Just Semantics? (Worship)
In this series, I’m going to discuss various biblical terms that are often misused or misunderstood because of the way we use the English terms today. In other words, we often read our modern day definitions into scriptural words. This is not a valid way to understand Scripture.
In this post, consider the English word “worship”. According to wiktionary, these are common definitions of the word “worship”:
- The devotion accorded to a deity or to a sacred object
- The religious ceremonies that express this devotion
- (by extension) The ardent love of a person
Of course, in “Christian” circles, the word “worship” is often associated with a church meeting (“worship service”) or a portion of that meeting that includes singing (“worship time”) or a type of music (“worship music”). But, what does the word mean when we find it in the New Testament?
The English word “worship” translates two different Greek terms: Ï€ÏοσκυνÎω (proskuneÅ) and λατÏεÏω (latreuÅ). The first term (Ï€ÏοσκυνÎω – proskuneÅ) is used in this passage:
But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. (1 Corinthians 14:24-25 ESV)
This term carries the sense of devotion, reverence, or subservience. It is similar to definition #1 above.
The second term for “worship” (λατÏεÏω – latreuÅ) is found in this passage:
For we are the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh… (Philippians 3:3 ESV)
This term is related to serving in response to a deity, primarily by serving other people. There is not a corresponding definition in the list above. For example, in Acts 13:1-2, the prophets and teachers in Antioch were worshiping (serving) the Lord.
Notice what is missing? Nothing about a church meeting. Nothing about singing. Nothing about music.
Instead, “worship” in Scripture points to someone who is yielding his life to the Lord and serving the Lord – primarily by serving other people.
Yes, I know that we call our church meeting a “worship service”, but its not really worship and its not really service. In fact, if our life is not demonstrating that we are yielding to God and serving others, then we are not worshiping, regardless of what we call our think we’re doing in our church meetings.
When we read the word “worship” in Scripture and we think about our church meetings, then we are reading modern, illegitimate meanings back into the Scripture. When we do this, we are not understanding Scripture the way the the original authors (and God!) intended for us to understand it.
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Scripture… As We Live It #23
Here is the twenty-third installment of “Scripture… As We Live It“:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice voices in excellent song, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1 re-mix)
Singing
A couple of days ago, David from “All Glory“, left a comment on my blog that spurred me to finish a post that has been sitting in draft for too long. David is a “worship leader” for a church. This is what he said in his comment:
It’s a strange thing that happens to worship leaders when they read their Bibles and begin to interact with the God who inspired it. We find out that worship is not what the magazines, catalogs and conferences tell us it is.
I have been in the process over the past few months of retooling the music ministry of our church from a ‘worship’ ministry into a ‘discipleship’ ministry, based on Colossians 3. We are becoming able to teach and admonish one another with wisdom rather than simply ‘following the leader.’
Today, many Christians use the term “worship” when they are talking about music and singing. We know that God intends for us to live all of our life as worship to him. So, in that sense, we should worship when we sing. But, it is problematic to equate worship with singing.
Why is it problematic to equate worship with singing? Two reasons: 1) Because it blurs the real meaning of the term worship in Scripture and 2) because it blurs the real purpose behind singing in Scripture. In this post, I want us to consider the second point. When we use the term “worship” to describe singing, we miss the scriptural exhortations concerning music and singing.
For example, consider these passages:
[B]e filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart… (Ephesians 5:18b-19 ESV)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16 ESV)
First, notice that in these passages singing is a response to a work of God – much like teaching and serving. We sing because we are filled with the Spirit or the word of Christ (probably references the same or a similar type of “filling”).
Second, notice that in Ephesians, Paul does not tell us why we should sing. But, in Colossians, he makes it clear that singing is part of “teaching and admonishing”. Thus, we sing to God, but at the same time we sing with a purpose of exhorting and edifying one another. The purpose of singing – as every element when we meet together – should be to build the church up toward spiritual maturity in Christ.
How do we sing together with the church in a manner that takes these two points seriously? How do we sing as a response to God filling us? How do we sing in order to teach and admonish others?
A worship leader re-thinking worship
Jeff, at “Losing My Religion: Re-Thinking Church“, has an excellent two part (so far) series on worship. The first two posts in this series are called “Re-Thinking Worship (Part One of Many: ‘Weighter Things’)” and “Re-Thinking Worship (Part 2: The Overflow)“.
