To say “we come to church to worship” isn’t intrinsically wrong, but it would seem to suppose that there was something planned to occur at the church to bring about worship.
While a local assembly of saints’ main purpose is to worship God, the assembly itself cannot bring about worship. It is the responsibility of the individual members of the assembly.
The song service that happens during the services of the church (assembly) is certainly a time for where worship is called; however, to make the music or the lyrics responsible for whether or not worship happens is to place the responsibility on said music and not on the individual “worshipper”. Music is simply a vehicle through which worship can be expressed. There is much confusion and misappropriation of responsibility placed on the genre or style of music exercised by a church. These arguments involve so much personal opinion and preference that the ability, or disability, to worship is made contingent upon the type of vehicle (music) used.
The preaching of the Word of God is also a perfect time to worship the One who originated the Word. But the responsibility of the messenger is to “speak the truth in love”, not to entertain or tickle the ears of the listener. Whether the message was “good” or “boring” should have little effect on the “worshipper” if their heart was already tuned to worship in preparation for the hearing of the Word. The qualifier for a “good” message is the truth of the message.
I believe the portion of the quote that says, “We bring our worship to church” should be the practice for every worshipper. Worship is not limited to the services of a local church. Worship can, and should, occur on days other than Sunday. We should allow ourselves to be so aware of the presence of a Holy God in our lives that His praise is ever on our lips. We should worship privately and personally at all times. The services of the church we attend are opportunities to gather with like-minded individuals for corporate worship within a group of people whose lives intersect ours.
We bring our tithes and offerings to church in order to give them, why should our worship be any different? Let us begin to be continual worshippers and then bring our worship as an offering (or sacrifice) of praise to the One who is worthy of all praise. I am convinced this practice would alleviate the petty arguments between individuals regarding worship styles and tools and center the attention on the Worshipped welcoming the use of any vehicle that can carry our worship to the Throne.
Let it begin in me,
Jeff Hulsizer, Worshipper
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