In case you missed Part 2, find it here: You Cannot Create a "Worship Atmosphere"
This issue of the proper identification and definition of worship
is by and large the most difficult misconception that many people in the Church
have. When a church hires someone to lead the music in their local assembly,
what do they call him? The “worship leader”. Thus, churches tend to equate
worship and music as synonymous terms, which is a far cry from reality. I would
almost prefer my own title at my church to be changed from “Director of Worship
Ministries” to “Director of Instrumental Worship”. The latter is more true to
what I am actually doing. I am leading a type
of worship: one of songs, music, melody, instrumentation, etc.
Let’s look at some Biblical text. Worship, as found in
Scripture, is commonly defined as service. Not just any service, but service to
God; a religious type of service for our holy God.
When Satan was tempting Jesus in the desert in Matthew 4,
Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and said to Him, “All these I
will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” To which Jesus replied, “Be
gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘you shall worship the Lord your God and him
only shall you serve.’”
The word here for “worship” is the most common one we find
in the Greek, proskuneo. It literally
means to “kiss towards” and physically means to bow down, or kneel down, which
would often entail kissing someone’s hand in the process. Notice that Satan
told Jesus to “fall down and worship me”. “Fall down and worship” is what proskuneo means.
The other word we see here that Jesus follows up to proskuneo with is “serve”, which is latreuo, the second most common word for
worship in the Greek. This starts to shed light on the multi-faceted diamond
that worship is. Worship is not just bowing down, it is also reverent service.
We see latreuo in other places of Scripture, translated both
ways: serve & worship:
Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 1:3, “I thank God, whom I serve (latreuo) with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did…”
Paul also wrote in Philippians 3:3, “We are the circumcision,
who worship (latreuo) in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus…”
Different translations do their best to get the exact
context right, but both translations are acceptable as latreuo is a word to connote reverent and obedient service, or even
ministry, to God as a form of worship.
When David was old and nearing death, he wanted to set up
his son Solomon for success by organizing the Temple construction and staff. We
read in 1 Chronicles 22:5, “David said, ‘Solomon my son is young and
inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be
exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all the lands. I will
therefore make preparation for it.’”
He then organizes different aspects of the entire project, including
getting mass quantities of supplies, i.e. iron for nails and clamps, bronze
(too much to be weighed), cedar timbers (too many to count), etc. (22:3-4). He
also provided Solomon with an abundance of workmen, i.e. stonecutters, masons,
carpenters, metal workers, etc. (22:15-16).
He also organized different groups of people for the
religious service: the Levites (chap. 23), the priests (chap. 24), and the musicians
(chap. 25). In each chapter, they are said to be set apart for “the service”.
One of these services of religious worship to God was indeed a music ministry!
This was not just a fun time for the people to request which tempos and styles
they liked best. This was a time for the people to sing songs that cried out to
God with jubilant, repentant, obedient hearts.
In fact, the word “jubilee” comes from Noah’s brother’s name,
Jubal. Guess what Jubal did in his spare time? Played the lyre and pipe. He is
forever known as “the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe” (Gen.
4:21).
We see in 1 Chronicles 25:1 that there were three different
instruments used in the Temple: lyres, harps and cymbals; and they were run by
three different families: the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun. We
also see that these instrumentalists had brothers, who were “trained in singing
to the Lord” and they were “skillful” (25:7).
We can consider many practical things from this one passage,
in that the musicians and singers should be trained (not necessarily
professionally), skilled individuals, but the larger theological truth we can
see in this is that it is not considered the
only worship of the Temple. In fact, the word “worship” isn’t found in this
chapter, but “service” is and it is used to describe the acts of the priests as
well. This is because the worship of the temple included the instrumental and
musical service, but it was not defined and summed up by it. Big difference.
True worship is worship that is done in spirit – the right
heart – and in truth – grounded in the Word of God (Jn. 4). The Temple was a physical
place of worshipful acts, but obedience was always demanded and expected by
God, no matter where His people were. Remember that before the Temple was
built, the Lord had often highlighted the importance of obedience over that of
stark ceremonialism.
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22). This was said by
the prophet Samuel to a disobedient King Saul who thought he could keep the
animals God said he couldn’t keep if he simply sacrificed some in heartless, or
spiritless, ceremonialism.
Saul fell into the group of people that Jesus decried when
He said, “For the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.
You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘These people honor
me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; In vain do they worship me…”
(Matt.15:6-9).
We must force ourselves to speak a little differently when
we throw the word worship around. Don’t speak as if music and worship are
synonymous terms. They are not. When we speak of worship, we must speak of
obedient lives, surrendered to our Master and Lord in humility and reverence
and awe, in fear and trembling, for our God is a consuming fire!
When the Psalmist wrote in 29:2 & 96:9: “Worship the
Lord in the splendor of holiness” he was essentially saying, worship the Lord by
being holy. This can only be granted
us by our holy Father in Heaven, along with our faith. See my post on this very
topic, Acceptable Worship. In The Splendor of Holiness.
This means that only true Christians can truly worship
because they are the only ones that God has truly redeemed and made holy and
righteous in God’s sight because of the substitutionary atonement by Jesus
Christ, our Lord, for our sins. What grace and mercy!
Friends, don’t cheapen the meaning of worship by limiting it
only to music played for 30 minutes on one day of the week. Worship =
Obedience. This is a 24/7 gig.
In His Sovereign Grip,
