PERFORMANCE WORSHIP (Mt. 4:10; Jn. 4:21-24)

1. When Jesus was tempted by Satan He said, “worship God, and only serve Him.”

2. Jn. 4:21 says humanity is supposed to “worship the Father.”

3. Verse 23 of Jn. 4 also says worship is to be directed to God the Father.

4. In Jn. 4:24 we have a third reference to worshipping about God.

5. When Jesus spoke about worship He portrayed it as something offered to God.

IT MAY BE A REVOLUTIONARY CONCEPT TO MANY IN THE WORLD, BUT WORSHIP IS NOT ABOUT WHAT WE OR OTHER PEOPLE WANT. NEITHER IS WORSHIP DESIGNED FOR MAN’S ENTERTAINMENT.

1. Worship should be a pleasurable experience for man, but the focus of it is not on us.

2. Jesus Himself said we are to worship God and only honor the one above.

3. What came from the mouth of the Lord is a point we need to know and proclaim.

4. We now live in a culture where worship has been re-designed.

5. This past week I became aware of a new twist on worship; people are bringing pets.

6. I had heard of this before, but now things have been taken a step further.

7. At least one group is offering the Lord’s Supper for the family pet.

8. There have been a lot of innovations in the area of worship, and today we want to look at one of them.

9. More than a few religious groups are engaging in what has been called performance worship.

10. There are congregations that have production centers superior to professional studios.

11. We now have religious groups where worship is little more than drama, acting, and showmanship.

12. It used to be that we associated Hollywood with three words: “lights, camera, action.”

13. Now religious groups have entered into this same industry.

14. In these places the call is now, “lights, camera, worship.”

15. Perhaps the drastic changes being seen are partly based upon society.

16. In times past much of our entertainment was fairly straight forward.

17. People acted, but there were very few special effects.

18. There was hardly ever a t.v. program where viewers said, “I wonder how they did that?”

19. Today secular entertainment is filled with stunts.

20. Airplanes blow up; people fall from buildings; cars with people inside them explode, etc.

21. Many religious groups have seemingly followed these kinds of stunts.

22. One group put in the midst of its worship area a wrecked car along and bloody bodies.

23. Drama is being viewed as a new tool for things like evangelism.

24. The entertainment so common in today’s religious world comes in all shapes and sizes.

25. There are groups which spend millions of dollars for dramatic worship.

26. Many others are very low tech, and for the sake of practicality, this will be my emphasis this morning.

27. Performance worship can include many items but I am going to use one main example.

28. Within the church there is a growing practice of “miking” certain singers within a congregation.

29. In some instances this is discreet; people wear a microphone and sit with their family.

30. In other places the miked singers might be grouped together.

31. This type of practice exists and to one degree or another the church is being confronted by it.

32. It is not uncommon for Christians to ask about this practice as well as related matters.

33. Because we are surrounded by performance worship it is time to ask some questions.

34. Is this type of worship okay? It is wrong? Is it a matter of judgment?

35. Let’s consider these three possibilities from the passages already cited.

36. Based upon Mt. 4 and Jn. 4 we may say without reservation that worship is to be directed to God.

37. If this principle is right, and it is, we can draw some conclusions.

38. When certain people in a congregation are given a microphone, their voice is amplified.

39. Who is that voice enlargement for?

40. Is it for God?

41. Will God be able to hear better if we wire certain singers with a commercial sound system?

42. I have yet to find a single person who believes God is hard of hearing.

43. The God of the Bible is omniscient; He sees and knows all.

44. The very nature of God tells us that artificial devices will have no bearing on His hearing us sing.

45. If amplifying voices is not for God, who is it for?

46. The only people who hear congregational singing besides God are those in the assembly.

47. Deductive reasoning allows us to conclude who miking singers is really for: the worshippers.

48. I do not mean to be unkind and I do not want to sound unkind.

49. The idea of miking singers is indicates gross spiritual immaturity.

50. Those involved in that practice have not been taught a fundamental fact about worship.

51. Worship may encourage those who are present; the Bible says we “sing to one another.”

52. In that same verse (Eph. 5:19) the Bible says we “make melody to the Lord.”

53. We reap benefits from worship, but the Bible continually says our worship is directed to God.

54. Miking singers is wrong for this reason, but this is not the only reason.

55. Congregations who mike singers select the “best singers.”

56. Let me pose this question for consideration.

57. Who are the best singers in a local congregation?

58. A rash answer to that question would be “Christians with the best voices.”

59. “Those who can pitch the song correctly, get all the notes right, correct tempo, etc.”

