scriptural truths or allusions, worship songs must unite the body in praising and honoring God.
Next time: The “Praise the Lord” conundrum
This post goes right along with the one from yesterday: what is the purpose of church anyway? Is it to worship God?
This reminds me of an unhappy period in my life a few years ago when the church we had been attending for many years (basically where our children grew up) closed. It didn’t close due to scandal, more due to logistics. But it was a slow and painful death and we spent countless hours discussing what was the purpose of that body, and the question of worship was ever present.
There were a number of folks in that discussion who put very much emphasis on the “worship service,” which made no sense to me. I couldn’t agree with them because I don’t think 11 to 11:30am on Sunday mornings is when I should worship God–I think worship is what I do–or should/could do–24/7. There is nothing I do in a day that cannot be directed toward God, in thankfulness for who he is and for what he is doing in my life.
When one has that stance, the songs that are sung on Sunday morning are less important. Which isn’t to detract from any point you make, Colin, about who the focus should be on when we are corporately singing. I very much appreciate the corporate singing on Sunday mornings because it brings to mind so many riches of scripture. Besides that, I love the sound of voices lifted to God.
Great example! I hate that song as a worship song… every time my church plays it, I cringe.
As you somewhat point out, the song is a bit weak scripturally unless the worshiper understands that the Bible never mentions that God is our friend unless we do what he says. Jesus said “You are my friends if you do what I command.”
I do think the “God as buddy” metaphor is greatly overused. To quote a different song “I hope that we have not too quickly forgotten that Our God is an awesome God.”
The greatest problem with the church today in the Western world is our utter disregard, ignorance, and contempt for the holiness and justice of God. From that one issue… we get theologies that claim that Jesus died as an example of ultimate love but not as an atonement for our sin; we get the prosperity gospel; we get self-worship music rather than songs that worship God; we get “Christians” claiming that God won’t send anyone to hell because He is love and mercy instead of holy and just. Combine that with the ever-increasing narcissism within the culture at large, and you get “God as buddy.”
Great example! I hate that song as a worship song… every time my church plays it, I cringe.
I understand the appeal to play it. As a worship leader, I listen to the song and I am inspired and I want to share it with my body. I think a lot of non-worship music gets used because many worship leaders refuse to judge the content of their body’s music with appropriate criteria.
The greatest problem with the church today in the Western world is our utter disregard, ignorance, and contempt for the holiness and justice of God. From that one issue… we get theologies that claim that Jesus died as an example of ultimate love but not as an atonement for our sin; we get the prosperity gospel; we get self-worship music rather than songs that worship God; we get “Christians” claiming that God won’t send anyone to hell because He is love and mercy instead of holy and just. Combine that with the ever-increasing narcissism within the culture at large, and you get “God as buddy.”
I could not agree more with this.
What do you think of the following from John Frame, from Worship In Spirit And Truth:
“We can also learn from the Psalms about the variety of songs that may be used in worship. Some psalms are long, while others are short. Some are didactic, while others are more lyrical. Some are very simple, while others are highly complex. Some utilize elaborate literary forms such as acrostics and multilevel chiasms, others do not. Some are addressed to God, while others are addressed to human beings. This variety should make us less critical of hymns that we may think are too simple, too long, too short, and so on. There is room in God’s worship for hymns of many kinds-for many purposes, many different kinds of people, and many learning styles”
Frame also argues, in line with the above, that worship is two fold; both vertical and horizontal. The vertical is the part of worship in which we lift up praise to God, the horizontal when we teach those around us and ourselves through the use of worship. Worship, Frame argues, has both of these aspects in the scriptures.
I would agree that the pendulum has swung to far in the teaching direction (therefore making most of the music all about me) but I do think it valid to have simple songs that teach as long as they are balanced with songs that explore and glorify God.
Bryan,
I am not suggesting that there is no role for diversity in worship, including songs of instruction. Clearly the book of Psalms is the standard for such diversity. However, not all the psalms were meant for corporate worship - and this is key. Many were from David himself to God and some were from David himself to people as maschils. If we look at those elements in corporate worship psalms (and some songs outside psalms) they are almost entirely God-focussed and the believer is only brought in only to amplify God. The exceptions are calls to worship - which is the subject of my next article on this matter.
This “horizontal/vertical” language is really an easy way to sort of dismiss this logic with a nice sounding straw-man. I doubt there are many people advocating that there is no merit to teaching worship. Such instruction is critical, but worship is ultimately not about instruction - it’s about God. Instruction ultimately serves worship and worship ultimately serves God. These things aren’t equal - which is what the language implies.
Were not all the psalms used in worship among the Jews? This seems to be the view that I find most common (in the little I have read), and the historic precedent in the churches I’m most familiar with (IE. Reformed) has been to use all the psalms in worship.
What I find with the psalms more often then not is that within the same psalm both God is glorified, and man is taught (or petitions God for something). I would agree that the vertical aspect of worship is the more important, as would Frame, but one cannot glorify God without taking the needs of the people (church) into consideration. Like I said before, I agree that worship is about the glorification of God, but I think that some churches that have rightly recognized this have moved too far in the other direction, disconnecting people from worship.