Tag: Worship

Worship

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Church, Ministry, Music, Worship

I love the Church!  I love the branch of the church called the holiness movement where God has placed me!   However, neither my love for the church nor that part which I serve has made me blind to the spots and wrinkles of either. The Call to the Conservative Holiness Movement is an attempt to restate the strengths of that tradition, to recognize weaknesses that have developed over time and to dialogue on how to restore what is vital to its future.  Article seven is a call to the CHM to honestly evaluate its present practices of corporate worship. The importance of such an evaluation is underscored by the importance of the act of worship itself.  The Westminster confession reminds us that man’s chief end is to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever”.  Scripture teaches us that worship is vital to our “creaturehood” and central to our faith.  If things are not healthy in our worship experience then things are not healthy in our church no matter how well we do other things.

Warren Weirsbe defined worship as the believers’ response of all that they are – mind, emotions, will, and body – to what God is and says and does.  In the best Methodist holiness tradition worship engages the whole person in a well-balanced blend of joyful celebration and reverential awe that is often reciprocated by the manifest presence of God.  When worship succeeds in this fashion, I know of no other worship tradition that enables men to worship God any better.

 CHM Worship Strengths

           Conservative holiness people are singing people.   Praise is central to worship.  Music, in the present day church, is the primary form of praise. So music and worship are inextricably connected. Music marks the worship found in both the Old and New Testaments. It has marked the Church across the centuries and around the world.     Step inside the average CHM church and you will hear warm-hearted, enthusiastic, highly-engaged singing that is often reinforced with expressions of praise like, “Glory to God”, “Hallelujah” and “Praise the Lord.”  Holiness people know how to worship in song!

Conservative holiness people deeply desire God’s presence. All Christians claim the promise, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20).  Holiness people, however, truly expect the presence of God to be evident.  Their zeal and longing for His presence is often rewarded with a gracious visitation of His manifest presence.

Conservative holiness people have a keen sensitivity to the work of the Holy Spirit. In the best Wesleyan holiness tradition order and structure are always present.  But there is also present a willingness to let the Spirit of God set aside the planned program if need be to accomplish His own sovereign purposes.

Conservative holiness people have a strong love for good preaching. The preaching event still takes a very high place in holiness movement worship.  Holiness people read their Bibles and carry them to church.  They want good preaching, respond to good preaching and show sincere respect for the preacher who gives them the unadulterated Word of God.

 CHM Worship Weaknesses*

            Too many services lack thoughtful planning.  Growing up in the CHM  I was taught to be suspicious of liturgy, only to discover that every church follows a liturgy, either a good one or a bad one, written or unwritten.  This fear or neglect of careful planning produces a worship experience that lacks continuity (is very disjointed and broken apart by things that could be avoided with minimal planning) and is random in its forward movement. It will fail to lead the congregant in a meaningful worship experience.  Churches who have consistently good worship experiences or those where the worship service is thoughtfully planned, intentionally structured, steeped in prayer and executed under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Careful planning does not hinder the freedom of God’s Spirit to work.  Actually, it gives Him a reliable framework through which He can inspire worship and minister grace to His people.

Too many holiness churches have stressed feeling and experiencing God to the neglect of worshiping and glorifying God.  Jesus taught us to worship in spirit and in truth.  Worship must have both heart and head.  Worship must engage emotions and thought.  Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy. On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought.  Many in a sincere attempt to feel God near have lost this balance and have opened the door to fleshly emotionalism and called it worship.

We have allowed worship to become something we do for our benefit rather than something we offer to God.  Worship has an end – and it is not us! This twist in focus has turned church into a performance event where we are the recipients.  We want the songs to bless us, the prayers to comfort us, and the sermon to help us feel better about our condition.  True worship is not self-centered, but God-centered. In true worship God is the audience and we are the performers!  Robert Coleman said it well, “Worship is the adoring response of the creature to the infinite majesty of God.  While it presupposes submission to Him, to worship, in the highest sense, is not supplication for needs, or even thanksgiving for blessings, but the occupation of the soul with God Himself.”

