for Pastors and Worship Leaders, etc.

This piece outlines an introductory course on biblical praise and worship for pastors, worship leaders and those engaged in teaching the Bible.

The primary text for study is Romans 6:1-14 because it introduces us to participation with Christ and integrates our walk and worship in Christ.

It’s designed to cover a period of sixty to ninety minutes depending upon the objectives of the teacher, or the interests of those in the course.

Although called Worship 101, it covers both biblical praise and worship, and defines differences between biblical and church-oriented worship.

Since this is an introduction, questions raised by students beyond this course may take an advanced course or check out mindheart.com.

The thrust of this course arose from the verse in Romans 6:3-4 where Paul expanded the concept and practice of biblical worship from participating in Christ’s obeisance to the Father actually “participating in Christ’s death, resurrection and glorification. This near daunting relationship, both personal and corporate, implied that “as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we should walk in newness of life,” leading naturally and holistically to the equivalent “we should worship in newness of life.”

Since the apostle stated we should “walk in newness of life,” assuming our holistic participation in Christ’s willful death, resurrection and glorification, he specifically referenced our day-to-day life of “dying to sin” and “living to justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matt. 23:23). It’s essential to grasp here that Paul did not equate participating with Christ with His “dying for sin,” but rather His “dying to sin.” Paul here didn’t emphasize Christ’s “living with God,” but rather His “living to God” in the life of the church. More to come.

Worship in Scripture and the Church

There are two distinct yet interactive realms of worship in the world today. There’s Bible-based worship that is explained in the paragraphs below. Then there’s church-centered worship embodied in religious activities such as Sunday services, musical sessions, sacred liturgies, to name several. Since the Spirit of God is manifested in both–“essentially” in the Scriptures and “functionally” in the church’s devotion to God–the role of pastors and worship leaders is to implant the heart and soul of Biblical worship into the flesh and bones of planned worship services. By that we mean, teaching and exhorting congregations to bring to each sacred event some issue or praise to be placed under the reign of God, or whole heartedly participating with Christ in dying to sin, and living to God: thereby acting justly, mercifully and humbly (Rom. 6:11; Mic. 6:8).

Discerning Praise and Worship

The Priority of Praise

The first principle that students must discern is the distinction between praise and worship. Let’s start with praise. Praise entered God’s story when Moses wrote and used the Song of Moses after Israel crossed the Red Sea. It occupied the first eighteen verses of Exodus 15, beginning with the acclamation “I will sing to the LORD for He has triumphed gloriously,” and ending with the affirmation, “The Lord shall reign forever and ever.” That same theme resonated through Scripture in the psalms of David (1 Chron. 16:7-36), the lauding of the prophets (Habakkuk 3:17-19), the Magnificat of Mary (Luke 1:46-55) and the ongoing life of the early church (Acts 2:44-47; Eph.1:3-9; Heb. 2:12). To identify but a sample.

The Practice of Worship

There are about a half dozen verbs of praise in the Old Testament and approximately the same in the New. However, the situation is different with worship. There’s one verb in the Hebrew lexicon for worship; it’s shachah, technically rendered to bow in obeisance before God, idols or special persons. There’s one verb in the Greek lexicon; its proskuneo, technically rendered to bow in obeisance before God, idols or special persons  In the English versions, surprisingly, bowing down is regularly rendered worship.

The question is: Why do English versions render shachah and proskuneo “worship” when they actually mean “bow down in obeisance?” To make a long story short, it’s because William Tyndale, the first scholar to render the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts into English, decided for the sake of clarity to render them with the English “worship.” It meant during his life time “to bow down in obeisance.” Students wishing full explanation of Tyndale’s decision may find it in the book “Running the River or Praise; Wading in Pools of Worship,” or on this web site.

In case you wonder why we use the less familiar word obeisance instead of obedience or submission, it’s because it carries the additional idea of “humbling” that the others don’t. And that’s a very important factor.

Perhaps it’s plain now why students of God’s Word discern between praise and worship. Praise enthusiastically lifts up the grace and glory of the LORD as believers celebrate a specific godly event, or deal with issues in their lives. Worship is when people bow in obeisance (worship) to the will of the Lord during a sacred event, or to deal with issues in their lives. Abraham bowed in worship just before he was challenged by the LORD to sacrifice his only son in obedience to God (Genesis 22:5). God commanded His people Israel not to bow down (worship) or serve idols when they entered the promised land (Exodus 20:4ff). When Jehoshaphat believed God would intervene against his enemies “he bowed his head with his face to the ground . . worshiping the LORD” (2 Chr. 20:17-18).

When the Magi came to the house where the Christ child was, “they fell down and worshiped Him (Matt. 2:11). When Satan tempted Jesus to abandon His messianic mission, our Lord responded, “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shall serve (Matt. 4:9ff). When the testy Samaritan lady confronted Jesus about the controversy between Jews and Samaritans, our Lord remonstrated with, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). When the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, Luke records that they bowed in obeisance before Him (they worshiped Him) (24:52).

