Written by Isaiah Doll
Photo by Rose Morgan
“Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod.” – 2 Samuel 6:14, NKJV
Chill. I’m not telling you to go and do likewise.
But I wanted to use that verse to illustrate the devotion with which David sought to honor the Father. At this point, the entire city was watching him dance. Barely any clothing. More focused on praising God than anything else. But he couldn’t care less what the people thought about him! That didn’t stop them from criticizing him, of course. Even his wife condemned him for it. David never gave in, though, never apologized for praising the Lord. You gotta admit, David truly was a man’s man.
I say all that to say this: Where is that spirit now? Why don’t we praise the Lord like that? I’m not necessarily asking why we don’t go out and dance before God in linen ephods- that’d be quite odd in today’s culture- but why our form of worship is often not nearly as pure as David’s. Let’s be honest, a great deal of the worship we see today is, well, a show. That’s right, a performance. Look at today’s worship leaders: Trendy haircuts (or hair color), trendy clothing, and a good bit of makeup. There are many music videos you can find on YouTube that showcase this.
Again, chill. I’m not condemning these people. I’m not saying that it’s wrong to do your hair a certain way, dress a certain way, or wear makeup while onstage- that’s fine when it’s done in moderation. To reach the heart of what I’m aiming for, I want to take a look at what James 3:1 says: “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive stricter judgment.”
Are worship leaders teachers? Yes. Because a teacher is just as capable of teaching by example as by a lecture. In that sense, worship leaders teach hundreds of thousands of people simply by the way they act and look. It is the example they give that will influence those watching them, and in today’s Christianity, there are going to be many watching. Now that we’re aware of that, doesn’t it become so much more important for us to evaluate how a worship leader presents themself? After all, if a spoken word can influence hundreds toward deeper commitment to Christ, how much more can a certain behavior on stage or an inappropriate style of dressing drive someone away from Him?
I want to tie this back to what I said in the beginning about how a lot of today’s worship is a show. Let me explain it like this: I have seen worship leaders who seem much too eager to dress like the secular world or rock a new hairstyle than to direct the attention to the Father. I have seen worship leaders take the emotion of the moment, when the instruments have been played the most skillfully and the energy is highest, and try to translate it into a moment of exemplary praise unto the Lord, as if all that jumping around and clapping was prompted by the Spirit alone and not by the singer(s) getting the crowd all riled up with lights and sound.
Don’t get me wrong- that stuff happens. There are people and churches who will gladly jump around and dance when the Spirit falls on them, but the way that behavior is carried out in our modern worship often doesn’t feel organic. The more you focus on it, the more aware you’ll become. You’ll be able to tell whether you’re being motivated to praise out of the Spirit’s prompting or by the emotion of the moment.
This is what I mean when I say a great deal of worship is a show. And when people become influenced by the euphoria of worship and not the Spirit, it stops being about God. It stops being about expressing our heartfelt appreciation and love for Him, and more about how good we feel during the experience and the lighting of the room and how impressively the lead singer can make his voice fluctuate.
