“Wow, that worship service was amazing.”
It’s a phrase we all hear, all the time. Whether you’re leaving the arena after a Jesus Culture concert or driving to the buffet after Sunday’s worship, we’ve all said it.
But what is it, I wonder, that constitutes “incredible” worship? Because you may be reading this article and thinking, “My church’s worship is far from great. Matter of fact, it’s terrible.”
Oftentimes, our judgement of a worship service comes down to how it makes us feel. If it was charged with emotion, we like it. If the band has it together, we like it. If it’s not so loud that our ear drums hurt, we like it. If they sang “Oceans”, we like it.
That’s also what scares me about our modern worship culture. We attend concerts, idolize artists, and chase experiences because of how they make us feel.
But it can leave us discontented with the local church God has called us to and distract us from asking the most important question of all.
The Most Important Question
The question?
“What kind of worship is incredible to God?”
That truly is what matters. Because worship is for God. Worship is an offering that rises to Him. It’s for His praise, glory, adoration, fame, honor, renown, exaltation.
Can you hear it? Romans 11:36 echoes throughout the world:
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
“What kind of worship service is incredible to God?”
The question is important for various reasons. First, it puts the responsibility on behalf of the worshiper. It undercuts consumerism.
Great worship isn’t just the performance of a great band, it’s God’s holy people laying their lives down (Tweet that). I have a responsibility. You have a responsibility. We are all called.
Second, it reminds us that God is the only One who can judge the quality of worship. It’s not based on how many top CCLI songs you cover as good as the artists. It’s not about how well your worship set flows.
It’s “was my heart, soul, mind, and strength fully engaged in the exaltation of God the Father, through the Holy Spirit, by Jesus Christ?”
3 Steps to Leading Incredible Worship
So – people of God – what is a great worship service? And how can we do our part to make sure it happens every time?
1. Spirit and Truth – When the Bible says, “These are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks,” we should be paying attention.
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks” (John 4:23).
God desires worship that is based in truth and led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads our hearts to the true knowledge of God. We must worship God for who He is in all of his glory, wonder, goodness, terror, beauty, tenderness, and grace.
2. Obedience – On the other hand, when God says, “Away with the noise of your songs. I despise your sacred assemblies,” in Amos 5:23, we should also be listening. In this passage, Israel, God’s chosen people, were having worship services. They were celebrating, singing, and lifting praise to God.
The problem with this celebration was that they were a disobedient people. They were singing praises while ignoring God’s commands to meet the needs of the marginalized. “But let justice roll like a river, mercy like a never-failing stream.”
Incredible worship will always be rooted in a singular desire to obey God. We want to do what pleases Him. That is the truest expression of our worship. Don’t allow yourself to raise your hands at a worship concert while ignoring the will of God the next morning.
3. Fear – Consider this:
“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 33:18).
If you want God’s attention during worship, you must fear him. Without the fear of God, our worship is flippant. It keeps us humble, gazing, bowing, trusting (For more on this idea of fear, check out this post).
But the verse doesn’t stop there. It seems to equate fearing God with hoping in his steadfast love. Which tells me that the fear of God isn’t just a mental assent to respecting His majesty and holiness. A true fear of God will take action, place hope, bank its life on Jesus.
I know this post didn’t outline some practical pointers on what songs to sing, instruments to use, DB level to run, and how many musicians to have on stage.
Why? Because a great band or a great song doesn’t make an incredible worship service. It’s about what God seeks, what God desires, what God has said.
God is seeking spirit and truth worshipers. He is after an obedient life. His eyes look to those who fear Him. This is the most incredible worship service to God’s heart.
But the answer is far from exhaustive. I need your help. What would you add to the list?
What, in your opinion, is the most awesome worship service ever?
What are the qualities? The characteristics?
Let us know in the comments! You can leave a comment by clicking here.
[ois skin=”Beyond Sunday 2″]
Excellent insights. Thank you for capturing the essence of what incredible worship is from God’s perspective. May we as worship pastors, leaders, volunteers, staff, team members etc, be holy and wholly soul’d out to His pleasure as our priority and passion.
Yes!
“It seems to equate fearing God with hoping in his steadfast love. Which tells me that the fear of God isn’t just a mental assent to respecting His majesty and holiness. A true fear of God will take action, place hope, bank its life on Jesus.”
Great articulation of the Fear of the Lord man! Thanks for the blog/podcast! I stumbled upon it on facebook and have been finding valuable encouragement all week!
That’s awesome, Ben. Glad to have you here!
Something that shook my world about “incredible worship” was a realization I had when reading in Hebrews last year.
