By Gavin Boyle
Kirk Cameron and his son James discussed the problem with worship in modern day churches and how Christians need to care about their hearts more than what others think of them.
“Everybody worships something. But if your worship is not aimed at the one true God, it’s empty. It’s dangerous and even idolatrous,” Kirk said. “Too many people mistake worship for a religious performance, a feeling or a Sunday routine, when, in reality, it’s supposed to be a total surrender of your heart. So, the real question is, are you worshipping for God’s glory or your own?”
“Worship is God-centered, motivated by love and gratitude and rooted in humility,” James added. “It is selfless, essentially. God-centered, rooted in humility and grace, and it’s certainly not a performance.”
Related: Can Worship Be Wasteful?
This discussion is extremely important for Christians today because many believers may not understand that worship does not simply constitute singing. Rather, it is an all-encompassing devotion to the Lord which extends into our daily lives and how we testify to our relationship with Christ.
Furthermore, false worship is abhorrent to God and was one of Jesus’ greatest opponents while on the earth. The Pharisees were people who honored the Lord outwardly, but in their hearts, they could not have been farther from being God-centered.
“You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’ They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules,” Jesus says in Matthew 15: 7-9.
While there are many factors that can cause someone to become a person who worships the Lord on the outside but not on the inside, one of the most common is a faulty theology and misunderstanding of what it means to be a Christian. Christian worship leader Matt Redman believes that worship music is partially to blame. Many songs written in the last decade focus on what the Lord does for us rather than simply praising Him for His glory.
“I think the real challenge for us is the kind of content of these songs. What are they saying about who He is? How are they revealing to us He is a God of self-revelation?” Redman said.
“What we want to contend for are these deep, biblical, wondrous worship songs that really paint a picture of who God is. You know — one way I talk about this is we like talking about helpfulness in worship. So we’ll sing a song about God as a shepherd or deliverer or as a rescuer of some kind; He’s the rock, He’s my comfort. And all that stuff’s really good; it’s wonderful. But we have to talk about holiness too.” he added. “It’s helpfulness and holiness.”
Rather than continue to allow ourselves to live like the Pharisees, Christians should examine their hearts and ensure that they are focused on what the Lord thinks of them rather than human judgement.
Read Next: Can What You Worship Change Your Life? Sadie Robertson Huff Explains
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