As new CDs find their way to my CD player each week, I've noticed that an increasing number are advertised as containing "worship songs." Given the unusually broad range of styles and topics found in these songs, I'm forced to ask myself a basic question: What in the world IS a worship song?
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Any song can be a worship song in the broad sense, if it is written or performed for the glory of God, or listened to for the purpose of exalting God. As I've listened to a Beethoven piano sonata, I've found myself praising God for the beautiful harmonies, moving melodies, and creative rhythmic structure. Should we therefore call it a "worship song?" I don't think so. The term "worship song" is probably most helpful when it is confined to describing those songs that God's people use when praising Him corporately.
Good worship songs, then, should have certain characteristics that enable God's people to declare his praise together. Here are three elements that come to mind.
First, the lyrics of a corporate worship song should be clearly related to biblical truth and a scriptural worldview. Worship songs are not simply the outpouring of my feelings or thoughts about God, however intensely I might be experiencing them. Even the emotional outpourings of the Psalms are nearly always accompanied by a clear reference to the character or actions of the God who is being addressed. Worship is God's idea and God's gift to us, made possible through the atoning sacrifice of His Son on the cross. It is my right response to who God is and what He has done. A good worship song, then, should contain some aspect of who God is or who we are in Christ, and it should be expressed in a way that everyone can understand.
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