Preferences and Essentials in Worship
by Gerrit Gustafson
Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? Matthew 15:3
“When someone decides to become a Christian, the next thing he has to decide is ‘which kind?’” I first heard this in Russia, but the problem is universal. Which ‘brand’ of Christianity should the new convert choose?
When a congregation decides to become a worshiping church, it has a similar dilemma: “which style of worship will we adopt? Should we learn a contemporary worship style? Traditional? Seeker sensitive?”
Then there are different kinds of contemporary worship… different flavors of traditional… and different degrees of “visitor consciousness.” And if you finally decide on a “blended style,” then you have to decide on what proportions. Will you be 80:20 in the contemporary-traditional mix or 20:80?
Hmmm? It’s getting complicated. And if you really want to see some fireworks, just let the congregation decide!
Unfortunately, most discussions on how to do worship never get past the issue of personal preferences. “If we get too contemporary, we’ll lose the older folks.” “Yea, but if we’re too traditional our young people will go somewhere else.” “Hey, I know… let’s have a contemporary service and a traditional service; then everybody will be happy.”
Personal tastes are not unimportant, but neither are they all important. How about asking something like this: “God, do you have anything to say on the subject? After all, you are the Head of the church!” Good move!
Consider these three statements as a starting place in discovering Biblical essentials for worship:
1. It is essential that we worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24);
2. It is essential that worship involve the totality of the human personality (Mark 12:30); and
3. It is essential that we employ songs, hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19).
The Inescapable Imperative
Jesus didn’t actually say much about worship, but what he did say is an inescapable imperative: “true worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.” He didn’t say “I would strongly suggest that you worship in spirit and truth, but it’s really up to you and how you feel about it.” Nor did he say, “If it’s compatible with your target audience, you might consider spirit and truth.”
“OK,” you say, “but what does it mean to worship in ‘spirit and truth?’”
In John 16, Jesus said the Holy Spirit will bring glory to him. Paul described those who worship by the Spirit in Philippians 3:3 as those who “glory in Christ Jesus.” Spirit-filled worship is all about Jesus.
The flesh refers to man’s capabilities apart from God, or, as the Message translates it: “the old do-it-yourself life.” If we can do it without God’s energizing, it's not the worship Jesus was talking about.
This too about the Spirit: he’s like the wind. You can’t control Him or predict Him. Even though careful planning is important, there should always be room for God’s Spirit to do the unexpected.
So how can you tell if your worship is in the Spirit? Worship in spirit has these three characteristics: Christ is central, the energizing is from God, not self, and it has a spontaneous element.
Worship in truth has two qualities: it’s in accordance with God’s Word, and it’s genuine. The New Testament word for truth, aletheia, has both meanings. This covers not only the content of our worship, but the reality of it. It’s so easy to go through the motions, to draw near with our words, but not engage our hearts. External expression without internal reality is unacceptable worship.
Let’s evaluate: was last Sunday’s worship in spirit and truth?
Go For It
The second essential is derived from the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The key word is “all!”
Since worship is simply our love for God expressed, we should worship him as we’re commanded to love him… vigorously, with all we’ve got intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and physically. This is not optional, it’s required!
The Three Dimensions
The third essential comes from Paul’s instruction to both the Colossian and Ephesian churches: sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
To sing a psalm is not necessarily the equivalent of singing from the book of Psalms. The term psalm, like song, can be used in a general or specific sense. In the general usage it could include hymns, just as there are hymns in the book of Psalms. In the specific sense however, a song contrasts with a hymn. A song, like our praise choruses, is generally simpler, shorter, more testimonial and less theological than a hymn.
A great hymn has a timeless quality about it. A song employs current vernacular. Hymns usually have a longer life span than songs. You might say, hymns are like trees; songs, like flowers. Both are God’s creation… neither more important than the other.
A spiritual song is even more a song-of-the-moment than a song. When Paul referred to singing with his spirit in I Corinthians 14, he contrasted it with singing with his mind, and said he would do both. This “less rational” song form, which consists of spontaneous melodies and words, inspired by the Holy Spirit and sung around a chord or slowly moving chord progression, may seem strange to our Western way of thinking, but apparently, it was an integral part or the early Church’s worship. Maybe part of our music rehearsals should include time learning to do spiritual songs.
If nothing else, these three song forms show us God’s love for diversity. He doesn’t want us to have just one groove. Churches that practice this divine diversity will attract the feelers, the thinkers and the intuiters, and, at the same time, challenge each of us to a greater totality of worship expression.
Are you ready for the worshipers’ pledge? If so, repeat with me: I will worship in spirit and truth… I will worship with all my being…and, I will sing songs, hymns and spiritual songs.
This article is one of 10 by Gerrit Gustafson included in the book, Times of Refreshing, a collection of 100 devotions for worship teams, compiled by Tom Kraeuter. For more information, go to Times of Refreshing.