Healing in Worship
Worship is truly a gift from God – a tool used in His hand to bring us into communion with Himself and to establish truth in our hearts. For sure, it is more than a song, more than an expression, more than a declaration of truth. True worship can only spring from a heart fully surrendered, a heart that has begun to glimpse the majesty of God and the frailness of humanity.
It is significant that He commands us in His Word to make music, play instruments, sing, dance, celebrate – not because there is anything sacred about these acts alone, but because God knows just how He made us. He knows that while He requires more than a song, song would be one tool (a powerful one!) that He would use to draw many hearts to Himself. How good of Him to command us to do that which He made us to do.
Worship (whether through song or other) done rightly – in spirit and truth – brings us into God and releases us of ourselves. That’s why I’m convinced that there is healing in worship. Healing, after all, is little more than the process by which we become more fully ourselves, more fully alive, more fully that which He intended from the beginning we would become (a process by which our new life in Christ becomes actualized). Since becoming what God intended has nothing to do with finding ourselves and everything to do with finding Him, we are actually being brought into wholeness when we worship. Worship has everything to do with finding Him… loving Him… walking in His Spirit and His truth. As our lives become saturated with Him, our worship becomes both more and more pleasing to Him and more and more satisfying to us. Simply put, He made us to worship Him. We’re not whole unless we’re doing just that.
I would like to point out that becoming what God intended us to be does have something to do with “finding ourselves,” for while in finding God, we will find ourselves. Jesus said, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39 ESV). “Becoming whole” through worship will be finding who we are meant to be, which is to say, all that we “fully can be.” I’m sure you’d agree, but I thought I’d clarify what seems to be a polarized statement, rather than nuanced. (Then again, you wrote this a while ago, and wanted to retain the original essence of what you wrote.)
I loved it!
If you’re referring to the interest, motive, and intentions of becoming more fully ourselves, I would agree that those subside as we worship and truly find ourselves in Jesus Christ. But even saying that (“as we find ourselves in God”) presupposes that we are doing the finding, and thus we really are seeking our own wholeness (isn’t the pursuit of joy really a person’s pursuit of finding true wholeness?).
I think the dichotomy between “fixated on ourselves” and “more focused on God’s glory” is honorable to mention, and on the most practical level, I completely agree. No doubt about that. But I would point out that the irony of Christian hedonism is that we cannot be “unfixated” on ourselves because we would not glorify God without any benefit to ourselves. As John Piper says, “I cannot not want to be happy. As soon as I say, ‘I want to be unhappy,’ I am wanting, which is to seek happiness.” We go to God knowing and believing that we will receive the greatest pleasure in worship, because God himself is the greatest possible giver of real pleasure and joy.
But yes, your position does make sense.
I like what you say about going to God knowing we will receive the greatest pleasure. You spurred my thoughts to the realization that even when I experience myself “more full” of God via worship, it is still MYSELF that I experience–only I am “fuller of God,” and therefore more fully what He intended me to be.
Hmmm, are we flirting with “funny theology?” I think the discussion is worth the risk.
My point was that no man or woman would not do anything if there was not some consequence of that action that was positive (even if it avoiding pain). I’m not saying that the reason God wants us to worship him is solely for our benefit.
You are correct that when we are worshiping God (in our work, in church, in family), we are connected with him in a way that heals us (which is the reason you wrote the post), so we are becoming “whole in One” (couldn’t resist). So to pursue worship on the basis that “I will become more fully me” is in fact, selfish. Only in the sense that we are a new creation at conversion, but at the same time not yet fully new, are we becoming more fully ourselves. As new creations, becoming more like Christ and finding (or losing, both positive ways to look at it) ourselves in him is similar (if not equal) to becoming more fully ourselves.
What is “funny theology”?
Just Kidding!!!!!
Yea, we agree I think, but it’s fun to banter.
In a nutshell, we agree with Piper and his concept of Christian hedonism. The cool thing is that when I wrote the post, I had never heard of Piper.
Those who earnestly seek Him will find Him. He is no respecter of persons.
I don’t know how to bold here so I’ll make my quote stand way out.
“Worship (whether through song or other) done rightly – in spirit and truth – brings us into God and releases us of ourselves. That’s why I’m convinced that there is healing in worship.”
First question: Can we worship God wrongly?
Second: How do we worship in spirit and in truth?
Third: Can a pre-christian worship?
Fourth: Could it be that in finding God we find out heart? Our true heart the one that He redeemed and made good?
