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Posts Tagged ‘worshiptainment’

Worship Accepted or Rejected?

Posted in Worship in Cirisis, Worship, Praise and Music, tagged , , , , , on January 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »

By David Ravenhill

A.W. Tozer referred to worship as the missing jewel in the evangelical crown. I couldn’t agree more. My father often referred to Prayer as being preoccupied with our needs, Praise as being preoccupied with our blessings, and Worship as being preoccupied with God Himself. My father wasn’t discounting prayer or praise as everything has its time and place. Worship, however, is the first and foremost commandment of all, regardless of our personal state or struggles.

There is a biblical or scriptural reason why we begin our services with singing. Colossians exhorts us that in all things Christ is to have preeminence or first place. Having said that, we need to take very seriously how we fulfill or carry out that admonition.

I believe the book of Malachi provides us with great clarity as to how God sees or interprets our worship. After all, He alone has the right to reject or accept what we offer Him.

Let me address for a moment this truth that God would reject our sacrifice of praise or worship. King David, the great psalmist, made it very clear that not everything he offered to God was acceptable. Psalm 19:14 says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight.” The prophet Isaiah wrote, “I am sick of your sacrifices. Don’t bring me any more of them…” (Isaiah 1:11). Jesus told the religious people of His day, “You honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me.” We see in the Old Testament that one of the roles of the priest was that of inspecting every sacrifice to make sure it was acceptable. Anything found to be torn, sick, or blemished in any way was immediately rejected.

Let me take you back to Malachi for a moment. In the first chapter, God, in His role as the Great High Priest, is examining the sacrifices His people are offering Him. Let’s listen in:

“A son honors his father and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?” says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name.”

God makes it clear throughout the remaining chapter that it was not the quantity but the quality of the sacrifices they were offering Him. They were bringing the blind, lame, and sick, thinking God wouldn’t notice, but He did and still does. God finally cries out, “Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar!” He continues, “…you bring what was taken by robbery, and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering. Should I receive that from your hand?” says the Lord.

Today, the Lord would be seen pleading with those controlling the sound system to cut the mikes, dismiss the singers and musicians, asking them to search their hearts as well as the words they are singing. If most of the worship set is about God’s love for me rather than my love for God, then I become the object of worship. Now, obviously, there is a place to thank God for His incredible love, grace, mercy, etc. However, we need to make the transition from praise to worship if we are to truly ‘worship Him in spirit and in truth.’

I personally believe the role of a worship leader is to ‘cast up a highway’ that enables the people to come into the very presence of God. I believe there should be as much time given to preparing the worship set as the pastor spends preparing his message for the people. After all, worship is what we offer the Lord, while the message should create a greater hunger for the Lord. If we spend less time in preparation to worship than we do to receive, then we are no longer giving Him preeminence!

Allow me to drill down a little further on our approach to God. God told His people Israel that whenever they built an altar upon which they would offer Him sacrifices, they had to build it of uncut stones. (Exodus 20:24-26) He made it clear that if they embellished the stones in any way with their own tools, they would immediately profane the altar and render it useless. Now, while we no longer build altars, the principle nevertheless remains. In other words, if I play or sing in such a way as to draw attention to myself, then I’m the one seeking the attention that should be directed to the Lord alone. If we have singers or musicians who love the limelight, then our sacrifice becomes unacceptable to Him. As the psalmist wrote, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to your name give glory.” (Psalm 115:1)

One further word regarding the ‘worship set’. I would encourage those who feel called to lead to take whatever time necessary to prayerfully and carefully select songs/hymns that build upon each other. Just as the rungs of a ladder lift the person higher with each step, so likewise should the songs. To me, this principle separates a song leader from a true worship leader. Just choosing five or six unrelated songs that you enjoy is not the same as carefully choosing songs that relate to each other. For instance, choosing songs all having to do with the name of Jesus or the blood, etc., are far more effective than just unrelated songs that tend to zig-zag all over the place and tend to lead to nowhere. Forgive me if that seems cynical, but after sixty years of ministry in numerous countries, I can count on both hands the number of times I’ve really felt led to linger in the presence of the Lord; or in the words of the song “I stand, I stand in awe of Thee…Holy God to whom all praise is due, I stand in awe of you.”

