Why We Do What We Do in Worship
‘I will sing and make melody with all my being!’ – Psalm 108 v1
“Biblical praise is normally expressed, spoken and observable.” - Bob Kauflin
The Bible is full of descriptions of how God’s people worship Him, it ranges from loud exuberant celebration praise with singing, shouting and dancing, to reverential bowing down and the awe-filled silence of a holy moment in the manifest Presence of God. Our desire is to be a people who gather together and worship God in freedom and in Biblically expressive ways that bring honour to Him.
Let’s consider some of these expressions of worship and gain a biblical understanding behind ‘why we do what we do’ in worship. As you read through the various points, ask the Holy Spirit to release in you a greater freedom in worship for the praise of His glory.
Sing – a new song
There’s a lot of singing in the Bible, in fact the longest book in the Bible is devoted to songs - Psalms. God Himself sings in Zephaniah 3 v17 and He chooses music and song to glorify Him. More than 400 verses of scripture refer to singing, there are almost 50 direct exhortations to sing, in fact 4 are found in one verse – Psalm 47 v6: Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
Singing enables us to stretch out words and reflect on the meaning of what we’re singing. John Piper says “Singing is the Christians way of saying: God is so great that thinking will not suffice, there must be deep feeling; talking will not suffice, there must be singing.”
The apostle Paul encouraged the Ephesians to “address one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (chapter 5 v19). As we address one another with our songs we spur one another to make His praise glorious.
We can sing songs that everyone can sing along with, but also stray off from written lyrics to a spontaneous overflow of song. We can do this as a congregation, all lifting up our voices in praise to Jesus or as an individual bringing a song motivated by the Holy Spirit.
Clapping to the Lord
The Bible speaks of creation praising God with clapping!
Psalm 98 v8 – Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together…
Isaiah 55 v12 – For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
There is only one verse that encourages people to clap their praise to God:
Psalm 47 v1 – Clap your hands, all peoples! – that’s everyone!
Culturally we clap to accompany music rhythmically as part of enjoying the music, for those of you who remember Live Aid in 1985 when Queen played “We will rock you!”? Wembley Stadium was a sea of arms as the crowd clapped along. On a Sunday morning when we clap it is for God’s praise not human praise – an audience of One. When we join in clapping, we participate in the music, we celebrate together when we clap along in praise.
The other type of clapping is applause – prolonged clapping to express appreciation; sometimes there’s a standing ovation – a period of prolonged applause during which the crowd rise to their feet. Can you recall a time when you have attended a stage show, concert or sporting event when the applause went on and on, leaving you with sore hands? If anyone is worthy of that type of applause it’s the God of our salvation! Can I encourage you, the next time there is a burst of spontaneous worshipful applause to God, to bring your best and greatest applause as an offering of gratitude and worship to Him.
Shouting praise
There’s lots of shouting in the Bible – in the Old Testament when sacrificial offerings were consumed with fire from heaven ‘when the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces’ (Leviticus 9 v24); at the walls of Jericho the people shouted and the priests blew trumpets and the walls came down (Joshua 6 v20), and when David and all the people of Israel brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Israel they did so with shouting (2 Samuel 6 v15). The New Testament has crowds of people shouting aloud their praise as Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey heading towards the cross (Luke 19 v28-40).
It seems that shouting praise happens when people grasp how magnificent God is – there’s a release of joy in salvation rising up to a great exclamation – a shout! Shouting praise seems to be done mainly corporately, the whole body bringing an exuberant expression of joy at what Jesus has done and for who He is. The Holy Spirit can magnify Jesus in such a way that we feel led to shout aloud our praises. Someone in the congregation can start to shout their praise and encourages others to join them or the worship leader can exhort us all to lift our voices in response to God. Let’s overcome shyness and bring a biblical shout to the Lord!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy! Psalm 47 v1
Dancing
When it comes to dancing there are lots of different styles, maybe you’d consider yourself a dancer, drilled in technique, or maybe you have vivid memories of an awkward moment at the school disco? Whatever your dance background or experience, the Bible has much to say about moving our bodies to the glory of God:
Psalm 149 v3 – let them praise His name with dancing
Psalm 150 v4 – praise Him with tambourine and dance
Psalm 150 is the last of the Psalms and is full of celebratory sound and motion, music and dance praising the Lord. Following the parting of the Red Sea Miriam, leads the gathering in singing and dancing (Exodus 15 v20-21). David danced before the Lord in 2 Samuel 6 v16 – it was spontaneous and joyful. Neil Bennetts says of David’s dancing: “It seems that the worship that started in his heart just had to find a way out.”
