Music 20 - Contemporary Christianity’s Unscriptural Philosophy of Music

Why does your church choose the music it chooses? Why does it play and sing it in the style it does? In the last post we saw that the scriptural purpose of church music is edification. But the sad truth is the majority of American churches – what I am going to broadly label as the contemporary movement – do not understand this, and that lack of understanding informs a corresponding errant application in music choice and style. The contemporary movement approaches music differently, and in so doing it directly impacts how they do church music. In today's post I want to discuss two of those errant philosophies.

First, it can reasonably be asserted that the contemporary movement uses music to draw and hold people. In so saying I am not broad-brushing anything nor am I inferring what they themselves have not already implied if not outright stated.

For example, it is routine for one of the trendy denominations in my city (churches/denominations such as New Life Community Church, Park Community Church, Willow Creek Church, New Life Covenant Church, etc.) to effect what is basically a friendly takeover of an existing independent church. They target churches that are struggling, and offer to come in and restart the church under their brand name. The few remaining folks are folded into the new congregation, the previous pastor is given a generous severance package, and voila, a new "campus" is inaugurated. In the process the trendy denomination convinces the handful of existing people at the new campus that they must change everything in order to attract a crowd. The name must change, the activities must change, the schedule must change, the pastor must change, and most importantly the music must change. After all, it is obvious that the reason your church is in such a sad state is that it is clinging to old-fashioned music that no one likes anymore. If we are going to get this restart off the ground successfully you have to do it our way. And it works. Just look how big we are, and how fast we are growing.

In other words, they introduce music in order to attract, interest, draw, and hold people to a church. The mega-churches do the same thing within their existing church by starting new "venues", services that cater to those who like lite rock or gospel or traditional hymns, et al. This determines which songs are chosen, and the style in which they are performed.

I do not doubt their sincerity. Others might but I do not. I believe they genuinely think that the best way to reach the lost and hold them in church is to offer in a church environment the kind of music unchurched people already enjoy. But their sincerity in no way protects them from the cancerous effect of their musical philosophy. The pragmatism endemic in such an approach produces all manner of worldliness both within the music program itself and throughout the church entire.

The simple truth is there is not a single scriptural example or teaching instructing us to use music as a means of evangelism, or a tool to draw people to a church service. Yes, I understand I Corinthians 9.22 says I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some, but the context of that statement has zero to do with music. Paul was contrasting observing aspects of Judaism's ceremonial law vs the freer exercise of the Gentiles. Yes, I realize the Philippian jailer got saved after Paul and Silas sang at midnight, but it was not the music that attracted him to Christ. It was the fear of God put into his heart by the earthquake and his respect for Paul's integrity when he chose not to escape.

God's explicitly chosen means of evangelism is preaching. Preaching is pointed. It is confrontational. It is explanatory. It breeds conviction. Music, on the other hand, especially music tailored to the desires of a lost man, is much more enjoyable than it is convicting. In point of fact, contemporary churches are not aiming at conviction anyway. It is the last thing they want. They are aiming at making the unchurched feel comfortable when they ought to be aiming at the Holy Spirit making him uncomfortable so that he may be converted.

The contemporary movement, however, does not limit its unscriptural philosophy of church music to attraction. It also clearly cultivates an intentional approach of praise and worship toward the Lord. I can hear you already. "Wait. What? Are you saying that worshiping the Lord through the music at church is unscriptural?" No. I am saying that aiming your music at that, developing your music with the purpose of producing worship is unscriptural. It is not sinful. It is just short-sighted.

I do not want to beat a dead horse here but there is a reason I spent six blog posts explaining true biblical worship before I began this series on music. Worship is our response when we see God. But in the New Testament we do not come to church to meet with God. We come to church in order to be edified, to be built up so that we be better prepared to serve God. (Ephesians 4.11-16, I Corinthians 12-14, Ephesians 2.8-10)

Contemporary churches overwhelmingly use music "to usher people into the presence of God." But that is not the purpose of a church service. In fact, such an approach in actuality severely limits worship, and in the minds of the congregation turns worship into something I feel (remember, music is an emotional language) when the music plays. And along with limiting worship such an approach short circuits the true emotion that is only available to the surrendered Christian and hands it freely, with no commitment needed, to the most carnal of God's people. Worship has become something people feel while the lasers bounce, the fog machine whirrs, the people sway, the drummer pounds away, and the "worship leader" hops up and down while practically swallowing the mic – no matter how far from God the people in the audience were when they walked through the doors that morning. They feel close to God because they feel something. Tada! Music has had its desired effect. Meanwhile, this entire paragraph is a tragic injustice to actual worship, and to the Lord who demands and deserves it.

I ask you again, why does your church choose the music it does? If your answer is not the scriptural one of edification then sooner or later – no matter how sincere you are – your church will experience a variety of spiritually negative consequences. But that's ok. After all, look how big the crowd is today…

Music 16 - Dancing in Church?

