Philosophy of Worship

An Examination of Holistic Worship through Biblical and Historical Perspectives

Ben Wulpi

Theology of Worship

December 11, 2007

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Worship is a volatile issue in the Church today. As new generations replace the

old, the culture paradigm shifts, and the Church struggles to stay relevant, many

questions arise about our worship practices and styles. Churches have been split because

of conflicts over worship styles. Arguments often arise between traditionalists and post-

moderns, between sacramentalists and charismatics, over the proper forms of worship.

This disunity in the Body of Christ is not necessarily derived from differences in musical

preferences or liturgical forms, but rather from ignorance and misunderstanding of the

real meaning and function of worship.

In this philosophy of worship, I will attempt a discussion of the real meaning,

function, and form of worship using biblical and historical evidence, as well as support

from my own experiences. Certainly no single philosophy of worship can hold the claim

as the absolute reality of how we are to worship, but my mission in this paper is to arrive

as close as possible to the true approach to worship as God intended it. Of course, much

of this is my personal view, which tends to change quite frequently, as I believe it should.

We should constantly be forming and reforming our opinions and beliefs as we grow and

mature in our faith and in our understanding of worship.

Worship Defined

I doubt very highly that we could find any single all-encompassing definition that

would bring perfect clarity and understanding to all Christians, so we will here examine

some different definitions to try to arrive at the meaning from different angles. The Bible

has much insight to give us on what real worship is. One of the most notable verses about

worship is Romans 12:1, which says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s

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mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your

spiritual act of worship” (NIV). This definition from Romans is holistic in nature—telling

us that worship requires our entire bodies, given up as living sacrifices. It also equates

this physical act of worship with a spiritual act. This implies that worship is to be

physical, which would lend support to the use of bodily gestures in worship, using the

physical to represent a spiritual reality.

Let’s examine some key words here. “Living sacrifice” gives the connotation of

being active and continuous, based on the word living. Sacrifice, by definition is “the

surrender of something desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher

or more pressing claim.” We are to be continuously and actively surrendering ourselves

to God, the superior being. The phrase “in view of God’s mercy” reveals that our worship

is to be a response to God’s action in our lives. For his amazing mercy in saving us from

sin, sanctifying us and giving us eternal life, he is to be given all that we have in worship.

In Harold Best’s book Unceasing Worship, his definition is similar to that of

Romans, but from a different angle. It states that “worship is the continuous outpouring

of all that I am, and all that I can ever become in the light of a chosen or choosing god.”

Best postulates that all human beings were created as continuous outpourers, made in the

image of God, who is the ultimate outpourer. We can choose to direct our outpouring to

the things of this world, whatever “god” we choose, or we can direct it to Yahweh, the

one true God, in a reciprocal relationship of outpourer to outpourer. Outpouring implies

lavishness and generosity, which would agree with the idea from Romans of a living

sacrifice, requiring all that we are.

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The Bible uses three different words that translate as “worship.” Proskynein

literally means “to kiss toward,” and implies humility and a bowed heart toward someone

or something of superior importance. Latreuein means “to serve,” and gives the

connotation of worship being active, serving the object of worship. As Christians, we are

called by Christ to feed the hungry and help the oppressed, serving God by serving

others. Jesus words in Matthew 25 make this clear: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to

one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” By serving others, we are serving

Christ, and this is a form of worship. Lastly, the word sebomai means “to fear or respect.”

This has implications that our worship of God should be reverent, respecting his power

and in awe of his majesty.

All of these definitions leave little doubt of the insufficiency of the modern idea

of worship as simply Sunday morning services. Neither can it be restricted to simply

singing Christian songs and getting a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Worship is about God—

not about us. It is not about the feeling that we get when we are singing, but that we are

praising our God. Worship should involve our entire lives, a holistic offering to God in

response to his character and deeds.

A Life of Worship - David

There are many situations and teachings in the Scriptures that tell us how to

worship. One of the best models for a life of worship was David. It is told that God chose

David to be king over his people because David was a man after God’s own heart (1

Samuel 13:14). At the end of his life, David’s desire was still for God’s heart, and he

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tried to pass this along to his son Solomon, to whom he told to always be faithful and

obedient to God.

