when worship becomes a popularity contest everybody loses

This has been brewing for a while.

1) I have been in so many conversations with people in regard to their own personal preferences when it comes to worship music that I can hardly keep track of them all any more. 2) I just heard that someone close to me was "church shopping" over the weekend. 3) When flipping through the radio dial on a Saturday morning not long ago I heard our "Christian" radio station hosting a top 20 worship music countdown.

Does this not make you nauseous? Seriously. I'm not the greatest fan of "The Purpose Driven" series of books and coffee mugs by Rick Warren, but he certainly got the first sentence of the book right. It is not about you.

Why is a sentence like that so earth-shattering to us? Because, deep down, we operate as if it really is all about us. Look again at #s 1-3. When worship becomes a popularity contest everybody loses. OK. I'm about to say something that is likely to blow all of our minds. Granted, there is nothing new in what I say here. But...

Worship is for God!!!

In regards to worship...

A) Worship is for God. I already said this, but it is worth repeating.

B) God loves it when you worship God. I can think of no greater definition of worship than the "greatest commandment" given to us by Jesus Christ in Matthew 22:37. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the lifestyle of worship you have been hearing about. (For a second opinion see the first commandment.)

C) Worship can be uncomfortable. Enlightened as we are, self-fulfillment tends to be high on our list. But the communion of saints and the global church is much larger than our "suburb". People are dying out there. It is becoming more and more common to hear the expression "there were two 9/11s in Africa today". This means that over 6,000 people died from AIDS today in Africa. This is happening. Lament should be a tangible part of our worship.

D) Worship will never end. If we look at Psalm 1:2 we read "[Blessed are those] who delight in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." During the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said "Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them". If Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law, we should meditate upon Jesus day and night. (For a second opinion see Revelation 4-5)

I write all of this here not simply because I feel like ranting. I write this because worship is eternal. I write this because worship matters. When worship is reduced to a top 20 countdown we lose. When worship is reduced to what we get out of a worship service we lose. When worship is reduced to only what we like in worship we lose.

Comments

[Andrea Tisher]

Preach it!

Just listened to the Prayerbook Project this morning on a drive... and began to wonder if no. 2 is in the works?

Meanwhile, do you have lead sheets/chord charts for Psalm 5?

I'd love to use it at Regent, if I could...

Keep on!