Christian Praise and Worship
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The issue of what type of music in the church. Is there really such a thing as Christian praise and worship? Does the type of worship music matter? Is some church music worldly while other church songs are spiritual?
Is contemporary Christian worship music a tool of the Devil as some preachers would have us to believe while old hymns from the 1800′s spiritual?
Does music in the church have anything to do with Biblical worship and praise anyway?
Let’s examine the issue and forget the debate. Let’s focus on the heart of the issue.
Too many “believers” don’t understand that worship and praise isn’t just church music and it isn’t about our personal preferences. It isn’t even about how loud or soft it is, how fast or slow, how old or young the songs are.
All to often we get so caught up in a ridiculous debate over contemporary praise and worshipversus music from 60 years ago or more and it’s a complete waste of time.
Satan knows how to get us. That’s why ignorance and confusion exists. He wants to keep God from inhabiting the praises of His people. Even Satan knows what it’s about. He tried to take advantage of it, he was cast out, and perhaps that’s why so many “believers” have such bad attitudes about worship and praise today because it keeps us from truly worshipping God.
While the “Guardians of Praise” run around complaining about the drums or the electric guitar, or the lack of hymns played, or the modern contemporary worship music played during the singing time, Satan uses his new church ministry in God’s own house to rob God of His praise from His own children just as he did when he took 1/3 of the angels in rebellion.
With such a bad attitude the “Guardians of Praise” couldn’t tell whether anyone was truly worshiping God or not!
Whose going to tell God it’s to loud or to low in heaven? Whose going to complain about how fast or slow the music is when there isn’t any time signature to it at all? God operates outside of time. His music in heaven exists outside of time and our human minds cannot even fathom anything that exists outside of time, yet so many believers today think they have a corner on this issue. We often think that God is like us and put Him in a box. Why get so focused on issues that were never meant to be issues or with things we’ll never understand in this world?
As Pastor Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church says: “Get worship out of anything.” Why? Because it isn’t about us! It’s about Him alone! So let’s just praise the Lord.
The issue of worship and praise involves so much confrontation and confusion in the body of Christ today. A study by www.barna.org shows that the term “worship” means many things to many people.
There is no single interpretation of the word that is common to more than one out of five adults in this country.
Perhaps because even Pastors behind the pulpit do not completely understand the significance of Christian praise and worship. According to Barna, here are some statistics on how the Importance of worship, and worship ministries are viewed:
* Worship takes a back seat in terms of priorities for Senior Pastors. When asked to list the two or three top ministry priorities of their church, only one out of every four pastors identified worship (26%). (2002)
* 75% of adults describe worship as very important. (2001)
* Women are more likely than men to describe worship as very important. 81% versus 69% respectively. (2001)
* Congregants were most likely to understand worship as activity undertaken for their personal benefit (47%) while Senior Pastors described the purpose of worship as connecting with God (41%) or experiencing His presence (30%) (2002)
* Only three out of ten church-going adults (29%) indicated that they view worship as something that is focused primarily on God. (2002)
* One out of every five attenders admitted that they had no idea what the most important outcome of worship is. (2002)
The following sections will deal with answering the following issues. Primarily:
* What is Biblical worship?
* What is Biblical praise?
* What should be the Biblical view of the church regarding praise and worship ministry?
* Obstacles and hindrances affecting the body of Christ regarding church praise and worship in the body of Christ today?
The Conclusion of Christian Praise and Worship in the church today.
More on:
Praise and Worship
Biblical Worship
Biblical Praise
Christian Worship
Worshipping God
April 2nd, 2010 at 6:30 am
Outstanding site, where did you come up with the knowledge in this piece of content? I’m glad I found it though, ill be checking back soon to see what other articles you have.
April 2nd, 2010 at 11:41 am
Thanks for your comment. I ask the Lord for wisdom and follow Him with a pure heart.
I have been blessed to have many godly men in my life to expound upon the Word of God and the Lord has blessed me with a gift to see and understand. It is my responsibility to share as much as I can so that others will be blessed as well. Please share it and pass along.
May 30th, 2010 at 3:22 am
So, if the people in charge of the music ministry decided to have all gregorian chants, people who couldn’t relate to it would be wrong for questioning the choice?
And if people over 40 or 50 or 60 found it hard to worship to ear splitting drums and love songs filled with “I just wanna this and am gonna do that”, they can’t say anything either?
there should be singing that the people of God can relate to – from 11 yr olds to 81 yr olds. The volume is not the problem unless it is electronics wrecking ear drums.
June 6th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Churchman I believe you miss the point of the post.
The fact is that many church leaders and people in churches don't understand the issue of worship and worship music.
If a church wants to alienate its congregation because of major radical changes - then perhaps there's deeper issues that need to be dealt with in that situation.
If believers make the music in the service about THEM instead of praising the Lord through the music – then it’s an issue of the heart.
An 11 year old and an 81 year old CAN and DO worship the LORD through the same song / music in the service – yet I can almost guarantee that generally speaking – an 11 year old and an 81 year old will NOT prefer the same styles of music as their preferred choice.
LET”S BE REAL HONEST ABOUT THIS:
Although churches can change the style of music in their service - the extremes you point out very rarely happen. Do you think the Spirit led church will have music style as its chief concern?
God preserved the words in the Bible but NOT the music. I don’t see any musical notes anywhere in the Bible and neither does anyone else because they are not there. When the Jews were carried off into Babylon – they still had the words, but forgot the music. In the early church, they began with chants and later added the music. All throughout the centuries the music has changed across time, continents and peoples.
The point is that culture determines the music style in the church, but in order to get praise and worship out of the music – that is about the heart of the people.
When a heart is right with God, you can get praise out of anything. I can go to any type of church in any part of the world and praise with the body of believers with any type of music that is relevant to that culture. I may not understand that language but I can certainly praise the Lord through it. Should I care if it’s not my style of music I prefer or like. No – it doesn’t. But if there is an issue, the music does NOT have to change but instead what needs to change is my heart.
Let me ask this question – and this is more of the common reality - what about people who attend a church who like the music style yet cannot express praise during the worship service? Is the music the issue or the heart?
It’s NOT about us – but about Him.
October 28th, 2010 at 8:59 am
I once worshipped with a group whose main focus during the weekly worship service was the Lord Jesus Christ.The songs were about His character and work on the cross for us, NOT anything to do with the believers, our struggles, our thoughts or desires, just Christ and his saving work. There are many songs which deal primarily with the cross. Upbeat songs to encourage and admonish the believer were sung at other services but at the worship service we worshipped the Lord Jesus alone. Even the message given focused on the finished work of Him for us. Gospel messages were offere at another time. it was sweet fellowshp of our spirit with His.i often mis it during our Sunday services where the believer, not the lord, is the focus.