Our Worship, or His?

I'm writing this blog in response to comments that I have received recently at home and abroad. Don't read into this. I am still in the honeymoon stage at Immanuel so no battles have had to be fought as of yet. However, I am constantly asked my view on the "worship wars" that occur in most churches all over our country. This may be a controversial stand that I am about to take, but what stand that is worth taking is not surrounded by controversy? And when you stand on the Word of God as your source, even in the face of opposition, your stand is the right one. So, with that said, let's move into the heart of the matter.

Have you ever noticed that most of the wars we seem to fight within the church are just that; from within? I've had the privilege in my ministry to serve in different churches, with different demographics, with different challenges and goals, but one thing has always seemed to remain the same.; many of the battles we face in our churches are self-generated.

One church I served in Alabama had pockets of people against the Pastor. Though there were more people who supported him, they were not the vocal ones. As a result, they allowed the "squeaky wheels" to have their way and they lost a great Pastor. The battles that took place in that church were avoidable. The senseless driving away of a Pastor God has blessed you with is not God-honoring, no matter how you try to spin it with the most recent "church" lingo.

But, no matter where I've been there have been battles among the people concerning the style of the music. Now, most of you reading this blog know that I am a Worship Pastor, so music is near and dear to me. However, no matter how much I think a song rocks, if the lyrics do nothing to facilitate worship within a church, what are we accomplishing by singing it? Do we just sing songs because we know them? Do we just sing the songs that we think sound the best? Do we only sing songs that evoke some memory of sitting on a wooden pew with grandma as we try our best to peer over the over-sized hat of the fat lady sitting in front of us? If the answer to any of these is yes for you, then congratulations. You are one of the few that will actually answer these questions honestly.

So many people seem to think they know what music will actually bring a smile to the face of God. And Lord help us all if we even like another type of music. It amazes me how people who know absolutely nothing about music strongly give their opinions on the subject. You rarely see people who live in poverty giving financial advice to a real estate investor. Never do we see a 40 year-old McDonald's Fry cook telling the CEO of a Fortune 500 company how to run a business. But, weekly I witness everybody and their tone-deaf brother advise our God-given leaders who have been called, equipped, and educated to lead a church in worship, on how to do their ministry.

One reason for this, I believe, is that we are all created as musical beings. Unfortunately, few people have an opinion on scripture, but everyone has an opinion when it comes to the music. But what we must realize is that it is just that...our opinion. At some point, each of us must come to the realization that "if God desired the music to be what I think it should be, He would have called, equipped, and educated me to do it." Since He didn't do that, perhaps your opinion is not what He has in mind for the particular church you are a part of.

So, let's reevaluate our position on worship. If worship truly is a relationship that we walk in on a daily basis with the Lord, then shouldn't our attitude in corporate worship reflect the fact that we've been with Him during the week? I believe if we spent the time with the Lord that we do complaining about musical styles and song choices, we would celebrate in the fact that even if we don't like a particular song, God may actually still be able to work through it. After all, He is God. And while we're at it, perhaps we should raise this question to ourselves...is our opinion really valid in the broad scheme of eternity? And if music in worship is to be all that we personally think it should be, does it then become our worship and cease to be His?

Well, I do realize that this blog is pretty lengthy, so I'll stop here for now. I'm sure that at some point we'll re-visit this subject.