With increasing frequency, American churches are incorporating dance into their worship services. And I understand why. Music and dance are closely related and church services are full of music. Churches are full of artistic people who want to express their love for the Lord in the ways they know best. And most importantly, David danced before the Lord (II Samuel 6.14). Such things lend themselves easily to the justification of "interpretative movements" and "artistic expressions" in worship.

There is one gigantic problem with such an approach – the church service is not a worship service.  In 2015 I wrote six posts totaling 9000 words laying out the case for that last sentence. At the risk of quoting myself let me give you a handful of them. "The stubborn truth is that the church service was not designed or purposed to produce worship. God does not live in a building. You do not need to go to a geographical location to meet with Him." As a matter of fact, there is not a single public worship service discussed, exemplified, commanded, or instructed in the New Testament church age. The only reasons we have entwined the two so closely are tradition and lazy hermeneutics. There are lots of preaching services but zero worship services.

I wrote in that series that misunderstanding this principle produces a wide variety of the mistakes we see in contemporary America's approach to church. Dance is simply one of those mistakes. Yes, David danced before the Lord. But a church service is not about appearing before the Lord. It is not about worship. It is about edification.

As members of New Testament churches we realize that our religion, Christianity, has its roots in the Old Testament. We also realize the Old Testament is not normative for how we conduct church. After all, I seriously doubt your church slaughtered an animal and burned it during the morning service last Sunday. The church was not even imagined in the Old Testament. Yes, men worshipped the Lord then and men worship the Lord now but there is a clear and evident shift in that worship in the New Testament. 

I agree you can show me worshipful dance in the Old Testament. But you cannot in the New Testament. You can ransack it from Matthew 1 to Revelation 22 and you will come up with nothing. But the bulk of my reasoning against involving dance in a church service is not just this argument from silence. It is my carefully considered understanding that the church service is not a worship service.

Church is not about expressing, in an artistic and entertaining way, your worship of the Heavenly Father. It is about pointed preaching that confronts us personally and corporately and in so doing transforms men and women and boys and girls into the image of Jesus Christ. But when your underlying grasp of how and why church is supposed to be done is wrong, and when your spiritual culture rejects separation from the world, then sooner or later I expect dancing to show up in your church services. And when it does you will be wrong.

Worship, Part Six - Contemporary Worship's Three Problems

         

          Worship is our response when we meet with God. It is what happens in our heart and soul when we enter His presence, in awe of His greatness, conscious of His holiness, and deeply aware of our own sinfulness. When we come to Him in this humility and amazement we cannot help but fall prostrate at His feet and esteem Him in every way our superior. This is worship.

          This worship historically was done at a prescribed place in the Old Testament. In the New Testament however it shifts from being done at a certain location i.e. 'I went up to the Temple to worship' to being done at any location. Because of this shift, and because of the clear New Testament teaching that a church service is designed primarily for edification we are forced to conclude that a church service is not supposed to be a worship service. There is no such thing as a worship service in the New Testament.

          If you have followed me thus far in this short blog series you cannot help but see I am building a logical approach to worship layer by layer. Having arrived at this point we see that when we understand these truths it impacts how we live. By the same token, when we fail to understand these truths it also impacts the way we live albeit in a negative manner.

          Modern American Christianity, even orthodox Christianity, almost entirely fails to understand this. The vast majority of churches and pastors think that the church service is supposed to be a worship service. In so doing they unintentionally cause three potentially grievous problems in their churches. The purpose of today's post is to briefly develop these three problem areas and show you how they are tied to a misunderstood (and thus misapplied) view of worship.

          First, when you mistakenly aim your church service at worship you over-emphasize music and de-emphasize preaching. It is no secret that the preaching in American Christianity today is both poorer in quality and lesser in quantity than previous generations. This was driven home to me recently. One of our long time members finally managed to persuade her husband to visit our church. He promptly came back. Then he came back again. Knowing he had his own church I sat down with him and asked him why, at long last, he had decided to join his wife in attending our church. His answer was simple: 'Pastor Brennan, you preach more.'

He was essentially correct. I do preach much more than the average evangelical pastor. I preach four entirely new messages each week of between 30-60 minutes. Contrarily, the average contemporary evangelical church in this city has one sermon per week of 30 minutes and then chases that with a small group discussion later in the week. This man came to Christ in one of these kinds of churches but when he discovered he would be fed a whole lot more at our place he decided to keep showing up here.

  Please do not misunderstand me. I am not criticizing my pastor brethren in this city who preach Christ. However you cannot help but realize there is a tremendous difference between their approach to a church service and mine. Not only do they de-emphasize preaching they also over-emphasize music. This is because they think – even if they won't say it (and increasingly they will) – that music equals worship. Most American churches equate music with worship.

