Philosophy of Worship Essay

By

Mobolaji Olaniyi
Student ID. 0596605

Submitted To
Joshua A. Waggener, Ph.D.
WORSP 4312

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Forth Wort Texas

August 12, 2023

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 Worship is everywhere. Even those who do not attend church worship. The problem

arises when we worship wrongly or ignorantly. That is a problem of the people of Athens in Acts

of Apostles 17:22-23 as recorded that “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and

said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around

and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an

unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to

proclaim to you.”1 There is nothing wrong in worship but worship must be given to whom it is

due. Worship must be guided by a philosophy that is based totally on the scripture not on human

philosophy. In this Church, we want everyone to worship the triune God out of His own self-

revelation of himself. The following submission is intended to give a summary of our guiding

principles and philosophy for our corporate worship.

Revelation: Just like Isaiah’s experience of God’s self-revelation (Isaiah 6)2, Christian

worship starts with God’s revelation of Himself in His greatness and Holiness. No one can truly

worship God knowing whom He is. Apostle Paul had to teach the people of Athens before they

could really understand and know the God they were worshipping ignorantly. Isaiah had to see

God in His holiness and it was then that he could confess God’s holiness and greatness. Isaiah

was not forced or manipulated by anyone before he bowed himself and worshipped, rather it was

the revelation of the great and holy God that prompted his worship. Such worship cannot but be

real and authentic. God who is the initiator of worship reveals Himself through His word anytime

His people gather and that is what we should be looking for and once that is revealed, our

worship will then be based on that revelation. Joseph Crider clearly states that “without an

1
The Bible: Acts of Apostles 17:22-23 (NIV).
2
The Bible: Isaiah 6

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emphasis on God’s revelation (His Word), people may unwittingly respond to humanly

generated cues or prompts.”3

Our music, and everything in our corporate worship should therefore be based on the God

we see through the help of the Holy Spirit and His Word. Some wait for a type of music or sound

to happen before they can worship, that is an error of the highest order which the church of God

must correct by allowing God to reveal Himself through His word and the move of God’s Spirit.

Unfortunately, God’s word is becoming scarce in some churches’ worship and as a consequence,

people device other means to see God and that has led to certain heretic worship and sometimes

worship humans and other things. Our prayer as worship leaders should be that God should

reveal Himself so that people will not see us but rather see God’s reality and give Him the

worship He deserves.

Sincere & True (Isaiah 6:5 ; John 4:24) In response to revelation, worshipers are

expected to demonstrate sincere and true responses through adoration, confession and

thanksgiving as a result of God’s revelation of Himself . This is what Isaiah experienced in

Isaiah 6:5 that made him to respond by sincerely confessing his “woe” and uncleanliness without

any pretense or covering up of his sinfulness. The same was the desire of God when Jesus says

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 4. This kind of sincere

and true response was recorded in Genesis 28:10-19 when Jacob had the experience of the

revelation of God, he was able to confess it and even built an altar for the Lord there which he

called “Bethel.”5 In other words, When someone personally meets God who is bigger, holier

(like Isaiah), stronger, richer and better than himself in the place of worship, such a person will

3
Joseph Crider, Scripture-Guided Worship: A Call to Pastors and Worship Leaders (Texas: Seminary Hill
Press, 2021), 85.
4
The Bible: John 4:24
5
The Bible: Genesis 28:10-19

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not be coerced to sing, confess, or give his or her time, talents in worship of God who reveals

Himself. With this kind of response, one can hardly be wrong because the response is coming as

a result of God’s personal revelation of Himself to the worshiper and that will eventually become

true worship because true response in worship comes out of God’s revelation

It is then after experiencing God’s revelation that one becomes a great worshiper, a great

church worker, a great intercessor, a great and generous giver to God’s work, and a passionate

and inspired song leader in worship. No wonder Tozer says that “every great deed done in the

church of Christ all the way back to the apostle Paul was done by people blazing with the radiant

worship of their God.”6 One cannot blaze with radiant worship if he or she has no direct and

personal revelation of God.

