Definitions of Worship

I was recently perusing my binder from my church music class in college, when I came upon this list of definitions of worship.  There are other such lists online, but this particular collection, I've found, is very good.  Thank you, Dr. Lock!

Karl Barth, Worship: Its Theology and Practice:
Christian worship is the most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in human life.

Evelyn Underhill, Worship:
Worship is the response of the creature to the Eternal.

Ralph Martin, The Worship of God:
Worship is the dramatic celebration of God in his supreme worth in such a manner that his “worthiness” becomes the norm and inspiration of human living. Worship is that exercise of the human spirit that confronts us with the mystery and marvel of God in whose presence the most appropriate and salutary response is adoring love.

Paul Hoon, The Integrity of Worship:
Christian worship is God’s revelation of himself in Jesus Christ and man’s response; it is the dialog between man and God through the Word.

R. A. Torrey, What the Bible Teaches:
Worship is the soul bowing itself in adoring contemplation before the object worshiped. To worship God is to bow before God in adoring contemplation of Himself.

Donald Hustad, Jubilate:
Worship is not a self-centered obsession with our sins, our experiences of God’s grace or even with our holy desires. Worship is “preoccupation” with God, whose attributes qualify him to forgive, and to cleanse, and enable him to regenerate and to transform.

Ron Allen and Gordon Borror, Worship:
Worship is an active response to God whereby we declare His worth. Worship is not passive, but is participative. Worship is not simply a mood; it is a response. Worship is not just a feeling; it is a declaration.

William Temple:
To worship is:
To quicken the conscience by the holiness of God,
To feed the mind with the truth of God,
To purge the imagination by the beauty of God,
To open the heart to the love of God,
To devote the will to the purpose of God. 

A.W. Tozer:
Worship is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner, admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in the presence of that most ancient Mystery and that unspeakable Majesty which philosophers call the First Cause but which we call Our Father which art in heaven.

Franklin Segler, Christian Worship:
Worship is an end in itself; it is not a means to something else. When we try to worship for the sake of certain benefits that may be received, the act ceases to be worship; for then it attempts to use God as a means to something else. We worship God purely for the sake of worshipping God. Worship is not a human invention; rather it is a divine offer.  Worship is both revelation and mystery. Worship is essentially the celebration of the acts of God in history.  Worship is not limited to acts of devotion and rites and ceremonies. Worship is practicing the presence of God in ever experience of life. Worship is both revelation and response. God takes the initiative in revelation and man response in worship. Worship is more than conversation; it is also encounter. Worship is primarily the offering of our total selves to God. Worship is the eschatological function of the church. Worship is not mere preparation for action. It is the “Opus Dei,” the adoration of God as man’s highest privilege. Christian worship is man’s loving response in personal faith to God’s personal revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ. In essence, worship is man’s communion with God in Christ, this conscious relationship being effected by the Holy Spirit in the spirit of the worshiper.

James White:
Christian worship is the deliberate act of seeking to approach reality at its deepest level by becoming aware of God in and through Jesus Christ and be responding to this awareness.

Herbert Carson, Hallelujah:
Worship is the declaration by a creature of the greatness of his Creator. It is the glad affirmation by the forgiven sinner of the mercy of the Redeemer. It is the united testimony of an adoring congregation to the perfection of their common Lord. It is the summit of the service of the angels and the climax of the eternal purpose of God for His people. It is man’s supreme goal here and the consummation of his life in heaven.

Henry Sloane Coffin, The Public Worship of God:
Worship is appreciation. It is the awed and glad spontaneous response of the spirit of man confronted by the God of Christian revelation – the God of creation and of redemption. This response is itself God-initiated.

William Lock:
Christian worship is any appropriate response of a believer to the revelation of God through the living and written Word of God.

The Antidote to Bad Theology is Good Worship

There’s a lot of hubbub out there in Evangelicaland about Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins.  I have not read the book.  The accusations are that Rob Bell is a (Christo-centric) universalist—i.e. in the end everyone gets saved.  I hear these accusations from folks I trust.  Nevertheless, Bell says he’s not (see this fascinating MSNBC interview), so I’ll take his word that he’s not intending to convey the universalism it appears he does.

While I don’t side with Bell, I do not have the same fear I’ve been sensing some pastors do that this will stir up heresy in my local church, despite the fact that among our people are some die hard Nooma fans.  Why?  Because I’m my church’s primary worship-planner, and I know what our flock is fed, week in and week out.

