On Being a Worthy Worshiper
Before We Gather by Zach Hicks
| Scripture
Read Psalm 15:1-5
| Devotion
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been a part of prayer times before worship services when someone prayed something like this: “God we ask that you would purify our hearts and purify our motives so that we can be clean vessels for you to work through today.” As the prayer goes on, it’s clear that there’s a logic at play: if we want the worship service to be powerful, successful, and dynamic, if we want the Spirit to come in power and move among us-move through us–we need to make sure that we are clean vessels, not dirty ones. The idea is that worshipers (and maybe especially worship leaders) are like pipelines that run from heaven to earth, and if God is going to pour out the refreshing water of his presence onto his people, those pipelines need to be free of grime. debris, corrosion, and blockage-clean vessels.
When you read a psalm like Psalm 15, you get that same impression. “Who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” It’s essentially asking the question, “What kind of person is fit to worship God, to lead others in worshiping God?” And the next verse seems clear enough. It’s a barrage of requirements: You need to walk blamelessly. You need to do what is right. You need to speak truth in your heart. You need to avoid slander. You need to do no harm to your neighbor. You need to be truthful at all times. You need to be a good steward of your money. And on and on. You want worship to go well? You’d better be a clean vessel. And we shouldn’t shortchange just how serious and heavy a word like this is. God is holy, after all. And we should be too (Lev. 11:44: 1 Peter 1:16).
And yet what’s happening in our hearts when we receive the full force of Psalm 15? What’s happening when we feel the weighty call of being a clean vessel for God to work through? I think the honest response can only be one of two things: deceit or despair.. If we choose deceit, we will sugarcoat our faults, downplaying just how dire the situation is or how high the demand is. Just how clean a vessel do I need to be? Somewhat clean? Pretty clean? Am I just looking to remove the major obstructions? Is it okay to have a little grime coating the insides of the pipe as long as the water flows? That’s probably good enough, right? If we take that deceptive line of thought, we dodge the absolutism of verse 2, which isn’t looking for just a decently good person but one “who walks blamelessly.” And so if all we’ve got is Psalm 15, and if self-deception isn’t a real option, it appears that we’re left with despair.
But (and doesn’t the Bible’s good news often begin with “but”?) we need to remember that the Holy Spirit, who inspired. not only the content but the order of the book of Psalms, knows that Psalm 15 doesn’t leave us in a hopeful place. The Spirit knows that honestly praying Psalm 15 leaves us with a huge problem. And so we are given Psalm 16, the opening lines of which pray, “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’ ” One psalm later, one page later, a thunderbolt of grace busts a hole through what we thought was the rock bottom of our despair, tunneling a path from the Psalms straight to Jesus. Let’s make the language of Psalm 16 explicit: “Preserve me, O God, for in Christ I take refuge. I say to the Lord Jesus, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you, Jesus.’ ”
Worshipers and worship leaders must be clean vessels. And when we hide ourselves in Jesus, we are. When we give up our self- cleansing projects, when we throw ourselves on the mercy of God in Christ, we find ourselves more than ready to worship and more than ready to lead others all because Jesus is worthy. This is what the apostle Paul meant when he said that he “put no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3). The flesh wants to own the title of clean vessel. But that glory belongs to Jesus alone, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2).
According to John’s gospel, our job was never to be a pipeline between heaven and earth. Our job is to proclaim and receive by faith the one who is the eternal Word who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The good news is that we’re worthy to worship today because Jesus is worthy to worship today. And funny enough, as we give up on the idea that we could ever be clean vessels, we become something God can work through. So as we go to prayer, let’s commit ourselves and our fellow worshipers to making much of who Jesus is and what he has done.
| Prayer
Aim your prayers in this direction:
- Pray that every aspect of your worship service ultimately points to who Jesus is and what he has done.
- Pray for the Holy Spirit to come, convict and remove from your community all confidence in the flesh.
- Pray that those who feel overwhelmed by their sin, uncleanness, shame, and unworthiness would embrace the stronger word that Jesus loves, forgives, and heals.
- Pray for your leaders in worship that they would be relieved of the burden of feeling that they need to get it all right and have it all together.