WORSHIP WARS:...SEVEN PERCEPTIONS OF WHAT BIBLICAL WORSHIP IS NOT

A few years ago I was ministering in concert at a prominent Midwest Christian college. During the concert of about 2,500 people attending, a young man stood up in the middle of the auditorium and shouted to me, "Brother Steve, I have a word from the Lord for you." Taken a bit back by his rudeness, but impressed with his courage, I asked him politely, "OK, what Bible verse did you want to share with me?" He said, "Oh no, this is a word directly from God for you personally." I said back to him, "I know every verse is penned by the Lord--it is all directly from Him to us... So what Bible verse did you want to share with me?" Becoming more and more frustrated at his inability to 'woo' me to his words of "divine revelation," I finally agreed to let him speak with one condition (and believe me, I was being generous in letting it go this far); I told him, "Everything you say must agree perfectly with God's final revelation in His Word. If anything you say, no matter how trivial, disagrees with Scripture, then I will have to rebuke you in front of all these people and then we will all have to take you outside and stone you to death!" With those ground rules stated, he thought for a moment and then said these profound words, "Maybe it was a feeling I had?" I said, "Good answer man--now sit down."

I share that story with you to poignantly illustrate the confusion there is today about divine revelation, biblical truth, and ultimately, what constitutes genuine, authentic biblical worship. Worship cannot be about my feelings or personal moorings based on what I think God is mystically communicating to me in a supernatural way. Worship must be based on truth and our response to truth; His truth--solely upon the truth of God's Word. I agree with Martin Luther when he said, "the highest form of worship is hearing God's Word with an obedient life and then living in submission to its truth."

Worship is absolutely vital to the life and health of the local church and the daily walk of every believer in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul places a high premium on worship when he says in these very familiar, important and defining words, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service [of worship]" (Romans 12:1).

So then what is biblical worship? In response to Paul's words, Worship is ascribing worth to the One-Triune God, according to how God has ascribed worth to Himself, in response to the standard and veracity of His Word, out of an obedient life. In short, the worship driven life is living daily in the presence of His glory! As my pastor said this past week, "worship is not simply going to a place of worship; but worshipping in the place where God has called us to live everyday." Contrary to what our culture mandates and what sadly has defined the emphasis of worship in many local churches:


The 'Oprahfication' of Worship
The graduates of the Oprah Winfrey school of theology are preaching salvation by baptism in the grey waters of self enlightenment, sensual appetite, and the new age paradigmn of existential truth of an impersonal universal force that dwells in the sub-consciencial caverns of my inner child with the hope of producing cosmic planetary oneness.

I don't even know what I just said or what that even means... they don't either! According to our post-modern culture, if you simply disengage from the neck up you're in. They don't want you to think about anything, but to feel about everything. Sadly, elements of this kind of new age reasoning dominates the evangelical landscape; an entire generation of people today are learning how to feel their God and not know their God; and one of the contributing factors is how we view worship in the church and in our personal lives as well.

A few questions to consider as we learn about biblical worship: What has caused these worship wars? What are they? What does biblical worship look like and what doesn't it look like? How are we to practically implement it in our daily lives? And more importantly, what do the Scriptures teach about worship especially in light of the contemporary movement of worship and praise music and literature that is abounding today? In other words, what does it mean to live in the presence of His glory everyday?

PERCEPTIONS OF WORSHIP
In order to fully understand what biblical worship is, let's begin by taking a brief look at seven things that biblical worship is not though they might seem to define how many of us truly function in worship today.

Biblical Worship is not Emotional Exuberance
Firstly, biblical "worthship," as the early church was initially prone to call it, is not emotional exuberance. People often mistake goose bumps with God and try to work themselves into an emotional froth or ecstatic frenzy which they hope brings them closer to the Lord. In saying that, I am not advocating emotionless worship. Worship does involve our emotions; and emotionless worship maybe reveals a hard calloused heart before the Lord. But using our emotions or focusing on an emotional response to try and achieve worship is something else altogether. Worship is primarily cognitive--it begins with knowing and understanding the Lord.

The danger is this, when the emotions fade usually the walk with Christ does too. This spiritual roller coaster ride can only satisfy that emotional craving for so long and then the essence of their commitment to Christ is ultimately revealed. Tragically, when they crash… they crash hard and leave many disillusioned people in the wake of their enthusiastic fancy. In reality, what they posses is a superstitious view of God, where faith is nothing more than doubt looking for proof. David warns about this in Psalm 2:11 and instructs us in the balance of real worship when saying, "Serve the Lord with reverence; rejoice with trembling." Worship begins with reverence-the fear of the Lord; joy and celebration is what follows; and with a note of exhortation, "with trembling." Our celebration (rejoicing) must never lead to carnality (with trembling). We must always have at the core of our worship the fear of the Lord and a sobering reverence for Him. There is no substitution for a consistent, holy, obedient, worthy walk in Christ.

Biblical Worship is not Mystical Experience
Secondly, authentic biblical worship is not mystical experience. The quintessential example of this would be what became known as "The Toronto Blessing." This movement was born initally at the Kansas City School of Prophets and given world-wide visibility at a church in Toronto, Canada. I flew to Canada to see first hand what was taking place there. I discovered that "the blessing" was marked by three key things: one, holy roaring. This is where one will bark like a dog, crow like a bird, etc. - or manifest some sort of animal sound or noise. Two, holy laughter. This is where uncontrollable boisterous laughter will occur for sometimes hours on end. And three, the most blasphemous element of this movement, is what they call holy vomiting. They claim if the Spirit of God is truly cleansing an individual's life, it will be manifested by vomiting. What I found most shocking was that when I asked a staff member of that paticular church in Canada where is the biblical proof that these things are sanctioned and caused by the Lord, their reply was simply, "we know that it doesn't exist in Scripture, but that doesn't concern us because you can't deny the fruit of what's happening in people's lives here." Again, personal religious expericence is elavated over the truth of God's Word.