Worship truly is a form of indoctrination.  “Indoctrination” is a four-letter word in postmodernity, for it is the unpardonable sin—forcing someone to believe what you believe.  Such doings would be grievous sin, if it were indoctrinating falsehood.  If it is The Truth, then indoctrination is not only good.  It is the right thing to do.   So indoctrination is one of the things the Church should be about.  She is the pillar and foundation of truth, after all (1 Tim 3:15).  The reason that worship is a form of indoctrination is that both the content and the form of worship train us, shape us, and teach us. 

Let’s take the test case of the present universalism scare.  Weekly, our church worships through a very specific progression of the Gospel.  We enter in, praising God for His character, holiness, perfection, and glory.  Met by such a Presence, we are immediately confronted by our own sin and brokenness.  We confess that to God, and we find Him responding by yet again proclaiming the Good News of Christ’s salvation: because He lived perfectly, we can receive his spotless record; because He died sacrificially, we can receive the Father’s forgiveness.  We respond in praise and thanksgiving, offering ourselves, in turn, wholeheartedly to God. 

When that cycle is imbibed weekly by our people, if they truly imbibed it, then I don’t need to schedule a special “Why Universalism is Bad” module into our Sunday School curriculum.  They have been drinking the antidote to bad theology every week.  The Gospel cycle presents us with the reality of hell, damnation, and judgment.  And it presents us with the true grace of heaven, forgiveness, and pardon…in Christ.  We learn in the Gospel cycle that God must judge to satisfy His holy character, or else He would not be a God of integrity.  We learn in the Gospel cycle that God has judged His Son in our place.  Love only wins if it’s set against the backdrop of God’s holiness.  Otherwise, it’s impotent, costless, insignificant, Oprah-style love.

Good, Gospel-soaked worship, in this instance, defends heresy just as well as a systematic theology course. Indoctrination certainly is not the goal and objective of worship.  But when worship is done well, indoctrination is a glorious byproduct.  Worship leaders, this begs the question: What are you feeding your people?  If all you’re giving them is the touchy-feely, lovey-dovey stuff, then maybe you should be a little concerned when the winds of heresy blow your way.

Keep her life and doctrine pure;
Grand her patience to endure;
Trusting in Thy promise sure.
We beseech Thee, hear us.

Thomas Pollock, 1871

Not Just a Worship Warm-Up: Singing is Where Teaching, Formation, and Growth Happens

Colossians 3:16:

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.”

“Word of Christ,” in context, is the good news, the gospel, of His headship (2:10), of our union with Him (2:12; 3:1), of our being made alive in Him (2:13), and of His triumph over the powers and authorities (2:15).

Most often, we evangelicals tend to think that this word of Christ dwells in us by means of Bible study.  Certainly this is true.  Part of our “teaching and admonishing one another” is our reading the Scriptures together and allowing the Spirit to form us through the teaching that takes place there.  We evangelicals furthermore acknowledge that the word of Christ dwells in us by means of the preached word.  And certainly this is true, as well.

But that’s not what this passage is talking about.  Here, we have a radical statement that this “Word of Christ” dwells in us richly as we sing in worship.  The Gospel has a special “dwelling” among us as we sing.  Firstly, yes, this passage is referring to the act of corporate worship.  The verbs are all plural in Greek, and the “one another” is a dead giveaway that this is referring to gathered, corporate action.  Secondly, blown to smithereens is the notion that music in a worship service is merely a “warm up” for the sermon.  As far as the word-of-Christ-dwelling-richly barometer goes, they’re both on equal footing.  Thirdly, notice the interconnectivity of it all.  The connection between this “teaching and admonishing” and “singing” is even more stark in the original language of the text.  And here, I’ll note that the new NIV (2010) has actually brought this out with more precision:

(Old NIV): “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”

(2010 NIV) “Let the message of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

The latter reflects the literal flow of the Greek text.  The former breaks up the ideas a bit with “and as you sing,” but no such conjunction “and” exists in the Greek. It flows literally, “teaching and admonishing one another in/by/with* psalms, in/by/with hymns, in/by/with songs…”.  Kudos to the new NIV team!  So, ultimately, the language points us to the fact that the Gospel dwells in us uniquely in the act of singing together. 

Just as profound is the fact that singing together is an instrument through which we teach and admonish one another.  This certainly means several things:

1) It raises the stakes for the theological content of our songs.  If one of the goals of our singing is to teach and admonish one another, we can’t do this if our content is simplistic, theologically shallow, or downright wrong.  If I want to encourage your physical health, I can’t hand you a milkshake.  If I want to encourage your spiritual health, I can’t do so without healthy theology.  But let it be known that this doesn’t mean that our songs need to be theologically dense.  They can be simple, just not simplistic. 

