THE HEART OF WORSHIP

Mike Pilaviche wrote in the Soul Survivor Magazine an article concerning “Coming Back to The Heart of Worship.” In it he challenged his congregation to ask themselves individually, “When I come through the door of the church, what am I bringing as my contribution to the worship?”

Does it ever seem we have lost the spark and are just going through the motions?  Although we are singing, are our hearts far from Him?  Have we become connoisseurs of worship instead of participants of it?  Are we giving the worship marks out of ten like an Olympic event: “Not that song again”, “I can’t hear the bass”, “The music is too loud”, “I like the way she sings”…Are we making the band or choir the performers and ourselves the audience?  Are we forgetting that we are ALL the performers of worship and God is the audience?  Do we forget that sacrifice is central to biblical worship?  In the Old Testament, whenever the people of God gathered to worship, they sacrificed a lamb or other animal. Often when they sacrificed, the glory of the Lord fell on the people and they prostrated themselves on the pavement and worshipped.  In fact, the presence of God was so tangible that, for a while, even the priests could not perform their duties.  (2 Chronicles 7)

We don’t need to sacrifice sheep and goats today and certainly no sacrifice on our part can earn God’s forgiveness or our salvation; the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has done that for all time.  Yet we ARE called to bring sacrifices in worship.  We are called to offer our bodies as living sacrifices – this is OUR spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1).  We are called to offer our sacrifice of praise.

My challenge is this – “When you come through the door of the church, what are you bringing as your contribution to the worship?”  Worship is not a spectator sport, it is not a product molded by the taste of the consumers.  It is not about what we can get out of it; it is all about God.

Let’s return to the heart of worship.