For Essentials in Worship Theology Part 4
What is worship? Dan Wilt says: “Worship is the ascription of ultimate value and worth (the act) to a person, place or thing (the object) by the focusing of all activities of the human spectrum (the activity) on that objects value and honor (the reason)” (1).
The last four weeks have turned out to be completely ordained by God. I wrote in the first blog about how God has given me a voice—a voice that has begun to reveal truth about myself and those I lead. At the end of this course I find myself having set out on a journey to seek truth, which can so easily be distorted. I find myself asking more questions now than when I started. I have come to understand my place in the Kingdom, and I have started to see how to effectively lead those around me into the presence of God. It is my heart’s desire to, as Dan Wilt suggests, “recover a biblical understanding of the nature of God so that I can represent Him in ways that connect with the culture and the particular age I find myself in” (2).
We must remember that “our most important message is not the songs we sing but the people we are.” It is important to realize that worship on Sunday is just one aspect of what we are called to do. Mark 16:15 says: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Dan Wilt says “we are ambassadors of a new creation and the coming kingdom in the now, in the moment, and we rise together to sing, to pray, to act and to impact society from this common mission” (3). We are to awaken those around us to the Good news of the resurrection and the coming of His Kingdom.
In his article “The Wonder of the Cross,” Brenton Brown describes his reaction to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. He says that he serves God “not out of some sense of owing Him debt…but rather because this news, this truth, is the best thing I’ve ever heard. And the person behind it, God, is the best person I’ve ever met” (4) Once we come to realize this truth, we begin to recognize that it’s not about us anymore; it’s about Him and His Kingdom and “that in Jesus Christ we are called not to save ourselves but to bring salvation to the world.”
There is nothing more humbling than to know you are called for something greater than yourself. There is also no greater honor. So what is worship? It is anything that brings glory and honor to God and His Kingdom. It is my hope to be, as Martin Smith of Delirious wrote in his song History Maker,” “a speaker of truth to all mankind.”
1)Dan Wilt. Essentials in Worship Theology. (www.WorshipTraining.com) ebook. page. 51
2) Dan Wilt, The Nature of God. (www.WorshipTraining.com) Video
3)Ibid
4) Brown, Brenton. “The Wonder of the Cross”. Inside Worship. Page 7.
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