60. In Rom. 15:4 Paul said we can learn from the Old Testament.

61. Let’s go back to the Old Testament and see how it can help us with this topic.

62. I am turning back to the book of First Samuel, the 16^th chapter.

63. At this time in Hebrew history Saul had been rejected as king of Israel.

64. A new king was to come from among the sons of someone named Jesse.

65. Samuel was a great servant of God and he saw one of Jesse’s sons.

66. This son was impressive. Sameul saw him and thought to himself, “surely this is the one.”

67. Verse 6 is where we begin – READ.

68. Verse 7 is God’s response to Samuel’s conclusion: READ verse 7.

69. Samuel had his own ideas and convictions and he was so confident he was right.

70. God came along and said, “Look not on his countenance (appearance)…I have rejected him.

71. God’s prophet saw someone who from his perspective was just right for the job.

72. God told Samuel that He does not see people and matters as we do.

73. Man looks on the outward appearance; God looks on the heart.

74. This must have shocked Samuel, but it was a lesson that this man of God needed to learn.

75. Today there are still a lot of people making the mistake found in 1 Sam. 16.

76. Singers are miked based upon the outward appearance (good voice, knowledge of music), etc.

77. Long ago God said this was not the right way to make correct judgments and decisions.

78. Heaven looks at the heart.

79. Given this God ordained criteria, let’s consider a possible scenario in a local congregation.

80. There are 5 Christians who are so musically talented they are in the professional category.

81. Their abilities are virtually unsurpassed so a decision is made to “mike them.

82. Their singing skills are great, but there Christian life is so-so.

83. They are trying to be somewhere between hot and cold.

84. In this same assembly is the wife of a former elder.

85. She was married for 70 years before her husband passed away.

86. For more than 40 years she faithfully supported her mate in his work as an elder.

87. She is now in very frail health but manages to come to services using a walker.

88. In years past she had a beautiful voice but time has changed that.

89. Across the room are two more people in poor health, a husband and wife who used to be missionaries.

90. For 50 years they served God on foreign soil and they endured terrible conditions and hardship.

91. They gave their entire lives and all they had in the service of God.

92. Now weak health and trembling in body, they struggle to get through each day and to worship.

93. The last two people are former preachers.

94. They did this work for many years but their voices were finally damaged and they had to stop.

95. One can hardly talk at all; the other has a cracked and erie voice.

96. They could sing so well in years past just like the missionaries but that ability is now gone.

97. We have ten singers; of these ten which five would you mike?

98. Which group consists of the best singers?

99. How we answer that question exposes our knowledge of the Bible and our level of spiritual maturity.

100. Picking the five near professional singers is concentrating on the externals.

101. That is doing exactly what Samuel tried to do and God said, “That’s wrong.”

102. Performance worship puts the emphasis in the wrong place and for that reason it is wrong.

103. These problems are not the only ones with so-called performance worship.

104. Acts 10 reminds us in no uncertain terms that God is no respecter of persons.

105. If we are the people of God, this is our standard too. All must be seen as equal in the sight of God.

106. When we mike singers what do we do?

107. We elevate that miked singer above others.

108. When that is done we have sinned. When that occurs we are not worshipping in truth.

109. A related thought in this area is found in the word applause.

110. There are times when people clap in conjunction with their worship to God.

111. If there is drama, people applaud. When certain speakers speak, people clap.

112. I have noticed something about applause on the part of worship. It varies.

113. A good speaker may be given a standing ovation.

114. A poor speaker may receive no applause or light applause.

115. This kind of behavior—and it is not hard to see—is respecting persons.

116. It also suggests that we have witnessed a performance instead of coming to worship God.

117. These are some of the perils associated with performance worship.

118. Last week it was pointed out that we find five types of worship in the New Testament.

119. Based upon what has been said today, performance worship falls into some of those categories.

120. Those who engage in it are often ignorant about what true worship is.

121. Performance worship is after the teachings of ideas of men, not God, Mt. 15:8-9.

122. It is also a form of will worship (Col. 2:23).

123. Jesus went a step further in talking about this matter in Mt. 6:1.

124. While upon the earth Jesus encountered people who did things to “be seen of men.”

125. People were putting on a show, and Jesus describes their performance in Mt. 6:1.

126. According to the Lord, those who put on a religious show “have their reward.”

127. If they got applause, respect, or paid some money, that was all they were going to get.

128. We need to stand up and tell people that worship is worship and a show is a show.

129. There is a vast difference between the two and Jesus said God has no interest in showmanship.

130. A.T. Robertson is deceased, but he is still well known for his writings on the Greek New Testament.

131. I want to share with you his comments on Mt. 6:1, the word translated “to be seen.”

132. He goes right to the point by using just two words: spectacular performance.”

133. God knows all about performance. He has seen it and He has spoken against it.

134. Turn worship into a performance and Jesus said we have no reward with God.

135. God calls upon us to make a choice: worship or performance and drama.

136. Be a participant in honoring God, or sit back and watch a show.

137. Heartfelt sincerity and reverence or worldly applause.

138. Will we not choose the one that is right?

139. Will we not decide to do the will of God?