Clearly dancing to the Lord was encouraged in the Old Testament, as Christians, saved and made whole in Christ we have so many reasons to dance for His praise. Our Creator has put dance in our very make up – just watch a small baby or young child bobbing about to music. When we dance to the Lord it’s for Him as an offering of praise. So, go for it on a Sunday morning - move into some space and move your body in rejoicing as a child of God created for His glory.
Raise our hands
We use our hands for all kinds of things, they can be a visible expression of what we believe (when our team scores), what we’re feeling (clenched fists in anger or frustration) or show our intentions (offering a handshake in a warm welcome). Young children reach out their arms to their parents to express a desire for them, maybe to be held, to have some contact. We can throw our hands up in the air with the victory and celebration of our team winning in sport. We might show raised hands as a sign of surrender to someone. A raised hand indicates our willingness to volunteer for something, or we might raise a hand or both hands to receive a gift. Raised hands often indicate a connection or relationship to or with something or someone. The Bible encourages us to use our hands in our worship to God, not just in clapping, but raised hands to Him. The psalmist called out: “I will bless you as long as I live, in your name I will lift up my hands.” (Psalm 63 v4).
Lifting our hands can be an outward expression of an inward desire. As God’s children, we come to meet with our Heavenly Father we might raise our hands to express a desire for intimacy with Him, show Him adoration or honour; to respond to His victory or celebrate what He’s done; we might open our hands to receive from Him. Raised hands also express a desire to show Him we surrender to His ways and offer ourselves freely.
Kneeling & Bowing Down
“Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!”
(Psalm 95 v6)
Kneeling or bowing down is a visible sign of submission or honour, it demonstrates humility, acknowledging the Lordship of Christ – our nothingness compared to His all-holy, all-mighty worthiness. In the Bible from Genesis to Revelation bowing down before God is mentioned in over 70 verses and kneeling in over 30. We see bowing down as the first response of Abraham (Genesis 17 v3), Moses (Exodus 34 v8) and the apostle John (Revelation 1 v17) – automatic reverence. When there is a revelation of God in His glory and holiness the most natural thing to do is fall down before Him in facedown worship. Paul wrote “let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12 v28-29). Bowing or kneeling expresses what’s in our hearts when we surrender to God.
Kneeling or bowing down might not be something that you’ve done before so maybe it’s something that you want to bring before God privately in your own worship time at home; it might not be physically possible for you to bow or kneel – in Hebrews we’re told how Joseph in his old age bowed in worship over his staff as he spoke a blessing over his sons (11 v21) - bowing your head might be an expression of worship for you; or maybe you want to grow in the freedom of kneeling in the gathered Sunday setting, if so, you may need to move out of a row and bring your worship where there is more space.
Bringing a Contribution
The Bible teaches us that “When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” (1 Cor 14 v26). Our Sunday worship is not meant to be spectated but participated in, we don’t come as consumers but rather each with an offering to bring, with a purpose to build one another up.
1) Exhortation, Reading Scripture, Teaching
In 1Timothy 4 we read “…devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” (v13) These 3 contributions can be brought and shared at gathered worship on a Sunday.
The public reading of scripture has been done since way back in the times of Moses and Joshua. Indeed, Jesus launched His mission by reading aloud the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue (Luke 4 v16-21). We know that God’s Word is profitable for many things (2 Tim 3 v16) so why not read a few verses out loud to bless the congregation?
Exhortation helps us to lift our eyes off of ourselves, and our circumstances and onto God. It means to urge, beseech or make an appeal – when we bring an exhortation, we make much of God and point towards who He is and what He has done, stirring us to worship Him. It could come in the form of a scripture with an encouragement, a testimony that brings God glory or a reflection on a truth that the Holy Spirit has revealed to us.
Our teaching is primarily done by the elders, they seek God for His leading and prepare for us teaching to hear each Sunday. It is for our instruction and building up in the faith. James encourages us to be doers of the Word and not just hearers (Jas 1 v22-25) – we should be actively engaged in listening so we can put into practice what we hear. There is, however, a form of teaching, different to the elders teaching, that we can all be involved in – Colossians 3 v16 says “ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” – where God has revealed truth to us from His Word we can share that with one another in the context of Sunday morning worship.