Prayer is generally fervent but often lacks substance. The offering of prayers has always been a vital part of Christian worship and certainly an important part of worship within the CHM tradition.   Prayer is so intimate and personal that we have been hesitant to critique it.  But as a central part of worship, public prayer should be evaluated.  Public prayer or the pastoral prayer is different from our private time with God.  It should evidence thought and preparation.  I know a pastor who spends a considerable amount of time writing out his Sunday morning prayer. He takes the responsibility of leading his congregation to God seriously. His prayers contain a wonderful balance of adoration, petition and confession.  They are steeped in Biblical language. They have forward movement that is orderly and thoughtful.  But more importantly, they are deep and powerful. On the other hand, unless one has trained himself in the art of public prayer, the average extemporaneous prayer tends to be shallow, directionless and often repetitious.  Careful thought and preparation will not rob us of authentic sincere prayer. On the contrary it will help us truly attain it!

There is a noticeable lack of scripture. We have left scripture out of our present day worship services.  Rarely do you find a CHM church that gives attention to scripture readings, calls to worship, and responsive readings.  Quite often, you do not even need your Bible for the sermon!  Often scripture reading is ignored in the name of “saving time”.  However, I believe we fail here for two reasons: First, we think what we have to say in more important and effective than the public reading of Scripture.  Second, we are poor readers.  One only has to hear a good reader lift up the scripture to know the power of the read word!

 Too Important to Ignore

            There may be something optional about how one worships, but worship itself is not optional. Corporate worship is the exalted purpose and central pulse of every Christian congregation.  If you are not worshiping you are not having church – you are just holding a shabby religious sideshow and calling it worship.  What will it take to motivate you and your church to rebuild the altar of true worship?  Think about it.  There is too much at stake not to!

*I asked a group of Pastors and Church Leaders within the CHM to give me a list of what they believed were the worship weakness of the CHM.  Their lists were remarkably similar and were used to develop the list in this article.

The Church – A Community of Faith

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Church, Ministry, Music, Theology

– Winter 2011

The Church – A Community of Faith

America is blessed with a lot of churches.  Some sit astride prominent street corners proudly displaying their architectural glory while others are tucked away indiscreetly between a used shoe store and a day old bakery in a weary strip mall on the tired side of town.  Some have one word names like “Grace.”  Others have names so long that you can’t say the full name without stopping to breathe. Most have the stereotypical church look, while others resemble something between a cinema and a warehouse.  It is not, however, the architect they display, the appellation they wear, or the affiliations they boast that makes them a church.

The New Testament doesn’t provide a simple concise definition of the Church other than what is found in the meaning of the Greek word for Church (ekklesia) which is “the called out ones.”   What it does provide is long narratives portraying the Church in action, colorful word pictures of what the church is like, specific duties that the Church should fulfill, doctrinal standards that the Church should teach and prophetic insights of how the Church can stray from the path and lose its way.

History has taught us that the Church needs periods of reformation and times of revival to keep it doctrinally sound, morally pure and faithful to its calling. At other times, the Church needs change that is less radical and might be described as a course correction.  These internal corrections need to be made because the Church has a hard time keeping its balance.    Certain imbalances can be attributed to the peculiarities of leadership.  Others are derived from simply over-emphasizing one truth to the neglect of other balancing truths. The worse imbalances, however, grow out of the fertile soil of fear. When the church and its leaders do what they do or fail to do what they should do out of fear, the church will inevitably suffer from some imbalance.

The Call to the Conservative Holiness Movement, by its very nature, is a challenge to the CHM to address particular areas of weakness or failure. The call is not designed to enumerate all the good things that could be said about the CHM.  Article III of the call speaks to the CHM’s community of faith and addresses some of the imbalances in the way the CHM views its own community of faith and the community of faith at large.  I think it is important to note that even though these imbalances are real and need addressed, the average conservative holiness church is a wonderful place to worship.  In my opinion, they still offer one of the best environments available to raise a family; hear the Word of God fearlessly proclaimed; feel conviction for sin while at the same time find the power of grace; hear fervent praying; sense the moving of God’s Spirit; worship with people who are serious about everyday holiness; and find an environment that truly helps one to keep his feet on the narrow path that leads to life eternal!

