What Does the Bible Say About Worship? part 1

Have you ever asked, or been asked, that question? I have. Many times. To be sure, it’s a big question with a huge answer. The pages of this newsletter will not allow space enough to explore it fully. Perhaps, though, over time we can dig down and mine meaning from the pages of Scripture directed at worship.

I might suggest that what one typically means when asking the question is really, “What does the Bible say about how we should do worship services?” Both are valid questions to ask. However, I submit that the former question renders the latter one moot. That is to say, if we can get a hold of our theology of worship, our practice of worship will be that much better.

It’s with such a goal in mind that I would like to begin, through a series of articles, to discover together what the Bible says about worship. Such a journey could potentially wander through histories, laws, and genealogies – all good and profitable – but in the end leave us scratching our heads still. So for our worship study we’ll adopt the framework of the following questions:

• Who is God? If God is the object of our worship then we’d better be clear about who He is in the first place.
• Who is man? If mankind needs to worship God, then we need to understand the nature of that relationship.
• Finally, what actions comprise worship? If mankind is to worship God, then we need to know what that looks like.

The road may take us through familiar territory, or across strange fields. But on this journey I am certain we will all travel over needed ground. So much about worship these days is based upon trends and traditions, hearsay and opinion, the worship music recording industry, the bumper sticker clichés uttered by ‘popular’ worship leaders, and emotional attachments to this or that – each of those is topic enough for its own study – that the landscape of worship is easily overgrown. All the stuff we read and hear about isn’t necessarily wrong, but it can easily cause us to lose site of where we are going.

I want to be faithful to the Scriptures, true to my heritage, and responsible for my calling. I trust you’re with me on that.

I will be posting these articles, not only on my blog, but in the New Spirit (Greenwood Christian's monthly print newsletter) as well. Please follow along, subscribe to the blog, share your pertinent and well though-out comments, questions, and responses as we go.