Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God

by Bob Kauflin

Wynton Marsalis, Yo-Yo Ma, Pat Metheny, and other legendary musicians have demonstrated that excellence comes not only from being gifted but from practicing harder, longer, and more comprehensively than others.

But if you want to grow in your craft, you have to develop your skill. Even if it’s only fifteen minutes a day or an hour a week, it will make a difference in the long

Skill Doesn’t Make Worship More Acceptable before God

flawlessly, I still need the atoning work of the Savior to perfect my offering of worship (1 Peter 2:5).

But God isn’t listening to the sound of our music or the quality of our performance. He’s hearing the sound of our hearts.

“God isn’t looking for something brilliant; he’s looking for something broken.”

What impresses God is “a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17) that recognizes our weakness and puts our faith...

Skill Is Not an End in Itself

Valuing skill too highly can yield some ugly fruit. It becomes an idol.

minimize spiritual preparation and devote ourselves entirely to musical issues.

I don’t want them to even focus on my playing, except as it helps them see God’s character and works more clearly as we sing.

God wants us to realize that the point of our practice isn’t to receive the praise of others. It’s to bring him glory.

Skill Helps Us Focus on God

The more comfortable I am with practical aspects of leading, the more I can think about the One to whom I’m singing.

And remember, the goal of practice isn’t doing something until you get it right. It’s doing it until you can’t get it wrong.

But my lack of skill can tempt people to be distracted, confused, and potentially irritated. I might be worshiping God, but I’m not doing all I can to help everyone else join me.

Skill Helps Us Serve the Church

But if I don’t have to think much about the mechanics of leading, I’ll be free to look to the One I’m worshiping, and my face will show it. And that will serve the people I’m leading.

Skill Multiplies Serving Opportunities

SKILLS TO DEVELOP

John Piper calls the right balance “undistracting excellence.”2 It’s a proficiency that doesn’t draw attention to itself but rather points away from itself.

Leadership

Skilled leaders have a clear vision of what we’ve gathered to do. They enable us to see things we wouldn’t see on our own.

Good leaders draw our attention to what’s most important. They make choices that help us focus.

Skilled leadership always involves saying yes to some things and no to others.

Being a leader inevitably involves disappointing people. Someone will eventually misunderstand or criticize our decisions. But our goal is pleasing God, not trying to make everyone happy. Our goal is to serve the church with our gift of leadership.

Musicianship

different components. One is technique , which simply means mastering the mechanics or building blocks of a style.

A second aspect of musicianship is theory —understanding how music works.

You can excel at technique and theory but still make music that’s cold, boring, or inappropriate. That’s why a third requirement in skilled musicianship is taste. Taste is knowing what fits.

Great musicianship is less about what you play and more about what you don’t play.

Focus on one or two areas at a time.

A higher standard is to continually add to your skills so you can serve whatever needs arise.

Communication

trying to explain what a song means. So you end up defaulting to Christian phrases that sound “worshipful”—such as “Glory to God” or “Praise the Lord.” Or maybe you’re happy to say nothing at all and just let God speak through the songs.

We like to think spontaneous ramblings are more genuine than prepared thoughts, but that’s hardly ever true.

I should write down what I wanted to say and keep it to a certain length.

God wants to change them through eternal truth and an unchanging gospel. That takes clear, theologically informed communication. And that’s a skill we can grow in, by God’s grace and for his glory.

Technology

They don’t have to be musicians. But they do need to understand they’re more than techies. They’re worshipers. They’re using their gifts to help proclaim God’s Word and celebrate the gospel of Jesus Christ.

SKILL MATTERS

The important thing to recognize is that leading the church to worship God requires more than a sincere heart and good intentions. It requires skill. And that involves work, time, and preparation.

I pray that each of us will never substitute talent, gifting, ability, or skill for what God is really after—genuine worship that affects our entire lives.