The Songs We Sing: Part 2

We’ve all spent time around people who aren’t very considerate about how they make us feel when they do and say certain things.

Picture the person that comes to mind when you think of someone who does the following:

1. Gets off topic easily in conversation.
2. Makes everything about themselves.
3. Seems disinterested in your thoughts or ideas.
4. Wants to leave the conversation quickly to address something else.

How do you feel when you interact with someone like that? Do you feel valued?

Now picture the way we approach our worship services. Are we quick to want to get out of there to go do something else? Are we singing songs and hearing messages that are focused on ourselves? Are we quick to get out of Scripture for the sake of saying or singing things in a more “relevant” way? Are we just entirely disinterested in all things going on because someone isn’t making us “feel” inspired by their “performance”?

How does God feel when we treat worship this way?

The second item on the list of criteria I use when determining what songs we ought to sing is Emphasis. Who and what is all of this supposed to be about? I think we would all say we recognize that God is to be the primary focal point of our worship, but there are many ways that we can miss the mark.

When looking at the content of our worship gatherings, my primary desire is to put Christ on display so that all who see Him leave Sunday morning loving Him more than they did when they walked in. That’s the target for me, and it’s a hard one to hit because it’s not easily measurable. But if that’s the target, there are measures we can take that should push us in that direction and we trust the Holy Spirit to do the work in the life of the believer that moves him deeper into relationship with Christ.

If Christ is to be the emphasis of our gathering, how can we make that obvious in the elements of Worship? I’ve long valued a weekly rhythm of observing communion. It’s hard to be more gospel-centric than to explicitly “proclaim Christ’s death til He comes” through communion. We also value the importance of expository Biblical teaching in context rather than what seems to be little more than motivational speeches fairly void of Scripture in order to help people “feel” good. I think we often miss the value that ensuring the emphasis of the songs we sing align with this goal of emphasizing Christ.

So, what’s this look like practically?

1. Does the song explicitly ascribe worth to God? There are many songs used in worship that just are not worship songs. They are more focused on what God does for us or how we feel about ourselves.
2. What does the song make me think about? If it causes us to fixate on our earthly circumstances and how we get ahead rather than on the eternal glory of God, we ought to consider it’s value in our rotation.
3. Is the song about what God does for me? I want to be careful with this one. The Gospel is something that God does for me, but it can’t stop there. There has to be a response from us to Him, if not in the song explicitly, in the flow of the set.

While I personally ascribe to each song being able to answer each of those questions correctly, I wouldn’t dogmatically stand on that position for all worship leaders. What I mean by this is that there are times we sing a song like “Good Plans”, which as a stand alone song could miss the mark, but in the context of worship could set you up well to respond appropriately with something about the greatness of God’s faithfulness. Ultimately, it can’t stop at “look at what God does for me” without turning the emphasis back to how amazing He is, not how special we must be.

Ultimately, we know our worship services are about God. So, we need to be explicit in making sure our songs clearly hammer that home and put the beauty of Jesus on display for us to marvel at. We should leave our Sunday morning gatherings saying “wow, God is amazing” rather than “wow, our band is amazing”.