Sometimes people get confused about what kind of worship is pleasing and acceptable in God’s eyes. We end up quietly exchanging God’s standards for other standards. When that happens, we may walk away from a worship gathering feeling pleased, even if God may not be.

Let’s look first at how many people commonly evaluate worship, then at how God evaluates worship, and finally at what this means for how we look at church worship gatherings today.

How Many People Evaluate Gathered Worship

1. The Quality of the Music

Many people put enormous weight on the musical quality of a worship service. If the singers are tight, the instruments are face-melting, and the overall sound is dialed in, then God must surely be present. But if the singer is sometimes off-key, there’s only one acoustic guitar, and the sound system occasionally crackles, then the worship, as the kids say, is mid.

Of course, music matters. Scripture commands us to “play skillfully” (Psalm 33:3). It’s also good to do things with a certain excellence. But excellence in music or method is not the measure of spiritual substance. God is not impressed by what merely impresses us.

2. The Uniqueness of the Experience

Others evaluate worship by how “special” or “intense” the gathering feels. If people are crying, clapping, shouting, swaying, or singing loudly enough to lose their voices, then obviously the Spirit is moving. But if the congregation is still, tearless, or quieter, then something must be wrong. Maybe we’re “quenching the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), they think.

But Scripture never equates visible intensity with spiritual reality. Some of the most God-honoring responses in Scripture are fear, reverence, or silence (Habakkuk 2:20; Psalm 46:10). Ordinary or mundane does not equal unspiritual.

3. The Power of the Emotions

I once heard a student describe a worship night as “just okay.” When I asked why, she said:

“The Bible teaching was good and we sang and prayed and read Scripture, but I didn’t cry. I love to feel God’s presence that way, and it didn’t happen this time.”

For her, worship was good only if it “hit her in the feels.” She is not alone. Many assume that if we truly meet God in worship, we must feel something deep and dramatic. But while emotions absolutely have a God-given place (see the Psalms!), Scripture never makes intense feelings the test or object of genuine worship. God is glorified when our hearts delight in Him and His Word, but He is not honored when we chase an emotion instead of Him.

4. The Adherence to Tradition

All of us come from some tradition. We all have a bias toward a worship style we prefer or think is “right.” For some, it’s altar calls, open sharing, “words from the Lord,” fog machines, lasers, and big screens. For others, it’s robes, choirs, pipe organs, hymnals, and a liturgy long enough to wallpaper the fellowship hall.

Whether old-school or cutting-edge, many people judge the quality of worship by how closely it aligns with what they’re used to. Yet Scripture warns us not to “teach as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). You can have your preferences, but you may not want to have them cause you to miss out on God’s grace only when it is dressed in different clothes (or robes) than you’re used to. Personal preferences aren’t a great standard for evaluating worship offered to the living God.

How God Evaluates Gathered Worship

If we want to please God, we need God’s standards. Thankfully, God is happy to instruct us about the worship that pleases Him.

1. The Posture of the Heart

God told Samuel, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Jesus later said that worship rooted in external show without internal devotion is hypocrisy (Matthew 15:7–9). Where we often look on the outside, God looks on the inside.

Think about how you decide what cup you choose to drink from. You’d probably pass on drinking from a mug that is clean or even beautiful on the outside if it was filthy with sludge or mold on the inside (Matthew 23:25–28). So God rejects any “worship” offered by hearts that aren’t seeking to know, love, and obey Him. No matter how good the band, how eloquent the prayers, or how intense the emotions, if the heart is cold or divided, God says, “pass.”

2. The Soundness of Doctrine

God is the God of truth. He reveals Himself in Scripture so we may know Him as He really is, not as we imagine Him to be.

It’s no surprise, then, that Paul repeatedly urges Christians to pursue “sound doctrine” (Titus 1:9; Titus 2:1; 1 Timothy 1:3–4; 1 Timothy 4:6; 2 Timothy 4:2–4). Doctrine isn’t an optional accessory to our worship, it’s the content that fills our worship. What good is beautiful music if the lyrics contradict God’s Word? What good is an emotionally electric sermon if Scripture is twisted to say what the preacher wants? So, we want to learn to ask, “Do the words we offer God in worship match the words God gives to us in Scripture?”

