Philosophy of Worship

DEFINITION OF WORSHIP

Everything starts with God. Humans never have, and never will, originate or initiate anything, and the same goes for our worship. We worship the Father through Jesus Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit. True worship is not self-actuated, rather, when we worship, we are realizing the transcendence and immanence of our God through His revelations and are therefore centering our worship on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We gather together as brothers and sisters to “vertically” glorify the Lord and “horizontally edify” one another as we cultivate a life of worship to our God, ascribing Him ultimate worth and value as He is the only One worthy of our praise. God is the initiator and the receiver of our worship and we are purely blessed to even be able to worship Him.  

REVELATION & RESPONSE

Scripture shows us that the only appropriate response to God’s revelation is one of praise, honour, and glory (Revelation 4-5). When God reveals Himself in Scripture, the response is never casual. Why should ours be any different? Our response should be one of adoration, reverence, and indescribable thankfulness for all that He is and all that He has done. We can also see in Scripture that our response should have aspects of confession as we respond to the transcendence and immanence of the God who graciously initiated and continually initiates our worship (Isaiah 6).

TRANSCENDENCE & IMMANENCE 

In Isaiah 6, the Lord reveals Himself in His glory sitting on His throne. Isaiah trembled at the sound of the voice of the Lord and responded by confessing his utter weakness and unworthiness to be in the presence of God. Understanding the vastness yet the nearness of God is essential for worship. We need to realize the contrast of God’s transcendent otherness and our finite and sinful lives in a finite and sin-infested world. The human language is quite inadequate to describe or explain God’s holiness, but we must emphasize the limitlessness of God’s holiness in our worship so that we can recognize His otherness. God is Holy, and true Holiness is God. There is no other who is the Holy God, the One whom we are honoured to worship. However, with the vast transcendence of His character, comes an immanence that is seen immediately through His perfect love displayed in Jesus Christ, even in the midst of our depravity. This is where we come into a time of worship in the true light of the gospel. 

GOSPEL-CENTERED

Recognizing that while we were still sinners God sent His Son to die for our sins and be raised from the dead so that all who would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life (Romans 5:6-21 & John 3:16), is recognizing the epidemy of the transcendence and immanence of God: the gospel. Jesus sealed the New Covenant with His death and resurrection, when in the Old Covenant, the Israelites couldn’t even come into God’s presence without a mediator and a sacrifice. So, with the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us on the cross, we have now been brought into the presence of God where we can worship Him freely without the debt of our sin separating us from Him. We were justified by grace through faith in His work alone (Ephesians 2:1-10), brought into the fold of God (John 10:14-18), and given every reason to worship His name on earth as it is (and as we will) in Heaven (Matthew 6:10). Therefore, when we worship it is only ever through the lens of the gospel. A worship service should be revolved around what has been fulfilled in Christ so that people might look to God and worship Him alone.

HORIZONTAL & VERTICAL

As the different members of the body of Christ come together on Sundays and throughout the week, we need to remember two key aspects of worshipping the Lord. In Worship by the Book, R. Kent Hughes wrote about the topic of worship being the main part of life. Hughes outlines that all of life is worship and gathered worship with the body of Christ is at the heart of that life of worship. He outlines the importance of congregational worship because of the richness of vertical worship and the edifying aspect of horizontal worship. We often go into a worship service and even into our daily life with a heavily vertical mindset, which is undeniably vital because without it we would never be able to truly edify one another. But Ephesians 5:18-21 teaches us about “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart“. We are not only called to praise God and give Him glory in our own personal bubble, but for the edification of others within the gathering of the saints! The gathering of God’s people and their participation in corporate worship is so important for the encouragement of the saints as the Day is drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25). If we as a church practice worshipping God corporately edifying each other through our times of worship to the Lord, how much sweeter and more natural will it be when we go out into the rest of our lives to continue in this lifestyle of worship.

CULTIVATING A LIFE OF WORSHIP 

Scheduled worship in the local church is a vital part of the Christian life. It should be earnestly cherished, heavily anticipated, and sacredly prioritized. There should be intentionality and care behind every aspect of the gathering as we come together to worship (primarily) through prayer, singing, and the reading and teaching of God’s Word. For the sanctification, edification, and accurate representation of the Bride of Christ, this congregational worship should be multi-cultural (to edify those from all the nations), multi-generational (to edify those in all ages of life), and multi-dimensional (to edify those in all seasons of life). But for the glory of God, our worship should not be dependent on whether we are inside or outside the church. Paul says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1) We are called to a life of worship that is not apart from our church community, rather we are sent out into our secular communities, strengthened by the community that we first had with Christ in His church, with the purpose of worshipping the Lord in everything we do (Colossians 3:17 & 1 Corinthians 10:31). It is so important to begin the cultivation of a life of worship in the church gathered, so that when the church is scattered God is glorified by an edified people, built up to do His good works (Ephesians 4:11-16) with His praise forever on their lips (Psalm 34:1).

“Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!”

Psalm 34:3