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Jumping the Worship Shark – Part Deux
…continued from yesterday.
Throughout scripture the terms used to describe worship seem to transcend time, space, posture, attitude, etc. The concept or worship remains elusive throughout the Old Testament. At times it took the form of scheduled observances, i.e. “The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations – My appointed times are these: For six days work may be done; but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation” Leviticus 23:2&3. These are “worship” as noun.
There are also feasts such as The Passover or The Feast of Unleavened Bread. These are the action verb of worship. Sometimes the priests offered sacrifice on behalf of Israel as passive spectators and at other times God’s chosen people were active participants, “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses…” Exodus 12:1
In Joshua’s “farewell speech” we see worship as lifestyle, “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” It is in “lifestyle worship” that the Israelites seem to be the most schizophrenic. I won’t list them here, but there are myriad examples of God’s Chosen putting on and taking off their t-shirts with pithy phrases. Let it be sufficient to say that the Israelites were just like everyone else in lifestyle…only more so. When they were religious they were more religious than anyone else, but when they were secular they were more secular everyone else.
In Psalm 2:11, “Worship the Lord with reverence,” we see worship begin to reveal itself in a new light. The word for worship (Abad) in this verse implies to be worked or slaved to a state of exhaustion. Whatever owns or enslaves our resources, attention, thoughts, heart reveals what we worship. And, it will wear us down till there’s nothing left. Reverence (Yir’ah) can be associated with awe that consumes one’s attention, sometimes to the point of terror. The question for us to answer is, “what do we want wearing us down and consuming our attention?”
As an aside, being in the presence of God always leads to one of two inevitabilities: either worship or judgment (death). That should produce some awe that will consume your attention to the point of terror. There is no middle-ground here. “The fear (same word translated at “reverence” in Psalm 2:11) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.” But, being in awe or reverence of God is also the beginning of wisdom, the knowledge that He is loving and just and gentle…well, there just aren’t enough adjectives.
Anyway, it’s in Psalms, most of which were written by the greatest worshipper on Earth, that we begin to see what worship is. But, it’s in the New Testament, in the New Covenant, that worship reveals itself fully. It’s in the salvation of Christ that reverence for God moves from being consumed with terror to being overwhelmed by the tsunami of His love. It’s when we are brought back to life in His resurrection, after realizing our death that we are God’s glory.
There is another distinction in worship between the Old and New Testament. In all of the feasts and festivals (some of which I listed earlier) of the Old Covenant the worshippers (people) came to the temple. Under the New Covenant the temples come together in worship (“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in You?”, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own.” I Corinthians 3:16 & 6:19 respectively). There’s that implication of worshipping or bringing glory to whatever owns you.
To my thinking, this means that the idea of meeting together on a particular day at a particular time to renew our minds, refresh our spirits, recharge our batteries and rejuice our emotions to simply survive another week is inefficient at best and completely ineffectual at worst. It’s what consumes us during the week that defines worship. Simply coming to church in the hope of plugging into some spiritual outlet for a few hours just isn’t going to cut it. We need to recognize that we are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in us. We have the power source, the everlasting battery, in us. But, if we’ve been getting our “juice” from other sources (the other things in life that we allow to own us) it actually inhibits our ability to draw on this infinite power.
The inverse to weekly corporate worship as a source of energy is true. Ultimately, if Christians have been in a state of worship throughout the week, loving “the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”, then when the “Temples” all gather together an overwhelming, awe inspiring corporate expression of that state of worship can’t be contained. When two or more, who have been in a private state of worship, are gathered in the name of the Originator of that worship, then the Origin and Originator of that worship is there. Worship begets worship. I’m not going to pretend to understand it. All I am able to do is testify to the magnificent mystery of it all.
This individual, private, upper-room, continual attitude of prayer, this little light of mine type of worship always results in a kind of spiritual critical mass when combined with like individuals. The outward manifestation of individual worship starts an uncontrollable chain reaction that culminates in a mushroom cloud of corporate worship that can no more be contained and harnessed as could a nuclear explosion.
Why don’t more churches experience this type of critical mass? Why do one third of those who regularly attend church feel that they experience the presence of God less than half of the occasions that they attend church (according to Barna research http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/35-worship-tops-the-list-of-important-church-based-experiences)?
