Series is a book review and study of Richard Foster’s Book, Celebration of Discipline. All quotes from the book are Foster unless otherwise denoted.
This week we will continue with the corporate discipline of worship. Now, this is something that is often taken for granted, watered down, or deemed to be a purely emotional experience, but I would beg to differ. Worship, in its truest form, it’s an ordered way of acting in living that sets us before God so he can transform us.
As William Temple says, “to worship is to quicken the conscious by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with truth of God, to purchase the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.” No where does the New Testament prescribe a particular form for worship (John 4:23, John 12:32), which ought to be comforting. That means that there is no “right” way, only a right purpose.
The object of our worship
The object of our worship should be the Creator alone. “The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of him”. (Matthew 4:10, Exodus 20:3, Isaiah 6:5). The pervasive sinfulness of human beings becomes evident when contrasted with the radiant holiness of God. Our fickleness becomes apparent once we see God’s faithfulness. To understand His grace is to understand our guilts. We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him (Romans 12:1). To lay down our brokenness, as only He can make us whole.
The priority of worship
Worship is a time for us to center ourselves on praising God. It is where we are to be filled. Poured into. A time to set ourselves before God so that he can mold us. A time for Him to transform us to be His hands and feet. “Service flows out of worship. Service as a substitute for worship is idolatry. Activity is the enemy of adoration.” (Ezekiel 44:15, Mark 12:30) In our busy world of go go go, it’s difficult to set aside this discipline as a priority. This is especially true when you view it as singing songs alone. But when you view a time of corporate worship as the avenue to be transformed to do His work, it becomes clear how important it is.
Preparation for worship
When entering into worship, it is wise to prepare your heart and mind for such an experience. Not for the purpose of seeking some feeling or emotion from this practice. No. But rather, when we consciously seek to ready ourselves we are better able to listen to what He is trying to say to us. “When more than one or two come into public worship with a holy expectancy it can change the atmosphere of a room. People who enter hurried and distracted are drawn quickly into a sense of the silent presence. Hearts and minds are lifted up word. The air becomes charged with expectancy. ” (Acts 2:2, 4:31, 9:36–43, 20:7–10; Isaiah 6, Revelation 1)
How often, especially our generation, do we say we don’t have time? We stay up late, wake up early, and hustle for our goals, but all too often, when it comes to our faith we claim time is lacking. And somehow always on Sunday mornings. (Hebrews 10:25, Philippians 3:15) We’re too tired. Too sick. Too busy. Always too something. Some we skip. Because church has become this social gathering rather than the expectant longing for Christ to speak. For Him to move, and us to change. Perhaps we are fearful of that change. Or perhaps we simply have lost the true focus of worship to prepare us for His work.
“This experience far transcends ‘espirit de corps’. It is not in the least dependent upon homogenous units or even knowing information about one another’s lives. There comes a defined melting of ours separateness. In the power of the one spirit we become “wrapped in a sense of unity and of presence such as quiets all worlds and enfolds us with an unspeakable calm and interknittedness within a vaster life.” Such fellowship – in– worship makes vicarious worship via the media tasteless and flat.” Simply, we were made for community, and corporate worship is a large part of that experience.
The leader of worship
Genuine worship has only one leader, Jesus Christ. If Jesus is our leader, miracles should be expected to occur in worship. He saves us not only from the consequences of sin, but the dominion of sin. When we stop thinking that the person singing the songs or leading the band has to have it all together to lead us, we can acknowledge they are but the vessel the Lord is using. They are not leading us to follow them, but pointing us to follow Jesus. Then, the book of Acts will not be just something you read about, but something we are experiencing.
Music leads us into a spirit of worship, and the word continues to guide us in this transformative journey. There is nothing more quickening than spirit inspired preaching, nothing more deadening than human inspired preaching. (Ephesians 4:11) People need to be led into worship from the outer court to the inner court and finally into the holy of holy’s. That’s what the music (choir/band) and the pastor do – lead us, so that God alone can transform us. This is why often within the prayer offerings, you will hear the phase “let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts, be pleasing to you oh Lord”. People can only steer us towards Christ, and He alone can change us.
