Worship: The Head (Part 2 of 3)
- Posted by Tony Huy
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But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:23-24.
In the last blog, we covered what it looks like to worship “in spirit,” and this time we will tackle what it means to worship “in truth.” As we said last time, the “truth” reference is the easier of these two to interpret, since Jesus proclaims that he is in fact the truth (John 14:6), and since he also says that the truth of the gospel will set us free (John 8:32). Yet, these implications extend still further. I believe that the reference to worshiping “in truth” is purposefully vague on Jesus’ part. Not only is he saying that we worship through him and in the saving power of his gospel, but he is also referencing truth more generally. Let’s take these on one at a time.
WORSHIPING IN THE TRUTH OF CHRIST
Christ-centeredness is a must when it comes to worship. Our context (spatially and temporally) is littered with so-called “worship” songs that are nothing more than songs about what we are going to do for God. We need to walk a fine line here though. There is a difference between singing something self-centered and out of context (e.g. “You make all things work together for my good”) and singing a song to God that consequently references our love for him (e.g. “My hope is in you only”). The problem that we encounter with musical worship isn’t music that references us; it’s music that is all about us. When we come before the throne, it is only by the power of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:14-16). He is our “great high priest” by whom we draw near to the throne of grace, so our worship naturally must be centered around the Lamb (Revelation 5:8ff).
The point is this: are we being Christ-centered in our own hearts and minds? There is something to be said for worship songs being theologically sound, but most worship songs that are bad aren’t heretical–they’re just weak. Where worship really gets murky is when we refuse to center worship around Christ in our own minds. This means focusing and using our minds during worship to orient ourselves around the risen savior, but it also means more than this. It means choosing to worship Christ. It means choosing to make worship center upon his atoning life, death and resurrection. This brings us to our next point.
WORSHIPING IN THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL
The gospel must be center in our worship. We need to sing the gospel, preach the gospel, and live in the truth of the gospel. We were dead people who were brought to life! We mustn’t let this become stale. So many of us have either grown up hearing the gospel or been in church so long that the gospel is just a given in our minds. The gospel is not a given. The gospel is not something we can afford to assume. It’s something that we cannot do without
We must make this our focus-point during worship. When we sing, we only do so by the power that raised us from spiritual death unto spiritual life. When we sing, we rejoice in the fact that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When we sing, we rejoice in the fact that Jesus died specifically for us that he might effectually and actually make us his! Our salvation and subsequent ability to see God as the one to whom we owe worship is a gift only available to us through the power of the gospel.
WORSHIPING IN THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE
We must come before God with knowledge of biblical truth that allows us to worship rightly. Every time we start to neglect part of the bible, we lose something in worship. For example, when we neglect the biblical truth that we are to fear God, we lose out in terms of reverence. We show up late for service, we check our phones during worship, we don’t put forth any effort to focus. And why? Because we don’t worship in light of the truth that God is worthy of reverence. Another common negligence is allowing the idea that God is love to negate the biblical truths about his justice and wrath. What we lose out on here is joy. God has hardwired us to find our ultimate joy in him, and when we start watering down the God of the Bible, we lose out on the joy that we could be having in him.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
Worshiping in truth isn’t just something about which to learn; it’s something to be learned in action. I’ve composed a short list of suggestions for implementing these truths in practical ways. This is by no means exhaustive, nor scripturally necessitated. These are simply suggestions that I hope will help you in worshiping God in truth.
1. Connect Worship to the Sermon
This is the most immediate context for worship, and the worship sets at For His Glory are built with the sermon in mind – there will be connections. Ask yourself questions like, “Why would we sing this song after that sermon?” so that you might answer and be able to worship in a way more connected to God’s truths.
2. Connect Worship to Your Devotional Life
What have you been reading in the Bible this week? What have you been studying? What sermons have you listened to? Let this kind of stuff permeate your time in musical worship on a given Sunday. Bring these things to mind. Make connections from songs to what you have read and back again so that you might better know where the words you sing come from in scripture.
3. Connect Worship to Your Personal Circumstances
Are we singing of suffering? Are we rejoicing? Don’t let that stay up in the air; make it hit the ground. What is there in your life about which to rejoice? How are those around you or you yourself suffering? Let the truths that we sing about God not stay in the church building but overflow into our personal experiences throughout the week as well.
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