2) It raises the stakes for the need for our active participation in singing.  How well does teaching and admonishing work when it comes from a half-hearted source?  If I am attempting to encourage you with the Gospel, can I do so effectively through a yawn (I see a lot of yawns as we sing on Sunday morning!)?  If I am ministering the word of Christ to others, I should do so with the utmost zeal, with all that is within me.

3) It means that worship is an important context for true spiritual formation.  Born again evangelicals have inherited a strong “me and God” emphasis on spiritual formation.  But here we have a passage which emphasizes that the teaching and admonishment, which are necessary parts of my spiritual growth, happen in the context of worship, as we sing together.  The drum needs to be beat time and again: one of the best things you can do for your spiritual health and growth is to regularly worship with the gathered people of God.

Who knew that so much truth could be so densely packed in one Greek sentence?  Well, I guess God knew.

*For those who know Koine Greek, “psalms,” “hymns,” and “songs” are all dative constructions, and the context indicates that they’re being used instrumentally, as means through which teaching and admonishing happen.



How to Talk to Your Kids About the Sermon

Joe Holland offers some excellent thoughts.  Here's a summary of his 8 points, but definitely read his explanation in full here.

1. Remember the outline.

2. Know the one, main point.

3. How is Jesus the hero?

4. Engage your kids with open-ended questions.

5. Make sure the gospel is clear.

6. Be the first to pray and confess.

7. Chase rabbit trails.

8. Remember the two rules: (a) they retain more than you think they do; (b) they understand more than you think they do.

An Untruth Which Has Affected our Worship Landscape: The Holy Spirit was Forgotten but Rediscovered 100 Years Ago

Justin Taylor brought to my attention a book I had read over a decade ago in my quest to know God better—Sinclair Ferguson’s The Holy Spirit.  Ferguson made this observation (links provided by Taylor):

The assumption which became virtually an article of orthodoxy among evangelicals as well as others, that the Holy Spirit had been discovered almost de novo in the twentieth century, is in danger of the heresy of modernity, and is at least guilty of historical short-sightedness.

It forgets that it was with good reason that the Reformation pastor-theologian John Calvin was described as “the theologian of the Holy Spirit.”

Moreover, each century since his time has witnessed events which were ascribed to the unusual working of the Holy Spirit.

Even in the late twentieth century, the two opera magna on the Holy Spirit remain the extensive studies by the seventeenth-century Puritan John Owen, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and by the great Dutch theologian-politician, Abraham Kuyper, founder of the Free University of Amsterdam.

Looking back even further, the assumption that the twentieth century had recovered truth lost since the first two centuries displays a cavalier attitude to the material unearthed by H. B. Swete in his valuable series of studies on the Spirit begun more than a century ago. These richly demonstrate the attention which much earlier centuries gave to honoring him along with the Father and the Son.

In every chance I’ve had to teach on the history of worship in evangelicalism, I’ve said that modern evangelical worship today, across denominational lines, is most immediately shaped by three things: (1) Finney-brand revivalism; (2) modern technology; and (3) Azusa Street Pentecostalism.

It is (3) to which Ferguson is referring, and he’s right.  So how has this “heresy of modernity” affected evangelical worship?  For one, it has pigeonholed our understanding of how the Holy Spirit moves and acts in the context of a worship service.  Such ideas are betrayed by the way we can equate a lack of planning with “room for the Spirit,” as though the Spirit cannot be present in a highly structured, pre-planned liturgy.  We think of the Spirit as acting only in spontaneity, rather than in order.  The irony here is that those who hold such a view may be in danger of “constraining” the Spirit (I use quotes because we can’t really constrain God, but the language is often used against those who are from traditions that have highly structured liturgies).   Problems arise also when we equate the Spirit’s movement only with feeling, or only with our feeling.  But these are Azusa Street values, and may not necessarily be the values associated with a full-orbed understanding of the Holy Spirit. 

The Spirit certainly is probably the most nebulous and “free-wheeling” member of the Godhead.  John 3:8 affirms, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  In fact, ruach (Hebrew) and pneuma (Greek) can equally mean “wind” and “breath.”  But the Holy Spirit is also called the “Spirit of Truth”:

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.  (John 16:13)

The Spirit is a teacher:

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  (John 14:13)

In scholarly lingo, if you’ve been noticing that all three references to the Spirit have come from the same book, we need a full-orbed Johannine Pneumatology, here.  Then, maybe, our charismatic brothers and sisters (who have, undoubtedly, taught us much about the Spirit’s relation to and involvement with Christian worship) might be more open to how the Spirit moves in yet other ways in other worship contexts. 

