[ We’ve been working on rewriting our mission and also creating a series of “values” about worship that will communicate our vision for what worship should be all about. While those aren’t completely finalized, I think it will be helpful to share some thoughts about each value in a series of short posts. ]
What kind of worship do we want to cultivate? First: Gospel Centered
I know that the term “gospel centered” or “cross centered” is definitely a current buzz-word, but I can think of no clearer way to succinctly communicate this foundational value. I use the word gospel here as a shorthand for the story of God’s grace shown to undeserving sinners through the substitutionary death of His Son. The gospel is not simply a story about events, but rather it is a story about who Jesus is and what He has done. So to say that worship is “gospel centered” means that the central aim of Christian worship is to celebrate and cherish Jesus.
Another way to put this is to say that worship is in and for Jesus. It is in Jesus because His mediating work alone makes our worship acceptable to the Father. Before we became Christians, it was impossible for us to worship the true God. I explained this in great detail in a sermon posted on our website. Without the regenerating work of the spirit we are not capable of offering to God an acceptable sacrifice of service or praise because even our inner motives are stained with selfishness. We don’t naturally worship God from the overflow of a heart that is captivated with Him, rather we worship God for a myriad of other reasons – to feel better about ourselves, to get God on our good side, etc. Once we are born again through faith in Jesus, our hearts are set free and turned right side out to worship the true God. And even after conversion, it is Jesus’ work as our mediator – coming between us and the Father – that makes our worship acceptable. In this life we will always struggle with sin, and Jesus cleanses our cold songs, our selfish prayers, and our formal readings in His blood so that the Father sees us as perfectly obedient and perfectly loving.
Worship is for Jesus in several ways. First, Jesus is the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament – the Law and the Prophets. The elaborate rituals of worship under the Israeli covenant (also called the Mosaic Covenant) were all meant to point to Jesus. (The book of Hebrews goes into great and wonderful detail about this) Second, worship is for Jesus because the aim of worship is the glory of God through the glory of His Son Jesus. At first it might strike you as strange that we should focus on Jesus – shouldn’t we focus on God (either the Father, or the God-head, all three persons)? In John 17, Jesus prays that the Father would glorify Him, so that, in turn, He might glorify His Father. Likewise as we focus on bringing Jesus glory by treasuring Him in worship, the ultimate source of His glory – His Father – is magnified.
Does this mean that every prayer, every song, and every element of worship must be directly about the gospel? No. If this were true we would need to cut out most of the hymns in our hymnals, for only a section or two are very specifically about the work of redemption. For example, there are many wonderful hymns about God the Father’s character such as Holy, Holy, Holy. But if we understand the gospel as the hinge upon which the entire Bible turns – that every page of Scripture is meant to show us something about Jesus’ person and work – we’ll see the gospel in songs and prayers that don’t explicitly mention it. Or we’ll see our songs and prayers as leading us through the story of redemption to the cross. Gospel centered worship will always seek, as C.H. Spurgeon said, to make a “bee-line to the cross.”
May our worship services, times of private and family worship, and our conversational worship be more and more grounded in and oriented around the gospel, for the glory of God!