38 Hindrances to Worship

From Paul W. Martin @www.preacherthoughts.blogspot.com

In my class on Worship at Toronto Baptist Seminary, I asked my students to identify five ways they are a hindrance to the Corporate Worship of God. Their lists were very interesting and I assembled a bit of a highlight reel here. I think it is a great question to ask yourself before next Sunday – how do I hinder the worship of God at my church? Here are some of the items my guys came up with...

1. Not even thinking about how God desires to be worshiped
2. Sin in my life
3. Not showing up at all
4. Being grumpy
5. Not arriving grateful for the cross
6. Not praying in advance
7. Being tired or lazy
8. Taking pride in my contributions to the service
9. Distracted by the details and running of the service
10. Showing up late
11. Processing other things than what is happening in the service
12. Worrying about what my kids are doing
13. Looking for a pen and writing a cheque
14. Not fixing relational problems with others in the church
15. Thinking more about the process of worship than the One I am to worship
16. Roaming mind
17. Pride in thinking I could do better than what the person up front is doing
18. Not going to bed early enough on Saturday night
19. Watching car races [insert your program of choice here] so that a) I am late for services and b) my mind is dwelling on them not the Lord
20. Not worshiping God through the week
21. Not paying attention to what I sing or say in worship
22. Worrying about what I wore
23. Wanting the service to be perfect and growing discontent with mistakes
24. Being more excited about friends than God
25. Timing the pastors prayers
26. Viewing the singing as a time of entertainment
27. Trying to get friends to laugh by distracting them in immature ways
28. Enjoying the melody of a song more than delighting in God
29. Pride of thinking I could play a certain instrument better
30. Criticizing every little aspect of the service in my mind
31. Pride of thinking God must be impressed with the way I am worshiping!
32. Doing outward things in order to gain others’ attention
33. Sitting with people I know will lead me to talk and not pay attention
34. Thinking about the problems of my week rather than on the worship of God
35. Not confessing sin
36. Failing to prepare for worship
37. Over-analyzing songs and sermons so that I never think of Christ
38. Doing a shoddy job in my contributions to corporate worship