In a competitive market, the secret to success is giving the customer what he wants, at a price he likes. And in the cut throat world of Church growth, adapting worship practices to best suit the tastes of the unchurched has become a marketing miracle. Are people bored by preaching? Well shorten that tedious old sermon, get rid of that stuffy theology and lighten up your "message" with lots of jokes, anecdotes and pious platitudes. Do people want to be entertained rather than edified? Well, trot out that special music! If you work it right, with all the choirs, soloists and special numbers, the congregation won't have to sing at all! Have attention spans been destroyed by television? How about throwing in some drama or maybe even a little liturgical dance? With enough ingenuity, you can make your worship service so harmless, that people will come from miles around to applaud your efforts.

OK, so you have a church full of spiritual dead wood, but man, you'll be successful! You can build an opulent physical plant full of smiling faces. And hey, the laborer is worthy of his hire, right? Not only are there financial rewards (more people = bigger offerings = better salary package for the pastor) but you'll be in demand as a denominational speaker. You might even get a radio program or a book deal out of it! Yup, there sure are advantages to pleasing men rather than God; right up to the day the Almighty Sovereign King of creation judges your life, ministry, church, community and nation for apostasy. And we are being judged, right now.

Definition

By denying the Law, broad evangelical Christianity sinks into a morass of subjective, humanistic, self gratifying, blasphemous nonsense, little different from the syncretistic pagan fertility cults of three millennia ago. Therefore, rethinking the entire concept of worship is a critical task. So let us start at the beginning. The Biblical words for worship tend to emphasize two distinct aspects, an attitude and an action. One group of Hebrew terms literally mean "to bow down," "prostrate oneself," hence "to revere" (e.g. Ex 20:5, Deut 26:10). Several New Testament terms carry the same emphasis. There is an attitude towards God we must have if we are to properly worship Him. Our God is a holy and majestic God, powerful, mighty, awesome in all His ways. Therefore, Biblical worship must focus on the character, nature, attributes and acts of God (Deut 32:3) to drive sinful men to their knees in humble submission to this great and glorious King (Isa 45:23). It should foster an attitude of reverence and fear (Lev 25:17 Pvbs 9:10, etc.).
The second aspect of Biblical worship emphasizes the duty we owe God. God commands His creation (and especially His covenant people) to worship Him. Therefore, God Himself determines the content of proper worship. Since it is a labor, a duty, a work offered to God, it must be done according to God's law. "Strange fire," no matter how sincerely offered, is an abomination, and will be judged (cf. Lev 10:1-2) Thus we cannot and must not and dare not approach God in any other way than He Himself has proscribed. Worship is not something to be trifled with.

Spirit and Truth

One of the crucial New Testament texts on worship comes from Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. She had asked whether the Jews or the Samaritans were correct in their worship. Jesus replied that Biblical worship must be in spirit and truth (Jn 4:20-24), thereby criticizing both Samaritans and Jews. The Samaritans were undoubtedly sincere (their ancestors had been eaten by wild animals for not worshipping God) but they had mingled true worship with pagan innovation. Such worship was not and is not acceptable to God.

However, even though the Jews had better knowledge, their worship, no matter how technically correct, was also inadequate because it was not "spiritual." The term "spirit" could mean the Holy Spirit with the implication of the necessity of regeneration. Romans 12:1-2 helps to clarify it further. "Spirit" also refers to inner nature; worship that proceeds from the heart of man. God is not interested in ritual for ritual's sake (Pvbs 21:3, Ecc 5:1, Hosea 6:6, etc.). Jewish temple worship may have been according to the letter of Old Testament Law, but by New Testament times, it did not flow from regenerate hearts. When the Anointed One appeared, about whom all the sacrifices were intended, He was rejected by His own people. They rejected Christ because they had already rejected God. God does not want people who just go through the motions, even if the motions are the right ones. He wants heart felt worship (Matt 15:8-9, Isa 29:13). The Jews should have kept the Law, while worshipping from the heart. Both aspects are essential.