Here’s the principle to remember: Whenever you read the verb “worship” in reference to God in the Bible, you immediately think “bow in obeisance.”

Worship before Christ/Worship with Christ

However, Christ changed everything–including worship. Worship “before Christ” involved making obeisance to God during God-sponsored events, or when dealing with issues in the peoples’ lives. That response began in the five books of Moses, and lasted until the very end of the four Gospels. Worship “after Christ”–after his death, resurrection and ascension—then involved participating with Christ as well as bowing in obeisance to Christ. According to Paul, we reckon ourselves—cognitively and imaginatively—mind-fully taking part in the death, resurrection and glorification of Christ (Rom. 6:10-11). The remainder of this course seeks to explain participation with Christ and how it’s realized in our walk and worship.

The surprising abruptness in the apostles’ letters

The writings of Moses, the prophets and the four Gospels mention worship as a regular part of the devotionally centered life of God’s chosen people. However, that abruptly came to an end in the letters of Paul, John and Peter to the early church. In fact the Greek proskuneo (bow in obeisance) is used only once by Paul, and that to correc poor behavior. Worship is not employed at all in Romans, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 &2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John and Jude. Shouldn’t we take time to examine why there are multiple references to worship in the first and last books of the New Testament, yet there’s only a single mention in the letters of Paul, Peter and John – letters that have much to do with the birth, growth and issues of the early church?

So the question arises, Why did the apostles omit references to worship (proskuneo) in the life of the early church? The question becomes much more pressing in light of the statement often made by scholars today that worship is the “primary mission of the church.” How so biblically?

The answer to this issue is evident when considered in light of the apostles’ reasoning regarding the change Christ brought to worship. Consider Paul’s statement in Romans 12:1-2 and the metaphor he used: “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed [metamorphoo] by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

The metaphor is as potent today as it was to Paul’s day: the caterpillar participates with its Creator and is transformed into the butterfly, so we mindfully and in the Spirit are transformed through participation in the death, resurrection and glorification of Christ. Let’s now see how Paul employed “metamorphosis” to represent Christ-renewing worship.

Theology applied to worship

Don’t be afraid of the word “theology.” It’s simply looking at everything through the eyes and Word of God. So what we do now is analyze worship through Paul’s teachings in Romans. First, let’s consider this question, “Did Paul gain insight into God’s ways through the application of simple analogy? The answer is, “Yes, he did.” As an example, here’s how he explained that Jews didn’t have to undergo circumcision to be saved. He explained that Abraham was saved when he believed God; his faith was accounted for righteousness (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3). Paul then noted that this act of faith took place while Abraham was yet uncircumcised. Therefore, he concluded, all Jews are saved, even the uncircumcised, when they trust in the grace of Christ.

How does this reasoning relate to worship? Here’s how!  Worship up to the time of Christ meant simply bowing in obeisance to God. Theologically, that meant the same as participating in God’s governance of our daily lives. So what did Paul mean in Romans 6 when he affirmed that from now on we participate in Christ’s death, resurrection and glorification? He meant that participating in Christ’s obeisance to the Father s t r e t c h e d worship to participating with Christ in his death to sin, his righteous living to the Father, and his ongoing and intimate fellowship with the Father in glory.

If anyone thinks that this interpretation is unnecessary, consider the current  confusion. Biblical worship is not taking part in seamless musical events; although music is a vital ingredient. Worship is not singing our way into the presence of God: although God’s presence is potentially there. Worship is not attending sacred services and celebrating religious seasons; but assembling together to praise the God of grace is a biblical constant. Biblical truth is most often found in finding the authentic amidst the ambiguities that prevail today.

Biblical worship “before the Christ event” meant making obeisance to the Lord in dealing with the issues of life. Worship “after the Christ event” expanded its impact and involves participation with Christ in his/our death, his/our resurrection and his/our glorification. Paul considered “with the Christ event” worship very awesome stuff. It required focused mindsets and deep seated resolves. He wrote that as Christ committed himself to die to sin once for all, and to live to the Father, so we also ought to reckon ourselves to be dead indeed to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6: 10f).

Let’s also examine worship from the worship leaders’ perspective. Executing seamless musical events is a constant expectation. Ushering seekers into the presence of God is a current presumption. Pleasing senior pastors in carrying out their vision of worship is assumed. Certainly these challenges are often quite difficult. However, courses in biblical worship like this are resources for  dedicated worship leaders. They now have resources to meet the practical and political challenges on the job. They now have the means to teach their pastors, elders, worship team and congregations the truth about worship.

Conclusions

The thrust of this course arose from the verse in Romans 6:3-4 where Paul expanded the concept and practice of biblical worship as acknowledging obeisance to God to the expanded position of actually “participating with Christ.” This exciting position acknowledged that “as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we should walk in newness of life,” assuming the equivalent statement “we should worship in newness of life.”  Since the apostle used the phrase “walk” in an all-inclusive and embracing manner, it constituted what the apostle considered “participation” worship, involving day-to-day “dying to sin” and “living to righteousness” with Christ.

John Hubley. Mindheart Foundation. September 2008. All rights reserved