How are we supposed to worship? Does contemporary worship offend God?

Whitworth

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So here's the thing.

I love contemporary worship, modern Christan music from the likes of Chris Tomlin, Miachel W Smith, Hillsong and other such artists really draws me close to God.

The issue is I see a lot of these bands as very self centered and self pleasing and worship to God should be ALL about Him and not what I get pleasure or enjoyment out of.

When I read the Bible and look at how the Jews in particular worshiped then and today there's a huge difference.

Orthodox and more inward and reflective worship seems to be how Jews and the early Christian church worshipped.

What if anything does God say about this Biblically.

As much as I love contemporary worship, I'd rather worship in a way that is pleasing to God than is pleasing to me and I've really started to worry that I may not be doing the right thing.

Any advice/input in greatly appreciated.
 

Stillicidia

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There are worship songs, and then there are worship songs which fail. The song fails when you're looking peaceably inward, content to keep your mind off evil, rather than actually worshiping in your heart, and so it is a matter of the heart. Some churches have songs which cause this in the hearts of people who gather there, and so God waits until they are done singing, and then enters in the church.
 
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jimmyjimmy

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So here's the thing.

I love contemporary worship, modern Christan music from the likes of Chris Tomlin, Miachel W Smith, Hillsong and other such artists really draws me close to God.

The issue is I see a lot of these bands as very self centered and self pleasing and worship to God should be ALL about Him and not what I get pleasure or enjoyment out of.

When I read the Bible and look at how the Jews in particular worshiped then and today there's a huge difference.

Orthodox and more inward and reflective worship seems to be how Jews and the early Christian church worshipped.

What if anything does God say about this Biblically.

As much as I love contemporary worship, I'd rather worship in a way that is pleasing to God than is pleasing to me and I've really started to worry that I may not be doing the right thing.

Any advice/input in greatly appreciated.

I see no way that God approves of rock concerts in place of somber i.e., serious, worship, and instruction.
 
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Whitworth

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I always feel when I'm singing or in church that I'm "false" or "pretending" you know.

I look around me and see other Christians worshiping and I think "If only these people knew what I was really like, they'd be so ashamed of me" It's like I don't feel worthy to worship.

I have to keep reminding myself all the time that worship is for God, not because I am a good person or worthy to worship but rather worship is to glorify and praise Him. It's easier said than done to remind myself of that all the time though.
 
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Whitworth

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I see no way that God approves of rock concerts in place of somber worship, and instruction.

I'm not into ROCK myself in the sense of heavy ROCK by what some people call ROCK is subjective.

Some people consider Hillsong or Switchfoot to be ROCK where I do not.

In what sense do you mean Rock? As in the bands I made reference to?
 
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I think there are many ways to worship, in the sense that we can worship God in everything we do.

What Church should look like was a different question I had to address several years ago. And one of the most difficult parts of facing that question honestly is the fact that I deeply enjoyed the kind of deep, worshipful feelings I sometimes got in contemporary kinds of services. (Admittedly less and less often over the years as most seemed to tend more and more to rock-and-roll frenzied showiness.)

Someone here on CF told me that worshipping God wasn't about me and my feelings, and I honestly didn't like to hear that. But I did recognize the truth in it.

I actually resisted in my heart for a while, but God was gracious and showed me in my first Divine Liturgy that it could be like the heavens reaching down and drawing us into God's presence as well ... it was harder to imagine that I wasn't surrounded by choirs of angels than to think that maybe I was.

I don't always "feel it" in the same way, but I have learned that I can be profoundly touched during liturgical worship.

But then again, it STILL isn't about me and my feelings. That's rather God's grace so mercifully condescending to me.

The question is still, how should we worship God. You can probably guess the answer I found from my faith designation. But I do think you are right, that this is the proper question to ask.

And there are still those moments of intimacy, we can and should worship and pray throughout our day, and it can be private and sweet, when God allows.
 
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jimmyjimmy

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I always feel when I'm singing or in church that I'm "false" or "pretending" you know.

I look around me and see other Christians worshiping and I think "If only these people knew what I was really like, they'd be so ashamed of me" It's like I don't feel worthy to worship.

I have to keep reminding myself all the time that worship is for God, not because I am a good person or worthy to worship but rather worship is to glorify and praise Him. It's easier said than done to remind myself of that all the time though.

Actually, it's a service, and it's meant for us, not God. It's Christ serving us through the minister, baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Many who leave mega-churchianity are pleasantly surprised that they don't miss the entire environment of stage, screens, speakers. . . I for one, could never go back. It offends me greatly.
 
