Worship: The Ultimate Priority

This is the first book I have read cover to cover in one sitting.  I am so blessed.  I have learned that worship is not about music, worship is about loving and adoring and obeying God in all of our ways, over all of our days! 

            Worship is not about getting anything from God, like a better job or a nice, warm “touchy-feely” that makes me “feel” like God is “the air I breathe!”  Worship is so much more!  Worship is about what I give to God – namely myself, my adoration, my affection, my obedience – in a word, my life!  Worship is about suppressing the desire to glorify self, and indulging the desire to glorify God!  “Worship is honor and adoration directed unto God,” writes MacArthur (p. 43).  Worship then is something I can do 24-7.  It can and should be as ongoing as breathing!

            When the Bible talks about worship it doesn’t mention music, it mentions truth (Jn 4:24).  I believe the modern use of “worship leader” instead of “minister of music” creates a misleading message about worship – namely, that worship is something we do on Sundays from 10:30 – 11:00 and don’t pick up again until next Sunday at the same time.  This is a travesty!  I hear people say things like, “I was talking with someone I hadn’t seen in a while before church so I missed half the worship.”  Half the worship?   I didn’t realize worship be cut in half?  Such is the sad end of shrinking the meaning of worship to a 30-minute block on Sundays. 

            Worship is so much more than music (though music is a legitimate means for expressing verbal adoration, a gift of common grace for which I am sincerely thankful).  As MacArthur describes, “worship is not a narrowly defined activity relegated to the Sunday morning church service – or restricted to any single time and place for that matter.  Worship is any essential expression of service rendered unto God by a soul who loves and extols Him for who He is” (p. 10).

            I truly appreciated MacArthur’s exposition on the attributes of God.  God’s name is the summation of His attributes.  God must be defined for people.  He is not like us, He is above and beyond us – a being utterly unknown and mysterious apart from His own self-revelation in Scripture.  God is love, so we worship Him for His unconditional commitment to His covenant people, and that at the infinite cost of the beloved’s Son’s own blood.  God is merciful, so we worship Him for not consuming us this very morning (Lam 3:22).  God is full of grace, so we worship Him for granting us “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,” and for “calling us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus” (1 Peter 5:10).  God is just, so we worship Him for “executing righteous deeds and justice for all who are oppressed” (Ps 103:7), and that from a throne whose very foundations are “righteousness and justice” (Ps 97).  Quite simply, the more we know about Him, the more in awe we stand, the lowly we fall, and the more deeply the tremble! 

            He is a God who has killed people for not giving Him glory (Herod for example).  He is a God who has killed thousands for not giving Him glory as in the bloodbath at the foot of the holy mountain when the worshipers of God killed with the sword all who worshipped the golden calf and refused to turn back to God (see Eodus 32ff).  This awesome, consuming fire (Heb 12:29) is no one to be trifled with!  And like Mark Dever says, “God is terrible, without Christ!”

            The last section on church music tied the whole thing together for me.  Is it only a coincidence that the era of light preaching and shorter messages (the 20^th century that is) should just happens to be the century of light singing and shorter (more syrupy and less substantive) singing?  It seems that “light and fluffy” is the cake the preacher bakes and the – dare I say it – all right I will, “worship leader” too!  Ahh, junk food everywhere! No wonder we are so unhealthy!  Sermons void of sound Bible doctrine are as beneficial as lollipops for breakfast and gumdrops for lunch and a bag of Fritos for dinner! Music void of doctrine are about as worshipful as an offering to the “unknown God” on Mars Hill!  If I can sing the same song to my wife as I could to the holy, unchanging, all-powerful God … is it just me, or is something not right here?

            My desire is to actually write new hymns for the church.  I am a poet with a lot of training in music.  I pray that the LORD will use me to bring more God-honoring, Christ-magnifying, and gospel-centered music to the church.

            I am resolved to teach God’s people about music, and provide hands-on shepherding to our music leaders and musicians.  I am aware of the biblical instruction to “teach and admonish one another” through music, a variety of God-ordained and God-approved music (both Psalms and hymns and a spiritual song or two too).  I am eager to sing music straight from the Psalter (like Psalm 51) and maybe with only a harpist to accompany.  I delight to hear the echo of doctrinally entrenched hymns like “Holy, Holy, Holy” (the hymn) sung in a male to female cacophony of joy.  I see the place for personal passion for God to be expressed in the first person, deep from the heart of one who has the experience of God in his/her heart and that made possible by the exceeding and wonderful riches of His grace in Christ!