Pure Worship: Coming Back to the Heart of Worship
When Jesus began His earthly ministry, one of His first actions was to cast the moneychangers out of the temple: “Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise” (John 2:16). He removed the businesspeople from the temple because they were bringing things into worship that shouldn’t be there.
In Isaiah 56:7, God says, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” The temple was supposed to be a house of prayer and worship, but instead it had become a place of business – a place where there was mixture, and the purity of worship was lost.
If you take a glass of water and add just one drop of red food coloring, the water turns red and it isn’t pure water anymore because there is mixture. In the same way, our challenge and calling as worshippers is to maintain the purity of worship without mixture – without attitudes of self-promotion or pride or personal gain.
Pure Worship
What does pure worship look like?
1. Worship is all about Jesus.
In Revelation 4-5, we find that Jesus is heaven’s song. Day and night, heaven gives praise and honor to Jesus, saying, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,” “You are worthy,” “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty.” Worship is unto Him and all about Him.
2. He is the “one thing” that is needed.
In Luke 10:42, Jesus said, “One thing is needed.” Martha tried to have Jesus and all the other things she wanted to get done; but Jesus is exclusive, and He must be all.
3. I come to love Him.
In Mark 12:29-30, Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment – the greatest thing we could ever do – is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
This is pure worship: worship is all about Jesus, He is the one thing that is needed, and I come to love Him.
Mixture
What are some ways that mixture (self and pride) can easily infiltrate our worship?
1. If worship isn’t all about Jesus, then it becomes about me:
The songs I like, rather than the songs He likes
Where I am positioned on stage, rather than Him being the center
How well I play my instrument or sing, rather than how beautiful He is
2. If He is not the “one thing” that is needed, I become “worried and distracted” about many things:
How I sound
What people think
How can I make the song sound “cool” or unique
Making sure every part of the song goes “according to plan”
3. If I don’t come to love Him, I draw attention to myself:
Do I want to be seen, or do I want Him to be seen? Lucifer was cast out of heaven because he was lifted up because of his beauty. Instead of gazing at God, he looked at himself.
Why do I want to play perfectly? Of course it’s wonderful to play everything perfectly, but what is the motive? Is it so that there is no distraction for people when they are encountering the Lord, or is it because I care what people think and I don’t want to feel embarrassed? Jesus, who is perfect, was publicly shamed, so am I greater than Him? It all comes down to our motives. Am I coming to love Him and lead others to love Him too, or do I secretly want people to think well of me?
Worshippers, not Worship
In John 4:23, Jesus said, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” God is not looking for worship; He is looking for worshippers! He doesn’t need more songs; He wants our hearts! Above anything else, He desires relationship with us, and worship is how we connect with Him and come into His presence.
He doesn’t need your song; He wants you! He doesn’t need you to play your piano or sing; He wants your heart. Your heart is more important than your song.
Why do we have live musicians in church? Why not just play the track and sing to it? Bethel and Hillsong can play the songs far better than most of us can. What do we bring? We bring our hearts.
Why do we play our instruments at home? Why not just play the song on Spotify? We bring our hearts. And we also bring our sacrifice of a skill that we have crafted for one purpose: to pour it out at the feet of Jesus.
Worship & Skill
How do worship and excellence go together? Often there seems to be a tension between the two. When David instituted music in the tabernacle, 1 Chronicles 25:7 tells us that these 288 musicians (that’s a large worship team!) “were all trained in making music before the LORD, and each of them was an accomplished musician.”
In this verse, we find this very important order: first, they knew how to minister to the Lord; and secondly, they were skilled musicians.
First, we bring our hearts – we come as we are to be with Him. Secondly, we bring our skill, which supports worship by pointing to the Lord.
And in all of that, we come to Him just as we are. In our personal lives, we know that we can confess our sins to God and come as we are, and He has grace for us. But as musicians, somehow we can easily become perfectionists and think that God doesn’t have enough grace for a wrong note, a forgotten word, or a voice that breaks.
I Am Sorry
I am sorry, on behalf of our worship teams, for the pressure we have put on you. We have valued the notes you can play more than your heart. And we have created an environment that is almost impossible for you to succeed in while keeping the heart of worship – because we have expected you to be Nashville pros instead of worshippers.
The only way to change that is to turn the whole thing upside down – like Jesus with the moneychangers in the temple – to fully remove the mixture and say, “Jesus, it’s all about You.” Jeremy Riddle’s book The Reset discusses the mixture that has infiltrated worship music and how we can begin to return to the heart of worship. It starts in our own hearts and lives, as we come to our rehearsals and Sunday services not as performers or musicians, but as worshippers.
Coming Back to the Heart of Worship
Can we come to church again, and come to our personal times of worship again, not as professionals, but as children desperately in need of a touch from God?
Can we be satisfied to play a song in C with basic chords and a heart to worship? Of course it is fine to play more complicated parts, but can our hearts actually be satisfied to play so simply and love Him?
Can we just come to love Him and let that be enough?
“I’m coming back to the heart of worship… where it’s all about You, Jesus.”
Want to learn more?
Worship is the highest calling and what we were created for. If you would like to learn how to play worship piano with this heart of worship as the foundation, check out my online lessons or the Worship Essentials courses. This unique approach combines a simple, easy-to-follow method of learning the piano along with teachings on the heart of worship - and it has proven successful for people of all ages and levels.