My Philosophy of Worship
Why Worship?
Why do we worship? What is the value of worship? How do we worship? Questions like these and more are what the Christian should ask themselves as they seek a life dedicated to God. Worship is a part of any human’s life. Worship is a reflection of what we love. As James A. K. Smith, author and professor of philosophy at Calvin University, says in his book, You Are What You Love, “We are lovers first and foremost.” Because humans are lovers, that means we are worshipers. We are being that give our devotion and attention to something or someone. But what does a life of worship actually mean?
Simply speaking, living a life of worship is a life of loving. However, in the context of Christian worship, worship is the exalting and honoring of God through the edifying of the Church, love of the world, service and devotion to Jesus, the vulnerability to be changed and convicted by the Holy Spirit. Worship also utilizes music to remember and proclaim the goodness of the Gospel. Worship is a time, space, and lifestyle where we encounter God’s presence. Smith later writes in You Are What You Love, “In worship we don’t just come to show God our devotion and give him our praise; we are called to worship because in this encounter God (re)makes and molds us top-down. Worship is the arena in which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and rehabituates our loves.” Smith describes how worship is not just a passive experience but an active engagement where God sanctifies us.
While this is how Smith and I define and explain worship, Jesus describes how worship and worshipers should worship too. In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well, “‘But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’” Jesus tells us to worship in spirit and truth. That there is truth in how and what we worship, but it is also a spiritual experience which is something we will never fully understand. This also shows the heart of the Father, that God is seeking worshipers. He wants to find people who are whole heartily devoted to him. From the very beginning God says that the greatest commandment is, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.’” The highest calling on our lives is to be worshipers and to be lovers of our God; Father, Son, and Spirit.
The Bible has a lot more to say about the attitude we should have while we worship. God, out of his abundant kindness, lays out for us countless examples of what our posture of worship should look like. Oftentimes when we think of worship in a church setting we only think of musical worship. While music in worship is a big aspect and clear way of worship, worship contains so much more than just singing songs on a Sunday morning.
The Psalms and other poems or prayers are great examples of what an attitude of worship should exemplify. In Psalm 149, the whole nine verse psalm is about praising the LORD with music and joyful dancing, “Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!” The Psalm goes on, but these three verses say so much about music and worship. The psalmist really emphasizes praising the LORD. He also mentions to sing songs to God, but not just any songs, new songs. The psalmist not only encourages us to sing new songs to God, but commands us. These are all statements of encouraging commands. We are to sing new songs in, “the assembly of the godly.” This means that as a Body, as a Church, we are to join together with one accord to sing praises to our God. As a people we are commanded to acknowledge God’s majesty, splendor, and character together. However, we are not restricted by music, but
also dancing and shouting are used for our worship.
But worship is not always joyful praise and filled with dancing, it can also be laments of our grief and pain. In Scripture, there is a whole book dedicated to God’s people lamenting for their nation and the injustice in the world. However, our laments should not be hopeless. If we truly worship and fix our eyes on God in the midst of lament, there is always hope. In the middle of a five chapter book of laments, is chapter three. In chapter three, the author writes, “I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath…my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, ‘My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.” Yet, he does not stay in this hopeless state, he later goes on to say, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’” Worship is a heart's cry, a mourning and lament, but it is also a remembrance of God’s faithfulness and character. There is joy and there is mourning in Biblical worship, but it is the worship God calls us to participate in.
While worship is a cry of the heart, whether that is joy or mourning, it is also an action of the Church. Worship is active. It is a life of service as a laid down lover of Christ. Loving what God loves, and hating what God hates, and living like Jesus did is how we worship. So worship is more than a Sunday service, but it is a lifestyle of service like Jesus served. A good example of what this lifestyle looks like is the early Church in Acts. Shortly after Pentecost and Peter’s first sermon, the Church grew massively. When the Church gathered for worship, Luke, the author of Acts, says, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” So the Church was dedicated to the edifying of the Church themselves, but they did not keep to themselves. Luke later says, “And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” They worshiped not only by fellowship, teachings, and going to the temple together, but also through giving, serving, and loving the people around them. The people that get overlooked, the people that Jesus spent time with, the people that are most desperate for love, those are the people who the early Church went to. That is the example of active worship that God calls the Church to.
As I briefly mentioned before, worship is a high calling of being a Christian. God takes worship very seriously and wants it to be completely genuine. God values our music, dance, and offerings we give, but if we do not genuinely stand in awe of him, what is the point of worship? Throughout the story of the Israelites and their worship of God, or lack thereof, God rebukes them for their ingenuine worship. He tells the Israelites, through the prophet Amos,
“‘I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.’”
God does not want empty worship. It is possible to do all of the right worship things but do them completely lacking in love for the Father. As author and President of Fuller Theological Seminary in California, Mark Labberton, says in his book, The Dangerous Act of Worship, “We ‘sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:19) expressing our desire to know Jesus…we think we can say we love God and yet hate our neighbor, neglect the widow, forget the orphan, fail to visit the prisoner, ignore the oppressed. It’s the sign of disordered love. When we do this, our worship becomes a lie to God.” We cannot present God a song of worship yet live a life ignoring the world he so loves. Living a life of worship is a high calling, and God does not want anything less than our whole lives surrendered in worship.