The answer to modern foolishness is not a retreat into comfortable traditionalism. This is not a debate between "traditional" versus "contemporary" styles of worship but rather the very nature of worship itself. God's word establishes how He is to be worshipped in truth and therefore must be based on His specific commands (Jn 17:17). Yet, if pressed, the average churchman will say that the acid test of worship is "How does it make me feel?" People come to church today for a certain experience, whether rampant emotionalism, comfortable traditionalism, or just entertainment. Feelings, not Law, is the basis for contemporary evangelical worship. As one of my seminary professors said, "people don't come to church to feel bad, but to feel good."

But if God's people worship Him in Spirit and truth, they will not always be comfortable, or entertained, or necessarily happy. Our God is a consuming fire (Deut 4:24), and coming into His presence with a sinful heart is a fearful thing (Hebs 10:27). True worship will drive us to our knees in humility, as we are convicted of our sins (Isa 6:5). True worship will expose the darkness in our souls and make us long for the righteousness that only comes from Christ (Matt 5:6). True worship relieves our guilt only as we trust in Christ alone. True worship magnifies God, and glorifies His name, but is seldom comfortable and never seeks to please men.

Worship in Spirit and truth is God centered, not man centered. It focuses on the character, nature and attributes of God: in what we sing (and how we sing it), in what we pray (and how we pray it) in what we preach (and how we preach it). In all these things, Biblical worship is Word oriented.

Impediments to worship

Unclean Hearts

There are a variety of reasons why modern churchmen do not worship in spirit and in truth. First, we cannot worship if our hearts are not clean. Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, then the Lord will not hear me." Sabbath worship begins in our life during the week, not in a pew on Sunday morning. But that's just what many evangelicals want; i.e., church is a place to recharge one's spiritual batteries, so God may then be safely ignored. Yet, each of us has a personal relationship with God (Jer 33:3). If we have a lousy time when we are alone with Him, it will not get any better in a group.

Therefore daily, personal worship and daily family worship is fundamental to healthy corporate worship. One of the reasons that sinful men compromise God's laws in regards to worship is that they fail to fulfill their covenant duties at home. If neither they, nor their children have much personal experience of worshipping the living God on a daily basis, corporate worship will seem strange, stifling and boring. Therefore, they experiment with human innovation.

Relationships

Secondly, fractured relationships result in poor worship. Wherever two or more are gathered, Jesus said that He would be in their midst (Matt 18:20). Therefore, if there are problems among the brothers then our worship will be unacceptable (Matt 5:22-24). If a congregation does not know each other, if they do not love each other, if they do not resolve their problems with one another, then Sabbath worship will simply be a collection of isolated individuals (and the Lord's Supper will be a time of judgment rather than blessing cf. 1 Cor 11:27ff). The body of Christ, is a body. A body that wars against itself is sick and diseased. Worship cannot be in "truth" if the people say they love God, but cannot stand each other (1 Jn 4:20).

This may explain why so much time, talent and effort has been spent transforming worship into entertainment. People want anonymity. If you go to a movie theater, you're part of an impersonal audience. You don't need to know or interact with others, you just pay your money, choose your sin , enjoy your film and go home (and that, in a nutshell IS the average broad evangelical worship service.

Praise

A third hindrance to Biblical worship is an inadequate concept of praise. The most common word for prayer in Hebrew is tephillah; which literally means "a song of praise." Christians need to relearn how to sing and pray God's praises (cf. Col 3:16). To praise God is to verbally ascribe to Him, His nature, character, attributes, and acts. When we pray and sing God's praises, it transforms us. Psalm after psalm bears vivid testimony to the power of praise. No matter how disheartened, disillusioned or despondent the psalmist may be, reciting God's praises lifts his spirits, rejuvenates his mind, and changes his heart. Yet how often is the pastoral prayer a long, boring litany little different from reciting a shopping list? How often are hymns expressions of our feelings about God, rather than about Him?