God desires worship filled with truth (John 4:24). Worship that is biblically empty, shallow, or distorted, even if musically or emotionally impressive, is not pleasing to Him nor should it be to us.

3. The Faithfulness of the Expressions

Historically, Christians have used the term the regulative principle of worship to describe what God expects from gathered worship. The idea is simple: We worship God in the ways He commands, not in the ways we invent.

Instead of trying to entertain people with dancing, skits, flag-waving, slam poetry, or live painting during the songs, churches that follow Scripture’s pattern devote themselves to what God has actually commanded:

• Read the Word (1 Timothy 4:13)
• Preach the Word (2 Timothy 4:2)
• Pray the Word (Acts 2:42; 1 Timothy 2:1)
• Sing the Word (Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19)
• See the Word in the ordinances (Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26)

Worship is not a “choose your own adventure.” It is loving God in the ways He has commanded.

This makes sense, does it not? After all, if worship is ultimately for God, shouldn’t it be done in the way He wants?

4. The Transformation That Results

One final measure: Does the worship of the church actually change us?

Paul tells the Romans that true worship comes from and expresses itself most deeply in increasingly transformed lives (Romans 12:1–2). James says the same (James 1:22–25). Jesus says hearing God’s Word means nothing if we don’t obey it (John 14:15; Luke 6:46–49). What good is it to sing loudly, pray sincerely, and listen attentively if we leave and live like those who don’t know God?

God-pleasing worship produces:

• deeper knowledge of Scripture
• greater thirst for righteousness & affection for God
• stronger commitment and desire to build up the church
• increasing obedience
• genuine repentance
• growing trust in Christ

It is wonderful if worship is making you feel things and experience things, but is it resulting in you becoming more like Jesus in how you think, act, and desire? Don’t first ask, “Am I feeling?” but, “Am I growing?” If week after week our worship pleases us without changing us, something is off.

What This Means in Practice

With this, we can begin to see church worship gatherings through a different lens than mere appearance.

Extraordinary, Yet Unfaithful

There are churches that check every box in the first list: excellent music, unique experiences, big emotions, beloved traditions. Yet they miss God’s standards almost entirely. These are churches that many people love, but God absolutely hates. Amos 5:21–24 gives a sobering example of this kind of worship. Speaking through the prophet, God declares to Israel:

“I hate, I despise your feasts,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them…
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to the melody of your harps I will not listen.”
(Amos 5:21–23)

Israel’s worship gatherings were full of music, ritual, emotion, and activity. Their songs filled the air. Their ceremonies were impressive. Their offerings were plentiful. And their worship felt powerful and sincere to them. But God rejected every bit of it.

Why? Because, as He says in the very next verse, what He wanted from them was not louder singing or better gatherings but faith that resulted in obedience and righteousness:

“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24

Israel’s worship was vibrant, but their lives were corrupt. They sang passionately, but they had no love for God. They brought offerings, but they ignored God’s commands. In other words, they were worshiping a god of their own imagination; a god who was fine with religious excitement but indifferent to holiness. They were worshiping a god, for sure, a god of their own imagination and not the God revealed in Scripture, at least not in a way He accepts. God says that kind of worship, no matter how emotionally moving or musically excellent, is hateful to Him.

Faithfully Ordinary

There are also churches that don’t shine in the first list, but hit the marks of the second list. They don’t have lasers, perfect sound, dynamic personalities, or impressive emotional experiences. Many people roll their eyes when they attend these worship services or avoid them altogether. Yet God delights in these humble, ordinary, and faithful churches because they’re after what God is after. Their worship isn’t flashy, but it is filled with truth, heartfelt devotion, obedience, and genuine transformation. God sees them like I see my favorite coffee mug at home: slightly drab and cracked on the outside, but wonderful to hold and delicious and clean to drink from.

When you evaluate worship (your church’s, my church’s, or any church or Christian gathering) make sure you’re using God’s standards, not your own preferences, feelings, traditions, or childhood memories. Be blessed if your church has things checked off on the first list, but seek and expect first the marks on the second.

After all, though worship benefits us tremendously, it is ultimately not about pleasing us, but Him.