Good and bad worship (Workshop at Church Camp 8/6/19)

"What does the Bible teach us about distinguishing between good worship and bad worship? 

 How much is our ideal of worship dependent on our own culture and preferences? And what practical steps can we take to help congregants of all ages experience good worship?

Our assessment of worship is subjective. What is ‘good’ for one person may not be so for another. Our ideas of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are very affected by culture and language.

I have some things I look for that I consider ‘good’

•       I felt close to God during the worship.

•       The language and culture of worship was familiar and reassuring.

•       There was enough structure/liturgy to guide my worship.

•       There was enough freedom to express myself physically.

•       I was encouraged by people around me worshipping the Lord.

•       The lyrics of the songs ministered to me

•       The songs contained Biblical truth for all situations

•       The songs were not too new or too old

•       The songs were not difficult to sing

•       The songs flowed smoothly one to another

•       The song sequence was not to short, long or repetitious

•       The worship leader introduced the songs well

•       The worship leader and vocalists sang in time and in tune

•       The band played smoothly without breakdowns in flow

•       The music from the band was skilfully played with good orchestration

•       The band members were worshipping as they played

•       The volume level was not too loud or soft

But it’s more important to ask what the Bible says about good and bad worship!

1. Good worship is all about internal attitudes of the heart

1.       Good worship comes from the heart. Bad worship is external and dependent on man-made forms and traditions.

⁸ “‘This people honors me with their lips,    but their heart is far from me;⁹ in vain do they worship me,    teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Is 29:13, Mt 15:8-9, Mk 7:7)

·         Good worship is done in a spirit of obedience

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. (1 Sa 15:22)

In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. (Ps 40:6)

·         Good worship is done in a spirit of costly sacrifice

But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. (2 Sa 24:24, 1 Chr 21:24)

·         Good worship is done in a spirit of brokenness

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Ps 51:16-17)

·         Good worship is done in a spirit of thanksgiving

The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!” (Ps 50:23)

I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. (Ps 116:17)

·         Good worship is offered by faith

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (Heb 11:4)

Where is my heart when I am worshipping?

B.      Good worship is centred on the true God

1.       Good worship rests on Biblical truth. Bad worship is based on ignorance

²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (Jn 4:22,  c.f. Rom 9:4 - They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.”

What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. (Act 17:23)

² And the Israelites^[a] separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. ³ And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. Neh 9:2-3)

·         There is a knowledge of God’s great deeds and great character and holiness (“Great and amazing are your deeds,    O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!⁴ Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy.   All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” Rev 15:3-4)
There is a knowledge of God as Creator (And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” Rev 14:7.)

·         Did the worship appeal only to emotions, with minimal spiritual truth?

2.       Good worship is God centred. Bad worship is idol-cantered. Man is the greatest idol

 “‘You shall worship the Lord your God    and him only shall you serve.’” (Mt 4:10, Lk 4:8, Dt 6:13)

...because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! (Ro 1:25)

Is the worship time focussed on fulfilling our needs, or on God?

3.       Good worship involves a sense of awe and wonder at the presence of the living God. Bad worship looks to dead idols.

Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;  to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.²⁰ But the Lord is in his holy temple;  let all the earth keep silence before him.” (Hab 2:19-20)

²⁸ Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire.

(Heb 12:28-29)

⁵Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. ² Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. (Ecc 4:1)

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
²⁹ Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come before him!
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness

(1 Chr 16:28-29. Ps 29:2)

Is there a sense of reverence? Or is it a mundane performance where God is peripheral?

4.       Good worship recognizes the greatness of a God who does not need worship. Bad worship is like paying an entry fee to get something from God. We face with a God who needs nothing from us and cannot be bargained with.

“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. (Is 1:11)

I have no need for a bull from your stall or goats from your pens, 10for every beast of the forest is Mine— the cattle on a thousand hills. (Ps 50:9-10)

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Mic 6:7)

Is there an awareness of God’s greatness and worth? Or is worship a duty?

5.       Bad worship compromises on the best we can give God

²¹ But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.( Dt 15:21; 17:1)

C.      Good worship involves the whole of the worshipper’s life

1.       Good worship involves the whole life. Bad worship is an occasional act.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Ro 12:1)

Is what happens in church on Sunday divorced from how we live our lives over the week?

2.       Good worship does not depend on feelings or prosperity. Bad worship happens only in good times.

²⁰Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. ²¹And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 1:18-20)

Can I worship when I feel low, in a time of trial?

3.       Good worship is not dependent on place. Bad worship is dependent on place.

²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. (Jn 4:21)

Do I know that I am to worship everywhere and not just in church?

D.     Practical guidelines on worship styles

1.       Good worship expresses itself in singing (Ps 66:4; 95:1), bowing and kneeling (Ps 95:6) and shouting (Ps 95:1, 100:1). Bad worship despises expressiveness and values self-dignity (2 Sa 6:16, 1 Chr 16:29)

Am I free to express myself physically?

2.       Good worship is a balanced experience

²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Good worship is in spirit and in truth. Bad worship is unbalanced (Jn 4:23-24)

Is there room for both emotion and truth in the time of worship?

3.       Good worship is orderly

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.( 1 Cor 14:25-33)

Is worship so disorganized that it would turn people off?

E.      Corporate worship is special

1.       Good worship can only be offered by those with godly character – the people of God. There is a corporate dimension as well as a personal dimension in worship.

²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (Jn 4:23)

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him. (Prov 15:8)

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. (Heb 13:15)

...you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Pe 2:5)

 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God^[b] and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh  (Phil 3:3)

2.       Good worship is characterized by the power of God in the midst of the congregation

the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you (1 Cor 14:25)

So what should we do in response to God’s requirements for worship?

•       Stay focused on God

•       Fill your mind with Him.

•       Lay your weaknesses and troubles before God.

•       Reject thoughts of performing in front of others.

•       Express yourself physically before God.

•       Sing with understanding

•       Grow in grasp of Biblical truth

•       Appreciate the corporate nature of worship.

For worship teams:

•       Watch for the quality of the song lyrics.

•       Aim for emotion based on truth.

•       Allow for times of silence and rest

•       Make reverence a goal.

•       Aim for a cohesive (orderly) message.

•       Offer the best of our effort and skill to God.

•       Make sure that you are worshipping and not performing or doing a job.