Biblical Worship

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (www.sbts.edu) preached a sermon several years ago based on Isaiah 6:1-8. The title of his sermon was “The Whole Earth is Full of His Glory: The Recovery of Authentic Worship.”  This was an outstanding sermon on the condition of worship in the church today that includes a detailed commentary on the Isaiah 6 passage.  In his introductory statements, Dr. Mohler shares:

“Roger Scruton, a well-known British philosopher, has suggested that worship is the most important indicator of what persons or groups really believe about God. These are his words: “God is defined in the act of worship far more precisely than he is defined by any theology.” What Scruton is saying is, in essence: “If you want to know what a people really believe about God, don’t spend time reading their theologians, watch them worship. Listen to what they sing. Listen to what they say. Listen to how they pray. Then you will know what they believe about this God whom they worship.”

Mohler comments, “My haunting thought concerning much evangelical worship is that the God of the Bible would never be known by watching us worship. Instead what we see in so many churches is “McWorship” of a “McDeity.” But what kind of God is that superficial, that weightless, and that insignificant? Would an observer of our worship have any idea of the God of the Bible from our worship? I wonder at times if this is an accidental development, or if it is an intentional evasion.”

Dr. Mohler goes on to give four major points in his message concerning the recovery of authentic worship:

1. Authentic worship begins with a true vision of the living God - Isaiah 6:1-4

2. Authentic worship leads to a confession of sin- individual and corporate – Isaiah 6:5

3. Authentic worship will lead to a display of redemption – Isaiah 6:6-7 (True worship always proclaims the Gospel, the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ)

4. Authentic worship requires a response – Isaiah 6:8

Some of Dr. Mohler’s concluding thoughts from the sermon:

“One recent writer on worship has commented, “It is not how you worship. It’s who you worship.” I would argue that the who determines the how. Does that mean that all issues are absolutely simplified and we can turn to scripture and see a specific outline of order for every week’s corporate worship? No. Does it mean that there is no diversity and should be no diversity in worship? No. Does it mean that styles will change? Yes. Does it mean that there will be a diversity of styles in worship? Yes. We must make a distinction, however, between style and form. The biblical form must be constantly followed. The biblical pattern must always be honored. There will be different styles, there will be different languages, there will be a different vernacular for each people, and there will be different contexts, but the essential marks of true Christian worship must always be present.”

Read the full manuscript of this sermon at Dr. Mohler’s website:  http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2006-02-06.

Look at the following quote and decide what year it was first published:

“For some years it has been apparent that the rage for novelties in singing, especially in our Sunday schools, has been driving out of use the old, precious, standard hymns.  They are not memorized as of old.  They are scarcely sung at all.  They are not even contained in the non-denominational songbooks which in many churches have usurped the place of our hymn books.

We cannot afford to lose these old hymns.  They are full of the Gospel; they breathe the deepest emotions of pious hearts in the noblest strains of poetry; they have been tested and approved by successive generations of those that loved the Lord; they are the surviving fittest ones from thousands of inferior productions; they are hallowed by abundant usefulness and tenderest memories.  But the young people of today are unfamiliar with them, if the present tendency goes unchecked.”

Who made this statement? Basil Manly, one of the founding professors of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY.  These words appeared in the preface of a hymn book edited by Professor Manly in 1892.  Manly, an Old Testament professor at the seminary was concerned about that Gospel songs new on the scene were usurping the old hymns.  It seems that the young people were singing these new songs and not learning the standard hymns of the church.  These newer worship songs majored more on the Christian experience and less on the objective doctrinal truths of the Bible often found in the hymns.  Since we learn so much of our faith through our songs, Manly was concerned the newer Gospel songs were not carrying strong biblical content.

Although this quote is an isolated incident, I think a brief survey of worship music through the ages would reveal that this controversy of what songs should be used in worship is not a new one.  The church has always had an issue over what songs should be selected for corporate worship. 

So how do we make sense of this issue today?

First, it would be great if more theologically trained pastors were writing or selecting song texts for the church today.  Many of the great hymn texts we use today were written by pastors (Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, John Newton). Manly was a good model for pastors as editor of a worship song book for the church.  We need worship leaders with a strong biblical foundation capable of filtering the good songs from the poor.

Second, all songs were new songs at one point.  We should seek to ‘sing a new song to the Lord,’ but make sure our new songs have strong biblical content.  Why spend time singing worship songs that have vague biblical content?

