Expository Preaching Blog #44 – “Worship: Me or You?”

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In worship there is more than preaching. There is more than singing and music. It is the total service. It is the total event for lack of a better term. My question today is; Who is the focus of our worship service? Who is the focus of our worship time? I believe there is a focus in worship and it isn’t me and it isn’t any person or persons. The focus should be 100% on God for the entire time. After all it is a worship time. We exalting and directly our attention to one thing.

This starts with the music. Who is the music about? Is it about me and my experience or is it about God and what He has done for me? The Bible teaches that there are 3 types of music for worship. They are Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. See Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. It is not a major doctrine but it is something Paul teaches more than once.

Psalms are songs taken directly from Scripture. It is the words of Scripture put to music. Psalm 23, John 3:16 and many other passages are examples of this. The Psalms were made to be sung. Spiritual songs are focused on God are songs or worship. How Great Thou Art, The Old Rugged Cross and O Worship the King are some of thousands of examples. Then spiritual songs are songs of testimony are songs like Amazing Grace, In the Garden and At Calvary. They are songs about the Christian experience. BUT their focus is still on God and what He has done for us.

My complaint or issue is a lot of songs that focus on our feelings and simply our experience that does not focus on God in our experience. I believe that our music both instrumental and vocal should be God focused with every note and every breath. We are there to worship Him not us. I see many musicians and musical songs get so wrapped up with us and our experience that they almost totally leave God out.

We cannot help ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot make ourselves spiritually stronger or better. That can only be done by God’s mercy and grace. He is the only one who can truly benefit us. So therefore it makes sense to me that our worship should focus entirely on Him.

Then it follows that our preaching should be the same way. It should not be man focused or guilt focused, it should be God focused. You will feel quilt without any help from the preacher. The Bible has the answer for guilt. It has the key to mercy and grace. It has the answers to forgiveness and redemption. It teaches us how to live the Christian life. When the Scripture is preached verse by verse and thought by thought, the Holy Spirit does an amazing work in the heart of the hearer. This is for both believer and unbeliever.

I have heard many sermons preached with points such as: 3 secrets to a successful Christian life, How to be a five star Christian or 6 obstacles to faith. While the content may have been from Scripture the outline or main points were not. As I have said many times over we need to preach God’s Word, God’s way and trust him for the outcome. We cannot manufacture the outcome nor can we force it. Point the people to Christ, He will do the rest.

Let us focus where God focuses. Focus on Him and He will meet our every need.

 

 

Rev. David Johnson

Former Pastor

First Baptist Church of Austin, MN

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