Worshiping as the Body of Christ

April 20, 2005 Posted by Roger OvertoncloseAuthor: Roger Overton Name: Roger Overton
Email: rogeroverton@hotmail.com
Site: http://ateamblog.com
About: Roger Overton is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Talbot School of Theology. He has addressed various churches, schools and youth camps throughout the United States. Roger was co-editor of The New Media Frontier (Crossway, 2008) and God and Governing (Wipf & Stock, 2009). Roger can be emailed at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.See Authors Posts (569)

Worship is a bit of a hot topic among some in the emerging church, and there seems to be some kind of explosion of worship music in evangelicalism over the past few years. Is all worship pleasing to God? Worship is more than just the music (something evangelicalism tends to forget). As the Body of Christ we worship through the preaching of God’s Word, the administering of sacraments, song, the fellowship of the body, and serving within and outside of our community. In every area, Jesus tells us we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. How well are we doing? This is especially important to me as I leave a church and seek a new one.

Robert Godfrey offers some questions for evaluation in his booklet Pleasing God in Our Worship (p46):

• Does this church love and believe the Bible?
• Is the worship of this church filled with the Word of God?
• How much of the service is given to the reading of the bible?
• How much of this service is given to biblical prayer?
• How much of this service is given to singing is biblical in content and character?
• What is the content of the preaching?
• Is preaching a substantial part of the service?
• Is the Law of God clearly present in the service?
• Is the Gospel of Jesus Christ clearly expressed and central in the service?
• What is the role of the sacraments in the ministry of the church?
• Are there elements of the service that are more entertaining than biblical?
• Are both joyful thanksgiving and reverent awe expressed and balanced in the service?

To this list I think we should add:

• Is the music directed toward God or toward how we feel?
• Is the preaching rooted in scripture (whether textual or topical), or is it merely sprinkled with scripture?

What’s great about Dr. Godfrey’s questions is that what comes first is the Word of God. If the Body of Christ does not hold the Bible dear and seek to live it out in every possible way, it will most certainly fail in all else it does. However, we are not to worship God’s Word. While it is divinely inspired and how God has chosen to reveal Himself, it is still God alone who deserves our utmost reverence and worship. Here we have two primacies.

The worship of God is primary in the sense of importance. If we confess the truths of the Bible but do not worship God in light of it, our respect for the Word is irrelevant. We are to worship God the Creator, not anything God created.

The authority of the Bible is primary in the sense of order. If we do not first surrender our hearts and minds to be transformed by God’s Word, whatever attempts we make to worship will be mostly meandering mumblings. In regards to worship, His Word is His instruction for us. If we don’t first understanding what He desires we will likely not fulfill His desires.

(This breakdown of primacies is borrowed from R.C. Sproul’s explanation of the primacies of the heart and mind.)

Related posts:

1. This Is My Body – Part Three
2. This Is My Body – Part One
3. The Need For the Body (EC BIOLA #4)
4. The Purpose of Church Part II: What is it for?
5. God-Centered Worship Part I
6. Christ-Like Leadership And The Gender Debate

Posted in Main Page, Roger's Posts, Theology