To use Christian worship for any purpose other than the glorification of God is to abuse it. God expects a church to meet for divine worship without ulterior motives. Worship is not convened so that church budgets can be pledged, volunteers for ministry enlisted, programs promoted, attendance goals met, or personal problems solved. Authentic worship takes place only in order to honor God--He is the Object and Subject of our worship.

Worship is about God, not about us. It focuses on Him. It doesnÂ’t focus on us--or "me". It's not about evangelizing the lost or becoming "seeker friendly." (If used that way, both evangelism and worship are destroyed.) God is first. God is Pre-eminent. He invites us to "come up" into His presence and adore Him as our mighty God. This means worship must be evaluated by how it lifts up God, not how it makes us feel. It's not a time for us to be entertained nor to "express yourself." Too many either become spectators or make spectacles of themselves. Individualism is running rampant in the evangelical worldÂ…especially in charismatic worship. It is evidenced by the plague of the overuse of the pronoun "I" in our praises. Far too many popular choruses are dominated by what "I" will do for God or how "I" can or will praise Him, (in some indeterminate future,) or what He will do for "me"Â…"or else." One popular chorus even acknowledges, "It's all about you Jesus" and "I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it" and "I'm coming back to the heart of worship" but then never really does. I wonder if God is thinking, "OK, quit telling me you're going to do it and actually do it!"

We love to "praise" our praise and "worship" our worshipÂ…especially our ability to do so. Because of our culture's idolizing of singing and music, these two have a much too dominant place in our services. The proclamation and reading of God's Word (even in "Word" churches) and the sacrements have been made secondary, pushed aside or even eliminated! We have plenty of time for music and singing, but we put a clock on the preaching of the Word! And if by chance we do get around to it, the people are so worn out that they can't pay attention to the message. If we do partake of the Lord's Supper once a month, we think in danger of "pushing it into the realm of tradition and dead routine," (which is really an incongruity rather than a redundancy.) It's amazing that we never tire of the routine of meals and sleep each day. The only reason scriptural routine and tradition would become dead is because of dead heads and dead hearts. Maybe that's why the church seems to be weak, sick and is falling asleep (dead or dying).

Many have also come to the point where spontanaeity is equated with "spiritual" and anything that is planned or routine is fleshly. It may be...and it may not be. Written prayers are frowned uponÂ…'How could there be any life in those?' Yet inane praise choruses on an over-head or big screen are seen as innovative and refreshing. Note: Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.

Corporate worship is NOT about intimacy either. It's a community effort. We are NOT striving to "make out" with God in the corporate setting. Intimacy is intimateÂ…it's for the prayer closet at home. How would it make you feel if a husband and wife in a church service started "making out" and kissing and caressing each other amorously? Most of us would shout, "Please! Get a room!" It's not appropriate in that setting. (But by all means, knock yourselves out when you get home!) But this is where folks make spectacles of themselves and the attention is on them instead of on God. (Of course the 'spectator' could be just as culpable here too for being distracted, but that's another article.) It's not a time for individualized expression to the point of isolating and separating oneself from the congregation by doing something "different." And then some charismatic would say, "Well look what David did when he danced before the LordÂ…he made a spectacle of himself." Yes he did, but he was trying to implement something new and at the same time restore the praise of God to his generation. Also keep in mind he was the LEADER and the only reason he became a spectacle was because the others remained spectatorsÂ…at least his critics did.

The entertainment mind-set is evident when people attend worship for ‘what I will get out of it.’ (My favoite response to them is, "We're not worshiping you!") In such an approach, God is not the center of worship; we are, or worse yet…'I am'. Such worship does not promote a time and place for God to confront us, for us to be with God in a set-apart and faithful way. Don't misunderstand, the result (not to be confused with the "why" or motive) of spiritual and true worship will be that God will change us, transform us, fashion our character after God’s holiness — but only if we worship God and not ourselves, that is, if we attend worship services for the love of God. Again, spiritual and true worship will form character, it will foster community and it will foil the enemy, but these are the results, not the motive nor are they the focus. Let's keep Matthew 6:33 as the guide.

In addition, the worship of God is not only a "heart matter" but also a "mind matter." "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thyÂ…mind." Trouble is, as one author puts it, we've "dumbed down" our services (and songs) so much to reach the lost, we've lost the reached. There is a pronounced resentment on the part of many in the church against knowledge that is beyond their capacity or familiarity. The yearning and crying for simplicity all too often results in a 'watering down' of doctrine that leaves people Theologically depraved and deformed. Far too many don't desire to, and don't see a need for, study and stretching their intellect. "But I don't want to think on Sunday morningÂ…it hurts my head!" Well it's supposed to. It's discipline, and no discipline seems pleasant at the time. Sad to say we all too often want to "check" our brains at the door and be entertained in church!

SOME SUGGESTIONS-- What then should we do?
Our praises need to be full of the attributes and actions of God. His Triune nature and His character need to be the focus. He must be the Object and Subject of our worship. (I challenge you to pull out the most popular songs that are used today and see how many of them actually pass this criteria.)

When we do address Him in corporate worship it needs to be predominantly as "we" and NOT "I." When we speak of His faithfulness and His promises toward His people, the majority of the time it needs to be towards "us" and not "me."

The use of the scripture and scriptural ideas about God put to (new?) music should make a comeback. Some of the Psalms are useful here too. (See Eph. 5:19 Â…keeping in mind the context is CORPORATE.)

We need to keep in mind that praise is simply another form of prayer, and if we wouldn't "pray" the lyrics of a song, (is it scriptually\theologically sound?) then we shouldn't be singing them either! Musical style seems to take precedence in the choice of what is used in worship rather than the content of what is sung. Let's keep the progress of style and upgrade our lyrics too.

Our praise needs to tell of the transcendance of God and not only of His immanence. Yes, He is indeed in us and with us, but He is also Bigger than the universeÂ…He is Creator GOD and not some heavenly 'buddy' or 'genie' that we can manipulate.

Eternal. Immortal. Invisible. Incomprehensible. These are good words.

There is much more to be said about the subject but this will have to suffice for now. We can't really address the other issues of "fine tuning" until we get these basics right. But we do need to make change here first, then maybe we can progress into other waters.