David always had a desire to see God glorified. From his confrontation with

Goliath to defend the name of the Lord (1 Sam. 17:45-47) to his humbled praise in Psalm

69, we see that David was always striving to promote the glory of God in everything he

did.

David had a heart that was honest before God. In 2 Samuel 12, David is

confronted by the prophet Nathan after committing the sins of adultery and murder. He

immediately confesses before God and others and is repentant for his sins. In Psalm 51,

written by David after his egregious sin, David confesses that God desires honesty from

the moment we are born. From David we see that God desires honesty, vulnerability, and

humility in our worship.

David always desired to bring his best before God. From the elaborate

preparations he made for the temple to be built (even when it was revealed to him that he

could not build it), to the intricate details of his music ministry given in 1 Chronicles 25,

using only the most skilled of musicians, David puts a lot of effort into praising God. We

are to bring our best, our first fruits, to God in our worship, whether it be in our music

ministry, sacred space, or monetary offerings.

Probably one of the most notable things about David in his relationship with God

was his humble heart and passion to praise God. In 2 Samuel 6, David and a processional

are bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. David let his joy be known

unashamedly, when he “danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a linen

ephod” (2 Sam. 6:14). A linen ephod was a priestly garment, and it was usually

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something that a king would not be seen wearing, something not fit for such a great man

as David. He is rebuked by his wife, Michal, when she saw him leaping and dancing

before the Lord. She says to him, “How distinguished the king of Israel looked today,

shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!”

(6:20) David responded to her, saying that he was dancing before the Lord. He tells her,

“Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my

own eyes!” David doesn’t care how he looks to other people. As long as he is praising

God with all his might, how honorable he looks is the last thing on his mind. After all,

“man judges by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7).

David provides us with an incredible model of an entire life devoted to worship. Not

much else mattered to him when compared to worshipping his God.

Symbolism

Many post-modern Christians may feel uncomfortable with using symbolism in

worship, arguing that it is often empty, bordering on idol-worship, and “too Catholic.”

But symbolism in worship is defined as a physical representation of a spiritual reality.

The truth is, all of our worship is symbolic, whether we like it or not. For example,

language and thought are symbolic processes that we use to express ourselves, and a

gesture like raising hands in worship is symbolic as well. And just like everything good,

symbolism can be twisted into something bad. If the symbolism in our worship is not

understood or used how it is intended, it can be idolatry. It makes one think, then, if we

are singing or speaking words of praise that are empty of real meaning to us, does that

become idolatry? A symbol will not serve its purpose if its users don’t share the same

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framework of understanding. We must take the time to understand the symbolism we use

in our worship and put meaning to it, or else the symbol is meaningless and we lead

ourselves into idolatry.

This is where much prudence is necessary in our worship. We must be careful that

the symbols and tools we use in worship are being used properly and help us move closer

to God, rather than farther away from him. Even if our intentions are sincere,

misunderstandings of symbolism and worship can lead us into idolatry. In Exodus, the

infamous example of the worship of the golden calf illustrates this quite well. The people

were restlessly awaiting Moses’ return from the mountain, and they needed a more

tangible representation of God. They fashioned a golden calf and worshipped it as the

god who brought them out of Egypt. But this wasn’t a rejection of Yahweh. The people

associated this golden calf with Yahweh, and the text says that the very next day Aaron

proclaimed a feast to Yahweh, and the people got up to offer sacrifices to the Lord. This

idolatry was not intentional, but rather just misdirected worship. This can serve as a

warning to us that we must not make false idols out of our symbols.

Having said that, much of the symbolism used in organized or spontaneous

worship can be very useful for helping us worship. Symbolic gestures can be a great way

to express praise to God. These physical actions can direct us beyond ourselves to a

deeper spiritual reality. Some biblical actions in worship are lifting hands, clapping,

bowing, kneeling, dancing, and others. These show us that we can use all of our body to

express ourselves in worship. Many symbols such as crosses, candles, paintings, and even

architecture can help us stay focused on Christ and worshipping him.