I could furnish a thousand examples but here is one I just saw last week. In the April 2015 edition of the Baptist Bible Tribune is an article titled 'Top 10 things churches just won't give up.' Number one is 'Worship and music style. Even though God loves all kinds of worship, this isn't so for many congregants, many of whom leave churches solely because of the style of worship during service.' The scriptural illiteracy of that sentence is staggering. It is wrong about the church service. It is wrong about music. It is wrong about God. It is wrong about worship. But you get my point don't you? Clearly, the Baptist Bible Tribune believes that church music is worship.

          Such churches, desperate to find a way to produce a better worship service, eventually run hither and yon after whatever the most recent trendy, relevance embracing, worship guru tells them will work. To such people a church that has bad corporate singing is bad at worship. Ergo, we must change the music in order to make the worship good. 

Again, I could furnish you with thousands of examples but let me give you just one more that came across my desk in the last week. In a blog article entitled 'Three Actual Reasons Why Millennials Are Leaving The IFB Church' by Eric Skwarczynski and dated 4/14/15 we find the following statement:

...here are three ACTUAL reasons why I believe millennials are leaving the IFB church. I. Apathetic Worship. Notice I didn’t say old-fashioned, or out of date, or traditional to describe the style of worship. It’s not the style which really irks me, or most others I’ve talked to. It is an apathetic, dead, careless, unenthusiastic style of “worship” (if it can even be called worship) which is very frustrating. The style of music is much less important to me than the spirit of worship. I have been to über traditional IFB churches where the singing is just saturated with a love for God and a heart of worship. Likewise, I have been to hip, trendy neo-IFB churches where they have a guitar and a set of drums, playing the latest Hillsong track, and the spirit of worship is for all intents and purposes, non-existent.

          Eric isn't alone. Obviously thousands of churches and thousands of pastors think that they have to do something to make their music better or else the worship stinks. They completely fail to grasp that music is not worship. So they pull back on the downer confrontation inherent in preaching and ramp up the use of upbeat music.

          This failure leads to a second, even worse, problem. When you mistakenly aim your church service at worship you run the risk of teaching people to associate an emotional response to music with actual worship. The Bible teaches that corporate music in the New Testament church is designed for edification not worship.  But when I think the purpose is worship and the music is powerful I create in people the idea that because they felt something they worshipped. That is absolute nonsense yet it is the firmly held felt belief of millions of American Christians.

          If you want to seriously study music you must begin by defining it. Among the dozens of definitions I have encountered the single best one is this: music is an emotional language. Music is the way feelings sound. By definition then hearing and singing music done well almost always produces an emotional reaction. In a church setting this means that I do not have to actually be close to God in order to feel close to God; I just have to hear or sing about being close to God and – voila – I feel like I am. Worship is my response when I meet with God. Yet millions of Americans think they worshipped Him at church this past Sunday because they felt something during the music when in fact there are entire aspects of their lives that are in open rebellion to Him. This may be an extreme example but I have known adulterers to feel very moved by a church 'worship' service. They felt close to the Lord because the music moved them. The truth is they did not meet with God at all.

          It is spiritually disingenuous, intellectually dishonest, biblically illiterate, and developmentally damaging to teach God's people – by statement, experience, example, or implication – that they met with God in worship because the music at church emotionally moved them.

          I'm not afraid of emotion. I'm not afraid of emotion in a church service. I'm not afraid of emotion in a church service during corporate singing. It is not unusual at all for me to kneel in my seat and weep while my choir is singing of a Sunday morning. But if my heart is not right with the Lord and my spirit and soul are not humbled before His glory in actuality on a daily basis all the musically induced emotion in the world won't plop me down in God's presence. The average 'worship pastor' in America thinks his job is to usher people into the presence of God. He thinks the way to do that is with mood lighting, a good audio system, and a well-rehearsed band leading the people in a repetitive chorus. He is dead wrong. Such churches, pastors, and people are not worshipping God. They are worshipping their emotions.

          Even this, as grievously errant as it is, is not the worst problem. No, the worst problem produced by wrongly aiming your church service at worship is this: you limit worship. In the minds of your congregation they realistically think they have to show up at church to worship God. You may deny this with your words but everything you do and say in relation to the service preaches otherwise. In practice, your church has walked backward into the Old Testament. I go to church to worship God. I know I did because I felt something during the music. I do that once a week.

          Beloved, this is where it becomes heartbreaking to me. My God is so great and so lovely and so wonderful that He deserves to be worshipped by us constantly. Yet in practice we have trained our churches to worship Him at church during the music and that's all. Meanwhile, for the other 167 hours of the week God looks down at His people and misses their worship.