Participatory/Congregational (I Chronicles 15:25-29): Christian worship ought to be a

gathering of active worshipers collectively worshiping the God rather than being spectators

watching the worship leaders perform. Just as we have it exemplified in the scripture above that

all elders and all Israelites joined King David in worshiping and bringing the ark of God to

Jerusalem. The only spectator mentioned Micah in that reference scripture seems to be a

spectator and such spectator did not end her story well so we aim to have all as participating

worshipers.7 Hayford really puts it straight when he discusses “Drawing Out a Timid

Congregation” where he categorically states that “many people want to display their joy and

praise more openly in worship…He further counsels that worshipers should be encouraged to :

personalize their praise, verbalize their thoughts, mobilize their bodies and energize their love for

6
James L. Snyder, comp., Tozer on Worship and Entertainment: Selected Excerpts (Camp Hill, PA: Christian
Publications, Inc. 1997), 15.
7
The Bible: I Chronicles 15:25-29

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one another in corporate worship”8 in order to make a worship participatory or congregation

rather than spectator-watching- a-performer kind of worship. Worship leaders need to be very

creative without being manipulative to make worshipers truly participate in worship. There

should be opportunities for people to express themselves in worship, dance in worship, read

scriptures responsorially, and sing congregationally.

Worship leaders should do all within their ability to guard against turning worship to

theater where people have only come to watch instead of participating, therefore every category-

men, women, youths, teenagers and children in worship should be led to participate in worship.

The danger of being a spectator is what we see in 1 Chronicles 15:25-29 when Micah became a

spectator instead of participating in that worship moment, she despised David a true and sincere

worshiper of God. This is what happens to anyone who will not participate in worship, such a

person will become a critic and a mocker of true worshipers in the church.

Scriptural ( 2 Tim 3:16-17; Col. 3:16): Corporate worship services should and must be

grounded in the Bible because every aspect of worship should reflect the truth of the scripture.

Joseph Crider strengthens this point by saying “Pastors and worship leaders have an eternally

significant stewardship to sculpt worship orders that accurately and biblically contribute to the

shaping of their congregants’ minds and hearts.” 9 He further states that “the church will have

difficulty worshiping Christ Jesus to the glory of God the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit

when a charismatic worship leader with a great voice never speaks a Word of Scripture during

worship.”10 This is very necessary in this age where we have a lot of motivational speakers

springing up and saying what the Bible does not say. If care is not taken, worshipers will end up

8
Jack Hayford, Drawing Out a Timid Congregation, in Leadership Handbook of Preaching and Worship, ed.
James D. Berkley (Grand Rapids: Christianity Today and Baker Publishing Groups, 1997), 200-201
9
Joseph Crider, Scripture-Guided Worship, 43.
10
Joseph Crider, 49.

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hearing and be fed with only what a man says (human philosophy) and not what the Word of

God says. Crider’s argument about this is that “Wordless worship leads to Christ-less worship,

which leads to Spirit-less worship.”11 Therefore, let the church desist from scripture-less worship.

Our worship of the triune God should be based on His revelation of Himself through His word.

Duncan in furtherance of his strong support for biblical worship writes “The regulative

principle helps assure that our corporate worship is Bible-filled and Bible-directed, that the

substance and structure are biblical, that the content and order are biblical…..An apt motto for

those who embrace the regulative principle then might be, read the Bible, preach the Bible, pray

the Bible, sing the Bible, and see the Bible.” 12 Truth be told, the Bible is rapidly disappearing

from corporate today and we must quickly rescue the situation by ensuring that worship leaders

design scripture-guided order of worship and ensure that everyone stays scriptural in every

aspect of the worship. To make this practical, even the media and tech. department should be so

deliberate to project the scriptures on the screen at intervals during corporate worship and by

doing this several verses of the Bible will sink in the hearts of worshipers because the use of Art

in worship must be to image or re-present what the Bible says otherwise, arts and media in

worship will become meaningless or idols.

Social and Transformational (Acts 2: 42-47) Christian worship should also unite

worshipers in fellowship and relationship. An avenue to build one another up in the faith and at

the same time dwell together in unity and love. When our worship is sincerely biblical,

worshipers will unite in love and faith and thereby grow together towards spiritual maturity.

11
Crider, 83.
12
J. Ligon Duncan III, “Foundations for Biblically Directed Worship” in Give Praise to God: A Vision for
Reforming Worship, ed. Philip Graham Ryken, Derek W.H. Thomas and J. Ligon Duncan III (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R,
nd.), 65.

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When we gather to worship, it is not a time to argue or quarrel, rather it is a time for believers to

be devoted to teaching of God’s word, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. A

time for believers to demonstrate togetherness and also sharing and meeting of physical and

spiritual needs.13 In our gathering worship, let us allow for the display of various talents to

glorify God and also edify the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12)14

This gathering together as believers for fellowship, prayers, and sharing is what Crider

terms as the rhythm of horizontal and vertical. The horizontal being the time of fellowshipping

with one another and the vertical being the time of communing with God in prayer and

adoration.15 This social gathering of the believers where they learned the scriptures, ate together,

prayed together and shared their belongings became so attractive that it led to a rapid growth of

the early church and this aspects of social/ fellowship/ learning together must not be taken away

from our worship because therein lie the secret of our growth as a church. Everyone should come

to share what he or she is endowed with-talents, skills, and possessions to give for glory of God

and for the edification of one another. Such physical gathering of believers should not be void of

physical beauty, that is, the works of arts must be employed to beautify the church. In fact God

gave description of how the place of worship in Exodus 25 and in chapter 31 of exodus, God

chooses those artists he has anointed to construct the tabernacle. Therefore, the beauty of art

works that re-present the bible narratives, the use of modern lighting technology, the use of

strong, biblical and beautifully composed music, etc. are to be encouraged in the place of

worship.

