God is Not the Audience of Our Worship

In our fellowship meeting last week Kevin Bauder quoted Peter Masters saying that God is not the audience of our worship, He is the object of our worship. Immediately, I understood this to be true, but over the past few days I have contemplating its implications. Worship has been my “thing” conceptually since I did my DMin project on it in 1995, and I am still learning more every day. God has transformed our church through worship as much as He has through preaching or discipleship programs, but we must always seek to improve what we do.

The idea of audience and performer communicates an entertainment model that is inappropriate for worship. Audiences are impressed with and adore performers. God is not impressed by us. I struggle for an analogy. He does not look on our singing, playing, praying with fawning adoration as fans do. He looks on us lovingly, but what He sees is our hearts. Yesterday was Father’s day. A great artist is not impressed by the artwork of his five-year-old son lovingly scribbled on a homemade Father’s Day Card. Instead, he looks beyond the skill and sees the love and affection behind the effort.

If God is the object of our worship, then the attitude of worship must be brokenness, surrender, and deep humility. There is no place for pride, arrogance, or even showing off in worship. This idea transcends worship styles. Traditional worship can be as rife with arrogance as any Hollywood imitating performance. Worship must be reverent and that is rooted in an attitude. It must be designed to please and satisfy Him, not us.

If God is the object of our worship, then worship is not always going to be enjoyable or feel good. It is going to cost us something. Sacrifice is an intrinsic aspect of worship. Both Old Testament and New Testament examples of worship were at times characterized by fear (Moses at the burning bush, the Ananias and Sapphira story).

If God is the object of worship, then unsaved people can’t do it. You cannot truly worship a God to whom you have not surrendered in salvation. It is folly to order a worship service for the lost. It is the epitome of fakery. Worship can be convicting to the lost, but it is what saved people do. This does not mean that we should speak in a language that is completely unintelligible to unchurched people. If a church is regularly reaching people with the gospel, newly saved people need to be able to understand what is going on as much as long-time believers. But designing a service that is intended to appeal to the sensibilities of an unregenerate soul seems to be a formula for disaster.

Just some initial thoughts. I am sure more will come. You all probably have some too.