…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!
“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…
“Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.” Acts 16:26
This is one of my favorite verses about worship in the Bible. Here’s the backstory: it’s about midnight, Paul and Silas have had a pretty typical day including travel, healing, delivering the occasional girl from demonic possession, riling up the locals with preaching; all of which leads to their inevitable arrest, flogging and prison time. All in all it was a pretty good day. [Insert sarcastic smirk here.]
So, there they sat in prison which I’m fairly certain those were accommodations most of us would find less than acceptable for worship on any given Sunday morning. Heck, it was probably worse than most modern day prisoners would find acceptable in any US penal system facility or even at Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib for that matter.
Nonetheless, there they were. And they did something rather strange, “…Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God…” What, huh? They were worshipping? But, wait, weren’t the pews too hard? Did they really have a band in prison? Where’d they get the hymnals from? Where did they find a projector to put the words on the wall? How did they worship without a decent sound system and good monitors? Really…intelligent lighting in a cave that served as a prison? Who made sure that the heat was working? [Insert another sarcastic smirk here.]
For now, I’m going to let you work that last paragraph out on your own. I’ll write about worshipping in spite of our circumstances in a later post. Today I want to dwell on what happened next.
To illustrate the result of Paul and Silas’ worship I’ll quote William Wallace as portrayed by Mel Gibson in the movie “Braveheart”: FREEEEEEEDOOOOOMMMMMM! (That works a lot better when I preach on this in person, but you get the idea.)
Anyway, it’s commonly understood by us “worship music” types that worship sets us free. But, worship in “truth in and spirit” doesn’t just set those of us up on the stage and in the bright lights free; it sets even those who witness it free, too. In fact, it has nothing to do with worship as performance. Our living, breathing act of worship sets people free, as well.
When a Christ worshipper lives a life that brings glory to God, everyone around them feels the impact…the earthquake.
- When a Christ worshipper humbly ladles a bowl soup at the downtown mission a homeless person is set free;
- when a Christ worshipper visits an elderly shut-in a lonely senior is set free;
- when a Christ worshipper helps a young woman with unruly toddlers load her groceries into her car a mom who may feel the hopelessness of single parenting is set free;
- when a Christ worshipper drives to a crack house in the middle of the night to rescue the son of desperate parents an addict and his family are set free;
- when a Christ worshipper takes in a teenage girl to help her overcome an eating disorder a scared young woman is set free;
- when a Christ worshipper takes a stand between a battered child and their abuser a terrified child is set free;
- when a Christ worshipper prays and sings praise choruses in a prison then prisoners are set free.
In the third sentence of the book “Let the Nations Be Glad” John Piper says, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.”
I take this to mean that God’s plan is for us to worship in truth and spirit; when we reflect the glory of God and the beauty of Christ as a matter of course in our life. Worship as a being verb renders pious catch phrases, cliched evangelism strategies or pithy bumperstickers superfluous at best or at worst a distraction. When God’s people are “living sacrifices” of “spiritual acts of worship”; when Christ worshippers live a life that brings honor and glory to God; when we are the being verb “worship” then the earth shakes like an earthquake, strongholds crumble, the Gates of Hell implode, captives’ chains fall off, people are set free from bondage; they’re set free to come home to The Father! Worship isn’t intended to be spiritual jollies for the worshipper, it’s purpose is so that everyone will see the beauty of the Darling of Heaven inthe worshipper. Then those who merely witness worship will be set free, too.
That’s “Why Worship.”
“…Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the desert.” Exodus 7:6
You might think that I’m going to pick up where I left off in “Stressed Spelled Backwards…” and you would be right! When I wrote that one I had no intention of it being a two part post, but here it is.
Before this morning I had never noticed why God wants Pharaoh to let His people go. Well, I knew the other reason…the one He gave Moses at the burning bush about a land of milk and honey, but I had never seen this one: “so that they may worship.” He says some variation of it several times during the Exodus story: Ex. 5:3, 8:1, etc.