Nevertheless, the CHM does have a significant imbalance in the way it views its own differing communities of faith as well as how it views the larger community of faith.  The Movement at large and the various denominations within suffer from a culture of suspicion toward those who do not share their particularities.  They also suffer from a certain insularity that robs them of the insight, wisdom and balance that could be derived from the larger Christian community.  This condition varies in degree from denomination to denomination and from church to church, but it is present and needs to be honestly confronted and openly addressed.

A Culture of Suspicion

The CHM highly values the Biblical call to separation from the world.  As appropriate and good as this may be, inherent in any serious commitment to “Biblical separation” is the temptation to be suspicious of others who may have a lesser degree or even a greater degree of separation that we do.  Just as the call to holy living can veer off the path into perfectionism, the call to separation from the world can veer off the path into isolationism – an isolation that breeds a carnal suspicion of anyone and everyone that doesn’t see it like I do or share my particular version of how the faithful ought to manifest their faith. This has been a perennial bane for the CHM.   Rev. Tom Reed says this kind of suspicion has caused us to “play God – determining who is or is not a Christian based on the way we see things.”  Clearly if this suspicion is left unchecked, it will lead to a spirit of judging and condemnation of the larger community of faith as well as to divisions within our own CHM family.  Even now many groups within the CHM will not use a speaker from another group within the CHM because of suspicion and fear. Conservative leaders could use their influence and voice to help remedy this disease with a cure that doesn’t require anyone to compromise their corporate values or personal convictions.  It only requires a renewed understanding and commitment to the teachings of I Cor. 8-10 and Rom. 14.  Add to that a fresh supply of the “love of God poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” and we can be well on our way to removing the ethos of suspicion and division among us.

A Detachment from the Larger Christian Community

In I Cor. 12 Paul reminds us that the Church is a body made up of many different members; each contributing something that the other members cannot give.  This has an application to both the local body and to the larger body of Christ.  It seems to me that God has given the various traditions of the Christian Church particular insights into truth and practice that He has not given in the same degree to all.  He must expect us to learn from one another.  I have learned much about prayer by reading from both Catholic and Evangelical writers.  I have   been immeasurably enriched by the writings and teachings of evangelicals like C. S. Lewis, Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, Ravi Zacharias and Chuck Colson.  The expository preaching and teaching of men like John MacArthur, David Jeremiah and Howard Hendricks have added great value to the life of the whole Church and challenged others to take the Scriptures more seriously.  The work of William Booth, Mother Teresa and Erlo Stegen have challenged me to the core of my spiritual being to be mindful of the downtrodden and disenfranchised among us.  Where would America’s families be today without the ministry of James Dobson?  Personally, no one has challenged me more in the area of spiritual intimacy and holiness than Dennis Kinlaw and John Oswalt.

It must be noted that not a single name mentioned above identifies with the CHM.  Yet each one of them has spoken powerfully into my life and the lives of many conservative holiness people.  In preparation for writing this article I spoke with the Rev. Tom Reed, who is an elder statesman within the CHM.  He shared with me a list of men outside our tradition who have been used of God to advance his own spiritual life.  He mentioned: H.A. Ironsides (a former pastor of Moody church), A.W. Tozer (he visited his church often on Sunday evenings), Paul Rees, Vance Havner, S. M. Lockridge and Howard Hendricks.  He added this insightful comment, “these were not holiness men but they were holy men and I refuse to write them off just because they see some things differently than me”.

The CHM has tended to isolate themselves from these “outside” voices.  They fear that they might be a corruptive or a persuasive influence, or even worse, that if we allow anyone to minister to us that does not fully share all our values we have somehow compromised and demeaned those values.  Some of this kind of thinking grows out of simple fear.  In other cases I think it is because we have failed to distinguish between a Romans 14 category issue (opinions, preferences, interpretations, etc…) and a Galatians 1 category issue (false doctrine or heresy) and have treated all outside voices as if they were in the Galatians 1 category.  Mature leaders should be more discerning than this. I know many laymen who already exercise this kind of discernment by means of radio, books, CD’s and DVD’s that they buy and listen to.

