[ god and groove - part two ]

The Word and the Spirit - together in worship

A radical innovation that becomes commonly accepted practice can eventually become ‘the way we always do things’. At this third stage the practitioners do not always know why they are doing it that way, and detractors can be looked at askance as if there was something wrong with them. Contemporary praise and worship has reached the stage of mainstream acceptance and therefore is at the dangerous phase of being accepted uncritically. More than ever we need a clear biblical theology of worship without which we cannot adequately test our practices.

In many circles the aim of what we call worship would appear to have become the experience we have doing it. If an energy high is not reached, or a breakthrough moment, perhaps a manifestation of God’s power, an outburst of the prophetic or a sustained period of singing in the spirit, there can be a feeling that somehow we have failed. If this is the case, have we built our expectations more upon the dynamics of a rock concert than upon the principles of the New Testament? There is little biblical evidence to suggest that corporate worship should always be a corporate ecstatic experience. There is a lot of evidence that it should be rich in the Word of God and strong in mutual encouragement and edification with the aim of equipping us for serving others.

I believe that one of our greatest challenges is to become worshippers who are rich in the Word and full of the Spirit, and the best reason for seeking that is because that is what we see in Jesus, the perfect worshipper.

When you set Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 side by side, both letters of the apostle Paul, they turn out to be very similar in pattern. If you are a worship leader you will be familiar with the mention of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. You may not have realised that the phrase appears in two different letters. On closer reading, several features stand out. Firstly, both chapters put psalms, hymns and spiritual songs right in the centre of nitty gritty life and relationship issues. Worship takes place in the flow of ‘body’ life. Secondly, the instruction immediately preceding each mention of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs differs. Ephesians 5:18 instructs: ‘Be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.’ Colossians 3:16 instructs: ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your heart to God.’

It seems that the Word and the Spirit get equal billing! It is also evident that there is a strong emphasis in both letters upon building up one another in the faith alongside the more personal aspects of worship, ‘in your heart’ (Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16).

I frequently observe worshippers directing words heavenwards, eyes closed, hands raised, which God does not need to hear and which are actually encouragements, teachings or exhortations meant to be sung to one another. Frequently, the worship leaders are doing exactly the same thing! This must seem strange to an outsider - it seems normal to us only if we have ceased to think about what we are singing. True worship operates in both horizontal and vertical directions. Is the status quo becoming more and more about the search for an abstract ‘me and God’ experience, one which can actually become self-serving, all about my felt needs rather than the people around me? And by the way, we need not think that in ministering to one another we have ceased ministering to the Lord. It is, in fact, a very practical way in which we do minister to the Lord: ‘Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me’ (Matt 25:40).

When Paul had to correct the Corinthians for their behaviour in corporate worship, in particular with regard to spiritual gifts, he concluded with what could be regarded as the golden rule for when the church gathers. It is simply this: “Let all things be done for edification’. Edification simply means to build up - literally, in the Greek, ‘to build a house’. One of the primary ways in which we build one another up is through the Word of Christ, the Scriptures. How can we do this if the Scriptures are largely absent from our worship, or if the range of Scriptural subject matter is narrow and limited?

I hope no-one will use these comments as an excuse for an inquisition, over-reacting and becoming nit-pickingly negative about the slightest inaccuracy, perhaps calling for a public burning of CDs and songbooks! Every sermon, every devotional poem, every prayer, is likely to be flawed in some degree. Many songs can be redeemed by a little explanation, by choosing the right context, or using them alongside appropriate Scripture readings.

Shortcomings in the content of worship songs are not necessarily a disaster, but they are a wasted opportunity. Songs remain one of the few ways by which believers memorise biblical material in the western world today. Why don’t we grasp this potential for teaching truth and guard it jealously for the sake of the One who is called the Truth? We have received the greatest message the world will ever hear. Let’s not surrender to a situation in which the medium not only becomes the message, but also the massage to soothe us into spiritual consumerism.

So what can we do about it?

1. We must have a biblical theology of worship to test our practices.

2. The expression of praise and worship through popular styles of music has been a very important development since the 60’s and we have enjoyed its strengths - let us also recognise its weaknesses and limitations.

3. We must re-instate the value and importance of biblical teaching through songs (as well as by other means) and cease to be casual and uncritical about the words we sing or put into other peoples’ mouths.

4. We must develop song forms that can carry rich content.

5. We must not use songs just because they are popular or ‘cool’ or in the style we prefer, but by virtue of how well they edify the church.

6. We must become vigilant and discerning or we will end up singing the world’s values and philosophies, i.e. songs which are self-focused, comfort seeking, individualistic, consumerist etc. Just because a lyric sounds ‘right’ does not necessarily mean that it is.

7. We must develop songwriters of scholarship and skill who can put biblical teaching into contemporary songs that people will want to sing. This may only happen by ‘commissioning’ competent writers to work on neglected themes with the help of biblical scholars.

We are enjoying songs with plenty of motion, and rich emotion, and many of them have rich notion too. It’s time, however, to recognise more than ever before that the Christian faith is established upon God’s own revelation of himself in the person of Christ. This revelation is so rich and deep and broad and its doctrines so high and yet so earthy, practical and real, it deserves the best lyrical and theological skills we can muster. And as we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and as we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and as we take these truths upon our lips in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs for the sake of building up one another in the faith, we will find an ever greater response rising from our hearts bringing pleasure to God. If not, we may eventually find ourselves drowning in an ocean (or lotion!) of self-absorbed subjectivity. Yuk!