Deepening Worship: Exploring God's Nature in Worship Leading
As worship leaders, we often find ourselves standing before our congregation, hearts racing, instruments poised, ready to guide our church family in corporate worship. In these moments, a crucial question surfaces: What should truly drive our worship leading? What should get us pumped up when we lead? What excites our hearts as we look out on the beautiful faces of our church and lead them to worship the Lord?
The Heart of Worship
Well, as we've discussed before, worship is a response to who God is in all of life and in our times together on Sunday mornings. We respond more fully in worship when we understand more deeply just who God is and what He's done. Worship leading isn't just cheerleading in a way that we froth up the church to "get excited." It is raising their gaze to the glory of their King.
C.S. Lewis captures this essence beautifully when he writes, "To worship God is to ascribe to Him supreme worth, for He alone is worthy." Our role, then, goes beyond mere musical direction or emotional orchestration. We are called to be shepherds, guiding our flock to greener pastures of understanding, where they can truly see and respond to the worth of our King.
Magnifying God's Attributes
One powerful way to deepen our worship leading is to dive into the attributes of God, allowing His character to shape both the content of what we plan and the tone of our Sunday morning worship. Let's explore three of these divine attributes – God's holiness, love, and sovereignty – and how they can transform our approach to leading worship.
God's Holiness: Awe-Inspiring Purity
In Isaiah 6, we see the holiness of God on display. Three times the angels cry to one another, showing the intensity of how holy God is. He is infinitely holy. Isaiah's response to this vision is telling – "Woe to me!" he cries, overwhelmed by his own unworthiness in the face of such purity.
As worship leaders, we need to personally understand and help our church grasp that God is utterly holy and we are utterly sinful. We need redemption. We cannot enter God's presence without the atoning work of Jesus on the cross applied to our lives. God's holiness demands reverence in worship, and it points our hearts to gratitude as we recognize that Jesus took the punishment our sin deserved. We help our churches see this and respond to it with all-in worship.
God's Love: Unmatched Devotion
Everyone is seeking love. Everyone wants to be loved. This is a reflection of the love of God for us in Jesus. Love is fully displayed and known at the cross. Even if our earthly relationships are hurting for love, there is a heavenly Father who loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us. Romans 5:8 reminds us, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." No greater love can be known.
Have you ever tried to love someone who hates you, who is working against you, or is outright your enemy? It's one of the most difficult things to do. Yet before we did anything good or bad, God in love chose us to be a part of His family (Ephesians 1). So, don't just sing and lead songs about God's love in trite ways. Don't gloss over the absolute beauty of God's love for us. Steep your heart in it and remind your church of it as you lead them to experience His love for them even as they worship Him.
God's Sovereignty: Comforting Control
Life is so difficult on so many levels in so many different kinds of seasons. As worship leaders, we have the unique opportunity to remind our churches that even in the midst of chaos, God remains utterly sovereign. Part of what we want to do with our songs on a Sunday is to "put words in the mouths of the people in our gatherings" that will help them trust God even if they are in a season where that is very difficult.
When we choose songs and craft moments in our services that affirm God's sovereign power, we're providing our congregations with the words they need to declare their trust, even when circumstances might tempt them to doubt. It undergirds their faith as they sing words that are true of a sovereign Lord.
Moving Forward in Worship
As we seek to lead our churches in deeper, more meaningful worship, let's keep returning to this foundational truth found in Psalm 95:6-7: "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand."
For He is our God... This is our starting point for worship, and for leading our churches to worship. The beauty is that in the three attributes we've explored – holiness, love, and sovereignty – we could go WAY deeper, AND God's Word is full of revealed attributes of Himself that make Him worthy of our worship.
Fellow worship leaders, we have been entrusted with an incredible responsibility and an amazing privilege. As we continue to explore the vast expanse of God's character, let's allow His attributes to shape and inform our leadership. Let's commit to diving deep into the waters of His nature, drinking deeply from the well of His Word.
So, let's dive in! Meditate on His attributes. Taste and see that He is good and then help your church see that and respond to it! Worship will rise up from churches full of worship leaders who do this. May our leadership be marked not by mere musical skill or charismatic presence, but by a profound understanding of who God is and an unquenchable passion to help others see and respond to His glory.