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Worship God’s Way or Man’s Way?Human worship of God is an innovation of God’s own will. The Westminster Confession puts it this way, “The acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited to his own revealed will . . .” Today, the term worship has become a cliché term, which Christ followers flippantly throw around to describe their own subjective preference. It is not uncommon for a Christian to speak of worship as an event, such as, worship services, worship concerts, worship meetings, or worship festivals. The word is also used to speak of the style with which the Christian chooses to worship. There is rock and roll worship or acoustic worship, traditional worship or contemporary worship, liturgical worship or free worship. In another way, worship has also come to be expressed as the feeling one receives after attending one of these worships events. It would not be uncommon to hear a conversation that might go something like this: “Man, worship was good today!” “Sure was, Mike! I could really feel the presence of God.” “I totally know what you mean; it was just what I needed to get me through this tough week.” In summary, worship has become focused on the worshiper rather than on that which the worshiper should be worshiping. Christians’ understanding of what worship is and what it means to enter into worship is ever increasingly diluted, both in terms of the weakening of its content, as well as the mistaken belief of its function. The individual Christian’s worship has suffered from the American cultural milieu that promotes the individual as most important and unwavering service to God as closed-mindedness. Therefore, the term worship, which holds a great weight for human relationship to God, has become anemic and cliché.
The issues Christ followers find themselves dealing with today are not new. Only a brief look at scripture is needed to see that God’s people have been struggling to give their worship to him alone since the fall in Genesis 2. Thankfully, Christians are not left to their own devices to understand how God desires to be worshiped; he gives his Word. There are two terms in scripture that are translated as worship; they are the Hebrew word
histahwa usually translated by
proskynein in the Greek Bible and
‘abad translated in the LXX as
latreuein. The first term literally means “to bend one’s self over at the waist” and the second word means “to serve.” Both are needed for a holistic understanding of how the Christian is to enter into worship. Specifically, the latter term holds a strong theme throughout scripture that can help the Christian and the Church rediscover that worship is much more than songs, styles, and events that are subject to individual tastes; instead, it is the divine call to live a faithful life of service to the Lord, which Scripture shows, is objectively unified to God’s will. In order to address the problem of true worship, we will enter into discussion on three points: First, we will survey and trace the theme of worship as service throughout scripture; second, we will compare our findings to the worldview which we hold today; and thirdly we will discuss a way forward into a more faithful, Christ-centered expression of worship.
Service & Worship in ScriptureThe concept of service is first established in Genesis 2:5 when it is noted that there is, “ . . . no man to work the ground.” Eugene Carpenter, in his article on the Greek word abad, notices the term for work used here is the root of what later becomes the Hebrew term for service. To this end, he notices that when man serves Yahweh, his purpose of working the ground is an inherently worshipful act. This act of work is corrupted at the point of the fall. Gen 3:5 describes the disintegration of the terms “work” and “ground,” and describes man’s relation to them as being toilsome. Therefore, God’s people struggle to fulfill their intended purpose, to serve the Lord. Eugene Carpenter also notices this point by describing that after the fall the term work is used in a profane sense, which has profound theological significance within the broader scope of the whole canonical context. He says specifically that, “The response of the ground itself is ultimately dependent on humankind’s spiritual relation to God and, hence, to the ground.” Human’s relationship to God was broken at the point of the fall, and consequently, their relationship to the ground was as well. Thus, man fails to correctly worship by serving themselves rather than Yahweh. When self-service is introduced, work becomes exploited for personal gain. In Exodus, we find God’s people being victimized and exploited, forced to serve and work for Pharaoh rather than God.
At the end of Genesis, there is a famine in the land and Joseph takes refuge in Egypt (Gen 47:13-31). His descendents become slaves, forced to labor in unjust and inhuman ways. The profane use of the term “service” becomes the normality for the Israelite people. They are lorded over and forced to labor in order to build monuments for the gods of Egypt (Exod 1:11-14). The Israelites cry out to Yahweh because of the inhuman situation they have found themselves in, and Yahweh is moved in Exodus 2:25, which says, “God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” Throughout the narrative God liberates his people from the Egyptian oppression and states the reason for his intervention: so that Israel may worship Yahweh (Exod 3:12, 4:23, 8:1, 9:1). Here again we find the use of the Hebrew term ‘abad, this time translated as worship. It becomes clear that Yahweh frees Israel from the profane sense of the term to restore to them the proper sense of the term, namely, worshipful service to Yahweh.
Israel’s purpose of service to Yahweh is fully realized when God gives them his law at Sinai in order that they may serve him truly; thus, Israel’s cultic worship is established. The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery describes Israel’s cultic worship in terms of “actions of worship” denoting that everything from festivals, dancing and singing, to sacrifices were done in order to show unwavering obedience and commitment to the Lord. Therefore, the law is the means by which Israel enters into service of Yahweh. God gives Israel three tangible devices to aid them in keeping the law and consequently, serving him alone. These are the Priests and Levites, the temple, and sacrifices.