If I’ve trodden on some toes, please forgive me. My goal is to prepare God’s people for the day when we will all unite together with the redeemed from all the ages and sing as one:

‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and praise.’ (Revelation 5:12)

PS. I’m aware that worship involves far more than just music, etc. Webster’s dictionary of 1823 describes worship as: “to honor with extravagant love and extreme submission.” Webster no doubt had in mind Abraham offering his beloved son Isaac as an act of worship. Notice also that Abraham first built an altar. We are not told that he embellished it in any way!

https://davidravenhill.wordpress.com/

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The Noise of Our Songs

Posted in Church in Crisis, Worship in Cirisis, Worship, Praise and Music, tagged , , , , , , , on January 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I would like to express some thoughts on modern praise and worship. These are thoughts that have developed over 54 years of being a Christian musician and songwriter, and being a praise and worship leader during that time.

Amos 5:23-24 “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”.

It is a scary verse to come across, especially in our modern day where there is so much emphasis on music as worship. To realize that we too can offer songs unto the Lord that He is not pleased with, that we too can come to a point where God hates our gatherings (festivals v21), is scary. The songs, though possibly beautiful in melody, can lack the sincerity and righteousness that God requires. We tend to prefer the songs that align with our taste in music, rather than aligning with what God requires, or with the word of God. This serves as a reminder that praise, and worship must be heart felt and must be aligned with God’s will.

There is too much emphasis on the outward expression, and not enough on inward communion with God. Augustine wrote, “How many are loud in voice, dumb in heart! How many lips are silent, but their love is loud! For the ears of God are to the heart of man. As the ears of the body are to the mouth of man, so the heart of man is to the ears of God. Many are heard with closed lips, and many who cry aloud are not heard.”

I think of missionaries that I know in China, they cannot sing in their meetings for fear of being found out and arrested. They worship God at a different level, their commitment seems so much deeper than mine, I have not been tested in that way. Their outward worship does not make them the people of God, their inward worship does, trusting in His grace.

May we guard our hearts, all of us, but especially those of us who are musicians in the church. It is possible to be so focused on the outward expression of music, that we forget to have a real and obedient relationship with the Lord. If we offer just music to the Lord, it is not enough! Our lives must reflect our real relationship with the Lord. Praise offered from an obedient and loving heart will please the Lord.

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A Lofty Title

Posted in Church in Crisis, Worship in Cirisis, Worship, Praise and Music, tagged , , , , , on November 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I have been a musician since 1965 and I have been involved with writing Christian music since 1971. I am a product of the Jesus Revolution. If you saw the movie, it is a story about my wife and I, there are so many similarities. We were part of a group of newly saved young people, and we had a key role in starting a church in the early 1970’s in northern Illinois. I played at church, and I played in a Christian band that played in parks, campgrounds and coffeehouses all around the Midwest. In 1977, the band traveled to Denmark and Sweden for a 5-week outreach. Those were exciting times for us. It was all about outreach and preaching the Gospel.

It wasn’t until about 1981 that I had ever heard the term “worship leader”. Someone we were visiting told us we needed to come to church with them because they have a great worship leader. I had never heard of that before. In those days, we just had an overhead projector and a bunch of musicians sitting off to the side.

I have always thought that “worship leader” was such a lofty title. Can you be a worship leader and not be a worshiper of God? Yes you can! In many churches you can be hired to lead purely based on your talent. It used to be in church that you could be a minister of music, someone who led the congregation in praise unto God. But that is not such a lofty title.

Recently, there have been famous worship leaders who have come out and said they now doubt Christianity. Huh? How did they get a worship leader position? When churches hire musicians, is it based more on talent rather than their real walk with the Lord? I think so! We are now so far removed from what real worship is that if you ask someone, there are like deer in headlights.

