Joshua, who apparently didn’t recognize right away that the figure was an angel, essentially asked, “Are you on our side or their side?”

And the Angel answered, “No.”

The angel could not really say that he was on the side of the Israelites. He served God and as long as the Israelites were in the center of God’s will he would be there also, but God will not be pressed into service to a human cause or group or faction, and with a great economy of language the angel reminds Joshua of this dynamic. “I’m on God’s side and you better be also.”

As part of our ongoing conversation about loving God, loving others and love in action, this coming Sunday we’ll be studying why God’s people worship Him through singing. This is one of those ways that God wants us to express our love for Him. The Bible says that there will be singing in heaven. Our Creator God has physically designed all of us to sing, and a few of us to sing really well. He has given us a desire to sing. He’s given us lots to sing about, and, if all of that was not enough for us, He has commanded us in His Word to worship Him through song.

Something we will see in God’s Word this Sunday is that singing together in worship is designed by God to proclaim our unity with Him and also to create unity within the body. It’s ironic then that this gift, which was intended in part to display and reinforce Christian unity, has caused more division in modern times among God’s people than perhaps any other. The so-called “worship wars” have divided more than a few churches. It’s sad that Christians are fighting over the very thing that should be bringing us together- worshipping Jesus.

Some prefer the old hymns, others modern worship songs.

Some use hymnals, others project words on a screen?

Piano or guitar and drums?

Some denominations insist that all songs should be sung acapella.

I know of another denomination that thinks the church should only sing the psalms we find in the Bible.

Do we use special lighting? Or does that feel too manipulative?

Do we emphasize corporate singing or solo performances?

For some the music is too loud or it’s not loud enough.

Too amateurish. Too polished.

It’s too emotional. It’s too stuffy.

Some prefer an upbeat happy worship experience, others want the service to strike a more somber, reflective note.

Some don’t like when they introduce too many new songs, but others ask, “Why do we sing the same songs over and over?”

One person likes a twangy southern Gospel sound, another likes rock and roll.

Musical tastes and preferences in worship are very diverse within the body, and we tend to pigeon hole others based on their stylistic preferences in worship.

I sometimes get an icky feeling when someone asks me about the worship style at my church, because I worry that possibly the question is a veiled way of asking, “Is your church my kind of church?” or even “Are you my kind of Christian?”

Preferences are normal, and even to some extent good because God loves diversity, but I think the real danger lies when people begin to assign spiritual value to their preferences, or a lack of spiritual value to somebody else’s preferences. For example, if somebody is naturally drawn toward a more traditional, hymn-based corporate worship experience, that person might exalt that as the most spiritually helpful and genuine expression of worship, while simultaneously demonizing a worship experience that they deem to be more “flashy” and produced and modern. It’s not uncommon for people to employ abstract, vague descriptors like, “That felt like a show.” “It just didn’t seem authentic.” Or “that wasn’t very reverential.” All the while the person on the platform may be a genuinely godly person who has put a lot of thought, effort, and prayer into using his or her gifts and musical talents to lead in worship as well as they possibly can. The reverse can also be true. Someone might wrongly think that the Spirit has gone out of a church whose preferred music style is more conservative and traditional, because they personally prefer a more energetic and emotive worship scene. When Christians think like this and talk like this— Making our preferences the standard— we will invariably come away thinking of others who deviate from that standard as somehow less. This is arrogant, and not very helpful.

In the worship wars everybody seems to think that they are on the side of the angels, but I suspect that if we, like Joshua, actually asked the angels whose side they’re on—are you for us or for that church with the fog machine?— they would probably answer, “No.” And if we want to experience God’s power in the midst of our worship we need to move beyond asking him to affirm and ratify our preferences toward a greater understanding of what is most pleasing to Him and what is closest to His heart.

I hope you can listen in as we worship God through singing, and through the study of His Word. We’re coming back to the heart of worship! (Pun intended)