New Creation and Worship

The following are a series of articles written to explore worship in the light of new creation and the church.

A Little Bit of Background

What Is Worship Anyway?

What's Going On?

What Difference Does Any of This Make?

Where Do We Go From Here?

8.7.07: A Little Bit of Background

"The One enthroned in heaven laughs." Psalm 2:4

All throughout the scriptures, one of the most prominent metaphors for God is as a king whose dominion is the heavens and the earth. Every king has a capital city and a throne and God is no exception: "Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion (Jerusalem)." (Psalm 9:11), "Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock; you who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth!" (Psalm 80:1)

The Hebrews understood Jerusalem to be the place where heaven and earth touched, where God dwelled. Specifically, God resided between the wings of the cherubim in the holy of holies in the center of the temple.

But the Psalms say something more about God’s dwelling place: "You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel" (Psalm 22:3). Which led the ancient rabbis to say something quite profound about God’s throne: "Wherever two or three speak the words of Torah between them, the Shekinah (the glory of God) will rest above them." (mAboth 3.2)

As Christians, who recognize Jesus Christ as God’s eternal promise of restoration and new creation, heaven and earth no longer meet in a city, but everywhere we journey. For as Jesus says: "Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (Matt. 18:20), "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt. 28:20)

8.14.07: What is Worship Anyway?

Did you catch that?!?

Last week we noted that the Psalms say that God is "enthroned on the praises of his people." (Psalm 22:3) That is to say that when we worship, God takes up residence.

So what is really going on in worship? Or, maybe more acutely, what is worship anyway? Worship is the overflow of God’s love spilled out of our lives. This should expose a couple of things – first, worship is not inherently directed towards God. John Calvin once said "human beings are idol-making factories." We have a penchant for misdirecting God’s love in our lives to honor and worship things that are not God. Our cars, our careers, our children, our church; even our own image of God can become an idol.

Secondly, worship is authored by God. There is no style or tradition of worship (unless you think God is a style or tradition). Worship is the overflow of His love; it’s His words that we say, sing and serve with. God is actively restoring all of creation through Jesus Christ’s work on the cross; our worship is an active partnership with God in His new creation.

8.21.07: What's Going On?

So what, then, is really going on in worship?

First of all, we are constantly worshiping. Last week we noted that our worship can all too easily be misdirected away from God. But, if worship is "the overflow of God’s love in our lives" and "God is love" (1 John 4:8), then we are constantly overflowing, we are constantly worshiping.

Secondly, Psalm 115:8 shows us that we become like what we worship. In that Psalm, the poet expresses his incredulity as those who worship idols which cannot see or hear or speak become just like them: blind, deaf and mute.

So as we worship God, we will discover that we will become more like Him. As we find ourselves becoming more loving, more forgiving, more generous, more patient, more gentle, more kind – as we find ourselves broken by the same things that break God’s heart – we will know that we are constantly worshiping. We will know that God is constantly loving.

8.28.07: What Difference Does Any of This Make?

So what’s the point? Where does all of this lead us?

If worship is the "overflow of God’s love," what does God love? And if we become like what we worship, what should we be loving too? We all know the next verse – even if we only know the reference from Monday Night Football: John 3:16: "for God so loved the world…." God’s underlying purpose throughout history was the restoration of the world to His original intention (Gen. 1-2).

Worship, then, is not a style of singing, nor is it an hour once a week in a pretty building. Worship is the active participation with God in the restoration and renewal of the whole world. Worship leads us to clothe the naked, feed the poor, comfort the dying, heal the sick – or rather, when we do those things, we are worshiping God.

As the people of God work together to accomplish God’s underlying goal in the world, we should expect to see people freed from addictions, peace pursued throughout the world, a call to action and purpose – not simply a call to private spirituality. For as the church of God worships, Heaven springs up wherever she goes – new creation is nurtured all around her.

9.4.07: Where Do We Go From Here?

But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!" 1 Cor. 14:24-25

Alongside every thing we have said so far, worship is at its core evangelistic. In Corinthians, Paul is making a play with words in Greek. The words "prophesying" and "worship" are linguistically very close – "propheteuo" and "proskuneo."

Prophesy in this sense means to attest, testify, tell the story; not so much "predict the future." Paul is saying, when you share publicly what God has been doing in your lives – when worship is the overflow of His love – people who are confused about God and even people who just don’t believe that God exists will be so convinced by God’s action in your lives that they too will overflow with God’s love.

For Paul, worship and the story of God’s new creation in the world through Christ are inextricably linked. And like Paul, it is up to us to figure out how to tell the story in everything we do.