Worship In and Through Christ

I was invited to teach a class on worship at my church which centered on seven concepts of worship which form the foundation of my worship philosophy known as “reimagining worship.” This entry begins a series that will explain each of these.

Worship is in and through Christ, not just to Christ

The first concept is that we worship in and through Christ instead of just worship directed to Christ. For most of my worship-leading life I thought of worship solely as my expression of devotion and praise to God. As I experienced more and more of life with Christ I wanted to offer my sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15). Of course I would acknowledge that everything we do, including even the act of accepting Jesus, is driven by God through his Holy Spirit. But I saw worship more as something I did in response to his love.

A light came on for me in a class taught by Dr. Constance Cherry (author of The Worship Architect, The Music Architect, and recently Worship Like Jesus) at the Robert Webber Institute for Worship Studies in Jacksonville, FL. We examined Hebrews 2:11-12 which says:

For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying,
“I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

Let me clarify who’s who in this passage:

For he who sanctifies [Jesus] and those who are sanctified [believers] all have one source [God]. That is why he [Jesus] is not ashamed to call them [believers] brothers and sisters, saying,
“I [Jesus] will tell of your [God’s] name to my brothers and sisters [believers];
in the midst of the congregation I [Jesus] will sing your [God’s] praise.”

Jesus our Worship Leader

Citing Psalm 22:22, this passage reveals that when the church assembles, Jesus Christ is truly present in our midst. What is he doing there? He is telling us about his Father, his Father’s name, his Father’s love, his Father’s attributes. What else is Jesus doing? He is singing God’s praise right along with the congregation, his brothers and sisters. Hebrews 8:2 puts it this way:

. . . we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, . . . 

The Greek word translated ‘minister’ here is leiturgos, which also means a liturgist, one who leads a liturgy (an order of worship). When we gather as a church—the body of Christ, Jesus Christ is our ultimate worship leader. He is right there in the middle of us telling us about his Father, leading us in worship, and singing praise to God along with us.

Now for those of us who have true faith is Jesus Christ, we know that he resides in us though his Holy Spirit (Galatians 2:20: It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me). As I said above, we must acknowledge that everything we do must be done in and through Jesus Christ who lives in us. Applying this to our worship, Scripture is very clear that when we gather as his church, we do not worship in our own strength, and our praise is not just what we perform to our God. True worship begins as we acknowledge that we worship in and through the Savior who lives in us. 

When you walk through those doors this Sunday morning, surrender to your leiturgos, your Worship Leader, and worship the Triune God with all your heart empowered by his Spirit.