crocheting and cupcakes

There is so much more to corporate worship then I had thought. I had always been under the impression that we had a very open way of performing the act of worship- coming to church to sing, having the occasional special music from whomever could play an instrument or sing, and the choir. I hadn’t thought that there were any specific guidelines to follow or keep track of let alone having to worry about something like having my heart in the right place for worship.

One of the first things that blew my mind was that God wants us to prepare our hearts before worship. So often we come to church and begin to worship unknowingly, and the words we’re singing aren’t being sung in reverence and in worship to God. It’s like we’re singing empty words, unaware fully of their meaning because our hearts and minds are so away from where they should be..

Worship is something that as individuals we can pick how to worship, but that’s not the same as corporate worship. I can worship through the things I do every day- But in corporate worship we shouldn’t be doing something like crocheting or making cupcakes.   What we do to worship and glorify God in our time outside of church can be more open then the guidelines we have to keep in corporate worship.

There’s a difference between worshiping God and glorifying God. Worshipping God is putting God first, idolizing Him- being devoted to Him. While Glorification is to lift up, to honor. I can glorify God by creating something, but that’s not necessarily worshipping Him because more often then not we tend to end up idolizing the things we do to glorify Him more than we do to worship Him. One of the main things we need to realize for both worship and glorification is that it’s not about us - it’s about God. We’re so blinded by our culture that we’re supposed to only look out for ourselves and it’s all “me,me,me” and I think that carries over to our worship a lot of the time. We look at worship as a way almost to lift ourselves up, taking those opportunities that we’re supposed to use for God and turning them towards ourselves.

Lastly, I learned that if we do any of these wrong it makes God sad. I didn’t fully realize until this class that we have a God who’s sensitive and has emotions at the same time as being sovereign and all-mighty. If I don’t properly prepare my heart before worship to be focused on God then that’s something that makes God unhappy.

Worship is delicate and something that He cares about greatly but we’re so ignorant of how much we affect if we’re not doing it properly. It’s something to be done with great care for as much as we can. We’ll fall short, we always do- but that’s no reason not to try our absolute best to worship God in a way that’s pleasing to Him.

Genuine Worship

At the fall of the Roman Empire, a philosopher by the name of Ancinius Manilus Severinus Boethius said this in regards to the most detrimental poison that affects humanity, “Those poisons are much more toxic that creep within and infect the mind and soul.” It seems there is a variety of poisons that infiltrate the minds of individuals, but the poison I want to talk is about is the one that has infiltrated the minds of the congregations of the Christian Church and rendered the congregants blind and numb to the identity and purpose of worship. Though toxicologists have not yet named this poison, I think it is appropriate to call it idolatry. Of course Paul labeled idolatry simply as a “work of the flesh” (Galatians 5:20), but the destructive connotations of “poison” describe accurately this form of idolatry which some may commonly call worship.

Notice I did not say true worship, for this idol parades around disguising itself as worship, but it is not genuine because it ascribes praise and adoration to human ability and emotion, however, when it comes to humanity, “none is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). Worship is due to God alone. Revelation 4:11 says this, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” This poison of idolatry that I speak of can be defined as the worship of music/songs that evoke happy human emotion to temporarily comfort the participant with words that have no foundation in God’s holy word. And what exactly are the affects of this poison? Side effects include stunted spiritual growth and blindness towards the holiness of God. This worship of worship has rendered the true body of Christ as a remnant sitting in the pews in structures built to glorify man and his ability to worship the music and the emotional strum of a guitar chord. This is not true worship. Unfortunately it has become the standard for worship among many churches in the 21st century and it is nothing more than a large blindfold.

Lacking the ability to see some glimpse of the holiness of God keeps a congregation from genuine worship. The effect of holiness of God is “that dread and amazement with which, as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God… Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God” (John Calvin). God’s attribute of holiness helps prepare the believer for worship and give understanding to man about his position in relation to Almighty God. In fact, dwelling on the attributes and work of God, as laid out in Scripture, is essential for genuine worship, for if we do not worship God for whom He is and what He is done, then what is the point. The only other route is to worship something other than Almighty God. “We must sanctify God in the duties of His worship because it is the special glory that God has in the world to be actively honored. As far as His passive glory, that is, to be glorified in a passive way, He has that in hell. But the special glory that God would have is that He might be glorified actively” (Gospel Worship, pg. 126). If “His worship” requires an understanding of who He is, then it is important to have some glimpse of His holiness. Teaching about the attributes of God is important in a church congregation.