          Silly people, unreasonable people will take my blog series about worship and interpret it as an attack on worship. They could not possibly be more wrong. If the truth were known you would discover that the majority of my prayer time is nothing more than worship. God and I get alone somewhere – my church auditorium on a Monday morning, a country road on a Friday afternoon, a walk around the block on a Saturday night – and I meet with God. In humility I come to Him esteeming myself to be as nothing in His sight. I yield to Him the pre-eminence. I thank Him for His benevolences to me. I praise Him for His attributes, with His names, about His Word, and through the Scriptures. I see Him high and holy and lifted up. My heart overflows with wonder, joy, awe, delight, and love. He is great. I am insignificant. I meet with Him and I worship.

      Some will read this and say I am bragging. I do not mean to do so at all. Others will read this and say, 'Yes, but that is exactly how I feel while I sing in church on a Sunday morning!' Great. I have no problem with that – if you are actually yielded to the Lord, if it is not simply a response to the music, and if you constantly cultivate the same worship in private on a regular basis apart from any music whatsoever. I am not against worship in a church service. After all, God is there. I am emphatically against aiming a church service at worship, equating that worship with music, and giving God's people the false security that they have worshipped God when in fact they did nothing of the sort. And I am absolutely, positively, entirely against limiting worship to a church service. It is a disgrace to the grace, love, mercy, justice, holiness, faithfulness, wisdom, longsuffering, understanding, care, wrath, and infinity of an eternal God.

          Let us worship Him, beloved. Oh let us worship Him. According to the Scriptures.   

Worship, Part Five - The Church Service Is Not a Worship Service

          Worship is our response when we see God. In the Old Testament it was primarily done at the location where God dwelt. With the advent of a new dispensation in the New Testament worship transitioned away from being geographical. Now it did not matter where you were you could still worship God. (I have a sneaking suspicion that a bunch of people who will not agree with today's post won't bother to take the time to read the other posts in this series which establish this paragraph. I have a word for people like that – lazy.)

          …all of which brings us to this statement: the New Testament church service is not a worship service. Yes. You read that correctly. The New Testament church service is not a worship service. Yet around the corner from you is a church with a marquee that says, '11 AM Worship Service' on it. In point of fact, your church marquee probably says that. Worse yet, the vast majority of people in your church believe that. They think they go to church to worship God. Indeed, they think that is the very point of the church service. The stubborn truth is that the church service was not designed or purposed to produce worship. God does not live in a building. You do not need to go to a geographical location to meet with Him.

          Obviously, the vast majority of Christianity, quote and otherwise, disagrees with me. I find talking to those willing to talk about it to be an interesting activity. I often ask them to take the Bible and show me the scriptural support for declaring the church service to be a worship service. Right away they want to run to the Psalms or Exodus or some such Old Testament reference. This is highly problematic for the church is explicitly a New Testament institution. In fact, the New Testament says the church was not even imagined in the Old Testament. I do not deny that Christianity has its roots in Judaism, but it is hermeneutically unsound to use Old Testament passages as the doctrinal support for your philosophical approach to the church service. Otherwise I expect to see a lot of churches slaughtering some animals at the altar next Sunday morning.

        Turning to the New Testament then they grasp for all they are worth on the solitary passing reference to worship in a church service. And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth. (I Corinthians 14.25) That's right. This is only New Testament mention of worship in connection with a church service. The only one. And it does not say that the church service was designed to worship God. It says that the lost man recognized God being in them and responded appropriately.

          All over the Bible you will find examples of people bowing down to someone who was a representative of God. Balaam bowed to the angel after his donkey reprimanded him. Manoah bowed to the angel after receiving news of Samson's arrival. David bowed to the angel sent to destroy Jerusalem. Obadiah, Ahab's minister, bowed to Elijah. Nebuchadnezzar bowed to Daniel. Daniel bowed to Gabriel. The wise men bent a knee before the infant Jesus. Lepers bowed before Christ. Various demon possessed people bowed before Christ. Jairus bowed before Christ. The woman with the issue of blood bowed before Christ. A Greek woman bowed before Christ. The blind man in John 9 bowed before Christ. Cornelius bowed to Peter. The Philippian jailer bowed before Paul and Silas. John twice tried to bow before an angel in Revelation.

          All of these people bowed instinctually before someone they deemed as God or the representative of God. Paul's statement in I Corinthians 14 about the lost man falling down on his face in worship during a church service is simply the 17^th example of a person in Scripture recognizing God was somehow in someone and responding with worship. God is in you of a truth. The simple truth is that this verse comes nowhere near stating that the church service should be designed to produce worship.

          Even if you discount my explanation of I Corinthians 14.25 asserting it as the foundational support for viewing the church service as a worship service is still problematic. It certainly is not a clear statement of church service purpose. It occurs in relation to the most disorganized, unruly church in the entire Bible. And it only occurs once.

Further, to say that I Corinthians 14.25 establishes the cardinal rule that the church service is a worship service brings an additional problem. Logically then it makes the church service primarily evangelistic for it was a lost man who bowed in worship. If I take this verse as the normative foundation for my philosophical approach to church then my philosophical approach must primarily be using the church service as a tool to reach the lost. Such an approach violates the entire context of the rest of I Corinthians 14. For instance, look at verse 22. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for that believe not, but for them which believe. In other words, the preaching of the sermon is designed to help believers not unbelievers. Winning the lost to Christ is clearly the purpose of the church but it is just as clearly not the purpose of the church service.

