CHAPTER 11

True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
— JOHN 4 : 2 3

In ancient cultures social life revolved around sanctuaries, temples, and
stadiums. There, various gods and goddesses were worshiped as people
gave their time, talent, and treasure as sacrifices to the adoration of their
deity. Even the buildings themselves were built as acts of worship.
Today, little has changed. The temple of Ra, the sun god, has now
been replaced with warm weather resorts and tanning salons where worshipers
pay homage to their bronzing god. The temples of Ptah, the god of
craftsmen, are today hardware stores and Craftsman tools. The Temples at
Nemea, Olympia, Delphi, and Isthmia included stadiums, which have now
been replaced with soccer fields, baseball parks, football stadiums, and
basketball arenas where pagan fans dress up- like they always have- as
birds and animals to cheer for their gods as they score points. The healing
cults of Asklepios, with sanctuaries at Epidaurous and Corinth, have now
been replaced with holistic health spas.
The Oracular gods often had sanctuaries near fresh water sources that
we refer to as beaches, campsites, golf courses, and fishing holes. At the
temple of Apollo, prophetic pronouncements about the future were given;
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these have now been superseded by speculating newscasts and blogs as a
sort of digital divination by which the future can be predicted. The temple
of Thoth was where the god of writing and knowledge was worshiped, and
he is now housed in local libraries and universities. Monthu, the god of
battle, was worshiped at Armant but is now more commonly found at war
and veteran monuments along with appearances in violent video games
and cage fights.
Min, an early fertility deity, was worshiped at Coptos but today is present
at medical fertility clinics. Hathor, the goddess of motherhood, was
worshiped at Byblos in ancient days but has relocated to birthing centers.
The temple of Neith in the Delta was connected to medical education, which
is presently found in medical schools and research centers. The temple of
Aphrodite in Corinth where sex was part of worship has now gone global
with strip clubs and porn. The small shrines that filled ancient homes and
required homage and financial sacrifice have long since been upgraded with
home entertainment systems and high-speed Internet connections. Finally,
Paul once said that our god is our stomach, and that god is worshiped by the
gluttonous and obese at all-you-can-eat buffets.
Indeed, when our culture is considered through the lens of worship and
idolatry, primitive ancient paganism seems far less primitive or ancient.
This is because everyone everywhere is continually worshiping, and idolatry
is, sadly, seen more easily when we examine other cultures rather than
our own. This is because we often have too narrow an understanding of
worship and do not see that idolatry empowers our sin.
WHAT IS WORSHIP?
Worship, rightly understood, begins with the doctrine of the Trinity and
the doctrine of image. In his magnificent book on worship, Harold Best
describes the Trinity as the uniquely Continuous Outpourer who continually
pours himself out between the persons of the Godhead in unceasing
communication, love, friendship, and joy.1 It follows that humans created
1See Harold M. Best, Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts (Downers
Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2003), 21.
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in God’s image would also be unceasing worshipers as continuous outpourers.
Best says:
We were created continuously outpouring. Note that I did not say we
were created to be continuous outpourers. Nor can I dare imply that we
were created to worship. This would suggest that God is an incomplete
person whose need for something outside himself (worship) completes
his sense of himself. It might not even be safe to say that we were created
for worship, because the inference can be drawn that worship is
a capacity that can be separated out and eventually relegated to one of
several categories of being. I believe it is strategically important, therefore,
to say that we were created continuously outpouring- we were
created in that condition, at that instant, imago Dei.2
Indeed, worship is not merely an aspect of our being but the essence
of our being as God’s image bearers. As a result, all of life is ceaseless
worship. Practically, this means that while worship does include corporate
church meetings, singing songs, and liturgical forms, it is not limited by
these things, defined solely as these things, or expressed only in these
things, because worship never stops. Rather, we are continually giving
ourselves away or pouring ourselves out for a person, cause, experience,
achievement, or status. Sadly, as the doctrine of the fall reveals, much of
how we pour ourselves out and what we pour ourselves into in worship is
someone or something other than the Trinitarian Creator God.
As the doctrine of image reveals, human beings are unceasing worshipers.
We are not created to worship, but rather we are created worshiping.
Everyone worships all the time. Atheists, agnostics, Christians, and
everyone in between are unceasing worshipers. Everyone, everywhere, all
the time, is always worshiping. While the object and method of worship
vary, the act of worship does not.3
Best synthesizes his thoughts on worship, saying, “I have worked out a
definition for worship that I believe covers every possible human condition.
2Ibid., 23, emphasis in original.
3See ibid., 17-18.
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It is this: Worship is the continuous outpouring of all that I am, all that I
do and all that I can ever become in light of a chosen or choosing god.” 4
One of the more insightful sections of Scripture on worship is Hebrews
13:15-17, which says:
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to
God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect
to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing
to God. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping
watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let
them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no
advantage to you.
In this section we see that worship includes (1) praise; (2) proclamation,
i.e., lips that confess his name; (3) service, which means doing good
as a demonstration of the gospel to the world; (4) participation, which
means sharing with others as a demonstration of grace to the world);
(5) sacrifice, the giving of time talent and treasure; and (6) submission,
i.e., respecting godly authority placed over us so that we grow in wisdom
and holiness.
In light of this comprehensive overview of worship acts, we can examine
our lives to see if our worship is honoring or dishonoring to God:
1) Who or what do you praise most passionately and frequently?
2) How commonly and clearly do you confess Jesus Christ in the words
you speak, type, and sing?
3) Are you one who serves others with gladness in response to God’s
so faithfully serving you? Or are you someone who prefers to be
served rather than to serve? Do you serve when it is inconvenient or
unnoticed, or when you are unmotivated?
4) Are you an active participant in the life of your church and community?
Do you give your time, talent, and treasure to share God’s love
in tangible ways with others?
4Ibid., 18, italics in original.
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5) For whom or what do you sacrifice your time, health, emotion,
money, and energy for? What do these acts of worship reveal about
what you have chosen to deify in your life?
6) Are you submissive to godly authority or do you tend to ignore or
rebel against godly authority (e.g., parent, teacher, pastor, or boss)?
WHAT IS IDOLATRY?
The opposite of worship is idolatry. Every human being- at every moment
of their life, today and into eternity- is unceasingly doing either the former
or the latter. On this point N. T. Wright says:
Christians are not defined by skin colour, by gender, by geographical
location, or even, shockingly, by their good behaviour. Nor are they
defined by the particular type of religious feelings they may have.
They are defined in terms of the god they worship. That’s why we say
the Creed at the heart of our regular liturgies: we are defined as the
people who believe in this god. All other definitions of the church are
open to distortion. We need theology, we need doctrine, because if we
don’t have it something else will come in to take its place. And any
other defining marks of the church will move us in the direction of
idolatry.5
Worship is a biblically faithful understanding of God combined with a
biblically faithful response to him. Conversely, idolatry is an unbiblical,
unfaithful understanding of God, and/or an unbiblical, unfaithful response
to him. David Powlison goes so far as to say, “Idolatry is by far the most
frequently discussed problem in the Scriptures.” 6
Underlying idolatry is the lie. In John 8:44 Jesus describes Satan as
“the father of lies.” The lie in its various forms says that you are god, you
can become a god, you are a part of god, you are worthy of worship as a
god, you can be the source of your life’s identity and meaning, you can
5N. T. Wright, For All God’s Worth: True Worship and the Calling of the Church (Grand Rapids, MI:
Eerdmans, 1997), 28.
