Day 2: Who Is The God We Worship?

Welcome to Day 2 of 5. Today there will be less video and reading to absorb than yesterday, but the ideas here should begin to take us into the mysteries of our majestic God – and fresh rediscovery of powerful truths about Him that impact our worship leadership. Our view of God, in so many ways, sits at the center of our theology of worship. First, watch today's video here, then read below. Blessings as we "consider things too wonderful" for us (Ps. 139:6). Video time: 10:36 Reading time (est.): 10:00 Day 2 Total Time: 20:36

DAY 2: WHO IS THE GOD WE WORSHIP?

Who Is the God We Worship?

Before we can talk about what worship is all about, we have to start with who God is. God is the focus of our worship, but sometimes we only give quick attention to His person and actions through our lyrics and don't dig deep enough to realize who we're really dealing with. While libraries about the nature of God have been written, and the whole of the Scriptures gives us an ongoing window into the heart of God, we'll take this session to explore just a few core areas that help us connect our theology with our worship.

God Bursts Out of the Maze

"But suppose that God, if there is a God, were to come bursting out of the center of the maze on his own initiative?"

N.T. Wright, Simply Christian

From the flashes of God's personality revealed in the micro and macro cosmos (God as Creator); to the biblical declaration of God's sovereign rule over all time, space, and matter (God as King); to the historical and experiential evidence of God's manifest presence as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (God as Trinity); to salvation history's culminating celebration that God is one who rights the world (God as Savior); we as believers worship the God who reveals Himself. "We become like what we worship," someone has wisely said. If our view of God is small, we will become small people. If our view of God is passionate, joyful, expansive, and creative, we will tend to be the same. Here these words from John, rendered by Eugene Peterson in The Message:

"The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish."

John 1:14 (The Message)

In other words, what we love about Jesus, is what we love about God. Let's look at these four different ways the Father God has self-revealed Himself to the world.

1. God As Creator (the God who creates)

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

Genesis 1:1

The book of Genesis, in its very first verse, clearly communicates about the nature of God. From the outset, this verb-based language describes in vivid, unfolding detail the nature of God as a Person who makes. In the first verse of the first book on the first moments of cosmic infancy, God is depicted as Maker, Creator, Lead Artist, and wildly Imaginative Engineer of the cosmos. Anyone who can think up over 500 species of snail, with various slime colors, has got to be creative. And why would God do that? Simply for function's sake? Or could it be possible that, according to the first verse of the Bible, we are dealing with a God who both playful Artist and precise Engineer, visionary Creative and consummate Physicist? At the beginning of time, the macro world and the micro world spill forth from the imagination and administration, the art and the science, the mathematics and the music, rumbling in the Person of God. In other words, God designed a cosmos of astounding complexity, beauty, immensity and intricacy and invited us to go exploring. Many times, Christians seem to believe that the best answers in the world are the simple answers, and indeed, this may sometimes be the case. However, we see in the glory of the atom (which, as particles ever smaller are discovered and documented in their activity, may turn out to be made completely of light, i.e., light being the possible building block of all matter19), and the vastness of the space beyond our atmosphere (billions of stars, solar systems, galaxies, nebula, and other celestial wall hangings in the divine studio) that God delights in complexity. The implications of beginning to understand God as the Originator of light, time, matter, energy, stars, galaxies, mathematics, microorganisms, sound, narwhals, rock strata, quarks, flies, and Venus flytraps are immeasurable. When we add to this list the mysteries of the universe within us—the human body, the human soul, and the gifts of love, joy, friendship, and laughter—we should be left with nothing less than our mouths wide open and our hearts ravished with wonder that such a Being would invite us to play within this stunning universe.

2. God As King (the God who reigns)

"God has set His throne in heaven; He rules over us all. He's the King."

Psalm 103:19 (The Message)

The central, guiding metaphor that God self-reveals to us about both His Personality and His role in the universe, is that of King. Throughout the pages of Scripture, God both refers to Himself, and seems to welcome others to refer to Him, as Sovereign over the universe. For the early Church, worship was a political act. The declaration "Jesus is Lord" was a direct affront to the common phrase of the day, "Caesar is Lord." At one point I stood on the spot where, now almost two thousand years before me, Christians would have stood before screaming crowds in preface to a sporting event and been challenged as to their political allegiance, which was primarily to Jesus as their Lord. Looking deeply into the eyes of their inquisitors, they would have said what young Cassie Bernall, victim of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, was said to have spoken to her assailant: "Yes, I believe in God." While the concept of kingship is a difficult one for those who live in North America, it is a more familiar idea in many other parts of the world. Kingship speaks of sovereign, governmental authority. Related to the idea that God is King is the idea that human beings are subject, ultimately, to live their lives according to the will of another. Not only are the laws of time, space, and matter subject to this King, but all individuals, rulers, powers, and authorities will ultimately answer to the One who reigns over the universal order. To recognize God as King is to recognize that by His rule He has claim on every life that is under His benevolent leadership.

God As Trinity (the God who relates)

"Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One."