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Citizen of the Kingdom

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Songs of praise, worship and gratitute are what the OT and NT seem to call for. Not all praise songs are biblically sourced tho.
It's interesting that the musical instruments are what led into battle in old testament times..

Psalms 95:1, Ephesians 5:19, Hebrews 2:12, Psalms 71:23, Psalms 105:2, Psalms 49:4, Psalms 101:1, Psalms 150:1-5, Colossians 3:16 etc
 
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jimmyjimmy

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I'm not into ROCK myself in the sense of heavy ROCK by what some people call ROCK is subjective.

Some people consider Hillsong or Switchfoot to be ROCK where I do not.

In what sense do you mean Rock? As in the bands I made reference to?

I know of no better term. I mean the whole concert environment.
 
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Whitworth

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Actually, it's a service, and it's meant for us, not God. It's Christ serving us through the minister, baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Many who leave mega-churchianity are pleasantly surprised that they don't miss the entire environment of stage, screens, speakers. . . I for one, could never go back. It offends me greatly.

I think you and other posters are correct.

As much as it saddens me when I attend mega church's I can't help but feel uneasy and feel like "is this really all to please God or is it more about ourselves" the fact that at least here in the UK traditional church numbers are falling while contemporary church's are growing answers that question for me. It does indeed seem to be less about God and more about the individual.

I just hope I can worship in a way that's more pleasing to Him. I look at how say the quakers worship and there's something very beautiful in that.
 
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John Hyperspace

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So here's the thing.

I love contemporary worship, modern Christan music from the likes of Chris Tomlin, Miachel W Smith, Hillsong and other such artists really draws me close to God.

The issue is I see a lot of these bands as very self centered and self pleasing and worship to God should be ALL about Him and not what I get pleasure or enjoyment out of.

When I read the Bible and look at how the Jews in particular worshiped then and today there's a huge difference.

Orthodox and more inward and reflective worship seems to be how Jews and the early Christian church worshipped.

What if anything does God say about this Biblically.

As much as I love contemporary worship, I'd rather worship in a way that is pleasing to God than is pleasing to me and I've really started to worry that I may not be doing the right thing.

Any advice/input in greatly appreciated.

Jesus said (you're probably familiar with this): John 4:24 and we can see from the verses preceeding that He was speaking about a change that would come from that of earthly ritualization of worship (John 4:19-21) into true worship in spirit. What is this? Service of others in love. James speaks about "pure religion" as: James 1:27. True worship isn't going to a building on a day and performing earthly rituals and activities; it is, showing love towards others, to help others in their time of need, to encourage and strengthen, to keep unspotted from things that choke out love, or, cause unfruitful actions which are self-centered. It is all about, love. That is how we truly bow down to worship God; we bow down to love, and do those acts which manfiest love into the world, as light before those without love. Because, after all, God is love: 1 John 4:8

As for earthly rituals, whatever you enjoy it fine; if it isn't against your conscience, it may help you to grow in love and the calling near of God; but the true worship should extend from these earthly rituals and activities if they are needed: that is to say, if one desires to perform such activities, there should come from thaose activities, an outreaching love that is the true worship in spirit and truth. If doing these things "ignites love" then that's fine, but not true worship; the result of that activity which ignites love, should then put into motion the true worship of God, which is to show that love to others.
 
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jimmyjimmy

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I think you and other posters are correct.

As much as it saddens me when I attend mega church's I can't help but feel uneasy and feel like "is this really all to please God or is it more about ourselves" the fact that at least here in the UK traditional church numbers are falling while contemporary church's are growing answers that question for me. It does indeed seem to be less about God and more about the individual.

I just hope I can worship in a way that's more pleasing to Him. I look at how say the quakers worship and there's something very beautiful in that.

Even smaller church follow the model. It doesn't have to technically be "mega".

I spent over 20 years in those churches before I first went to a PCA church. It has a liturgy, but its not "high church". Many might sign hymns with a few Keith Getty tunes mixed in, but there is a wide spectrum within the denomination.

Are you in London? St Helen's Bishopsgate is a wonderful church.

In my experience, I had no idea how bad the mega stuff was until I left. While I was there, I was like the frog in the pot, slowly boiled without realizing I was.
 
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wayfaring man

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God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. <---> John 4:24

From my limited experience worshipping in spirit is not so much an action we choose to make or take, but is rather a sublime response / reaction to experiencing / beholding The Lord bringing forth something beautifully wondrous - making himself known by working marvellous things as only He / His Spirit can....