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Old Testament Worship

The Old Testament is full of symbolic rituals and objects that assisted the

Israelites in worship. The Israelites had many festivals where they came together for

organized worship. One of these was the Day of Atonement, where they symbolized their

forgiveness of sins by releasing a goat into the wild that would bear all of the sins of

Israel (this is where we get the term scapegoat). The altar in the temple was a symbol of

the presence of God with his people. The temple was set up on a hill, a point where

heaven and earth meet. In the temple, the Ark of the Covenant symbolized God and his

covenant promise with Israel, and it was guarded by curtains in a section known as the

Holy of Holies, where only the high priest could enter once a year. This was a sign of

reverence and fear of the Lord, who is holy and set apart. The temple and the tabernacle

were filled with symbolic objects, every one of them representing something different

that assisted the Israelites in worship. The Israelites in the Old Testament made great use

of symbolism in their worship, and it gives us a much greater understanding of OT

worship when we understand the meaning behind all these symbols.

The Israelites in the Old Testament knew themselves to be in a covenant

relationship with God. Their religion and spirituality was defined and governed by this

covenant. God was their King, and they existed to serve and worship him. It was a very

similar relationship to king-vassal relationships of that culture. The king was lord over

the vassal and gave him property and land to rule over. The vassal gave a portion of his

wages to the king (like a tithe) and acknowledged him as his lord. God is the Lord of the

Israelites in the Old Testament, and he is our Lord today.

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The Psalms

The Psalms are very important to use in worship, and can teach us a lot about how

we should worship. In every age, the Church has made extensive use of the Psalms in its

worship. The Psalms were quoted numerous times in the New Testament, and were used

heavily in Jewish worship. They offer a great view of the religious life of the people of

God, with a special emphasis on their covenantal relationship with God.

The Psalms are usually written by one person, and in worship the reading was led

by one person, but they are meant to generally express the faith of the worshipping

community. They are a dialogue; God often speaks in them to his people. They include a

wide variety of feelings—from laments to petitions to energetic praise, the Psalms offer

honest and heartfelt worship to the Lord. Often reading from the Psalms can be a great

form of worship that we should continue to practice.

New Testament Worship

Early Christian worship as expressed in the New Testament originated in a Jewish

setting. Thus many Hebrew influences carried over into Christian worship. Jesus

supported and participated in Hebrew worship, most notably with the Passover

commemoration before Jesus’ arrest. Jewish Christians worshipped in homes and in the

Temple, reinterpreting Jewish ceremonies as having been fulfilled by Christ.

Jesus claimed that he superseded the Old Testament institutions of worship

(Matthew 12:6), and that he had the authority to interpret the customs of Jewish worship.

Jesus claimed that the temple was no longer the main facilitator of worship, but that “true

worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). Jesus changed a lot of

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what the Jews knew about worship. In Jesus, one has come that is greater than the temple

and all religious rituals, who has the authority to interpret the law

It was understood by early Jewish Christians that the Christ event—Jesus’ birth,

ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension—was the fulfillment of the Exodus event in

the Old Testament. As God saved them and delivering them out of slavery in Egypt, so

here God, through Christ, saves and delivers them once and for all from their sins. And in

Christ is also the complete fulfillment of the law. “I have not come to abolish them [the

Law and the Prophets], but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17). For early Christians, there wasn’t

much separation from Judaism to Christianity. Christianity is simply completed Judaism.

So it is not surprising that many practices were carried over from Judaism to early

Christianity.

Singing was seen almost as a necessity by the early Church in the NT. There is no

mention of instruments used, but they are not banned either. Many scholars think that

instruments were not used in the early Church because of pagan associations.

Nonetheless, singing is definitely mentioned as a form of worship. Colossians 3:16 says:

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Ephesians 5:18-19 also gives an equivalent command. The singing in the early church

clearly had two functions: impressive and expressive. The verse in Colossians tells us to

teach and admonish one another through songs, impressing on each other the wisdom and

teachings of Christ. It also tells us to have thankfulness in our hearts to God, expressing

our gratitude and praise to him.