Congregations can be taught and led to grow spiritually as they sing God’s praise, but what’s the remedy for our poisoned congregational worship? I believe it is simply a return to scripturally and doctrinally rich worship. Let us look to Christ as our Worship leader and foundation that we continually build on, because Jesus is the only mediator between God and man, and the perfect man who sings God’s praise in our midst, (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 2:12). He is our high priest who has offered the perfect sacrifice of Himself to insure our entrance into the holy places, (Hebrews 10:19-22). In light of such hope and grace we worship God. A glimpse of God’s holiness is understood and through worship, spiritual growth is encouraged. This fruitful worship is true worship, which brings glory to God. “Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,” Hebrews 6:1. A poison has infiltrated the minds of the congregations of the Christian Church and rendered the congregants blind and numb to the identity and purpose of true worship, but the power of Gospel and Scripture filled worship eradicates this toxin leaving behind an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

Worship not Based on Emotions

Emotions and worship! Why does it seem that those go hand in hand these days? The answer to that is found in the fact that worship is becoming less Christ-centered and more self-centered. Worship leaders seem to have taken worship to an extreme where the drums and guitar solos lead to people falling on their knees in repentance of sins they really did not have. People are able to mess with emotions greatly and it seems as though this is becoming a very real issue in today’s worship. If the music is not moving the soul to action then it must not be good music. In GPTG Godfrey explains, “Pentecostals, building on the revivalism from which they sprang, claim that open expression of strong emotions is more truly human and more truly biblical than more traditional forms of worship (359).” This statement really hits the target in regards to the rising issue of emotions leading worship.

Music plays a huge role in the issue of emotions and worship. The music in worship is the biggest cause of the emotions getting out of control and pulling one away from true worship of God. This is where the worship leader must make some difficult choices in how the worship music should be presented. Should the worship be presented in a rock style that will appeal to a younger generation or should it be presented in a hymn style that will appeal to the elder generation? Music for the younger generation tends to play with emotions and cause people to feel as though they are close to God, thus causing them to make irrational decisions.

Emotions in worship are not a bad thing. The problem arises when emotions lead the worship. Calvin states, “The human soul consists of two faculties, understanding and will” (361). These two come together and are from the heart. This is why emotions are so important and should not be messed with. The Bible teaches in Proverbs that we are to guard our hearts because it is the wellspring of life (4:23). However, if we let the heart be uncontrolled by our emotions we are going to have a heart that is not where it should be.

Emotions are not wrong but they can be used in a very powerful way that makes them wrong. When worshiping, we are to be in control of our bodies and focusing on what God is teaching us. We are to be giving him our undivided attention while being in control of ourselves. However, when we let emotions take the control we lose the ability to rationalize and determine if our worship is truly God-centered or if it is a result of the music. Emotions are powerful and must be used in a very careful manner especially in regards to worship.

The Necessity of maturity in worship

The crux of this class is has been the acceptable forms of worship as we gather corporately. Yet besides the form of our worship, I believe there also is need for theological depth in our worship, allowing us progress in our sanctification. The book of Hebrews tells us there is a certain level of maturity that believers should possess in relation to our spiritual lives.

In Hebrew Chapter 5:11-6:3 in verse 12 of chapter 5 the author says, “By this time you ought to be teachers” yet the believers in this passage need to be taught once again the “basics” about God. The writer goes on to say believers need to leave the elementary understanding of Christ and move on to maturity. The mature believer should not need to have reaffirmed and reestablished the primary issues regarding faith and salvation.

This is not to say doctrine concerning Christ is not necessary, but for those who are mature and should have reached a point where they could and should be teaching other believers should have no misconceptions about the basis of their faith. Mature believers should not have question of whether it is better for them to turn back to the life they formerly lived as unbelievers. They should be pressing past the primary doctrines, while also being able to account for the faith they have to others.

With maturity of the believers being a point of emphasis for the believers in the book of Hebrews I do not think it is, a stretch to ask what is the level of maturity in our own churches. In his 2008 book Christless Christianity Michael Horton testifies to the many shortcomings of the evangelical church today as the depth of theology and understanding has been traded in for ways to improve our morality and transform our lives through a __ (you fill in the blank) step plan.

We need never to assume the power and the work of the cross, because this leads us away from the cross and the one to whom all the glory belongs. A sure contributor to the artificial Christianity in the evangelical church today is substituting God’s prescribed as worship for what man desires. God’s word prescribes specific forms of acceptable worship. For us to deviate from what God has intended for worship to consist of is to undermine his authority and omniscience regarding himself and what he desires.

Now our worship does not go without advantage to the believer. As we are cooperating in corporate worship as God intended we grow in our sanctification, which is manifest in our growth in the areas of knowledge about God, our love for God. Ultimately, our worship in a right way brings the ultimate glory to God. The God who the book of Revelation 5:13b says, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” This proclamation does not come as a random happening or by chance, the proclamation is given in response to the Lamb’s (Jesus’) shed blood as to ransom his people from sin and bondage. This is a clear happening of God being worshiped because of what has been revealed about God, a model for us to consider the next time we gather for worship.

Final Essay - Preparation

One of the greatest lessons I have learned from this class, as it relates to corporate worship, is that of the importance of our preparation for worship.