Well, that certainly puts a new twist on the Israelites time wandering in the desert, doesn’t it? They were there to worship. What? Huh?
Don’t argue with me about it. It’s right there in the “Great Big Book of Everything”. Read it for yourself, ”so that they may worship.”
Yeh, I know that they started out in the desert because they had been set free (look for an upcoming post about being set free to worship) and that they wandered around for forty years because of their disobedience. But, those are causes (because). Causes are seperate from purpose. They were in the desert to worship, but just because God, or our own behavior (read: disobedience) puts us in a particular situation doesn’t mean we fulfill our purpose while there.
The Israelites’ misery was a result of their attitude not their circumstances. God had sent them to worship. They decided to whine, instead. And, their whining was just self-imposed bondage. From God’s perspective the desert was a place for them to be free to worship in their circumstances. What God intended as wide open spaces of His boundless provision, the Israelites turned into a death march. Too often our short-sightedness holds us captive inspite of God’s freedom.
In our conferences and training sessions at Worship Concepts Network we emphasize the difference between “have to” and “get to”. When doing Kingdom work we don’t “have to” we “get to”. We don’t have to spend extra time rehearsing our part…we get to; we don’t have to get to church early to set up mics…we get to…; we don’t have to visit the shut-ins…we get to; we don’t have to work at the soup kitchen…we get to.
Moving from the sublime to the ridiculous; we don’t have to clean the toilets…we get to. Get the idea?
Think I’ve gone over the edge on that last one? Even after their disobedience, and I recognize that it was a punishement, the “children of God” didn’t have to wander in the desert for forty years…you guessed it, “they didn’t have to…they got to!”
What isn’t going your way? What are the unbearable consequences of your actions? What weight are you carrying? What overwhelming circumstances are you sloggin through? What toilets are you cleaning when you wish you could be doing anything else? What bricks are you making without straw? What desert are you wandering in?
You don’t have to…you get to. Regardless of where we are we have one purpose…to worship…to be worship. Worship isn’t the result of where we are. It’s the result of who we are…children of God.
We don’t have to be His children…we get to!
“…I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” Luke 22:16
But, Jesus does eat it again. He does drink again from the fruit of the vine. He does them over and over again every time His Body does.
The fulfillment of God’s kingdom came when Jesus became the sacrificial lamb, when He died on the cross for our sin. What Christians do now in communion is the fulfillment of The Passover. What the Passover started communion accomplishes each and every time His Body participates in it.
Caveat: as long as we participate in it as a healthy body.
Is there descension in the Body? “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there…and be reconciled to your brother.” Matt. 5:23,24
We don’t just participate in communion in remembrance of Jesus, we do it as Him. Not us personally, but as a body…His Body. If there is trouble between two parts or members of the body then something is wrong. Imagine the liver attacking the spleen. Or more realistically the immune system rejecting a new organ that was intended to make a body whole. The body is sick. In the body of Christ when one part attacks another it means that Jesus is sick (it sounds pretty severe to say that Jesus is sick, doesn’t it?)
If there’s anything I’ve learned from my addiction to the TV show “House” it is that when there’s an infection in the body “all hell breaks loose”. The entire system suffers. Even healthy organs are affected. And the breakdown only gets worse until it is reconciled. White blood cells may defeat the problem internally, medicine might cure a chemical imbalance, cancer cells might need to be removed…whatever the problem is it must be reconciled to health or inevitably the result is death.
When we take communion are we doing it as Christ’s healthy body? Is He breaking bread and drinking from the cup through us in fulfillment of His kingdom? Or is our hardheartedness, unforgiveness or disobediance a sickness, a malignant cancer in His body?
Imagine the joy Jesus must feel when His healthy body takes communion. How His aching stomach must be satisfied and His parched throat relieved when He breaks bread and drinks from the cup because we do it in rememberance of Him. We are Him! We’re His body!