nishanth
New Member
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
The highest form of Christian service is the worship of the Almighty. The chief end of all evangelistic labour and missionary endeavour is to raise worshipping congregations to the praise of God’s glory (Rom 10:14; 15:9-11). In order to teach the new congregations how to make worship rich and regular, prayers of praise and thanksgiving were written down by Church leaders to be read out in worship services. But in course of time such readings became a meaningless routine and an empty ritual. This led Prophets like A.W. Tozer to call worship as the "missing jewel of evangelical Christianity!" But in the recent years there is a worldwide outpouring of the spirit of praise and worship as a fresh breeze into an otherwise suffocating situation. Over-excited Christians in response have totally abandoned the old forms or the liturgical pattern of worship and adopted the free style. This has created a tension between the older people and the younger generation as well as between the mainline churches and newer congregations. How to ease the situation?
It was under the anointing of the Holy Spirit that the Church leaders of the yester years wrote down prayers for public worship. It is the same Holy Spirit who has raised numerous worship leaders these days to lead congregations into rapturous worship. Maturity therefore demands that both are accepted as complementing each other rather than contradicting.
In His discourse with the Samaritan woman Jesus insisted how worship must be offered both "in spirit and in truth" (Jn 4:24). While writing down regulations for the operation of gifts in public, apostle Paul mentioned that praying and singing must be both "with the spirit and with the understanding" (1 Cor 14:15). Liturgical prayers are unquestionably rich in content whereas free style praise and worship often tends to be repetitive and of limited coverage of Biblical revelation. At the same time liturgical prayers limit the free expression of the worshipper’s inner feelings. One needs the other. Each group must add a little bit from the other for a healthy balance. No form is superior or inferior to the other. As much as many who had been used to only liturgical worship find the new wave quite refreshing, several people grow tired of the sameness and leanness of the content of the free style of worship and begin to feel that "the old is better!" (Lk 5:39).
Physical posture in worship is another factor to be considered. Except standing, bowing and kneeling no other posture is generally encouraged in churches which follow liturgical order. But the other expressions sanctioned in the Bible namely lifting up of hands (Psa 134:2; 1 Tim 2:8), clapping of hands (Psa 47:1) and dancing (Psa 149:3; 150:4) are freely practised in the other group. The first group must come out of its apprehensions if partiality to the Scripture is to be avoided. Of course culture has a role to play here. The Bible was written in the middle-eastern culture. No form of expression mentioned here seems to be totally objectionable to any culture. Emotionalism is unedifying but emotions are God-given to be expressed in our love for Him and our fellowmen (Mt 22:37-39).
Some of those who can intensely enjoy the singing of a thousand voice choir cannot tolerate the noisy worship of charismatics. They criticize it as disorderliness inappropriate for a divine service. Here again the Bible teaches both. Psalm 46 says, "Be still, and know that I am God" (v10), whereas the very next Psalm calls us to "shout to God with the voice of triumph" (Psa 47:1). Zechariah 2:10 calls us to "sing and rejoice" whereas the 13th verse exhorts all people to "be silent before the Lord!" I call upon Pentecostals to do things more "decently and in order" (1 Cor 14:40). I encourage non-Pentecostals to add more enthusiasm and excitement to worship to make it livelier. I remind sober worshippers that silence is rather rare in Heaven! (Rev 8:1). Pentecostals at the same time must stop condemning non-Pentecostal worship as dead. Noise alone is not proof of life. Don’t take out of context the verse 2 Corinthians 3:17, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." The context is liberty from the law of Moses (vv 14-16) and it does not mean license to behave as we please in God’s presence. Reverential fear can never be forsaken in worship (Eccl 5:1,2; Heb 12:28,29).
A word about music: Old timers do not relish jarring music and fast beats. The feelings of elders must be respected to maintain harmony in congregations. At the same time, in order that we may not lose the younger and future generations, the elders must become more tolerant and not resist all change.
