How We Worship God is Determined by Us?
May 17th, 2009 by Nathan White
In a recent Time magazine article on the new phenomenon, Twittering in church, a pastor of a church in Charlotte, N.C, Todd Hahn, made the following statement:
[Regarding Twittering during Church]: “if God leads you to continue this as a form of worship by all means do it.”
Now, I use Twitter, I enjoy it, and whether or not Twittering during the Lord’s Day service is right or wrong is not the main question I am approaching today.
However, any student of the Bible should be somewhat taken aback by this notion of ‘God leading’ us into other ‘forms of worship’, to be ultimately determined by our personal experience/preferences/inclinations/feelings.
In other words, this is a prime example why the confession I subscribe to specifically says,
“Chapter 22:1._____ The light of nature shews that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is just, good and doth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures. ( Jeremiah 10:7; Mark 12:33; Deuteronomy 12:32; Exodus 20:4-6 )”
My friends, it is a form of idolatry to say that we are open to worship God in just any way we chose. Why would we have this notion that the one offering worship gets to decide the form of worship, rather than the One receiving the worship, and who has given us His Word which equips us for ‘every good work’?
Sure, Twittering isn’t prohibited by scripture, and neither is Twittering in church (explicitly). But saying that we are ‘worshiping’ by Twittering is a gross error. God has given us means by which to worship Him: Prayer, Song, the Lord’s Table, Preaching, Giving, Baptism, and even Church Discipline.
God giving us specific forms of worship is a protection against the lusts/desires/fleshliness of our nature. Sure, painting a picture in church, or holding a concert, or staging skits might be more entertaining. They might even make us feel like we’ve grown much more than when we sit under the same old routine. But God knows our hearts; He knows how to build/grow/sanctify His church. And He has given us means that are sufficient, indeed, more than sufficient, for all things pertaining to life and Godliness.
When we leave scripture and decide for ourselves what constitutes worship, we lose worship as a ‘means of grace’, and will always be led astray to end up worshiping ourselves.
Twittering might seem like a harmless thing, but once you decide that the word of God does not bound us to forms and methods of worship, where will it end? Why have church at all? Why have preaching at all? Why have song at all? Why not totally revamp things, even the Day God has given us to worship (the Lord’s Day/Sabbath), and come up with something that better fits our tastes, preferences, feelings, and schedule?
There is safety and indeed great freedom in the word of God. Safety not just from gross idolatry (indeed that is included), but safety from ourselves as well. What a great freedom it is to come to the Word, submitting to it thereby, knowing that God has promised to bless these means and grow us using them. What a freedom it is to know that God is wiser than we are!
Let us look to His word and be taught and grow thereby; looking anywhere else can and will only be destructive to our sanctification.
And I...
I’m not sure how God says to worship Him, although in His Word many have come up with the “how to’s” thinking they have discovered the blueprint of the New Testament church. Only thing is, most of the ways and means they have derived from Scripture all all different, and yet they think they have found the “right” one. That just really frustrates me. Maybe we could understand more if we look at the woman at the well, and Jesus’ conversation with her when He said that God is looking for those worshippers who would worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. She, too, wanted to know atleast where to worship, and to get it right. But He redirected the “where’s, and the how to’s” and turned it into a heart issue, and left many of the particulars blank. Then, again, it says in Romans that “giving ourselves as living sacrifices” is our spiritual act of worship. So, again, I think we should search for our answers from Him, as you stated, but maybe they go past and deeper than just form and structure. Maybe they even extend into what’s happening on the inside of the worshippers. Are we totally consecrated to God in our lives or are we holding back in some areas? If we let Him search our hearts, only He, by the Spirit of God, can show us what’s there. Only then can we choose to submit under that, and ask Him to help us conform to Him and His rulership in our hearts, and then subsequently our very lives.