6David Powlison, “Idols of the Heart and -Vanity Fair,'” The Journal of Biblical Counseling vol. 13
(Winter 1995): 35. Also available here: http://www.greentreewebster.org/Articles/Idols%20of%20the%20
Heart%20(Powlison).pdf.
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transform yourself, and you can transform the world and its sin problem as
a sort of hero/savior. The answer, therefore, is not to look outward to God
for identity, meaning, insight, and salvation. Rather, the answer is to look
inward to self for identity, meaning, insight, and personal liberation. The
answer, the lie says, is to be found in self rather than in a creator God who is
separate from me and rules over me. Helpful in this inward process are such
things as drugs, trances, yoga, meditation, self-esteem, self-actualization,
self-improvement, and self-help, all of which allow a person to go inward
for peace, harmony, and enlightenment, it is said, by enabling him or her
to experience oneness with the divine consciousness.
This explains why ancient non-Christian spiritual practices are becoming
increasingly popular. For example, Wicca and other ancient pagan
religious practices, even demonic spirituality, are being promulgated and
networked online and are incorporated into the teachings of spiritual gurus
such as Deepak Chopra and Oprah and the pagan spiritual leaders she
endorses, such as Marianne Williamson and Eckhart Tolle.7 Sadly, some
of this is even finding its way into “Christian” worship practices under the
guise of ancient-future worship. Just because a practice is ancient does not
mean it is Christian. The Bible warns us against adopting pagan worship
practices8 and commands us to test the spirits.9 So we examine the
source and symbolism of proposed practices. One pagan example is circular
prayer labyrinths, where the symbolism is often one walking inward on oneself
rather than outward in repentance toward God. This worship is antithetical
to the gospel, which commands us to turn to God for our hope and help.
Echoing Jesus, Paul examines worship and idolatry brilliantly in
Romans 1:18-32 by contrasting the lie of idolatry with the truth of worship.
His thesis statement on all this is Romans 1:25, which speaks of idolaters
who “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” 10
7For one example, my debate with Deepak Chopra on ABC’s Nightline can be found at http://www.
marshillchurch.org/media/in-the-news/nightline-satan-debate.
8Lev. 10:1-2; Deut. 12:4; 18:10; 2 Kings 16:3.
9Deut. 13:1-11; Matt. 7:15-16; 1 Thess. 5:21; 1 John 4:1-4.
10Peter Jones has spent a great deal of his time explaining this issue to me (Mark). Jones is one of the leading
experts in the world on paganism, and much of what ensues in this section has been gleaned from time
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The truth is what we will call two-ism. Two-ism is the biblical doctrine
that the Creator and creation are separate and that creation is subject
to the Creator. Visually, you can think of this in terms of two circles with
one being God the creator and the other containing all of his creation (see
Chart 11.1).
CHART 11.1
The lie is what we will call one-ism. One-ism is the pagan and idolatrous
doctrine that there is no distinction between Creator and creation,
and/or a denial that there is a Creator. The popular word for this notion
is monism. Practically, one-ism is the eradication of boundaries and differences
to bring opposites together as one. The materialistic form of
one-ism is atheism. Spiritual one-ism is also often called New Age, New
Spirituality, or Integrative Spirituality. According to spiritual one-ism, the
universe is a living organism with a spiritual force present within everything.
Thus, everything is interconnected by the life force or the world
soul. This life force manifests as spiritual beings (Christians realize these
are demons) that manipulate the course of world events. These spirits can
be influenced to serve people by using the ancient magical arts. Humans
possess divine power unlimited by any deity. Consciousness can be altered
through the practice of rite and ritual. Magic is the manipulation of objects,
substances, spirit entities, and minds, including humans and demons, by
word (ritual, incantations, curses, spells, etc.) and objects (charms, amuwith
him, for which I am very thankful. His thoughts on one-ism can be found at http://www.theresurgence.
com/peter_jones_2008-01-08_audio_walking_in_the_land_of_blur and http://www.theresurgence.com/
peter_jones_2008-01-08_video_ walking_in_the_land_of_blur.
Two-ism
Creator Creation
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lets, crystals, herbs, potions, wands, candles, etc.). Visually, you can think
of this in terms of one circle in which everything is contained and interconnected
as one (see Chart 11.2).
CHART 11.2
Often, the circle itself serves as the defining symbol of pagan idolatry.
This includes the yantra circle used for Hindu worship, the mandala circle
of dharma and Dharmacakra used for Buddhist and Taoist worship, the sun
cross used by Wiccans (who also gather in a circle), and Native American
medicine wheels, dream catchers, and drum circles. A well-known expression
of one-ism is found in the popular song from The Lion King that
speaks of “the circle of life.”
As a worldview, one-ism is antithetical to Christian two-ism because
it seeks to place everything in the one circle.
1) There is no distinction between God the creator and creation. This
results in pantheism and panentheism, which even some young “Christian”
pastors are advocating.11
2) There is no distinction between God and mankind. This results in a
spirituality that does not look humbly out to God for salvation, but rather
arrogantly looks in to self for enlightenment.
3) There is no distinction between good and evil. This results in the
claim that all we have are perspectives, opinions, and culturally embedded
11E.g., see Doug Pagitt, “The Emerging Church and Embodied Theology,” in Listening to the Beliefs
of Emerging Churches, ed. Robert Webber (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 142; Doug Pagitt,
A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive-and-Well Faith for the Left Out, Left
Behind, and Let Down in Us All (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008), 194-95, 226; and Spencer Burke and
Barry Taylor, A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006), 195.
One-ism
Creation/Creator
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“values” ; there are no timeless moral truths that apply to all peoples, times,
and places because all that is left is situational ethics. Furthermore, there is
no distinction between angels and demons because all spirits and spiritualities
are considered only good.
4) There is no distinction between mankind and animals. This results
in radical animal rights activism, people referring to their pet as their
“baby,” and, in some cities, a disdain for children but a love for animals
expressed as doggie spas, doggie day cares, and legislation to allow animals
to eat in restaurants with their owners.
5) There is no distinction between mankind and creation. This results
in radical environmentalism that moves beyond stewarding creation to
deifying creation as our “Mother Earth” and an opposition to cultivating
creation for human life and culture.
6) There is no distinction between men and women; gender is reduced
to asexual androgyny. This results in lesbianism, transgenderism, homosexuality,
cross-dressing, and the like, which Romans 1 says is the logical
conclusion of idolatry.