Knowing how much God cares about worship leads us to consider the key principles of what worship should be, especially musical worship. It is easy to sing songs and go through the motions of the songs but there has to be principles of worship to ground us. Musical worship in the church should always be ascribing glory to God over ourselves, it should always be with one accord as a congregation and participatory, should always be our best, and should be prayerfully prepared while being held loosely to give space for the Holy Spirit to move.
There can be no pride in worship. Worship is always placing God above yourself. Above your plans, above your expectations, above your desire, above your appearance, and above your life. We say many good examples of humility in worship in the Bible, whenever someone encounters God’s heavenly presence. For example, Isaiah has a holy encounter with God in his throne room and his response is, “‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Isaiah cannot help but proclaim his unworthiness in the presence of God. Whenever you encounter the Lord, you will be humbled. Worship needs to be a posture of humility while also a position of high praise to the Most High God.
Worship also needs to be an act that is participatory as a whole Body of Christ. From the beginnings of the earth God puts us in fellowship with other humans in order to worship him. This is a principle God continues to emphasize as the Church begins to grow. In her book, The Worship Architect, Constance Cherry emphasizes how worship is dialogue between the Church and God. Everyone in the Church is invited to convene with God, as Cherry puts it, “Whether in the conversation with Moses at the burning bush, with Isaiah during his vision, with Mary at the Annunciation, or with the disciples on the Emmaus Road, a similar pattern to the dialogue is found: God approaches, The person experiences discontinuity between the divine and the human, God speaks, the person responds, God sends.” These examples that Cherry found in Scripture show that God invites us into a worship that is dialogical. One where we not only interact with God, but we interact with each other as we worship. There are countless examples where the Church is called to worship together. Worship has to be with one accord as a Church and is interactive with God.
Worship should always be giving God our best. We could never give God a perfect gift, but we can give him our best. In worship we are giving our lives, heart, soul, mind, and strength, to God as a sacrifice. Just like Mary Magdalene poured out her most expensive perfume at the feet of Jesus, we are to pour out the best of our lives to offer. Whether our best means studying in order to achieve good grades, practicing an instrument in order to refine your skill, getting rest so you can work with energy, or trying countless new ways to accomplish your goal. Especially as worship leaders, we should be living lives that exemplify Christ which is our calling as Christians. We should live as an example of what worshiping with our best looks like. Bob Kauflin, director of Sovereign Grace Music, says in his book Worship Matters, about leading as an example, “The standard for leading worship is not sinless perfection. But there has to be a consistent lifestyle of godliness.” Our lives are supposed to be an example of Christ, and that is how we worship well. Not just on a Sunday morning, but in every aspect of life we are to live holy, set apart.
Finally, maybe one of the hardest to juggle on a Sunday service, prepare prayerfully but open for the Spirit to move or change plans. It can be hard to plan something but then expect those plans to be changed. However, Cherry makes a good point saying, “The Holy Spirit is always at work - in advance, during, and after the events of human history.” The Holy Spirit works through the preparation of a service if you seek his advice. We cannot restrict the Holy Spirit to only work in the spontaneous moments. But, the Holy Spirit does move spontaneously in a service. For example, recently at my home church in Massachusetts, the elders made a choice mid-service to change the plans. My church is typically a very planned and on schedule service, so there are very rare occasions where the service would change during the service. However, a few weeks ago, the Teaching Elder at my church felt convicted by the Holy Spirit to not take communion that Sunday. He goes on to explain that it is because their church body was divided and Paul says that a divided church cannot partake in communion without judgment. I think this is a beautiful example of worshiping while being open to the Holy Spirit’s leadings. It is good to plan for worship, God is a God of planning, but it is also good to be spontaneous when the Holy Spirit moves.
Worship has transformed my life for the better. Worship has made me fall more in love with God, has struck me with awe of God’s character, has grown me closer to God, and has given me calling for my life. Worship through music is one of the primary ways I connect with and hear God speak. I have been most impacted when Scripture tells us about the worship that happens in Heaven. I have always thought of Heaven as the greatest example of worship. While leading worship, or during any worship service, I try to picture myself with John in the Throne Room of God where the angels and elders sing, “‘Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created...To him who sits on the throne and the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’” Trying to wrap my head around how God invites us into his presence, this presence where all of Heaven bows at his feet, is something I do not think I will ever understand.
Trying to live a life of worship has challenged my faith and helped me grow to be more like Christ. Living a life fully devoted to Jesus, with no other love above him is hard. That is why I resonate so much with Lewis’ The Great Divorce when he describes the journey to the Mountains as a painful walk. In the story Lewis describes the process as getting solid, “Walking proved difficult. The grass, hard as diamonds to my unsubstantial feet, made me feel as if I were walking on wrinkled rocks, and I suffered pains like those of the mermaid in Hans Anderson.” The walk to refine your love and devotion to be solely focused and reliant on God is a painful one, but it is so worth it. Learning more about how to worship in every aspect of life has been the most painful part of my faith journey. Trying to find how to honor God outside of a church service was one of the hardest things for me to learn. However, since coming to college and learning about worship in and outside of the classroom, I have had many opportunities to learn and get experience worshiping in new parts of life. Worship through practice, worship through homework, worship through serving. I have learned to love serving others around me and looking for ways to worship that will change the world. Worship that advances the Kingdom of God. Worship that prepares the Church as the Bride of Christ for his return. Worship that remembers God’s faithfulness and goodness, but also looks forward to Jesus’ return.