          No, beloved, I Corinthians 14.25 cannot mean that the purpose of the church service is worship. Such an interpretation violates our understanding of how and why worship shifted between the Old Testament and the New Testament. God does not live in a building. God is not in a geographical location. In the New Testament we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and thus we can worship God anywhere at any time.

          If worship is not the point of the New Testament church service than what is the point? I am so glad you asked. The point of the church service is spiritual growth. How is it then, brethren? When ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. (I Corinthians 14.26) Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. (I Corinthians 14.12) For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. (I Corinthians 14.17) The simple truth is that in the chapter of the Bible that most discusses the church service edify is used seven times and worship is used once.

Some will say, 'Well, worship is edifying.' I do not dispute that in the least, and if you take this post as a screed against worship you do not know me at all. But I dare not make worship the primary tool for edification in a New Testament church service. I do not have the scriptural authority or example to do so.

          What tools am I to use? How then am I as a pastor to edify the saints who show up for a church service? First of all via music. Again, I reference I Corinthians 14.26. Psalms are to be sung as a means of edification. Let me be explicitly clear – music in church was primarily designed to teach you and grow you, not to help you worship God. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. (Ephesians 5.19) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3.16) This is precisely because the service itself is primarily designed to grow you spiritually. It is not designed to enable you to worship God.

          The second tool I am to use in edifying the saints in a church service is the tool of preaching. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. (I Corinthians 14.3-5) Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. (I Corinthians 14.19) My understanding of the word prophesy here drives me to see it primarily as preaching. As such, it is mentioned 14 times in this chapter. It is highly emphasized. Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy. (I Corinthians 14.39) Why? So that you might edify the brethren. So that they might learn what God says in the Word. So that having been taught the truth they might grow in grace. That is the point of the New Testament church service.

        I can hear you from here. 'Why is he so upset about this? What difference does it make if we call our church service a worship service and you do not?' It makes an absolutely tremendous difference for when you misunderstand this you point your church service in the wrong direction. Practically speaking, even worse it makes it incredibly easy to swallow the lines offered by the contemporary Christian movement for dramatic changes in your church service.

          Next week I will lay that out for you. See you then. 

Worship, Part Four - Worship's Change

          Worship is our response when we meet with God. (See how I arrived at that definition here.) But we haven't always met with God the same way. A dramatic shift in worship came with the shift from the Old Testament economy to the New Testament one. Today I am going to discuss this huge shift with you. Over the next two weeks I will discuss the practical ramifications of what understanding and misunderstanding that shift means to modern American Christianity.

          In the Old Testament (OT), other than occasional theophanies, God was present above the Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. We see this vividly illustrated in the story we all learned in Sunday School as children about the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day that hovered above the Mosaic Tabernacle. To tabernacle means literally to dwell and those pillars visually indicated God's presence among His people.

          This is often called the Shekinah Glory, so named after the Hebrew word for dwell. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. (Exodus 40.35) The original language word abode has the idea behind it of a bird's nesting place. Solomon, who I think wrote Psalm 132, said in verse four and five, I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. The original language word habitation is the same root word as abode in Exodus 40. It is the word that gives us in English the shekinah in Shekinah Glory. In Solomon's day there was a place but it was a thousand year old tent. Solomon, influenced no doubt by David, wanted to build God a more appropriate dwelling place. He did. Solomon's Temple sat on the same spot where Abraham took Isaac to be sacrificed. God liked that specific location. Still does, by the way, as will be made clear when Christ returns.

          In the OT we see then that worship was strongly associated with the particular spot your god or God lived; that was where you went to meet Him. Indeed, the very first mention of worship in the Bible indicates this concept. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship. (Genesis 22.5)

          This is seen in the many OT mentions that discuss going to a particular location to worship God.

Elkanah did this. And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. (I Samuel 1.3)

David mentions this repeatedly. Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped. (II Samuel 12.20) Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill. (Psalm 99.9) We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool. (Psalm 132.7)

This concept, that one worships at a particular location, is the entire reason why Jereboam, the leader of the breakaway Jewish kingdom of Israel, built two false gods. He knew that his people would continue to go down to Jerusalem to worship unless he furnished them a particular place to worship within the boundaries of the new northern kingdom. This is also the reason why Hezekiah and other godly OT kings sought to physically destroy the altars and groves in which false gods were worshipped. If you physically destroyed the place you practically destroyed the god. Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it? (II Chronicles 32.12)

The post-Captivity prophet Jeremiah found this still true in his day. Thus saith the LORD, stand in the court of the LORD's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD's  house. (Jeremiah 26.2)

          This is why there is a strong indication that when one could not be physically present where God was at you worshipped facing in that direction. I will worship toward thy holy temple. (Psalm 138.2) Daniel is the best known example of this. Daniel 6 does not use the word 'worship' but it does say that he had the lifelong habit of opening the windows of a room that faced Jerusalem and kneeling upon his knees three times a day in prayer.