The modern church has thrown praise and worship into the same bucket, we make no distinction between the two. We have minimized what true Biblical worship is, to our own hurt. I used to hear it all the time, people go to specific churches because they like the worship there. I then ask them; you mean you like the music??  Invariably, that is really what they mean, and it is OK to prefer what you like, but lets not call it worship, call it praise.

Being a true worshiper of God has nothing to do with what you like, or your taste in music. It has to do with what your walk with the Lord, your obedience, your sacrifice, taking up the cross daily, preferring one another in love and bowing before Him. When Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac, when he was going on the hill to worship, the was no music. We are losing our understanding of what Biblical worship is! If that is lost, we are at peril.

If you love to praise the Lord, do it with gusto with your preference of music. Enjoy it! But let’s rethink worship and how much more serious it is. When it comes to worship, God sets the standard. When it comes to praise, we have liberty to have music we prefer.

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Sermon on Worship

Posted in Worship in Cirisis, Worship, Praise and Music, tagged , , on September 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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The Great God Entertainment

Posted in Church in Crisis, Worship in Cirisis, Worship, Praise and Music, tagged , , on September 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

by A W Tozer

A German philosopher many years ago said something to the effect that the more a man has in his own heart the less he will require from the outside; excessive need for support from without is proof of the bankruptcy of the inner man.

If this is true (and I believe it is), then the present inordinate attachment to every form of entertainment is evidence that the inner life of modern man is in serious decline. The average man has no central core of moral assurance, no spring within his own breast, no inner strength to place him above the need for repeated psychological shots to give him the courage to go on living. He has become a parasite on the world, drawing his life from his environment, unable to live a day apart from the stimulation which society affords him.

Schleiermacher held that the feeling of dependence lies at the root of all religious worship, and that however high the spiritual life might rise, it must always begin with a deep sense of a great need which only God could satisfy. If this sense of need and a feeling of dependence are at the root of natural religion it is not hard to see why the great god Entertainment is so ardently worshiped by so many. For there are millions who cannot live without amusement; life without some form of entertainment for them is simply intolerable; they look forward to the blessed relief afforded by professional entertainers and other forms of psychological narcotics as a dope addict looks to his daily shot of heroin. Without them they could not summon the courage to face existence.

No one with common human feeling will object to the simple pleasures of life, nor to such harmless forms of entertainment as may help to relax the nerves and refresh the mind exhausted by toil. Such things, if used with discretion, may be a blessing along the way. That is one thing. The all-out devotion to entertainment as a major activity for which and by which men live is definitely something else again.

The abuse of a harmless thing is the essence of sin. The growth of the amusement phase of human life to such fantastic proportions is a portent, a threat to the souls of modern man. It has been built into a multimillion-dollar racket with greater power over human minds and human character than any other educational influence on earth. And the ominous thing is that its power is almost exclusively evil, rotting the inner life, crowding out the long eternal thoughts which would fill the souls of men if they were but worthy to entertain them. And the whole thing has grown into a veritable religion which holds its devotees with a strange fascination, and a religion, incidentally, against which it is now dangerous to speak.

For centuries the Church stood solidly against every form of worldly entertainment, recognizing it for what it was—a device for wasting time, a refuge from the disturbing voice of conscience, a scheme to divert attention from moral accountability. For this she got herself abused roundly by the sons of this world. But of late she has become tired of the abuse and has gotten over the struggle. She appears to have decided that if she cannot conquer the great god Entertainment she may as well join forces with him and make what use she can of his powers. So today we have the astonishing spectacle of millions of dollars being poured into the unholy job of providing earthly entertainment for the so-called sons of heaven. Religious entertainment is in many places rapidly crowding out the serious things of God. Many churches these days have become little more than poor theaters where fifth-rate “producers” peddle their shoddy wares with the full approval of evangelical leaders who can even quote a holy text in defense of their delinquency. And hardly a man dares raise his voice against it.