Let me clear, I am not advocating an open door policy on “outside voices”.  I am certainly not encouraging local churches to open up their pulpits to men and women from other traditions.  What I am suggesting is that in our large conventions, conferences and forums we need to occasionally hear what our brothers and sisters outside the CHM have to say to us. God is working powerfully in His world through many of these choice servants. There are many outside our little circle who are far outstripping us in their passion for the lost, their zeal for the disenfranchised, their insight into scripture and their love for holiness. To hear what they are doing, to be challenged by their successes and to learn from their insight will not and does not diminish my love for my Zion nor make me want to jettison my spiritual tradition and values!  It simply makes me a better servant of the Lord!

We Have Something to Offer the Church

The sword of isolation cuts two ways.  We are cut off from what the larger Christian community can give us and the larger Christian community is cut off from what we can bring to it. The CHM is the beneficiary of hundreds of years of rich holiness heritage.  We have grown up embracing and experiencing truths that some in the body of Christ will never know or experience. We have some preachers who are as capable and anointed as any out there anywhere.  Our emphasis on personal transformation, purity of heart, perfect love, real character development, growth in grace and freedom from the power of sin are emphasis that are needed by the larger body of Christ!  Surely what God has freely bestowed on us we ought to freely share with others!

My plea is not for some silly, stupid ecumenicalism!  It is a simple plea for us to both reap and share the bounty of spiritual riches that are ours in Christ and found within the various members of His Body – including our own.  The late H. E. Schmul, one of the greatest conservative holiness statesmen I ever knew, use to lead us in singing, “I don’t care what church you belong to, Just as long as for Calvary you stand.  Just as long as your heart beats with my heart, You’re my brother, so give me your hand”.  Somebody strike the tune and let’s sing it again!

Spiritual Roots

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Church, Ministry, Theology

– December 2011

Spiritual Roots

No one possesses a faith that is self-made.  Each of us are indebted to the whole body of Christ for our understanding of scripture and our view of Christian living.  We have all benefited immensely from great spiritual truths that have been developed over the centuries, shaped by revival, purified by reformation and tested by experience.  We stand on the shoulders of men and movements who have forged for us what we now know as our spiritual heritage.   To unwittingly sever ourselves from these spiritual roots is tragic.  To knowingly do so may well be treacherous. Yet many Christians sell their spiritual birthright as thoughtlessly as they sell their unwanted household junk.

What these yard sale saints can’t see is not hidden to historical scholars. They tell us that movements, religious or otherwise, can only maintain vitality and significance as long as they retain a clear understanding of their historical identity. A religious movement’s identity is determined by their dogma, doctrine, traditions, ideals, values, and culture – all of which have been developed over the centuries.  These are the things that tell us who we are and answer the question of why we exist.  Without them, no movement can affirm a clear mission or cast a uniting vision.

The Call to the Conservative Holiness Movement issued in the October Revivalist pleads for a commitment to historic roots and continuity in Article II. This involves both a renewed commitment to classical Christianity and a renewed understanding of our spiritual heritage as passed down to us through the Methodist Holiness Tradition.   This call is not rooted in a sentimental hankering for the past.  Nor is it some nostalgic desire to re-create methods and means that have long since served their usefulness –that’s what museums do!  It is, however, recognition that we lose something vitally important for our future when we become disconnected from our past.

This appeal to the CHM is particularly urgent for two reasons.  First, the CHM is going through a time of transition. Second, the CHM is too often afflicted with a form of historical amnesia – we have long term memory loss.  Our memory only reaches back about 60 years to the days when we separated from our mother churches.  What happened then is clearly a vital part of our heritage but it is far from all of it.  Nor can that separation point be the sole place from which we draw our identity.  If it is, then we lose the wealth of hundreds of years of rich holiness history.  We also lose important “family traits” and “traditions” that may serve us well in our contemporary struggles. The CHM faces questions today and will certainly face more in the tomorrows that will not be adequately answered without drawing on the wisdom and life experiences of our fore-fathers.  We need our heritage – all of it!