Hi Patti,
Thank you for your comment. You make some very good points, and I largely agree with you. Let me respond line by line:
You said:
I agree that we do NOT have the exact blueprint of the NT church. Certainly, each culture and each age of the church has had their own traditions and orders of worship. I’m not infringing upon those things. But the true church HAS always held to the same basic methods of worship: Lord’s Day corporate worship, prayer/preaching/Table/Baptism/Discipline/Giving/Praise. How we do and order these things may change, of course, but take away one or more of these and you have abandoned what we have explicitly been given in the New Testament.
Furthermore, I do believe our obedience is bound to the traditions of the Apostles that we see in the NT, not simply what is explicitly commanded.
You said:
I agree that we learn a lot about worship from this encounter. And certainly, whenever I speak of forms and biblically-mandated worship, I fasten these things to true, heart worship, in Spirit and in Truth. Never, ever, is formal, outward worship pleasing in God’s eyes when the heart is not involved and placed ‘front and center’ to ‘true’ worship.
However, I also believe that Jesus’ point strengthens my position. He says that the true worshipers will worship ‘in truth’. What does ‘in truth’ mean? Well, in accordance with the nature of God and the nature of true worship as given to us in the scripture. And given that our hearts are deceitful and wicked above all things, scripture is given to us to lead/direct/guide/instruct/correct us on what is pleasing to God in worship, and to keep us from going astray and (deceifully) following our own lusts/desires/idols of the heart.
You said:
There is a stark difference in scripture between how we ‘worship’ in our everyday lives, and how we worship with others as a corporate gathering of Christ’s church. Jesus in Matt 18 emphasizes the special importance of the gathering when ‘two are three’ are present; Paul in 1 Cor rebukes the Corinthians for their behavior when they ‘gather together’ but implies that ‘in their own houses’ their behavior would be (more) acceptable. Furthermore, abuse in ‘the church of God’ that Paul mentions in 1 Cor 11 is the reason why “many of you are weak and ill, and some have died”. Never does scripture emphasize ‘judging ourselves’ in the private context as it does in the public-worship context, as here in 1 Cor 11. So God’s judgement is more severe (see Ananias and Sapphira) regarding behavior in the Church than it is while we are outside of the church, as corporate worship/behavior is treated differently in scripture than private worship/behavior.
Thus, though it is very true that every aspect of our lives and obedience is ‘worship’ to God, even the particulars here are not left ‘blank’, as we know they are pleasing to Him because of scripture. Loving our neighbors in light of the gospel is ‘worship’, but only because we are told so in scripture. Likewise, the preaching of the Word and the Lord’s Table are pleasing to Him only because we are told so in scripture. We would not know these things on our own; thus the scriptures must be our guide as to what is acceptable in His eyes.
So I’ll conclude with this:
It all comes down to the sufficiency of scripture. Is God’s word sufficient to direct us into obedient, pleasing worship which cannot be condemned, and is fully sufficient to provide us with ALL things pertaining to life and godliness? Or is there something missing in the word that would push us to a ‘new level’ of worship? I think not.
And in accordance with ‘in Spirit and in Truth’, the scriptures reveal to us what methods best promote worship in this manner. Adoration, affection, subjection to Him, reverence: these things are best brought on by preaching/prayer/table, etc.; twittering or painting a picture, or drama or concerts, may not be absolutely wicked, but we do not have the assurance from the Word that these things bring about holy adoration in the hearts of believers. Instead here we have left the authority of the word in place of what we perceive to be ‘best’. And this doesn’t even account for the fact that these things could be very displeasing to God when offered in a corporate manner. That is, though I may be able to Twitter to the glory of God, Twittering might be a stumbling block to my neighbor causing him to blaspheme God when it is held up as ‘worship’ in a corporate manner for everyone to participate in.
Sorry for the length, but I hope that this helps explain where I am coming from. Scripture is sufficient! Why would we want to leave the comfort/safety/blessings of what God has explicitly revealed as what is pleasing to Him? Corporate worship is a means of grace; means of grace are only truly thus because we have God’s stamp of approval on them.