2) Praying Out Loud
There is a biblical precedent for praying out loud - Jesus prayed aloud (John 17) as did the apostles (Acts 8 v15, 20 v36). You may be familiar with imprisoned Paul and Silas worshiping God at midnight singing and praying aloud (Acts 16 v25) and the effect it had on those who listened. As Christians we all have access to Jesus and can pray directly to God. Our prayers in the gathered setting worship God and have the effect of encouraging one another. It’s so easy to disqualify ourselves from contributing a prayer – we think “what if it comes out wrong?” – know that Jesus delights in our simple prayers, our hearts communicating with Him, remember how he rebuked the Pharisees for their many words?! (Matthew 6 v5, Mark 12 v38-40, Luke 18 v10-12). It blesses God and others when we pray out – the taking part is the winning and God is glorified and delights in it!
Waiting on God - Silence
We live in a world of noise, distractions and demands. When we come into God’s Presence in worship, we have an opportunity to “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46 v10). The Bible is packed with promises of good things when we wait on God – strength renewed (Isa 40 v31), perspective is gained (Lamentations 2 v25-26), knowing God’s help and protection (Psalm 33 v20-21), the opportunity to take a moment to ‘be’ with Him (Psalm 27 v4). The Hebrew word for ‘wait’ considers looking for eagerly, hope and expectation.
As we wait on God during worship, we often have the musicians play gently, we know that music sooths the soul (1 Sam 16 v14-23); there is, however, a place for silence before the Lord. Silence is counter-culture and not something we can be comfortable with. In church we don’t want awkward silence, but rather intentional silence with a goal of meeting with God. In moments of silent worship, we can sense and experience the awe of a Holy God and His manifest Presence. We can find rest and do personal business with God – maybe we need to repent or hear what God would speak into our hearts. Remember He has a still small voice (1 Kings 19 v11-13) so it would serve us well to take time to wait in silence together before Him.
Spiritual Gifts
Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He told His disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Promise of the Father - the Holy Spirit (Acts 1 v4). When the Holy Spirit came on the believers, He brought spiritual gifts for the purpose of building up the church. Spiritual gifts could be described as God-given abilities. There are a variety of spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 14. The gifts most often used during our Sunday worship include Prophecy, Word of Knowledge, Healing, Tongues and interpretation of tongues. We’ll focus in on the gifts of prophecy, tongues and interpretation of tongues.
1) Prophecy
Listening forms part of our relationship with God – Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27) - so any Christian has the potential to prophesy. The passage in 1 Corinthians 14 encourages us to eagerly desire spiritual gifts especially prophecy (v1); it goes on to explain the purpose of prophecy is to build up, encourage and console (v3). A prophecy can be a word of encouragement or a word of direction from God. When we gather to worship and meet with God, we expect God to use one another to share spiritual gifts for the common good (1 Corinthians 12 v7).
Prophecy can come in a variety of forms, it might be a picture, word, phrase, a sense or impression of something that won’t go away. God speaks to people in different ways, it can take time for us to tune in to what He might be saying. If you have a sense that God is speaking to you for the church have a chat with the meeting host and see when it might be appropriate to share it so everyone can hear. If you’re not sure perhaps note it down and share it within a discipleship relationship so you can seek to grow in the gift. The Bible encourages us to weigh up what has been shared to discern if God is speaking (1 Corinthians 14 v29).
2) Tongues and Interpretation
When we come to worship God, we’re trying to describe the indescribable! A preacher from the 1500’s Stephen Charnock, once said “God is incomprehensibly above whatsoever I can say, whatsoever I can think or conceive of Him.” It’s the gift of tongues that helps us worship God when our words fall short, it could be described as a worship language where our spirit communicates to God in an overflow of worship.
The Bible describes two types of gifts of tongues: Firstly, the disciples first experienced the gift of tongues when they were gathered together in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit enabled them to speak to foreigners in their own language so they might share the gospel (Acts 2 v1-4). The other type is described in 1 Corinthians 14, which is the worship language.
We can speak in tongues privately, in worship when we gather or share a tongue publicly.
The Bible teaches that speaking in tongues builds up the one speaking and is of no value to others (1 Cor 14 v4); thus, if someone bring a tongue publicly it needs to be interpreted.
An interpretation of a tongue is not a direct translation but a God-given sense or flavour of what was on the persons heart when they spoke out; it is a prayer of worship towards God rather than God speaking (which is prophecy). The person bringing the tongue can also be the one bringing the interpretation or it can be two different people. When a tongue is interpreted, we can all rejoice together in awe and wonder in our God who is indescribable!
Thanks to Geoff Maile, Mike Clements, Jo Travis, Ben Travis, Matt Levy, Brian Havell, Louise Thomas, Robin Johnson for their contributions.