Last June, our church hosted our denomination’s national gathering, called our General Assembly.   Naturally, I was in charge of planning the worship services that we would all partake in while we were together.  The spectrum of worship represented by our one, little denomination is surprisingly large.  We’ve got full-blown Pentecostal Presbyterians and high, stately Anglican-style Presbyterians.  And then we’ve got everything in between.  Needless to say, the very issues I speak of above were present in my mind as I planned these five or so services.  I attempted to plan and execute a variety of worship styles and expressions.  I ultimately don’t know how it hit everyone, but I did get many words and emails of appreciation for the diversity.  I think everyone was stretched (including myself, a bit) in our pneumatological encounters.  For those who were open enough, we all experienced winds of the Spirit in both the formality and informality of our times.  But, I have to say, I did wrestle with applying the very things of which I speak above. 

All in all, the lesson here is to fight the urge toward chronological snobbery in the way we understand worship and the Holy Spirit.  Knowing just a bit of church history can cure many ills and dysfunctions in the psychology of our worship.  I guess that’s reason #473 why worship leaders need to be thoughtful students of theology, history, and the Bible. 

Personal Piety is Not Enough; We Need Worship, Too

Luke Stamps has blessed us with a fabulous post on the Gospel Coalition site.  He observes the historical reasons why evangelicalism has placed a lot of emphasis on personal piety, perhaps to the neglect of corporate worship as a primary means through which God shapes and forms us into the image and likeness of Christ.  He contrasts this with (perhaps a caricature, I would admit, of) Roman Catholic spirituality, with its lack of emphasis on personal piety, so he’s not making light of the importance of our need for an individual, ongoing, and personal relationship with God.  But, in making his point about worship, He frequently interacts with the Westminster Shorter Catechism, including with this question and answer:

Question 89: How is the word made effectual to salvation?

Answer 89: The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation.

Stamps’ comment:

It is interesting that the catechism places special emphasis on the formal preaching of the Word, which can only take place when the church is gathered together. It is often said that the corporate worship of the church is diminished when the individuals that make up the church have not been worshiping God in their daily lives throughout the week. Anyone who has ever had the responsibility of leading a local church in public worship can testify to the truth of this claim. But it seems to me that the opposite is true as well: If the church is not engaged in biblically ordered worship through Word, sacrament, and prayer, then it will be very difficult for its members to be equipped for their daily tasks of loving God and loving neighbor.

Stamps goes on to point out that worship is “not incidental, but vital,” meaning that while attending and participating in worship certainly is optional for every one of us, it is not optional if you are desirous to grow in your faith.  God chooses to do too many special things that are unique to the worship context for it to be replaced with any other practice.

Please read this important article!

*****

I believe in this subject.  Here are some previous posts that have addressed it:

Worship's Unique Ability to Give People Spiritual Wisdom and Insight

Flippant Worship Attendance: Stats and Consequences

Why the Gospel Shines Brightest in Worship

Taking Children to Jesus in Worship

Why the Gospel Shines Brightest in Worship

If you know me, then you know that I place myself in the camp of those folks who are big on the Gospel.  I’m one of those obsessed evangelo-philes that can’t get enough of the good news.  I’m convinced that evangelicalism has inadvertently over the years done some diminishing of the Gospel’s scope and depth, and I’m on board with those (like the Gospel Coalition) who want to reclaim it for all its power, beauty, and worth.

What I don’t hear talked about much among the Gospel-lovers is how the context of corporate worship is uniquely qualified to convey, proclaim, preach, and minister the Gospel.  The Gospel is certainly brilliant in and of itself, but it seems that God has ordained that it shine brightest and purest in the context of worship.  Where else can the Gospel be preached in the context of the gathered people of God?  Where else can the Gospel be displayed uniquely in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper?  Where else can the Gospel be rehearsed by the people of God in one collective, sacred liturgical act?  Where else can Gospel-borne community so aptly summarized and pictured?

The Gospel is like a diamond.  It’s beautiful and captivating all the time.  But a diamond’s brilliance and color is at its peak when it is placed in the right setting, viewed under the best lighting, prepared with the ideal polish, and observed from an optimal angle.  God has ordained that worship be the Gospel’s most perfect display case. 

The Gospel is like medicine.  It heals and restores sick and wounded souls.  It shows no favoritism.  If Christians and non-Christians truly receive it, the effect is the same—healing and growth.  But medicine is most effective when it is prescribed in ideal dosages and administered rightly.  Worship is God’s authorized pharmacy for the Gospel.  Sure, the medicine works whether you get it from the black market or the drug store (that seemed to be Paul's point in Philippians 1:12-18).  But the Gospel’s dosage and administration are at its peak potency and effectiveness in the context of worship.