I think filtering everything through the question that you do is good. But it is not my job to communicate everything in that way. It is, however, my job, to communicate to my pre-Christian friends those concepts in language familiar to them. Sometimes I may use language that is unique to my experience, and thus warrants explanation. But for the most part, we can use language relevant to the culture to describe our theologies and stories. The church in every culture has thus far, whether well or not, and so must the church in this culture.
1) Cain worshipped wrongly when He brought God the fruits of the soil. God told the Israelites many times throught the prophets that they worshipped wrongly: “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.” (Jeremiah 6:20). Abraham had His worship tested when He was told to sacrifice Isaac. I’m sure there are many examples of “right” and “wrong” worship in scripture. Granted, these are OT examples. For NT examples, I think of Jesus’s use of OT scriptures with the Pharisees: “This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’
2) Spirit and Truth — Rhema and Logos
We worship in spirit and truth when we honor God with heart, soul, mind, and strenght. I guess it’s whole-hearted, spirit-empowered, selfless centeredness in God. How do we do that? Well, we just do, I guess.
3) I believe that a pre-Christian can worship. I also believe that a pre-Christian can be nudged by the HS to know truth. How else would a pre-Christian become a Christian? Pre-Christians are not people who can’t commune with God. They are people who have not yet yeilded their hearts to Christ and the obedience He requires of those who know Him.
4) Sounds good to me! Call it healing, sactification, finding life, living more abundantly, whatever whatever whatever. Yes and amen.
[...] There’s obviously a lot of talk about postmodernism in the church today. There are really three sides to the debate:Postmodernism is a philosophical threat that is antithetical to the Christian faith; it denies truth, or that we can know truth, and accepts any way as the “right way” to truthPostmodernism is a welcome change to the world that offers a telling critique of modernism and its dangers; while there are dangers in any worldview or philosophy, postmodernism opens the way for the Christian community to be more like Christ, more like the early church, and more authentic in our cultureBeing modern or postmodern is not the issue: being authentically Christian is the issueOf course, there are varying nuances for each position, especially my own simplified description of them. And of course, there are those who fall somewhere in between each point. But I’d like to make some comments about point number three.One fallacy that oftentimes people fall into is believing that attaining or achieving balance on a particular issue is the ideal position. But to believe this is to create a tertium quid, a third option, that is not an inherently better choice, but merely an equal option on par with the original two. Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo write a chapter at the end of their book, Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture-controlled Church Neutered the Gospel, called “Missing the Point: Being Postmodern.” They contend that oftentimes people enamored with the emerging church believe that ministry is all about being postmodern, and they ignore what is modern. They warn us that “being postmodern” is not the superior position, but that by being both modern and postmodern in depending on the context is the best way to pursue ministry. Being adaptable is the key. While I have at times been enamored with the emerging church, I’m almost to the point of disagreeing. I agree that doing ministry in postmodernity does not necessary demand or warrant doing ministry in the vein of postmodernism. But the culture and the philosophy need not be confused. What I believe is more helpful is a steady and patient pursual of “embracing postmodernity.” Instead of adaptability being the key, a successful transition into a new time is key (which means being adaptable). I’ve been a bit hesitant to say this up until now, but I think my hunches all along are being confirmed as I learn and grow. The message of the gospel in any culture is directly tied to language, which is at the core of what drives the postmodern critique of the modernist agenda. What the Church communicated in modernity was helpful and useful for the context and culture to which it ministered. But the landscape is changing. The old is passing away. And so must we learn to meet the culture as it evolves, instead of being a culture all of our own that is 30 years late. The struggle in this transition is not maintaining a balance between what is good out of both modernity and postmodernity. The struggle will be finding a new communicating of the gospel in a culture than is in flux. So while “being postmodern” is not the point, becoming a Christian who can communicate gospel in postmodernity is. At this point Shiree’s entry on worship serves as a great starting point for the Christian to be able to minister to the culture. As we find our own healing in worship, and as we draw closer to Jesus (aka becoming like him), we will find our true selves (aka live authentic lives) and more adequately be able to “meet people” where they are. So what about point #3? Isn’t the point to be an authentic Christian in postmodernity? I’ll only respond by saying that becoming postmodern brings with it the authentic life that everyone longs to live, the adaptability that McLaren and Campolo ask for, and the heart of compassion that Jesus had for fellow humans. So if a Christian “becomes postmodern,” they will very likely live a more authentic Christian life. …In Western Civilization, of course. Everywhere else will look entirely different. [...]