It's very common for people to refer to the beginning of a church service as the worship part of the service. "Ahhhh! I was late to church today and I missed the worship! How was it today?"
It's even quite common for people to plant roots at a church where the music portion of the service is to their liking. "We chose this church because the worship is good."
Now just to clarify, the music portion of the service may or may not be true worship as you'll see shortly. I will also add that it's not wrong to like the style of music that is played and sung at a church. We all have musical preferences and that's not inherently sinful. But I want to focus on the notion that worship is somehow relegated to the first 20-30 minutes of a church service where music is played and songs are sung. It's not.
I was once taught that worship is our response to who God is and what He has done. As someone in their late 20's, at that time, I was blown away by this notion. It was a good attempt to steer people away from the idea that worship is just about singing to God. While there is some truth in that statement, I think the idea needs to be developed and drawn out a lot more. It's too vague and leaves room for error to creep in. Yet there's something tangential to this notion that I want to draw out and in doing so I think it'll help develop this vague notion.
I firmly believe that worship is much more than the music portion of a church service. True worship must be centered around the saving work of Jesus Christ. Once that is in place, then worship is an obedient life to God through Christ and in response to Christ's saving grace. This seems, to me, to be a much better way of saying that worship is our response to who God is and what He has done. What has God done? In a display of His many attributes, He has saved us through Christ. What then should be our response? In response to God's saving grace, we may approach God through Christ's saving work and live for God by the power of the Spirit of Christ who dwells in believers. This includes not just singing but a life fully devoted to God. This is not merely an opinion but an outworking of what Scripture teaches. So let's go to Scripture to see this drawn out.
At the beginning of Scripture we see the account of God creating mankind. God placed them in the Garden of Eden and God commanded them to have dominion over creation. Since Adam and Eve were made in the image and likeness of God, they were required to display His nature as they ruled over the creation that He made. In other words, they were to rule this world under the rule of God. In doing so they would imitate God and thus exhibit His perfect nature. And this perfection is what God required precisely because it represented Him! God is perfect and perfection offered back to God is the only thing He is deserving and worthy of. This would be how they showed God His worth and their love for Him. That is worship! Today, God is still perfect and perfection is still required of every human being. The problem is that we are sinners by nature ever since Adam sinned and rebelled against God. So what we offer to God is not perfection but disobedience. We can no longer offer perfection to God because we are by nature sinners and our sinful deeds verify that corrupt and imperfect nature.
So then, how is it that we are able to approach God and worship Him? Well, that only happens on God's terms and a large part of the Old Testament teaches us how we may worship God. These conditions and terms all pointed the way to Jesus Christ. And these conditions are wonderfully outlined in the Jewish law that God gave to the Israelites when He met with Moses on Mt. Sinai.
Of course, there is way too much to cover in a brief article so we're going to fast track through some of this so we can correct this myth that worship is only the beginning portion of a church service. In the minor prophecy of Malachi, we see God chastising the priests. In Malachi 1:6-2:9 God rebukes the priests for their accepting polluted offerings from the Israelite citizens. The burnt offerings that were to be offered to God were to be perfect and without blemish. They were to have no defects and to be without corruption of any kind. This meant that the animals offered to God could not be stolen or taken by violence either. The reason that God demanded perfection in their offerings was threefold:
(1). God loves His name. That is to say, that God loves His nature. His name represents who He is. God loves everything about Himself because He is perfect and the first and best of all beings. There is nothing and no one more delightful and enjoyable than God. He loves His name and nature. Since He is perfect then He is worthy of perfection being offered back to Him. Nothing less will do.
(2). Since the Israelites could not present themselves individually or as a whole to God in perfection, they needed something to stand in their place as a perfect representative. Remember, they too, had a sin nature proved by their sinful deeds. They could not offer themselves as perfect to God which God has required of all of us ever since the beginning of creation. So, if they could not bring themselves to God in His perfect likeness, then God required that something stand in their place as a representation of perfection. That was one of the purposes of these perfect animals. It acted as a perfect representative on behalf of the citizen. It was as if the Israelites were saying, "Lord, I cannot bring myself to you in perfection so here is a substitute in my place. You are worthy of perfection." This, then, is why God despised the polluted offerings of the Israelites that the priests accepted. This is what enraged God. By their polluted offerings they were saying that God was not worthy of perfection and thus they were saying God was polluted as well. Thus, their worship of God was not accepted.
(3). The other reason that God required a perfect offering from the Israelites is because this offering would point forward to the saving work of Jesus Christ. One reason that Jesus came to earth was to do what Adam failed to do--the same thing we fail to do, which is to perfectly represent God is this world. Again, that is what God is worthy of. This is what true and perfect worship is. Adam failed. You and I failed. We have sinned and not displayed the perfect likeness of God. Jesus succeeded. He is the perfect image and likeness of God because He is God in the flesh. He obeyed the Father perfectly, even to the point of death, and showed that God is worthy of this perfection (Philippians 2:8). And the perfect offerings that the Israelites brought to the priests were to be offered up as sacrifices to God. You see, the Israelites deserved to die for their sin and betrayal of God. And these perfect animal substitutes stood in their place, not only representing the perfection they could not bring to God, but these animals would then die in their place so that the Israelites would not incur the wrath of God. There was a double substitution taking place: a substitution of perfection and a substitution of death. These sacrifices portrayed, in advance, what Christ would do to reconcile us to God. Christ stands in our place as our perfect representative, offering to God what we are incapable of offering--perfection. And Christ dies in our place as a substitute taking the punishment that we deserve. Three days later Christ defeated death and rose again. Scripture says that those who trust in Christ to save them from their sin and imperfection have their sin removed from them--as it was transferred to Christ and He was punished for it. Those who trust in Christ to save them also have the perfection of Christ granted to them. We are then rewarded with eternal life, not because we are good, but because Christ was perfect and righteous for us.