Avenues into worship
It’s worth repeating: worship is an ordered way of acting and living that sets us before god so he can transform us.
The first avenue into worship is to still all humanly initiated activity. (Romans 8:4) To still the activity of the flesh so that the activity of the Holy Spirit dominates the way we live will affect and inform public worship. We are to live in a perpetual listening to the silence so that God is the source of our words and actions. (Habakkuk 2:20)
Praise is another avenue into worship. The Psalms are a great place to start when praises don’t naturally flow from your lips. We are to acknowledge His goodness. (Hebrews 13:15, 1 Peter 2:5, 9, Acts 5:41, 16:25).
Worship that is solely cerebral is an aberration. In praise we see how totally the emotions need to be brought into the act of worship. We are human. We have feelings, and these should certainly be a part of worship experience. They should not however be all that drives us either. (1 Corinthians 14:15).
The Bible describes worship in physical terms. The root meaning for the Hebrew word we translate worship is “to prostrate”. The word bless literally means “to kneel”. “Thanksgiving” refers to “an extension of the hand”. These are all very physical acts. Far extended from what commonly comes to mind in a passive singing of a song or hymn. “Throughout Scripture we find a variety of physical postures in connection with worship: lying prostrate, standing, kneeling, lifting the hands, clapping the hands, lifting the head, bowing the head, dancing, and wearing sackcloth and ashes. The point is that we are to offer got our bodies, as well as all the rest of our being. Worship is appropriately physical.”
What we must see is that the real question for worship is not “what will meet my needs?”, the real question is “what kind of worship does God call for?” The answer would be not in form, but rather in the fact that is wholehearted. We are to worship with our whole beings – our emotions, our mind, and our bodies. Often our reserved temperament is little more than fear of what others will think of us, or perhaps our unwillingness to humble ourselves before God and others. News flash – worship isn’t about what other people think of you. If everyone around you is bringing themselves before the Lord to be transformed, no one is thinking you look silly for doing (or not doing) x, y, or z.
Steps into worship
Worship is something we do.
- First, we need to learn to practice the presence of God daily (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
- Second, have many different experiences of worship. Do it on your own, in groups both large and small.
- Third, find ways to really prepare for the gathered experience of worship.
- Fourth, have a willingness to be gathered in the power of the Lord. Really this means that as an individual, learning to let go of your agenda. The language of the gathered fellowship is not “I” but “we”.
- Fifth, cultivate holy dependency. This means that you are wholly and completely dependent upon God for anything significant to happen.
- Sixth, absorb distractions with gratitude. Learn to take it in and conquer it. The whimpers of tiny humans become the reminder of the precious value of life. The coughing person nearby, the reminder of the importance of health. Embrace the distractions, rather than let them deter you.
- Seventh, learn to offer a sacrifice of worship. Many times you may not feel like worship. And that’s ok. Another reason why worship, and your faith, are not predicated solely on emotions. In these times, offer as prayer such as this, and worship anyway. “Lord, I don’t feel like worshipping, but I desire to give you this time. It belongs to you I will waste my time for you.” (Proverbs 27:17)
The fruits of worship
Holy obedience saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from the pressing needs of modern life. Authentic worship will propel us to join in the Lamb’s war against demonic powers everywhere on the personal level, on the social level, and on the institutional level. The fruits of worship come in the transformation of our hearts to serve. To love. And as you journey forward to bring the kingdom to rights with the power of Jesus propelling you. Willard Sperry declares “worship is a deliberate and disciplined adventure in reality”. It involves opening ourselves to the adventure of the life in the Holy Spirit. A life of worship.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom and I sing songs and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God (Colossians 3:16).
To recap all of the spiritual disciplines from Foster’s book, check out the full series: Celebrating the Spiritual Disciplines