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Paul had a lot to say about worship in his letters. He always made it very clear

that the source of all our worship was to be rooted in the Christ event. Paul emphasized

the need for order in corporate worship (1 Cor. 14:40), and as the NT progresses, we see

a maturation in the organization of the church and its worship.

From what we can gather about NT worship, their worship gatherings were

centered on the Word and the Lord’s Table. These two were crucial to worship and were

practiced at every gathering. The Word for the early Christians would have been simply

what we now know as the Old Testament. God’s Word is seen as essential to worship.

The Table was observed as a general meal, where all participants brought their

own food. This was done in remembrance of Christ, a proclamation of Christ’s death, and

in anticipation of his return. The Table is a recapitulation of the Christ event,

exemplifying the Greek term anamnesis, which means “active remembering.” It

represents receiving the sanctifying grace of God through remembering Christ’s

suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. Traditional thinking is that the Eucharist

(another name for the Lord’s Table) is a reliable means of grace, but not grace itself.

Grace resides in Christ’s actions, and as we remember those actions through the Table,

we experience Christ and his grace again.

Unfortunately, the NT does not provide us with a complete picture of worship.

But it gives us the foundation we are to build off of: Christ. He is absolutely essential to

all of our worship. His actions are the reason for our salvation, and our response should

indicate our gratitude for that. Our worship should be deeply rooted in Christ, and from

there I believe that we allowed flexibility in our worship practices. As Jesus pointed out,

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as long as we are worshipping in Spirit and Truth, things like location and practices take

second priority.

Revelation Worship

The book of Revelation (specifically chapters 4-5) paints a picture for us what

worship is like in Heaven. This is really an incredible view of how we are going to

worship God for all eternity and a model for how worship should be on Earth. In

Revelation 4-5, worship is focused on the Lamb who was slain and the One who sits

upon the throne. The worship is centered on the acts of the Lamb, and our redemption

through him. The worship is constant, never ceasing, continuing on day and night. “They

never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to

come!’” (4:8). It involves great emotion, singing, humility, and endless rejoicing. In this

heavenly drama, the worship is unanimous. Not a single heart is left unbowed, and there

is no rebellion. Everyone is united in the purpose of worship.

What a beautiful example we have been given here in Revelation. There is so

much that we can take from this. Shouldn’t worship in our churches be modeled after

worship as it is in heaven? Does our worship look like this? Are we united in our

worship, or do we become divided over issues of musical style and traditions? Is our

worship humbled and Christ-focused, or does it become a performance that’s all about

how it makes us feel? These are things that we should take into account when thinking

about our worship. It must be Christ-focused above all. That focus should powerfully

overshadow any divisions, self-centeredness, or musical preference.

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Church History

I believe one major flaw in the Church today is the common disregard for and

ignorance of Church history. The history of how the Church has evolved can teach us a

lot about the meaning behind our worship and traditions, as well as give us insight into

how we should worship today. The mistake is often made in thinking that once the canon

of the Bible was finalized, God’s revelation to mankind was done. I believe that the Bible

is the authoritative, infallible Word of God, but I also believe that God reveals his truth to

us in many other ways. Not only should we look at the biblical history of worship, but

also Church history. So here we will look briefly at the history of the church and how we

arrived at the modern state of church beliefs and practices.

The Early Church (pre-4 th Century)

This was a period of incredible growth for the Church, where it went from a small

band of disciples to thousands of new followers each day, until it became a movement

that the ruling powers could not ignore. Throughout most of this time period Christians

went through much persecution. Churches mostly met in homes, and were grouped in and

around major cities. Much of the clues we get from this time period are from the writings

of the apostles and the Didache (a Greek term meaning “teaching”), which was like an

early church manual.

Stylistically, the churches varied in different areas. There were many ways that

the early church practiced worship. Music played a large role in their worship. As we’ve

already stated, music played an impressive role, with the ability to teach believers, but it

could also be used to spread heresies.

