Over the last thirty years, worship can be described as a hot topic within churches. Discussions about worship frequently bring controversy. The controversy can become so heated there is dissention and finally separation. “Worship Wars” is phrase that has been coined to describe the divisions within churches over worship.
The differences usually centre around three approaches to worship. The approaches can be classified as traditional, contemporary, and blended. The terms themselves mean almost nothing. Traditional could be Anglican traditional, Catholic traditional, camp meeting traditional, Standard or Wesleyan or Free Methodist or Salvation Army traditional. What tradition are we talking about?
Contemporary runs into the same problem. Vineyard, Hillsong, Gaithers—these all suggest different styles of worship music. Sometimes within these groupings there are songs that are more like rock music while others might be country and others easy listening. I remember one person who was a worship leader at a church influenced by “contemporary” who went to another church down the road one Sunday morning. He told me he did not know one of the songs that were chosen. Both churches were doing “contemporary,” but obviously contemporary has different meanings.
The problem holds true for blended services. Which tradition and which contemporary are we blending?
Style of music is often the flash point in the discussion but there is more to worship than music. There are also elements as the frequency of the Eucharist (communion), the use of the creeds (eg. The Apostle’s creed), the Lord’s Prayer, reading of scripture (eg. weekly lectionary readings from OT selections, Psalms, Gospel, and Epistle). And then there is the preaching with differing ideas about the style of delivery and the approach to content (expository, topical).
After all these questions are resolved, we can talk about the length of the service. How much singing, how long the message and, of course, the question of quality can also become an issue. Can the worship leaders sing and stay on tune? Can the Pastor preach? Etc., etc., etc….
People have different reasons for raising issues about worship. One reason relates to mission. The missional approach asks questions about reaching people in the community. If a guest were to come to our service would they find the worship service inspiring (attractive) enough to come back? To whom does our worship service appeal, to the young, the middle aged, the older? Are there generational differences when it comes to attracting those outside the church through different worship styles?
Another driving force for worship wars is personal preference. “What is wrong with the old songs? I like them the best.” Or “I don’t like those old songs? I don’t understand them and they drag on and on.” “I like choruses and singing the same words over and over. It helps me enter into worship.”
Mission and preference in regard to worship are joined by correctness. Often what we believe about mission and even about preference is fuelled by an inner assumption that what we think is actually right. Of course, that means the other person is wrong. “Yes, I like it because I prefer it, but what I like is also better. There has to be something wrong with other person if they don’t like the same stuff I like.” Right? And how can one argue against mission? If a change in style can help us reach more people and you are not willing to change then obviously you are not very spiritual. And on and on our disagreements can go.
If you are a leader – maybe the worship leader or pastor – you can find yourself in a heap of trouble. If the worship style changes, there are people who are not too happy. And if worship does not change, there are people who are not happy. It is a wonderful position to be in. Actually, it is my “favourite” position to be in: You get to lose no matter what you do—even if you do nothing!
Now we come to Isaiah. We discover that God has some problems with worship as well. His people may have worship wars. In chapter one of Isaiah, God makes war on worship.
He says of the worship gatherings: “I cannot bear your evil assemblies…. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen,” (Isaiah 1: 13b, 14b, 15a).
God’s war on worship does not relate to worship style. It is not a discussion about hymns or choruses, how loud the music is, or even about mission, or preference. God prescribed all the worship practices, festivals, sacrifices and feasts the people were observing. So what is the problem?
Was he upset because someone was singing off key? Did his anger come from the fact that the ceremonies were not well executed? Or was it because the priest was not well prepared? Or maybe God was disturbed because the priest was too well prepared and not spontaneous enough.
No, these were not the issues. Listen to what Isaiah writes, “Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
God was concerned with the lifestyle of the people doing the worship. We could put it this way. In spite of all the bulls that were sacrificed, God was asking, “Where is the beef?” He wanted substance not hype. The founder of the Standard Church, R.C. Horner expressed it this way: “I don’t care how high you jump (in a religious service) but how straight you walk when you land.” The substance God was looking for was holy lives. Many want excitement, emotion, and enthusiasm. I would imagine God does not have a problem with excitement, but he wants people who live out their faith 24/7.
Imagine you have a son or daughter or friend who is very complementary toward you. They are quite willing to tell you how much they appreciate you, love you. Maybe they are musical and have the gift of poetry and write beautiful verses of praise to you. Your heart is warmed by their devotion.
Then you discover that they know your bank pin number. Over the past year they have siphoned off thousand of dollars of your money.
On the day you discovered this stark reality about your son or daughter or friend, they come to you with a new praise song. They want to sing it to you to express how much they love you. The song is beautiful, their musical abilities superb. Will you be impressed? I don’t think so.
There will be hurt, a sense of betrayal, anger, maybe even disgust. You will say to yourself (or if you are a screamer you might cry out), “How could you?”
After the initial reaction of shock and anger, there will be tears and sleepless nights as you think of how badly you were deceived. The hurt you feel will go deep into your inner spirit. Over and over again you will say to yourself, “How could my son or daughter or friend say such beautiful things to me, how could he or she express such amazing devotion to me and yet rob me blind?” (This would be a good time to talk about tithing, but I won’t except to say that not giving tithes and offering to God is described as robbing God in Malachi 3:8-10).
God is saying to his people. “How could you?”
What are we to do with this passage of scripture?
First, the purpose of worship is to acknowledge, to praise, and express devotion to God who through the amazing gift of his Son adopts us into his family and calls us his children. To think that the Creator of the universe wants to come beside us and call us by name, that he invites us to call him Father, can help to put a smile on our face and a song in our heart. God is the object of our worship and is worthy of our worship.
Second if God is the object of our worship or, as one person has stated it, if God is the audience, let’s be concerned about the things that concern God in worship, not the things that we may find disturbing. Although it may be valuable to have discussions about the relationship of worship to evangelism, on the style of music and various elements of worship, it will end up being a meaningless discussion if our lives dishonour God. God is not impressed with beautiful singing, the Apostle’s Creed, and good preaching (whatever that means) if the way we live dishonours God.
For this reason, one of our goals as a congregation is that we will be a people who worship 24/7 (24 hours a day, seven days a week). We want to be a people who honour God by our choices, by our words, by the way we treat others, by the way we deal with conflict, by our financial decisions, and by our love for the people around us. It matters to God how you live every day!
Third, we get a glimpse of the heart of God and the mercy of God in Isaiah 1:18: “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
God speaks tough words for one reason. It is not to squash us. It is not to make our life miserable. It is not even to make us feel guilty. He speaks tough words so that we will make the changes in our lives that will enable us to live in relationship with him as his children.
Part of worship is to see God for who he is and in respect, honour, awe, love and trembling, to fall before him in complete submission.
The prophet Isaiah, who spoke these words about worship, also tells us about his experience of worship (Isaiah 6:1-8): “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
This wholehearted devotion is the response God desires.