Every pastor and every worship planner and leader today knows the pull on us. We hear it from all sides and angles. People want worship to be upbeat. People want worship to be inspiring. People want worship to be filled with practical applications. People want worship to be entertaining. Some want it over and done in 59 minutes. Some want it to go as long as the Spirit moves. Some want to sing the old hymns of the faith, time-honored and beloved. Some want to sing the new songs, upbeat and pulsating. When it comes to worship styles, preferences, and convictions, it can be nearly paralyzing to try to keep everyone happy.
Maybe we pastors, preachers, and worship planners and leaders have missed something. Maybe we aren’t supposed to keep everyone happy. Just maybe there is something far more important about worship than what people want in worship. The Bible has a lot to say about worship, though it has no one book dedicated to how to plan a worship gathering. Instead it gives many glimpses into the worship of the people of Israel long ago, the early followers of Jesus in the first churches, and what heavenly worship is like. At the heart of worship is an understanding than runs counter to the spirit of this age: Worship is about God and what we bring to God, rather than about what worship does for us.
The great American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson said it well: “A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshiping we are becoming.” The Bible gets at the same truth in this passage from Psalm 35:15-18.
“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands.
They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see.
They have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths.
Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”
What or, better, whom we worship shapes us. What or whom we adore shapes us. We become more and more like what we trust, what we adore and admire, and whom we worship. Emerson is right: “it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshiping we are becoming.”
My favorite descriptions of worship in the Bible are in the Revelation, the final book. There we get glimpses of the worship occurring in heaven. That worship is happening now and will happen for eternity. It is the most engaging, God-centered, sensual, and participatory worship we can imagine. Revelation 7 gives us such a picture. Remember that John, the one receiving this vision, is an old man on a Roman prison island. A window opens for him, like the Hubble telescope showing him things so far away no could have imagined them, yet so close that any worshiper of God can relate.
He sees an unnumbered crowd with people from every nation, tribe, people, and language. This summer series, ending today, is entitled “Good News for All Nations.” When God first called Abraham and Sarah to start the covenant people, God told them that all nations would be blessed through them. Jesus calls us to go to all nations with his Good News. In heavenly worship that is fulfilled, the dream is realized, the vision is consummated. All nations are there. And so are angels and elders and creatures. All created orders and all creation are involved.
Their work is to worship. Work has gotten a bad name for many in our time. If we have a job we don’t like it. If we don’t have a job we want one if it is the right one. A Jet Blue flight attendant named Steven Slater had his 15 minutes of fame a few weeks ago when he insulted passengers, left his job rather ceremoniously, and endangered lives. And some people are seeing him as a hero for being a jerk. Work is good. Work is not the enemy for followers of Jesus, but the occasion to serve God and others. Whether we are pre-schoolers, students in any level of education, in the workforce, seeking a job, or retired from a field of work, work is a good part of God’s design for us. Jobs, chores, studies, and tasks are opportunities to serve.
Two words are used for worship in Revelation 7. Both are active and participatory, not passive and uninvolved. The first is in verse 11: “They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God. . . .” The Greek word behind it means to fall forward, literally to kiss forward. It suggests more than bowing the head or even kneeling. It is a rich picture of honoring God with our bodies. It is the word used when the Magi brought gifts to the little Christ child. That is what John saw that vast crowd doing, falling down before the throne of God and worshiping with voice and heart and mind and body.
The second word is in verse 15: "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. . . .” This word means to render service and homage to another, to one worthy. It is a working word. There is a third word that the church has added: liturgy. We use it for the flow and shape of a worship service. It has roots in both Latin and Greek and means the work of the people. Worship rightly understood is work on our part. It calls from us more than passive observation or critical evaluation—it calls us to give ourselves to the worship of God. Paul says it this way in Romans 12:1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship.” In these brief word studies we find that worship is work, good work, our best work.
Is our worship engaging? I hope so. Is it inspiring? I want it to be. Is it entertaining? I hope not. Does it make us feel comfortable? That is not the intention. Does it demand much of us? It should. Does it call for preparation? It is supposed to. It is designed by God to be the heartbeat of the people of God. When the ancient Hebrews traveled home on a long journey they had a big tent called the tabernacle at the center of their community life. When they settled in Jerusalem they built the Temple, a stunningly beautiful building. God didn’t live in the tent or in the Temple, but they reminded the people that the worship of God was at the center of their life together. How can we be casual about what God makes central?
In the heavenly worship that John sees I note three emphases, though there are more. First, the worshipers had come through great suffering. "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation. . . .” (Rev. 7:14.) Tribulation here means widespread suffering. That was the experience of the early followers of Jesus under the Roman Empire. While our forms of suffering are not like those, we do know suffering in other ways. Good news: God is at work in our suffering. It will lead to glorious things.
Second, they were cleansed by the work of Jesus: “they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:14b.) There is something counter to common sense in this description. When I bleed onto some clothing the blood turns dark red and doesn’t come out easily. There is something more going on here. The language is poetic and metaphorical and true. The blood of Jesus speaks of his sacrificial work, his death on the cross. That blood represents the work of Jesus. In my childhood church we sang a gospel song about the blood of Jesus that honors this image.
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
The last verse has deep theological significance:
This is all my hope and peace, Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
(Words and music by Robert Lowry.)
Third, there is a striking reversal in verse 17: “For the Lamb at the center before the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.’ 'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” We know that lambs need shepherds and not the other way around. No one recruits a lamb to be a shepherd. Except God. This is not just any lamb; this is the Lamb of God. The Lamb will lead us.
When we gather I know that we are different. Some of us are introverts and some extraverts. Some readily show emotion and others hide emotion. Some have great voices, some good voices, and some . . . oh well. Let there be no judging of the worship of one person by another. We are all called to worship God whole-heartedly, energetically, with mind and body, heart and soul involved, whether introverts or extraverts, whether emotionally expressive or reserved, whether blessed with great voices or less than great voices. That means preparing for worship. That means giving worship priority in our schedules. That means work, bringing our best gifts to God every week. One of the great words in the Psalms is Hallelujah, which means “praise the Lord.” It is never given as a suggestion; it is always given as a command. We are under orders to praise the Lord. As in heaven, let it be on earth. "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"