13
The Bible: Acts 2:42-47
14
The Bible: Ephesisans 4:12
15
Joseph Crider, 125-138

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 This is why Schaeffer says “For a Christian, redeemed by the work of Christ and living

within the norms of Scripture and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the lordship of Christ

should include an interest in the arts. A Christian should use these arts to the glory of God, not

just as tracts, mind you, but as things of beauty to the praise of God.”16

Secondly, worship should be transformative as in the case of Isaiah (Isaiah 6) Smith says

“Christian worship train our love—they are practice for the coming kingdom, habituating us as

citizens of the kingdom of God. Christian worship, we should recognize, is essentially a counter-

formation to those rival liturgies we are often immersed in, cultural practices that covertly

capture our loves and longings, miscalibrating them, orienting us to rival versions of the good

life. This is why worship is the heart of discipleship.” 17 Every true worship is formative,

changing the worshipers to become better or Christlike.

Mission: (Isaiah 6:6-8; Matthew 28:19-20): Our worship gatherings as Christians should equip

us so that we can go out and witness Christ to the world. By the time Isaiah was forgiven and

cleansed (transformed), God then sent him on mission. 18 By the time Jesus rose from the dead

and appeared to His disciples, He too sent them out to make disciples of all nations. 19 Obviously

from these scriptural references, the end of worship in Spirit and truth is witnessing or

evangelism. After we have been transformed and equipped in our corporate worship, the next

step is to go out and shine the light of the gospel to unbelievers. Harold best sums it by stating

that “Christians artists are witnesses, whatever they do. The lives they lead are primarily as

16
Francis A. Schaeffer, Art and the Bible (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP, 2006), Chapter one.
17
James K. A. Smith, You Are What You Love (Grand Rapids, Michigan : Brazos Press. 2016), 25, ebook.
18
The Bible: Isaiah 6:6-8
19
The Bible: Matthew 28:19-20

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living epistles and secondarily as artistic witnesses.” 20 In other words, our worship continues as

we go out and witness Christ to the unbelievers with our acts and arts.

Joyful and Hopeful (1 Cor.15:57; Titus 2:13-14.) Such a gathering of worshipers should be

that of joyful believers celebrating Christ and His victories won on the cross with the hope of

eternal life looking forward to the return of Christ and eternal home in heaven.

In conclusion, all these guiding principles and priorities should form the basis for all our

music in the corporate worship. Music should be based on God’s revelation. All musical

responses in worship should be appropriate to the revelation. Our music should encourage

congregational participation rather than turning the congregation to spectator. Our music should

fully scriptural leading to the transformation of all. Our music should also be mission-focused

witness Christ even beyond the walls of the Church. And finally, our music should also tell of

Christ’s victory and return and our joyful hope of reigning with Him eternally.

BIBLIOGRAHY
Best, Harold M. Music Through the Eyes Of Faith (New York: Harper Collins, 1993), 240.
The Bible (NIV)
Duncan III, J. Ligon, “Foundations for Biblically Directed Worship” in Give Praise to God: A
Vision for Reforming Worship, ed. Philip Graham Ryken, Derek W.H. Thomas and J. Ligon Duncan III
(Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, nd.), 24.
Crider, Joseph Scripture-Guided Worship: A Call to Pastors and Worship Leaders (Texas:
20
Harold M. Best, Music Through the Eyes of Faith(New York: Harper
Collins Publishers, 1993), 213.

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 Seminary Hill Press, 2021), 234.
Hayford, Jack. Drawing Out a Timid Congregation, in Leadership Handbook of Preaching and
Worship, ed. James D. Berkley (Grand Rapids: Christianity Today and Baker Publishing Groups, 1997),
197-206
Schaeffer, Francis A., Art and the Bible (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP, 2006), 95.
Smith, James K. A., You Are What You Love (Grand Rapids, Michigan : Brazos Press. 2016), 212, e book.
Snyder, James L. comp., Tozer on Worship and Entertainment: Selected Excerpts (Camp Hill,
PA: Christian Publications, Inc. 1997), 240.