Churchy Words - Worship
One of the more interesting aspects of approaching the topic of worship is how focused well-meaning Christians get on the outward appearance of worship.
Should we use a liturgy?
Should the building be decorated simply or elaborately?
Old hymns or contemporary music?
Instruments or choral singing?
How long should it last?
Can we allow sweet Miss Betty to do a special even though she sings off key?
While these questions are important in some respects, they aren’t the most important. In fact, in many ways our arguments about these topics reveal a deeper issue in a church—we’ve forgotten who the worship is for.
Francis Chan had the greatest response to a congregant who told him they didn’t like the worship service. “That’s OK, we weren’t worshiping you.”
What is worship really?
The Old Testament uses several different Hebrew words to denote worship, or types of worship. These words tend to focus on the outward actions associated with worship—bowing down, prostrating oneself, and service. Connected to ‘worship’ is ‘praise’ which is hallel—the word from which we get hallelujah. The Israelites were called to perform outward actions of worship because of who God is and what God had done.
Psalm 146 begins a five chapter section of Psalms in which each psalm is a call to praise the Lord. They are they “Hallelujah Psalms,” and they remind us of the great deeds the Lord has done. He has made heaven and earth. He builds up Jerusalem, gathers the outcasts of Israel, binds up wounds, determines the number of the starts giving them names. He is great in power. In Psalm 148, all of creation, from creatures of the deep to the birds of the air, to the mountains, the stars, the trees and livestock, and the kings of the earth are all called to give praise to the Lord.
True worship is the proper response to who God is, what He has done, and what He has said.
In the New Testament, Jesus adds another layer of worship reminding us the same warning the prophets gave. Worship should lead us to change. It is not enough to perform these outward acts and call it a day. Our hearts are tuned to God’s heart when we truly worship.
In Matthew 15, Jesus chastises the Pharisees.
Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”Matthew 15:1-9
The Pharisees were concerned the disciples failed to honor the tradition of handwashing (which had very little to do with hygiene). Jesus called them out for allowing children to dishonor their parents through the tradition of corban—a spiritualized financial program to avoid taking care of the elderly. Jesus did not say the Pharisees failed to worship, but he did say their worship was in vain because of their hard hearts.
Centuries before this conversation, the prophets warned the Israelites if they did not quit pursuing other gods and quit dishonoring the people of God, the Lord would drive them from the land of Israel. Listen to the words of the Lord in Jeremiah 22.
Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. For if you will indeed obey this word, then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. But if you will not obey these words, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation. For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:
“‘You are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of Lebanon,
yet surely I will make you a desert,
an uninhabited city.I will prepare destroyers against you,
each with his weapons,
and they shall cut down your choicest cedars
and cast them into the fire.“‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, “Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” And they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”’”
Jeremiah 22:1-9
Look at how the Lord, through Jeremiah, connects worship and lifestyle. The admonition in the first part from the Lord is to do justice and righteousness, end oppression, and do no wrong to the alien, the orphan or the widow. Yet, the summary in verse 9 is the Lord has cast out the Israelites because they have forsaken the covenant and worshiped other gods. The two verbs in verse 9 are two of the words associated with worship—shacah which is typically translated ‘worship’ and avad meaning ‘to serve’ that could be serving a king or in the Temple. Their deficient worship is characterized by both the external (serving other gods) and the internal (a failed ethic to their fellow man).
A heart that is not transformed by God has not truly worshipped.
Why is God Alone worthy of worship?
God alone has created all things.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
God alone holds all things to together.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:16-17
God alone gives life—and new life.
For with you is the fountain of life;
In your light do we see light.
Psalm 36:9
Paul tells the Athenians in Acts 17,
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
Acts 17:24-25
God alone is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good.
“The distance between the Earth and the sun—ninety-three million miles—was no more than the thickness of a sheet of paper, then the distance from the Earth to the nearest star would be a stack of papers seventy feet high; the diameter of the Milky Way would be a stack of paper over three hundred miles high. Keep in mind that there are more galaxies in the universe than we can number. There are more, it seems, than dust specks in the air or grains of sand on the seashores. Now, if Jesus Christ holds all this together with just a word of his power (Hebrews 1:3)—is he the kind of person you ask into your life to be your assistant?”
