Can we be honest? I’m sure you’ve heard someone say, or may have said yourself, “I didn’t get a lot out of church this morning.” 

When that thought hits us, we can go down a few different pathways:

1. We blame the music.
2. We blame the preacher.
3. We blame someone else for a bad/off-putting interaction.
4. We blame a cumulative effect of the whole morning.
5. We blame our family for not getting us off on the right foot earlier that morning.
6. Or insert whatever else comes to mind…

What we rarely do is ask ourselves how prepared we were to be there and to participate and come with a heart ready to receive. 

We need to ask ourselves about our own motivations, hold those thoughts captive and see whether our own hearts and minds were being held obedient to Scripture.

“I didn’t get anything out of it” already reveals a mismatched priority.

Who is the worship service for to begin with?

We should ask, who is receiving the worship? 

Is it for us, or is it for God?

And spoiler, it’s for God and God alone.

That we benefit from joining together in worship & praise of Him is the intentional, but very secondary effect, of what happens when we live within His intentions for us.

If we go to the gathering of the church, and think that “what I get out of it” is the point of the gathering? We are woefully, terribly off-track.

Now, if someone asks you if you go to church to get entertained, coddled or affirmed in your own choices? To save face you’ll say “No, of course not.” But unless we admit to our own human, sin-riddled selfishness, we’re not going to push back against our own motivations.

We know the right answers, but do we really believe them? Do we gather to honor and glorify God, to be changed and further be sanctified by Him, in Him and for Him as we serve, receive teaching, and submit to one another in love? 

Or do we go because we want to feel better about ourselves?

If we are the main recipients, if the top priority is that unspoken “What am I getting?” that determines what our next steps will be for involvement. 

Then we’ll never take steps of sacrifice, seeking God’s best for others, and likely not have any direct part in the actual spreading of the Gospel.

And again, if asked about that pathway, we’re going to refuse any suggestion that we could be so shallow.

But Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us that the human heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. The prophet then asks, “Who can understand it?”

David says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous [or wicked] way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Ps 139:23-24)

Let’s think about the order of worship that was standard for centuries before our modern, western/consumerist model took over in most Protestant/evangelical churches:

A processional hymn/prelude – gathers hearts, sets the tone

The greeting & invocation – honors God as Father, Son & Holy Spirit & welcomes those gathered to worship Him

Adoration & Praise

Responsive reading – often a psalm, inviting the people to enter God’s presence

Hymns of Praise/ the Collect for purity – a hymn of adoration for God, often followed by the Collect for Purity that echoes Ps 139 “Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known…”

The Confession of Sin

• The people are called to confession, to examine their hearts before God.
• Silent reflection, brief pause to quietly confess sins
• Corporate prayer of confession – a unified prayer, out loud acknowledging our shared brokenness in sin and need for mercy

Assurance of pardon in Christ (i.e. 1 Jn 1:8-9)

Hymn of gratitude or Song of response- Kyrie or Gloria

The Liturgy of the Word – the sermon & time of teaching

Finally followed by the Eucharist/Communion as the apex of the service.

And a benediction or blessing for the road.

This format & style of service was the gold standard for centuries until our “modern sensibilities” turned it and made it all about the person coming in the doors.

The object of worship shifted.

Yes, we sing songs about God, and often to God, but the whole structure of the service shifted to focus on the person in the seat, even then unsaved visitor being deeply considered as a driving force for formation of the gathering rather than the holy processional before the throne of God.

And in that examination of His holiness, His standards, His Law, His righteousness? Our sin is exposed, our need for Christ is revealed – what could possibly be more evangelical than that? 

When the service itself is a gospel presentation, and the focus of the gathering is to take a step before the blazing holiness of God that exposes sin and demands reconciliation with Him, why would we step away from that to accommodate someone in their sin?

Romans 3 says it very, very plainly as Paul writes, “There are none who are righteous. There are none who seek God, no not one.” It is foolishness to sculpt the service for someone who doesn’t exist -the seeker- and it distracts the believer from that calling to come before the God-Who-Saves. 

We tend to want to enjoy God’s presence, and for some reason invite Him into ours now. We sing songs that say, “Hey we’re here, would you join us?” when in reality, He has already invited us into His presence through the blood of His Son.

The whole arrangement is backwards, and the priorities are askew. An honest examination of the liturgies side-by-side will expose the discrepancies, and reveal the difference in the motivations of each type of service.

So, as we consider these things, we then need to ask questions of ourselves and likely have conversations with those who lead the people of God in worship & the Word each week in our gatherings.

 We also need to consider a few other points:

• Identify what this reveals about attendance versus being formed as a Christian.
• Contrast discipleship with consumption, entertainment, or passive participation.
• Ask plainly who the focus and object of our worship is simply from the layout of our gatherings, and why the modern layout was shifted.