True Worship

Jim and Sharon Brogan¹ have been married for a dozen years. Jim can not remember a day when he did not have a saving relationship with the Lord. Sharon, on the other hand, was an adult convert, coming into the Kingdom just before she and Jim met. Both of them are now seemingly mature Christians. Jim works in the leadership of the men’s group at their church. Sharon teaches a women’s Bible study in her home and also plays piano on the worship team at their church.

Both Sharon and Jim agree that one of the very favorite activities is worship. They love singing praises to God. The closeness they feel to God as they worship Him is sometimes overwhelming.

Their church has always had a strong emphasis on worship. The pastor has taught on worship numerous times throughout the years, and it is clearly of major importance for the congregation. The praise and worship time is often the most lengthy part of the service.

Jim and Sharon both have good jobs. Their income is slightly above the national average, but each thinks they work too many hours.

Last week at church a missionary to Bosnia shared stories of the people in that war-torn country. What the Lord is doing—the changed hearts, the lives that have been completely transformed—in the midst of such a devastated nation is nothing short of miraculous. The missionary concluded by saying that even though the Lord had called him to Bosnia, he quickly realized he couldn’t do the work on his own. He needed others to financially stand with him. Were there people in this church who would do that? The Brogans wanted to help, but they had just received the bill for the first payment on their new plasma television. It just didn’t seem realistic to pledge support now. Fortunately for them, they would never know about the Bosnians who didn’t hear the gospel because the missionary did not have enough money to adequately publicize some events.

Yesterday, Sharon bought something at a store. She paid cash, as she frequently does, and because she had just cashed her paycheck, she gave the clerk a one-hundred dollar bill. The purchase totaled less than fifteen dollars so the clerk counted back several bills in change. Unfortunately, two bills stuck together. Sharon ended up with twenty dollars more than she should have received. She recognized it immediately, but didn’t say anything. Maybe it was a blessing from God, she thought. Though Sharon never knew it, the clerk—a single mom trying to make ends meet—was fired that night because it was the second time her cash drawer had been short at the end of her shift.

This Saturday the men’s group from church is going to do some repairs and yard work for a few widows in the church. Several of the men are planning to not only mow lawns and fix gutters, but even to paint and repair with materials they’ve purchased themselves. Jim’s boss, though, offered Jim the opportunity to work some extra hours—overtime pay, of course—on Saturday. He didn’t want to turn it down. There were enough other guys involved in the maintenance projects, he reasoned.

And although Sharon doesn’t know it yet, next month at the women’s retreat a guest speaker will talk about an organization that sponsors orphans in India. The government of that country does little to help such children. The orphans are often simply left in the streets to fend for themselves. This means they can easily end up dead or involved in destructive behaviors just to survive. With a desire to honestly live out the teachings of Jesus, various Christian organizations have stepped in to assist these unwanted little ones. For a small monthly contribution, a child can be fed, clothed, offered an education and even hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Although the need is real and the plea is genuine, during the retreat Sharon will sing loudly the songs of praise and worship but will turn a deaf ear to the plight of the orphans. Sharon would never find out about the Indian orphan she could have sponsored who died just four months later from malnutrition.

Of course, I realize that we can not possibly be involved in every cause that comes along. All of us have limited resources, both time and money. However, if you’re feeling even somewhat convicted by this story, maybe you need to examine your own heart and motivations. Let’s be really honest, though. Sharon and Jim might not be all that much different from you or me.

In the first chapter of Isaiah, God refers to Israel as Sodom and Gomorrah. He goes on to say that He’s had enough of their sacrifices and burnt offerings; He’s tired of their incense and feasts and festivals. All of these were things that the Lord had told them to do. Now He’s saying, “Stop! No more!” In other writings I have done I have suggested that God told them to cease such actions because the people were just going through the motions with no real heart-motivation. In the text, the Lord does not stop there, though. He continues on with these words.

God does not just tell them what He does not want them to do. He also informs them what He does want them to do. Do the right thing. Stop others from causing harm. Care for those who are less fortunate.

The New Testament echoes this thought. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27). The Greek word that is translated “religion” in this verse is the same word that is used in Colossians 2:18, where Paul talks about the “‘worship’ of angels.” Actually, translators seem to differ over exactly how to translate this word. Sometimes it is “worship” and sometimes it is “religion.”