As the CHM seeks to develop a fuller understanding of its historical identity, it is helpful to examine the family tree. We are Christian, we are Reformation Protestants, we are Arminian, we are Arminian/Anglican, and we are Methodist.  From there the branch divides into Wesleyan Methodist, Free Methodist, Pilgrim Holiness and Nazarene.  From there the branches further divide into a dozen denominational groups and a host of independent churches that self-identify as the Conservative Holiness Movement.

The CHM is, for the most part, Wesleyan in its theological opinions, especially in its commitment to the doctrine of entire-sanctification.   However, it can be quite diverse in many other ways.  There is significant variation in views relating to the sacraments, lifestyle practices, social issues (e.g. divorce and remarriage) and church government.  The CHM does find common ground in their opposition to: immodest worldly attire, short hair on women, and the wearing of jewelry. These common ground issues have become the “street level” means of identifying the movement.  As important as these things may be, there are some other very important “family traits” that ought to be front and center when people think of the CHM.  Identity markers that I would love to see become our ”street level” means of identity.  Traits that can clearly be found in our spiritual roots – in particular our Methodist Holiness Heritage!

The early Methodists found their reason for existence and their vision for the future in Wesley’s call “to reform a Nation, and in particular the church; and to spread scriptural holiness over the land.” Responding to that call led them to reap a harvest of souls for God’s kingdom and ultimately altered the religious landscape of England and early America for almost a century.  However, it must be noted that this breathtaking, forward looking, mission statement worked only in a context.  And that context was the theological content and spiritual character of what Methodism truly was.  You could call it their DNA or their family traits. Let’s examine five of those traits.

First, they were known for a distinctive theological understanding of God.  One of the best ways to understand the impact of their theology is to look at how those early Methodists lived it out. Francis Asbury, the founder of American Methodism is a good example to observe. When Asbury arrived in America there were only a few hundred Methodists, but by 1860 one out of every three Americans was a Methodist.  Asbury crossed the Allegheny Mountains on horseback 60 times, slept in 10,000 different cabins and homes, preached 60,500 sermons in 45 years (a little more than one a day), and became more recognizable than George Washington or Thomas Jefferson.  By the end of the 18th century, Methodism had determined the nature of religious culture in America thus setting the stage for the next 100 years.

Why did he and countless hundreds of other Methodist circuit riders do what they did?  It was their theology that motivated them!   Their theology taught them that every man had infinite worth.  They believed that God not only wanted to save every man but that every man could be saved!  To better understand this you need to remember that Calvinism was the prevalent theology of the day and a core component of Calvinism was election.   When the average Calvinist walked down the street he would think, “It is possible that I might even see one of God’s elect today.”  When a Methodist walked down the street he would think, “Every man I see today is one of God’s elect and it is my job to tell him!”

Second, they were known for their optimism of grace.  I am not sure if grace shaped their eschatology or their eschatology shaped their concept of grace but what I do know is that the early Methodists believed so powerfully in the transforming grace of God that they were convinced that they would transform the church, the nation and the world – ushering in the millennial reign!  The optimism of grace drove Methodist circuit riders farther and faster than new invention could drive the feet of commerce.

Third, they were known for a distinctive view of spiritual experience.  The early Methodists believed that every man could be saved, that every man could know they were saved and that every man could be saved to the uttermost!  The doctrine of assurance gave new converts stability and peace.  The doctrine of entire sanctification gave believers victory over sin and power to live a holy life.  Methodism took people out of their “sinning religion” and taught them that they could walk in complete obedience to God!  With such peace, hope and victory, it’s no wonder that the Methodist were known for their exuberant singing and loud shouting!