7) There is no distinction between religions. The result is a vague
pagan spirituality that believes the answers to all the world’s problems are
religious and spiritual in nature and can only be overcome by all religions
worshiping together as one. Subsequently, a Christian who makes distinctions
(such as between God and man, Jesus and Satan, angels and demons,
heaven and hell, man and animals, holiness and sin, the Bible and other
texts, male and female, heterosexuality and homosexuality, truth and error,
good and evil) is considered a fundamental threat to the utopian world of
peace, love, and oneness.
While idolatry is manifested externally, it originates internally. This
is first revealed in Ezekiel 14:1-8 as God rebukes the elders of Israel who
“have taken their idols into their hearts.” Indeed, before people see an idol
with their eyes, hold it with their hands, or speak of it with their lips, they
have taken it into their heart. What this means is that they have violated the
first two of the Ten Commandments, choosing something as a functional
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god they long for in their heart and then worshiping it by their words and
deeds.
Martin Luther’s insights on idolatry- that idolatry begins in the heart
of the worshiper- are among the most perceptive the world has ever
known. Luther says:
Many a one thinks that he has God and everything in abundance when
he has money and, possessions; he trusts in them and boasts of them
with such firmness and assurance as to care for no one. Lo, such a man
also has a god, Mammon by name, i.e., money and possessions, on
which he sets all his heart, and which is also the most common idol
on earth. . . . So, too, whoever trusts and boasts that he possesses great
skill, prudence, power, favor, friendship, and honor has also a god,
but not this true and only God. . . . Therefore I repeat that the chief
explanation of this point is that to have a god is to have something in
which the heart entirely trusts. . . . Thus it is with all idolatry; for it
consists not merely in erecting an image and worshiping it, but rather
in the heart. . . . Ask and examine your heart diligently, and you will
find whether it cleaves to God alone or not. If you have a heart that
can expect of Him nothing but what is good, especially in want and
distress, and that, moreover, renounces and forsakes everything that is
not God, then you have the only true God. If, on the contrary, it cleaves
to anything else, of which it expects more good and help than of God,
and does not take refuge in Him, but in adversity flees from Him, then
you have an idol, another god.12
For those wanting to avoid idolatry, the following insights might be
helpful. Be careful of making a good thing, such as marriage, sex, children,
health, success, or financial stability, an ultimate thing, or what Jesus called
our “treasure.” Avoid participating in any religious community where the
clear truth-claims of Scripture are ignored while contemplative and mystical
practices are favored simply for their spiritual experience. Be careful of
any church or ministry wherein acts of mercy and environmental steward-
12Martin Luther, “The Large Catechism,” in The Book of Concord (St. Louis: Concordia, 1921), 3.5-28,
http://www.bookofconcord.org/lc-3-tencommandments.php.
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ship are devoid of a theology of the cross and wind up being little more than
the worship of created people and things. And be careful not to worship a
good thing as a god thing for that is a bad thing.
HOW DOES IDOLATRY HARM INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETIES?
We were created to worship God and make culture in which God is worshiped
in all of life. Subsequently, when idolatry is committed, all of life
is implicated, damaging individuals and societies. This reality negates the
popular myth that idolatry is not damaging, or that it is merely a personal
matter that does not implicate society at large, as if we were each isolated
individuals not affected by or affecting others.
First, idolatry harms the individuals who participate in it. Commenting
on Danish philosopher Sren Kierkegaard’s 1849 book The Sickness Unto
Death, Tim Keller says:
Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship
and service to God. Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get
an identity apart from him. . . . Most people think of sin primarily as
“breaking divine rules,” but Kierkegaard knows that the very first of the
Ten Commandments is to “have no other gods before me.” So, according
to the Bible, the primary way to define sin is not just the doing of
bad things, but the making of good things into ultimate things. It is
seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more
central to your significance, purpose, and happiness than your relationship
to God.13
Whatever we base our identity and value on becomes “deified” ; this
object of worship then determines what we hold in glory and live for. If
that object is anything other than God, we are idolaters worshiping created
things. For most people, their proverbial “tell” happens when they
introduce themselves: they first say their name and then say something to
the effect of “I am a [blank].” How they fill in the blank (e.g., education,
13Tim Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (New York: Penguin, 2008), 162,
emphasis in original.
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vocation, number of children, neighborhood they live in) often reveals what
they have deified and are building their life on.
The ensuing problem is that our marriage, children, appearance,
wealth, success, career, religious performance, political party, cause, loving
relationship, possession, hobby, pleasure, status, and power crumble
under the weight of being god to us. Regarding the instability of an identity
based upon anything other than Jesus Christ’s saving work to claim us as
his own, Keller says:
If anything threatens your identity you will not just be anxious but paralyzed
with fear. If you lose your identity through the failings of someone
else you will not just be resentful, but locked into bitterness. If you
lose it through your own failings, you will hate or despise yourself as a
failure as long as you live. Only if your identity is built on God and his
love, says Kierkegaard, can you have a self that can venture anything,
face anything. . . . An identity not based on God also leads inevitably
to deep forms of addiction. When we turn good things into ultimate
things, we are, as it were, spiritually addicted. If we take our meaning
in life from our family, our work, a cause, or some achievement other
than God, they enslave us. We have to have them.14
As God’s image bearers we will have a true, lasting, deep, satisfying,
and sufficiently rooted identity only in God’s love. Keller says:
Remember this- if you don’t live for Jesus you will live for something
else. If you live for career and you don’t do well it may punish you all
of your life, and you will feel like a failure. If you live for your children
and they don’t turn out all right you could be absolutely in torment
because you feel worthless as a person.
If Jesus is your center and Lord and you fail him, he will forgive
you. Your career can’t die for your sins. You might say, “If I were a
Christian I’d be going around pursued by guilt all the time!” But we
all are being pursued by guilt because we must have an identity and
there must be some standard to live up to by which we get that identity.
14Ibid., 165.
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Whatever you base your life on- you have to live up to that. Jesus is
the one Lord you can live for who died for you- one who breathed his
last for you. Does that sound oppressive?15
This explains why those whose idol is beauty become frantic to
maintain their appearance, even if it should compel them toward eating
disorders, abuse of cosmetic surgery, and panic as they age. Similarly,
this helps to explain why those who are the richest and most famous
among us struggle with substance abuse, depression, and even suicidal
longings.
Second, idolatry harms the societies in which it is practiced to
the degree it is practiced. In his book Idols for Destruction, Herbert
Schlossberg surveys the various idols of modern life and thought.16
According to Schlossberg, the chief errors of our time stem from attempts
to deify various aspects of creation: history, nature, humanity, economics,
and political power. Only affirmation and application of the Creatorcreature
distinction can point the way out. The issues, then, are essentially
religious and moral; we will not escape our dilemmas by some new form
of political organization or a new economic system.
Schlossberg is emphatic to point out that just because a culture turns
away from God, it still turns toward something to replace God:
Western society, in turning away from Christian faith, has turned to
other things. This process is commonly called secularization, but that
conveys only the negative aspect. The word connotes the turning away
from the worship of God while ignoring the fact that something is being
turned to in its place.17
One of the great evils of idolatry is that if we idolize, we must also
demonize, as Jonathan Edwards rightly taught in The Nature of True Virtue.
