I remember a time in my life when I worshiped worship more than I worshiped the Lord. That is, I enjoyed the experience of singing and playing instruments more than I enjoyed the glory of the Lord. The songs had to be the right tempo and modern enough to attract and keep a crowd, the musicians had to be well enough rehearsed so as not to hinder the "experience", the slides had to have the best fonts and backgrounds to enhance what it was we were doing...and so on. It became clearer and clearer that I treasured the whole production over the glory of the Lord. I was more concerned about orchestrating some sort of experience rather than letting the glory of the Lord shine forth in His word. I acted as if it were possible to manufacture worship in the hearts of the people by the outward manipulating of the environment. You see, this can happen when we look at the Scripture (especially the Old Testament) and see the methods for worship as methods...instead of seeing the methods as anti-types, with Christ being the reality--the type.
D.A. Carson comments on worship.
"We worship our Creator-God "precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so." What ought to make worship delightful to us is not, in the first instance, its novelty or its aesthetic beauty, but its object: God himself is delightfully wonderful, and we learn to delight in him.
In an age increasingly suspicious of (linear) thought, there is much more respect for the "feeling" of things--whether a film or a church service. It is disturbingly easy to plot surveys of people, especially young people, drifting from a church of excellent preaching and teaching to one with excellent music because, it is alleged, there is "better worship" there. But we need to think carefully about this matter. Although there are things that can be done to enhance corporate worship, there is a profound sense in which excellent worship cannot be attained merely by pursuing excellent worship...Despite protestations, one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship worship rather than worship God. As a brother put it to me, it's a bit like those who begin by admiring the sunset and soon begin to admire themselves admiring the sunset."
My point is not to tear down those who use instruments or are careful in planning church services. My point is simply to warn against the activity that may appear outwardly OK, but does not focus on delight in the Lord. Worship that results in enjoyment of the activity but not enjoyment is God is false worship. Such is the case when worship leaders go to conferences to see such-and-such an artist. Having come away from a conference with little to say about "God" but much to say about the "worship leader", one wonders if worshiping worship is what has taken place. Sometimes it looks like the picture above. Indeed I have been guilty of that. May we guard against that. I guess the same could be said of our listening to preachers. Do we want our pastors and preachers to be good and instruct us well? Of course. But it's not primarily that they are great preachers, but that they speak of a great God. It's Christ we worship. We gather together as saints, not primarily to hear great preachers, but to hear them tell us what God has said SO THAT we may find ultimate joy, pleasure and satisfaction in Him.
And so when we gather together in worship, the Word must be central for it tells of the excellencies of Christ. 1 Peter 1:10-12 tells us that the Old Testament prophets served us by preaching God's Word, the gospel, the good news, Christ (which was then delivered by the Apostles). Even they preached for us to know Christ as our all-consuming object of worship for the great salvation He gives us. If you are convinced that the Old Testament is primarily about examples of faith, or methods of worship, rather than Christ Himself, then meditate on this Scripture and understand that the purpose of Scripture is to draw you to Christ so that you may know and love Him. Do not get caught up in worshiping worship. Worship Christ our Savior.
1 Peter 1:10-12 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
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