The Journey

What does it look like to serve God with excellence but not become a perfectionist? How do we serve humbly yet passionately for the glory of God-particularly in our church services?

Many years ago, I toured with a worship band full of talented people, but I'd never seen such a lazy, thoughtless approach to worship-grab some songs off the latest worship CD, practice them in a sound check minutes before the concert, forget about adding anything creative and then pump it out for 300 or so youth group kids who were so sheltered from the real world they didn't even know what good music was. I also encountered a few churches where the service focused more on involving people than anything...literally anyone could get up and sing or lead regardless of giftedness, preparation, or purpose. I can't think of a time I felt in awe of the Spirit's presence in any of these instances.

Along other lines, I've passed through other churches as a paid, professional musician. The focus was so much on sounding and looking professional that the gospel was hidden beneath a blanket of cues, staging, long musical interludes and musicians who had neither awe or wonder for God-indeed they had no awe for anyone or thing but themselves. The performance-driven model often turns worshipers into observers. It's as if God can't do anything himself, and the argument from these folks is usually about contending against mediocrity. But the spectacle often distracts more than it engages. God-centered worship should honor God, and him alone.

So there must be a third way, right? And there must be a way to value excellence without letting it control everything, and without being mediocre. And even for those of us who aren't necessarily worship leaders, but are serving as a greeter, by cleaning the sanctuary during the week, or if we're on the aesthetics team or running slides on Sunday, surely the Gospel applies to us, right? It can be a subtle difference sometimes between getting out of the way, and still letting God use you. I think the first question to ask is: What is the purpose?

Our purpose on Sunday is much like Calvin's thoughts on Reformed liturgy--we want to meet God face-to-face. We want people to experience God's presence and respond to him in repentance and worship. And as we proclaim the Gospel and exalt the name of Jesus, we are to do nothing more than work out that same Gospel in our service to God and his church, just like we work it out in our daily worship. It doesn't matter if you're on stage or behind it. You don't have to be perfect. If we thought so, we would essentially say to God, "You have no power to meet people unless my perfect performance (say greeting or running the slides) lets you."

But sloppiness and laziness says leadership accounts for nothing and Imago Dei is just idealism. That sentiment says God doesn't use people's gifts and talents to draw others to himself and experiencing God is nothing more than receiving information about him. That sentiment over-simplifies how people experience God and know him.

Friends, the goal on Sunday whether we're sitting in the seats or serving in the trenches is to meet God face-to-face...to know him more, be edified by his truth, respond to him in repentance and worship, and then emerge back into our communities on mission with the Gospel in our heads and our hearts. If you're serving in the church, don't believe you have to be perfect or that the totality of God's work solely relies on your efforts. But know that ultimately he does use your talents, your hard work, and even your weaknesses to further his Kingdom. And in light of his sovereignty and goodness, how can we have anything but a response of giving him back all he put in us, while delighting in all of who he is that we are not?