Tim Keller reminds us that if we idolize our race, we must demonize other
15Ibid., 172, emphases in original.
16Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction: The Conflict of Christian Faith and American Culture
(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1993).
17Ibid., 6 emphases in original.
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races.18 If we idolize our gender, we must demonize the other gender. If
we idolize our nation, we must demonize other nations. If we idolize our
political party, we must demonize other political parties. If we idolize our
socioeconomic class, we must demonize other classes. If we idolize our
family, we must demonize other families. If we idolize our theological system,
we must demonize other theological systems. If we idolize our church,
we must demonize other churches. This explains the great polarities and
acrimonies that plague every society. If something other than God’s loving
grace is the source of our identity and value, we must invariably defend
our idol by treating everyone and everything who may call our idol into
question as an enemy to be demonized so that we can feel superior to other
people and safe with our idol.
Some people are aware of this fact and idolize tolerance and diversity,
as if they were more righteous because of their open-mindedness.
However, even those who idolize tolerance and diversity must demonize
those they deem to be intolerant of certain diversities. Simply stated, everyone
who idolizes also demonizes and in so doing is a hypocrite contributing
to the tearing of a social fabric of love, peace, and kindness they purport
to be serving.
WHAT IS REQUIRED IN CORPORATE CHURCH WORSHIP?
We have established that God alone is to be worshiped. We will now examine
how the church is supposed to be a countercultural kingdom community
that worships God alone and helps people to see and smash their idols.
God’s people gather for corporate worship (what Harold Best calls
“mutual indwelling” ) in a way that is somewhat akin to the Trinity. Best
describes what this corporate worship looks like:
Mutual indwelling demands company. Continuous outpouring demands
fellowship. The corporate assembly is where love and mutual indwelling
congregate; it is where believers have each other within eye- and
earshot, within kindly embrace. If there were no such things as church
18Keller, The Reason for God, 168-69.
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buildings and regularly scheduled services, Christians would, out of
necessity, seek each other out for the sheer pleasure of finding Christ
in each other, hearing different stories about his work in them, enjoying
the ordinary and the exceptional, and perhaps only then gathering
around what we call a liturgy. In such a gathering there would be little
need at some point to say, “Now let us worship,” because no one would
be able to locate the dividing line between “now” and “always.” 19
The mutual indwelling that God’s people enjoy in corporate worship
is essential to our growth personally, joy collectively, and witness
culturally. God’s people gather because, in the depths of their regenerated
nature, the Holy Spirit gives them deep desires to worship God with his
people. We want to see God’s people, we want to hear of God’s work in
their lives, we want to know of ways we can lovingly serve them, and we
want to be part of something bigger than ourselves that reaches beyond
the mundane details of life and connects us all together despite our differences
in age, race, gender, and income to seek and celebrate evidences
of God’s grace.
Regarding how God is to be worshiped, God must be worshiped as he
wishes, not as we wish. The Bible is clear that God is to be worshiped in
ways and forms that he deems acceptable. This explains why God judges
those who seek to worship him with either sinful forms externally20 or
sinful hearts internally.21 This is incredibly important. Some churches
care more about what is in people’s hearts than about what they do in their
lives, whereas others are more concerned about doing things the “right”
way and care little about the motivations behind those actions. When it
comes to worship, which is all of life, the God of the Bible cares about both
what we do and why we do it. We first see this, for example, in Genesis 4
where Cain and Abel bring their worship offerings to God and while what
is in their hands is acceptable, Cain’s offering is rejected because what is in
his heart is unacceptable to God- he was jealous of his brother.22
19Best, Unceasing Worship, 62.
20Lev. 10:1-2; Isa. 1:11-17; Jer. 7:9-10; Ezekiel 8-9.
21Genesis 4; Isa. 1:11-17; Jer. 7:9-10; Mic. 6:6-8.
221 John 3:12.
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A biblically informed Christian definition of worship includes both
adoration and action. John Frame says:
In Scripture, there are two groups of Hebrew and Greek terms that are
translated “worship.” The first group refers to “labor” or “service.” . . .
The second group of terms means literally “bowing” or “bending the
knee,” hence “paying homage, honoring the worth of someone else.”
The English term worship, from worth, has the same connotation.
From the first group of terms we may conclude that worship is active.
It is something we do, a verb. . . . From the second group of terms, we
learn that worship is honoring someone superior to ourselves.23
Our worship also includes what we do as Christians when we scatter
for action24 and gather for adoration.25 D. A. Carson has said, “We
cannot imagine that the church gathers for worship on Sunday morning if
by this we mean that we then engage in something that we have not been
engaging in the rest of the week. New-covenant worship terminology prescribes
constant -worship.'” 26
The New Testament is clear that God’s people are to regularly gather
for corporate worship. This is apparent by the frequent use of the Greek
word ekklesia, which simply means “gathered assembly of God’s people.”
Likewise, Hebrews 10:24-25 commands, “Let us consider how to stir up
one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is
the habit of some, but encouraging one another.” When God’s people gather
for corporate worship, church leaders must ensure that the methods they
employ align with six biblical principles for worship.
1) Corporate worship is to be God-centered.27 Simply, worship is
not an occasion for us to hear sermons about us, sing songs about us, or
focus on how to make ourselves feel happily inspired. Since we are prone
23John M. Frame, Worship in Spirit and Truth: A Refreshing Study of the Principles and Practice of
Biblical Worship (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1996), 1-2, emphases in original.
241 Cor. 10:31.
25Heb. 10:24-25.
26D. A. Carson, “Worship under the Word,” in Worship by the Book, ed. D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan, 2002), 24, emphasis in original.
27Matt. 4:8-10.
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to worship ourselves as idols, corporate worship is an important occasion
to redirect our worship back to God.
2) Corporate worship is to be intelligible.28 This means that not only
is the service conducted in the known language of the hearers but also that
technical doctrinal terms are explained so that everyone understands what
is being said and sung. This also means that the pastor should not seek to
impress the congregation with his vast knowledge of Greek and Hebrew
terms but, as John Calvin and other Reformers argued, love his people by
speaking to them plainly; the pastor should want the people to be impressed
with Jesus Christ rather than with himself.
3) Corporate worship is to be seeker sensible.29 Because there are
non-Christians present in corporate worship meetings, people leading
those meetings need to be hospitable to non-Christians. This includes the
preacher presenting the gospel to the non-Christians, someone explaining
why the church meetings have certain elements such as Communion or
singing, and explaining Christian terms in a way that allows the non-Christian
to understand what the Bible says. This does not mean that the entire
service is to be seeker sensitive and designed mainly as an evangelistic
rally but that a sincere effort is made to help non-Christians understand and
experience the gospel.
4) Corporate worship is to be unselfish.30 If people want to express
their personal response to God in a way that draws undue attention to them
and distracts others from responding to God, then they should do that kind
of thing at home in private, because the meeting is for corporate response
to God, not just individual response. In worship, God gives to his people
truth, love, hope, and the like, and those who distract others from receiving
what God has for them and from focusing on God need to be rebuked so
that they may mature and learn to consider others more highly than themselves,
as Scripture says.
