Worship in the Context of Covenant: Approaching God Through the Ministry of Christ pt.1

The Lord Jesus, in His human nature thus united to the divine, was sanctified, and anointed with the Holy Spirit, above measure, having in Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell; to the end that, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth, He might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a Mediator and Surety.

            There is a growing awareness among Protestants that our worship of Christ is one-dimensional. Indeed “personal salvation” is a high value priority to the modern church, thus it is easy to see how the work of Christ is reduced to that of sacrifice, only that which benefits only the individual. We see this in our hymnody as well as in the way the Christian life is lived out in many communities. The focus seems to be on navigating through life, making safe passage to heaven. This is a perilous approach to worship. James Torrance states, “Jesus comes to be the Priest of creation to do for us men and women, what we failed to do, to offer to the Father the worship and the praise we failed to offer…” He continues, “…the real agent in all true worship is Jesus Christ. He is our great High Priest and ascended Lord, the one true worshipper who unites us to himself by the spirit in an act of memory and a life of communion.”

If Torrance is correct, the implications for worship planning are enormous. Much of our planning begins with the basic assumption that man is the starting point and object of the service. Far too often the goal of worship is to provide the congregants with a good experience…that they would “get something” out of the service. Robert Taft states, “what one ‘gets out of it’ is the inestimable privilege of glorifying God.”

            What if the service revolved around God’s purposes, if worship planning took a Christocentric approach as opposed to the anthropocentric approach mentioned above? 

            Foundational to the problem is the false notion that God is not concerned about the way in which man approaches him.  In the vacuum man becomes the arbiter of what does and what does not constitute Biblical worship. The discussion inevitably finds its locus in issues of style. This is a lose-lose situation. Style is the language employed in the expression of worship but it is not worship itself.

            What then is Christocentric worship? Christocentric worship will recognize that God; initiates a relationship with humanity through the use of a covenant, dictates the stipulations and terms, and amazingly provides for us the offering required for man to satisfy the terms of the agreement. Thus David Peterson proclaims, the “Worship of the living and true God is essentially an engagement with him on the terms he proposes and in a way that he alone makes possible.” Christians must understand that Christ, having fulfilled the Old Covenant, now becomes the offering, the priest and the recipient of worship in the New Covenant, in order to offer true Biblical worship.

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             [1] “The Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter III article III ,”  Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics, http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf.with.proofs (Accessed September 15, 2008).

            [2] James B. Torrance, Worship Community and the Triune God of Grace (Carlisle, U.K. : Paternoster Press, 1996), 2.

            [3] Ibid., 5.

Robert Taft, Beyond East and West: Problems in Liturgical Understanding (Washington, D.C.: The Pastoral Press, 1984), 33.

David Peterson, Engaging God: A Biblical Theology of Worship (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press, 1992), 55.

Back after a long absence

I’m returning to the blogosphere after a prolonged absence. The purpose of this blog is to create a conversation about the current state and future outlook of Christian worship. You will not agree with everything posted here and that is not my aim. Rather, I seek your interaction from your theological/doctrinal perspective. My particular focus is on the theology and outlook of the early church and how the work of the early Fathers may have application to our worship practice today. My contention is that the post reformation church have distanced itself from it’s historical roots. The fact of the matter is God has sustained his church throughout the first two thousand years of her history and we have, as the hymn text states, “mystic sweet communion with those who’s race is won.” What do you think? Let’s talk.

The Trinity and Worship

Does our worship reflect our belief in the Triune God? Increasingly I am finding that our worship tends to be unbalanced with regard to the Trinity. Take a look at the topical index in your church’s hymnal. I venture to guess that the number of hymns addressed to the Holy Spirit would pale in comparison to the Father and Christ Jesus. Consider the words of the Nicene Creed concerning the Holy Spirit:

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. 

 Recently, a parishioner in my church told me that the Bible never directs us that we were to offer worship to the Holy Spirit. The question is not whether we believe that the Holy Spirit should be worshipped but rather, “Is the Holy Spirit God?!” If he is, of course he should and must be worshipped. As the creed of St. Athanasius states:

 The Father is made of none: neither created nor begotten.

 The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor created: but begotten.

 The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son: neither made, nor created, nor begotten: but proceeding.

 So there is one Father, not three Fathers: one Son, not three Sons: one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.

 And in this Trinity none is before or after another: none is greater or less than another.

 But the whole three Persons are coeternal, and coequal so that in all things, as aforesaid: the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped. 

 

What does the modern church do with the Holy Spirit in worship? How should he be addressed, invoked, and praised, beyond the lip service given in the few hymns that acknowledge His existence? How can we reconcile with our forefathers in the faith with regard to the glorious doctrine of the Holy Trinity? 

 

 

 

To Serve or Be Served?

There is no doubt that we have all, at one time or another, left a worship service and sensed that something extraordinairy had occurred. We have all also left services and wondered what all the fuss was about. It is our tendency make our reactions to the worship gathering the standard by which we judge whether or not worship takes place. The problem of this line of thinking is that the worshipper becomes the object of the service rather than God. Our planning our preaching, our musical style,  our particular “liturgy” serves us, rather than allowing us to serve God corporately. Now to be sure, we do reap the benefits of what takes place in worship, and our feelings of awe and sense of God’s presence bring us great joy, but they are not  to be the standard by which we measure worship. It is what we do in worship, the offerings that we bring, our response to his greatness and mercy, what we say to him….how we serve him and his body, that is what is expected of us. This is what I spoke of in the last posting…how do we approach worship. It is not in the clothing, the decor, or other trappings but rather our purpose and preparation for the meeting. Some questions. Are you discovering and developing your gifts to serve the lord and the congreagtion in worship? Is it your purpose to use your gifts “For the strenghtening of the church”? (1 Cor. 14:26) Are you aware of how what you do in worship affects the brothers and sisters in your midst? These are very important questions to ask of yourself as you present yourselves in worship.

Expectations in Worship

What are your expectations of a worship gathering? Do you expect an encounter with God Almighty? If so, what do you suppose, will be the result of that encounter? If you anticipate such an encounter, does that affect the manner in which you approach the gathering, or have you become so accustomed to business as usual that you no longer care how you  present yourself? It is the search for meaning in the corporate worship event that drives this blog. I trust that your interaction, experiences and insight will keep the discussion alive and we will learn together as a result of our conversation.