Yeshua Explored
12th June 2023
Worship – part 2
What is real worship?
… Now let’s move into a time of worship …
Eh, aren’t we already worshipping God? Is God just sitting there waiting for that first guitar chord to be struck, so that He can relax in the warm glow of receiving worship from a collection of vibrating tonsils?
There’s no doubt that worship leaders and songwriters have the best of intentions and are using their God-given gifts, but the problem is in the whole concept of considering “worship” as an entity, divorced from the One Who is to be worshipped. It is form replacing function. The function should always centre on God Himself and consider what He asks of us in our worship to Him.
To love Him and use our mind, body and soul in worshipping Him.
This is not only about singing choruses, though, of course, that is one expression of worship, if done properly with the best of intentions. But it’s not the only expression.
Worship leaders perform their acts of worship through the writing and performing of songs that draw their hearts toward God. By doing so they are fulfilling the criteria just mentioned. Those who listen and are moved by these songs, are also sharing in this experience, but for these people, and for others who don’t totally share in this particular experience, God is happy for them to worship in other ways.
… use our mind, body and soul in worshipping Him.
We weren’t created just to be able to sing. We can also speak, read, study, argue, write, create works of art, build things, organise others, help others, clean a room, wash dishes … the list, of course, is endless.
For me, my main act of worship is what I’m doing right now (in my time frame, not yours). I’m writing these words which, for me, is a fulfilment of a pledge I made many years ago to God. As a writer, my career could have gone in all sorts of directions, but there was a point in time when I decided, as my act of worship, to direct all of my God-given talent back to the Giver of the talent. For me, writing is an act of worship. For you, perhaps you have made a similar promise concerning the talents you have been given, or perhaps you are still praying for a talent in the first place that you can return to the Creator with interest? We all have something of value, even if the World (or even the Church) doesn’t recognise it as such, maybe because it doesn’t fit in the usual grand mould of giftings. Your task is to identify it and offer it back to Him as your act of worship. Nothing is too little, or insignificant, as long as it is done with a willing heart.
… use our mind, body and soul in worshipping Him.
So, we need a wider concept of worship, a holistic approach which involves us giving back to the One who Created us. And it is different for each of us, because we are all uniquely different. Praise God!
So we should be clear now about the type of worship that God demands of us. This is fine if we are correctly aligned but, still, we have to remind ourselves of the warnings:
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6)
Here are some traps that we could fall into. Make of them what you will:
How we can fall into false worship:
- Worshipping the worshippers
That singer’s dress is a little too revealing … and I don’t like the way he’s holding his guitar … that keyboard player has a strange way of singing, like she has marbles in her mouth … don’t think the drummer’s washed his hair for weeks!
Of course, this is a bit of a parody, but there are probably crumbs of truth here. Worship groups can be a wonderful channel of guided praise … but they can also be a distraction. We can end up concentrating on their form (looks / expertise / quirks) rather than their function and, in extreme cases where the form is most agreeable, great dollops of worship can be unconsciously (or intentionally!) rerouted towards them! Let’s get real here. If sung worship is to be our primary way of acknowledging our God corporately then there needs to be no distractions. My advice is to site the worship group behind the congregation or behind a screen.
- Building thrones for preachers / teachers / ministers / pastors
Hey that charismatic American preacher is in town, speaking a few roads away. Let’s skip our church and go and see what God has to tell us through him.
Why do we Christians copy the world in how we treat those who are following specific vocations? Many a pastor or preacher has been levered onto a pedestal and many of the same have been dramatically knocked down from one, if they haven’t delivered the goods or delivered the wrong goods. The number of “clergy” who have risen to the top through their form (charisma, good looks, connections, forceful personality) rather than their function (actual giftings from the Lord) is worryingly high. You really get the impression that the Church largely follows the world’s model in such matters, opening up paths through to the top for those with charisma, good looks, connections or forceful personality rather than an actual calling. Christians largely follow their favourite teachers, often endowing them with the same kind of devotion – dare we say worship – that is usually reserved for pop stars, film stars and assorted celebrities. But love can turn to hate if the “worshipped one” suddenly becomes undeserving, usually through past misdemeanours coming to light, as with Rolf Harris, Michael Jackson (allegedly) and a growing band of #metoo blowbacks. Christians who follow the same model can also be condemned by it and there’s a huge number of fallen leaders, teachers and celebrities littering the ground, many of them not having the grace or self-awareness to retreat into anonymity and leaving behind disillusioned followers who realised they backed the wrong horse and should have given their wholehearted worship to God rather than one of His flawed earthly “representatives”
- Idolatry by any other name
You only have to follow the story of the golden calf (Exodus 32:4) to see how quickly worship can descend into idolatry. We can easily deflect worship away from God and towards religious objects, even Bibles. There’s been many a zealot who has frowned on me for resting my Bible on the ground, as if I was knowingly disrespecting God Himself. It is a book, with words. The book itself isn’t holy, though the words are. Idolatry can also arise when Christians, in extreme cases, focus – sometimes exclusively so it seems – on one aspect of their Christian journey. One example is extreme Christian Zionists who seem to look at the world through the lens of “what does this mean for the Jews and Israel” rather than the clear glass of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Other “good causes” include the environment, other people groups, creationism, End Times and so on.
So who are you worshipping today? If this is not an exclusive arrangement with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then it may be time for self-examination. This is an extract from the book, Sinner’s Charter: Are the ten commandments for today?, available for £10 at https://www.sppublishing.com/the-sinners-charter-260-p.asp