5) Corporate worship is to be orderly.31 While the Bible does not pre-
281 Cor. 14:1-12.
291 Cor. 14:20-25.
301 Cor. 14:26.
311 Cor. 14:40.
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scribe or describe any church service order, it is important that such meetings
actually function with enough administrative foresight to be useful and
not frustrating and distracting for the worshipers. While no church is perfect,
nor is the goal of corporate worship meetings an impressive performance,
musicians who cannot keep time, singers who cannot sing, audio speakers
with continual feedback, long awkward pauses because no one knows what
is happening next, and people speaking in tongues or prophesying out of
turn in a way that the Bible forbids all distract people from being able to
focus on God and, furthermore, falsely portray God as chaotic.
6) Corporate worship is to be missional.32 Human beings are, as God’s
image bearers, culture makers, receivers, and interpreters. Subsequently, it
is nonsensical for Christians to ignore culture or assume that Christianity
is in itself a culture that exists completely separated from the cultures in
which the church exists. To be missional, a church meeting has to fit the
culture it is in rather than being a subculture imported from another time or
place. This does not mean that older traditions (e.g., hymns, creeds) are not
used, but that they are used because they contribute to informing faithful
worship of God rather than perpetuating a dated form that is no longer best
for ministry. Such methodology is actually methodology. Still, this must be
done with great theological reflection so as not to turn artistic expression
and music into idols.
If someone is alive, they are cultural. Furthermore, culture, in general,
and creativity and the arts, in particular, are expressions of our worship and
do not lead us into worship. When such things as the arts and music are
used to lead God’s people into worship, the understanding that we are continually
worshiping has been lost and we have supplanted the leading of the
Holy Spirit with music and the arts. Such a move is pagan because music
becomes mediatorial in a way that only Jesus Christ is supposed to be.33
This kind of pagan thinking is commonly articulated following corporate
worship services when people say things like, “The music really led me
into God’s presence,” or “I could not worship well because of the music.”
321 Cor. 9:19-23.
331 Tim. 2:15.
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When God’s people gather, the church leaders are also required to
ensure that what the Bible commands for worship is actually done. There
are certain elements that Scripture prescribes for corporate worship services
of the church. Many theologians refer to these as the elements of
corporate worship, and they include the following:
1) Preaching34
2) Sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Table35
3) Prayer36
4) Reading Scripture37
5) Financial giving38
6) Singing and music39
God in his great wisdom has given clear principles and practices to
guide the corporate worship of his people. However, he has not given his
people clear methods or an order of service. There is no clear prescription
of an entire worship service anywhere in Scripture, and there is no record
of any early church worship service.40
Therefore, while God is very clear on the principles and practices to
govern corporate worship, he has left it up to church leaders led by the Holy
Spirit to determine the methods and service order used to implement them.
This means that, for example, what kind of music is sung, in what order
the elements are arranged, how Communion is administered, and the like,
can and should vary from culture to culture and church to church because
God provides just such tethered freedom for his people.
However, this freedom does not include the freedom to sin and do what
God forbids in the name of worship. An Old Testament example is found
in Deuteronomy 12:4, where God points to how other religions worship
their demon gods and commands, “You shall not worship the LORD your
342 Tim. 4:2.
35Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 11:17-34.
361 Tim. 2:1.
371 Tim. 4:13.
382 Corinthians 8-9.
39Col. 3:16.
40See Carson, “Worship under the Word,” 21-22, and Frame, Worship in Spirit and Truth, 67.
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God in that way.” Another Old Testament example is found in the second
commandment,41 which forbids idolatry- that is, the worship of any created
thing, or seeking to reduce God to something that is made.
A timely New Testament example is found in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22,
where God through Paul forbids Christians from worshiping with members
of other religions, because to do so is to entertain demons. In our day, this
means that while Christians should have evangelistic interfaith friendships
with members of other religions, we must never do such things as pray or
sing with members of other religions because they worship different and
false gods.
HOW DO WE BECOME LIKE WHAT WE WORSHIP?
In his book We Become What We Worship, G. K. Beale states, “What people
revere, they resemble, either for ruin or restoration.” 42 Because we are created
in the image of God, everyone is always, without exception, reflecting
either God or a god. If we do not reflect our Creator to our restoration then
we will reflect creation to our ruin.
This explains why one of the recurrent themes in the Bible is that
idols are deaf, mute, and blind, and so are idol worshipers who do not hear
from God, speak to God, or spiritually see God. Perhaps the most legendary
account of idolatry in all of Scripture is the worship of the golden calf
in Exodus 32. There, Israel is portrayed mockingly as rebellious cattle
because they worshiped a calf and thus became like it. Just like a stubborn
cow that refuses to go in the right direction, idolatrous Israel is “stiffnecked.”
43
Idolatry began with our first father, Adam. Because Adam was committed
to something over God, namely himself, he was guilty of idolatry.
Therefore, Adam set in motion a course of history in which the most common
created thing we worship in idolatry is ourselves; we live for ourselves
and our perceived glory, which is actually our shame, in priority over God.
41Ex. 20:4-6.
42G. K. Beale, We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry (Downers Grove, IL: IVP
Academic, 2008), 16.
43Ex. 32:9; 33:3, 5; 34:9; Deut. 9:6, 13; 10:16; 31:27.
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In the New Testament Gospels, the idol revered by the Jews and
renounced by Jesus is religion. Even though there are not many explicit
references to Jewish idol worship in the Gospels, Beale argues that it is
clear that the generation of Jews at the time of Christ were at least as sinful
as their spiritual forefathers: “The Jewish nation took pride in the fact
that they were not like the nations who bowed down to stone and wooden
images. Yet what is also clear is that the majority of the Israelite nation
were at least as sinful as their forbearers, especially because they crucified
the Son of God (Matt. 23:29-38).” 44 Israel worshiped their dead tradition
rather than the living God according to his living Word.
Moving on to the book of Acts, Luke presents the fact that the temple
actually became an idol for theocratic Israel. Jesus exposed this idolatry
when he said he would destroy the temple. Rather than letting Jesus destroy
the temple, the religious leaders chose instead to destroy Jesus. They
preferred the temple as their place of meeting with God and presence of
God over God himself in their midst. Subsequently, God had the temple
destroyed in AD 70.
Similarly, in our own day religious people continue in various
idolatries when they elevate their denomination, church building, liturgical
order, Bible translation, worship music style, pastor, theological
system, favorite author, or ministry program to where it is a replacement
mediator for Jesus, one in which their faith rests to keep them close to
God. This also explains why any change to the tradition of a religious
person is met with such hostility- people tend to cling to their idols,
including their church buildings, which are worshiped as sacred, just as
the temple was.
Like the Jews in Jesus’ day, Christians must be continually aware of
their religious idols. Religious idols include truth, gifts, and morality.45
These are things people trust in addition to Jesus Christ for their salvation,
44Beale, We Become What We Worship, 162.