It’s because the meaning of “worship” has been a casualty of the worship wars. It’s because we, as Christians, have been deceived and lied to about what why we were created.
We are created, we have our being, our very existence is for one over-riding purpose: to bring glory to God. John Piper, in his book “Let the Nations Be Glad” does an excellent job of laying out biblical texts that reveal God’s zeal of His own glory. Here are just a few…
“God created us for His glory: ‘Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory.’ Isaiah 43:6-7″
“God forgives our sins for His own sake: ‘I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.’ Isaiah 43:25″
“Jesus receives us into His fellowship for the glory of God: ‘Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.’ Romans 15:7″
“God instructs us to do everything for His glory: ‘So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’ I Corinthians 10:31; cf. 6:20
“Everything that happens will redound to God’s glory: “From Him and through Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:36
So, here we are again. Back at the question, “what is worship?”
Worship is a being verb.
Consider it…don’t miss the nuance. God created the universe for His glory; chose Israel for His glory; God led Israel out of Egypt for His glory; God sent Jesus for His glory; Jesus performed miracles for His glory; Jesus suffered, died and lived again for His glory; Jesus gives us life through His resurrection for His glory; Jesus will come again for His glory; in Him we have our being for His glory.
There it is: “for in Him we live and move and have our being”…for His glory.
We are worship. We bring glory.
The question for us Christians is, “to whom or what do we bring glory?” Just because something, or someone, is created for a purpose doesn’t always mean that the purpose is fulfilled. Are we worship that brings glory to God or to something else? Are we worship that attracts those around us to God or distracts them to something else? Or worse, are we attractive worship or repulsive worship?
When we are cut off in traffic, what type of worship are we? When the cashier at McDonald’s gets our order wrong, what type of worship are we? When we see a homeless person who could use a sandwich and coffee, what kind of worship are we? When a young girl is struggling with the option of abortion, what kind of worship are we? When the teenage boy down the street, who we allow to annoy us with his sub-woofers, continues to make poor life decisions, what type of worship are we? When the elderly lady across the street, who we think complains too much, could use her lawn cut, what type of worship are we?
In short, are we worship that attracts people to the Savior or repulses them?
For that driver, forgive because you were forgiven. For that cashier, offer an encouraging word for the difficult day they may be having. For that homeless person, make an extra sandwich when you’re making your own lunch for the day. For that young girl, offer to help raise that precious, unborn child in the way that she should go so that when she is grown she will not depart from it. For that teenage boy, remember what it was like for you at that age make yourself available to walk the difficult road of adolescence with him. For that lady, what’s one more yard on your to-do list, anyway?
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”
Be worship…and then stand awestruck when you see what corporate worship can be when two or more have been gathered in His name throughout the entire week.
And, just as being worship results in corporate worship, corporate worship encourages being worship…but I’ll let you write that story on your own.
That’s why worship!
Jumping the Worship Shark
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” Romans 12:1
If there’s any place that exemplifies how translators struggle to find English words that convey ancient Greek thought, this is it. It’s a difficulty that has nested itself comfortably in the “worship wars.”
What is worship?
For decades, even centuries, worship was defined as a noun to represent an event that occurred on a specific day at a specific time for a predetermined period of time, i.e. on Sunday at 9:45AM to conclude no later than 11:15 providing ample time to beat the people from the community church down the street to the Sunday buffet. In this paradigm of worship as noun one’s relationship with the “event” could be passive. Ultimately, there was no participation required of those in attendance. It was by nature non-threatening for those in attendance due to its passivity. One could attend with very little personal capital invested in the event, perhaps none. With the exception of a small group of participants behind a podium it was largely a spectator sport. Large scale participation was limited to an occasional stand-sit-kneel-stand-sit routine punctuated by a snack consisting of bread and grape extract.
Not too long ago the definition of “worship as a verb” began to take hold. It wasn’t so much an event as it was something we did. Rather than going “to worship” on Sunday one would worship on Sunday at 9:45AM to conclude no later than 11:15 providing ample time to beat the people from the community church down the street to the Sunday buffet. In spite of its noble intentions, this semantic juggling act still allowed for pervasive levels of passivity on the part of those in attendance.