Hopefully, now, you can see how the worship of the Old Testament informs us of our worship. In summary, God demands perfection. He is worthy of it. No one can give it as we are all sinners by nature proving it with our sinful deeds. Therefore, a perfect substitute must stand in our place to represent what we are supposed to give to God. That perfect representative must die in our place in order to suffer the punishment we deserve for not perfectly representing God in this world. That perfect life and substitutionary death is why God took on flesh and lived in this world: to be our perfection and to suffer our death, rising victoriously to defeat death for us. Thank God for Jesus.
So this brings us full circle to the idea of worship. From Malachi we learn that proper worship is us upholding Christ to the Father as our perfection. That is what the Father requires. We can't bring perfection to God so we lift up Christ to the Father and say, "Lord, I can't bring you perfection because I'm a sinner. So I come to you on the basis of who Christ is. I approach you in prayer and in song through Christ, through His perfect life and death and resurrection. It’s in His name that I approach you. In fact, I offer my whole life to you in response to what Christ has done to make me acceptable to you. He's taken my sin upon Himself and suffered for it. He's given me His righteousness by faith in Him. You declare me perfect, not on the basis of what I have done but on the basis of what Christ has done. I can ascend the hill of the Lord."
When we look in the book of Romans, we get a deeper understanding of how worship is connected to the gospel--Christ's perfect life, death and resurrection. The Apostle Paul takes 11 chapters to explain what Christ has done to save us. Paul explains why obedience to the law can't save us--because we still have sin to account for. Paul explains how it is that God can reckon us just and perfect--through faith in the righteous Christ who never sinned. Paul speaks eloquently about the death and resurrection of Christ for sinners. The first 11 chapters of Romans take us deep into the perfect requirement that God demands from us and is worthy of--a perfection we cannot give to God but one that Christ achieved for us. This is the gospel--the good news of Jesus Christ. And after 11 chapters of teaching what Christ has done to save sinners, Paul then begins chapter 12 with this:
Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Do you get what Paul is saying? In order to properly worship you must first have a firm belief in the mercies of God. That is to say that you must believe that Jesus was perfect for you, that He died for you and that He rose again for you. These are the mercies of God. In view of these mercies and only in view of these mercies, you must then present yourselves, not as dead sacrifices, but as living sacrifices. What were Adam and Eve supposed to do? They were to be living sacrifices. They were to live lives in perfect obedience to God. That is what a living sacrifice is. That's what worship is.
In light of the fact that Christ has taken away our sin and given us His perfection we must present ourselves to God in perfect obedience. Another way to say it might be like this: in appreciation for Christ's perfection, you must imitate that perfection. Of course we aren't perfect as of yet, but God considers us and counts us as perfect because our sin has been removed and Christ's perfection has been granted to us. So now when God looks at us He sees Christ deeds. And so Paul is asking us to live like how God sees us out of appreciation for what Christ has done for us. This is our spiritual worship! We are to do what is good and acceptable and not be conformed to the world's wicked desires. This transformation in deeds and thoughts comes by renewing our minds in God's truth--Scripture. And Scripture always points us to Jesus and His saving work. Therefore, it's the mercies and grace of God that continually drive us to a life of worship.
So Biblical worship, proper worship, true worship is a life that is fully devoted to God on the basis of God's mercies shown to us through Christ. It includes singing to God. It includes listening to God's Word. It includes a life of prayer and taking communion. It includes loving your brothers and sisters in Christ. It includes sharing the gospel with those who need Christ. Spiritual worship is your whole life, not just the beginning of a church service. Worship is a response to who God is and what He has done...and now you know who God is and what He has done. He came to earth in the flesh, lived perfectly, died and rose again...for us. So live your live fully devoted to God and you'll be worshiping God all throughout your life.
Brothers and sisters, true worship is centered around Christ because it is only by Christ and through Christ that we can come to God. And ultimately worship is not just made possible by Christ and through Christ, but it is also for Him. You stand before God and God declares you perfect because of our Savior. On that basis you lovingly offer your whole life back to Christ knowing that you have been justified and sanctified. That's why and how you worship God. So 20-30 minutes of corporate singing on a Sunday morning is just a part of the worship you should offer to God. Worship is supposed to be offered during the whole church service and after the church service and everything else leading up to the next church service. Worship is a life fully-devoted to God. Isn't God worthy of that? Isn't that why God made us? Didn't God save us from rebelling against that? So why would we ever live a moment of life that doesn't have the worship of God in mind?
I pray that worship myth #3 has been destroyed in your mind once and for all. Now go worship the Lord in joy.
Stay tuned for worship myth #4: We should only sing songs in church that are tried and true and tested by time.
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