          In summary then in the OT God's people worshipped Him at a particular location or at least faced their hearts and bodies in that direction. God dwelt in the Tabernacle and then the Temple. Since worship is the response that comes when you meet with God His people went to that particular place to meet Him and to worship.

          In the New Testament (NT) we find a fascinating turn of events. Worship is not discussed near as much in the NT as it is in the OT but it is still certainly discussed. The most important NT chapter on worship is John 4. This is well known as Jesus' best example of personal evangelism. But in the context of the discussion in which Jesus leads the woman at the well to place her faith in Himself there is a very revealing interplay regarding worship.

John 4.19  The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

20  Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

         

          The woman at the well was a Samaritan, which is crucial to understanding this part of the conversation. The Samaritans share many similarities, religiously speaking, with the Jews but they also differ in some serious ways. These differences cause great animosity. One of those differences is a disagreement about where the Temple should be located. The Jews believe the Temple should be on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. The Samaritans insist that it ought to be in their neighborhood on Mt. Gerizim.

          This woman immediately perceives Jesus to be in her words a prophet. Yet He is also willingly traveling through Samaria and conversing with Samaritans. She questions Him about this dispute. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Jesus' answer reveals the heart of this incredible shift that takes place in worship between the OT and the NT. He tells her that worship will soon no longer be done at or directed toward any one particular location as had been done all through the OT. The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.   

          Jesus then goes on to explain the reason for this shift in worship. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. In the OT God tabernacled with His people in a tent first and later in the Temple. In the NT God tabernacles with His people via the indwelling Holy Spirit. In the OT the Holy Spirit only 'came upon' or visited people. In the NT the Holy Spirit takes up residence in them.

          Thus it is that in the OT, when one wanted to worship – which is our response when we meet God – he had to go to a location. But in the NT dispensation when he wants to worship he no longer has to go to a place. There is not a spot in the NT where God lives because He lives in the heart of every believer. Thus – and I cannot emphasize this next sentence enough – the NT believer can worship God anywhere provided he does it with the right doctrine and the right heart.

          Paul, a Jews Jew if there ever was one, understood this shift. He grasped that one's physical location and direction in worship no longer mattered. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.3)

          Worship is our response when we meet God. But in our day we can and should meet Him everywhere. Join me next week as I begin to discuss the ramifications of that for the modern American church.

Worship Part Three - Worship's Neighborhood, Cont.

          Worship is our response when we see God. But closely connected with this definition are a number of spiritual concepts. Last week we examined briefly three of them – service, praise, and humility. In and of themselves these three are not worship but they are often found in conjunction with worship. It is wrong to conflate them with worship and I will speak more to that later but it is not wrong to associate them with worship. Today I want to give an additional three connected concepts.

          The fourth is the idea that there is only one God. This is foundational to the Christian but it cannot be overlooked. For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. (Exodus 34.14) There is no point in intricately discussing worship if we do not realize all of this must be directed at Jehovah God alone. The very first of the Ten Commandments says this, and it is repeated more times than I can count throughout the Word of God.

          The fifth connection point is music. There is much I want to say here but I plan an extensive series of blog posts on music later this year and next. For the moment let me just say that music does not equal worship. Entirely too many Christians in our day think it does, and even those who give lip service that it does not still structure their approach to church as if it does. It is a terrible insult to the concept of worship to equate it simply with music.

          Having said that, it is also true that there are two instances in Scripture in which worship takes place in a musical environment. The first is in reference to to Hezekiah's reign. Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped. (II Chronicles 29.30) The second is a more generic reference in Psalm 66.4. All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.

          It is not hard to understand why these two are connected occasionally. Much of the music sung in the Old Testament as in the New is not just about God; it is actually directed to God. When such words are taken seriously the singer is actually voicing a musical prayer. Since it is in prayer that we meet God, and since so much of musical prayer is direct praise to God we can easily see how such musical prayer and praise becomes worship.

          The sixth connection point is holiness. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. (Psalm 29.2) The idea here is that I cannot worship God if I am not right with Him. My soul and spirit must be squared away before I can approach Him and give Him the worship He deserves.

          Saul was Israel's first king. He began well and ended badly. As things began to deteriorate toward the end he violated the sanctity of the priestly role. When Samuel called him on it Saul responded Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD. (I Samuel 15.25) We can debate whether Saul was genuinely repentant here but we cannot debate the truth of what he uttered: we cannot worship God unless our hearts are rightly related to him in obedience. Worship is not a mere external, physical action in which I bow my knee or my face to the ground. No, worship takes place first and foremost in the heart. That heart must be yielded to Him in every known area if it is to worship Him in a way that is acceptable to Him.

