that reflects a certain emphasis of a Christian sub-culture ?
“ For the Lord sees not as man sees : man looks on the outward appearance , but the Lord looks on the heart .” ~ 1 Samuel 16:7b ( ESV )
Yes , we may want the people we lead to show more enthusiasm . I ’ m all for encouraging passion as we sing worshipfully . I ’ m a bit of a swaying , hand-raising weeper myself in the right situation ! But we would do well to remember that the worship of God - the true worship of God - has way more to do with the posture of the worshipper ’ s heart towards God than it has with our facial expressions and arm positions as we sing to and about Him . And only God can see the human heart ! You and I cannot .
“ Worship has been misunderstood as something that arises from a feeling which ‘ comes upon you ,’ but it is vital that we understand that it is rooted in a conscious act of the will , to serve and obey the Lord Jesus Christ .” ~ Graham Kendrick
“ Worship is the very essence of our relationship with God and involves our entire life .” ~ Dwight Fletcher
It might sound a bit weird to say it this way , but whenever I strap on my guitar and step up to a microphone to lead a group of people to worship God through songs , my hope is that God would , indeed , be worshipped . Absolutely ! But I can ’ t make people worship God . Nor can I measure who is and who isn ’ t worshipping God . How could I ? I am convinced that it is only an encounter with the living God that will transform any human from an idolator into a worshiper . That transaction is often invisible to the outside observer .
But I can tell if the congregation is singing or not ! And that ’ s why I make that my goal . I choose to focus on inviting every man , woman and child in the room to sing prayers , praises and declarations of truth together . If I can get everyone singing together - hopefully with some passion , sincerity and volume - I have found that other expressions of worship and a deepening awareness of God ’ s presence are more likely to follow .
People are different from one another . Not everyone ’ s the same . Each individual ’ s personal relationship with God is unique . Pretty much all Believers use music as an expression of worship , but there is nuance and considerable diversity with exactly how and why music is used . People - and congregations - are wired to respond to God through sung worship differently from one another . To me , if people are more expressive , animated and raise their hands , great ! If they don ’ t , I ’ m not going to think that they are lesser worshippers for it .
Earlier this year , I wrote a four-part series of articles called SUNG WORSHIP : DIVERSITY OF EMPHASES . The main thought behind those articles was to describe the wide range of ways different people - all of them sincere followers of Jesus - tend to use music in their gatherings and how that diversity can and should be celebrated .
If you ’ re interested to catch up with all that , take this link to read PART 4 of the series . It includes a good summary of the whole series and contains links back the preceding three parts too .
After all , the worship of God is a full-life response . The opportunity to worship God - or show the worth of God - is 24 / 7 / 365 and 366 on a leap year . Not just when we gather and sing together .
To find out more about why I make the vocal participation of the congregation my goal , you can read UNITY THROUGH AN AGREED GOAL .
Grant Norsworthy founder of MoreThanMusicMentor . com
MoreThanMusicMentor . com
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