Pleasing The LORD
“Good morning, (insert CHURCH NAME)! We’re glad you’re here. It’s a beautiful day to worship the LORD. Would you stand and sing with us?”
What a waste! And what a missed opportunity!!
Well, what do you mean, Dave? That sounds like a solid welcome from about 90% of the worship leaders out there.
I know, and that’s why it’s so troubling.
The missed opportunity is that we gave no frame, no reference, no definition to the nature of what’s about to happen.
It’s something we seem to have lost. In all our attempts to welcome and include people, we’ve lost sight of the goal.
The singular goal in anything we can rightly call worship is this: pleasing the LORD.
It is not pleasing the people.
It is not pleasing our pastors.
It is not pleasing ourselves.
But it is pleasing the LORD.
And what would happen if we remind ourselves and our congregations each time we lead them in worship that we are gathered to please the LORD, that His glory, His satisfaction, His pleasure is what we’re after?
Here are some scriptures that instruct us in this.
“Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:9
“For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:8-10
“…as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God…” 1 Thessalonians 4:1
“But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts.” 1 Thessalonians 2:4
“For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10
“…so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God…” Colossians 1:10
“People who are self-centered aren’t able to please God.” Romans 8:8
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
Of course, I’m not recommending you open like this, “Good morning! Did you know that people who are self-centered aren’t able to please God? So if you’re stuck trying to please yourself this morning, good luck actually entering into worship.”
(I have a terrible habit of saying the worst possible thing just to create a reaction.)
But you could take these scriptures and craft short encouragements and exhortations to use at the beginning and during your sets. (We all know that only a percentage of the congregation is present at the very beginning, so we should account for that and employ multiple “calls” to worship.)
For example, we could use Galatians 1:10, which reads, “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”
“Good morning, church. It’s wonderful to be gathered as sisters and brothers in the LORD today to worship Him! There have been so many pressures on us this week to please others. We’ve also likely spent considerable energy in pleasing ourselves. But for these next few moments, all that can fall to the ground. As we sing to the LORD, let’s be fully consumed in solely pleasing Him.”
Try it out! Let the Word instruct us in your calls to worship.
-Dave Helmuth
(purchase my book, "Worship Fertilizer: (the first hundred)" HERE)
Pleasing The LORD (Nº 334)
