-An admonition from Pastor Keith Tucci-
God wants to give us a different sound than we are hearing in the Church right now. The purpose of worship is to glorify God. The purpose is not for the worshipper to be edified (although that is a wonderful byproduct of worship). But the culture has turned the focus of worship on our needs, our wants, our feelings. We need a generation that will rise up, grasp the purpose of worship, and keep the focus on the King of kings and Lord of lords.
SELF-FOCUSED VS GOD-FOCUSED Self-Focused: God, this is what I want you to do for me; it’s about me and my needs, wants, and how I feel
God-Focused: This is what God has done for us; this is the character of God; this is Who God is
If the purpose of worship is to bring God glory, singing songs that are all about us or what we want from God does not accomplish the purpose. A little bit of us in the setlist of songs is ok. If worship is a meal, a little bit of “us” dessert is ok. But what is the overarching focus? Where do people’s hearts end up at the end of the setlist? If someone didn’t know God, what would they learn about God from the words in our worship songs?
You
He
Him
Let’s get that into our songs instead of... Me My I
We’ve bitten the apple where worship leaders feel like it’s their job to produce the holy of holies. Congregational worship has become the substitute for personal worship. These self-focused songs are popular because it isn’t happening on their own.
How I feel about God, even though it’s right, is still not the most important thing. What we are singing is fuel on the fire of self-focused Christians (without it intending to be). And it is a very wrong mechanism. If an alien walked into our service and took all of the words back home, what would they know about God? They would probably know more about how we feel than about God.
As we are picking new songs and planning setlists, let’s make sure we have a steady diet of God-focused songs. Songs that preach the gospel. Songs that sing of His character and His nature. Songs that tell us more about Who He is and what He has done. Let’s make sure our set doesn’t spend the majority of time looking at ourselves, but focusing on the One who has redeemed us, rescued us, saved us, created us, and loves us!
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