In Bible times, they had a very set structure on how to worship. There were guidelines regarding the location, the rituals, the timing and just about every detail that they were supposed to follow. During the time Jesus was on Earth, however, He proclaimed a new message about worship. In John 4:21, while talking to the woman at the well, He says,
Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
There are a lot of profound truths in this passage and some revolutionary thoughts for worship. “Neither In this mountain nor in Jerusalem” was a reference to how they believed their location was imperative to worship. But, Jesus is saying that you don’t have to be at the temple to worship. Instead, there was “an hour coming” (the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection) where we all will have access to God through Jesus. We can worship anywhere. And to be a true worshiper, we must worship in spirit and truth. This is showing that true worship happens through Jesus from our hearts. We can’t worship simply through external actions or rituals, but instead we must worship with the proper heart attitude.
We have been singing a song by Hillsong called “From the Inside Out.” It shares this exact same message. The chorus says,
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out, Lord, my heart cries outOur worship starts in our hearts. When our hearts are focused on Him, then our outward actions are an expression of what’s happening on the inside.
Singing is one way to have that outward expression of emotion. Music has a way of touching our emotions and it is a great way of expressing our emotions.
This is one of the reasons I love it when the music matches the message of a song. “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” would not seem fitting as a violin duet. It needs a full orchestra with a 30’ pipe organ, timpani, and the works! But, a song like “I Love You Lord” matches the emotions best when it’s sung with light accompaniment or even completely acappella…“may it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.” The message needs to drive the music, not the other way around.
When music is mentioned in the Bible it is most often associated with expressing joy.
Psalm 100:2 says, “Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.”James 5:13 says “Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.”
Singing is a great way to express the joy God has placed inside of us.
Singing allows us to combine intellect with emotion.Singing connects objective truth with our response to it.
If singing is used to express emotion and if our hearts are filled with gratitude toward God, then how in the world could our singing ever be monotone or half-hearted?
We talked earlier about how singing helps us remember and meditate on God’s Word. When focusing on His Word and all He’s done for us, we cannot suppress our joy and emotions while singing.
What about when you just don’t feel like singing?
Bob Kauflin, the worship leader who I got a lot of this study material from, suggests these three main reasons for a lack of emotion in worship.
First, we may have forgotten that we’ve been forgiven of our past sins. Worship should always contain the emotion of gratitude. Even in the middle of the hardest struggles in life, God is still right there with us and we will never lose our salvation. Regardless of what the rest of life brings, we have a reason to sing. We cannot forget that.
Second, we may have yielded to the sin the Bible calls “fear of man.” We may ask questions like, “What if people don’t like my voice?”, “How can I raise my hands or cry in public?” or “What would my friends think if I did that?” Such fears can easily quench our affections. If our worship is controlled by what other people might think of us, who are we really worshiping?
Finally, we may believe that expressing emotion in worship is wrong. In a reading of Psalms, you will see many various forms of emotional expression. As the psalmists focus on who God is and what He has done, their hearts and affections are increasingly drawn to Him. The same will happen to us. If emotions were given to us for anything, they were given to us for God.
While we’re looking at emotional expression in worship, let’s touch on a few other avenues of expression besides singing…
Sometimes we’re full of joy and want to move our body a little or put our hands together and clap. Sometimes our life is so crazy and we just want to tune out all the distractions, close our eyes, and focus fully on Him. Sometimes we think about His holiness and we want to fall to our knees or raise our hands to express our humbleness before Him.
Clapping, in itself, does not make you a better worshiper and closing your eyes does not make you more holy. But, if your heart is overflowing with joy and gratitude and you feel led to clap in praise, then you better clap! If your heart is overflowing with love to God and you want to tune everything else out, then close your eyes and focus on Him alone. If your heart is overwhelmed with the fact that even though we’re so unworthy and God loves us anyway, then fall to your knees or raise your hands and worship Him.
Don’t hold back your emotional expressions of what God is doing inside your heart.
Since Madelyn was born, I have been overwhelmed with emotion many times to the point of tears. To me, it’s still kinda’ weird and I can’t explain it. Am I crying to get attention? Absolutely not. Can I cry on demand? No. Does it mean I love Madelyn more than a dad who doesn’t cry for his kids? No. It means that my heart is full of love and, for whatever reason, my emotional expression comes through joyful tears. It is an overflow of my heart.
When our hearts are full of love for our God, there is likely to be outward emotional expression. Through singing, through clapping, through raising your hands in humbleness, through closing your eyes, or even through tears, we should not be afraid of emotional expression. But, it must come as an overflow of our hearts.
The Father seeks true worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and truth.
May we be a people who strive to be true worshipers, worshiping Him from the inside out.
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