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Worship Arts Ministry: What is Worship
The Worship Arts Ministry of Faith Bible Church, including the worship choir and the vocal and instrumental worship teams, support the overall ministry of the church. It's service offered to bring glory to God, to help make disciples, to experience the Holy presence of God through worship and service, to worship God (the Father) in Spirit (the Holy Spirit) and in Truth (Jesus Christ Himself).
God's anointing is crucial to the ministry of worship and service. True, anointed worshipers glorify The Lord. However, singing/playing with a choir or worship team without God's anointing, without true worship can only glorify the flesh. In the Worship Arts Ministry, we learn and work on musical essentials and musical quality, remembering to offer God our very best. But we must keep in mind that music is only a tool and not the ministry itself. So, we do work on musical excellence and joyful harmonies, but we do not over-emphasize the music or even how well we sing. The real harmony we seek is harmony of lives together offered to the Savior, harmony in walking out true Biblical faith, and harmony in ministry to one another and to the body of Christ. We offer our voices and our lives to our living King, committing our hearts and our lives to God, and seeking always to please Him.
Worship Definition
Everyone worships something or someone. We know what and who we worship when we can honestly see what we give our heart, mind, soul, time, family, money, effort, emotion and everything else. That is what we consider “worthy” of all we are and what we have. Some people worship themselves, some worship money, some worship power, etc. Satan himself understands and seeks worship – he even wanted the worship of Christ.
In the wilderness, Satan tempted Christ: Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " (Matt. 4:8-10)
So what then is distinctive in worshiping God? In most churches across the world, “worship” means singing songs, raising hands, sometimes even dancing or getting emotionally charged up for God. For some, “worship” is almost a frenzy of bliss, an attempt to achieve the ultimate “god-feeling” with great music, strong rhythms, and forgetting about the rest of life - at least for a couple of hours.
Now, are outward expression, strong emotional responses, and good feelings part of worship? Of course they can be, but they are not, in themselves, worship. So what does the Bible say worship is? Let's look at God's Word, and how it defines the worship of God as both sacrifice and obedience.
In 1 Samuel 15, God gave a specific command to Saul to destroy Amelek, and all that they had. Saul did not obey God and chose to spare their king and the best of their flocks. When confronted by Samuel with his apparent disobedience, Saul stated that he simply kept all the good flocks because he wanted good sacrifices when he went to “worship” at the temple. So Saul was equating worship with giving what he had to be used and sacrificed as God had previously determined. It sounded good, didn't it. But, God's Word back to Saul was clear and strong: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the Voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams”. God would not let Saul think he was successfully deceiving God, that somehow he could choose his own way, disobey God, and then cover up his sin of disobedience by giving the results of his sin back to God. Only when God directly confronted Saul did he realize the gravity of his sin and ask of the prophet Samuel, “Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord”. But what happened? Was Saul fully restored? No, in fact, on that very day, it was prophesied that the Kingdom of Israel would be torn from Saul, and things were never the same again.
Can someone still worship God with their hands raised up, or sobbing, face-down before Him? Of course. Totally surrendered to God, obedient to His Word for us, these become part of our offering and response to the Lord in worship. But, when the fruit of our lives is sin, rebellion, and idolatry, these are simply empty religious rituals that are trying to cover-up our sin, and keeping us deceived.
As a choir/worship team worships together, the spirit in which they worship is magnified as they serve in ministry to the entire body. So the choir/worship team can't be a big group of people singing/playing, who are all in rebellion against God and just a mess. Individuals in worship ministry cannot live lifestyles of sin and still be effective in ministering in true worship.
What Are The Consequences Of False Worship?
We already saw the strong consequence of Saul's false worship. Here are a few other Biblical examples:
Cain’s sacrifice was rejected by God because it was false worship in Genesis 4:5. --- Three thousand people died in one day because of the false worship of the golden calf fashioned by Aaron in Exodus 32. --- The kingdom of Israel was divided because of the idolatry and false worship of the nation in 1 Kings 11:31-33. --- In Jeremiah 1:16, 16:11 and 22:9 the fall of Jerusalem was directly attributable to the apostasy and false worship of the nation. --- In the first chapter of Romans, Paul wrote that God was justified in condemning man because he worshiped in error, for they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen (Romans 1:25). --- Satan fell from heaven because he sought worship for himself rather than submission to his Creator. Satan today seeks those who will worship and serve him (Matt. 4:9).
Worship Is Of Great Importance To God
God is seeking men and women to be worshipers of Himself. It is not enough to be a worshiper. God is seeking True worshipers. It is only in the Word of God that we can learn what worship is pleasing to God.
But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers (John 4:23).
God is looking for your sacrifice of praise, but notice that it is not the fact that you are attending a "worship" service but are an active witness for Him in the world.
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise— the fruit of lips that confess his name. (Hebrews 13:15)
The Lord would rather have your obedience to preach the Gospel and disciple all nations than to have your "sacrifice of praise" on Sunday morning.
For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)
Those who are willing to suffer for the Gospel are expressing true worship.
However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. (1 Peter 4:16)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God— this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)
Confess your sins and repent of them, turning away from them. Then your worship in the time of "worship" will be true worship. Why? Because it will be worship born of obedience.
Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord." But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel." And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. So Samuel said to him, "The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, (1 Sam. 15:25-28)
Worship Arts Ministry Requirements
(1) A follower of Christ
(2) A love for Christ and for His Bride
(3) Live a “Life” of Worship
(4) Willingness to Serve God
(5) Hunger and Thirst for God's Word, Presence, Spirit and Power
(6) Level 1 and Level 2 Training
(7) Faithfulness in prayer, preparation and attendance
What Can You Expect
(1) Prepared practices – musically and spiritually
(2) Environment of growth
(3) No intention to embarrass
(4) Enough time to work through musical issues
(4) Prayer and encouragement from one another
(5) Worship and praise in practice – not just during the “service”
(6) Group and individual training
(8) Imperfect, still-learning leadership
For More Information
Jeremy and Delaine Coddington
fbccm.music@gmail.com
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