Most of the time, variances in translating the same word in different ways are determined by the context; a particular context would force a translation one way or the other. This does not seem to be the case for this Greek word. There does not seem to be any compelling reason, based on the contexts, to go one direction or the other. In other words, this particular verse, James 1:27, could just as readily be rendered, “Worship that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

Through the prophet Amos, the Lord spoke these words.

Without trying to put words into God’s mouth, the essence of what the Lord is saying is this: “I’m tired of you saying that you love Me and then living a life that demonstrates the opposite. Your words and actions in church are worthless unless they are under girded by words and actions in your life. When you go to church, don’t try to convince Me (or others) that you love Me while demonstrating the opposite in your everyday life.” Those are pretty strong statements, wouldn’t you agree?

Danny Drummond is a part-time worship leader for Hope Chapel in Dayton, Ohio. Married for just under six years, he and his wife have two-year-old twin girls. Danny was recently interviewed by Worship Leader magazine. When the question was asked, “How has worship leading changed you?”, his answer was interesting. “This is the question I struggled with the most. At first I thought of responding with a conventional answer, but it wasn’t authentic. I also didn’t want to sound like a super-spiritual dork. So anyway, here it is in honest form—nothing has changed. Every morning when I get up, the song of life begins, and I become a worship leader. Not because of some grand stage or some elaborate chord I play on the guitar or because I raised my hands at a certain part of the song, but because I have two girls that are watching every move I make. Every day I’m showing them what it means to worship God and to honor Him with our lives. That, to me, is more important than any song I could ever sing…”²

I think Drummond hit the nail on the head. Without life-actions to back them up, our songs of praise and worship have little real meaning.

In Matthew 25, Jesus talks about the sheep being separated from the goats at His second coming. He clearly lets us know that at least part of the criteria for the separation is whether or not we fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and imprisoned³. These do not seem to be optional suggestions. From Jesus’ perspective they were apparently a part of the true religion—worship—that James talks about.

In Psalm 68, David writes some intriguing words. “Sing to God, sing praise to His name, extol Him who rides on the clouds—His name is the Lord—and rejoice before Him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, He leads forth the prisoners with singing...” (Psalm 68:4-6). Right in the middle of simply glorifying God, David begins to expound upon God’s heart toward those in desperate situations, the heart of a loving heavenly Father who is far more interested in actions than in words.

When was the last time you offered a cup of water to someone who was really thirsty? Befriended a fatherless child? Volunteered at crisis pregnancy center? Helped the homeless? Visited a nursing home? Are we really fully worshipping the Lord if our lives are not a demonstration of such things?

Several years ago I was driving along in my car singing praises to God. I was on a long stretch of highway when I noticed a car with a flat tire. On the opposite side of the road I noticed an older woman walking. I felt a nudge inside to turn around and go pick her up. I resisted, but immediately I remembered that this was an opportunity for a real act of worship. I turned around and took her to a service station. On the way I learned that, although we were each more than 15 miles away from our respective homes, she lived only two houses away from our church. I had the opportunity to introduce myself and invite her to church.

I could have continued on driving, singing my words of worship. Instead I chose to glorify God with my deed, a simple act of kindness to a person in need. That’s the real heart of worship.

Often at worship conferences I have heard Hebrews 13:15 shared. “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess His Name.” Frequently this passage is used to help people understand the necessity of giving vocal expressions of praise in every situation. This is indeed a correct understanding, but if we stop there we miss the context of the passage. The next verse says: “And do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Simply verbalizing our praise and worship to God is not all He desires.

The success or failure of a corporate worship service is not determined by whether we got excited or jubilant or ecstatic. It has little or nothing to do with the volume or even the quality of the music. The final measure is not how many goose bumps we had or even whether everyone left with a happy feeling. Not that there is anything intrinsically wrong with these things. We certainly can not label them as inherently evil. That would be to err in a different direction. But the supreme, final deciding factor in true worship is simply whether or not the Lord is glorified. If God has not been honored, then true worship has been absent.

So by saying this, am I suggesting that in the average church in America that the Lord is not honored in our “worship services”? Well…actually I don’t believe I could honestly make such a statement. That would be far beyond my ability to discern and know. On the other hand, Jesus promised us that “by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-20) we would be able to see the difference between those who only claim to do the Lord’s work and those who actually do it. So, from Jesus’ perspective, it is possible to look at the fruit and measure that against God’s Word.