In Part 1, Jeff – who is a “worship leader” – shares two of his “thoughts” concerning the modern concept of worship:
First…I’m considering the fact that although worship has been at the heart of our faith for thousands of years, the particular corporate worship format we use nowadays–the worship leader planning a songlist and directing a group–is a fairly new concept…
Second…as much as I love the creative expressions of passionate love for Jesus in corporate worship, I have to face the fact that “loving God” in Scripture goes a whole lot deeper than just telling God we love Him, or singing to Him about it.
In Part 2, Jeff discusses the difference between “worship” in other religions, and “worship” for the Christian:
In virtually every religion on the planet in which a god is worshiped, that worship is given as an attempt to appease that god’s wrath, or to curry that god’s favor–to provoke that deity to act in a certain manner. (This is also true of the religion we’ve wrongly made of Christianity.)
But in true Christ-following, we do not worship Him to gain His favor or deflect His wrath, or to get Him to do something. We worship Him as a natural response to what He has already done.
There are very good thoughts on worship. I’m looking forward to more posts in this series.
Here I am to worship
I originally published this post on July 31, 2007 (“Here I am to worship (synchroblog)“). I think I published it as part of the first synchroblog that I participated in. I like this post because it combines part of my journey with God as well as my studies in ecclesiology. I hope you enjoy it.
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Here I am to worship
For as long as I can remember, I have been exhorted to come to church on Sundays in order to worship God. On Sundays, churches have “worship services” at certain “worship times” held in their “worship centers” during “corporate worship” to sing “worship songs” chosen by “worship leaders” accompanied by “worship bands”. I learned that I could participate in this “corporate worship” by attending the worship service, putting money in the offering plate, singing the songs, and listening to the preacher. This is what I was taught to do in order to worship God.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I was also taught that “personal worship” was important. I was supposed to read my Bible, pray, and journal (if I was very spiritual). But, though these were suggested as important, they always seemed to be less important somehow than “corporate worship”. When preachers talked about being “fed from the Word”, they always counted preaching times during a “worship service”, but they didn’t count personal Bible reading times during “personal worship”. Thus, we were told, we should all see how important it is to come to the Sunday evening “worship service” because we would then be getting twice the amount of Bible teaching and “worship”. Again, that “personal worship” seemed to be important, but it didn’t really count. I was supposed to worship God personally, but I REALLY worshiped God on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday evenings during “corporate worship”.
When I started seminary, this perception of “corporate worship” continued. The seminary held chapel services three days a week in which we were exhorted to “worship” God together as a seminary. I read articles about corporate worship, such as one where the author stated, “Corporate worship is the energizing center for all that the church is and does.” (G. Temp Sparkman, “Corporate Worship: The Experience and the Event”, Perspectives in Religious Studies 18 (Fall 1991), 241-48). Also, I was required to take a course called “The Ministry of Worship”.
It was in this class that I first began to seriously question the belief and practice concerning “corporate worship”, which led me to consider the topics of “worship” (in general) and ecclesiology. While much of the class dealt with music and the “worship service”, the professor did not allow us to limit our definitions of worship as I had been taught. We were encouraged to study what Scripture said about worship. This was eye-opening and life-changing for me.
The New Testament says nothing about believers gathering together for the purpose of “worship” as we see it today. In the NT, singing is rarely mentioned. In the NT, preaching is primarily for proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to unbelievers. There is no teaching in the NT leading to a “worship leader”, and pastors are never seen as managing or even coordinating a meeting of believers. Sitting and listening quietly are never presented as a way to participate in “corporate worship”. These ideas, and many others that I had taken for granted, are nowhere to be found in the pages of the New Testament.
And, yet, followers of Christ are to worship God. Also, believers are to gather together. How do we understand worship and believers gathering together if not in the traditional sense? Jesus tells us that the Father seeks those who will worship him in spirit (or is it Spirit?) and truth. Paul says that offering our entire lives to God as a sacrifice constitutes reasonable worship. He also exhorts us walking in love (following Christ’s example) is the type of offering that is pleasing to God and that we should discern what is pleasing to God – that is, ways to walk in love and in light. But, where are the instructions to get together and sing songs, put our money in an offering plate, and listen to a sermon?