In recent years there has been an attempt to encapsulate the concept of worship as a “lifestyle.” While “worship as lifestyle” encourages participation in the above mentioned Sunday event that may or may not “leak” into weekday activities there is still, in large measure, a passive connotation inherent in this definition. Much like “Goth”, “Geek”, “Prep” or “Emo” are lifestyles that can come and go at the whim of fads and circumstances “lifestyle worship” includes a strong undertone of “trendiness.” There remains the alternative of being merely a spectator. The lifestyle worshipper can remain disengaged from the world and passively allow a t-shirt with a pithy Christian message to ineffectively carry their testimony or even exercise the option to not display a Christian worldview at all, remaining non-descript and being “of the world.” Just as other lifestyles are often best classified by a corresponding catalogue in the iTunes store, lifestyle worship carries the risk of being reduced to nothing more significant than the latest Grammy award winning category. “Worship as lifestyle” allows the “worshipper” to avoid engagement with the world as a mere volunteer or mercenary that can come and go at the whim of emotions or as circumstances dictate. Ultimately, it’s a very safe, capricious lifestyle.
Where does this leave us in the evolution of the definition of worship?
At the risk of “jumping the shark”…to be continued…
The Great Race
“And now these three remain, faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” I Corinthians 13:13
We have a game we like to play in our family. It can start at anytime, without any notice. Someone makes the first play by saying, “I love you.”
The other player responds with, “I love you, two [sic].”
Player one replies, “I love you, three.”
Player two, “I love you, four.”
The winner is the one who gets to rhyme with four and say, “I love you, more!”
Sometimes we play the game across a crowded room using sign language. Other times we pass notes back and forth during church.
On occasion we play it while holding hands. Three squeezes means, “I love you”. Four squeezes in response translates as, “I love you, two”, one squeeze for each word. Five squeezes, “I love you, three”, and so on until the winner responds with a “machine gun” of “I love you” squeezed signifying, “I love you, more!”
As a sign of our times, we’ve even been known to play the game via e-mail, instant messages and texting…even while gathered in the same room with our notebooks and phones on our laps!
I don’t remember when the game started. I have fond memories of playing it with all of the children since they were toddlers. My hands can still feel the quick, repetitive “squeeze, squeeze, squeeze” of little fingers wrapped around one of mine announcing, “The game is on!” Back and forth the squeezing or signs or some other form of communication would go; lob and volley, thrust and parry, offense and defense. And, it would always end the same way, “I love you, more!” with player two then feigning disappointment at losing.
The game was probably invented by Jennifer while we were still dating. So, it’s been played for quite a while. Played hundreds of times, maybe thousands, over all those years it was simply enough to “win.” That’s the only lesson I learned and, frankly, it’s the only lesson that mattered…”But the greatest of these is love.”
That is, until recently. In the last year I’ve discovered a pattern in the game that has eluded me for years. It’s a pattern that is innately part of the fabric, the DNA, of the game. If the players follow the rules of the game the pattern reveals itself each and every time it is played. And, this pattern goes against the very concept of fair play. It reveals that the game is rigged!
You see, regardless of the age or ability or aptitude or experience of the game the outcome is always the same. Without fail the game always ends with, “I love you, more!” And, provided the rules are followed, PLAYER ONE ALWAYS WINS!!! One hundred percent of the time, without any question, the one who says, “I love you” first wins. Once someone “loves” the outcome is assured.
When I perform wedding ceremonies I, of course, use I Corinthians 13, The Love Chapter. I challenge the bride and groom, and by proxy those gathered, to make their relationship(s) a race to see who can love first. Who does the dishes first? Who does the laundry first? Who mows the lawn first? Who washes the car first? Who gives up the remote first?
Who says, “I love you” first?
And in this, as well, the pattern reveals itself, whoever loves first wins!
Perhaps the more appropriate verse is Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The authorized Joe Bassett paraphrase states it this way, “Price paid, life-debt forgiven (in fact, He overpaid and didn’t ask for change); game, set, match; mercy rule applied…Jesus wins!” Jesus loves us more. He loves more than we can ever love, He loves more than we can ever know, He loves more than we can ever imagine. He loved first…He wins.
Yep, the game is rigged and the outcome a foregone conclusion. Get over it…enjoy it…revel in it…celebrate it…bask in it. Do everything except try to deal with it because you’ll never get your mind around it. And, that’s OK. His love is an ocean, drown in it.
That’s why worship.