Below is an essay I wrote for school
regarding worship and Hebrews 13:15
Worship in American
culture has become, from my experience, synonymous with "rock
concert." Now don't get me wrong, I love upbeat music and contemporary
worship services, but Dr. Mitchell hit the nail on the head when he asked that
when we compliment a worship service, what are we complimenting (Mitchell 2006,
2). I have heard so many people claim that a worship service was great but they
were only referring to the music. We rate worship by the quality of the music.
I have heard some really good worship teams as far as music is concerned, but
cannot say they all were effective in leading a congregation in actual worship
of the Lord.
So many people will
leave a church because the "worship was bad." Really? How can
recognizing God for who He is and praising His name ever be bad? What they mean
is, "I don't like the music and since they do not please me, I am outta
here!"
Now here is where I
have to confess to my fellow students. I have been guilty of being in a worship
service were the music was BAD and blaming my lack of intimacy with the Lord on
the music. I would even let my heart go hard when I would walk in and see a
particular person leading worship. I do believe that poor music can be a
distraction and should be addressed if possible, but the bigger problem is me
letting my heart be distracted. Worship is supposed to be a response to
God and instead I am responding to the distraction.
Hebrews 13:15
states that worship is a sacrifice or an offering of praise. This is echoed In
Psalm 107:22 and Psalm 116:17. As Mitchell points out, worship is composed of a
selfless acknowledgment and humble adoration of God that is evidenced by acts
of service (Mitchell 2006, 3-5). Paul states this in Romans 12-2 when he writes,
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual worship" (Romans 12-1 [ESV]). The word for "worship"
can also be translated as "service" which also shows that worship is
am act of service to God. Since Paul instructs us to offer our bodies as a
"living" sacrifice and the writer of Hebrews encourages us to
"continually" offer up a sacrifice of praise, worship is not just something
we should be doing for the first 15 or 20 minutes of church on Sunday.
Spiritual formation is affected in that if we limit ourselves to only
worshipping God a few minutes a week and if that worship is only composed of
singing along and clapping our hands, we are missing out on an opportunity to
honor and bless God with an offering of praise. These things are key to being
transformed into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.