Purpose in Worship

I'll start this post with a quote about worship:

"Church music should feed the people by teaching the Word of God. It is a work of the Spirit of God." - Paul Jones

In the Book of Amos, the Lord has deliverd a harsh warning to the people of Israel.

Amos 6

4 “Woe to those…,

5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp

and like David invent for themselves instruments of music,

6 who drink wine in bowls

and anoint themselves with the finest oils,

but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! (A term for the people of Israel)

Amos 5

21 “I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

I will not look upon them.

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

How often have I sung idle songs, without really caring about the people around me?  Far too often.

I feel like this is where the Israelites were at during this time. While on the outside they appeared to have it all together. They had their temples and religious ceremonies, but had lost sight of their purpose, and had lost their faith in God, and began to rely on themselves.

We have planning center, pro presenter, a digital board, our Taylor Guitars, Vox-like Amps, and we would never start a service without our hazer. How easy is it to lose sight of the purpose behind our actions, and just live a life of routine?

I think that the human tendency is to rely solely on the habits and practices of the past to dictate the reason why we do things.  Please do not misunderstand me.  I think all of those things are awesome.  I even think that many of them are necessary to communicate in a world where everyone has one or more screens on them at all times.  (Confession, I carry 3….)

As leaders we are the keepers of the why.  No matter what the endeavor, a leader’s job is more about keeping the team on target, than it is about loading the canons.

If we are not grieved over the ruin of the lost around us, all our music, all our offerings, and all our melodies mean very little.  If the why circling our ministry is not motivated out of love and compassion for those in darkness, we are missing the target.

We don’t play music in church to have emotional experiences with God, but instead we use music to help us surrender more completely to him, allowing him to transform us, and to empower us to go out and make disciples.

We don’t have cool lights and video to make our services more hip, but we use these things to help us celebrate the great things God has done, and to give context to what we are doing. PAGE 1 2