In order to praise God, one must first know what He is like. Sadly, doctrinal knowledge is at an all time low. Most evangelicals' understanding of the nature of God consists of rumor, hearsay, blatant falsehood, and serious misconception. Not to be cynical or nasty, but listening to other people pray is often illuminating. They can "thank" God for many things, but often, too often, they do not and cannot accurately and articulate God's nature. OK, perhaps not everyone is creative enough to pray extemporaneously. So therefore, we ought to let the inspired prayers of the Psalms teach us how praise, magnify and glorify Him. Christians need to memorize them, meditate on them, and let inspired words replace our insipid ones!

Preaching

Part of the problem is undoubtedly poor preaching. Doctrinal preaching is seldom done and even if we do get it, is often dry, academic and irrelevant. It is a grievous error to make the nature of God boring and theoretical to His people. When pastors should be giving the words of life, we give the words of the academic cloister. Is it any wonder that bored congregations look to ear tickling preaching? And then, Pastors, afraid of boring them even more, begin to substitute pop psychology, humor, warm mushy anecdotes for the commandments of God.

Powerful preaching is not all that difficult; just explain what the text means and then show people how to apply it in their lives. When you've told your anecdotes, delineated your three points, pontificated at length, every preacher needs to ask himself "Now that I've said what I said, so what?" In other words, what does God expect this people to DO in light of what you've just said (Joshua 1:8)? The difference between life changing preaching and "ho hum, business as usual, glazed look over the face, isn't he ever going to finish...;" is practical application. God's people need to know what His Law requires, and how to obey it. If the pastor doesn't tell them, who will? The most power preachers are not necessarily great orators, they simply teach God's people what He wants them to do, why He wants them to do it, how He wants them to do it, and then, sits down ("physician, heal thyself...").

Inadequate Music

A fourth obstacle to Biblical worship is inadequate music. First, sappy, theologically deviant, revivalist hymns need to be given a quick burial. Secondly, different styles of music produce different emotional effects. Therefore, the tunes we sing have a powerful emotional impact on our worship. Some brothers seem to have a problem with this as if somehow, feeling something during worship is cheating.

But is there not a legitimate place in worship to ensure suitable music is chosen? I have been in services which, forgive me, reminded me of a funeral; everything was sung as a dirge. It was not majestic, just somber. Music should be appropriate to the words. Some tunes foster feelings of awe, reverence, respect for God and His nature. But there is also celebration of our intimate status in Christ, our joy in redemption, our victory over the world. Thus different tunes, and the resulting emotional effects they cause, should be taken into consideration. Perhaps one of the reasons why man made hymns replaced the Psalms is that the music of some hymns have emotive power that the older Psalter tunes lacked?

Furthermore, we need to sing more Scripture. The book of Psalms is the church's hymnbook, and we are robbing ourselves of God's inspired hymns when we neglect them. But Charismatics have done a fine job recasting many Scripture passages in appropriate meters for singing. Many people react against Scripture choruses because they do not like the emotion that flows from the contemporary tunes or are afraid of being identified with Charismatics. Yet these same people will sing man made hymns, with questionable theology, because it is comfortable and traditional. Our God is not only King, but also heavenly Father. It is appropriate to sing His praises in affectionate and loving terms and there is nothing wrong with people feeling intimate with God, as long as truth is not sacrificed.

Participation rather than Observation

Finally, true worship should focus on participation rather than observation. Years ago, my wife and I attended a very successful mega-church which began it's Lord's Day services with a stand up comedian (who did the announcements), two superb soloists, a professional choir and string quartet. Though the performances (sorry, no other word will do) were really outstanding, the congregation sung only one hymn. All the musicians, singers, speakers, readers, etc., looked like they were having a wonderful time, but we didn't worship. We watched other people worship. Yes, there was a role for singers and musicians in Old Testament worship, but they led the people in worship, they did not do it for them (e.g., 2 Chrn 23:13).

Conclusion: