Real Worship Music...

Lately I have been having conflicting thoughts about worship. Part of me really enjoys the worship at most churches, but some of the songs make me kind of uneasy. First off, I am a guy and as a guy, it is very difficult for me to worship when the words and music are geared toward a female audience.

The church is and has been suffering from a lack of male leadership and I don't mean that in the whole we don't have enough males in leadership. I mean that the males that we have are mostly feminine. This is not just my church, but the church as a whole. This also doesn't mean that I think the church should be entirely masculine. What this does mean is that I don't really think its proper for me to sing a song about romancing with Jesus. It's just not right. (I know my friend Daniel, who is a worship leader, will likely read this and I apologize if I offend you in advance. This is not directed at you).

Here is a sampling of what I mean:

"Look at the way the flowers bloom, they want to show you their beauty, Lord.

Running waters dance, you and I romance. Unto you be all the glory."

Two problems...It's girly and it could be sung to Allah or Buddha or your girlfriend (if you take out the word Lord). This is not the only song. Try another:

Draw me close to You

Never let me go

I lay it all down again

To hear You say that I'm Your friend

You are my desire

No one else will do

'Cause nothing else could take Your place

To feel the warmth of Your embrace

Help me find the way

Bring me back to You

You're all I want

You're all I've ever needed

You're all I want

Help me know You are near

This is really a song that you could sing to your girlfriend of spouse or whomever. I can even picture this one sung by Barry White. This is an older song but you get the picture, the problem has been around for a while. And, just because you capitalize the word You, doesn't mean you're song is sung to Jesus.

Here's a quote from Mark Driscoll:

"I’ll be happy when we have more than just prom songs to Jesus sung by some effeminate guy on an acoustic guitar offered as mainstream worship music. Right now most worship music is still coming from the top down through such things as Christian radio and record labels. But the trend today in a lot of churches is writing your own music to reflect your culture and community, and I pray this trend of music from the bottom up continues."

Now let me say this: I love Jesus. He has saved me. He is working in my life. I worship him. BUT, he is not my lover, I do not want sweet kisses in my ear, no need for romance here. I just can't go that far. I think this kind of talk makes visitor's uneasy and probably confuses them as well. It also makes any guy in the audience want to get up and run out.

The other problem I have with contemporary worship music is so much of it is me-centered and not Christ centered. We used to sing a song years ago:

I went to the enemies camp and I took back what he stole from ME (repeat).

He's under MY feet (repeat).

Satan is under MY feet.

That was essentially the whole song. It was all about me. It was all about me doing something. This song is wrong on so many levels, but it is not unlike some other songs we sing: Here I am to worship, I am free and Lord I give you my heart (all of which are on the Top 100 praise songs being sung in churches right now according to CCLI). The last song I listed presents several doctrinal problems. One of which is the fact that, despite what you have heard in 90% of churches, you can't give your heart to God. That is decision-theology and it is incorrect. The apostle Paul in his letter to the CHURCH in Rome says that "No one seeks after God" (Romans 3:11). That means that you wouldn't choose to give Jesus your heart even if you could. Our natural state is to be an enemy of God. It is only through grace by faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved. This song like many exalts us over God. We have the power, we choose to give to God, when in fact we can't do anything of the sort. Truth be told, just like Adam we choose to run from God and cover ourselves with fig leaves.

The opposing opinion is that we need to bring the hymnals back into the church, which I also have a problem with. I do not mind songs in the hymnal, but I do not think we need to be singing to music that was popular in 1836. Also, I can barely understand some of the words used by songwriters back then. (On a funny note, I still can't tell you what Gloria En Excelsis Deo means without looking it up, but we used to sing it every year at my mom's church. I asked her and she didn't know what it meant either. It's funny how we can just sing things at church and never know what we are singing or what it means...or should I say it's sad?)

God is a God of today. He commands us to sing a new song to him. We just need musicians and song writers to 'man-up' and start writing some good music that is Christ-centered. There is no reason why this can't be done. I'm not a good song-writer (I've tried and all I came up with was the popular blues song..."I keep drinking Mountain Dew, trying to wash my blues away." You may have heard of it. I don't know). Even though I can't write songs, I can tell you this: repeating the same line over and over is just poor writing skills, not real worship.

I recently heard an interview with Matt Redman on this subject and he said that he regretted the fact that he used some many words in his songs that were geared more toward romance than toward being in awe of God. (Click Here to see the interview).

Bottom line...worship should be about Jesus. When we take Jesus out of the equation we are left with nothing more than songs. Songs on their own are not worship. Music alone is not worship. Both of these things can enhance worship, but if we are singing about ourselves or about some mystical lover, we are not worshiping Jesus.

(Pictured at top is Andrew Schwab of Project 86)