A conversation about worship will always include an interesting variety of questions and comments. Which style of music is the legitimate form for worship? Is a praise and worship team more effective than a choir? How do we get more people involved?
The two words that keep coming to mind when I think of worship are attitude and understanding. A right attitude or spirit in worship rises up to heaven as a sweet smelling perfume (Exodus 30:34-36). Understanding whom we worship and why we worship Him is the vehicle of worship.
Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
This passage of scripture calls for a variety of musical forms and allows for a breadth of spiritual expression that cannot be captured in only one of them. We are all uniquely and wonderfully made; which shows, once again, how diverse God is and how variety is a part of all creation. Worship should be no different. Altering the style of music employed in worship is a healthy thing that will enhance any service.
That being said, I do think that there should be a definite distinction between what we accept in our church worship services and what even the secular Christian music world might say is acceptable. If we are not careful, we will simply plunge into the abyss of mass marketing and follow the next great wave that the music world says is “cool” and “current.” I’m not so sure that God cares for either. God is less concerned with style, with cool, and with current as He is with “condition.” He is not nearly as interested in the forms of our worship as He is with the condition of our hearts and the extent of our understanding when we worship.
Worship, by definition, is “honor paid to a superior being; to respect and give adoration, praise, and glory to a deity.” In spiritual terms, it is simply to humble ourselves before God in thanksgiving and love; giving honor and respect to God. When and wherever we worship the Lord, our entire focus and energy is to be given to Him. Our attitudes, our lives, our possessions, and yes, even our talents become secondary.
Every second of a worship service belongs to God.
Our talent is not enough. Style is not enough. There has to be substance. We must worship God with spirit, with truth, with anointing, and with a correct attitude and understanding that it is truly all about Him.