Both Amos and Isaiah fully condemn the worship of Israel. Amos speaking the words of God declares, “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies… I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.[1] Isaiah similarly proclaims, “Bring your worthless offerings no longer… I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly…. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you.”[2] Their religious assemblies, traditions, and even prayer were utterly rejected by God. In both situations, as they “worshipped” God, their heart was far from God. They were going through the motions of honoring God, but they were willfully living in evil and sin. God rejects purposeful sin as he did with Israel.
Jesus in a similar way condemned the Pharisees. He twice instructs them to go learn what this means: “I desire compassion, and not sacrifice.”[3] Authentic worship is a matter of the heart; our actions ought to reveal what is within the heart.[4] If churches realized and understood what Jesus meant and applied it to the assemblies, the “worship wars” so common today would disappear.
Worship has always been giving our hearts to God. In Seeking a Lasting City the authors explain that our assemblies are a time of sharing our stories, including the hurts, pains, difficulties, and victories that we have experienced. They go on to say, “But we don’t just bring a story – we also meet a story…. Authenticity happens in worship as this story – the Story – encounters ours and makes it meaningful even as it redeems and transforms it.”[5] As we tell our stories, we encounter God’s story in the Bible and it transforms this journey of ours called life. They go on to explain in a very general sense how we can lose authentic worship. They say that “first, if the story of God is never encountered, worship can’t happen…. Second, if God’s story gets presented but never engages our own story, authenticity is not achieved. When this happens, we find ourselves unable to figure our why what we’re doing matters.”[6] God’s story is the foundation to our worship assemblies and from that foundation authentic worship flows.
In his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul gives some suggestions for how they are to assemble to worship God. He advises:
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.[7]
From this passage Hicks and others help us to observe three questions that we are to ask about our assemblies: Do they glorify God? Do we please ourselves or others? Do we point the unbeliever to God?[8] We must ask ourselves when we lead prayer, preach, or pass the communion trays, is this is to lift up God and glorify him or is it to make me look good? Our assemblies are not self-focused glorification but they are to give glory to the one to whom glory is due. When Paul says that he works to “please all men in all things,” he is referring to what benefits others. He is concerned with building them up and doing them good, rather than tearing them down.[9] Our concern in our assemblies ought to be the same. Our goal and focus ought to be to edify others, focusing on how to help the church rather than how the church is supposed to help us. Lastly, Paul notes that our assemblies should also be concerned about unbelievers. Evangelism is part of our assemblies, and it is important that unbelievers are not offended or confused after coming to our assemblies. So often we use religious jargon that the world does not comprehend. We must continually be “translating” the gospel message into a way that all can understand and believe. Furthermore, I often hear preachers who condemn the world for this or that. Granted there is universal truth that must be recognized, but continually dividing “us” – the saved – and “them” – the sinners – is not only offensive but self-righteously arrogant. We are saved, not by anything that we have done, but by grace through faith.[10] Therefore we ought to focus on the ways God has redeemed us as sinners rather than point out how God condemns them.
When we gather together, we must remember that authentic worship is a matter of the heart. It is rehearsing and remembering the story of God and redemptively connecting his story with our own. Lastly, we are to ask: Do our assemblies glorify God and serve others or do they simply cater to our own interests?[11] Following these biblical guidelines will lead to meaningful, transformative, and authentic worship gatherings.
[1] Amos 5:21-23 [2] Isaiah 1:11-17 [3] Matthew 9:13; 12:7, quoted from Hosea 6:6 [4] When a husband says “I love you” to his wife, but his actions and non-verbal communication reveal otherwise, she will totally reject his words. When we worship God, we are saying to him, “I love you.” However, if our actions outside of the assembly are contrary to our statement of love (and love of others), then God likewise will totally reject our worship. [5] Love, Seeking a Lasting City,196. [6] Ibid. [7] 1 Corinthians 10:31 – 11:1 [8] Hicks, A Gathered People, 154. [9] Ibid. [10] Ephesians 2:8-9 [11] Hicks, A Gathered People, 155.
