Articles
Worship that Edifies
There is nothing like bringing a guest to services to help you see with fresh eyes whether or not we are meeting our goals when we worship. Eve-rything from beginning to end should be with our goals in mind. Among our goals, first of all, is to exalt the Lamb. Jesus was willing to be lifted up on the cross which makes Him worthy on His day to be lifted in praise. Worship is the reason for which we’ve come together. The sooner we can get to it, the better. As I said before, you never sense that as much as you do when you have a guest who is patiently waiting on us to take care of “family business” or assign weekly duties. A few weeks ago we had an invitation to worship inspired by a brief reading of Psalms; it was per-fect, exactly the kind of thing you can be proud to experience with your guest.
Our second goal in worship is to exhort the lambs. 1 Thes. 5:11 says, “Encourage and build each other up.” Hebrews tells us that our purpose in assembling is to “spur one another on to love and good deeds.” (Heb. 10:24—NIV) Also, “All things are to be done for edification.” (1 Cor. 14:26) What that means is, if we identify some-thing in our worship that is not edifying, or some-thing that does not reflect our best effort, of which God is worthy, we have a duty to address it and improve. Let us then, consider our ways...
Preaching: As a preacher, my goal is to preach needful, scriptural, applicable lessons, and to do
so gently, tactfully, and gracefully. Of course, a performance review al-ways helps keep these and similar goals on track for the preacher. Most recently I’ve received the feedback, as I have from someone in my own family, that Powerpoint is a must. What I hear is that people get more out of a message if the speaker lists the main points. What I may feel, i.e. that reliance upon such aids can make us poor listeners, reveals our diminished ability to hear and comprehend without help, and reflects a need to con-form to the corporate business model, doesn’t really matter. Because, the goal is edification. If someone struggles to be edified without it, the choice is clear. How would it impact our worship if we all thought this way?
Singing: What kind of singing edifies you? What kind of song worship do you hope for your guest? You soon learn when visiting around that some church’s song worship is more encouraging than others. One of the most discouraging parts about worshiping in song, to me, is when we drag the tempo. I recently listened to a recording of our congregation singing, “To God Be the Glory.” This is a triumphant song of praise, yet we sang it at a tempo of 69 beats per minute. When I recorded myself singing that song at a tempo that I would consider encouraging, I counted 127 bpm. Does tempo have anything to do with being edified? The first online article I found when searching tempo was: “The Secret Math Behind Feel-Good Music.” Consider their findings and conclusion after they compiled 126 “feel-good songs” from the past 50 years: “Happy lyrics, a fast tempo of 150 beats per minute (the average pop song has a tempo of 116 beats per minute), and a major third musical key all help create music we perceive as brimming with positive emotion.” Don’t misunderstand me; not every song should be fast, but the ones that should be faster, should be faster. And, I’m not pointing fingers at all our song-leaders either. Some under-stand this, and try to start at a faster pace when appropriate, and we often don’t follow the leader (Judges 5:2). Often, sadly, we end up winning that battle. Another problem is inaccurately pitched songs that leave us floundering as a group for something in common. It’s like the trumpet blowing an uncertain sound; it doesn’t serve the purpose (1 Cor. 14:8). Any leader who has this happen even somewhat occasionally should con-sider using an aid such as a pitch pipe, just as Powerpoint is an aid.
Lord’s Supper: The most meaningful observances of the Lord’s Supper in my experience comes when the speaker who helps direct our thoughts has shared a well-planned message about Jesus, or some other theme relating to His redemption of us. There is a time to make people aware of the authority by which we observe the supper, and the justification for observing exclusive-ly on the first day of the week, but is it really the time to preach about that when preparing to eat and drink with the Lord? Imagine Jesus, breaking the bread or taking the cup and then getting side-tracked on some message about His authority to establish the supper. Acts 20:7 too often does not make for good preparation. In short, it is a time for “in remembrance of Me,” not Bible authority.
Giving: Ditto for giving. Shouldn’t our talks on giving be mostly about needs that exist, the privilege to give, and examples of our generous God? The only other thing I might say about giving is this—men, please don’t say that “this is the time that the elders have set aside for us to give.” It’s just not true. God appointed the first day of the week as the time to give and the means where-by His work is accomplished, financially (1 Cor. 16:1-2). I know we all know this. What then are we really trying to say when we say this? Are we trying to explain that the reason we are offering an opportunity to give immediately following the Lord’s Supper is due to the discretion of the elders? If so, why? Imagine if every act of worship were preceded by such an acknowledgment.
The third goal is to evangelize the lost. It might sound noble to make wor-ship exclusively about our interaction with God and one another, but in reali-ty, if we neglect to consider the outsider who is among us, then are we really even focusing on God? If you know anything about God, you know that He is focusing on the outsider. He wants Him for His own. After all, this outsider is the very reason for which we have been left on the earth (2 Pet. 3:9-10). It certainly isn’t to worship God on Sundays; we can do that in Heaven! Paul had the unbeliever’s response to public worship in mind in 1 Corinthians 14 when he asked about the propriety of speaking in tongues without an inter-preter. He said the goal is that the outsider would be so impacted by observ-ing our worship that he declared, “God is truly among you.” May our prayer be as the psalmist who said: “He has put a new song in my mouth — Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the Lord (Ps. 40:3).
