Featured SongWorship Values: Worship Must Be Biblically Faithful
Home » Blog » GeneralPosted by David L. Ward on March 14th, 2011
[ We've been working on rewriting our mission and also creating a series of "values" about worship that will communicate our vision for what worship should be all about. While those aren't completely finalized, I think it will be helpful to share some thoughts about each value in a series of short posts. ]
What kind of worship do we want to cultivate? Second: Biblically Faithful
In our first value we pointed out that "the aim of worship is the glory of God through the glory of His Son Jesus." How do we ensure that the way in which we respond to God in worship truly honors Him? Who's to say what true worship should look like, both internally and externally? Without an objective standard for how to worship God, we would be left to the opinions of man. While it's true that God reveals Himself to us through the witness of creation and through the ministry of His Spirit directly, His revelation to us through the Bible is the only objective and sure way to know and worship Him rightly. Therefore, the Bible must not only direct our understanding and practice of worship, but should also drive our worship as we seek to encounter God in response to understanding Him in Scripture.
This is another way of saying that we want our worship to be true - we want truth to drive our response to God, and we want our response to be offered to God in an acceptable manner. Our worship is grounded in truth insofar as the words and lyrics of our prayers, songs, sermons ... all of the propositions that we think, read, or sing, are in harmony with what the Scriptures teach. Our response to that truth, whether it be joyful shouting or quiet reflection, is only made acceptable to God through the work of His Son as our mediator. The entire range of human emotions is demonstrated in the Bible and all can be counted worship if we are responding in faith to God's work and will revealed through His Word.
But what about external forms of worship? How do we know what to do in, say, public worship? A portion of the Old Testament, the so-called Mosaic covenant, is replete with minute regulations for the kind of worship God demanded. But the New Testament is virtually devoid of these kinds of prescriptions for worship services. There are, however, several commands in the Epistles from writers like the apostle Paul like this: "give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching." (1 Timothy 4:3) We can glean from the New Testament a dozen or so activities that have been commanded for public worship, all under the overarching command to "let all things [concerning public worship] be done for edification." We are left to assemble these pieces (such as prayer, preaching, reading Scripture, singing, etc.) in a way that will edify our particular local churches, by the leading of the Spirit and in accordance with the rest of Scripture's general teachings.
So, in conclusion, we must strive that both the content and forms of our worship be faithful to the Bible. Our worship should flow from encountering the True and Living God in His Word of Truth.
