There are times when the musical selections were ‘just right,’ when the prayers deeply touched me, and when the message went to the heart of issue for me that week. Indeed, I went away blessed and felt great. But recently when thinking about worship, I have asked myself about those ‘great worship services’ where I went away ‘feeling great.’ I felt great, but did God feel great too? In asking this question of myself, I seek to rise beyond my preoccupation with self in order to ascend to a level of worship of God where God is the focal point, not me.
In trying to answer my question (for myself), I asked another question, “What is the chief end of humankind?” The answer, humankind’s chief end is to glorify God and to be in presence of God forever. If I am anywhere near correct in answering this question, then this means that God in my life and the worship of God must be a top priority in my life. But how do I achieve that prioritization (of course, I know with the Holy Spirit)?
. . . .and now for some Hebrew . . . (for those of you who know me). In Hebrew language the words translated into English as “praise,” “worship,” “exalt,” “magnify,” and “glorify” all are expressions that acknowledge the greatness of God and place worshipers (like me) under God and in submission to God’s Lordship. Indeed, the English translators of the Bible had to invent the word “worship” to express the Hebrew nuance of “worth-ship” of God, where God is accorded the highest place (priority), specifically as it regards praise.
In Revelation chapter 4, there are twenty-four elders surrounding God’s throne in heaven and there are four living creatures there as well. The twenty-four elders are dressed in white and have crowns of gold on their heads. The four living creatures day and night, never ceasing, cry out “'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” Then there is more. Every time the living creatures glorify God, the twenty-four elders bow down before God enthroned and worship the God who lives for ever and ever. The elders cast their crowns before the throne and cry aloud: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Rev 4: 8-11). Now that is worship!
By my reading again Rev 4: 8-11, I realized that my understanding of worship of my God takes on a different value when faced with the reality and majesty of God as described in this piece of biblical text.
If praise is the main activity of worship and glorification of God in heaven, it makes me think that should not praise also be central to our worship of God here within God’s creation. So, it seems to me that worship may not necessarily be enhanced by, say, increasing the number of hymns sung or Scripture readings, but encompasses more the delight of worship and preference for worship of God where, say, my attitude and relationship to my God reflects the (top) priority of God in my life.
Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman reflects best what I am trying to convey: “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem … a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (cf. John 4:21, 23-24).
Reading your thoughts on Worship was a blessing to me this evening. I especially enjoyed your reference to Rev 4: 8-11, where I took away that the center of worship is God, not what the worshipers 'desire' to bring before the throne of God. The twenty-four elders bow down before God and give him glory - and as you noted, they do this .... and it is a delight. I agree that this should be the type of worship that we seek.
ReplyDeleteQuestion number 1: Which of this 5 songs pleases and Glorify God(copy and paste ULR to browser)
ReplyDeletea) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ofNBuMdrbcg&list=PLD7B9128DED031686#t=6s
b) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOe5GpqFJrE&feature=player_detailpage&list=PLD7B9128DED031686
c) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=UWndDW_271g&list=PLD7B9128DED031686
d) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PUIa674GGCo&list=PLD7B9128DED031686
e) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CBNE25rtnE&feature=player_detailpage#t=104s
What is the right form of worship? Is there only one correct form or style of worship? Have worship forms changed over time? Who is to decide which form or format is appropriate for worship? Almost everyone involved in the organization of worship has been confronted with such questions.
Within the ensuing discussions there is an abundance of good intent, but also a plethora of personal opinions, and very often little understanding of what worship really is. I would like to suggest that when we inquire about forms and formats of worship, we are asking the wrong questions. Rather than looking at how to worship--speaking about forms and formats--we need to find out, first of all, what worship really is, and why we worship. In other words, we need to discover the deeper meaning of worship, recover its original design, and create a spiritual vision of worship. An understanding of the true nature of worship will then naturally shape the expressions, the forms and the formats of worship.
The balance between joyfulness and reverence presents a challenge. In our worship services we often practice one to the exclusion of the other, and have difficulty finding a way to combine the two. It seems difficult to be reverent and at the same time joyful. But this is what God's Word tells us to do in worship.
In the Bible, worship is also presented as a wholistic activity. Biblical worshipers are approaching God not only through their minds. They are also worshiping God with their entire being. Biblical worship involves also physical expression and touches the senses. Thus, the text in Isaiah 6 involves the four senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, and touching.
Biblical worship is also introduced as corporate worship: we come to God as a body of believers. Sometimes we forget the horizontal aspect. We bring ourselves to worship, interact in a limited degree with the people around us, but are we really aware that we come to God as a body of worshipers? Because our churches are more and more multicultural and multi-generational, this has become a challenge. Each of the different groups aspires to express their worship in their own way.
Worship is not something we do for ourselves. Worship is meant to be done for God and to God. It is a God-centered activity, entirely focused on Him (see Ps. 9:1, 2). We do not come to worship to get blessings, to learn something, or to have fellowship. The main purpose of worship is to come to God, to give Him the glory, and to speak about His deeds.
Part 2
DeleteI have gone this route of thought with you because of my struggle with the need to identify “the true nature of worship.” My struggle begins with the scriptural record, from the Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures that are filled with the evidence of peoples who wrongly derived what and how to worship God, and many times even got the whom to worship wrong. When I use the scriptural and historical evidence as a basis of how and what was done wrongly, then there must be a flip side of how and what is done rightly. This moves me toward your observation that the focus must be “what worship really is” and away from your mis-observing that what you have evidenced is an “abundance of good intent,” . . and a “plethora of personal opinions.” Indeed, “good intent” was never meant, but the search for what it means to worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:21, 23-24) was meant and pursued. The use of the first person pronoun, “I,” in the communication you responded to was meant to limit the application of a [dramatized] perspective to the writer of the communication, rather than to presume that perspective [dramatized or otherwise] as applicable to others. This intentional, limited, dramatized perspective was performed to draw others into the search [and the dialogue] for “what worship really is.” It worked!