Just to comment briefly, laughter is always used in Scripture in a derisive way and only mentioned one time in all the N.T. (James 4:8). I found that many were confusing laughter with joy. If laughter was a sign of God's grace in ones life, then Jim Carrey has to be the most holy man alive today! Joy, on the other hand, is not fleeting or frivilous; it is the quiet confidence that God is in control of all things for His glory and our good. The theme song for the church ladies and gentlemen is not "Send in the Clowns," but "Holy, Holy, Holy." Listen, beloved, it is never a funny thing to come into the presence of a holy God; but it is a frightening thing (cf. Hebrews 10:31).

Animal noises have never been evident anywhere in all of redemptive history as verification of one's standing before God or the Lord's working in their lives. This is Satanic at its very core.

Lastly, vomitting is not a sign of cleansing spiritually. This again, can be found nowhere in the Bible or practiced in any church in all of redemptive history.

Biblical Worship is not Musical Performance
When most people think of worship today they usually think of singing. They seperate the preaching of God's Word as one thing and then "worship" in song as another. Musical performance or frankly, music or songs in and of themselves is not worship. The song is but a tool to express worth to the Lord in accordance with His Word. Even the phrase, "worship leader" or "worship pastor" is misleading, isn't it?

In the Levitical priesthood and temple according to 1 Chron. 23:5, there were "4,000 gatekeepers, and 4,000 shall offer praises to the LORD with the instruments that I have made for praise."

1 Chron. 15:22,27 says: "Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was {in charge of} the singing; he gave instruction in singing because he was skillful [in divine revelation and in the craft of music too]. Now David was clothed with a robe of fine linen with all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the singing {with} the singers. David also wore an ephod of linen."

Notice here that the temple worship of the Levites sprung first of all from revelation then to the singing. "Thy statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage." His lawbook our songbook; His Word our music; His theology, our doxology.

Listen to these powerful words that the Lord spoke through the shepherd-prophet Amos, "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" (Amos 5:21-24).

Why was God declaring their worship unacceptable? Why was it an offense to Him? Was Israel making bad music? Was their worship to the Lord heretical in lyric? No. But here is the reason: beautiful songs of praise with great biblical lyrics sung out of an impure life are nothing but noise to the ears of a holy God. We ought to be Spirit-filled beloved! The message is so clear: stop the music until the life is right.

Biblical Worship is not Religious Ritual
Fourthly, biblical worship is not religious ritual or ceremony. Liturgy, ceremony, confessions and creeds have their place, but in and of themselves, they do not constitute true worship. Religious rites must never take precedence over our obedience to the Lord. Remember the adamant words of the prophet Samuel to King Saul; "Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams" (I Samuel 15:22).

Biblical Worship is not Asceticism
Fifthly, true biblical worship is not self-flagellation or asceticism. The Apostle Paul deals powerfully with this in Colossians 2:20-23, "Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations- 'Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,' which all concern things which perish with the using-according to the command- ments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgences of the flesh." I grew up in Wheaton, Il - the Vatican II; the holy city. I was taught that if I didn't dance, didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't play cards and didn't go to movies that I had somehow reached the zenith of spiritual holiness. I learned many years ago that if I didn't dance, didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't play cards and didn't go to movies, all that that meant was, was that I didn't dance, didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't play cards and didn't go to movies. The absence of those things do not make one holy before the Lord, amen? That is why the thrust of our lives should not be the denial of certain things which may have the appearance of "religion," but to be conformed daily to the image and person of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Biblical Worship is not Self-Indulgence
Sixthly, biblical worship is not psychological self-indulgence. Coming to the house of the Lord consumed with our felt need concerns: my pain, my healing, my woundedness, my crippled inner child, anticipating some sort of psychological cathartic healing, devalues the very worship we long to honor Him with. Stephen Charnock expounds on this thought when saying, "To pretend to pay homage to God and intend only the advantage of self is, rather, to mock Him than worship Him. When we believe that we ought to be satisfied than God glorified, we set God below ourselves. Imagine, that He should submit His own honor to our advantage-we make our selves more glorious than God." Worship never begins or ends with man and his needs, but with God and His glory! We must "deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him" (Matthew 16:24).

Biblical Worship is not Self-Actualization
Lastly, legitimate biblical worship is not self-actualization: realizing ones potentiality or reaching the fullness of ones dreams, aspirations, or goals. Achieving one's expectations - that is the essence of the meaning here. The info-phrase "Be all that you can be…" gives flesh and bone as to "the why" many people approach God. Jesus did not come to give you a better marriage, a more fulfilling career or job, a better education, or a more satisfying existance. People approaching God in worship to achieve those things, in reality, only end up worshipping themselves - the greatest of all idols.

I know that for some of you those things listed above are shocking as to what does not qualify as biblical worship. So much of our church life today is based on our experiences rather than on truth; so much of our time is spent about our happiness, rather than holiness; and our focus sadly in many churches today is all about self, rather than about Jesus Christ our Lord.

Next week, we will look at six important and key things that constitute true biblical worship and how to live to His glory each and every day.