Funky Worship

Funky Worship

Matthew 4:10 "Then saith Jesus ... for it is written, Thou shall worship the Lord thy God,and him only shall thou serve." (RSV)

Matthew 15:9 "But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men." (RSV)

John 4:23-24 "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (RSV)

From these verses, it is intuitively obvious, even to the most casual of observers, that we are not only commanded to worship, but that there apparently is a way that God the Father (through the mouth of Jesus) wants us to do it; ie in spirit and in truth. Failure to do it in the prescribed manner means that we have been duped into, or worse, chosen to not to worship according to the Word, but to worship according to the doctrines and precepts of men. That's not good!

So which category to you fall into? Are you offering up funky worship? It would be good to check it now and again.

1Thess 5:23 says, "And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Apparently God made us rather uniquely. We are a tri-part being; spirit, soul and body. Despite the fact that we can make this division in order to discuss the issues, it’s a bit harder to separate them in course of living life. But it is important to do so in order that you can draw a proper distinction between functions.

There is a principle of interpreting scripture called “The Principle of First Mentioned.” Whenever the scripture presents us with a list, the first item in the list is the most important (comparatively speaking) and the last item in the list is the least important. So in this instance our list of “spirit, soul and body” lays out for us a couple of things; 1st, we are a three part being, 2nd, our human spirit should rule over our soul, and 3rd, our soul (mind, will and emotions) should rule over our physical bodies. This is the proper order for living life.

To confirm this we have these two scriptures, which are very important for us to grasp because this is the way we need to be living our lives;

Genesis 1:27 “And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

John 4: 24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

So what we have here is a flat-out declaration that we are first and foremost spirit beings. Not soul beings. Not physical beings. But spirit beings, unfortunately being unduly influenced by both the soul and the body.

Consequently, that confusion has become the chief problem for most people when they enter a worship service at their local church. If their soul (principally their emotions) is not moved by either the music or the lyrics, then they feel they’ve not worshipped. They are more swayed by the implications of their soul and body than they are by their human spirit.

What does it take to move your emotions? Number one on the list is familiarity with the music, which we understand as the ability to sing along with the music without struggling to read the words or figure out where the melody is headed. This is one of the reasons why many hymns were originally so popular for a century or more. Many of the tunes were former pub songs and they were easy to sing.

Number two on the list is the sentimentality of the lyrics. We respond to the words of songs that pull at our heart strings, so topics that touch those places of need become key; family, security, acceptance, provision, faithfulness, etc. If we follow that path, and require that to be a prime element of worship, then worship actually becomes all about us and not about God at all. We will become disenchanted with any worship leader who doesn’t provide us a storng does of it.

Number three on the list, which may rival number one, is the song’s sing-ability. If a song is easy to sing, and is well within your range, and is also familiar, it presents no stress and makes it easy for your soul to engage and your emotions to be touched.

It’s certainly nice to have our emotions stirred by our worship, but that cannot be the gauge by which we judge whether we’ve worshipped, or perhaps more specifically, whether the worship leader has done his. If we are soulish worshippers, then it’s easy to blame the worship leader for not doing what's necessary to get you where you think you need to go. Many a worship leader has run afoul of folks whose preference for a specific style of music, or fondness for a specific instrument, or voice dictates whether they'll participate or not. This is followed by mounds of helpful suggestions, criticsm and complaints. Its no wonder we have so many "former" worship leaders.