There’s something missing from the discussion if, in speaking of the Gospel, we are subtracting from it its ecclesiological and doxological contexts.  The Gospel is not a nebulous, free-floating message.  It is the good news of Christ given to the Church to give to the world.  So the Gospel has an ecclesiological (church) context.  Furthermore, its message is uniquely displayed by the Church in her worship.  So the Gospel has a doxological (worship) context.

Some might argue, “Well, Jesus didn’t have an ecclesiological and doxological context when He communicated the Gospel.”  But this is creating a false dichotomy, for Christ was and is the fullness of ecclesiology and doxology.  We must first think about the fact that the four gospel-writers went to great lengths to communicate that Christ was the fulfillment of the people of God.  His successful forty days in the wilderness mirrored Israel’s failed forty years in the desert.  His selection of twelve disciples mirrored the twelve tribes of Israel.  His “I Am” statements throughout the first half of the gospel of John are intended to communicate that He is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament feasts and festivals.  So as Christ was ministering the Gospel, He was His own ecclesiological and doxological context.

Secondly, we must remember that Christ sent His Spirit to the Church (Acts 2) in order that the Church, filled with His very Presence, might be the true “body of Christ” to the world.  As some theologians have put it succinctly, in many ways, “Christology is ecclesiology.”  If the Church is the body of Christ, and if Christ is the head, then it makes sense that the Church actually exemplifies Christ’s own earthly ministry of the Gospel best when she is gathered as one body, because she displays Christ most fully when she is together, en masse. And while the Church may gather at other times, her prescribed and sanctioned convocation is weekly corporate worship.

Therefore, we might say that the Gospel is uniquely manifested most acutely at the intersection of Christ, His Church, and worship.  If this is true, then there are many implications for our worship, for both how we view it and what we do in it.  But that's for another day.

Worship’s Unique Ability to Give People Spiritual Wisdom and Insight...Especially with Suffering

Psalm 73 makes a shocking claim that often gets overlooked.  It is a raw psalm that is perhaps more honest than many Christians would dare to be before God.  Its first half is nearly bitter:

I envied the arrogant
     when I saw the prosperity of the wicked
They have no struggles;

…Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
     in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.  (vv 3-4a, 13, NIV)

The psalmist expresses being on the brink of despair.  Haven’t we all been there?  Whether we’ve merely scratched our heads or actually shaken our fists toward the heavenlies, we have all sensed from time to time that the wicked seem to have it just fine and the righteous seem to be loaded with trials.  It is one of the most apparent Divine injustices.  But here comes the surprising pivot-point:

When I tried to understand all this,
     it was oppressive to me
till I entered the sanctuary of God;
     then I understood their final destiny.  (vv 16-17, NIV)

How was this theological and existential struggle alleviated?  Not by a Bible study.  Not by a counseling session with a pastor.  Not by taking a seminary class.  The psalmist communicates that a very special spiritual wisdom and insight was imparted in “the sanctuary of God,” in the context of worship.

Extrapolating outward, is it not easy to see the rich benefit of corporate worship?  Of the many blessed by-products of worship, this is surely one of them--that, in worship, we are often given (many times supernaturally and mysteriously) wisdom from God that aids in gaining perspective on some of life’s deepest struggles and problems.

This is a vivid reality for me.  Five and a half years ago, I was finishing up my seminary degree and leading worship in a small church plant in north Denver.  My wife, Abby, was diagnosed with cancer.  During that period of time, I can recall feeling that worship was very much a discipline foisted on me by God…something I had to do simply because it was my job.  Believe me, I wanted to retreat.  But worship became a most blessed discipline.  Worship perpetually put before my head and heart the greatness of God, the eternal perspective, the Kingdom mentality, and the love of Christ.  Worship provided the frame of wisdom and insight that bordered the portrait of my suffering.  It didn’t take away the sting of suffering, but those of you who have been there know the difference between suffering well and suffering poorly.  I believe I suffered well.  In the words of Sheldon Vanauken, I believe that worship helped me to experience suffering as a “severe mercy.”

I believe that this is one of the reasons the book Habakkuk ends the way it does—with a worship song.  I believe Habakkuk understood that when we come to the end of our wrestlings about the vexing incongruities of life, when we hit that wall, worship is one of the ways God graciously provides for us to break through to the wisdom on the other side.

Perhaps Psalm 73 would have us then rephrase James 1:5: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should gather with God's people…and worship.”