The Priests and Levites were a specific form of servanthood, which had two general tasks to fulfill: teaching the law of Yahweh to his people and providing them with a means of atonement for their sins. In short, they were to oversee the correct worship of Yahweh. The nation of Israel is also called a priesthood; Christopher Wright points out that in the same way the Priests are to teach and atone, the nation of Israel is responsible to teach the nations how to rightly serve Yahweh and offer a way to atone for their sins. In this way, the priestly service is both a means and an end; it is a means by which Israel rightly serves Yahweh and an end because it is in itself a worshipful service to Yahweh.
The Temple was the place where the presence of Yahweh dwelt in Israel. The term used for the work done in regards to the temple is bodah and refers to the care and construction (Num. 4:47), as well as the religious services performed inside the temple (Ex. 30:16). Here we can see that it was not just the religious services that were worshipful acts but also the physical tasks of caring for the temple itself. The physical construction and maintenance of the temple echoes Israel’s work building in Egypt, but here it is done without oppression and in service and worship to the one true God rather than the false gods of Egypt.
The sacrificial system was set in place in order to provide substitution for the penalty of unfaithful service to Yahweh. Unfaithful service to Yahweh is a breach of the Sinai covenant with Yahweh and punishable by death. Therefore, sacrifices are a means of God’s mercy though the substitution of an animal to take one’s place. Alec Motyer notices what he calls the “cumulative principle” at work in the sacrificial system. The cumulative principle explains that some Old Testament (abbreviated as OT hereafter) statements require later amplification where the cumulative of the two equals the fulfillment. In this way, the OT sacrificial system, unlike the priestly system, is only a means. It is a means to mend the broken relationship caused by rebellion but without the cumulative principle can only be a means.
What, then, is required to bring about the end and restore right worshipful service to Yahweh? The answer can be found in the Hebrew term ebed, which is translated as “servant.” In its most significant usage, the term, coined by the phrase “servant of Yahweh” describes specific people such as Moses (Deut 34:5), Joshua (24:29), and David (Ps 18). Carpenter points out that this usage is especially significant in Isaiah 40-55 where it describes the servant whose identity is somewhat mysterious. Isaiah tells of a servant who is wholly obedient, submits to God’s will, is free of sin, and yet willing to substitute himself for those onlookers who have sinned; not just Israel, but now for all nations. Motyer explains this point, making the distinction that the heart of sinfulness lies in the will, which makes sin its master rather than God. Until the will says, “Yes”, no sin is committed; therefore, it cannot find it’s true substitute in an animal because the beast is an unknowing victim not consenting to the transaction. However, this is the point of Isaiah 53:1-7, and only here does substitution reach its completeness. The New Testament (abbreviated NT hereafter) clearly recognizes that the suffering servant is none other than Jesus Christ. Although Moses, Joshua, David, and others were called God’s servants, none of them were able to fulfill what God requires of his servants. Christ is the only truly obedient, sinless servant who could provide true substitution. In this way, Christ is the only true worshiper, because he is the only true servant. At this point, Motyer’s cumulative principle has reached its completion; Christ is the end and the means, the servant and the sacrifice, and thus true servanthood is only found through his sacrifice, once for all.
In the same way that Isaiah looks forward to the servant Jesus Christ, Hebrews looks back to him establishing his centrality. Hebrews uses the Greek term
latreuein to describe worship as service. By using the terminology of the OT, the writer of Hebrews shows how Christ is the fulfillment of the priesthood, the temple, and sacrifices. Hebrews 9:11-12 says, “When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made . . . He did not enter by the means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood.” Again, we see Motyer’s “cumulative principle” at work here; Christ is the culmination of the OT religious service establishing him as the central character of redemption.
The early Christians were called to be Christ’s disciples and, therefore, are servants though the mediator Christ. Specifically, as they serve Christ, they serve Yahweh. Paul communicated this to his churches many times in his epistles. The two most significant letters for understanding how the early Church was mobilized to worship through service to Christ is Romans and 2 Corinthians. Paul calls to his followers in Romans 12:1 to offer their bodies as living sacrifices and then states that this is their spiritual act of worship. Yet again, the Greek term translated worship here is literally translated, “service”. R.P. Martin, in his book on the early church’s worship, explains that, “at this point duty and privilege meet and collide.” Because they had known the mercies of God, it was their duty to offer their lives in service to God. But, this was no bothersome task; rather, it was a delight to offer themselves in response to Christ’s sacrifice. This life of worshipful service to Christ took shape in many tangible forms, one of which was though serving one another in community. The Church of Corinth is admonished to serve Christ serving the needs of others (2 Cor 9:12-13). Paul calls this act of obedience an expression of thanksgiving to God. The same principle that was applied to the temple is applied here; both the religious service of offering one’s life and the physical service of taking care of the Church, namely the people of God, are both expressions of worshiping God though service. As a result, the Church worships as Jesus commanded, in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).
