For God Alone

The following is my first FOR GOD ALONE blog, written and initially posted in June of 2018, while I served Central Baptist Church Bearden (Knoxville), TN as Music/Worship Pastor.

Recently, our daughter sent a song suggestion to her music/worship pastor dad. A few weeks earlier, a member of my team sent the same song. (Anna and Jeff are just two of several persons who are and have been caught in adoration of the living Christ, and who, at my invitation, regularly send song suggestions, for which I remain extremely grateful.)

Then, not long after, the text of that same song captured my attention as I worshipped while standing beside a long-time friend during a recent trip to Waco, Texas.

“And as you speak a hundred billion galaxies are born; in the vapor of your breath the planets form. If the stars were made to worship so will I!”*

I believe that humankind exists to worship God. God created me, redeemed me, sustains me by his Spirit, and has commissioned me for his glory alone. 

Today, I join the public conversation on the general subjects of worship and music in the church. In launching this blog, I humbly join countless voices who are giving thoughtful consideration to the eternal subject of worship. (Revelation 4:1-11) It is my prayer that these occasional writings will inspire readers and fellow pilgrims, and even redirect our thinking toward a more biblical understanding of our chief end - to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

In Matthew 22:34-40, we read the account in which Jesus recited the Shema as he reminded his inquisitors to love God with all heart, soul, and mind. The Apostle Paul calls us to lay down our lives before God a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. (Romans 12:1-2) The life in Christ is denying self, taking up one’s cross, and following Jesus. (Luke 9:23) 

These three passages, and many more point to the selfless life in Christ, one that is to remain focused on our Creator-Redeemer God through continual worship, and on serving and loving others before ourselves.

We live and move in a self-centered society, where pleasing and satisfying ourselves before others or before God is a greater - though erroneous - value. Our culture is drifting ever farther away from God’s Truth as revealed in Scriptures.

To demonstrate how our self-centeredness has infiltrated the Church, I will call attention to the use of the word ‘experience’’ when referring to worship. This descriptive word is seen increasingly on countless church web sites, in worship periodicals, in casual (and not so casual) conversations, and within the national worship conference scene. 

Webster defines the word experience as:  “the process of doing and seeing things and of having things happen to you.” To call worship an ‘experience’ is to break the first two Commandments (Exodus 20:3-6), for, in so doing, we refer to worship as it relates to the worshipper, and not to the One to and for whom worship is to be offered.

Recently, my wife and I cared for our grandson while our son and his wife served others as camp leaders in Colorado. Every need that little Micah had was met through our loving service to him, his Momma and Daddy. Sure, we could call this an ‘experience,’ but our primary role that week was serving others, I trust, selflessly.

Worship, defined, is communion with God in which believers, by grace, center their mind’s attention and heart’s affection on the LORD, humbly glorifying God in response to His greatness and His word. Worship is our grateful response to God’s creating and, and then calling us to himself through redemption; as such, worship is our divine service to God.

One of the words in the Greek New Testament for worship is proskuneo, meaning to kiss the hand toward in token of reverence. In other words, it is an act of service, an offering given to a higher being. It is not an act or function that could primarily be described as a personal experience, but a gift given out of a grateful heart.

The prophet Isaiah offered us a clear understanding of worship order and behavior through his encounter with the LORD as recorded in Isaiah chapter six. God begins the worship dialogue (verses 1-4), and we, with Isaiah, respond to God’s divine revelation of himself with ‘Woe is me!’ (verse 5). And, so, the dialogue continues. 

When worship is purely offered, the worshipper should expect nothing in return. (Psalm 115:1) We approach God with grateful and sincere hearts.

These passages and more point to the truth that we are to honor God before and above all things. When our worship is set aright, so is our service and so is our purpose in this life and the life to come.

*So Will I (100 Billion X) Joel Houston, Benjamin Hastings, & Michael Fatkin

©️ by Paul R. Magyar, DMA, 2018