The great god Entertainment amuses his devotees mainly by telling them stories. The love of stories, which is a characteristic of childhood, has taken fast hold of the minds of the retarded saints of our day, so much so that not a few persons manage to make a comfortable living by spinning yarns and serving them up in various disguises to church people. What is natural and beautiful in a child may be shocking when it persists into adulthood, and more so when it appears in the sanctuary and seeks to pass for true religion.

Is it not a strange thing and a wonder that, with the shadow of atomic destruction hanging over the world and with the coming of Christ drawing near, the professed followers of the Lord should be giving themselves up to religious amusements? That in an hour when mature saints are so desperately needed vast numbers of believers should revert to spiritual childhood and clamor for religious toys?

“Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach…. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim” (Lamentations 5:1, 16-17). Amen. Amen.—

A W Tozer, excerpt from The Root of the Righteous

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What is Worship? 3

Posted in Church in Crisis, Worship in Cirisis, Worship, Praise and Music, tagged , , , on November 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »

As I was driving down the road the other day, I went past a church that had the following “advertisement” on their billboard.

“Three styles of worship, one just right for you”.

I tried to call them to see what they were, but there was no answer. My guess would be that the three styles were traditional, contemporary and blended. If you do a search online, you will find more than three, here are some of the others I have found, Taize style, coffeehouse style, liturgical, etc. The list goes on. Here is a brief list of how I interpret the styles-

Contemporary means more upbeat, similar to what I call soft rock, with a full band,

Traditional means hymns and chorus’, usually with a piano,

I would guess that coffeehouse style would be an acoustic sound, with acoustic guitars, and less amplification,

Progressive style leans more toward rock and roll, full band, with lots of bass, drums and heavy amplification.

Taize style- look it up online yourself.

Again, I will emphasize that we have lost the original meaning of the great Biblical word “worship”.

A person can worship God without any of the mentioned styles, or without any instruments or music at all. I used to think about people that are deaf and dumb and think that they were missing out because they couldn’t worship God, I know that sounds absurd, but sometimes it takes the absurd to bring a point across. From what little research I have done, it appears that musical instruments really weren’t used in the church until about 200 years ago. It wasn’t allowed.

For most of us, we understand what that billboard means, and we ourselves are governed by some of those styles. Most of us, when we are looking for a church, take their style of worship as one of the most important factors in whether or not we will attend there. We equate certain styles of music as more spiritual than others. And unfortunately, it is governed by our likes and specific tastes in music.

To me it would be wise to call our music and singing something other than “worship”, we can certainly call it praise or celebration, which would be more appropriate. Why diminish our understanding of what true “worship” is?

When Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4 23“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” was he making any reference whatsoever to music and singing? Absolutely not, yet that is how we think of it.

In the Old Testament, God Himself laid out all the laws and requirements governing their “worship”, down to the smallest details. If we make “worship” into something that is governed by our likes and tastes, or our dislikes, we are in great peril. Worship is God’s requirements placed on us, not our preference in what feels good to our liking. What other Biblical word will replace the true meaning of “worship” if we lose it? What are we teaching the next generation?

Some of the most difficult times of worship in my life were not accompanied by any music or anything that felt good. Much like when Abraham went to offer Isaac, it was a time of very severe inner turmoil, as was the case in the life of Joseph. If you read that story, there were several instances where Joseph wept bitterly before he told his brothers who he was. What was he going thru? Was he tempted to get revenge? Could he get past that, as he thought of what they did to him? Giving forgiveness to those who don’t deserve it, even though they in fact are guilty, is an act of obedience and worship to God. What manner of dealing with God brought Joseph to the point where he recognized in Genesis 45:7 “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance? 8“Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God;”  In the same manner Jesus prayed to the Father, “Forgive them, they know not what they do”. These are examples of true worship, obedience to God; even though it might be at great peril to ones self.

