Worship in Spirit and in Truth

 

We live in a world that is besieged with unrestrained deception of every kind. But it is within the Church, that the enemy actively works to inject deceptions that produce impurity, bondage, and self-promotion.

There are churches that have become entertainment centers, some with ear-splitting, heart-pounding rock rhythms with lyrics that express wrong theology. Let me be clear; there are also many congregations singing beautifully written, contemporary Christian music that honors God. Unfortunately, some well-intentioned churches are using contemporary music without vetting it for biblical accuracy. They assume that because the music originates from a place that is well respected, that all the music is doctrinally correct.

The Bible warns, “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). The enemy will always plant people in churches who, knowingly or unknowingly put in place man-made systems that are not of God.

Lest we forget, Satan was in charge of worship in heaven until he became full of pride, tried to usurp God’s authority, and was cast out of heaven with one-third of the angels who also rebelled. He knows full well what worship should be and he also knows how to pervert it. He is fully aware that music affects the mind, body, spirit, soul, and emotions. He successfully perverted secular music with evil, demonic, and sexually explicit lyrics. But most importantly, he has, with stealth-like accuracy, injected what appears to be innocuous lyrics into Christian music, which has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry. In reality, some contemporary lyrics are emotion-driven and do not give glory to God but are an assault on His very nature.

Praise is defined as showing gratitude towards God. Worship is defined as expressing reverence and adoration for God. Praise and worship must be all about God and not about us and how we fee. For praise and worship is a time of honoring God as we enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. There we give thanks to

Him for His immeasurable goodness as we bless His holy name (Psalm 100:4). Praise and worship are our gifts to God as we prepare our hearts, minds, and the very atmosphere of the church to receive from God through the preaching of His Word.

Most worship leaders and praise team members, along with those who attend church, are good, well-intentioned people who have hearts to worship God. Unfortunately, Satan takes advantage of those desires and uses people, led by emotion and a lack of understanding of scripture, to create lyrics that do not honor God. Therefore, a question must be asked in regard to worship music, “Do the lyrics support sound biblical doctrine, and do they elevate the name of Jesus and God the Father?”

“Reckless Love” is just one of numerous scripturally errored contemporary songs sung in many churches. The stanza reads, “Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, “reckless” love of God…” Aside from the word, “reckless,” the other words in the song agree with Scripture. 

I admit that when I first heard “Reckless Love,” I sang it without paying attention to the word, “reckless.” Then one Sunday, as the congregation was singing that song, the Lord asked me, “Am I reckless—especially with My love?” Clearly, God takes issue with associating that careless word, “reckless,” with Him. For that reason, when that song is played, I substitute “reckless” with “saving love of God.”

It is important to know that reckless  is defined as “a person whose actions are done without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action; being rash, careless, thoughtless, heedless, hasty, precipitous, impetuous, impulsive, devil-may-care; irresponsible, foolhardy, audacious, ill-advised, imprudent, and unwise.” Thus, “reckless” is the very antithesis of God’s definition of love.

Does “reckless” describe our all-knowing, intentional, thoughtful Creator, who carefully and with full authority and purpose spoke the world into existence and created every living thing? In reading Genesis 1 and 2, we clearly see God’s intentionality and His careful attention to detail. Every Word that He speaks generates life and purpose; therefore, He places tremendous importance on every  word that proceeds out of our mouths.

God is so intentional, that He had His holy Word carefully recorded so that those who read it would know all truth. His intentionality was further demonstrated when He sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. That was not reckless love; it was well thought out and executed perfectly through the perfect, sinless Christ.

You may ask, “What is the big deal about one word?” That one word is not only a big deal to God, it is offensive to Him, because we are saying that His love is thoughtless and careless.

God’s intentional Word carries tremendous power and authority,  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” He attaches all importance to His preeminent Word, and the words we speak and sing. For by [our] words [we] will justified, and by [our] words [we] will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37)

God has given us gifted, Christian song writers (past and present) who have written doctrinally solid worship and praise songs that exalt God. Therefore, we must carefully examine current song choices to see if they are doctrinally accurate, God-exalting songs. Satan knows that one, wrong word can change the meaning and intent of a song.

God looks to us to praise and worship Him with our whole mind, body, and spirit (1 Cor. 14:14-15). And because God is a Spirit, we who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

Peruse the Psalms that David sung unto the Lord. Many of those Psalms were adapted in the 70s and 80s as beautiful songs of worship. I saw firsthand, how God responded to hearing His precious Word sung to Him. Miracles happened, people were saved and healed, and lives were radically changed.

Jesus warned that there would be great deception in the last days. “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13). Right now, there are churches who are innocently singing music that is not honoring God.

The Church must wake up to the enemy’s strategies! God is calling His Church to worship Him in all truth. Simply stated, if the lyrics do not line up with God’s Word, then the Church must not sing them.

PRAYER: Father, forgive me if I have sung songs that have offended and not blessed You. You call me to worship You in spirit and in truth, and that is the desire of my heart. I ask that You give me wisdom and discernment in recognizing songs that worship and glorify You, and those songs that do not honor You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

FOOTNOTE: During the 1990s, I served as a worship leader for five years and became aware of the enemy’s blatant tactics to pervert worship and destroy the Church. At that time, I witnessed three vibrant, healthy, and growing churches, led by very anointed pastors, become destroyed through false “worship.” I am now seeing the enemy working in more subtle, stealth-like ways to compromise and change the direction of worship and ultimately the direction of the Church. Know that this is Satan’s agenda for every church, because when the Church is worshipping God in spirit and in truth, it is the greatest threat to the enemy.