Worship Critics

I was sitting in one of the best studios in the nation, where the biggest names in modern worship culture had produced their albums, the Soundhouse in Redding, CA. Jake Hamilton was welcoming me in the door to produce my next album, and I was lined up with incredible musicians to back me up. The late legendary Andrew Jackson was mixing my music. This was big stuff for a Montana boy.

Surrounded by all of these great musicians and worship leaders, God started talking to me and showing me some ugly things that were going on in my heart—ugly things that were aimed at other worship leaders, songwriters, and churches. It was in this setting that Holy Spirit began to convict me that I was becoming a worship critic instead of a worshiper. And instead of being a worship leader, I was leading other people to be worship critics as well. He exposed the reason: there were other people that were getting more attention and notoriety for their music and ministry than me. And it was painful for me because I felt like I had just as much—and sometimes a lot more—to offer. But I wasn’t being noticed. I was being forgotten. There were other churches that were getting more known for revival than my church, even though we had been contending for revival longer. That was also painful. And to deal with that pain, I let bitterness enter my heart and I started finding the faults of other worship leaders and their songs, nitpicking the little things that I didn’t like. I started keeping notes of what was wrong with other churches too. Of course, it wasn’t always direct criticism. But it came out in little comments of disapproval and a lot of sarcasm and humor. It felt more okay if I could disguise it that way. But the problem was still just as rotten in my heart.

And so much of this rottenness has just been expressed in stupid attempts to discredit other worship leaders’ success so I don’t feel the pain of not having the same success. “That guy sounds like a girl….Their music is so hipster….They sound like they’re trying too hard….Normal churches don’t have a band with that many musicians….They are able to do that because their church just has so much money….Their church is bigger because they never talk about sin.” And the list goes on.

While I was in Redding, Holy Spirit asked me, “John, would you want people to say those things about your music and your church behind your back?” Absolutely not. And so I’ve been in a process of abandoning my critical spirit and learning to be a builder of God’s Church again—especially in my sphere of influence in the worship realm.

At this point, Holy Spirit started to remind me that we are all on the same team! As worshipers, as worship leaders, as churches, we are all seeking to glorify Jesus, to make His praise glorious, and to see His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. So different than the "American Idol" dream in the music industry, we are in this for His glory, not our own.

In our modern culture, the critics are celebrated. Movie critics, music critics, fashion critics, food critics, political critics—these are full-time professions that people have and are paid highly for. In fact, that was part of what I went to school for. To earn my degree, I studied communication criticism, and I’ve been trained to be a critic of media and at least eight different forms of communication. I’m great at it. Some of that has been valuable. But God has been showing me where much of it was no longer about critical thinking but about ugly issues in my heart. We're called to no longer conform to the pattern of this world (Romans 12:1-2). So if the worldly modern culture celebrates being critical, we need to realize that we're called to something different and higher.

In our modern culture, we are consumers. We're addicted to a constant intake of entertainment, music, visual stimulation, and information. And with so much available, we've become incredibly picky about what we take in. And this further fuels the criticism in us. We feel like we need to comment on every piece of content in our newsfeeds and to give an opinion on whatever our friends are talking about. This somehow makes us feel important and validated—even though we're just spectators of content we didn't create. It's fairly common for me to hear this same consumer-culture spill over into worship: "Yeah, I didn't really care for that album....That band is pretty old school....That new stuff is just a little too rocky...." Since when was worship about us? It's not for us, and it doesn't matter if we "like" it! You don't have to be a worship leader to understand this. Worship music has just become the motivational soundtrack for our lives or in our cars on the way to work so we get all the feels and those positive vibes.

Here’s the problem with this practice of fallen humans. “Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand’” (Matthew 12:25, NIV). Criticism causes us to magnify the divisions and differences instead of trying to close the gap. Criticism is like shooting your own comrades in the middle of a war!

You see, criticism has no place in God’s Kingdom. Criticism is the leash that makes us Satan’s pets. Day and night, Satan never stops one activity: he accuses people of their faults before God’s throne (Revelation 12:10). He points out their sins and flaws. If he can incite us to do the same, we are joining the ministry of Satan instead of the ministry of Jesus.

Do you see what’s happening? Day and night, Satan accuses and criticizes. But day and night, worship is happening around the throne, as the living creatures, the elders, and the cloud of witnesses cry “Holy, holy, holy!” And we are either tuned into one or the other. When you start criticizing, you’ve stopped worshiping. When you are a critic, you are not a worshiper. When you are a critic, you are focusing on the imperfections of created things instead of on the perfection of the Holy One. You cannot be both.

