by Pastor Mark Chin
If we were to take a road trip across America, visiting a different evangelical church every Sunday, I suspect we would soon discover that there are as many different styles of worship as there are churches. At times these differences have been the source of encouragement and help as they challenge our own preferences and styles of worship. At times these differences have been the source of confusion and offense, creating distance between fellow believers. These differences raise some necessary questions. What is Christian worship all about? What is Christian worship supposed to look like? What is Christian worship?
The temptation is to build our view and definition of worship around what we do at church on Sunday mornings. Sometimes our view and definition of worship can be reduced to the singing of praise songs. Frequently the term “worship team” is used primarily to identify the musicians who lead us in songs of praise on Sunday morning. But if “they” are the worship team – then what does that say about everyone else – the Sunday School teachers, the refreshment team, the cleaning team, etc.? To what degree is our worship defined by what we do and who we are – as opposed to who God is and what He has done in Christ in your life and mine? Is it all about me?
It helps to define what one means by worship. Allen P. Ross defines worship in this way. “Thus, in general terms, ‘worship’ refers to the appropriate response to the revelation of the holy God of glory. More specifically, Christian worship, whether individual or collective, is the structured and ordered expression of the proper response of the people of God to the revelation of God in Christ.” [1] In light of this definition, one might add that Christian worship is to be the right response and participation in the Gospel that is made possible by grace through faith in Christ alone, in accordance with the will and Word of God.
Defined as such, the testimony of Scripture clearly demonstrates that true worship begins and ends in one place – and that place is not with us. Though the technical terms, styles, songs, and practices of worship may change, there is one overwhelming constant of all true biblical worship. From the creation of the world to the New Jerusalem, from the Holy of Holies to the cross at Calvary, from the Passover to the Lord’s Supper, from the tabernacle of Sinai to the temple of New Covenant saints, the constant that initiates, defines, sustains, and accomplishes true worship in each case is the God of the Bible, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – His person, His Word, and the presence of His glory. Without the person of God and the presence of His glory, there is no true worship. This is the testimony of Moses (Ex. 33:12-16), Ezekiel (Ez. 10), Jesus (Mt. 23:37-39), Paul (Rom. 1:22-23) and every saint of the Bible, Old Testament and New. So John Owen says, “ The principal and adequate reason of all divine worship, and that which makes it such, is what God is in himself.” [2]
From the creation of the universe, to the giving of the Law of the Mosaic Covenant, to the inauguration of the New Covenant by the flesh and blood of Christ, to the coming of the New Jerusalem, the creator, author, designer, and giver of all true worship is not man, but the God of the Bible. Worship, like salvation, is entirely a work of God’s grace in which God’s people have been called to participate. Its starting point, like the salvation of God’s people, is the will and the word of God. Any deviation from His will and His word is a departure from true biblical worship and an embrace of false worship (Ex.32:1-10; Rom.1:18-32). Worship that is truly God’s is worship that is wrought by His Holy Spirit who always acts in accordance with the Word He has given us. As such it is characterized by a clear and faithful expression of His person, His will and His word, in every aspect. This is a worship that is most fully expressed in the ministry of His Son – His life, His death, His resurrection, His present ministry at the right hand of the Father and in His bride, the Church. Does our worship look like Jesus? Is that what a visitor would say as he leaves the church doors?
“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36). [3] If the starting and end point of all worship is the God of the Bible and His Word, then the defining characteristic of all worship and the end of all worship is the glory of the God of the Bible. From the Hebrew term kabod to the Greek term doxa, Allen P. Ross notes the following: “When the Bible uses the word “glory” or “glorious” with reference to the LORD, it is basically saying that he is the most important or preeminent person in this or any other universe. And when the Bible refers to the ‘glory of the LORD,’ it is usually referring to all the evidence of God’s preeminence.” [4] That evidence, as John Owen points out, is the revelation and manifestation of His divine attributes, the fullness of God’s nature, His attributes, and His will – in short, the totality of His essential being. [5] Is God and His glory preeminent in our worship?
The glory of God, then, is the essential quality of all true worship, the purpose of all true worship, and the end of all worship. If worship does not exalt the preeminence of God through a clear manifestation and revelation of His truth and grace, as opposed to the needs or desires of worshippers, then it is not true biblical worship that is from God or for God. That is not to say that the God of the Bible ignores our needs or desires. To the contrary, He is greatly concerned about the needs and desires of His children. However, when our needs and our desires become preeminent, then we are worshipping a different god. True worship exalts God by placing His glory on display, not that of man, doing so according to the will and word of God. The attributes of true worship, then, are nothing less than the attributes of the God of worship.
From the human perspective, the beginning of biblical worship, then, is the beholding of the glory of God (Isa. 6:1-5). The NT informs us explicitly that we behold this glory in the person of Jesus Christ (Heb 1:1-4). “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The NT also informs us that it is only by faith which is a gift of God’s grace that we are able to see the glory of Christ (Matt 11:25, 16:17; Lk 10:21; Rom 1:17; Eph 2:8; Heb 11:3 ). This faith comes from hearing the Word of God. “So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ,” (Rom 10:17). That faith through the word is needed for true worship serves as a reminder that the greatest hindrance to true worship is us – specifically our sinfulness and sin which is an offense to the holiness of God and which blinds our eyes to His glory. It is only the forgiveness of sin that comes from Christ’s death on the cross and that is received by faith in Christ alone that removes the scales of sin from our eyes. So it is the Gospel, as presented in the written Word of God, that serves both as the path and pattern of worship that places the fullness of God’s glory in Christ on display and that enables the blind sinner to see His glory when it is embrace by faith in Christ alone.
Such worship is nothing less than transformative for the beholder of divine glory. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as through the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). Transformation, then, is one of the essential consequences of true worship in the life of the worshipper and the worshipping community of God’s people – a transformation into the image and glory of God, not into the image and glory of the surrounding culture. It is a transformation wrought by the Spirit of God through the Good News of God’s written Word. As such, worship that is transformed by God and His Gospel looks like God and His Gospel, as do the worshippers who are transformed by God and His Gospel. Such truth begs the question, who and what does our worship look like? Does it look like us or does it look like Him? Have we been transformed by His worship lately? As a pastor, these are questions that I need to be confronted with on a regular basis – questions that bring me to my knees at the foot of the cross as they show me my desperate need for Christ and the Gospel of His Word.
[1] Allen P. Ross, Recalling the Hope of Glory: Biblical Worship from the Garden to the New Creation. (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2006), 50.
[2] Sinclair Ferguson, John Owen on the Christian Life. (Carlisle: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1987), 274,
[3] All Scripture references, unless otherwise specified, have been taken from the NASB.
[4] Allen P. Ross, Recalling the Hope of Glory: Biblical Worship from the Garden to the New Creation. (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2006), 47.
[5] John Owen, The Glory of Christ: His Office and Grace. (Fearn, UK: Christian Heritage, 2004), 54.