Scott Freeman

The Anthropocentric Aspect of Biblical Worship

Even now, even though I know there is more to godly worship than just praising God I had a hard time typing that header.

And it’s not just because it’s a mouthful. It’s because I’ve always bristled at anything that smacks of “humanism.” Having done so, I’ve often skirted around a God that often seems decidedly “humanistic.”

By that I mean that God is so “up with people” that there is much in His character and nature that should inform the way we think, feel, believe and, ultimately, worship.

For most of my life I have cultivated an exclusive, for lack of a better term, “praise-centric” view of discipleship. That regular attendance of corporate worship services were and are indicative of a deeper level of faith and commitment.

However, although there can exist a correlation between discipleship and corporate participation there is also often a sizable disconnect between the two. Let’s face it, it is not rare to see people who are corporately content while being compassionately challenged.

But the more I study the more I realize that true godly worship is not the spring-board into godly living but is more the result of it. And as a matter of fact, God doesn’t want worship to be the impetus of discipleship. In fact, for God, worship results from godly living.

To wit:

Jeremiah 7:5–7
5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

Amos 5:21–24
21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Hosea 6:6
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Micah 6:6–8
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

This is just a sampling of passages that indicate what Marcus Borg insists is God’s stressing of justice over worship rather than vice-versa.

“Since God is just and the world belongs to God, worship cannot be separated from justice because worship or union with a God of justice empowers the worshiper for a life of Justice.”

Worship services cannot contain our love for God because it must be borne out in the way we interact with people. It must be evidenced by our cries for justice.

This idea would fuel the writings of Paul who tied in our ability to properly take communion with our relationships to others.

We have to be people who are concerned for the least of these. Who have a heart for the lost, forgotten and marginalized. Who love unconditionally and completely.
Who embody the presence of Christ and His wisdom.

We see, in the person of Jesus, God in the flesh. When we see the people that captured the heart of Jesus: the widow, the blind, the lame, the children. Then we see who we are to be in love with in this world.

Worship that sees itself inoculated or isolated from the heart of Christ is not true worship. Worship done in the absence of justice is not worship.

Worship that cares nothing for the heart of those hurting is not worship.

So, Jesus teaches us that the heart of true wisdom is to love God and love others. Completely and intertwined. Worship must be entered into with a heart and love for those you worship with.
It must be a result of a deeper love and commitment to the God of all people that sees itself lived out in their lives. In the muck and mire of broken people.