Worshipping God Versus Worshipping Worship
Before We Gather by Zach Hicks
| Scripture
Read Psalm 48
| Devotion
Though we don’t want to carry with us a destructively low self- esteem, there’s a blessed realism in memorizing a Bible verse like Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” I find myself going back to this verse weekly, if not daily.
Our hearts tend to take good things and turn them into self- destructive things. We could cite example after example, both in Scripture and in modern culture, of this propensity to weaponize good gifts and transfigure them into idols. One of the things we always need to be on the lookout for is how our hearts can shift from worshiping God to worshiping worship, turning the vehicle for worship into the object of worship, making the means the end.
Psalm 48 shows us one of the heart’s methods for turning the worship of God into the worship of worship: when we turn the things in and around our worship services into things we need for worship. The psalm makes it clear that God is not opposed to the “stuff.” The psalm’s lyrics are full of admiration for the physical place of worship-Mount Zion (v. 2), her citadels (vv. 3, 13), the city (v. 8), the temple (v. 9), and the city’s towers and ramparts (vv. 12-13).
But Psalm 48 makes a huge claim that we shouldn’t miss: it’s a check on all the admiration of the “stuff.” Verse 3 establishes that as worshipers ponder and inspect the city, her temple, and her protective walls, God “has made himself known as a fortress.” The physical fortress must never be a substitute refuge for the real fortress, which is God alone. Israel was always in danger of putting their trust–their sense of security, stability, yes, salvation-in the things they could see rather than in the God to whom those things pointed.
In worship, God gives us many means and media to assist us in the divine encounter. Certainly, God has ordained talented human beings to communicate his Word to us in preaching. Certainly, God has given us signs and seals of his grace: bread and wine at the table and water at baptism. Certainly, God has given us musical instruments to accompany our voices (Psalm 150). Certainly, he has placed many of us in buildings outfitted with technologies that enhance the beauty and apprehension of his presence sound systems, lighting, furniture, screens, decorations, and other art. And all those things contribute to our ability to feel and enjoy God’s presence. But we’re in perilous territory when we move from loving God in worship to loving the feelings that we get in worship.
God wants to use all those things to make himself known as the true object of worship, just as he intended that Israel would recognize Zion’s citadels as concrete symbols and reminders that he alone is the one keeping them safe. It’s one thing to appreciate a great preacher, but it’s another thing to depend on that person’s ability and charisma for being able to hear God in a sermon. It’s one thing to thank God for great musicians; it’s another thing to feel like we haven’t worshiped if the music or song selections weren’t right. It’s one thing for your room’s ambiance to lead you to feelings of awe and transcendence before God; it’s another to feel like you need a worship space like that to encounter God.
Just because it’s God’s gentle lovingkindness, not his cold austerity, that leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4), we shouldn’t think that God wants us to whitewash our walls and do away with all of worship’s “stuff.” Our hearts will just find other things to latch on to in their place. Instead, our response to the revelation of Psalm 48 can be twofold: First, we can simply give God thanks for his good and faithful gifts-for the technology, the talent, and all the manifold means of grace. Second, we can walk in perpetual repentance, asking God to purify our worship through Jesus Christ, who alone worshiped the Father with single-hearted affection. Jesus intercedes for us, then invites us to approach God’s throne boldly (Heb. 4:14-16).
| Prayer
Aim your prayers in this direction:
- Pray for yourselves and your entire church community, that you would never mistake the “stuff” of worship for God himself, and that God would continue to purify your hearts and motives about why we worship and whom we worship.
- Pray that the various aspects of worship-from the room to the aesthetic environment, from the leaders up front to the music and content of the service-would all ultimately “get out of the way” and point people’s hearts toward seeing and savoring Jesus Christ.
- Pray that the Holy Spirit would amplify and magnify our apprehension of Jesus’ glory-particularly his glory on the cross-so that Jesus might be more beautiful and believable today than yesterday.