The motif of worship as service reaches its completion in Rev. 7:15 & 22:3 when though the blood of the Lamb God’s servants live in his unceasing presence and, like Christ, serve God unceasingly. Upon the fulfillment of this motif, it is appropriate to say that God’s servants will worship him unceasingly!
The Present Context of ServanthoodThe present world we live in is much different from that of the people of Scripture. Therefore, we must briefly look at our own cultural context to relate how we can learn what scripture teaches us about worshiping as God’s servants. To do this, we will look at the four worldview questions: where are we, who are we, what is wrong, and what is the remedy? Finally, I will offer a way forward to help our present church worship in service to Christ.
As we reside in our postmodern context, the word servant has taken on less than positive connotations. It draws up images of African American’s slavery in early America or the current day epidemic of sex slaves that are being bought and sold around the world. In our context, the word represents evil rather than the goodness of worshiping God through serving him alone. Our society tells us that we are our own masters and need no others outside our autonomous selves.
As followers of Christ, Paul tells us that we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, classifying the sacrifice as our spiritual act of worship to God (Rom 12:1). As seen above, the term Paul uses literally means, “to serve.” This is counter-cultural to what the world teaches. As we serve the Lord we are called into the world to serve as citizens, family members, churchmen, and friends. We are also called out of the world to protest its ungodliness, all the while pointing to Christ for our successes and strengths. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called this, “the obligation of discipleship.”
We are unable to be autonomous people who can live by our own rule. We must worship something, and that takes the form of either God or ourselves.
Bono, the lead singer of U2, illustrates this saying, “Showbiz is shamanism, music is worship. Whether it's worship of women or their designer, the world or its destroyer, whether it comes from that ancient place we call soul or simply the spinal cortex, whether the prayers are on fire with a dumb rage or dove-like desire, the smoke goes upwards, to God or something you replace God with--usually yourself.” We are servants whether we like it or not; the only question is, whom will we serve?
Therefore, the remedy for our problem of self-seeking worship can only come through the way of Christ, the Suffering Servant. In the way of Christ, the Suffering Servant, we are freed from our bondage to sin like the Israelites were freed from the grip of Pharaoh. In the way of Christ, the Suffering Servant, we become co-operators with God’s will in the same way Israel was invited to when they received the Sinai Covenant. In the way of Christ, the Suffering Servant, we enter into the New Covenant by which all people are invited to die to the service of themselves and be raised with Christ becoming his suffering servants though the means of his death and resurrection.
Worship in the way of Christ is not cheap; rather, it is quite costly because it cost Christ his life and will cost his worshipers theirs. Bonhoeffer used the terms “cheap grace” and “costly grace” when calling out to the German church to avoid becoming acquiescent to the Nazi government. Bonhoeffer distinguished that, “Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church . . . grace as a doctrine or system without a cost or a price . . . Costly grace is the doctrine that must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.” Bonhoeffer’s reminder is one that our current Church must hear and respond to when seeking to worship in the way of Christ. We could say it this way, cheap worship is merely empty words and songs, and costly worship is the worship which acts upon words by daily offerings of one’s life in service to the living God.
The only way forward then must be a reform in the Church’s understanding of worship. Namely, worship must be freed from the church building, which is marked by institution, individuals, and entertainment, and given back to the body of Christ which is marked by community, relationships, and service. The wrong way to go about this is through promoting the abolition of the church building. Rather, the correct way is through discipleship, teaching, and demonstrating. Therefore, I see three active reforms to our worship that will help the Church worship as Christ’s community of servants rather than an institution of individuals.
First, Christ’s sacrifice must be central to worship. The Catholic Church gets this correct by structuring their worship services in such a way that the purpose is literally the service of the Eucharist. When the Church loses sight of Christ’s sacrifice, then the gospel is no longer costly; and therefore, worship becomes diluted. The remembrance of Christ’s death and resurrection should be a weekly occurrence, calling the Church back to costly worship of death to one’s self and rebirth in Christ. Second, scripture must be our guide. The entirety of scripture bears witness to God’s redemptive plan made complete only in Christ Jesus. Therefore, we as descendants of that redemptive linage must look to scripture to learn how to structure our worship in service to God. Christ founded everything he did in the OT, not as an abolishment of it, but as a fulfillment. He worshiped with the psalms, remembered the servants that came before him, and recalled the teachings of the prophets. We too must look to this redemptive narrative in order to worship in the way of Christ. Third, community must be our context. When Christians are raised again with Christ, we become a part of his body comprised of others who have died to themselves and have been raised again with Christ. This community is our context and spurs us on to service; service in caring for each other, service in caring for all of God’s creation, and service in preaching the Gospel of Christ which calls others to die to themselves and ascribe Christ’s worth-ship by serving him alone. These three things are the worship that Paul preaches in Philippians 2, calling his people to have the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus (5). We too must imitate the humility of Christ as we worship in his way, obedient service, even to death on a cross.