I desire to pick up the text at Isaiah 6 where you indicate: “biblical worship involves also physical expression and touches the senses.” You then, I understand, give Isaiah 6 to support this observation, which by the way, I agree that indeed worship can involve physical expression and can touch the senses. But the citation of “the four senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, and touching” from Isaiah 6 does not support your observation. It is exactly the references to seeing (v. 9b), hearing (v. 9a), and touching (v. 7[?)]) in Isaiah 6 that allude to a people who wrongly worshiped their God because these senses had been withdrawn from them (cf. Is 43:8; 44:18; Jer 5:21: Ezk 12:2l Acts 28:25-27; Matt 13:14; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:40; Rom 11:8; Deut 29:4). Indeed, this people could not worship their God rightly because they could not hear, see, or perceive their God. As a result, I marvel that you used these “senses” from the prophetic literature to support your observation, as oppose, to say, focusing on verses 3 of Isaiah 6. It is this verse that is indicative of the “true nature of worship.” It is Isa 6:3 that would indeed support your general conclusion that the “main purpose of worship is to come to God, to give Him the glory, and to speak about His deeds.” But, with what I can only determine to have been another agendum at work in your communication, you veered off in another direction that wholly works against your observation and general conclusion!
Isaiah 6:3 is explicit and purposeful for your argument. The seraphs proclaim, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Is not this proclamation the basis of your general conclusion? The weightiness, majesty, brilliance, and honor – the glory – of God is proclaimed as visible. While wallowing through the “plethora of personal opinions” with a missed appropriation of the very definition you yourself put forward as defining “what worship really is,” the link between Revelation 4 and your text of choice Isaiah 6 was missed. Revelation 4 picks up Isa 6:1-3 and Ezek 1:4-28, and Rev 4:8-11, echoes Isa 6:3.
I hope to engage with you further in fruitful discussions on worship.
Meanwhile, may I ask you why it is that you choose to anonymously identify yourself with the name of a well-known cult group, “HeavensGate,” yet carry an emblem of the ”Three-Angels” message on a blank blog site? Is there indeed something that you are communicating to others through this name and device? The originators of the HeavensGate cult group understood themselves to be the two witnesses spoken of in the Book of Revelation (11:3). They are also responsible for the murder of 39 people in 1997.
Part 1
ReplyDeleteDear HeavensGate
Thank you very much for your comments.
Speaking for myself apart from the congregation, I have struggled not with the scoping and sequencing of worship (“forms and formats”), but as you have aptly observed the need to identify “the true nature of worship.” Once this “discovery” is achieved, indeed expressions, forms and formats of worship, may well fall in to place, as you have indicated.
Indeed, HeavensGate, there is understanding that worship is a God-centered activity, and so there is not naivety on this matter as you seem to presume. That being the case, I can quote you that “the main purpose of worship is to come to God, to give Him the glory, and to speak about His deeds.”
But this statement is easier said than done because as you also pointed out “worship is not something we do for ourselves. Worship is meant to be done for God and to God.” This being the case, you have indeed answered your own question of “who is to decide which form or format is appropriate for worship?” The answer to your question is not ‘I’ or ‘you.’ The one who determines form(s) and format(s) of worship is God. This being the answer to your question, then there must be “the right form of worship,” which is determined by God. There is the “correct form of worship” and that right form and correct form of worship is determined not by the worshiper, but by the one who is worshiped, the God that we (the worshipers) seek to worship. Torah is vivid on this determination through the story of Cain and Abel (Gen 4:3-5). The question of why was one form of offering (‘worship’) accepted over that of another is answered in the Christian scripture, Heb. 11:4: “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” The apostle Paul indicates in Rom 10:17: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” So faith comes by the word of God. It can then be rendered that Abel’s offering by faith was in accordance with the word of God. If we worship God in faith, then do we not worship as the word of God directs? So indeed there are boundaries to form and format of worship that are acceptable to God, and one gleans what is acceptable form(s) and format(s) of worship from the word of God.
But, it is not that simple. One could deduce that a thorough search of “forms and formats” of worship of God from scripture may be the solution to identifying examples of ‘acceptable’ individual and corporate worship to be performed in our modern sanctuaries and contemporary settings. But worship according to Torah and the Christ is not that limited. When reading the words of God as spoken through the prophet Micah, the ‘world’ of acceptable worship of God explodes beyond any limited conceptualization of worship to include the whole of worshipers’ being and dong, including “mishpat” (justice), “chesed” (steadfast love), “tsana`” (humility). This means that worship as defined by the God who is to be worshiped is not limited to, for example, a Sabbath morning worship service, regardless of how well orchestrated in form and format, but extends into the very lives of those who worship God by doing God’s “mishpat” and “chesed” in “tsana`.” Interestingly, the characteristics of “justice” and “steadfast love,” we are told are identifiers (Isa 30:18), part of the essence, of God and are exactly those things which shall be carried out by the Christ (Jer 23:6). So, you see, HeavensGate, that you are correct. Once we have identified “the true nature of worship” the expressions, forms and formats of worship, will fall in to place. Indeed, when we have been clothed in Christ (Rom 13:14; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10), we shall take on the mind of Christ (Phil 2:5), so as to worship in truth and spirit (John 4:23).