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The writings of Justin Martyr, an early church leader in the mid-2nd century, give

us lots of clues as to the order that worship would take. The people would gather together

and hear “the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets.” Then “the

president,” or what we would call a pastor or priest, would deliver a discourse based on

the readings. Then prayers were offered and the Table was presented. It is clear that the

primary features of Sunday worship were the preaching of the gospel and the celebration

of the Eucharist. It was around the middle of the 3rd century, with the writings of Clement

and Origen, that liturgies began to develop for the Word and the Table. Baptismal rites

and rituals were also developed during this time period.

4 th Century through the Medieval Period

Christianity was officially legalized in 314 with the success of the Battle of

Milvian Bridge. With its legalization, Christian worship slowly begins to reflect the local

culture, especially in Eastern Christian churches, which were heavily influenced by

Hellenistic culture. Hellenism brought an appreciation for aesthetics and influenced the

focus on beauty and architecture that marked many churches.

Two important councils that influenced Christian theology deserve mention here.

The Council of Nicaea in 325 solidified the doctrine of the trinity, and the Council of

Chalcedon in 451 made clear the dual nature of Christ—both fully human and fully

divine.

Christianity continues to spread until the year 800, with the crowning of

Charlemagne as Holy Roman emperor and the formalization of Christendom. Christianity

was now the official state religion. Christendom dominated throughout the medieval

period. It was throughout this time that a shift in the meaning of worship began as

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Christianity became more institutionalized. The established church, in an effort to be

more theologically pure, moved the liturgy away from the people and made the church

more institutionalized. Worship was emphasized more as a mystery, which common

people could not understand. Liturgy was done completely in Latin, which the majority

of the common people didn’t speak. Salvation was dispensed through the church and

through its priests. This led to worship being further removed from the people, moving

back to an OT paradigm of priest-centered worship.

This institutionalized, impersonal style of church was redeemed partially by the

monastic movement. While the established church focused on worship as a mystery, the

monastics stressed the devotional aspect of worship. These monks devoted their lives to

prayer. They helped the church keep centered on prayer, Scripture, and service.

The Reformation

By the 1500’s the institutional Church had become corrupt with the practices of

simony and selling indulgences. Salvation had become something that was based on

works and how much you gave to the church. In worship services, the Word had lost

much of its importance and the Eucharist had become somewhat of a re-sacrificing of

Christ with the doctrine of transubstantiation, where it was believed that the bread and

wine were transformed into the actual body and blood of Christ. Something was needed

to bring the Church back to its roots.

Martin Luther was the main catalyst for the Reformation, which is agreed upon to

have officially started with the Diet of Worms in 1521. Along with Luther, other leaders

such as Calvin and Zwingli played key roles in the Reformation. Though these leaders

differed in how far they departed from the established Church, they agreed on several

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main principles. They believed that the Mass had become a sacrifice rather than a

thanksgiving and turned into a legalistic way of buying salvation. They wanted

restoration of the preached Word, and they believed that worship should be accessible to

all people in the vernacular, common languages. These reformers brought biblical

principles back to the Church.

Pietism, Evangelicalism, and Revivalism

Pietism began in the mid 1600s as a reaction to the cold-hearted intellectualism

that was spawned by the Enlightenment and had seeped into the Church. They

emphasized the experience of new birth as being essential to salvation, and they had a

major focus on house churches and Bible studies, as well as service to the community.

Pietism greatly influenced the Moravians, who emerged in the early 1700s. The

Moravians were a group of German Lutherans who greatly emphasized missionary

outreach, prayer, and worship through hymns. These Moravians went on to directly

influence John Wesley, who is known as the primary father of evangelicalism.