45These categories are taken from Tim Keller’s session, “The Grand Demythologizer: The Gospel and
Idolatry (Acts 19:21-41),” at the Gospel Coalition 2009 National Conference, April 21, 2009. The audio
and video of his session are available here: http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/resources/a/The-Grand-
Demythologizer-The-Gospel-and-Idolatry.
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not unlike the Judaizers who added circumcision to the gospel and were
rebuked by Paul in Galatians as heretics preaching a false gospel.
Truth idolatry is perhaps most common among those who are most
committed to sound doctrine and biblical study. These people are prone
to think that they are saved because of the rightness of their belief rather
than the simple fact that Jesus died for them. Religious people who idolize
truth are often guilty of the rankest sense of superiority. They continually
enjoy sarcastically making fun of their opponents and find great pleasure
on the Internet, where to be famous generally means you have to be a truth
idolater who feeds the idolatry of religious mockers for whom their ideology
has become their idolatry.
Gift idolatry is perhaps most common among those most gifted and
capable in ministry service who mistake spiritual gifts for spiritual maturity
and spiritual fruit. These people commonly think that they are saved
because of the great gifts they possess and that any ministry they have
accomplished- and subsequently their faith- rests more on the fact that
God is using them than that Jesus died for them. Sadly, this is common
among Bible preachers who have made their pulpit into an idol where they
go for identity and joy. They seek the approval of their hearers who cheer
them on, and eventually the pastor whose idol is preaching becomes the
idol of his listening flock, whose devotion to him is nearly god-like, and he
becomes virtually sinless in their eyes.
Morality idolatry is perhaps most common among the most wellbehaved
and decent religious people. Often these people think that they are
saved because they have lived a decently moral and good life of devotion
and obedience rather than seeing themselves as sinners by nature whose
sin is serious enough to require Jesus’ atoning death. Such people are much
like the older brother in the story of the prodigal son- they are offended
when grace is given to repentant sinners because it is undeserved. Their
attitude in such moments reveals their idol of self-performance; their ultimate
trust resides in their performance and not in Jesus.
One of the lengthiest treatments of idolatry in all the New Testament
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is found in 1 Corinthians 10, where Paul describes idolatry as participation
with demons that leads to all kinds of evil, including gluttony, drunkenness,
sexual sin, and grumbling. Indeed, the more we commit ourselves to
our idol, the more we become one with it and increasingly like it, to our
destruction. Furthermore, as 1 Corinthians 10 makes clear, our idolatry
also strains our relationships with fellow Christians, gives a false witness
to non-Christians, and causes others to be tempted to join us in idolatrous
sin. Subsequently, idolatry damages every category of relationship we have
and is a deadly cancer in a church body and in society as a whole.
Beale concludes his biblical survey of idolatry in the book of
Revelation, noting how those who worship idols are referred to as “earth
dwellers.” 46 According to Beale:
[The] earth dwellers [in Revelation] cannot look beyond this earth for
their security, which means that they trust in some part of the creation
instead of the Creator for their ultimate welfare. Thus people are called
“earth dwellers” because this expresses the object of their trust and
perhaps of their very being, in that they have become part of the earthly
system in which they find security- they have become like it. Because
they commit themselves to some aspect of the earth, they become
earthy and come to be known as “earth dwellers.” 47
Lastly, Christians must never forget that they too are prone to the
same kinds of idolatry as the “earth dwellers.” Religious idolatry is often
the most pernicious of all. Religious idolatry uses God for health, wealth,
success, and the like. In this grotesque inversion of the gospel, God is used
for our glory; not only do we worship ourselves but we try to make God a
worshiper of us. This kind of false gospel preaching is evident whenever
Jesus is presented as the means by which idolaters can obtain their idol.
Examples include promises that Jesus will make you rich, happy, healed,
joyfully married, parentally successful, and the like, as if Jesus exists to
aid our worship of idols.
46Rev. 8:13; 13:8, 14; 14:6-9; 17:2, 8.
47Beale, We Become What We Worship, 255.
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HOW ARE REGENERATION AND WORSHIP RELATED?
Because sin is not merely doing bad things but an even deeper problem of
building our identity on someone or something other than God alone, the
solution to idolatry is not to change our behavior but to have a complete
reorientation of our nature at the deepest level of our being, or what Jesus
called being born again.
In the third chapter of John’s Gospel, a man named Nicodemus came
to meet with Jesus. Nicodemus was a devoutly religious man. As a Pharisee
he would have committed large sections of the Hebrew Old Testament to
memory and been revered as morally upright, intelligent, and among the
holiest of men. In John 3:3, Jesus said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This confused
Nicodemus, so Jesus explained that there are two births. The first birth is
our physical birth that occurs when our mother’s water breaks and we are
brought into this world. By virtue of our first birth we are physically alive
but spiritually dead. The second birth is our spiritual birth whereby God
the Holy Spirit causes us to be born again so that we are both physically
and spiritually alive.
Nicodemus considered himself spiritually alive by virtue of his religion,
spirituality, theology, and morality. But he was likely astounded when
Jesus told him plainly, “You must be born again.” 48
In this way he was much like those today who know some theological
truth, have been baptized, attend religious meetings, live a moral life,
believe in God, devote time to serving others, and even give some of their
income to spiritual causes and organizations as members, leaders, and pastors,
but who need to be born again. Why? Because they are living out of
their old nature solely by their will and effort rather than out of a new nature
by the power of God the Holy Spirit. John Piper says:
What Nicodemus needs, and what you and I need, is not religion but
life. The point of referring to new birth is that birth brings a new life
into the world. In one sense, of course, Nicodemus is alive. He is
48John 3:7.
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breathing, thinking, feeling, acting. He is a human created in God’s
image. But evidently, Jesus thinks he’s dead. There is no spiritual life in
Nicodemus. Spiritually, he is unborn. He needs life, not more religious
activities or more religious zeal. He has plenty of that.49
Being born again is theologically summarized as the doctrine of
regeneration, which is the biblical teaching that salvation includes both
God’s work for us at the cross of Jesus and in us by the Holy Spirit. To
say it another way, regeneration is not a separate work of the Holy Spirit
added to the saving work of Jesus; rather, it is the subjective actualization
of Jesus’ work.
While the word regeneration appears only twice in the Bible,50 it is
described in both the Old and New Testaments by a constellation of images.
It is important to note that each signifies a permanent, unalterable change
in someone at his or her deepest level.
The Old Testament frequently speaks of regeneration in terms of
deep work in the heart, our total inner self, so that a new life flows from
a new heart empowered by the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus explained to
Nicodemus.51
Like the Old Testament, the New Testament speaks on many occasions
of being born again.52 The New Testament uses many other images to
explain regeneration. These include “partakers of the divine nature,” 53
“new creation,” 54 “new man,” 55 “alive together with Christ,” 56 and “created
in Christ Jesus.” 57
Three very important truths help to illuminate regeneration in the
New Testament. First, regeneration is done to ill-deserving, not just
undeserving, sinners.58 Therefore, regeneration is a gift of grace, as
49John Piper, Finally Alive: What Happens When We Are Born Again (Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus,
2009), 29.