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.” – Hebrews 12:28
This word “acceptably” in the original Greek text literally means “in such a way as to please him well.” The contrast to acceptable worship is unacceptable worship. The idea that’s it’s possible to worship God in a way that is unacceptable, in a way that doesn’t please him – that’s a very sobering thought. And as I thought about it more, there are several instances in the Bible where worship happens and it’s unacceptable to God.
In Genesis 4 Cain and Abel both brought their worship offerings to God, but while Abel’s worship offering was acceptable, Cain’s wasn’t – why? Because he gave God the leftovers of his crops while Abel gave God his very best of his flock. In 1 Samuel 15, Saul made an offering to God with sheep that were supposed to be slaughtered, and it was unacceptable. He built an altar and sacrificed the best sheep to the Lord, but the Lord said no thanks. His worship was in direct disobedience to God, therefore his worship was unacceptable.
Worship, at it’s core, has to be about us giving everything we have and are to a holy God. This is what Christ is talking about in John 4 at the well when he says we need to worship in spirit and in truth. We are the sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15 & Romans 12:1). Today, and on Sundays, and every day in between, we have to offer up our entire selves in full disclosure to the person of Jesus Christ.
“We are the sacrifice of praise.” I love that, bro. It’s scary to think of acceptable and unacceptable worship as it relates to our Sunday gatherings. How can we know we’re pleasing Him?
Some good thoughts here! What I would like to add is making our worship songs more truth orientated. Give our minds something to wrap around not just our emotions. Today’s songs are very subjective and man centered. We need objective truth, songs like the hymn writers gave us years ago. When we declare truth that expounds the deeper things of God, this can truly inspire worship from not only the emotions but the mind. We are a “feely” generation. Feelings come and go and they are surely not something to build your life on. How will we stand in the day of trial if all we have is feelings? We NEED objective truth to be able to stand in the evil day. So I say, let’s give our churches more objective truth with substance and NOT a bunch of fluff that caters to the emotions.
Great thoughts, Louise. Do you have a few favorite songs that are full of objective truth? Always looking for new ones 🙂
1 Corinthians 14 is a pretty nice guideline for gatherings
Here’s a question … how do our church gatherings look compared to this?
Is each person with a gift bringing a psalm, a teaching, a tongue, a revelation, or an interpretation or is each area controlled by one person and the rest are called a really disgusting word that should never come out of a leader’s mouth – an “audience?”
Are we allowing the Holy Spirit proper room to work or have we set time limits on the teaching or singing or prayer?
Dear Brother in Christ, truly your writing is absolutely amazing, and God once again opened my eyes, I can praise how much I like to, but if my heart is not 100% in obedience I might as well leave it. Please keep on motivating the Bride of Christ your teaching is 100% and what you wrote here must have been directly through the Holy Spirit it is only Him that can reveal these truths to us. When are you all visiting Cape Town South Africa, would love to meet my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Oooo how much am I longing for the day that the Lord is going to fetch us all…… Blessings to you and your team. Lots of Christ love.
Hello David from New ZEaland. I get Charisma newsletters, that is how I saw your article and it delighted my heart as it is the first time I have seen something like it. I find it quite difficult since there is a stand up, sit down, set service style here!
Most important to worship Father following The Holy Spirits lead and genuine heart to heart is true worship reaching Father..
BUT WHAT i WANTED to say to you was read the tiny book of Anne Almers called “Transported by the Lion of Judah” a true story of Annes with Jesus and she describes some worship with folks as she visits various churches with Jesus. It can be bought thru Elijah list Publications – fantastic –
I have referred to it in my book too.
Thankyou kind regards Wendy Anderson a sister in Christ in New Zealand
P.S. I don’t have windows live to download your free book and would u like an email copy of mine?
First of all, I love your blog. Your insight and heart for God is evident in all your writings. As a relatively new worship leader (although not young… I’m 44… I refer to this as my second half of life calling), I appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge. I agree with all you said but I wonder if this trend to downplay performance, making it almost a dirty word in worship circles, doesn’t actually hurt corporate worship? I’m an all or nothing kind of girl, and when I started this journey 4 years ago (I had never even picked up a guitar before then) I jumped in completely, practicing hours a day to refine my skill. When I lead, I expect excellence from myself and my team. It’s a commitment I take seriously. We have all been part of a service where the musical skill was lacking… Off pitch, missed chords, etc… And I think if we are honest, it’s more difficult to worship in those situations. It’s hard to focus on God when the band or leader are hard to follow. Maybe I’m way off here but I think incredible worship happens (for the most part, of course there are exceptions) when those God calls to lead are as prepared as possible and in that preparation, we are able to be more open to the leading of the Spirit. So while performance might not be the right choice of words, we should prepare like it is, offering God our first fruits. If I’m wrong here, I’m ok with that (wouldn’t be the first time). I’m open to your thoughts and opinions.
I agree, 100% Tandy! Thanks for sharing.
To God be the glory……inspiring thoughts.