I AM GUILTY OF THIS.
But I thank God for helping me see clearly beyond the distractions of this world.
So how are we practicing genuine Christian worship through our selection of songs in the church?
Are we focused on how the music sounds, its intensity, or how it makes us feel during worship? Do we leave feeling that we truly worshiped God in Spirit and Truth? Or do we just think…
“Whew! That was fun tonight!”
“Hey! I had a great worship experience!”
“Awesome! The songs were very moving! I cried a lot! I felt God’s Presence everywhere!”
Uh-oh. We might have had fun but missed God’s Presence.
The Most High does not live in buildings made by people (Acts 17:24), nor is He happy with empty worship.
Don’t wait for God to say to us:
“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps, I will not listen.”
Amos 5:21-23 (ESV)
Do we still see ourselves as God’s people when our worship is shallow? When does worship turn into noise? Is it possible that what we call worship is just annoying to the Lord?
Let’s think about what the Bible says about empty, noisy worship:
• Worship without God: Exodus 32:7-8
• Worship without true repentance: Joel 2:12-13; 2 Chronicles 7:14
• Worship without love: 1 Corinthians 13:1
• Worship without true heart: Isaiah 29:13
• Worship under false pretenses: Matthew 2:7-8
With all this in mind, are we still getting caught up in secular Christian music? Are we still drawn to the emotional songs from Bethel, Hillsong, and other popular Christian music artists?
To understand this better, let’s examine Bethel, which is known for producing possibly empty and even disrespectful worship.
The Bethel Supernatural School of Ministry has used “Christian” divination cards, grave soaking, spirit impartation, and other practices. We should be very cautious about this.
The Bible strongly warns against spiritism, mediums, the occult, and divination (Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10-13).
During a psychic fair, Bethel ministers reportedly did not mention “Jesus,” “God,” or “Holy Spirit.” Instead, they called God the “Spirit of Creation.”
Why? They didn’t want to upset anyone.
WAIT. WHAT?!
Why do we care more about not offending people than offending God? Isn’t Jesus hurt by this?
To show what Bethel leaders are teaching the next generation, here’s a blog excerpt from one of their students:
“The first time I really noticed this was when I ministered undercover at a psychic fair. We offered dream interpretations, healings, and spirit readings (prophetic words.) Sadly, many of the attendees had been hurt by Christians and the Church, so we used language that was not religious or would cause them to put walls up. We built rapport by just loving them. They eventually figured out we were Christians, but without us saying anything,”
Friends, be careful. If we think we worshiped God just because we sang songs, we need to rethink.
Worship is more than music.
Worship goes deeper than feelings.
Worship is more important than any moment.
It’s not about having the best sound system, the most polished performances, or the biggest crowd. Worship should not be an entertaining show to bring people to our churches. We are the body of Christ. We are the Church. Our mission is to share the Good News with those in need, not to attract people to our events. Otherwise, we risk getting stuck like many large churches today.
Praise, worship, and revival meetings aren’t about dimming lights to create a comfy setting. God doesn’t need our atmosphere to move in our hearts. HE IS SOVEREIGN, AND HE DOES WHATEVER HE WILLS.
We don’t need to be in the right mood to show gratitude and love toward Him. No matter how we feel, GOD DESERVES TO BE PRAISED AND GLORIFIED.
There are still many songs directly from Scripture that express the truth of God’s Word and celebrate His goodness. Let’s choose wisely.
Worshiping God means honoring Him in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23-24).
How scary would it be to hear the Lord say to us after years of following traditions and church rituals:
“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me.”
Matthew 15:8 ESV
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day tmany will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Matthew 7:21-23 ESV