On page 68 of Gospel Worship, Burroughs states this unfortunate and troublesome fact of life, “Most men let out their hearts so much to other things, as their consciences cannot but tell them, that if God called the to prayer at such a time in the day, they would be altogether unfit for it.” This is an issue we deal with every day of the week, both in our personal worship and in our corporate worship. We much too easily give our minds to this thing over here or that thing over there, and we allow our attention to be captivated by pursuits of pleasure or of work. It is a shame our attentions and interests are given to so many things and things that are unworthy of its attention. But that is a rabbit trail I will refrain from going down for the sake of the purpose of this essay. Alas, when we come to worship our God, He is the last thing on our minds because our minds have been much busied with other things. To combat such a thing there must be preparation for the service. Time to reign in our wondering minds must be taken before we come to the service. Burroughs puts it this way, “[We must be] very serious in the examination of [our] hearts, to endeavor to work [our] hearts into mourning for [our] sin, and to labor to possess [our] souls with the presence of God.” (p. 69) Burroughs suggests we must understand the great weightiness of the glory of the Person we are about to commune with. We are going to come into the presence of God, the Sovereign Creator of the World. For this we must reel in our wandering minds and hearts.

The duty of worship is a great thing, a great task (p. 53). It is not something that we can take lightly or that we can participate in while sleeping (though some attempt to do so). And if we realize how great the business is of drawing nigh to God, it will cause us to realize the need for preparation.

Burroughs mentions five things we must to do in preparation on pages 58-62. I will not get into them in this essay, but summarized they are as follows: realizing Who God is, removing ourselves from the cares of the world, and keeping ourselves holy, set apart, so that we may be ready to engage ourselves in worship to our great God when the time comes (specifically corporate worship, as this essay is about). May we not come into the Sunday service half asleep and completely unprepared to commune with the God of the universe, but may we prepare ourselves ahead of time (let us keep Saturday evening and Sunday morning a holy time) so that we can come into the service prepared to give glory to God.

Worship is not about us.

The most important lesson to remember about worship is that it is not for us it is for God. That is what Gospel Worship is talking about; worshiping God has nothing to do with us except to be in the right mind set for Him. We are supposed to give praise to God while thinking of Him, not our selves. We might find ourselves thinking about how worshiping God is going to be beneficial to us and we are not in the correct mind set when this is happening. It is a time when we are lifting up our Savior in praise and only focusing on Him.

Worship includes giving something, and that something is our selves. We are to be giving God our full attention when we worship Him. All God wants is our attention, He wants all the time He is able to get with us. If we are only thinking about ourselves that is very sinful. When we give God our attention He wants all of it, He deserves all of it. God is worthy of our worship and we need to show that by not focusing on ourselves anymore.

When we go to take and eat the Lord’s Supper we ask of His forgiveness first. If you do not talk to God about your sins and ask of His forgiveness for everything before you take the Lord’s Supper then there is no use in taking it. This is because we are not being respectful of Him and we are not thinking about Him. We are to take the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Him not of our sins. We ask for forgiveness so that when we do eat and drink of Him we are doing it with clean souls. We need to come to the Lord clean.

When we pray to God we should not unroll a list of things we want Him to do for us. We need to thank Him for everything, come to Him asking for forgiveness. Worshiping God has nothing to do with our selves; it is all about Him and how great He is.

Worship Is For God’s Glory!

Jeremiah Burroughs view on the nature of corporate worship is one of the clearest explanation I have ever read on a book. A worship that is worthy of God. Burroughs is arguing that worship is for God’s glory, plain and simple. It’s not to make myself look better, and it is certainly not supposed to be a performance that elicits praise from those around us. It is so easy for us to be captivated by ourselves and what others think of us that Burroughs once again provides a helpful reminder to make worship about God’s glory, not ours. At first I was a little nervous to read centuries ago book but I find it quite easy to read and the message is as relevant today as it was when it was written. Perhaps more so. It is living proof of the timeless nature and value of the living Word.

Burroughs takes as his text Leviticus 10:3 which reads, “Then Moses said unto Aaron, it is what the Lord spoke saying, ‘I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me, and before all people I will be glorified.’ And Aaron held his peace.” He narrows in on the phrase “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me.” I know that God will be sanctified in those who draw nigh to Him. There are these two things in the point: if I do not sanctify God’s name, God will sanctify His name in a way of justice. If I do sanctify His name, then He will sanctify His name in a way of mercy towards me. When I worship every Sunday morning I need to realize that the God that I am worshipping is the same God in Leviticus 10. The importance of corporate worship really came alive through Gospel Worship. I believe that corporate worship exists to draw the whole congregation into praise of God. Jeremiah Burroughs exposes the natural tendency in man to depreciate the holiness of God in how we worship.

My brethren, I beseech you, learn this lesson this morning. Learn to account the duties of God’s worship as great matters. They are the greatest things that concern you here in this world, for they are the homage that you tender up to the high God, as you heard, and those things wherein God communicates Himself in choice mercies. (pg.70)

What underlies Burroughs’ thoughts here is something that deserves further consideration. There is something fundamentally different about the time of corporate worship than there is in all of life-worship. Even Jesus said that when two or three are gathered in his name, he is there among them. And the whole NT is unanimous that the gathering of the saints is very important.