Deuteronomy 6:4

The biblical doctrine of the Trinity is based on the recognition that God has revealed Himself to humankind as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The great "Three in One," is the God of the Jews, the great "I Am" of history (Ex. 3:14), and has been revealed to us by the Spirit of God through the person of Jesus of Nazareth. In N.T. Wright's collection of worship sermons, For All God's Worth, he suggests that the doctrine of the Trinity expressed in the Scriptures in the Christian understanding of God, was never meant to be a math equation confining our understanding of God, but rather a way of God expressing that He is beyond the confines of our wildest perceptions. To understand God as One Person standing at the center of the cosmos expressing Himself in three ways as Father, Son, and Spirit can be mind-boggling. The early Christians, in face of their revelation of Jesus as God, came to the doctrine of the Trinity as their best way of talking about such holy mysteries. Scholar Jeremy Begbie of Duke University has suggested that we use an analogy from the world of music to comprehend the Trinity—three of one, all existing and acting at the same time. A chord is made up of three notes. They are individual frequencies, each with their own part to play, but together the chord is sounded by all of them at once. To take away one note, is to take away the chord. The three are one. The late Robert Webber, one of our generation's most dedicated scholars in both ancient and contemporary worship, challenged worship leaders to think this way when leading Trinitarian worship:

Rediscover the Trinitarian nature of worship – we worship the Father in the language of mystery; the Son in the language of story; the Spirit in the language of symbol.

God As Savior (the God who saves)

"You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

Matthew 1:21

How many times have you heard another Christian, or even yourself, say "I'm saved"? We should probably ask the question, "From what are we saved?" Evil? Immorality? Ourselves? A fiery pit of hell? Our fears? Another question should then follow this one—a question that seems to be far more important to the Story woven throughout the Old and New Testaments. According the Scriptures, we should not only ask ourselves from what have we been saved, but we should also ask to what have we been saved? If the God of the Bible is anything, He is the God who is not distant. When things go wrong in His creation, He is a God who both intervenes and rescues. It is very difficult to read the first five pages of the Bible without seeing at least two things:

1. We should immediately see that there is a God who has deeply and passionately loved the human race. We all know the Story. God speaks a word and creates. God creates human beings to steward that creation, at least on earth. Humankind is special, made in God's image. Community and intimacy, the threads weaving together all of the created world, are in perfect and radiant condition.
2. Upon our reading of those first few pages, we should see that there is a severe problem that rears its head. That problem, conveniently known to us as a little three-letter word, is sin.

Sin is a word that causes the modern person to recoil. Biblically, it means that we've "missed the mark." We've somehow fallen short of our vocation (our calling), our mission (our co-labor with God), and our identity (our relationship to God, one another, and the world). How the Story began is the way it was, and is, meant to end. We began in the pristine beauty of the Garden of Eden, destined to live forever in community with God and each other. Instead, we chose to eat the fruit from one of the forbidden trees in that sanctuary, thereby shattering the glorious intimacy we once shared with our Maker and with all the created order. Sin is the problem and God is the kind of Person who will not step away from the brokenness in His own work of art.

The Cross and Atonement

To restore humanity, fix the sin issue, and bring new creation life (2 Cor. 5:17), Christ 1) lived among us, 2) suffered on the cross, and then 3) rose again from the dead. The word atonement, or Christ's relationship-restoring act on the cross to bring "at-one-ment" between God and humanity again, is a profound and deep theological reflection. We won't have time to completely unpack this here. However, we'll use it as a category for breaking down the very specific ways the death of Jesus on the cross worked the rescue of God for a disconnected and sin-chained humanity.

1. The Cross Reveals The Love of God

"God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

In the suffering of Jesus on the cross, we see the love of the Father manifest in the most stunning and profound of ways—the complete self-giving of His only Son. If you only write one song or create one expression related to the work of the cross, focus on this reality: that God so loved, that God gave, and gave and gave of Himself.

Helpful References: 2 Corinthians 5:19; Romans 8:3; Romans 8:32; Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:14; Ephesians 5:25

2. The Cross Represents Sacrifice

"Sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh." Romans 8:3

The apostle Paul described Christ's death as a "fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Reflecting on the ancient practice of offering a lamb's blood in sacrifice for the sins of the people Israel, Jesus becomes that "life for a life" exchange.

Helpful References: Romans 3:25; Ephesians 5:2; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 5:7; Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:13; Colossians 1:20; John 19:34

3. The Cross Highlights The Vicarious Offering Of Christ

"While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

This term vicarious is used to depict the fact that Jesus did not die just for you, or just for me, or just as an historical event. Jesus died, according to the Scriptures, "for us," i.e., in our place.

Helpful References: 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Romans 8:32; Ephesians 5:2; Mark 10:45

4. The Cross Expresses Christ's Substitutionary Death

"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died." 2 Corinthians 5:14

Another way to see Christ's death is to see it as substitutionary. In other words, Christ died in our stead, in our place, and therefore we all have died. In submitting to God's judgment, he delivered us from our judgment.

Now, identifying with the death of Jesus, we are able to identify with his rising from the dead to new creation and new life.