So what is the end result? Well, we are certainly still able to enjoy the music and singing as much as we ever did. It can still be an expression of praise and adoration to Him. But, we have to understand that our music and singing is not really a necessity in worshiping God. It is a blessing that we have and maybe we put too much emphasis on it. Remember the saints in China, when they gather, cannot sing or have music, because they are in hiding. And, the deaf and dumb are not able to enjoy what we enjoy. But they can still be true worshipers of God, and even be more committed to God than we who sing. Sela!

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What is Worship? 2

Posted in Church in Crisis, Worship in Cirisis, Worship, Praise and Music, tagged , , , on October 28, 2021| 1 Comment »

In the December 1999 issue of Charisma Magazine, is an article on the Christian band Delirious and the future of worship in the church. Everything in the article is about how worship is changing in the church, and how it is being taken to the streets, and to venues not normally associated with Christianity.  These are all good things, because music is such a good tool to use to present the Gospel.

I remember all thru the 1970’s, I played in a Christian band that traveled regionally thru the various coffee houses in the Chicago and Milwaukee and all around the Midwest. In 1977 we did a trip to Sweden and Denmark that lasted about 6 weeks. There we were able to play in the public schools and various other venues. In a 5 week period, we played 42 times, sometimes 3 different places in a day. The thing is, we never called it “worship”. It was an expression of worship, at times, other times it was a tool for evangelism. Music is a universal language, but I fear we have become confused about what “worship” is.

Today, when someone talks about “worship”, they usually mean the music and singing. You hear phases like, “a powerful time of worship” or “I can’t wait for the worship to start” or “I love to worship”.  A lot of times, powerful worship means ear deafening music that you literally feel the vibes from. These are things I enjoy, it makes me feel good and it is fun. In a lot of ways very similar to be in a rock concert, that was fun too. Don’t get me wrong, nobody likes music better than I do. You can ask my wife! I usually go to sleep with a headset on. I have been a musician for over 50 years, and have been involved with Christian music since 1971.

What really concerns me here is this. We are losing the true meaning of one of the great biblical words, and that word is “worship”. It has been redefined to mean less than what God intended for it to mean, and if we continue on this course, it will weaken the church and the body of Christ.

In Genesis 22, it says the following.   1And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.  2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

This verse in Genesis is the first mention of the word “worship” in the Bible. Usually that means that it sets a precedent or understanding of what that word ultimately means. Here it is easy to see a few things clearly. God was testing Abraham, and in that test, Abraham would obey and give sacrificially.

In Genesis 18 1And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground…

The word “worship” in Genesis 22 is the same Hebrew word “bowed” in Genesis 18. So we have a basic understanding of “worship” from just these few verses. A bowing prostrate, in obedience and sacrifice unto the Lord, in all things. Even in tests and trials as great as those of Abraham.

The New Testament says the following In Matthew 2   7Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared. 8And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.” 9After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him.

One thing is very clear in all of these verses, there wasn’t any music being played or songs being sung, it was more solemn and more reverent. Has the modern church lost those things? If we lose the original meaning of “worship” and the importance of that word in our modern church, we are at great peril. Worship involves humble obedience and sacrifice in our lives in all circumstances, in times of wealth and in times of poverty, when we have plenty or when we have little. When we have trials and are tested of the Lord, that is when our worship is shown. It is how we live when no one sees us, day to day, walking with him.

Now out of that walk with the Lord, music can be used as a great way of expressing our joy and adoration for Him. Worship can be expressed thru music and thru praise, but we must never confuse worship, with music and praise. They are two different things. True worship is of the utmost importance, outward expression thru music is a privilege. I know missionaries in China, when they meet together with believers, they can’t sing or have music because they are in hiding, but they still worship the Lord. When you speak of “worship” with them, they don’t think of music and singing.

The future of “worship” in the church is in the past, in the foundational teaching and understanding of a great biblical word.

Jeremiah 6   16 Thus says the LORD,

“Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,

Where the good way is, and walk in it;

And you will find rest for your souls.

Blessings,

Niels Prip

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