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Many people who are looking for a church to attend will choose the church that offers the best music experience, and they will equate it with the worship of God. John Fischer, in a Moody Monthly article from 2001, gets at the heart of the issue.
These two lines stood out when I was reading Fischer's article: "Unfortunately we tend to turn this service of worship (which takes up our whole life) into a worship service (which takes up about an hour a week). It puts a lot of weight to bear on 30 minutes of music if that will be a person’s sole worship experience for the week." Has Fischer hit on something here? Is the reason we put so much emphasis on the Sunday gathering as the time for us to "worship God" because we are actually not worshiping the rest of the week?
Many people who are looking for a church to attend will choose the church that offers the best music experience, and they will equate it with the worship of God. John Fischer, in a Moody Monthly article from 2001, gets at the heart of the issue.
God is after a life of worship for each one of us. It’s what Paul calls our "service of worship" — presenting ourselves to Him continually as living sacrifices, transformed in our thinking and awake to His will in the world (Rom. 12:2). Unfortunately we tend to turn this service of worship (which takes up our whole life) into a worship service (which takes up about an hour a week). It puts a lot of weight to bear on 30 minutes of music if that will be a person’s sole worship experience for the week. No wonder people are fighting so hard for their music.
We worship because we are worshipers. We were created with this big cavity in our souls that can’t be filled with anything but God, and filling ourselves with God on a continual basis is the most fulfilling thing we can do. It is what we were made for.
True worship incorporates our minds in understanding, our strength in service, our souls in wonder, and our spirits in praise. It does not take a song to do this. It takes my mind on God and my whole being focused in His direction. I also believe it is possible to do all this while doing everything else we normally do — in fact, this is what gives everything else meaning. This is what Paul meant when he said to do everything we do to the glory of God (Col. 3:17).
It’s our life, not a worship service, that will make us worshipers. We don’t go to church to worship; we go to church because we are already worshipers. And if someone is a true worshiper, which means their whole life is an act of worship, then what happens for 30 minutes of music once a week is a small thing indeed.
I often hear people say they need to give God more of their time: longer quiet time, more prayer, more Bible reading. That’s good, but I’m not sure God wants more of my time as much as He wants more of my attention. It’s not this time for God, this time for work, this time for play, and this time for me. It’s the whole thing for God.
If I’ve lived a week like this and I get to church with my fellow believers filling up a room, they can sing in French and play sitars and it won’t matter to me. I’ll be so happy just to be there and join my voice, however timid or strong, with others who believe.
These two lines stood out when I was reading Fischer's article: "Unfortunately we tend to turn this service of worship (which takes up our whole life) into a worship service (which takes up about an hour a week). It puts a lot of weight to bear on 30 minutes of music if that will be a person’s sole worship experience for the week." Has Fischer hit on something here? Is the reason we put so much emphasis on the Sunday gathering as the time for us to "worship God" because we are actually not worshiping the rest of the week?
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