The affections of worship
October 20, 2009 | Comments Off
(More on the idea that right worship involves passion–or feelings, or emotions.)
On the suggestion of a church member, I have been rereading the chapter on Worship from Piper’s Desiring God. One section in particular bears sharing here. Even if you’ve read it before, I think it will benefit you to read it again.
Piper is talking about the idea of vain worship–from Jesus’ words in Matthew 15:8-9 (to which we referred a couple weeks ago in corporate worship): “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far form me; in vain do they worship me.” Piper’s (and Jesus’) main contention is that in order for our worship to not be vain, our hearts–our feelings, emotions, affections–must be engaged. In this passage he expounds the kinds of emotions that should be involved in our worship.
Worship is more than an act of mere willpower. All the outward acts of worship are performed by acts of will. But that does not make them authentic. The will can be present (for all kinds of reasons) while the heart is not truly engaged (or, as Jesus says, is “far away”). The engagement of the heart in worship is the coming alive of the feelings and emotions and affections of the heart. Where feelings for God are dead, worship is dead.
Now let’s be specific. What are these feelings or affections that make the outward acts of worship authentic? For an answer we turn to the inspired psalms and hymns of the Old Testament. An array of different and intertwined affections may grip the heart at any time. So the extent and order of the following list is not intended to limit the possibilities of pleasure in anyone’s heart.
Perhaps the first response of the heart at seeing the majestic holiness of God is stunned silence: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). “The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him” (Habakkuk 2:20).
In the silence rises a sense of awe and reverence and wonder at the sheer magnitude of God: “Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!” (Psalm 33:8).
And because we are all sinners, there is in our reverence a holy dread of God’s righteous power. “The LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread” (Isaiah 8:13). “I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you” (Psalm 5:7).
But this dread is not a paralyzing fright full of resentment against God’s absolute authority. It finds release in brokenness and contrition and grief for our ungodliness: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). “Thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite’” (Isaiah 57:15).
Mingled with the feeling of genuine brokenness and contrition, there arises a longing for God: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1-2). “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25-26). “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).
God is not unresponsive to the contrite longing of the soul. He comes and lifts the load of sin and fills our heart with gladness and gratitude. “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” (Psalm 30:11-12).
But our joy does not just rise from the backward glance in gratitude. It also rises from the forward glance in hope: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5-6). “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope” (Psalm 130:5).
In the end the heart longs not for any of God’s good gifts, but for God himself [emphasis added]. To see Him and know Him and be in His presence is the soul’s final feast. Beyond this there is no quest. Words fail. We call it pleasure, joy, delight. But these are weak pointers to the unspeakable experience: “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). “Delight yourself in the LORD” (Psalm 37:4).
These are some of the affections of the heart that keep worship from being “in vain.” Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth. It is not a mere act of willpower by which we perform outward acts. Without the engagement of the heart, we do not really worship. The engagement of the heart in worship is the coming alive of the feelings and emotions and affections of the heart. Where feelings for God are dead, worship is dead.
True worship must include inward feelings that reflect the worth of God’s glory. If this were not so, the word hypocrite would have no meaning. But there is such a thing as hypocrisy–going through outward motions (like singing, praying, giving, reciting) that signify affections of the heart that are not there. “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
I hope and pray earnestly that our worship may never be deemed vain by our Lord. May our hearts be united to fear and love and rejoice in God together every time we gather, and throughout all of life.
Fervent in spirit
October 20, 2009 | Comments Off
Continuing on the theme of giving God the honor due His name, I’d like to share some excerpts from an article I just read by Kevin DeYoung. (Some of you may know his name from the book Why We’re Not Emergent.) He is writing concerning the issue of reaching the next generation, but he makes an excellent (and needful) point about worship:
You can have formal services, so long as you do not have formalism. You can have casual services, so long as you do not approach your faith casually. Your services can have a lot of different looks, but young people want to see passion. They want to see us do church and follow Christ like we mean it.
We would do well to pay attention to Romans 12. “Let love by genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord” (9-11). We would be far less likely to lose our young people and far more likely to win some others, if the spiritual temperature of our churches was something other than lukewarm. People need to see that God is the all-consuming reality in our lives. Our sincerity and earnestness in worship matter ten times more than the style we use to display our sincerity and earnestness. (emphasis added)
“Do not be slothful in zeal; be fervent in spirit.” This is actually a command from the Lord. And note the context–these verses come in Paul’s fleshing out of the directive to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice…which is your spiritual worship” (12:1). Right worship is zealous, fervent worship.
