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Worship Wars

Worship is one of the ‘hot’ topics in modern evangelicalism; especially the appropriate ‘form’ of worship in church. Most writers adeptly sidestep the issue by saying we must focus on the essence of worship more than its form. The essence of worship, most agree, adoration of God. Worship is the act of looking at God and praising him for who he is and what he has done, in creation and redemption. For NT believers this means adoring God through Jesus. Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15; Hebs 1:3). In the whole of the universe the essential being of the invisible God is nowhere made more visible than in Jesus; Jesus glorified God in his life and death (Jn 17). In Jesus the fullness of deity bodily dwells (Col 1:19); Christian worship is therefore, God-centred and, by definition, Christ centred. Revelation (Ch 4, 5) reveals the essence of worship – praise to God as Creator (Ch 4) and as Redeemer (Ch5). Worship is adoration; absorption with God in Christ that spills over into a life of devoted service.

Remarkably, when we read the NT we look in vain for any church service that is or could be described as a ‘worship service’. This is, in part, because the whole of the Christian life is considered an act of worship (Roms 12:1). That being said, since songs, and prayers, contained praise to God, and since preaching was intended to promote praise, it is reasonable to assume that direct corporate worship of God was intrinsic to church services. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that ‘corporate worship’ should simply be the overspill of a life of worship. Church worship, whatever its form, becomes hollow and hypocritical where it is not the expression of a life of worship. It remains true, that however biblically ‘correct’ the form of worship may be, the heart of worship is the heart; man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart (1 Sam 16:7; Matt 15:8).

This being said, while it is true that the fact of worship is more important than the form it simply will not do to evade questions about form altogether, for the simple reason that the Bible has quite a bit to say about form, both in the OT and NT.

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About John

Hi there - I am a member of Greenview and have been for over 20 years. For a number of these years I functioned as an elder, however, indifferent health forced me to take more of a back seat. I see this as an opportunity to do a little writing, often focussing on issues that are a matter of evangelical debate today. Naturally the views expressed are my own and may not reflect the views of the elders or church at large, though differences are likely to be in the detail and not the substance.

These articles and sermons were written partly to clarify my own thoughts and partly with the intention of provoking thought in others who may read them. If you read one I hope you find it stimulating. Please feel free to give me feedback or discuss my articles in the forums.

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