Godfrey on Worship 4: Worship and the Word

When we worship, God’s Word should be central in everything we do.  Fortunately, the Bible does show many different ways to worship according to the Word.

We read God’s Word.  Romans 10:17 says faith comes through hearing and hearing through the preaching of God’s Word.  Preachers make major error when they do not open the Bible and read a whole passage, when they just reduce their message to one verse is any verse at all.  This only shows shame of God’s Word and is why the mainline churches are so liberal.  It started when they stopped emphasizing the reading of Scripture.

We pray God’s Word.  Somehow, we need the long, pastoral prayer.  It’s not there to bore the audience, but it often does because the pastor forgets to insert Scripture into his prayer.

We sing God’s Word.  Colossians 3:16 notes that this can be done in psalms, hymns, or any song. 

Our songs seriously lack real emotion anymore.  They are joyful and uplifting, but where are the sad songs?  Most of the Psalms are very sad and sometimes even angry.  Real humans should be able to express their real thoughts in worship.  If we can’t, then we have no place where we can feel safe.  Church should be the only place for that.  So, this is why I love electric guitars, drums, and lights. 

They can distract from Christ, but they don’t have to.  They can be used completely for His Glory.  Acapella Psalms can be just as much of a graven image as a rock band.

We eat the Word through communion and baptism.  Baptism really does mark a person as a part of God’s community, and we really do eat Christ during communion. 

These are five different ways to honor God in church and to rightly worship him.  God provided plenty of elbow room in those methods.  However, we must use Scripture.