Here is an essential point for us to understand: Even if the services or songs or prayers take different forms of expression than you prefer, the truths we are expressing are still the same; therefore, the level of passion we express should remain the same. Our zeal and passion come not from a style of music but from the truth of the Gospel, and who God is for us in Christ. If we can unite in passion for God in Christ, then people will clearly see that what we say and sing and express has affected us deeply. If we can only unite in passion for a style of music or a level of formality or casualness, then people will see that what matters most to us is only superficial and no different than any group of sports fans or concertgoers.
So the next time we gather, set your sights on the Gospel, and on the God of the Gospel. Let Him be what drives your passion. And notice how styles and forms begin to matter less and less.
A prayer for worship
October 15, 2009 | Comments Off
This is from The Valley of Vision, the collection of Puritan prayers we’ve used in corporate worship several times. In light of the previous post, I thought this might be helpful for you in your preparation for worship.
GLORIOUS GOD,
It is the flame of my life to worship You,
the crown and glory of my soul to adore You,
heavenly pleasure to approach You.
Give me power by Your Spirit to help me worship now,
that I may forget the world,
be brought into fullness of life,
be refreshed, comforted, blessed.
Give me knowledge of Your goodness
that I might not be overwhelmed by Your greatness;
Give me Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God,
that I might not be terrified,
but be drawn near with childlike love,
with holy boldness;
He is my Mediator, Brother, Interpreter,
Branch, Shepherd, Lamb;
Him I glorify,
in Him I am set on high.
Crowns to give I have none,
but what You have given I return,
content to feel that everything is mine
when it is Yours,
and more fully mine when I have yielded it to You.
Let me life wholly for my Savior,
free from distractions,
from worldly cares,
from hindrances to the pursuit of the narrow way.
I am pardoned through the blood of Jesus -
give me a new sense of it,
continue to pardon me by it,
may I come every day to the fountain,
and every day be washed anew,
that I may worship You always
in spirit and truth.
-from The Valley of Vision, ed. Arthur Bennett, ©1975 The Banner of Truth Trust.
Worthy of worship
October 15, 2009 | Comments Off
Matthew Henry writes regarding Malachi 1:6-2:9, “Nothing profanes the name of God more than the misconduct of those whose business it is to do honor to it.” Malachi’s rebuke was primarily directed toward the spiritual leaders of Israel; but as Tim showed us last Sunday, it applies to us as well. We are those whose business it is to honor God with every breath. And we profane His name by our misconduct in the business of worshiping Him.
Worship is all of life, as I have written earlier. However, when we gather on Sundays, we gather for a special time of worship, namely corporate worship–worship as a body. We come together, as God’s people have for millennia, in His presence as He inhabits our praises and speaks through His word. He imparts special grace to us in our corporate gatherings, and in our corporate gatherings our worship is fuller and greater than it could ever be were we to only worship individually. Our Sunday gatherings are special times, and the way we approach them reflects our mindset about not only the gathering itself but, more significantly, the God to whom and for whom we gather.
If our God is worthy of highest praise and honor and glory, we should strive to engage in corporate worship of the highest order. We should wholly devote ourselves to worshiping God all the time, but we should place particular emphasis on our corporate worship.
With this in mind, I want to share with you some ways in which we can prepare for corporate worship so that we come ready to meet the Lord, both to hear from Him and to respond to Him in worship worthy of Him. (Most of the following is based on an article John Piper wrote several years back.)
Practical ways to prepare for corporate worship
1. Pray for the Lord’s help in preparing your heart. Pray to the Lord His promise from Jeremiah 24:7–”I will give them a heart to know Me.” Make it your constant, consistent prayer that He will give you a heart that humbly and honestly seeks after Him, a heart ready and eager to hear and believe and obey His word.
2. Make Saturday night a time devoted to worship preparation. You can do this in a few ways:
- Meditate on the Scriptures. Piper writes, “read some delicious portion of Scripture with a view to stirring up hunger for God. This is the appetizer for Sunday morning’s meal.” I would add to this that, since we are in the habit of preaching through books of the Bible, you can also begin to meditate on the next portion of the book we’re currently in. For instance, since we’re currently in Malachi, and Tim preached from 1:6-14 last week, you can focus on 2:1-9 this week, and add to that some great Gospel passage like Romans 5 or Ephesians 1, to whet your appetite for meeting God in corporate worship.
- Turn away from worldly entertainment. James 1:21 instructs us to “put way all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” Your soul is at stake in how you listen to the word; so do your soul a favor by not filling it with worldliness on the eve of the weekly corporate worship gathering. This is an area that takes discipline; I find that Saturday evenings are a prime time for me to just sit down and relax with a movie or a television show. But better to sit down and renew my rest in the Gospel than to turn my eyes to the world for those last hours of the day.