          So far in the first three weeks of this series on worship I have focused on what worship is and what accompanies it. Next week I will shift that. I will describe how worship changes from the Old Testament to the New Testament, for it does, and dramatically so. The last two weeks of this series I will discuss how that shift in worship has a direct bearing on twenty first century American Christianity and its concept of church.  

Worship, Part Two - Worship's Neighborhood

          There are only three rules about real estate – location, location, location. You may have two houses exactly alike and yet they may have radically different values based entirely on the neighborhood that surrounds them. In other words, how we view something is often determined not just by what it instrinsically is but also by what is often found around it.

          In a sense worship is this way. When we examine it in the context of its surroundings in the Word of God we often find things that inform how we view worship itself. While these things are not necessarily worship in the strictest sense of the word they do help us to understand worship because they are often seen in its company. They are part and parcel of worship. They are the package that often surrounds it.

          In today's blog post I am going to discuss three of these and I will follow that up with another three next week.

          The first of these is serving. The original language words so often translated as some form of the word 'servant' in the King James Bible (253 times) is also translated nine times as 'worship' or 'worshipper.' In fact, in one particular usage in the New Testament the English word 'worshipper' actually comes from a word that means 'one who sweeps and cleans the temple.'

          There is a direct connection between your sense of worship and whom or what you choose to serve. In practical terms that means if you claim to worship Jehovah and yet you do not serve Him I highly doubt whether you actually do worship Him. By the same token, if you serve yourself or money or any one of a number of false idols often found in current American life it cannot be reconciled with a claim to worship God.

          Jeremiah believed in this deep connection between worship and service. Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them. (Jeremiah 22.9) In the same generation Daniel's three friends saw the same thing. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. (Daniel 3.18) Five centuries later Paul grasped the same truth. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator. (Romans 1.25) Jesus Himself, quoting no less an authority than Moses, established this emphatically as truth when He said to Satan, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Matthew 4.10)

          I am writing this on Easter Sunday afternoon. All across America this morning millions of people gathered in churches to worship God, at least as they see it. Yet a large number of those people made no effort in the last week to serve Him. They gave no cup of cold water in His name to one that was thirsty. They fed no hungry man in His name. They clothed no naked person in His name. They completely ignored the spiritual, physical, emotional, and financial needs of their neighbors. For one hundred sixty seven hours this week they pursued a selfish course yet because they sat in a worship service and sang worship choruses this morning they think they worship God. They could not possibly be more mistaken. If you worship you serve.

          The second connection point we often find with worship is praise. Last week I defined worship as our response when we see God. As I enter His presence I am deeply convinced of my own unworthiness and His transcendent supremacy. I place Him in my heart and mind into the proper sphere He ought to hold and I place myself appropriately as well. Consequently, I bow before Him. I worship Him.

          Such a view of God almost inevitably leads me to praise Him. The sweet psalmist of Israel, who full well knew worship and praise both, saw this connection. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. (Psalm 86.9) Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy. (Psalm 99.5) I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth. (Psalm 138.2)

          Overall I take a rather dim view of contemporary Christian America's praise and worship music but I have the greatest respect for the sincerity of the motives behind it. Praise and worship do go hand in hand and ought to go hand in hand in the life of God's people. They bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. (II Chronicles 7.3) The one thing that such churches and such people get right more than any other is a deep desire to praise the God we all worship. I love them for it.

          The third connection point Scripture implicitly and explicitly pairs with worship is humility. We saw last week that humility is central to the whole idea of what worship is. This is borne out repeatedly in Scripture. I will not bore you with a long list of quotations. I will allow myself just one. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. (Psalm 95.6)

          Humility is necessary for the proper exercise of every spiritual grace but none more so than worship. If I am to bow in my heart it must be because I see myself as completely unworthy of Him. Pride is anathema to all that God would build in us. At the same time it is mother's milk to all that is wrong and wicked in this world. The older I get the more shocked I am to find famous preachers and ministries that seem to embrace pride so thoughtlessly. Do they not understand? Can they not see? If they really are as close to God as they represent themselves to be the result would be the opposite of great pride – it would be a profound humility.

          Yet it is exactly here that I must pause. I must pull back my indignantly outthrust arm and retract my accusatory finger. I must cease peering around the corners of the beam in my own eye. I must drag the clandestine cavities of my own heart into the full orbed light of God's day and see the filth contained therein. While I want to throw everyone else at God's feet in my self-righteous judgment I must instead throw myself there. I must humble myself under the mighty hand of God and let Him worry about humbling everyone else.

          Worship is not service but if it does not include service it is not worship. Worship is not praise but it will naturally produce praise. Worship is not humility alone but without humility worship cannot exist. Humility is the air in which worship breathes.

