“Thanks to our splendid Bible societies and to other effective agencies for dissemination of the Word, there are today many millions of people who hold “right opinions,” probably more than ever before in the history of the Church. Yet I wonder if there was ever a time when true spiritual worship was at a lower ebb. To great sections of the Church the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the “program.” This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service which now passes for worship among us.” (A.W. Tozer)
Does the “program” really detract from worship? I think that what Tozer means here is the entertainment in the church that has replaced worship. This is exactly what has happened to the Church in the modern day as well, though it is being taken to levels that Tozer would not have dreamed of in his worst nightmare. Throughout the land worship has been lost and has been replaced by various forms of worship. We now have worship ministers and worship bands. We have drama programs, skits, and interpretive dancing. We have professional musicians that play various instruments with various musical groups and we call that worship. Where is God in this?
It seems as if man and man-centeredness has taken over the Church. No longer does God take center stage and all things are done to seek His presence, but now man has taken over the center stage. The churches think that they have to do many things to attract and/or keep people. We have no fear of watering down the Gospel (which is really to change the Gospel to no gospel at all) and offending God in order to keep men coming back. We have no fear of changing our songs and ways to seek God in worship in order to make things light and pleasant so sinful man may be comfortable enough to come back. We have kicked the discussion of sin out of the door in an effort to make man comfortable with our so-called services. But in not talking of sin, we are also not talking of the glory of God and His holiness. So in all of these things we are more concerned with pleasing men than with pleasing God. That means that what we call worship is in fact worship, but it is worship of men. The Church is on its knees before men in worship of men and the honor of their presence and in doing that they have kicked God out of the building (figuratively speaking). This is a grievous form of idolatry.
The Church has virtually no idea of what worship is in the modern day and this is seen by all of its discussion on music and types of music. The real issue with music is whether it is honoring to God and whether it promotes the truth of His glory and is conducive to reverence and awe before His glory. God is no more honored by hymns than He is by a more contemporary song. What honors God is when men love Him and express that from the heart. Some types of music are certainly more conducive to worship than others. Any music that distracts the one that is supposed to be worshipping God is not good music for worship. The affections should be raised by the truth of who God is and not by the music that is being played. If the affections are raised by the music being played rather than the truth, then perhaps the feelings are moving the person but it is not love for God. That would then be closer to idolatry than to worship.
Choirs and bands lend to entertainment rather than worship. Special music tends to honor the person with talent rather than bring people to honor God from the heart. However, it seems to be more important to have people enjoy themselves at church rather than to come into the presence of a holy God and delight in Him. What is happening in churches across the land appears to be an attempt to fill the void that is there because of God’s absence with religious activity that is really trying to act as if God is still there. We try to pull the strings of the feelings of people and call those feelings love and joy in God. The deceitful thing is that we use the names “God” and “Jesus” while all of these things are being done and so people think their hearts are elevated by divine things.
If a church focuses on type of person and uses that to determine how church is to be done, that is idolatry. A church is to focus on God and His glory to determine how church is to be done. If and only if God is focused on does true worship occur. There is no need to fill buildings with carnal and unbelieving people if we are going to focus on them. They can get that at any business they go to. What the unbelieving world needs to see is people focused on God so that His glory would be seen. The very act of the true worship of God without fear or concern of what others think is exactly what people need to see. A program presented is really a substitute for worship and people never see the real God in the midst of that. It is also an admission that it thinks that it can work up true worship better than the Holy Spirit can. God is sovereign and man is not. The Church needs to remember this.
God Loves... Himself 
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