Certainly, there are various activities described in Scripture that people do together. For example, Paul tells us how important it is for us to partake in the Lord’s Supper together. However, he also says that simply eating the bread and drinking the wine (or eating an entire meal) does not constitute participating in the Lord’s Supper. Similarly, we know that many people pray together, give money together, and sing songs together without worshiping God. It seems something more than mutual attendance and activity are necessary to worship God.
To me, the key seems to be recognizing that worship is not about activity – whether individual or corporate. Instead, worship is a life lived in obedience to God. We can sing about loving God forever, but if we are not demonstrating that love through our lives then we are not worshiping. We can give every penny, but if that giving is not in response to the love of God and the love of others, then our giving is worthless, not worship. We can listen to Bible sermons, preaching Bible sermons, or read the Bible on our own, but without a life that demonstrates dependence on God and obedience to Him, then we are not worshiping. We cannot worship God without obeying what he has revealed to us. We cannot obey on our own what God has revealed to us. We are completely dependent upon God (the grace that he provides through his Spirit) to be able to worship God. Worship is not as much about doing things for God (an audience of one?) as it is about being in God, abiding in Christ, walking in the Spirit.
If we worship individually as we abide in Christ, then how does this relate to the times when believers come together as the church? If abiding in Christ is related to obedience, then we recognize that we worship God together only as we obey him together. But, what did God tell us to do when we come together? Did God tell us to sing songs, take up an offering, and preach/listen to preaching? No. Instead, very simply and very clearly, we are told that whenever we come together everything should be done for the purpose of edifying (building up) one another. We worship God together as we mutually encourage one another toward maturity in Christ. In fact, we are told to consider (think deeply about) one another so that we will know how to spur on one another toward love and good works. When we come together we speak to one another and serve one another in a way that encourages us all not merely to think something, but to do something: love and good works.
Certainly, we would want to continue meeting with those who show us what it means to abide in Christ through their good works. So attendance at a meeting will not be required or commanded. Instead, meeting together will be a joy and a relief and a welcome opportunity for laughter and tears, comfort and admonishment, singing and praying, giving and getting, listening and speaking and serving.
This is not a “service” that is planned by a professional, but a gathering of God’s people that is choreographed by the Spirit. Similarly, it is not a time for one or two people to exercise the gifts of the Spirit in order to build up the church. We all speak and serve by each one exercising the gifts that the Spirit provides in the way that the Spirit wills in order to build up one another toward maturity in Christ and, in so doing, we bring glory to God.
As I’ve been learning about the church, as I’ve studied Scripture concerning the church and how believers meet together, I’ve found that God expects us to build one another up toward maturity in Christ when we meet together. This is a true “worship service” – obedience to God in service to one another.
Sacred Meals in the Synagogue
This is my last post about synagogues – for now. Actually, I had not planned to write this post, but after discussing the topic with Dave Black and after his encouragement, I decided to write it. In Stephen Catto’s book Reconstructing the First-Century Synagogue: A Critical Analysis of Current Research (New York: T&T Clark, 2007), Catto describes four “worship practices” that he says were common to first century synagogues. He says that those synagogues practiced 1) sanctity (cleansing or purity), 2) Scripture reading and teaching, 3) Prayer (including hymns), and 4) Sacred meals.
Yes, you read that correctly. Catto suggests that first century synagogue meetings included meals as a form of “worship”. In fact, he points out that many synagogue buildings included dining rooms for the meal.
In the book of Jubilees (written around the middle of the second century BCE), the author states:
And thus he created therein a sign by which they migh keep the sabbath with us on the seventh day, to eat and drink and bless the one who created all things just as he blessed and sanctified for himself a people who appeared from all the nations so that they might keep the sabbath together with us. (Jub. 2.21)
Catto says, “The picture is of the heavenly and earthly realms uniting, both in worship and in the sharing of a meal. Such a description would suggest a communal activity, and probably reflects the Sabbath practices of the author’s community. Further, the eating and drinking that goes on appears to be linked with the worship of the community.”
As further evidence that synagogues shared a meal together, Catto quotes a passage from the Tosefta, a written compilation of the oral law of Judaism from sometime around 200 CE. The passage describes exactly how those assembled share the meal together. Commenting on the passage, he quotes another author as follows: “The form of the meal represented here clearly corresponds to that of the Greco-Roman banquet. Such features as reclining, three courses, washing the hands, mixing wine with water, and saying a blessing over the wine are some of the more obvious elements.”
