Worship: Passages to Guide Our Thinking
It’s been a while, but last time we critiqued both sides of the worship wars. The basic conclusion was that both sides are flawed for various reasons. Thus, style should not and cannot be the main issue. A focus on style is quite simply a bad priority.
Today, we will focus on some important passages of Scripture that deal with worship. I admit two things upfront. First, this is a small, selective group of passages. It is impossible to address every passage in one post. I will most certainly miss some texts, and my biases will probably govern what I write. Second, this post is, nevertheless, rather long. This is a bit technical, and I ask that you stay with me. I hope you will it useful.
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Isaiah 6: Isaiah in the Presence of God
I begin here because many people on both sides of the argument, myself included, are too comfortable in worship. We “enter the presence of God” and we are at ease, each in our own way. The contemporary side makes things comfortable by trying to appeal to the culture. The traditional side often falls into the, “We’ve always done it this way,” form of comfort.
However, in this passage, Isaiah sees a vision of The Lord Almighty. He enters into a throne room, where even God’s robe fills the temple. It is an awe-inspiring, fearful scene for sure, and the prophet is not at east. Instead, he calls out in terror, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips” (ESV).
Ever since the time when Adam and Eve sinned, every time a person enters into the presence of the most holy God , that person is immediately confronted with his or her own unholiness. Being in God’s presence is frightening. Adam and Eve cowered in fear when God appeared (Genesis 3:8), the Israelites refused to approach God on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20:18-21), and even the Apostle John fell in fear when Jesus appeared on Patmos (Revelation 1:17). God’s presence is not comfortable, for we are unclean people with unclean lips.
Sadly, we have turned God into a buddy at the expense of His Majesty and glory. Yes, He is our friend (John 15:15), and it is not inappropriate to emphasized that. Yet He is also our King (Psalm 29:10), and this cannot be forgotten. As we come to approach the King of Kings, let us remember that Our God is an Awesome God. Entering into is His presence can be uncomfortable, even fearful, for we are not worthy to be in His presence at all. Thus, may our worship never become ordinary or easy.
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Exodus 20-31: Details Matter
Clearly, I’m not going to discuss 12 whole chapters. What I want to highlight is how “nit-picky” God’s commands about worship and life can be. In these 12 chapters, we learn the 10 Commandments and read details about altars, the Sabbath, the Ark of the Covenant, the lampstand, the curtains for the tabernacle, and even the clothes of the priests. Exact dimensions and specific materials are divinely ordained. It is very precise.
We learn from this that God cares about details. He has a way by which He wants to be worshiped. He is the King, and He has the right to define how He is to be honored. As we approach the New Testament, we should expect to see such particulars – either in specifics (dress, postures, locations, etc.) or in guiding principles. Then we would do well to adhere as closely as possible to what we find. Again, He is the King.
It is easy to label such exactness as legalistic and works-based. However, legalism, by definition, only applies to salvation via works. When it comes to being obedient and honoring the King, we are not being legalistic when we pay attention to details and do what God says. Indeed, we are obligated to pay attention to them, as we will see below.
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Leviticus 10: Nadab and Abihu’s Dangerous “Worship”
We now look at two men who were at one time very privileged, Nadab and Abihu. They were two of Aaron’s sons, and, along with Moses, Aaron and the 70 elders, were even able to come near to God at Sinai (Exodus 24:1-2). They were consecrated as priests and served before the Lord. They were important worship leaders of their time.
However, eventually, they decided to do things their own way and offered “strange” fire to the Lord, which God had not commanded (Leviticus 10:1). The Lord was not pleased at all. Immediately, and perhaps ironically, a strange fire came up out of the ground and consumed them. Yahweh was rightfully angry because Nadab and Abihu, who should have known better, did not follow the details.
A similar story occurred with Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-7). We don’t know exactly what Cain did wrong, but he clearly knew what he ought to have done (Genesis 4:6-7). Nevertheless, he didn’t do it, and he too incurred God’s anger.
All throughout the Old Testament (1 Samuel 15; 2 Samuel 6; and the Prophets), and even in the New (maybe Acts 5:1-11; and surely 1 Corinthians 11), we see that God does not appreciate His people “doing worship” their own way. He wants His detailed commands for worship to be followed. After all, He is the King. That deviations from the commands occasionally resulted in death should remind us that this is serious business. Who are we to decide how God should be worshiped?
