Leaders, Ministry Leadership, Worship Leading, Worship Theology

Misleading Worship

March 20, 2016

Our lives are not meant to be #MisleadingWorship Your personal life of worship is reflective of who you are and how you live your life.

As worshipers, are we living or avoiding our response to God in worship? As church leaders, are we leading or misleading our people in worship?

Why and how do our lives intersect with worship? Simply, worship is a response. What and who we give worth to is the object.

How we value the object becomes our response. We either worship the things or people of the world, or we choose to worship God and the things of God. Romans 12.1 tells us: “in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship.”

Proper worship, as defined by Scripture is coming into alignment with God’s mercy and holiness. We find what is pleasing and acceptable to God in His presence. Also, we are to recognize the things that are not acceptable and holy to God. Through Jesus, we discover our worth to God; ultimately, we give Him worth because of Who He is.

He teaches us what is true and worthy of His precepts, and gives us forgiveness of sin through His grace. In this perspective, giving God worth and praise has nothing to do with music. Giving God worth and praise has everything to do with His Lordship because He is worthy of it.

What about music?
God desires to hear us sing. He desires to hear us make music unto His name. God created music as both a gift and a means to worship give Him praise. Psalm 108.1 says “I will sing and make music with all my soul” Ephesians 5.19 proclaims: “Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord” Psalm 147.7 tells us to: “Sing to the LORD with grateful praise; make music to our God.” In these Scriptures above, we see how music is used to praise God. We also see how music is a gift, an expression and is lead to God.

Music is not the optimum, the optimum is giving God His worship. How blessed we are to write, create, make and lead music unto His name. We get to enjoy the thrill of music and to sing it back to Him. I believe God was making music when he formed the earth and fashioned the Heavens. Does creation sing? Can all created things respond in worship to God? Yes: Let everything that has breath praise the Lord,” (Psalm 150.6). If this is true, and it is, how are we joining, living and leading this response?

What about worship?
He desires a denial (sacrifice) of self and a living offering unto Him. We recognize that He is Holy God and deserves worship that is pleasing to Him. Worship is a response, yet before we respond, we must make a choice: will we, and who are we going to worship? What does our worship say about ourselves?

It’s not for others to determine how much we love God by how much we outwardly worship. It’s not a show. God is not interested in how good we look before others in worship. He does not care how holy we appear or how pleasing we sound. Funny thing, we tend to care more about these things than God.

What is He really looking for? “those who will worship him” John 4.23 The way we view worship, says a lot about what/how we value of God. It says what we believe in giving Him worth. It also says how we view ourselves and others in the mercy of Christ.

So how are we misleading worship?
We mislead worship by the way we mis-follow Jesus. You can be the most musically gifted person on the planet, and/or the best in leading people in praise. However, if you are living a double life, you are leading yourself and others into a dead end.

This is why Paul told Timothy: “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” 1Tim 4.16. Who do you think Paul was more caring of in this statement? Those of us who lead ministry. Why?

Because it starts with our response to God and ends with how people follow our leadership. The way we lead others is a response to God in worship as well. When we allow sin and un-healed brokenness to wreck us, it damages us and the people with us.

When you can begin to stare into the Grace of Jesus, look deeply into His word, know that He loves you regardless of your failures, hurt, stink and sin, allow yourself to be loved by Him, receive His forgiveness and live a life of repentance, you begin to understand what real worship truly is. This is why your life and worship matters to God. Your leading matters to people, not on stage, but off stage.

You are the example of Jesus to the people you serve. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” Eph 2.10. [ctt template=”10″ link=”W8fbp” via=”no” ]When you live life in Jesus – not by perfection, but His perfection through you, music is made in the most beautiful way.[/ctt] It’s beyond your imagination because it becomes what God is doing – not you.

Is our leading joyful or noisy?
What I mean is that true joy comes from God and He wants all of our music. He wants our songs of happiness and sorrow. This comes down to prayer, the singing of our prayers through music. When we utter true life and confession unto God, it is filled with the kind of worship He is seeking.

The songs from our hearts turn into songs that are pleasing to Him. This is why the style of music doesn’t matter. The worship songs we choose don’t matter. What matters is giving God his worship – in Spirit (of Christ) and in Truth (His Word) John 4.24.

How Are We Leading It?
If we are making music without the love of Christ in our hearts, it becomes unpleasing to God and those around us. This should be an alarming question to us: In the leading of worship, are we making music that pleases God; or are we making music that’s just noise? You set the example every time you lead.

Part of leading is also part of failing. In order to grow, we will go through mistakes. It’s not the failures that hold us back, it’s what we do with them in bringing them to God or not. When we do, how are we leading others by what we’ve learned? How are we allowing Jesus to live through us towards victory?

Only God changes you from the inside out; only you can allow God to change you. Remember, God wants your heart, not your music, so let Him have it.

Let Him have it all. If we really believe what the Bible says is true, how are we living our response in the world and to our church? [ctt template=”10″ link=”lX2A2″ via=”no” ]Live your life your life and lead worship well. Make life and leading synonymous.[/ctt]
Make music unto God. Live your response of worship to God as a living sacrifice. Lead your people to respond in worship that’s pleasing to Him.

@BranonDempsey @worshiptt

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