WHY I WORSHIP

Have you ever been reading a book that you really enjoyed and at the same time couldn't shake the thought that something just wasn't quite right about it? This happened to me while I was reading For whose Pleasure: Confronting the Real Issue as We Gather to Worship by Steve Klingbell.   I started reading this book at the recommendation of two people I know, love, and trust - who both thought the book was fantastic... So I had high expectations for it. I have to admit that it really is a good book about worship that I would recommend all Christians to read.  It does a wonderful job addressing many of the issues our American culture is facing with worship today including the consumer-mentality we see in American worship, getting "me" out of the worship equation, the importance of corporate worship, the importance of truth in worship, and - most importantly - having the right "object" of worship, which is God.  The author treated all of these topics and others like them very well, but even as I read and enjoyed the book, I was bothered by a little twinge inside telling me that something was just a little off.

The more I read, the clearer that twinge became until I realized that my problem was not with the author's treatment of the issues, but with the author's fundamental principle of the book itself - that of pleasing God through our worship.  The author's treatment of pleasing God through worship was thorough, and so I began to have a bit (a small bit, but a bit nonetheless) of a theological crisis.  You see I know that theologically what pleases God is not my actions, but rather the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  I realize and understand that all of my righteous acts are as filthy rags in the eyes of God.  Most importantly, I know from scripture that it is only through faith that I as an individual can please God because without faith it is impossible to please God.  Any good study of Romans or Galatians or Ephesians will prove to you that I can never please God through any actions of my own - including religious acts of "worship." I know that what pleases God is my faith in the one thing that truly pleases Him - the work of Christ.  My crisis, therefore, was in the fact that the author did such a very good job of demonstrating through scripture how our acts of worship can please God that I wanted to believe him, but my theological bias told me that could not possibly be the case.   Pleasing God is a very desirable thing... And I am immediately drawn back in my memory to the old Petra song that said "I wanna be a God-please; Don't wanna be a man-pleaser.."  It is very natural for us to want to please our deity - that is what all religion is ultimately about...but is it theologically correct for Christianity?

What made the crisis more acute for me was the fact that I very much liked what the author said about worship and agreed with his analysis, conclusions, and recommendations about how we approach God in worship.  If that had not been the case, I would have dismissed the book as being completely off base... But because I liked the book so much, I needed to resolve this issue theologically.

I began to contemplate and meditate over these scriptures to try to resolve this crisis in my own mind.  How can it be true that my worship pleases God when only my faith in the work of Jesus Christ really pleases God.  As I did so, I began to realize that in each and every one of these scriptures presented by the author, it was not so much the actions of the individual that pleased God but rather the condition of the heart that led to the actions that pleased God. In fact, much of the prescribed worship in the Old Testament that would please God never actually pleased God because the people of Israel never really committed their heart wholly to God. That made some sense to me and actually fit well into the author's paradigm of the book. The condition of our heart is paramount to whether our actions - be they worship related or otherwise - are acceptable to God.  It also reinforces the reason why much of Israel's worship in the Old Testament was found to be so unacceptable to God "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Isaiah 29:13 ESV).  Perhaps this would be the key that would help me get past my theological crisis with the author's approach to worship on this book.  At least I hoped so...

About that time, The Lord began to impress upon me a couple of important questions.  The first question was fairly simple, "What is worship?"  That one is pretty easy (I've been through this exercise before).  Worship is more than singing...worship is more than praising...worship is even more than service...although all of these "actions" take place as part of our worship of God (or other things).  Worship is, simply put, ascribing worth or declaring that something has value or worth.  In both the Hebrew and the Greek, the word most often used for worship literally means to bow down before and the second most often used word means to serve, but in all cases the concept is about ascribing appropriate worth.  We give value to lots of things every day.  In fact, we give some kind of value to everything.  In that sense, we actually do "worship" - that is, give worth to - lots of things.  Some of that may be appropriate (for example, when we say a car is worth a certain amount of money or when we say that a certain activity was worth the trouble and effort), and so we would not call that "worship" per se.  The problem is when we give something more (or less) value than it deserves.  When we give something more value than it deserves - and especially if we give something greater value than we give God - then that thing becomes for us an idol and we begin to worship that thing in the sense of worship that we understand here.

The second question that the The Lord then impressed on me was this: "Why do you worship me?"  That question was a little more difficult.  The author of this book would say that I should worship to please God.  I think therein lies the heart of what was bothering me about the book.  The only acceptable answer to the question as to why I worship is this: Because he IS worthy - or - because he deserves it and he alone deserves it.  Worship is ascribing worth.  Who is more worthy of worship, then, than the one who has greater value and worth than anything else.  I worship God because he deserves my worship and for no other reason than that.  I ascribe worth to God because he is worthy of my worship.  This immediately brings to mind the many many songs that say exactly that..."Worthy, you are worthy..." We sing "he is worthy" because his alone is.  However, it is not just in my singing that I ascribe worth to God.  All of my life can be worship because all of my life can be carried out for the glory and worthiness of God.

Of course I may choose to "worship" for other reasons, but no other reason for worship is valid and so no other reason for worship pleases God.  It may seem a bit paradoxical to say it, but if I worship to please God he will never be pleased...but if I worship because he is worthy of my worship then he will be pleased.  So where does this leave us with the book, For Whose Pleasure?  I really do not write this to be negative toward the author at all.  In fact, I still recommend the book as a great read for any Christian.  However, I don't want us doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons - even if the primary reason is as lofty as wanting to please God.  The author is saying all the right things we need to hear about worship, but his premise for doing so is so that we can please God.  I get that.  I want to please God not only with my worship but with my whole life as well.  However, I must ultimately recognize that only through my faith in Christ can I please God.  That means I must give worth to God through my worship - not to please God, but because - through faith - I know and acknowledge that he is worthy of it just because of who his is.  As such, as you do read this book (and I recommend that you do) my suggestion would simply be to replace the book's concept of worshipping God to please him with worshipping God simply because he is worthy of it.  When each chapter begins with "Pleasing God by..." replace that in your mind with "Demonstrating God's Worthiness by..."  Likewise, when the author discusses how and why we should seek to please God through worship, remember that while we should desire to please God, it is only through our faith that we really can please God and that all the things he says will bring pleasure to God only do so when they are done in faith for the glory and worthiness of Jesus Christ.

Of course i could be completely off-base with this and and open to a theological correction if it is appropriate. I would love to hear your thoughts on this... Do you agree or disagree with my assessment of our reasons for worship?  Am I over-reacting? Please leave your comments below.