Worship Part 2

Welcome back! I hope you’ve had a great week!

As the title implies, there is a Part 1 to this blog that serves as a foundation for the conversation. It’d be beneficial for you to go back and read part 1 before moving forward here. 

As an action step for part 1, I left the reader with this homework: Take a couple of minutes to list and listen to a few of your favorite worship songs and ask yourself these questions:

• How many of the lines talk about God’s character and who He is?
• How many of the lines talk about what God has done for me?
• How many times is Jesus mentioned in each song?
• How many times do you find the word “I” in the song?
• Roughly, what percent of the song is adoring God for who He is or edifying (encouraging) the singer?

The reason we did this exercise was to think about what we think about or in this case, to think about what we sing. We often take in messages without properly reflecting on what’s coming in and taking root in our mind. This matters immensely for many reasons, but it matters even more when we allow what we’re absorbing to unintentionally inform our theology of God.

Odds are that if you did the homework, you may have been surprised by the balance of references to God and references to yourself in your favorite “worship” songs. It may have been a shock that we seem to make ourselves the hero rather than our holy, infinite God in a large majority of current popular songs sung in churches. 

If we look at worship in the Bible, we see that Heaven’s song sounds very different. The song of heaven is so linearly centered on God’s holiness and glory, acknowledging His majesty and eternal nature. We see this in:

• Isaiah’s vision and his response to the vision in Isaiah 6:1-8. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)
• John’s vision of God in heaven and the worship of heavenly beings in Revelation 4:8-11. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8)
• Countless verses of David’s worship. For example, “Honor the Lord for the glory of his name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.” (Psalm 29:2)

Singing is a way to declare God’s greatness and to respond to His goodness. According to Jesus it must be done in spirit and in truth. (Which by the way, if Jesus said there are true worshippers, He implies there are imitation worshipers. Ouch.) We cannot simply sing words as a ritual. Worship requires sincerity and a heart connection with God as we recognize who He is. Worship should not be about what He can do for us but about offering a sacrifice of praise, gratitude and devotion to God. 

• “Through Jesus then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God which is the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name.” (Hebrews 13:15)
• “Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God.” (Psalm 50:14a)
• “Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to Him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to Him.” (Psalm 95:1-2)

True worship is sung to God acknowledging His character, holiness and majesty (truth) and expressing gratitude, reverence and surrender (spirit). With fear of the Lord, we humble ourselves before Him and recognize both who He is and what He has done. 

If that is the definition of worship, where on earth (pun intended as this idea is absolutely an earthly one) did we get the idea that songs of edification (encouragement and reminders to ourselves) should be labeled as worship and sung in the corporate gathering? It’s of utmost importance to keep Father, Son and the Holy Spirit as the focus of our worship. We must MAKE ROOM for Him. He is the treasure. He is the prize.