by Elizabeth Hill
I walked in feeling the weight of the week. I was tired and, honestly, I was surprised by my nonchalant attitude. I knew that I should be eager to be a part of something so much bigger than myself, and I was in a way. But I felt pretty lethargic overall.
Suddenly, the lights dimmed. The band began playing a moving melody; I could tell they were well-rehearsed. In the darkness, the brightly colored stage lights appeared, perfectly synchronized to the music. Then, the singing began—what an uplifting voice! I could feel the weight of the week fall from my shoulders. A smile came to my lips. The wonder of the experience caused a flood of emotions to stir within me. In response my eyes filled with tears; I was surprised when they began to flow down my cheeks. I didn’t expect to respond so openly, but the experience was truly breathtaking. My heart was soaring, and the happiness that followed was exhilarating.
Have you ever had a similar experience? Did this story remind you of a particularly stirring worship service, perhaps?
This was not a service but rather my experience at a Michael Bublé concert.
Isn’t it interesting, though, that the type of music, lights, and emotions that we’ve come to expect from a concert are the same elements that some expect at church? We may even use these elements to measure the quality of our “experience” of God or of the Holy Spirit particularly.
When these elements become the primary focus of our worship services, something is missing. If we are merely looking for the emotional response that I described, then we are not actually experiencing the depth and beauty that characterize true worship. Being consumed with the present experience distracts us from meditating on the eternal meaning to which worship should call us. True worship is not a performance: It is the creature humbly ascribing worth to the Creator. It goes without saying that true worship encompasses every aspect of our lives. But corporate worship through song is an especially important part of Christian worship. As such, corporate worship should transcend a mere temporary, emotional response and point us to our eternal God.
The Problem with the Performance
At its core, worship is the proclamation of worth. According to John MacArthur, “Worship is ascribing to God His worth, or stating and affirming His supreme value.”[1] When we truly worship God, we declare that He alone is worthy. Sadly, however, many modern-day worshipers do not declare the worth of God. Whether or not they realize it, their fixation on the feelings of the moment or on the performance before their eyes actually declares that those aspects of the gathering have ultimate worth.[2]
My response to the concert was tied to the emotionally-charged, sensory elements of the performance. When all of these add-ons are included in our worship services, they can more easily distract us from focusing on the message of Christ found in our congregational worship. In fact, we may respond more to the dramatic lighting and dynamic music rather than to the worthy Object of our worship.
Sometimes components such as the lights and the music become the primary focus of worship in the name of striving for excellence. However, we should spend more time on evaluating the biblical content of our songs than on creating a state-of-the-art stage. We can all agree that God calls us to excellence in everything we do, including in how we plan and present corporate worship. We should take care, though, not to allow an entertainment-driven vision of what we believe excellence is to overshadow the reality of what worship is: humbly coming before the King and proclaiming that He is all we need. As a body of believers, we should use the time of our congregational worship point to Christ and to edify one another but not to praise a performance.
The Proper Place of Emotion
While our surroundings can deter us from focusing our worship on Christ, our emotions can also hinder us by causing us to focus solely inward. Although we can easily misinterpret the emotion of the moment for a spiritual encounter, an emotional response to worship is not a bad thing. Far from it! As A.W. Tozer asks, “What worse thing could be said of us as the Christian church if it could be said that we are a feelingless people?”[3]
God created us as emotional beings; it is one way that we bear His image. The Bible itself addresses our emotional response to God. We should come before Him with reverence, awe, joy, gladness, and contrition. Whenever we stand in the presence of an Almighty God who judges sin yet offers grace and eternal forgiveness, we are bound to be moved. What a glorious thing it is that our great God can speak to us in such a way that His majesty and lovingkindness overcomes our finite minds!
However, emotional experience alone does not equal true worship. In fact, we cannot trust our emotions, for even they have fallen under the curse of sin. As Scripture teaches, our hearts and flesh may fail while we live in this world (Ps. 73:26, ESV). We should properly tie our worship to the truth of God’s Word instead of only to our present feelings. If emotion is the only trustworthy gauge of true worship, then I should see my experience at the concert as a sincere spiritual or religious experience. Of course, this is not the case.
Even so, many evangelical churches have made our emotional response to worship the end-all, be-all of an effective worship service. Thus churches push for “bigger and better” worship services, which have, in fact, become performances. These churches focus their energies on creating an environment of fabricated, shallow emotions, all in the name of “reaching people where they are.” But this is not what a lost world is looking for. As Tozer astutely noted:
Oh, brother or sister, God calls us to worship, but in many instances we are in entertainment, just running a poor second to the theaters. That is where we are, even in the evangelical churches, and I don’t mind telling you that most of the people we say we are trying to reach will never come to a church to see a lot of amateur actors putting on a home-talent show.[4]
Worship is not a performance. True worship shows adoration to the One who has “called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). The world doesn’t need a thrilling concert or an impressive band; those can be found elsewhere. The world needs the truths of God’s Word and a set-apart people who have found the One who offers forgiveness and redemption.
How Should We Respond?
The idea of true worship should serve as the basis for how we model our times of corporate worship. The words we sing and speak in our services should focus our minds and hearts on the character and works of God. Worship should not be about only the participants. It should not be about using the music or the lights to send chills up the congregants’ spines. It should be about coming to God in our brokenness and proclaiming His truth.
We should challenge ourselves to consider our focus when we come to corporate worship. Are we ascribing worth to a creation or to the Creator? When we are planning and/or participating in congregational worship, is our focus on the technical components of the service or on the rich truths of the gospel being proclaimed? Furthermore, is there anything that can or should be changed about the layout of a service to point the congregation to Christ instead of to their surroundings? We shouldn’t settle for a mere emotional performance that we could find just as easily at a Michael Bublé concert. Instead, we must look beyond the temporary and focus on the Object of our worship, the One “who is worthy to be praised” (2 Sam. 22:4).
About the Author: Elizabeth Hill is originally from Norton, Virginia, but now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a 2015 graduate of Welch College and a member of Sylvan Park Church in Nashville. She works as a Gift Processing Specialist in the Development Division of The Gideons International. She enjoys hiking, traveling, drinking coffee, and trying new things.
[1]John MacArthur, Jr., The Ultimate Priority (Chicago: Moody Press, 1983), 14.
[2]Ibid.
[3]A. W. Tozer, Whatever Happened to Worship? (Camp Hill, PA: Christian, 1985), 82–83.
[4]Tozer, 17.
February 5, 2020
Wonderfully written Elizabeth, I couldn’t agree more.
What’s so difficult is that even the movements within the evangelical musical sphere that are producing lyrical content that points our minds to the supremacy of Christ are inundated with the sort of performance/entertainment-driven components that you mention in your article.
I know many who agree with the fundamental importance of corporate worship, but have no earthly idea how to do it functionally. We need to see a model for corporate worship that isn’t marketed as performance. Or perhaps, this impulse to need to see someone else do something before we do it is just a symptom of our own infatuation with entertainment popularity?! Could it be as simple as simplifying our music to the point that the congregation can sing and hear each other, and intentionally choosing songs that have theological depth? I don’t know, I’m just rambling.
Again, thank you for an excellent article.