The problem is that, as long as we are insecure and have not learned to accept the love of God as the source of our lives, we feel like we need criticism. Criticism gives me the power to push you down. The lyrics of one song say it so well: “I thought I’d grow taller if I made you smaller, but I was wrong” (“I’m sorry” by David Kauffman). Unfortunately, it’s all a lie. We get a temporary feeling of being better than someone else because we can see their flaws or shortcomings. But “in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). In the Kingdom of Jesus, we’ve been called to something else completely. We’ve been called to unity. And we’ve been called to cover a multitude of sins with love.

Have you ever had a song or painting or something you’re creating criticized before it’s finished? When people point out all the flaws, it's hurtful because they are judging your work, and along with it your heart that you’ve put into it, before it is brought to completion. This has happened to me so often, and sometimes I just want to scream, “But it’s not even finished yet!” The reality is that every single believer on this planet is God’s handiwork that he is currently perfecting into a masterpiece. When we criticize another believer, another worship leader, or another person’s ministry, we are criticizing God! They are made in His image. They are his masterpiece, but he isn’t done with them yet. And we need to learn to be building and encouraging what God is doing, hoping the best about their future, seeing them through the eyes of faith of what God says they will become. “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand” (Romans 14:4).

Criticism has a long and ugly history, reaching all the way back to the first family. Cain was a worship critic. “The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast” (Genesis 4:4-5). Instead of learning from Abel about how to also obtain favor with the Lord, Cain went on the attack—destroying his brother. He went so far as to kill him. And isn’t that what we do as humans? Instead of celebrating the favor other people have with God and with people, we attack and destroy others because they have what we want. But in the Kingdom, we are called to something else completely. We're new creations who are called to humility. In the place of humility, we can actually learn from others and receive favor from God: "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble" (James 4:6). The next time you see someone who has more success than you, I encourage you, go learn from them instead of criticizing them.

Another well-known—but often-forgotten—story in the Bible is about Michal. When her husband David danced before the Lord, she moved into a place of criticism. She found what was wrong with David’s worship (in her opinion), and decided to give voice to her opinions. She despised him in her heart and made herself the judge of David’s worship. “David said to Michal, ‘It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.’ And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death” (2 Samuel 6:21-23).

Before we criticize the worship, the expressions, or the motives of other people, we must sternly remind ourselves that worship never has been and never will be for us. It is for the Lord. And we must also remember that God has chosen them and put His favor on them—whether we like them or not. God doesn’t ask for our opinion before He gives them authority and influence. When someone else receives the favor we want for ourselves, this critical spirit often reveals the very reason God cannot trust us with the same level of influence. We aren’t in it for His glory, but for our own. The critical spirit in Michal’s heart brought barrenness upon her. In the same way, a critical spirit in us can release barrenness in our lives that will abort our ministries, our opportunities, and our future influence before they even begin. And I don’t think God does that to us. We do it to ourselves, because fostering criticism in our hearts is like drinking poison. It kills the very life we say we want. Criticism is an open door for the destroyer to release back on you everything that you’re releasing toward others.

Jesus made this point very clear in Matthew 6:14-15, you cannot count other people’s sins against them and expect that God will count righteousness toward you! The measure you use will be measured back to you.

Criticism sneaks in when we forget (1) how much we’ve been forgiven and (2) how much we are valued by God. When we lose focus on how great our own sin and failures are, it’s easy to become self-righteous. It’s also possible that we’re aware of our own failures, and to deflect that negativity, we become obsessed with other people thinking well of us. But when you’re consumed with thoughts of how the most important Person in the universe has set His affection on you, it suddenly doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks or if they ever notice you at all.

Just to be clear, I am not saying that there is never a place for righteous judgment or discernment. There certainly is. But most often, criticism doesn’t come out of a heart to serve others, but rather to have personal gain. And our "discernment" is never real unless it is rooted in love. If the end result isn't that people are built up and God's Church is strengthened, there's something wrong.

As we stay busy worshiping the Perfect One, and we will be left with very little time to criticize the imperfect ones.

I cannot say that I’ve got all of this worked out yet. But I’m endeavoring to change by cooperating with where Holy Spirit is leading me. This is where He is leading the whole Church worldwide. I want to encourage you to join me!

I pray we all will continue have our eyes opened to the awe and wonder of all that Jesus is—until our day and night passion is to worship Him. Then there will be no room left for criticism, because Jesus is all we see.