See John 9:1-38
 
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All4Christ

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So here's the thing.

I love contemporary worship, modern Christan music from the likes of Chris Tomlin, Miachel W Smith, Hillsong and other such artists really draws me close to God.

The issue is I see a lot of these bands as very self centered and self pleasing and worship to God should be ALL about Him and not what I get pleasure or enjoyment out of.

When I read the Bible and look at how the Jews in particular worshiped then and today there's a huge difference.

Orthodox and more inward and reflective worship seems to be how Jews and the early Christian church worshipped.

What if anything does God say about this Biblically.

As much as I love contemporary worship, I'd rather worship in a way that is pleasing to God than is pleasing to me and I've really started to worry that I may not be doing the right thing.

Any advice/input in greatly appreciated.

I actually think this question can get pretty complicated, and we need to be careful not to get legalistic about it.

Something I might argue is that there's a reason why traditional Christian worship has, in its substance, remained virtually unchanged for the last two thousand years; the traditional liturgy is very deliberately the way it is to carry us through the service in reverence and celebration of God.

One of the most surprising things I personally discovered, having grown up with contemporary praise and worship services and later in life encountering traditional liturgical worship was how rich and saturated with Scripture the liturgy was. I was used to hearing a Bible reading at church of course, but what shocked me was how the entire liturgy, when I experienced it, reverberated with Scripture--you couldn't escape it even if you tried.

I've also come to appreciate the emotional nuance of the liturgy. Having grown up in those contemporary services I feel like there was often only two switches: happy happy or weeping on the floor. In the liturgy there is joy, there is sorrow, there is fear, there is awe. There are the subtle joys, such as when I go up to receive the Lord's Supper, and there are the deep, liberating joys when, after the somber and sober season of Lent and the deep despair of Good Friday I join my Hallelujah to all the voices of the congregation on Easter morning. And there is room to breathe, my emotional situation is fickle, I don't always feel happy even when the occasion is happy, nor do I necessarily feel the sorrow I ought to feel in regard to my sin; I am fickle and unreliable. But it's really not about how I feel, and it's okay if my emotional state on a given Sunday doesn't match the mood of the service; I can still slow down, join and participate in the work of God's people in confessing our sin, giving thanks to God, celebrating God's grace and gifts, and hear the Word I so desperately need to hear.

If you were to ask me if I think this is preferable to most contemporary services, I would say yes. But I would never want to suggest that those whose services are of the more modern kind aren't worshiping God, or that somehow their worship is less authentic--that would be wrong. God receives their worship all the same. But I certainly believe that there are many things that are missing in that kind of worship that can only be found in the historic liturgy of the Christian Church.

I am still, regularly, learning new things to appreciate about the liturgy. And I suspect I'll continue to learn more and appreciate more for the rest of my life. One of those things is that it is very difficult to adequately explain or describe the liturgy, the liturgy is something that can really only be experienced.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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Whitworth "When I read the Bible and look at how the Jews in particular worshiped then and today there's a huge difference.
Orthodox and more inward and reflective worship seems to be how Jews and the early Christian church worshipped.
...Any advice/input in greatly appreciated."

OK, why no sing the very poetic ancient Syrian hymns from the first ever Christian song book, the Odes of Solomon (100-200 AD)? These songs are hard to date definitively, but the lower date limit makes them candidates for songs sung by the community of the Fourth Gospel--you know, Christians who actually knew John!

The Odes Project – The First Christian Hymnal

OK, the melodies provided on this site can't be traced to the early church; so I suggest you read the translation to get an idea of how the first and second century Syrian Christians worshiped. Bear in mind, though, that what scans poetically in Syriac does not scan as well in English translation. What we need is a joint venture between poets and translators to create paraphrases that flow poetically. I find these lyrics refreshingly unique in their wording and quite conducive to releasing high worship emotions.
 
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now faith

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God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. <---> John 4:24

From my limited experience worshipping in spirit is not so much an action we choose to make or take, but is rather a sublime response / reaction to experiencing / beholding The Lord bringing forth something beautifully wondrous - making himself known by working marvellous things as only He / His Spirit can....

See John 9:1-38

We have a winner Amen.
 
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now faith

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Honestly when we enter into worship God,is spirit and truth we are coming into the presence of God.
We are gathered together and Christ is in our midst so we are on Holy ground.
Call me crazy but I belive we should humble ourselves on our knees or if you cannot get to your knees head down.
As well our shoes should be off during praise and worship and prayer.
 
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