Helpful References: 2 Corinthians 5:21; 2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 Timothy 2:6; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 6:1

5. The Cross Speaks Of Propitiation

"...and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished." Romans 3:24–25

What in the world does the word propitiation mean? Great question. "The death of Christ has to do not only with human beings and their sin; it also looks Godward, and as such is propitiatory" (George Eldon Ladd).

Propitiation literally means to "render us favorable" before someone we have offended. In this way, the offering of Jesus' life on the cross renders us favorable to God.

Helpful References: Romans 1:18; Romans 1:32; Romans 2:12; Romans 6:23; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Hebrews 9:5; Romans 3:25; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Philippians 2:5ff

6. The Cross Resounds With Redemption

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Mark 10:45

Redemption literally means "to buy, or to purchase." It speaks of words like ransom and freedom. The words used for redemption in the New Testament spring from themes common to the period. Redemption had to do with ransoming prisoners of war or buying back slaves for the purpose of freedom.25

We were slaves to sin, disobedience, self-preservation, and independence from God. We are now rescued, saved, to a new Master. We no longer obey the old.

Helpful References: Titus 2:14; 1 Timothy 2:6; Romans 3:24; Ephesians 1:7; Romans 8:23; Ephesians 4:30; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Corinthians 6:19–20; 1 Corinthians 7:22–23; Galatians 3:13; Galatians 4:4

7. The Cross Embodies The Victory Of Christ

"And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." Colossians 2:15

The historic theological vision of this expression of the cross's efficacy is held in the idea of Christus Victor – Christ The Victor or Champion. The achievement of Christ on the cross, no matter what some of our contemporary worship songs say, was not just for you, or even just for me! Jesus' death on the cross did indeed fix the sin issue for you and me, but not solely for you and me.

A great, spectacular cosmic triumph occurred in those dark hours on Calvary's hill. Every ruler, authority, and power in Paul's conception of a spiritual realm was to be destroyed and rendered powerless by Christ's work on the cross. He will reign until he has put every enemy under his feet (1 Cor. 15:24–25).

Helpful References: 1 Corinthians 15:24-25; Ephesians 2:2–8; Ephesians 3:10

Resurrection And The New Creation

Like a song rushing toward its conclusion, we see that the work on the cross of the Saving God was not the culmination of the New Life Story. Early one morning, according to Matt. 28:1—10, a stone was rolled away, a tomb was found empty, and the disciples of Jesus were propelled into the world with such joyful force that even the most unbelieving scholar of our day are confounded by what exactly happened on that first Easter Sunday. According to New Testament scholar N.T. Wright, the resurrection is a guarantee of the age to come. Jesus is the firstborn from among the dead (Col. 1:18) and his followers will follow suit (1 Thess. 4:16). New creation is presently at work in us (2 Cor. 5:17) and is in the cards for the whole created order (Rev. 21:5). A restoration is at hand. Can you feel it all around you? Can you taste it on the breeze, sense it in your soul? Can you sing it, play it, and creatively express it to your congregation? That restoration is a personal restoration, but it is also a community restoration, a heaven-and-earth restoration, and ultimately a cosmic restoration. This restoration is captured in the Hebrew vision of Shalom – a peace that not only permeates the human heart, but also permeates relationships, vocation, creation, government, and every expression of human culture. One day God's great shalom will be the melody of all of creation, and the Prince of Peace will rule and reign on the earth. God's Kingdom is breaking into the world by the Spirit of God through the way opened by Christ, and we as his followers are participating in bringing healing and wholeness to the world through Jesus. Empowered by the Spirit of God, we bring God's pervasive, all-consuming peace to the situations that God has given us to influence (Matt. 5:9). Peace of mind, peace of heart, peace of circumstance, peace of government, peace of society, peace of relationships – in all of these arenas we are Christ's ambassadors.

We Live in Resurrection Light

For the early Church, every Sunday was a mini-Easter celebration focusing on the resurrection of Jesus and the New Life at work in us. The Eucharist, called "The Great Thanksgiving" (what we call Communion) celebrated the resurrection life. As Christ's ambassadors, every act of forgiveness, reconciliation, and hope-giving is now a new creation act—an act of shalom-making or peace-making. We anticipate the age to come every time we make a choice to act in love, in shalom peace, and not in hatred or bitterness. We are Easter people. We live in Resurrection Light. Hope lives in us.

Jesus did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live.

Our Creator, King, Trinity, And Savior

While we can't do justice in this short study to all that God's character means to us and the world, we can see that our theology of worship depends on understanding Who we worship. We become like that which we worship. And to become like Christ is the goal of all Christian worship. We conclude with Colossians 1:15–20, one of the great early worship hymns that scholars believe was sung in the early Church in some form:

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."

Col. 1:15–20

:: A Note from Dan You just finished Day 2 – and I hope your wheels are beginning to turn. Theological growth is not about getting the right answers; it's truly about asking the right questions, and being open to God's unfolding answers. Tomorrow, as we head toward formulating our own theology of worship, we'll turn from this big question to another big question that follows: If God is Creator, King, Trinity, and Savior – what does that say about who we are as worshippers, made in His image? Have a great day and get a good rest. We're almost half-way through already and there are more exciting ideas to come.