Churchgoers today seem to have misplaced the true meaning of worship, Robert
Wagoner warned church leaders during a recent conference.
Churchgoers today seem to have misplaced the true meaning of worship, Robert
Wagoner warned church leaders during a recent conference.
“God is looking for people whose minds and hearts are
bent toward him,” said Wagoner, large church/worship consultant in the
music ministries department at LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist
Convention.
“One reason I think Baptists have trouble worshiping is
because they are afraid of what somebody else is going to think about them,”
Wagoner emphasized during a recent church music leadership conference.
“Real worship means Im focused on Jesus. Ive
come into complete God consciousness and Im praising him, not worrying
what somebody else is thinking.”
God is not seeking worship – he is seeking worshipers,
explained Wagoner, noting that Satan is pretty good at distorting the true meaning
of worship.
Some of the ways Satan distorts worship are through the traditions,
words, persuasions and pleadings of men, Wagoner reminded conference participants.
“Satan uses the perpetuated fads and the allure of popularity
to distort true worship,” he said.
For instance, worship is misplaced when people venerate the
sanctuary, Wagoner said.
“How can you tell when this is happening? You can tell
when people fight over pews, get upset over the P.A. system or argue over material
things at the church.”
Worship also is misplaced if people adore a person, such as
a pastor, music leader or other type of minister instead of God, Wagoner continued.
“When people find out their pastor or music leader is
not perfect, and they leave the church, then where was their focus? We need
our people to understand they are not to place their focus on a person, pastor,
minister of music or church leader,” Wagoner emphasized.
“Were not worthy of worship.”
Worship is misplaced as well if people clamor for power on
committees, value absolute perfection in administration or care more about church
programs than giving reverence to God, the Southern Baptist worker said.
“When people are focused on things rather than the Lord
Jesus Christ, it is our responsibility to teach them what it means to truly
worship the Lord,” Wagoner reminded church leaders. “The devil is
working overtime in getting our people to misplace their worship.”
In a new six-week study – “Worship: Believers Experiencing
God” – authors Henry Blackaby and Ron Owens emphasize that the importance
of worshiping God in spirit and in truth, Wagoner noted.
But what does this mean?
When people worship in spirit, they are worshiping in sincerity
and from the heart, Wagoner noted.
“A lot of people miss it by about 18 inches,” he
explained. “Their worship is all in their minds.”
Wagoner said there are four requirements to worshiping in spirit.
They are to be born again, to give adoration and praise to God, to maintain
a repentant and contrite heart toward God and to focus on God.
“In many churches in our country, the minds of our people
are focused on a thousand different things like where are they going to eat
lunch, whos going to win the ballgame, problems in their marriages, cancer
or lost jobs,” Wagoner pointed out. “We are not to focus on the pastor,
the minister of music, the soloist or even on each other.
“We are to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
To worship in truth means people are willing to confront, confess
and abandon their sins, Wagoner said.
Worshiping in truth also means that during the service, more
time will be spent reading and examining Gods Word than giving announcements
or singing, he added.
“Recently, I went to a mega-church, and I counted the
time they spent making announcements and welcoming guests. It was 12 to 15 minutes.
Then, I counted the time they spent praying and reading Scripture. It was 45
seconds,” Wagoner told conference participants.
“And we wonder why we are not experiencing the power of God in our worship
services,” he said. “Many of our worship services are just concerts.
God is not just seeking worship; hes seeking worshipers. Otherwise we
could insert a CD of praise music and be done with it.” (BP)