50Matt. 19:28; Titus 3:5.
51Deut. 30:6; Jer. 24:7; 31:31-33; 32:39-40; Ezek. 11:19-20; 36:26-27.
52John 1:13; 1 Pet. 1:3, 23; 1 John 5:1.
532 Pet. 1:4.
542 Cor. 5:17.
55Eph. 2:15; 4:24.
56Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13.
57Eph. 2:10.
58Eph. 2:1-5.
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Titus 3:5 says: “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness,
but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration
and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” Second, regeneration is something
God the Holy Spirit does for us.59 Therefore, unless God accomplishes
regeneration in people, it is impossible for them to live as worshipers of
God. Third, without regeneration there is no possibility of eternal life in
God’s kingdom.60 Therefore, regeneration is required for someone to be
a true worshiper of God.
Accompanying the new birth are ten soul-transforming, life-changing,
and eternity-altering occurrences.61
1) Regenerated people have the Trinitarian creator God of the Bible
as their new Lord, thereby displacing all other false and functional
lords who had previously ruled over them.62
2) Regenerated people are new creations so that they are transformed at
the deepest levels of their existence to begin living a new life. People
being renamed upon conversion, so that Saul becomes Paul and
Cephas becomes Peter, illustrates that we are new people in Christ.63
3) Regenerated people have a new identity from which to live their new
life because their old identity no longer defines them.64
4) Regenerated people have a new mind that enables them to enjoy
Scripture and thus to begin to think God’s truthful thoughts after
him.65
5) Regenerated people have new emotions so that they love God, fellow
Christians, strangers, and even their enemies.66
6) Regenerated people have new desires for holiness, and no longer is
their deepest appetite for sin and folly.67
7) Regenerated people enjoy a new community and fellowship with
other Christians as members of the church.68
59John 3:5-8.
60John 3:3, 5; cf. 1 Cor. 2:6-16.
61For further reading, see Question 4 in our book Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions
(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009).
621 John 5:18.
632 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15.
64Eph. 4:22-24.
65Rom. 7:22; 1 Cor. 2:14-16; 1 Pet. 2:2.
661 John 4:7.
67Ps. 37:4; Rom. 7:4-6; Gal. 5:16-17.
681 John 1:3.
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18) Regenerated people live by a new power to follow God by the Holy
Spirit’s enabling.69
19) Regenerated people enjoy a new freedom to no longer tolerate,
manage, excuse, or accept their sin but rather to put it to death and
live free from habitually besetting sin.70
10) The culmination of the effects of regeneration is a new life of worship
that is markedly different from how life would otherwise be.71
In some ways our new birth is like our physical birth. At birth babies
cry, move, hunger, trust their father to protect and provide for them, enjoy
human comfort, and begin to grow. Similarly, newly born-again people cry
out to God in prayer, move out in new life, hunger for the Scriptures, trust
God as Father, enjoy God’s family the church, and begin to grow spiritually,
maturing in their imaging of God. Beale explains regeneration in
terms of how Christians become restored into the image of God:
It is in Christ that people, formerly conformed to the world’s image
(Rom. 1:18-32), begin to be transformed into God’s image (Rom.
8:28-30; 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:4). . . . This process of transformation
into the divine image will be completed at the end of history, when
Christians will be resurrected and fully reflect God’s image in Christ
(1 Cor. 15:45-54; Phil. 3:20-21). They will be resurrected by the
Spirit-imparting power of the risen Christ. Since it was the Spirit who
raised Jesus from the dead (Rom. 1:4), so the Spirit of Christ will raise
Christians from the dead at the end of the age. . . . The Spirit’s work in
people will enable them to be restored and revere the Lord and resemble
his image, so that God will be glorified in and through them. 72
Therefore, it is only through the regenerating and ongoing empowering
ministry of the Holy Spirit that we can worship, until one day in our
glorified resurrected state we will image God perfectly as unceasing worshipers.
This is exactly what Jesus meant when he said in John 4:24, “God
69Rom. 8:4-13.
70Rom. 6:6; 7:6.
71Gal. 5:19-23.
72Beale, We Become What We Worship, 282.
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is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Commenting on this verse, Andreas Kstenberger says:
The terms “spirit” and “truth” are joined later in the expression “Spirit
of truth,” referring to the Holy Spirit (see 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; cf. 1
John 4:6; 5:6; see also 2 Thess. 2:13) . . . the present reference therefore
seems to point John’s readers ultimately to worship in the Holy Spirit.
Thus, true worship is not a matter of geographical location (worship in
a church building), physical posture (kneeling or standing), or following
a particular liturgy or external rituals (cf. Matt. 6:5-13); it is a matter
of the heart and of the Spirit (Talbert 1992: 115). As Stibbe (1993:
64) puts it, “True worship is paternal in focus (the Father), personal in
origin (the Son), and pneumatic in character (the Spirit).” 73
Because of our new hearts, worshiping God by imaging him well through
the empowerment of the Holy Spirit is exactly what we want to do in our
innermost depths. Speaking of the Spirit-empowered regenerated desires of the
heart, Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you
the desires of your heart.” Practically, this means that as we enjoy and delight
in who God is, what he has done, and what he will do for us, our regenerated
hearts share in the same desires of God. Subsequently, unlike religion, which is
based on fear that forces people to do what they do not want to do, regeneration
is based on love and on God inviting new people to live new lives of worship,
which is exactly what their new hearts want to do at the deepest level. The result
is ever-growing, never-ending, ever-worshiping, passionate joy!
HOW DOES WORSHIP TRANSFORM US?
Because we worship our way into sin, ultimately we need to worship our
way out.74 As we have studied, when Christians commit sin, they do not
73Andreas J. Kstenberger, John: Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Academic, 2004), 157.
74Much of what ensues in this chapter was shaped and informed by a collection of biblical counseling
resources from the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) at www.ccef.org, including
the Journal of Biblical Counseling. CCEF is directly affiliated with Westminster Theological Seminary,
and the contributors to the Journal promote biblical counseling from a distinctly Reformed, gospelcentered
theological paradigm.
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cease worshiping. Rather, their worship is directed away from the Creator
and toward created things. Repentance is the act of turning from sin and
returning to God by trusting in Jesus Christ, who alone is the perfect worshiper.
This fact helps idolaters be transformed into worshipers. John had
just this in mind when he summarized his entire epistle with the closing
line, “Keep yourselves from idols.” 75 The following examples are intended
to be of some practical help in uncovering our idols so that we can smash
them in repentance and worship God alone.
Following a sermon on dating, a young woman, who claimed to be a
Christian but was dating, sleeping with, and living with a non-Christian,
came forward for prayer. She asked me (Mark) to pray that God would save
her boyfriend so they could marry and be a Christian family. I then quoted
Romans 11:36-12:1 to her: “To him be glory forever. Amen. I appeal to
you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
I explained to the woman that their bed was a pagan altar and that
when she lay down on it with her boyfriend, she was presenting her body
as a living sacrifice to the guy as her real god and that their fornication was
her idolatrous worship of a created thing, namely, her boyfriend. Thus, she
was choosing the guy over Jesus as the most important person in her life,
the basis of her identity, the source of her joy and love, and her hope for
affection.
