What Is Worship?
All a person has to do is visit a few different churches on a Sunday morning to stumble across this important question. From the very formal and liturgical to the exuberant and charismatic, churches manifest worship in vastly different ways. But why is that? Is there a "right" kind of worship style? What is worship, anyway?
On the most basic level, Christian worship is the human response to God's grace revealed in Jesus Christ, enabled by the Holy Spirit: Jesus came to save his people through his redemptive work. And out of gratitude we respond by worshiping God as our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sustainer. But worship is more than that!
The Bible gives us some clues as to what worship is and why we do it. From ancient times on, God's people have used psalms to praise him, and the Bible contains 150 psalms that we still use to worship the Lord. The psalms invite people to praise God, to call upon his name, to cry out to him for mercy, and to confess confidence in his steadfast love.
The Early Church
After Christ's ascension--after the coming of the Holy Spirit--when the church gathered together, worship services emphasized the apostles' teaching (See Acts 20:7), praying together, sharing fellowship, breaking bread, and celebrating the Lord's Supper (See Acts 2:42-47). Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians gives us a tantalizing glimpse of what early Christian worship looked like. In his section that deals with speaking in tongues, Paul points out that when "you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation." (1 Corinthians 14:26 ESV) While this gives us the impression that worship services were probably very fluid, later in the same passage, Paul counsels the Corinthians that "all things should be done decently and in order." (14:40 ESV)
While these passages offer some hints as to what worship is, they never penetrate the spiritual dimension of worship. If we stop here, we will be stuck in the age-old question of "how," rather than the all-important "why."
Since we are all lowly creatures by default in rebellion against our Creator, we would do well to ask the pertinent biblical question: "LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?" (Psalm 15:1 NIV) The Bible quickly answers its own question regarding who is worthy to approach God in worship: Whoever "walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart." (Psalm 15:2 ESV) And, by the way, this means that all people are disqualified, for "none is righteous, no, not one...All have turned aside...No one does good, not even one." (Romans 3:10-12 ESV) There must be a perfect Mediator between a holy God and sinful humanity, someone who can bridge that gap, who can take us up God's holy hill. But, thanks be to God, "there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all." (1 Timothy 2:5-6 ESV)
The Old Testament
To grasp the fullness of worship, we must look first at the Old Testament pattern of worship. The dominant image for worship in the Old Testament revolves around the priest in the Tabernacle/Temple. After the Israelites entered the Promised Land, God laid out the ways which he desired to receive his people's worship. Although the Old Testament can be complicated, with its various rules for sacrifices and holy days, the pattern boils down to basically this: The high priest, representing the sinful people, entered the Most Holy Place (into the presence of God), and approached the Lord their God with sacrifices, praying for God's mercy and forgiveness on behalf of the people. Then God, who is gracious and merciful, forgave the people's sins, and the priest, now representing God, returned to the people to pronounce the Lord's blessing and forgiveness: "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26 ESV)
Christ Our Mediator and High Priest
The New Testament tells us that these Old Testament patterns served "a copy and shadow of the heavenly things" and that these ordinances were replaced with the coming of a new and better covenant. (Hebrews 8:5,13 ESV) Imperfect as they were, they pointed forward to Christ's superior ministry. Now, in these last days, Jesus Christ has become our new High Priest who alone can truly reconcile us to God. In his human nature, he represents us before God, and in his divine nature, he represents God to us, therefore becoming the perfect bridge between God and humanity.
The Scriptures assure us that "Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." (Hebrews 9:24 ESV) Jesus Christ, the incarnate second Person of the Trinity, has vicariously returned our perfected humanity into the Father's presence where they share perfect divine love and communion. Jesus reigns at the Father's right hand and relays our requests perfectly to our heavenly Father. (See Romans 8:34 & Hebrews 7:25)
Good News
And this is good news! Now that Christ has blazed a trail into the Father's presence, we have confidence that we may also approach God's presence in the Most Holy Place--the true Temple in heaven--with boldness! The curtain that formerly separated people from God has been torn in two. (Matthew 27:51; Hebrews 10:20) Now, by faith in Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit (see Romans 8:26-28), we are enabled to draw near to God, not as wrathful Judge, but as "Abba, Father." (Romans 8:15) And by faith, we participate in the perfect communion that exists between the Father and the Son as we share in Christ's humanity; in short, it is not we who are worshiping, but it is Christ who is perfectly worshiping for us!
When we enter into the heavenly places, by faith we participate in the divine company of the saints, the "great multitude that no one" can "number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages," who stand "before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands," who cry out "with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (Revelation 7:9-10 ESV)
True Worship
This is finally a satisfying answer to the question, "What is worship?" It doesn't matter very much how churches manifest worship; music style is more about taste than anything. But at the heart of every true Christian worship service is this profound understanding: because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we may enter the true holy places "in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." (Hebrews 10:22 ESV)
When we walk into a church building on a Sunday morning--whatever it may look like, and whatever the music may sound like--we may have assurance that we are truly worshiping God. "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess...Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:14,16 NIV)
Pastor Ray McCalla