Fourth, they were known for their distinctive view of the Church and Evangelism. They were flexible and innovative.  They didn’t need a proper church with stained glass windows and comfortable pews. They preached in the highways and byways, in fields and near mines, on the frontier and in the city ghettos.  They introduced a new style of worship to accommodate the large numbers of unconverted people in their congregations. Worship scholars refer to it as “frontier worship”.  It is now the primary worship style we still use today. They operated missions for the down and outer, cottages for the unwed mothers, orphanages for the destitute, camp meetings for the masses, class meetings for the newly converted and circuits for rural churches. They founded training schools, colleges and universities. No aspect of their society was left untouched by the gospel.  Those early Methodist did whatever was necessary to obey the command to “preach the gospel to every creature”.

Fifth, they were known for their stewardship.  The early Methodists looked right through the world that was around them and saw a Kingdom.  It was to that Kingdom and ultimately to its King that they gave their solemn allegiance and perfect love.  Many freely denied themselves the comforts of home, family and marriage to give their lives in His service.  The rank and file who did build homes and raise up families were so well known for their rejection of this worlds values and ostentation that the very name Methodist was spoken in derision and scorn by those who loved to parade their fashion and display their wealth. It was not what could be gained in this world but what could be invested in the world to come that motivated these people called Methodists.

These are a few of the “family traits” of a people and a movement that history says “owned the 19th century”! I see some of these same traits being manifested today in the underground church in China where 20,000 people are converted every day.  It has yet to be decided who will own the 21st century, but I believe it will be owned by the people who have looked long enough and deep enough into the past to see how God will work in the future.  You can figure it out too but you will need to dig deep into your spiritual roots!

New Year’s Resolutions Anyone? – Part II

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Church, Holiday

–Winter 2003

New Year’s Resolutions Anyone?

Part II

In last year’s winter issue I shared my list of New Year’s Resolutions and pledged to write an article on each one.  Though each resolve was given personal attention, they never found their way into the article I promised.  So with pen in hand and a little mud on my face, here is my insight on three of those resolutions.

Resolution #1

To Gain an Understanding of Corporate Worship

I’ve spent the past year combing through books, articles and listening to tapes about worship.  I’ve talked it over with the scholars and traced it in the lives of simple saints.  Some I talked with had all the answers on worship, while others didn’t seem to have a clue.  But every time I reached for my pen to write, I became frustrated with either the breadth of the subject or the narrowness of my own experience, and laid my pen aside deferring to the greater mind and the larger soul.

I also hesitated to write for the timid reason that there are certain subjects within the church that people have real strong feelings about and will fight over at the drop of a hat (with some willing to drop the hat).  Worship is one of those subjects.  Worship wars have divided denominations and split churches.  In an endeavor to keep the peace, some churches have offered a menu of services with varying worship styles.  This, of course, hasn’t aided true worship in the least, but has pandered to self-centered seekers wanting to “do church” in a way that is entertaining and exciting, or kept entrenched a style traditionally safe but totally missing the mark.

My readership is mostly conservative and mostly within the Methodist holiness tradition.  This group, for the most part, hasn’t bowed the knee at the altar of “Christian consumerism,” though I have witnessed some alarming extremes.  Everything from services so dead they felt like a “funeral for the Almighty” to services so free spirited and casual that they were nothing more than chatty conversations of God talk, similar to a pep rally where we all shouted “hurrah for Jesus!” on cue.

In between these extremes are those who are truly serious about worship but are not always sure of how to go about it.  They remind me of the puzzled partygoer who asked, “Are we having fun yet?”  They try hard to worship but feel like asking, “Are we worshiping yet?”  I did witness services where I felt like the congregation was truly worshiping and the pastor knew how to lead them in worship, but for the most part I agree with Tozer that worship has become the missing jewel of the church.

What’s Wrong?

Without going into great detail, let me offer you my findings.

  1.  We don’t see worship as the main enterprise of the church.

The church seems to have gone through stages of what it thinks is the most important thing for it to be doing.  At times the church has emphasized separation.  Other times it was evangelistic outreach, foreign missions, or just biblical instruction.  Each one or a mixture of the four, taking their turn being the hallmark of what church is really about.  When in all reality each of these must be a product of worship or they will become another gimmick to motivate the saints, or a slick PR front to sell the church.