If Catto is correct, and I have much more studying to do before I form an opinion, then eating and drinking together were considered a form of worship to some Jews around the time of the New Testament. Thus, the concept “breaking bread” together would not be a foreign concept to the new church. Certainly, there would be difference between the communal meals of the synagogue and the communal meals of the church. Primarily, for the church, Jesus Christ is both the host and the benefactor of the meal, and the meal provides an outward demonstration of the fellowship that the church possesses because of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Do you think it is important to know whether or not synagogues regularly shared meals together as part of the worship?
Ten temples in the Dead Sea Scrolls
In his essay “The Ten Temples in the Dead Sea Scrolls” (in John Day. Temple and Worship in Biblical Israel: Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar. New York: T&T Clark, 2005), George J. Brooke describes ten different temples found within the documents of Qumran (the Dead Sea Scrolls).
The residents of the Qumran community studied the OT writings and found ten temples. Some of these are temples with which we are familiar such as Solomon’s temple and Herod’s temple. However, they also recognized the heavenly temple, the wilderness tabernacle, and their own location in Qumran as temples.
In their writings, there is one recognized temple and one expected temple that could be of interest to Christians. First, at Qumran, they recognized God’s people themselves as a temple. Brooke suggests that this understanding of the community as the temple development in three stages. He says the following about the third and final stage of their understanding:
While priests remain necessary, in a third stage there seems to have been a rediscovery of the Torah’s equal insistence on the priesthood of the whole people of God (Exod. 19:6). (426)
Also, the Qumran community looked forward to an expected temple described by Brooke as “The Temple Not Made with Hands”. He says:
At different times the community looked to the establishment of a Temple by God himself so that there might be an ultimate remedy for all of Israel’s failed attempts at providing a place for the whole of creation in microcosm to celebrate the sovereignty of God. (430)
These are very interesting ideas coming from a Jewish community of the first century and earlier. By studying their Hebrew Scriptures, they determined that the community is a temple of God – a dwelling place of God – and that each member of the community is a priest. Also, they expected another temple that God himself would create. This final temple would allow for “the whole creation” to worship God and would prefer the cure for human failures.
Do you realize that in Christ and through the Holy Spirit these two temples are combined in the church? We are the temple of God. We are a kingdom of priests who offer sacrifices of praise and good works. We are the temple “not made by human hands” but born from above. What an amazing thought that we are now the sanctuary of God.
What does it mean that the Qumran community was able to discern this from their Hebrew Scriptures?
Not what NT words mean for us
Yesterday, in our first Hermeneutics seminar, Dr. Köstenberger read the following passage from Adolf Schlatter’s The History of the Christ:
It is the historical objective that should govern our conceptual work exclusively and completely, stretching our perceptive faculties to the limit. We turn away decisively from ourselves and our time to what was found in the men through whom the church came into being. Our main interest should be the thought as it was conceived by them and the truth that was valid for them. We want to see and obtain a thorough grasp of what happened historically and existed in another time. This is the internal disposition upon which the success of the work depends, the commitment which must consistently be renewed as the work proceeds. (Note that at this point we are not studying what the New Testament words mean for us, how they influence our own thoughts and actions, and whether or not and why they achieve over us the compelling authority of truth. At the proper time, however, this question will be very important.) (pg. 18)
Schlatter wrote this in 1909. He says that before we begin to interpret Scripture for ourselves, we must attempt to understand what it meant for the ones who wrote Scripture. We should not begin by asking what these words mean for us, but what they meant for them.
What words? Well, what about words like church, elder, worship, ministry, deacon, fellowship. There are many, many books that tell us how to define these words today – how to be an effective church today – how to be a good elder today – how to worship today – what ministry looks like today – what a deacon does today – how to have fellowship today – but, what about then? Can we really live as the church that Scripture describes without understanding what these terms – and many others – meant then?
Learning to worship together
We should worship God. Very few followers of Jesus would disagree with that statement. The question is: How do we worship God when we gather together? Those who are God’s children should worship him with their whole life – 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Again, very few followers of Jesus would disagree with that statement. However, the question remains: How do we worship God when we gather together? Actions may or may not demonstrate our worship of God, depending upon our heart and our motives. Again, few believers would disagree with that statement. But, once again, this question has not been answered: How do we worship God when we gather together?