Thirdly, let’s keep singing the great hymns of the church along with newer expressions of faith.  Our young people need to know that they are not the first generation of Christians to seek to live a Christ-like life in the world.  Our senior adults need to learn songs that speak to a younger generation about the Gospel.

Fourthly, let the focus be on song content and not secondary issues such as whether we will use a piano or guitar to accompany the songs.

Finally, let’s seek to be pastoral in our worship leadership – caring for the Body of Christ, seeking peace and unity in our worship.  Teach deference – “I can sing a favorite song of my brother in Christ rather than my favorite.”

I had the opportunity of visiting a healthy growing church this summer that features two Sunday morning worship services.  A while back the church decided to offer a contemporary style of music in one service and a more blended style in the second service.  The contemporary style service is the same as the second service except for the music portion of the worship.  It features a praise band and praise team singing mostly newer worship songs.  The blended service featured a 50 voice choir, 15 piece orchestra plus piano and organ.  This service features hymns and some new worship songs.

Both services are led by the same worship minister but for the contemporary service the worship minister leads from the piano.  The musical parts of both services are actually presented quite well with excellence and warmth.  The contemporary service could use a few more songs that have greater biblical content.

The main observation that I have concerning this church is that by doing these two musical styles of worship music they have divided their congregation by generations.  All of the youth, young adults and parents of the youth attend the contemporary service.  The second service is mostly middle age to older adults without any younger faces for the most part.  Because this situation is typical in many churches where services are determined by music style, I think offering different music styles in different services is not healthy for the church.

I truly think that a church should determine one particular music style that best communicates the Gospel in its community and use it in all in services.  If the church feels that it should shift to a more contemporary model, do so slowly and bring the whole Body of Christ along with the change. 

Our young children and youth need to be worshiping along side our senior adults.  All generations have something to learn and to share with each other.  How can we be unified as the Body of Christ if we are segregated by age in our main corporate worship times? I think we should also teach the principle of deference in our churches.  We should care more about someone else that we do not have to have our own personal tastes taken care of each time we walk in the door.  This applies for young and old.

The young people should learn worship songs that mean much to our senior adults and want to see them used in worship.  Our senior adults should also care for the younger generation so much that they don’t mind if the worship features some of the worship songs that speak to them.  We want to build up the Body of Christ not divide it over issues of what songs we are going to sing or what instruments we are going to play in the worship service.  Divisive issues over worship can be a tool of Satan in the local church.

Let’s stop dividing our churches by generations.  We need to learn to worship our great Lord and Savior together today because soon we will be worshiping together (all generations) around the throne in heaven later.  Shouldn’t our worship services today be a picture of heavenly worship – all generations worshiping together?

In his book, Created for Worship: From Genesis to Revelation to You, Noel Due comments on the role of the worship leader in the local church:

“One thing that follows from this is that the leading of worship in the public assembly must be seen as a facet of the pastoral care of the congregation.  Its spiritual health is both measured by and also expressed in its worship.  For this reason the whole idea of a ‘worship leader’ who is a non-elder of the congregation (or at least directly accountable to the eldership) must be held up to question.  Through the public assembly of God’s people for worship, His name is glorified and His people edified, for their blessing and joy.  The task of leading worship, then, is far greater than simply leading praise.  It is, given the fullest sense of the word ‘worship’, a leading into the relational unity and cruciform life that brings glory to God.” (234-235)

I believe Noel Due is on target in stating that worship leading really is a subset of pastoral care in the church. If I were choosing a person to lead the musical portion of the worship service, I would want that person to be thoroughly grounded in the Scriptures.  It is through his understanding of the Word of God that this worship leader would be choosing songs, speaking in the service and leading the Body of Christ in worship. 

There has been a trend of hiring a worship leader who has ‘charisma’ on the platform and intuitive musical skills but has limited theological training.  The church needs to look beyond this type of leader to one who is both called to ministry and has received training in theology and ministry.

This is exactly what we are trying to facilitate both at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (www.sbts.edu)  and Boyce College (www.boycecollege.com) in Louisville, Kentucky.  We are equipping called ministers with theological and ministry skills along with music skills.  We want to prepare worship leaders who see themselves first as ministers of the Gospel.

A good book on Biblical theology of worship is Created for Worship by Noel Due, Mentor Publishers, 2005, ISBN 1-84550-026-1.

See another quote from this book: http://biblicalworship.com/?p=78