  1. We lack a balance between a God that is majestic and transcendent and one that is imminent and lovingly near us.

Most holiness churches have unduly stressed feeling and experiencing God to the neglect of worshiping and glorifying God for the pure joy of magnifying the one whom alone is worthy.  Jesus taught us to worship in spirit and in truth.  Worship must have both heart and head.  Worship must engage emotions and thought.  Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full of artificial admirers.  On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought.  Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship.  Many in a sincere attempt to feel God near have lost this balance and have opened the door to a fleshly humanism and called it worship.

  1. We have forgotten that only those who are spiritually alive can worship.

When Jesus said, “we must worship the Father in spirit…” He meant that true worship could only come from spirits made alive and sensitive by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit of God.  John Piper says it like this; “The fuel of worship is a true vision of the greatness and glory of God, but the fire that makes the fuel burn white hot is the quickening of the Holy Spirit.”

  1. We have allowed worship to become something we do for our spiritual benefit rather than something we give to God.

This twist in focus has turned church into a performance event where we are the recipients.  We want the songs to bless us, the prayers to comfort us, and the sermon to help us feel better about our condition.  True worship is not self-centered, but God-centered.  Robert Coleman says it like this; “Worship is the adoring response of the creature to the infinite majesty of God.  While it presupposes submission to Him, to worship, in the highest sense, is not supplication for needs, or even thanksgiving for blessings, but the occupation of the soul with God Himself.”

  1. We have made worship a Sunday morning event rather than a lifestyle.

Worship has to do with real life.  It is not a mythical interlude in a week of reality.  We cannot honor God with our lips on Sunday while our hearts are far from Him during the week.

Tinkering or Transformation?

The holiness movement is going through a transition.  There is a lot of tinkering with things and some will be for our help while others will be for our harm.  But when it comes to worship, we need a transformation by the Spirit of God.  Pastors need to be leading the way, teaching their people how to worship God in spirit and in truth.  In order to do this, they must find a biblical paradigm for worship.

As I have sought to develop a biblical view of worship, I have developed for myself five basic facets that must be involved.

  1. The first facet is dispositional.  I mean by this that worship is an attitude of the heart and soul.  There is nothing casual about worship, nor can be done by simply parroting phrases.  It blends our heart and soul and mind like nothing else that we will ever do.  To me this disposition rests on four character traits.

Reverence.  We cannot worship unless there is a reverence and esteem for Almighty God.  We must see Him as majestic and transcendent, the One before who even angels veil their faces.

Love.  We must truly love Him with all of our hearts.  You cannot worship a God you do not truly love.

Humility.  The humble soul is the one who understands that He is the Creator and I am the creature, and I can do nothing without Him.  That sense of humility frees us from self-aggrandizement and enables us to lift Him up.

Gratitude.  Romans chapter 1 tells us it was the sin of ingratitude that prevented man from worshiping God even when they knew Him as God.  Gratitude paves the way for real worship.

  1. The second facet is gestural.  Biblical worship involves some kind of outward act.  The very word in Hebrew means to bow down.  So, worship is bowing, lifting hands, praying, singing, reciting, preaching, etc.  It is absolutely impossible to sit like a monument and worship the Almighty.
  1. The third facet is vocal.  We may worship in silence but not all of worship is silent.  Worship involves appropriate vocal expression of praise and affirmation.  Worship by its very nature requires a personal and/or a congregational response.  The biblical pattern runs the scale of everything from a quiet amen to the jubilant shout of hallelujah!  Vocal expressions, though, should never be a mindless parroting of worship language.  Worship must never be divorced from the mind and the will.  This doesn’t mean worship cannot be spontaneous or even at times rapturous, but it does mean that it will never be a mindless, out of control, experience.
  1. The fourth aspect is liturgical.  I was taught to be suspicious of anything that involved liturgy, only to my surprise to discover that every church follows a liturgy, either a good one or a bad one, written or unwritten.  They all have form.  A biblical view of worship always entails order and form.
  1. The fifth facet is spiritual.  Let me quote from John Piper again.  “The fuel of worship is the truth of God, the furnace of worship is the spirit of man, and the heat of worship is the vital affections of reverence, contrition, trust, gratitude and joy.  But the fire of worship is the Holy Spirit, and until the Holy Spirit quickens our spirit with the flame of life, our spirit is so dead and unresponsive it does not even quality as a spirit.  True worship can only come from spirits made alive and sensitive by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit of God.”

