Thoughts On A Commonly Used Phrase

There is a phrase I hear used frequently in Christian circles that confuses me. I really started chewing on this a few nights ago when I was reading some blogs about a separate subject that I was curious about. I was moving from blog to blog and stumbled upon this phrase over and over again. There was one blog in particular in which a worship leader asked a question about a lyric change at a conference where he was going to be speaking and leading worship. He made the statement, “My primary role as a worship leader is to lead people into the presence of God.” I’ve heard the statement a lot before so I did a Google search and found that there have been books written about how to, “lead people into the presence of God,” and that worship leaders everywhere count this as a part of their responsibility and giftedness in worship. I believe that this is misguided, and also gives some really faulty ideas about the role of a worship leader and the person of God. Perhaps they are trying to say something else and are just wording it poorly. I know that I have been in that boat a ton of times. Or perhaps there lies a deeper issue. Maybe worship as a whole in our culture has been confused for something that it is not. Maybe we have elevated the role of the worship leader into something that it was never meant to be. These are questions that need to be discussed.

I have two main objections to this idea of leading people into the presence of God that I want to put forward for thought and discussion. The first has to do with the role of the worship leader. To say that we as worship leaders lead people into God’s presence is to assume that this is a role for people within the church. This is a dangerous position to be in. Access to God is granted through Christ alone, and at no point in the New Testament is there an idea that it would take a believer to lead another believer into God’s presence. Actually the opposite is true. 1 Timothy 2:5 tells us, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (ESV).” In the Old Testament there was a mediator for the people in the form of a priest. In the New Covenant there is no longer a need for this role. Christ himself is now the mediator between God and mankind. Romans 5:2 speaking of Christ says, “Through him we have also obtained access by faith.” To say that it is possible for any person to now assume any part of this role reserved exclusively for Christ is in opposition to what the Scriptures say. It is no persons role to lead anyone into the presence of God except for Jesus Christ himself.

The second objection I have to this phrase is what it says about the nature of God. To state that we are to lead a person somewhere is also to say that this must be a place that the person is not at already. In other words if I were to lead you to my house I must assume that you are not currently at my house. This can never be true when we are speaking of God. To exist as a human being is to always be in His presence. There is never a moment for any of us that we are not in His presence. Jeremiah 23:24 says, “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.” And along those same lines we read in Psalm 139, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” God is everywhere at all times. In theological terms we call this the idea of God’s omnipresence. This is just a big fancy way of saying that you can’t be anywhere that God is not. If this is true then it would be really confusing to some people to hear another human being offer to lead them into the presence of God, as if they have some mysterious inside information that no one else has. One of the main comforts of Scripture is that God is always with us and that we don’t have to figure out where He might have snuck off to. If you are reading this now, know that God is right there with you, and there will never be a need for you to have a worship leader tell you where to find Him.

So if this is the case then we need to get rid of this phrase and all the confusing connotations it brings along with it. I would like to offer an alternative to this idea. It is not the main job, or any part of the job, of a worship leader to lead people into the presence of God, rather it is to reveal to a congregation the nature and character of God, so that the congregation can respond to God in a meaningful way. The response or reaction to God revealed is the worship. This is important for a couple of reasons. First it demands that worship leaders have an adequate understanding of doctrine and theology. There are far to many people “leading worship” today that are neglecting the study of God’s word. If we as worship leaders are not equipped to reveal the person of God as outlined in the Bible then we are in no way qualified to lead the people of God in worship. This is a huge reminder to me even as I type this that my responsibility in worship first lies in the study of God’s word and not in becoming a better musician. One of the main questions I get asked on the road is, “how do I do what you do,” meaning how do I become a worship leader. My number one answer is to get into the word of God big time. If your desire to become a worship leader and lack a strong pull to study the word of God, then it might be good to question your motives for stepping into this role.

Second we need to understand how God himself says that He is revealed. One great place to see this is in Psalm 19. The first part of the Psalm is devoted to telling us how nature itself reveals tons of things about God for us to worship. God is the greatest worship leader around. He puts on a show daily for us to see and respond to in the form of sunsets and sunrises, stars, and the oceans. As I am writing this there are birds in my front yard hopping around looking for food, and this little show speak to the creativity and tender care of the Father. Psalm 8 is another great place to look. The second part of Psalm 19 tells us that God is found in the study of His word. Psalm 119 shares this idea when it says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.” The main place God reveals Himself to the world is right there in your Bible. The job of the worship leader and anyone in leadership among a body of believers is to point people to what the Scriptures say about God and to help people understand what they are telling us. It is an impossibility for this to happen if the leadership does not know what the Scriptures say in the first place. I am scared by some of our modern worship culture. I hear a lot of people leaving rooms after worship throwing around words like energy and anointed, but I am not sure we even know what we are saying. So many times I have heard someone say that a service was powerful, but if you ask them what they learned about God they just kind of look at you. “Well I learned that He loves me,” they might say, and I would say back, “What does that mean? What does God’s love look like?” We might cry and feel some energy, but apart from the Word of God we won’t have a clue about who God actually is, and that can never truly be worship.

So there are my thoughts about the phrase, “leading people into God’s presence.” Some will say I’m overreacting because that’s not what people mean. I’m a big fan of mean what you say and say what you mean. Language is one of the main tools we have to communicate the gospel, and if we mess that up we are on shaky ground indeed. Let me know what you think.