Does Worship Stop When the Music Does?

The following is the paper I wrote for the class Worship and Music through the School of Christian Studies:

I hope you enjoy.

I am a member of an online Christian community called Baptistboard. I have been a member of this community since October of 2003. We have discussed a lot of subjects, and worship and music are prominent in our discussions. Since this board is made up of all different stripes of Baptists (As well as other denominations), I have been challenged to redefine and/or provide support for my view of worship. The following is a post I made on 8/29/06 in the thread titled (Does Worship Stop when the music does):

Music is just a tool to use to worship... so is prayer, meditation, Bible Study, Preaching, etc.. A Christian should never quit worshipping... Even if there were no music we would still Worship our God for WHO He is... not what He does....but Who He is... But thank God for music... it is a gift to us, from Him, that aids in our worship of Him. No, Worship doesn't end when the music does, unless you are worshipping music...It doesn't start when music starts either...
For a Christian, worship is life.

Having read New Ways in Christian Worship by Robert W. Bailey, and Beyond the Worship Wars by Thomas G. Long, I am persuaded that my post on Baptistboard.com back in 2006 is still the correct way to view worship.

While talking to the woman at the well, Jesus said, “God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.” - John 4:24

Jesus was clear that worship must be done in spirit and in truth…
But what does this mean?
The phrase, “in spirit” strips away the belief that worship is tied to material things.
The woman had just mentioned two physical places that people went to worship. Jesus was pointing out Worship is not tied to Jerusalem or any other place. Worship can be done anywhere at any time, with or without physical elements to help us along.

The phrase, “in truth” applies to the fact that Jesus is God. He was God in the flesh talking to that woman. The woman had been use to worshipping in the shadows of the coming Messiah. The Pentateuch, which was the Samaritan’s scriptures, was full of shadows of the coming Messiah. The offerings and ceremonial rituals that Moses handed to the people were pictures of the coming Christ. But that woman had the privilege of looking into the eyes of the actual Messiah. She was staring truth in the face. And she realized it.

No longer would people be bound to a physical place to worship. No longer would people be limited to their preconceived ideas (based in the ceremonial rituals of the Pentateuch) of what the Messiah would be like. Now we can worship God any place at any time, knowing that Jesus is God. Jesus is the truth… For Jesus said himself, “… I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

So how does this truth translate into today’s culture? How can we take this truth and apply it to us and our churches?

In today’s church when the word “Worship” is mentioned, it seems that people automatically think of music. Even job titles in churches point to this concept. We have Worship Leaders, Worship Pastors, Ministers of Worship, etc… but they all have one thing in common: music.

But music is only one aspect of worship.
Let’s define worship. The word worship comes from the old English term, “Worth ship” It means to apply worth to something. So when we “worship” God, we are applying worth to God. We are reflecting back to God the truths of who he is. He is Holy, Just, Righteous, and is worthy of our praise. Worship stems from who God is, not what he does for us.

Other ways to worship God is Bible reading, Praying, meditating, proclamation of God’s Word, giving of tithes and offerings. All of these say to God, “You are worthy of my praise, time, and resources. We say to God, here I am, I am completely yours, use me how you want. Romans 12:1 I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.


Worship means so much more than the 15 to 20 minutes we spend each Sunday morning right before the Pastor gives the sermon.

But because of this misunderstanding, we now have churches splitting over the right way to “worship”. There are many different music styles in American churches today.

• Ultra-traditional: Those like the Church of Christ, Primitive Baptist, or Old Regular Baptist teach that no instruments should be used with music.

• Traditional: Those that sing traditional hymns, and an occasional Southern Gospel, or Bluegrass song

• Contemporary: Those that use Contemporary or Praise and Worship music for their services. Opponents of praise and worship music often call the songs “7-11 songs” because they often use repetitive phrases that consist of only a few words. They sing the 7 word phrases 11 times.

• Blended: Those that blend the above styles in a service.

Again I believe that if God’s people would properly understand the meaning of worship, people would not be at odds with each other, but would appreciate the differences in the different styles.

Which is worse, an older person that has always been use to traditional worship refusing to allow the younger generation to use contemporary songs OR a younger person refusing to come to church because the church only sings hymns?

To me, both are sinfully wrong.
But I see it in both sets of people. When the older person refuses to allow the younger generation to worship using modern music, he is wrong, and it reflects that the older generation is worshipping a style of music, or culture instead of worshipping God.

When the younger person refuses to come to church, or join a church because the church only uses hymns, that person is wrong, and it also reflects that the younger person is worshipping a style of music instead of worshipping God.

Both sets of people are sinfully prideful in thinking that people should accommodate them by meeting their demands before they will worship God.

So in an effort to reconcile the differences of opinion, some churches give in to the demands of one side and alienate the other side. Some churches decide to pro-actively split the congregation offering two services, one a traditional service, the other a contemporary service. Still another option is blending the styles of music into one service, using some traditional elements and some contemporary elements

No matter what decision a church makes to reconcile these differences, the doctrine of worship must not be compromised. Jesus said we must worship him in spirit and truth.
We must be teaching our people that worship comes from the heart, and that music is just a tool that we use to accomplish worship. Music is not the goal, but the means to get to the goal. We should be able to worship God no matter in what circumstance we find ourselves. We should be able to worship God no matter what physical things are connected to our worship. We should be teaching our people to worship God in spirit.

I am also convinced that when people truly see the truth of Jesus, worship naturally flows. I believe that the person that is addicted to traditional worship will still be able to praise God even in contemporary settings. Also the person addicted to contemporary worship will not boycott the church if the church decides to stick with hymns.

It all comes down to an issue of the heart. Do Christians in today’s world truly love Jesus or are we so self-centered that unless the demands of our musical styles are met, we will not come to church to worship?

Maybe that is the problem; the modern American church believes it meets TO worship…
We are still steeped in the idea that we need to be in a particular place before we are worshipping. We don’t understand what worshipping God in Spirit is about.

Maybe if instead of people meeting TO worship on Sunday mornings, they would COME WORSHIPPING to the Sunday meeting. If we start teaching people to worship outside the church building we may cut down on worship wars. If we start teaching people to start Sunday worship the minute their eyes open on Sunday mornings, people will have the right attitude when they walk through the church doors. If people were worshipping on their way to the church building, then that worship would carry over into service, and the focus would be on God instead of what type of music is in the church, or what instruments are being used, or what sister Maggy So-n-so is wearing! Can you imagine a church filled with Christians that had been with Jesus that morning? What a Sunday that would be!

Worship is not something we watch, it is something we do. But it seems that more and more people are coming to church to just watch worship. Maybe it is a symptom of a generation grown up on television, internet, etc., but it seems that many just want to watch others worship God. But somehow we have to get back to true worship. Somehow we have to teach people that worshipping God in spirit and in truth is more important than if we sing, “It is well with my soul” or “In the Light” by DC Talk.

So to answer the title of this paper, Does Worship Stop When the Music Does?

No, Worship doesn't end when the music does, unless you are worshipping music...It doesn't start when music starts either...

For a Christian, worship is life.