- Have family worship. Even if every other night of the week is too hectic for you to get your whole family together for family worship, make it a priority on Saturday night. This will both help your own heart and teach your children the importance of corporate worship.
- Spend time in prayer for all that will take place on Sunday morning. Pray for your pastor as he is finishing his sermon preparation. Pray for the musicians as they lead the musical praises of God. Pray for those who will read Scripture and lead in prayer. And pray for those who will gather, that all might gather with whole heart and mind seeking the Lord.
- Go to bed on time. You know the weakness of your flesh, and how sitting still for an extended period of time (such as a sermon) can provide an excellent opportunity to doze off if you are not well-rested. So make it a priority to get plenty of sleep on Saturday night. Figure out how much sleep you need, what time you need to get up on Sunday morning, and then what time you need to go to bed to get the needful amount of sleep. Make this a priority in your family–parents of teenagers especially have the opportunity to teach their children the importance of corporate worship by exhorting them not to stay out late with friends on Saturdays. “It is a terrible thing to teach children that worship is so optional that it doesn’t matter if you are exhausted when you come.”
3. Make a special, concerted effort to show grace to your family on Sunday morning. How many times have we heard (or experienced!) the typical Sunday morning story of the family that wakes up quarreling, drives to church quarreling, and then gets out of the family van at church with the happiest, most pleasant demeanor imaginable–all the while still fuming at each other in their hearts. This is no condition to be in when it comes time to meet your God. Set a tone of love, grace, and forbearance in your home so that you are free from the distractions of grumbling and quarreling on Sunday morning.
4. Come with a meek, teachable spirit. As we saw in James 1:21, the proper way to receive the Word is with meekness. Skepticism, prideful self-assurance, and superiority have no place when it comes to approaching God. Humble yourself before God, and He will exalt you at the proper time; approach Him haughtily, and He will cut you down.
5. Enter the worship place with quiet, eager expectation. Even though there is nothing sacred about the place where we worship, our worship itself is sacred–so when you arrive at the place where corporate worship will happen, let it be a cue to you to quiet your heart before God and to “focus your mind’s attention and your heart’s affection on God.” And if you are worried about having the chance to fellowship with fellow believers, or to greet visitors, keep this in mind: “We will not be an unfriendly church if we are aggressive in our pursuit of God during the prelude and aggressive in our pursuit of visitors [and each other] during the postlude.”
6. Engage with your whole being. Many of us tend toward either emotion without truth or truth without emotion. Stated another way, this means that we are either “head” people or “heart” people. But when it comes to the worship of God, both head and heart must be involved. We must “think earnestly about what is prayed and sung and preached.” And we must feel deeply the significance of the same. We must not allow ourselves to sing or hear mindlessly or heartlessly. “I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.” (1 Cor. 14:15) And in addition to all of this, we show with our bodies how engaged we are in our heads and hearts. Our facial expressions, our posture, our uplifted hands or bowed heads, and our full-throated singing–all of these show our whole-being engagement in worshiping God together.
So when it comes time to get ready for this Sunday’s gathering, I hope and pray your attitude will be that of eager expectation, of the sort that leads you to thoroughly prepare your mind and heart and body for worshiping God together with His people.
Worship as response
October 7, 2009 | Comments Off
I’m currently reading the book Christ Centered Worship by Bryan Chapell. The central point of the book is that the Gospel should form not only the content but also the structure of our corporate worship. This excerpt is from a section titled “The Soul of Worship,” in which Chapell drives home the point that in all our debating about what our worship services should look like, the central consideration must be the Gospel, not personal preference or cultural relevance or propriety or excellence or anything else.
Worship primarily driven by concerns for propriety and acceptance feeds pride and burdens hearts. This is the inevitable consequence of making anything but the grace of the gospel the soul of our worship. If our worship is not an expression of redemptive truths, it inevitably drifts from being a response to God’s saving acts. Instead, the worship itself begins to be perceived as saving acts generated by us–moving us to sacerdotal or cultic attitudes. By re-presenting the gospel we remind ourselves that our worship is a response to God’s grace, not an infusion or conjuring of it. We are blessed by the reality of his presence but we do not create it. The responses we offer in worship are only enabled by the power of the Spirit and are further evidence of God’s grace, not the cause of it.
We must grasp this in order to maintain unity in our corporate worship, and, more importantly, in order to worship rightly. We worship God because of and through the Gospel, and the Gospel will be the driving force behind our gatherings–not any particular hymn, or song, or affect, or prayer, or style, or doctrine–outside of the Gospel of Christ.
Protected: Book of Acts
October 2, 2009 | Comments Off