A young man had suffered from panic attacks for some months and
the various medications he had taken were of no help. He was a newer
Christian, and his family was avowedly anti-Christian and very angry that
he had converted to Christianity and that he was greatly enjoying such
things as church attendance, fellowship, and Bible reading. His immediate
and extended family were very close, but they had been shunning him
and mocking him in an effort to get him to stop practicing his faith. When
that did not work, his parents cut off his college funding, which required
him to start working long hours to pay his way through school. The situa-
751 John 5:21.
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tion escalated when his parents found out he had met a Christian woman
he loved and was considering pursuing marriage with her. The couple
was considering attending seminary and preparing for a life of ministry
together. His parents sat him down in front of the rest of the family, and he
was belittled and berated for hours. It was obvious that he loved Jesus and
his family and that his understandable anxiety was caused by being forced
to choose between them.
I explained to him that his anxiety and subsequent panic attacks were
the result of being conflicted between the fear of the Lord and the fear of
man. Proverb 29:25 says, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts
in the LORD is safe.” Indeed, this man’s family had set the snare he was in,
as they sought to control him through the fear of man. Biblical counselor
Ed Welch says:
Fear in the biblical sense . . . includes being afraid of someone, but
it extends to holding someone in awe, being controlled or mastered
by people, worshipping other people, putting your trust in people, or
needing people. . . . The fear of man can be summarized this way: We
replace God with people. Instead of a biblically guided fear of the Lord,
we fear others. . . . When we are in our teens, it is called “peer pressure.”
When we are older, it is called “people-pleasing.” Recently, it has been
called “codependency.” 76
The only way out of his panic was to fear God, as Proverb 1:7 says:
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” While he should
not stop loving his family, praying for his family, and honoring his parents
while guarding his heart from bitterness, he needs to obey God, even if that
should mean disobeying his family. If he were to obey his parents, he would
turn them into an idol, placing them above God as the true Lord of his life.
Conversely, if he were to obey God, he would no longer be controlled by
the idol of his family. Since he had been using them for everything from
financial support to identity and approval over the years, releasing them as
76Edward T. Welch, When People Are Big and God Is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency,
and the Fear of Man (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1997), 14.
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Worship: God Transforms 367
an idol would allow him to actually stop using them and start loving them
by doing and saying what was truthful and best for them without regard
for their judgment of him.
A woman revealed that she had had a few abortions before becoming a
Christian, marrying a godly man, and birthing their own healthy children.
She explained that she had been tormented by her sin and did not how to
get out of the pit of despair she was living in. With tears streaming down
her face, she explained how she had confessed to God her sin of murdering
her unborn children and did believe that Jesus Christ’s death had paid her
penalty and secured her forgiveness. I explained to her that although her sin
was grievous, I did not understand why she was not enjoying forgiveness.
She said it was because even though God had forgiven her, she could not
forgive herself. So I explained to her that she had become her own idol,
the lord and functional god of her life. In saying that Jesus had forgiven
her but she could not forgive herself, she was in effect saying that she was
a god above Jesus, and although her lesser God, Jesus, was forgiving, her
highest god, herself, was not.
In a pastoral counseling session, a man confessed to being sexually
addicted to pornography and masturbation and was guilty of committing
adultery on his wife and even engaging in homosexual sex. He had been
meeting with a counselor who was not a Christian and was merely trying
to modify his behavior rather than smash his idol. His questions to me were
all about behavior modification; he was trying to figure out how to avoid
television and Internet access.
To be fair, he knew that sin leads to death and that his sin was killing
him and his wife and their marriage. He meant well, but he had been
pointed in the wrong direction in pursuit of a solution. I explained that
while we must not tempt our flesh and that the changes he had made were
likely good, they were not nearly enough, because his real issue was not the
Internet but rather idolatry. What he needed was not behavior modification
but worship transformation.
In his condemnation of idolatry, Paul predicted the same lifestyle that
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this man was living.77 Those who fail to worship God their creator worship
that which is created. This can be any created person or thing but is
often the worship of the self and sex. Why? Because, of all the things God
made, the human body is the apex of God’s creative work.78 This fact
makes its passions and pleasures the most likely candidate for idolatrous
worship. In our age, this includes an addiction to beauty, pornography,
sexual sin, drunkenness, drug abuse, people-pleasing fear of man, and gluttony,
as Paul said, since for some people their god is their stomach.
For this man, the real issue was that he was worshiping the created
body rather than the creator God. He was therefore breaking both the first
and second commandments, which led to his breaking the seventh.
Lastly, upon entering the home of an understandably tired young
mother, I (Mark) heard her lament the fact that her house was not tidy. She
also described how she had prayed to Jesus for the kids to be more organized
and clean but that Jesus was of no help at all. As I looked around the
house, it actually seemed quite clean and tidy for being occupied by young
children. There were a few toys out on the floor, but that was about it. Later
in our visit, she actually said, “Everything is perfect until the kids wreck it.”
Her home had become her idol. Whenever her children left a toy out
or spilled their juice, they were not merely sinning or making a mistake. To
her, they were ruining her life and vandalizing her perfect, heavenly home.
Or, to say it another way, they were not worshiping her idol. So she prayed
to Jesus, asking him to turn her children into idol worshipers who never left
anything out or made a mess. Her frustration with Jesus was that he did not
respect her dominion in her home/kingdom and was refusing to submit to
her rule and serve her idol.
Furthermore, she was making her children miserable, with the exception
of one daughter who labored to keep the house clean like her mom
and berated her siblings; she was turning into a second-generation, selfrighteous
idol worshiper. Making matters worse, when Dad got home from
work he would grab a beer, sit in his chair, watch his television, and tune
77Rom. 1:25-28.
78Gen. 1:31.
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Worship: God Transforms 369
out his wife and children, ignoring what was going on in the home. His
idol was comfort, and his beer, chair, and flat-screen television were his
functional saviors that he preferred worshiping over Jesus, who wanted him
to apply the gospel to himself, his wife, and their children so that they could
each smash their idols and live as worshipers of God alone and wait for
the day when they get to enjoy the perfect home Jesus is preparing for us.
The examples are endless because, as John Calvin rightly said, the
human heart is an idol factory. Thankfully, as we seek and smash our idols
by the grace of God, our lives are transformed into acts of worship to God’s
glory, our joy, and others’ good as we enjoy and steward created things
without deifying them and love people rather than using them.
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On this day...

• Isaiah 13 - 2024
• Isaiah 12 - 2024
• March 28, 2014 - 2014
• Job 2:10 - 2011
• The Six Days of Creation - 2010
• Genesis creation myth - 2010
• March 29-2010 - 2010
• THE DESTITUTION OF SERVICE - 2009
• THE THEOLOGY OF REST - 2007
• Proverb 31:30 - 2007