DID VICTORIA OSTEEN REALLY SAY THAT?

There is a great deal of confusion in the contemporary church over the purpose of worship. This confusion has been building for several decades and it again burst into the open a couple of weeks ago when Victoria Osteen said, “When you come to church, when you worship Him, you’re not doing it for God really. You’re doing it for yourself, because that’s what makes God happy.” I don’t mean to “pile on” because I’m not certain she meant to articulate it in that way, but that’s the exact quote.

In recent years I’ve struggled to understand what is happening to worship in many churches. It seems to me that much of the music being referred to as worship is really not worship at all. The music is often very loud, which is fine, and it’s often celebratory, which is also fine. But it seems like it’s mostly about . . . me! I have left service after service with the feeling, “Well, that was nice but we really didn’t enter into worship—we really didn’t praise and worship the Lord. We attended a concert!”

It has bothered me but I didn’t know how to classify it until I read the following from one of Robert Webber’s articles on “The Focus of Worship.” (The late Robert Webber was Professor of Ministry at Northern Seminary and the Director of the Institute for Worship Studies.)

“Too many people who lead worship do so with the ‘audience’ in mind. Even using the word ‘audience’ implies a wrong focus on worship. So, how has the notion of a ‘worship audience’ led to what I’ve named a ‘romantic narcissist’ worship? First, narcissism means to be ‘self-focused.’

“A narcissistic worshiper is one whose primary question is, ‘What’s in it for me?’ The ‘romantic’ angle has to do with the current emphasis on worship as a realized emotional and even romantic relationship with God.”

Narcissism is sometimes defined as “excessive self-admiration and self-centeredness.”  American Christianity is filled with the spirit of narcissism. We are in love with ourselves and evaluate churches and ministries based upon how they make us feel about ourselves. If that person, church or ministry makes me feel good and wanted, then they are a good ministry—or so we think.

In Revelation 3:14-20, the apostle John recounts the words of Jesus regarding the church in Laodicea. This is the last of the seven churches and I think most of us would agree that according to prophecy, we are the Laodicean church. Listen to the words Jesus uses to describe this church: “You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (3:17, ESV).   

One of the gentle ways to move away from this spirit of deception is to refocus our worship. We need to stop singing worship songs that are essentially about me and my need for affirmation. Our worship needs to be about Him and His saving work on this earth. We need to worship the Creator and not the creation. Worshiping the creation is an exchange of truth and leads to serious problems (see Romans 1:18-25).

True worship does have a powerful impact on the worshiper; when we really enter into worship of God Almighty, He responds by embracing us and we know it because we experience His presence and His joy (see Psalm 22:3).

While at times I am dismayed over much of the current “worship,” I am extremely hopeful about what I believe is being birthed in the church. Over the last 500 years, virtually every time there has been a significant “renewal” or “awakening,” it has been accompanied by a breakthrough or change in worship.

When Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the cathedral door in Wittenburg, Germany, at the same time he was writing some of the great hymns of the church, including “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” This was revolutionary music in a church that for centuries had been chanting or singing psalms set to music. Not everyone greeted this new music with enthusiasm, however. 

In the 1870’s, D. L. Moody and Ira Sankey conducted great evangelistic crusades in the U.S. and England. For over 300 years the church had been singing the great songs of the faith written by men such as Luther and Isaac Watts. Moody and Sankey introduced what would become known as “gospel hymns” where the story of salvation was sung to a recognizable tune. It was revolutionary and not at all well received. When Moody went to England and began to conduct crusades and Sankey started to sing one of the new songs, in some services up to half the crowd walked out of the building in protest.

In the 1960’s, churches began singing worship choruses instead of all the verses of a hymn. That was no small change, and again it was not greeted with universal enthusiasm—but slowly the change was embraced.

What am I saying? I believe that we are on the edge of an explosion of forward progress in the church. I don’t particularly like much of the music of the contemporary church but what my spirit tells me is that worship has not yet found its new voice—but it’s trying to and it will!

We will find the new voice of worship if we are committed to Him and willing to pray, listen and obey.