In order to be a worship leader, we must learn how to worship.

You cannot give what you do not have

You cannot give people what you do not have. You cannot inspire people if you are not inspired. I know that we sometimes have to fill in at the last moment, but if you have time to prepare for your part in worship then you should prepare by having a moment of worship yourself before the service begins. That could be Friday night or early Sabbath morning, but you need to seek the Lord and have some time in worship before you get on the platform. Now, we don’t have to be dogmatic about having this pre-worship worship on Friday or early Sabbath–the point is that you should show up at church with some fresh manna, not some week-old, stale bread.

Why is this so important? Because you aren’t going to experience church like other people. Worship leaders and church leaders can be the least spiritual people on any given Sabbath. We are running around worried about the production. Worried about people being in the right places. Worried about cameras and microphones. Worried about messing up the lyrics or playing the right chords or looking dumb in front of people. So we’ve got all of that going on in the back of our heads. Your words and music are filling other people up, but they won’t impact you the same way they impact others. I believe that the preacher needs to hear the sermon before he speaks the sermon–and I think the same is true for the rest of the worship leaders. Sometimes your music–and just being in that moment–can be profoundly enriching for you. But sometimes it can be draining. To go before the congregation without being in a worship posture is spiritual malpractice. It’s hypocrisy. How can you invite the congregation to worship when you didn’t bother to invite your own soul to worship?

Are we chasing emotion?

Maybe you’re wondering what this worship posture is all about. Is it some feeling that you’re chasing? Yes and no. I realize that we are really down on emotions as if they’re liabilities, but they aren’t. You will feel filled after some good worship 99% of the time. I say 99% of the time because when Jesus was on the cross he felt separated from the Father. So I guess if you’re hanging on a cross bearing the sins of humanity you probably won’t feel anything. But just because there is a feeling associated with good, soul-filling worship, doesn’t mean that we are merely chasing the feeling. If you really just wanted the feeling, I’m sure you could work yourself into a state of feeling that feeling without having worship. No, we are pursuing worship–the feelings that come with it just confirm that we have found it.

There’s no prescription of how to worship. Sometimes God brings something across your path–a song on the radio or a text you hadn’t considered before–and boom! You’re in awe of him. Sometimes it’s a real struggle. You’ve got a lot going on and you just don’t feel like anything. You may even be a little angry with God. To get through this to a point of worship, sometimes you have to confront what’s going on in your life and just give your mess or your anger or your sadness over to God. So I cannot just tell you, do X, Y, and Z and you’re ready to go. Every week is different. What’s important is that you don’t just put this off until Sabbath morning and hope to randomly flip open your Bible. Heart preparation needs to take place throughout the week before you lead worship.
Worship is poorly appreciated in the Seventh-day Adventist Church – most churches, really. We are creatures of action–not creatures of reflection. We would rather do things for God than to worship him. We would rather study about God than talk to him. We are naturally afraid of intimacy with God. We are blessed by God and then we say, “I can take it from here. I can run my life from here.” As Adventists we say, “We have a mission and a message from the Lord to take the everlasting gospel to the world.” We do. But you notice how that statement is outward focused? It’s like God asked us to go run an errand. He’s given us a shopping list of beliefs to share and we don’t really need him in order to do this. Now, of course no one would say it like that. But we need to understand that we are also called to worship the Lord–it is the first and most fundamental Christian responsibility.

Psalm 29 in the King James Version begins: “Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” We are called to give God the glory we owe to his name–worship is not optional.

In Revelation 4, we read: “…Day and night they never stop saying: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” Our future is worship. In fact, when you talk about the Adventist message in the last days, isn’t the first message to “worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water”? When we read that, we see a connection to the Sabbath commandment and think these words mean that we are to tell the world about the Sabbath. Yes, we should. But why not also take them as they read? Our mission is to call the world to worship–to say, in the words of that Psalm, to “give unto the Lord glory and strength!” If the whole world believes that Jesus is coming soon or that they should keep the Sabbath but are not roused to worship, then we have failed our mission.
Ellen White wrote this profound line in The Great Controversy: “The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of creation is that it keeps ever present the true reason why worship is due to God, because he is the Creator and we are his creatures. The Sabbath therefore lies at the very foundation of divine worship.” You might need to pause the video and go read that again, because it is good stuff. The importance of the Sabbath is that it reminds us why we worship. We don’t worship on Saturday to remember the Sabbath. We keep the Sabbath to remember to worship. 

So Adventists should be great worshippers right? That’s why our worship time together is always deep and moving and inspiring, right? If only that were true! But, my friends, there is grace for us even when we fail to worship God as we ought to.

We should be great worshippers and each service should be moving. But the experience of the worshippers will seldom rise above the level of the worship leaders.
This is important, because our worship service is often more “service” than “worship.” We have a list of things we need to do and everyone does their part and we get through it. But ask people after worship: Did you encounter the grandeur of God today? Were you in awe of his majesty? Did we give glory to his name? Did we worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, as that psalm said? The sermon cannot accomplish these things, my friends. This has to be a team effort. Never forget the high purpose for which we assemble on Sabbath mornings. We have a tendency to want to make it everything: Bible study and mission stories and a sermon about some doctrine and maybe some afternoon evangelism–but the day is fundamentally and unashamedly about worship.

I don’t say this to add a burden to your heart–not only do you have to practice your music but now you have to have this amazing worship during the week before you get up to lead. My friend, if you look at worship as just one more thing on your plate, then clear your plate. We are here on this planet for worship. Worship is a privilege. If worship is a burden for you, you have some heart work to do.
You may be reading this and thinking, “I don’t know what good worship looks like.” The beautiful thing about worship is it’s not a scholarly thing. There are no experts. Just read the Psalms, listen to some worship music, and seek the presence of the Lord. Whatever God shows you or fills you with, bring that to church and that’s good enough. God will grow you through worship and you can share what you’re learning–and the congregation will grow with you.

So go look at the calendar. Are you the worship leader in two weeks? Make a point to seek the Lord in worship that week. You don’t have to say anything special. You don’t have to preach to people during your part in the service. Maybe the Lord will give you something to say. But what matters most is that your heart is full of worship toward God. I believe that will shine forth. I believe people will see that come through as you worship.
Now that we've talked about HOW to worship,
let's talk about the way we worship:
WORSHIP WITH MUSIC