I’ve not written this article as a critic or counselor.  It is simply an article that allows you to look over my shoulder into the private journaling of my journey toward better worship.  Fortunately God accepts our imperfect worship while we are learning how to offer that which is more acceptable.  He is worthy of our very best!

If you are interested in further help, email me at president@gbs.edu and I will send you a list of my study resources.

The Word in Worship

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Theology

–Winter of 1997

The Word in Worship

For many Americans the recent blur of holiday activities was momentarily suspended by a curious news story out of Clearwater, Florida, a few days before Christmas.  It began when a pedestrian outside of a local bank noticed that one of the large smoke-colored windows appeared to reflect the image of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Word spread rapidly and within hours police officers had to be summoned to manage the influx of traffic as worshipers of Mary flooded the streets and sidewalks, offering prayers, reciting the rosary and shedding tears of adoration and joy.  One wonders how it is that the groundskeeper seemed to be expressing the minority opinion when he concluded that the image was simply a coincidental result of a chemical reaction between the window finish and the lawn sprinkler.

It goes without saying that the religious frenzy displayed outside the Clearwater, Florida, bank, while having a veneer of spirituality and piety diverged widely from true Scriptural worship.  Any time the central authority of Scripture is compromised, a fatal blow is struck to the heart of worship.  Heresy and cultic malpractices are the inevitable results.  Conversely, when God’s Word is consciously and consistently given priority, it contributes a soundness to worship, clearly defining the object of worship and governing the worship process in general.

However, lest we smile to condescendingly upon the misdirected idolizers of Mary, it might be appropriate to examine ourselves and ask if our worship is truly modeled and marked by the Word of God.  There is little doubt that we pay lip service to the supreme and prominent place that Scripture should occupy in our religious assemblies.  Furthermore, we have remained unquestionably committed to the supernatural character of the Bible, readily denouncing any and every threat or perceived threat to the doctrines of inspiration and inerrancy.  But, does this laudable conviction manifest itself in a real objective way – particularly in the context of public worship?  Or do our hurried worship services encumbered with a litany of organizational announcements, sandwiched between a handful of extemporaneous digressions ranging from stories of transportation difficulties on the way to church to half-humorous reflections on last week’s church get-together, leave little time for careful, thoughtful reading and meditating on the Word of God?  Are sermons something more than motivational speeches or spiritual pep-talks wrapped in a Scripture text?  Do they, in reality, unfold the holy Word?

In this book, The Ultimate Priority, John MacArthur, Jr., laments that, “some sermons are only marginally biblical but move the congregation and make them laugh and cry…They might be interesting, fun, entertaining, exciting and impressive sermons, but they do not help the people worship God.”  The result of such biblically deficient worship is predictable.  Worship eventually relaxes into a ragged, undefined shallow exercise that ultimately focuses on self rather than on God.  Over time the average congregation acclimates itself to the spiritually lean atmosphere.  Rather than sensing that something is wrong, they actually begin to enjoy and expect these services of entertainment where they always leave feeling good.

In Nehemiah the power of the Word of God to motivate true worship is clearly demonstrated as Ezra read from the sacred scroll in the presence of the standing congregation.  Though convicted and challenged by the Word, the grateful assembly responded in chorus, “Amen, Amen.”  With lifted hands they “worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.”  May God grant us such a revival…a revival of true worship, firmly grounded in and flowing from a meaningful commitment to the holy Word.