A few years ago, when I decided the enter the PhD program, this was the question that was on my mind. When I started this blog a couple of years ago, this was the main question that I wanted to tackle. As I’ve studied this question, I’ve learned that it can be answered in many ways, and, the way someone answers this question usually depends on what they think about the church – that is, the nature and essence of the church. Of course, someone’s understanding of the church also demonstrates their understanding of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – especially the resurrection of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. These beliefs and a person’s response to these beliefs are interconnected.
Today, people argue and fight about “worship”. The church argues about the style of music that should be played when the church meets together – but Scripture says nothing about style of music. The church argues about the style of “preaching” that should occur when the church meets together – but Scripture says nothing about style of preaching. The church argues about whether or not an “invitation” should be extended when the church meets together – but Scripture says nothing about “invitations”.
We spend time and money and resources on worship conferences, and leadership seminars, and revival meetings, and guest speakers, and special music, and prayer conferences, and sound system specialists, and aesthetics, and producers… and even if we scour Scripture we will not find these mentioned.
When we finally do turn to Scripture, we start with our practices, and we defend those practices from Scripture through inference. Meanwhile, what we do and what we say and how we act and why we do it and who does it… these things look so much different than what we read about in Scripture. Of course, we chalk it all up to culture, until we want to defend something that we do.
When it comes to salvation, we take what Scripture says very literally: Repent! ok. Confess that Jesus is Lord! ok. Be baptized! ok.
When it comes to our relationships with one another, we take what Scripture says literally: Love one another! sure. Forgive one another! yes. Serve one another! right away.
But, when it comes to gathering together with other believers, that’s a different story: Do everything for edification! well… Admonish one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs! don’t we sing to God? Consider how to stir up one another to love and good works! that’s only for a small church; we’re too big for that… Exhort one another daily! that’s not my responsibility.
I think the church needs to learn to worship together. We need to learn what Scripture says – that’s right, start with Scripture – about the meeting of the church. We need to adjust our meetings to what we see in Scripture.
We need to come together to build up one another toward maturity – with everyone prepared to take part. We need to think about how God would use us to encourage others towards love and good works. We need to help one another use our gifts to serve each other, thereby bringing glory to God – yes, even the newest believers. The more mature believers (leaders) need to lead by example, not by doing and saying everything – sometimes leading by example means getting out of the way. We need to stop making excuses for why we are not following the teachings of Scripture.
The [Chinese] Church Institution
The latest PBS / Frontline World program includes a segment called “Jesus in China“. Evan Osnos, the reporter, examines Christianity in China.
He begins by talking about the “underground” church. The underground church in China is made of Christians who cannot meet together openly. Instead, they meet in homes and caves and other locations around their cities. Many of these underground churches are now beginning to meet more openly, in spite of ongoing harassment. Often, the leaders of these underground churches are arrested by Chinese government officials, who charge the leaders with various political charges – but never religious charges.
Interestingly, there is an official Christian church in China. This is what Osnos says about it:
This is the [Communist] Party’s answer to Christianity: an official church where Christians are supposed to worship. The Party actually started this church right after the revolution to put religion under state control… It can all get a little confusing figuring out why this version of Christianity is tolerated… Pastors here like Wu Wei Cheng are trained and approved by the government. I asked Pastor Wu why the majority of Christians are choosing the underground church over his.
Here is Pastor Wu’s response:
There are some people who are not willing to be part of the church. They would rather stay or worship by themselves. I believe ??? [couldn’t make out the word] Church – the church I’m serving – is the church of Christians in China – is the church of the people.
Pastor Wu’s response sounds like the response of many institutional church leaders in America: “My church is the true church, and anyone who doesn’t want to ‘worship’ like and with me is being rebellious and not part of the true church.”
By the way, if you watched the segment, you’ll notice that video that they show of the official church in China looks very familiar. In fact, it looks like they have all the right parts in place: a nice building, choir singing, hymnals, preaching, even the Lord’s Supper with the small cups. I think many Christians in the West would be very comfortable in the official church in China. I wonder why so many Chinese Christians are not comfortable there – to the point of being arrested for meeting “underground”…