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Excursus: Worship in Light of Christ
You may have noticed that much of what I have cited is Old Testament passages. This is because the Old Testament is far more detailed and lucid about what God requires in worship. Old Testament worship was centered around sacrifices, and theologians have long recognized that Christ’s sacrifice was the epitome and completion of those sacrifices. Calvary was the epitome and fulfillment of Israel’s worship, as a whole.
Hence, it is, at first, reasonable to assume that our worship today need not be as detailed and exact. There is merit to this, especially, since there is no New Testament equivalent of Leviticus or Exodus. Nevertheless, I would argue that there is more reason to worship and praise God now that the fulfillment has come and King Jesus has taken His place at the right hand of the Father.
The fact that we have no divinely inspired Book of Worship only means we need to work harder with the Books He has given, in order to understand how our God wants us to worship Him now. The commands (or principles) are there; we just need to find them.
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Matthew 22:34-40 and 1 Corinthians 10:31: The Purpose of Worship
We end here for good reason; this reminds us why we do what we do on Sunday mornings. In our age of self indulgence, we are naturally drawn to do things the way we want and desire. If it doesn’t make us happy or suit our needs, then we quickly dismiss or change it.
However, as we have seen, worship is about God, not about us. The greatest commandment Christ has given us is to Love God will all our hearts, souls, and minds. By definition, love is not self-seeking (1 Corinthians 13:5). Rather, it seeks to serve and to please another; in this case, God. We don’t typically give our wives bowling balls or our husbands ballet tickets, because that is not what they want; that’s what we want.
Likewise, when we gather to worship God, and hence, love Him completely, we should make sure we’re not giving God what we want. We worship God because we love Him, and show our love by doing what He desires.
Finally, Paul tells us to glorify God in all that we do, even eating and drinking (1 Corinthians 10:31). If this is true of our daily lives, how much more so when we gather together, as Christ’s Body, to exult Him above everything else. Our goal, our purpose, and our passion in worship is to glorify Him above all. That is why we do what we do, especially in worship.
Conclusion
When we come to worship God, our hearts, souls, and minds must be centered on loving, serving, pleasing, and glorifying Him alone. This is what it means to be a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2). That is what it means to worship. Loving and glorifying God need to be the main priorities of our worship services, not style.
In order to accomplish these goals, we need to turn to what God says about Himself and how He desires to be approached. We turn to to the Bible, for that is where God reveals Himself (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Remember it is about Him, not about us.
Therefore, next time we will look at some key elements of worship – those things which are non-negotiable. We will also look at some things which are important, but perhaps not necessary. We will examine passages, mainly in the New Testament, which discuss how we should worship the King.
Until then, please leave your comments…. That is assuming you’re still awake after reading this major rambling. May the Lord be with you!
Very thought-provoking article. I like your focus on doing what God wants instead of what we want… and that sometimes what God wants is very specific and detailed, and perhaps not at all intuitive. (I’m always reminded of the time Uzza put his hand on the ark of the covenant — a seemingly meaningless and trivial thing — and was struck dead for his disobedience and irreverence).
I’m looking forward to your next installment and what principles you believe should guide worship. Certainly an ambitious undertaking with the breadth of styles and practices present in the whole church today…
One thought on what you write above: you mention that legalism only applies to salvation by works. I disagree with this to an extent, but its probably semantics. I have seen many Christians who 100% believe in salvation by faith alone, but still have a very legalistic application of rules… usually rules that aren’t clearly called out in scripture but may be alluded to… or may not even be alluded to. e.g., I have met Christians who believe it is wrong to drink wine (despite scripture to the contrary). I have also met Christians who believe that their particular worship style (be it music tone, etc.) believe that others are categorically disobedient because they don’t follow that style. I often think of that as “legalistic.” Just my $.02. Great article.
Nadab and Abihu, I’d also argue their case was as close to direct disobedience as they could have gotten … The Lord had just specified the ways in which He must be approached, and they knowingly went another way. Thank God that today we can approach him on the basis of the shed blood of the Lamb of God, that we don’t need to go through Moses, Aaron or any other priest, for we ourselves are priests.
This is something Jim and I have had some discussions about and we’ve heard some things about the design of worship for Sunday mornings. I think it’s important, not only to look at scripture but at the traditions of the church and how the first worship services would have gone based on what we know of the disciples and their practices with the Jewish faith and the additions they made with their faith in Christ.