― Timothy J. Keller, Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ
For anyone who has tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord, it seems to foolish to consider anything else being worthy of worship, and yet, how foolish are we that we find ourselves giving worship to those other things.
1 John centers on the concept of love—God’s love and our love for one another. The principles we find there directly relate to how we worship and who we worship. Consider John’s description of love in 1 John 4.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:7-10
Why should we give God worship? Only the Lord sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Only the Lord has demonstrated true love—unconditionally and fully. The Lord took on flesh and dwelt among us in order to demonstrate true love and bring us true life.
Our proper response to this truth is found in the next verse.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
1 John 4:11-12
Does this not sound familiar? The prophets of the Old Testament, Jesus’ teachings, and the apostle’s letters all remind us a proper worship of God transforms our hearts and how we live. That transformation happens when we recognize the love God has poured out and respond with a life of worship for our life-giver and love for our fellow humans.
A Side Note about Idols
The main problem with idols is they substitute the Creator for the created. The earth does not exist because of rivers, skies, mountains, or any created thing. It exists because the Creator created. Animals hold no power outside of the power God gives them. Idols are mute and worthless. Only God speaks and gives power.
Idols are worthless because life and salvation is only from the Lord.
Jonah said from the belly of the whale,
When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!”Jonah 2:7-9
The second problem with idols is they attempt to create an image of God, but God’s image already exists—humanity. Remember in Genesis 1:26-27, the Lord creates humans as the crowning member of Creation—made in His image and likeness. The Spirit of the Lord was to be with humans, but their sin separated them from God and caused His Spirit to move away from them (Gen 6:1-3).
When we turn from our sin and surrender to Jesus, we are given the Holy Spirit who gives us new life. The Spirit resides in us, truly, unlike idols that were believed to hold a deity. The truest image of God is Jesus Christ who is God dwelling among us. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we are now the physical image—not truly God, of course, but His dwelling on earth.
Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat—the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.
C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
If we want to see God, we can look at Christ, and if we need to hear from God, we can listen to His Spirit who resides in the believer.
How can we know we are worshiping well?
This question is partially already answered when we focus on worship as a means of transformation of the heart.
One way to know we are worshiping well is if we walk away from worship more godly.
But to tease this out a bit more, let’s take a look at Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4. Jesus is at the well because he is thirsty and asks for water from the woman. She is all kinds of confused because he, a Jewish male, is actually talking with her, a Samaritan female. Social norms have flown the coup immediately. In the course of the conversation, Jesus offers the woman “living water” that will give eternal life. She asks where to find this water, and let’s pick up at Jesus’ response.
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
John 4:16-26
This conversation does not seem much like a worship service, and yet, this woman has approached the presence of the Lord, has heard from the Lord, and responds. The verses following this conversation describe how she goes into her village to tell everyone about the Messiah. The principle for today is explicit—true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.
The Samaritans worshiped, but they did not hold the truth.
The Jews knew the truth, but they failed to worship in spirit.
However we worship in the service, no matter the music style, the building, or any of the other accouterments, what is most paramount is we hold to the truth of God and we worship with our whole heart.
Worship devoid of truth is mere entertainment, and worship devoid of spirit is ritual waste.
One last thought about heaven…
Revelation pictures a crowd of multitudes singing in unison and worship of God. Turn with me to Revelation 7.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Revelation 7:9-12
If the local church is supposed to be a small picture of heaven (and it is), then this passage gives us a glimpse at what is possible and what is preferable. Who is in attendance? The multitude is from every nation, tribe, people, and language.
Our worship should incorporate believers of all ethnicities—or at least all the ones within our community.
For what do they praise God? They sing the song of salvation from God through the Lamb of God.
Our worship should always be about Jesus.
How do they sing? They sing in unison—the humans, the angels, the elders and creatures of heaven.
Our worship should unify our hearts and minds to glory of God.
Though matching heaven is impossible on earth, it should be the standard for our worship. Rather than ask ourselves what instruments are appropriate or what cultural fad we should include, we should ask ourselves how we can best demonstrate the reality of heaven to the lost around us.
Local worship should focus on the reality of heaven, the offer of salvation, and love for the God who makes all of it possible.