John Wesley, greatly influenced by his own experiences, stressed the experience

of conversion and new birth. Wesley’s great contribution was bringing the Gospel to the

common man. He was one of the first to practice street preaching and evangelizing. He

founded a group called “Methodists,” so named because of their methodical approach to

worship and Christian living. The Methodists started as small groups of accountability,

focused on personal sanctification and holiness. John’s brother Charles, who worked with

John in ministry most of his life, wrote over 6,000 hymns, which were a new combination

of theology and experience. John Wesley created a new blend of classical Protestantism

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with the personal element of Pietism. Throughout this time period, daily worship shifted

from church building to homes, becoming more personal.

Along with the Wesleys, other great leaders such as George Whitfield and

Jonathon Edwards catalyzed what is now known as the First Great Awakening. This was

the start of Revivalism. Evangelistic worship was really the distinguishing characteristic

of Revivalism. An essential part of their worship was the experience of the conversion

process. These conversions were often very emotional, often consisting of moaning and

wailing, crying, and seizures. The Second Great Awakening occurred around the 1830’s,

led by people like D.L. Moody and Charles Finney, a very emotional and intense speaker

who used many new methods to evangelize. This movement gave birth to the American

camp meetings that are such a famous sign of revival. Revivalism had an enormous

impact on American evangelical spirituality, including the structure and content of its

corporate worship.

Especially with revivalism, music became more widely used as a tool in worship.

It became used as a crowd former and a warm-up for the message. Music became simply

sanctified entertainment, and its capacity for manipulating people’s emotions was well

known among preachers and revivalist leaders. Evangelicalism and revivalism presented

some challenges to worship. With all its focus on individualism, corporate unity as a

Church was nearly forgotten. Worship tended towards narcissism, becoming all about us

and the experience rather than on God. Many of these things still affect us today, and are

rooted directly in these movements.

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The Twentieth Century

The 20th century has experienced some of the most dynamic growth of spirituality

in Church history. It was marked by the rise of the Holiness-Pentecostal movement,

which was a post-Enlightenment approach to worship that grew out of revivalism. After

World War II and during Vietnam and the Cold War, America was in a state of

disillusionment. This allowed for great growth in the charismatic movements of the 60’s,

which evolved into the Jesus movement of the 70’s.

During this time, music as a tool for worship underwent great change. Just as the

reformers changed worship to accommodate the language of the people, so now music in

worship was adapting to the “language,” or style, of the people. Worship music became

more stylistically similar to popular rock and pop music in the secular world. The praise

and worship movement had begun.

During the 80’s, a time of economic prosperity and affluence, church growth

became a business model. Churches like Willow Creek in Chicago experienced enormous

growth and change. This continues today with the existence of mega-churches. The 90’s

experienced the rise of post-modernism in society, which had a great impact on the

church. The post-modern church began to grow, and this is still a movement in motion

today.

Another movement that has gained in popularity in recent years has been the

emerging church model. The emerging church seeks a convergence of the traditional with

the post-modern and the liturgical with the charismatic. It is an innovative blend of many

different worship traditions, with a large focus on traditions passed down through history.

I am personally a proponent of the emerging worship model, because the blend of

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different traditions and the high regard for the development of Church history creates a

great balance of worship that transcends culture and trends.

There are many things that we can learn from the development of worship

throughout Church history. It is very valuable to see how worship has evolved to the

point where it’s at now, and it is good for us to see how the Church has strayed too far in

one direction or another so that we can gain wisdom to realize what true worship needs to

be. For example, we saw worship shift to be more priest-centered during the medieval

period, but then shifting to more people-centered and individualistic after the

Reformation with the rise of evangelicalism and revivalism. There’s the extreme of

focusing too much on the institutional church at the expense of the individual, and there’s

the extreme of focusing too much on the individual at the expense of the united Body of

Christ. We must work to find a balance between these two.

Modern Evangelical Worship

The state of modern evangelical worship has been heavily influenced by the

evangelicalism of the 1800’s and also by the rise of individualism in our society. The

common attitude of the people is one of self-seeking individualism, even within the

Church. Worship has often become something that’s comfortable and formed to fit the

needs of the people. This tends to result in watered-down worship and “Sunday

Christians.” The idea of whole-life worship, as expressed in Romans 12:1, is foreign

compared to the worship most Americans experience today. I believe that much of our

worship today is selfish. It becomes all about the feeling it gives us and what God can do

for us, rather than what we can do for God.