The old hymns have no par for their theological content (Eph 5:18,19; Col 3:16). They cover a huge variety of subjects whereas most of the modern choruses repeat just a few thoughts and are not doctrinally sound enough. I would urge composers to sit with Bible teachers before releasing their songs and choruses. Worship that lacks theology (= knowledge of God) is undesirable to God (Hos 6:3,6). Even in Heaven we will be using the ancient song of Moses (Rev 15:3,4; Dt 32).
I come from high Anglican tradition, but I am comfortable with both Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal forms of worship as long as worship stems from the "heart" and is not merely the sound of "lips" or motion of "hands!" (Isa 29:13; 1:15).
It was under the anointing of the Holy Spirit that the Church leaders of the yester years wrote down prayers for public worship. It is the same Holy Spirit who has raised numerous worship leaders these days to lead congregations into rapturous worship. Maturity therefore demands that both are accepted as complementing each other rather than contradicting.
In His discourse with the Samaritan woman Jesus insisted how worship must be offered both "in spirit and in truth" (Jn 4:24). While writing down regulations for the operation of gifts in public, apostle Paul mentioned that praying and singing must be both "with the spirit and with the understanding" (1 Cor 14:15). Liturgical prayers are unquestionably rich in content whereas free style praise and worship often tends to be repetitive and of limited coverage of Biblical revelation. At the same time liturgical prayers limit the free expression of the worshipper’s inner feelings. One needs the other. Each group must add a little bit from the other for a healthy balance. No form is superior or inferior to the other. As much as many who had been used to only liturgical worship find the new wave quite refreshing, several people grow tired of the sameness and leanness of the content of the free style of worship and begin to feel that "the old is better!" (Lk 5:39).
Physical posture in worship is another factor to be considered. Except standing, bowing and kneeling no other posture is generally encouraged in churches which follow liturgical order. But the other expressions sanctioned in the Bible namely lifting up of hands (Psa 134:2; 1 Tim 2:8), clapping of hands (Psa 47:1) and dancing (Psa 149:3; 150:4) are freely practised in the other group. The first group must come out of its apprehensions if partiality to the Scripture is to be avoided. Of course culture has a role to play here. The Bible was written in the middle-eastern culture. No form of expression mentioned here seems to be totally objectionable to any culture. Emotionalism is unedifying but emotions are God-given to be expressed in our love for Him and our fellowmen (Mt 22:37-39).
Some of those who can intensely enjoy the singing of a thousand voice choir cannot tolerate the noisy worship of charismatics. They criticize it as disorderliness inappropriate for a divine service. Here again the Bible teaches both. Psalm 46 says, "Be still, and know that I am God" (v10), whereas the very next Psalm calls us to "shout to God with the voice of triumph" (Psa 47:1). Zechariah 2:10 calls us to "sing and rejoice" whereas the 13th verse exhorts all people to "be silent before the Lord!" I call upon Pentecostals to do things more "decently and in order" (1 Cor 14:40). I encourage non-Pentecostals to add more enthusiasm and excitement to worship to make it livelier. I remind sober worshippers that silence is rather rare in Heaven! (Rev 8:1). Pentecostals at the same time must stop condemning non-Pentecostal worship as dead. Noise alone is not proof of life. Don’t take out of context the verse 2 Corinthians 3:17, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." The context is liberty from the law of Moses (vv 14-16) and it does not mean license to behave as we please in God’s presence. Reverential fear can never be forsaken in worship (Eccl 5:1,2; Heb 12:28,29).
A word about music: Old timers do not relish jarring music and fast beats. The feelings of elders must be respected to maintain harmony in congregations. At the same time, in order that we may not lose the younger and future generations, the elders must become more tolerant and not resist all change.
The old hymns have no par for their theological content (Eph 5:18,19; Col 3:16). They cover a huge variety of subjects whereas most of the modern choruses repeat just a few thoughts and are not doctrinally sound enough. I would urge composers to sit with Bible teachers before releasing their songs and choruses. Worship that lacks theology (= knowledge of God) is undesirable to God (Hos 6:3,6). Even in Heaven we will be using the ancient song of Moses (Rev 15:3,4; Dt 32).
I come from high Anglican tradition, but I am comfortable with both Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal forms of worship as long as worship stems from the "heart" and is not merely the sound of "lips" or motion of "hands!" (Isa 29:13; 1:15).