          Beloved, do you serve Him this week. Do you praise Him this week. Do you humble yourself before Him. In these ways, then, let us worship the Lord our God.

Worship, Part One – What is Worship?

          

          One of my wife's favorite movies is The Princess Bride. I confess to enjoying it myself. It has such tremendous number of often applicable lines. One of those lines came to mind as I thought about the subject of this new blog series. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." The word I mean is "worship".

          American Christianity has probably never spent more time and emphasis on worship with so little equivalent understanding. People go to church to worship. When they get there they walk into a scheduled worship service. During this service they sing praise and worship. These song sets are directed by a worship leader. They keep using that word. I do not think it means what they think it means.

          For the next six weeks we are going to delve into the subject of worship. We are going to define worship. We are going to examine a number of things that are often found in conjunction with worship. We are going to talk about the shift in worship between Israel and the Church. We are going to explain why the church service is not a worship service. Finally, we are going to show you the compounding errors that come to a church when it wrongly aims its service at worship.

          Are you mad at me yet? Hang on, it is probably going to get worse before it's over…

          Some form of the word "worship" is used one hundred ninety times in the King James Version. In the Old Testament the vast majority of those (99) come from the Hebrew word "shachah" which literally means to bow down. This original language word is also translated in the KJV Old Testament as bow, bow down, obeisance, reverence, fall down, stoop, and crouch. Additionally, Daniel, which is not written in Hebrew but in Aramaic uses "worship" twelve times. The Aramaic word Daniel used, "segeed" means to prostrate oneself.

          In the New Testament the vast majority of the usages (60) come from the Greek word "proskuneo" which means kneeling or prostration. The root word underlying it implies a dog kissing his master's hand. There are a few other usages translated as "worship" but they are much rarer. We will look at some of them in the context of what worship includes rather than as what worship is defined as.

          What I gather out of my examination of these definitions and out of the predominance of the word usages is that worship is bowing myself before God when I enter into His presence. Worship strongly implies a whole heart and body attitude of an inferior humbly notifying his superior that he understands and believes in the validity of their arrangement. For instance, in the context of a promised answer to prayer in battle II Chronicles 20.18 records And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. Satan exhibited a similar understanding in the New Testament when he said to Christ during the temptations All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. (Matthew 4.9)

          With that as a basic understanding of the word itself let us look at some examples in Scripture of this kind of behavior.

Moses

Exodus 34.6-8 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

Joshua

Joshua 5.14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?

the people at Solomon's Temple dedication

II Chronicles 7:3  And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

the Wise Men

Matthew 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

the women after the Resurrection

Matthew 28:9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

the 24 elders in heaven (repeated two more times in Revelation 11.16 and 19.4)

Revelation 5:14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

the angels in heaven

Revelation 7:11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,

          In each of the nine cases I have cited so far we see specific instances of people meeting God and responding in deep humility by physically bowing down and worshipping. After noticing this pattern as I studied the word "worship" in the Bible I decided to examine every case I could find of a human being seeing God. I wanted to determine if I could find the same reaction. In other words I wanted to see if humans prostrate themselves in God's presence whether or not the Scripture actually uses the word "worship." Not surprisingly this is exactly what I found. Here are some illustrations of what I believe to be worship even though the word is never used:

Abraham

Genesis 17.1-3 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

Moses and Aaron

Numbers 20:6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them.

The priests at Solomon's Temple dedication (repeated II Chronicles 5.14)

1Kings 8:11 So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.

the crowd at Elijah's battle with the prophets of Baal

1Kings 18:39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.

Ezekiel (repeated six times in Ezekiel)

Ezekiel 1:28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

Peter, after Jesus filled the net with fish

Luke 5.8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

the Apostles at the Transfiguration

Matthew 17:6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.

Paul's conversion

Acts 9.3-4 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

John the Revelator

Revelation 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

          To me the definition of worship is relatively simple: worship is our response when we see God. It is what happens in our heart and soul when we enter into His presence, in awe of His greatness, conscious of His holiness and our own sinfulness, when in humility and amazement we fall at His feet and esteem Him rightfully in every way our superior.

          Jehoshaphat did it. Moses did it. Joshua did it. The people and the priests at Solomon's Temple's dedication did it. Abraham did it. Aaron did it. The crowd at Elijah's battle with the prophets of Baal did it. Ezekiel did it. The Wise Men did it. The women who met Jesus after His Resurrection did it. Peter did it. The Apostles at the Transfiguration did it. Paul did it. John did it. The twenty four elders will do it in Heaven. The angels do it.

          Do you do it? Do you worship God? Do you ever meet with Him? Did you meet with Him this morning? When you did, did you worship Him? Did you, in your heart, throw yourself at His feet and proclaim Him in every way your superior? Did you worship Him today?

          It is not too late. The day is not over. If you have not done it yet today steal away from your screen, find a quiet place, throw yourself at His feet, and worship Him, beloved. He is most deserving.