Worship at the wrong angle

I would think many regular church attenders these days would agree if you said,”Worship is more than just singing on Sunday morning.”  Many people even would agree that all of our lives should be worship.  But there’s still something wrong.

I think we’ve been so indoctrinated to think of worship as congregational singing, that we’re starting our thinking off at the wrong angle.  Here’s how it works:

First, we start off thinking of worship as Sunday morning singing at church.  Then, we’re told that the preaching is worship too – it must be; after all, we call it a “worship service”.  As a matter of fact, isn’t preaching the Word a rather important part?  So we have to cram that into our definition of worship.

But what about all that other stuff in the “worship service”?  Like the announcements and offering?  Have you ever heard someone leading the service tell you that the offering is part of worship too?  Well, I have.  Many times.  It has to be part of the “worship experience” since it’s part of the “worship service”.  So someone leading the service goes to great lengths to convince us that taking an offering is worship too.  And yes, even the announcements.  Has someone said that to you in a Sunday morning service?

Now they’ve spent all that time convincing us that every part of the Sunday morning service is “worship”.  We’re still confused, because the “worship team” only does the music.  But still we cram all this things, like square pegs into a round hole, into our definition of worship.  Hard to wrap your mind around, but we can do it if we’re reminded enough by the “worship leader”.

But now they want to tell us we can worship every day of the week!  How does that work?  That just takes a little too much mental energy to even imagine.  Perhaps I can pray sometimes during the day.  I might have devotions.  Ok, maybe those things can be worship.

Ok, stop the madness.  I think that we’re having a lot of problems because we’re coming at worship from the wrong angle.  Jesus teaches us that worship is not a location, and it’s not a certain thing we do at certain times.  Our worship is spiritual – in spirit and in truth (Joh 4:21-24).  The temple of the New Testament is not a building – it’s our bodies, filled with the Spirit (1Co 6:19).  Or it’s Jesus Himself (Joh 2:19).  Paul makes it clear – the sacrifice of our entire lives is our worship (Rom 12:1-2).

So don’t keep trying to convince us that the sermon or the offering is worship too.  Of course it is!  Everything we do to glorify God is worship.  We can sing worship, but most of the time we worship in other ways – through our day to day obedience of the Lord.  Our day to day sacrifice of our own will to the Lord’s.  Maybe we first need to be reminded that all our lives should be worship.

Starting from this angle, we may ask why meeting together as believers is even necessary (besides the fact that it’s commanded (Heb 10:25) and demonstrated (Act 2:42) in Scripture).  But actually, now we can really see what it’s all about – why it’s different, why it’s really important.

What’s the difference between worshipping alone and with friends (besides that polished live band on the stage)?  Well, to state the obvious – we’re doing it together.  That’s the key.  Why does God love to see us worship Him together?  Not because He looks down at a bunch of individuals and adds them up and gets a big number.  No, He looks down to see us living in loving relationships, as He taught us.  He sees unity in the Spirit.  He sees us working out our differences, bearing each other’s burdens.  And when we join together to hear His Word or sing to Him or pray, that unity itself is worship.

Ok, so we don’t always reach that ideal.  But don’t tell me I should come into the church building, block out everyone around me and focus on the Lord.  Why would I come to do that?  That’s much easier to do at home, or in a park, or in the fields.  We come to worship as a community – together, being fully aware of the struggles and joys that we all are going through.  We bring those things before the Lord in worship, and He brings it all into perspective.  Is God greater than our challenges?  Is He the centre of our universe?  Is He leading us?

So the next time you’re confused about how you can worship, or why you should, make sure you’re starting at the right angle.  The giving of all our lives is worship (does God deserve any less?) – it all has to fit into that framework.  If not, the “worship leader” is going to have a lot more explaining to do.