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The rise of the praise and worship movement had a profound impact on worship.

Music became a way to really engage with God. Worship music has become a rapidly

growing genre inside and outside the Church. This domination of music has evolved to

the point where worship is equated with music. It seems that sometimes we almost

worship the music more than we do God.

One downfall of the modern church is the lack of historical and symbolic

knowledge we’ve talked about already. People don’t know what the traditions and

symbols used in worship mean, so their meaning is reduced to merely empty rituals.

Keys for Renewal

Based on the state of evangelical worship today and the biblical and historical

meanings of worship expressed earlier, we will examine some key points for worship

renewal within the Church. These are mostly my opinion, but I believe they are well-

formed based on what we have discussed so far in this paper.

First, and perhaps most importantly, an understanding of whole-life worship must

be redeemed. Worship is not just about singing or about coming to church service on

Sunday morning. It is about our response to God based on his character and works, which

are rooted in the Christ-event and the salvation of the entire world. It is about those three

Greek words translated “worship” that tell us to serve and love with humility and great

reverence. It is about being a “living sacrifice” to God, continually offering ourselves to

him.

The individualism and self-centeredness of society that has penetrated the Church

must be recognized and curbed. Worship is not about us. It is about God and his son,

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Jesus Christ. It is about worshipping before his throne, continually singing “Holy, holy,

holy,” our praise never ceasing and reaching to the very corners of the universe, as the

illustration in Revelation shows us. This idea may be a stab to our pride, but it is the kind

of worship that God has called us to.

The centrality of the Word and the Lord’s Table must be recovered in our

worship. God’s Word is his guide to us, how he speaks to us and teaches us. We worship

him by preaching, studying, and loving his Word. The Lord’s Table is our anamnesis, our

active remembering of the Christ event and celebration of our salvation through Christ’s

death, resurrection, and ascension. The meaning and purpose behind the Table must be

recovered, so that people can fully participate in this active remembrance.

The purpose of music in worship needs to be restored. This attitude about worship

music is a byproduct of the individualism in our society, which results in so many of our

worship songs dominated by the words “I,” “me,” or “my.” Worship must not be equated

with music. I believe that this infatuation with music in worship is often a sign of us

putting the music above God, which is idolatry. Music is a great way to worship and

engage with God, but a proper understanding of its purpose in worship needs to be

recovered.

I believe the value of worship evangelism that arose during the period of

revivalism is something that needs to be recovered. Our worship can be a form of

evangelism in order to draw people to Christ. I believe the simplest way to do this is

through love and service. I discussed earlier how the Greek word latreuein, translated as

“worship,” literally means “to serve.” We can worship God by serving those who are in

need. In this we also show those people the love of God, which is a powerful witness of

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the Gospel. Jesus, in his ministry on Earth, spent most of his time with the deadbeats of

society: the tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, and all other sorts of “sinners.” He focused

much of his energies in serving and healing those people, often going out of his way to

love them. We, as Christians (read: Christ-like), should follow the same example. A

ministry of love and service can not only be a powerful form of evangelism, but also a

powerful form of worship.

Conclusion

Psalm 96:9 says, “Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before

him, all the earth!” The God we worship is the Master of the entire universe, the Bright

and Morning Star, and the most beautiful being we could imagine. His glory is

incomprehensible, and his power is unfathomable. Though we were lost in our sin, by his

awesome grace he has saved us and calls us his children. All of creation hinges on the

fact of Christ’s amazing redemption.

When we look at all this, it’s still hard to grasp how worthy of worship our God

is. When our faith is centered on these truths, and our lives are lived in gratitude for

Christ’s action in our lives, our worship is pure. Our aim is Christ, and we must never

cease in our worship of him. All of these nuances of how we worship fade away when we

simply focus on Christ as the object of our worship. But at the same time, we must make

sure that our worship is pure and good in its forms and practices. May God teach us how

he really wants us to worship him, and may we learn and grow in our understanding of

worship.

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