Voices: 7 marks of the church: Dynamic worship

At the end of Luke 12, Luke recorded Herod had died. He had just given an impressive speech.

The people hearing his speech shouted, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”

They were ascribing to Herod the quality of a deity. Herod accepted the accolades of the people. God took Herod’s acceptance of glory personally. Herod was trying to steal glory for himself. God will not give his glory to another.

Luke recorded an angel of God killed Herod. Luke said Herod was killed because he did not give God the glory.

Then there’s what seems to be a strange transition: “But the word of God increased and multiplied” (Acts 12:14).

Herod died because he did not give God the glory, but the word of God increased and multiplied. Despite Herod’s actions, the word of God increased and multiplied.

Herod couldn’t take the glory that belonged to God. He tried to steal worship, but God would not allow it.

This account is juxtaposed to a gathering of the leadership of the church at Antioch. Barnabas and Saul returned to Antioch bringing John Mark with them and gathered with the other leaders of the church at Antioch to worship God.

Many Christians have a poor understanding of what it means to worship. Worship is a verb. It is an action, something we do. However, followers of God have made worship into something else. We have made worship a passive element rather than an active engagement.

Worship in the Bible

In the Old Testament, worship generally was confined to the temple complex. Worship was done through sacrifices, performing various rituals and giving resources to God. Worship was a demonstration of loyalty. It was something they did, not something they just attended.

In the New Testament, worship was not confined to the temple complex, but it still carries with it many of the same concepts present in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, it becomes even clearer worship is not something simply attended, but something we do. To worship is to actively engage in service.

In classical Greek, the word “worship” was used to describe the service voluntarily rendered to the state. Then, it indicated the performing of service the state required from citizens who specifically were qualified by their wisdom or wealth. Later, it was used to describe any kind of service.

The word “worshipping” is where we get our word “liturgy.” Liturgy is the way our worship is conducted.

Worship is what we do to demonstrate our loyalty and dedication to God. One of the marks of an authentic church is dynamic worship.

Worship is a verb

Dynamic worship doesn’t mean the music makes me feel good. It is not about tingly feelings. Dynamic worship is when God’s people become active in his service and are motivated to do work in and for his kingdom.

We used to say we were going “to the worship service.” We said that because we had a different understanding of what we would do when we gathered. We said we were going to the worship service, because we understood worship meant we had something to do. We had roles and duties to perform as we worshipped God.

Then, something happened. God’s people stopped going to the worship service and decided to hire people to do the things. Worship stopped being a service and became something else.

Instead of looking for ways to get involved and serve in worship, worship attendees started to wait for people to serve them. In many churches today, believers are consumers and not worshippers.

Consumers vs. worshippers

Consumers act differently than worshippers. Consumers evaluate the quality of the product: “Does it meet my liking, or does it fall short in some way? The church down the street has better coffee and breakfast, so I’ll go there. I like the ministries of that other church better, so I go there. I don’t like this or that, so I won’t go to that church.”

We are in a church-rich area and can pick and choose, just like consumers do. Consumers ask what can be done for them. They want it their way. If the product isn’t what I want, I will go where I can get what I want. This is the way many people approach church today.

But what if we didn’t approach the church as consumers? What if we approached the church as worshippers? What would happen?

Deeper ministry

Something happened when the church in Antioch was worshipping. God spoke to them through the Holy Spirit. He told them two of the leaders of the church had a calling on their lives to do something different.

As they were worshipping, as they were doing the ministry, God called them into deeper ministry. Remember, Barnabas was a primary leader of the church at Antioch, and Saul was a primary teacher. They were worshipping through their service.

Sitting in a pew on Sundays isn’t enough. Simply showing up isn’t enough. Worship is an action. It is participatory, but many have turned it into a spectator sport.

The priests had responsibilities and roles to perform. Their actions were their worship. The New Testament assigns the role of priest to every believer.

Everyone has a role to perform in the body of Christ. We no longer have the luxury of thinking we will hire our way to spiritual health. All of us must put our shoulders to the plow and do the work of ministry. God is not going to work in us and through us while we are sitting on our hands.

Ben Karner is the senior pastor of Pine Forest Baptist Church in Vidor. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.