Biblical Principles regarding Praise

1. Worship throughout History.

About this issue of adoration to the Lord in public services, we always have to keep in mind that the true worshipers in Church services did not appear in Church with the Charismatic movement. Whoever says that denies that there has always been a faithful Church throughout history, which has always been able to please the Lord. He/She would also be denying that the Lord has always been victorious, always counting on a faithful Church.

One cannot overlook the way the Lord was worshipped by the faithful Church at least in the Pentecostal movement in its best moments, even before the Charismatic movement started. An obvious evidence of this reality is the hymns with profound lyrics that edify the church and exalt the Lord in a way that hymns that appeared in the last 30 years very rarely are able to do.

Of course there has always been a spiritually empty church which lacked grace and which replaced the operation of the Holy Spirit by empty liturgy. Yet there has always been a faithful church that worshiped the Lord in the way that pleased Him especially in times of revivals of faith and particularly since the Lord started to pour out His Spirit on all flesh in the second half of the XIX century (the Pentecostal movement).

The manner of worshipping that will now be considered is not only biblical but is nowadays being lived by Churches that have learned to adore the Lord in Spirit and in truth. The Lord manifests His satisfaction with the praise of these Churches and edifies them in return.

2. Purpose: to adore the Lord.

The main goal for the existence of the Church and of each member in particular is to adore the Lord by proclaiming his virtues and graces and by manifesting their thanksgiving for His mercies and spiritual gifts. This is also the objective of each service in a true Christian Church.

As the Church meets in a service, its purpose is not to have a blessed time, to seek spiritual pleasure such as the joy of the Lord, or even to receive specific blessings; but, instead, its objective is to adore the Lord for His majesty and Lordship, and to manifest thanksgiving for His blessings.

3. Inspiration: to please the Lord.

The Church does not worship to please itself (to please the flesh), or because it is pleasant to them to be visited by the Holy Spirit. The Church worships to please the Lord, who is the center of the service. The main concern of the Church in a service is, therefore, to please Him.

Nowhere does the Bible say that believers should worship Him as they please. All biblical teachings tell us to worship Him as He pleases. “God seeks worshipers that will worship in Spirit and truth”.

True worship must be led by the Holy Spirit, which exalts only God the Father and the Lord Jesus. Despite these teachings, in some Christian movements today there is an understanding that the time of worship must be pleasing to the Church, they should have a good time, a pleasant time, feel well. That’s why there is an incentive in many Churches for the believers to do “as they please” during the time of worship.

However, the sense of God’s presence, the joy and love filling their hearts is supposed to be just a by-product of true worship, and not the end in itself. We should rejoice because the Lord is being exalted and because His grace is being announced, not because we like to feel good.

4. Attitude: reverence and fear of the Lord.

The Bible tells us that we are supposed to have an attitude of reverence as we enter the Lord’s presence. Let’s just remember Moses’ experience when God told him to take off his sandals because he was on holy land. In the book of Hebrews we learn that by the blood of Jesus we have boldness to enter His presence. But the same book teaches us that we must have fear in his presence, because God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28-29). What is required by the Word of God of all believers is an attitude of reverence before the Lord that reflects the fear of the Lord (the beginning of knowledge, Prov. 1:7), which is compatible with love and confidence in His mercy. God did not change according to modern times (Mal. 3:6).

Reverence is to be manifest in a compatible attitude, in behavior and even in the way one dresses. Reverence will require a special attitude as we approach the throne of the living God (Exo. 3:5). Even though in a sense we live in God’s presence and Jesus lives in us through the Holy Spirit, as we arrive at a service to adore the Lord together with the Church, this is a special event for the believers and for the Lord. We have an appointment with the Lord. He manifests himself in a special way in each and every service (Matt. 18:20). The outward appearance should reflect the reality of the inner reverence.

Our Heavenly Father may accept the worship of new believers who have not yet been duly taught about fear and reverence. But in order to offer a praise the Lord is really worthy of, the believer must learn to adore with these feelings in his heart.

5. Moved by thanksgiving and love.

The Church is also supposed to worship with love and out of thanksgiving (1 Thes. 5:18). If these elements are not present, the believer cannot worship the Lord. In some circles people believe that in a service to the Lord, Christians should manifest the same kind of emotions that people manifest in rock concerts or football matches when they applaud their idols or their accomplishments. This is not correct because those manifestations are adequate to express unholy emotions; they are required by feelings of the flesh.

Feelings brought about by the Holy Spirit must be expressed by the heart: the Lord does not see the outward appearance of a person, but sees his heart (1 Sam. 16:7). Therefore, those holy feelings should be expressed with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with all our hearts and all our souls (Eph. 5:19-20). In the New Testament these are the only requirements for the believer.

6. Results: visitation of the Holy Spirit and joy of the Lord.

As we arrive in the Lord’s presence, we may not be in the right mood to worship as a result of preoccupations with our daily life, etc. That’s why we should start every service with a moment of contrition, confessing our sins to the Lord, asking for forgiveness, and asking the Holy Spirit to create in us the right mood to worship, placing true thanksgiving in our hearts. In answer to prayers of the Church, the Holy Spirit visits the believers granting them spiritual conditions to worship the Lord, by placing reverence, fear, love and thanksgiving in the hearts of the believers.

Then, the Church is able to start to worship the Lord in spirit and truth, because the Lord is entrhroned in the praises of Israel. As the Church continues to worship, the joy of the Lord is more and more manifest in its midst and there is even more disposition to worship Him.

7. God sees the heart.

In the New Testament there are no specific teachings about the position of the body when the Church worships the Lord. As Jesus speaks about adoration, He mentions that it should be “in Spirit and truth” (John. 4:23-24). Paul says that everything in our services should be done “decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).

However, in this area, some biblical principles should be applied. One principle that may have been forgotten in Christian churches is the fact that the Lord is more concerned about the condition of our hearts than about the external movements of our body as we worship Him. Of course one could say that if the Bible says that the believers should come before the Lord with reverence and fear, the position of their bodies should be in harmony with those feelings.

In the Old Testament, the Lord says to Samuel that He does not see us as man does. Man sees the outward appearance while the Lord sees the heart.

One may transfer this lesson to the area of worship and say: when believers worship Him, He expects to be worshiped with love and thanksgiving, reverence and fear, with all their hearts, their souls and their understanding.

If one does not have the direction of the Spirit, one may make the mistake of considering the experiences Israel had in the times of the Old Testament and establish a worship code for the Church. This would, however, be a misuse of the Old Testament.

8. Only transformed lives are worthy of worshiping Him.

An excessively informal way of dressing in the services and an undue intimacy in referring to the Lord reflects a lack of knowledge about how we should present ourselves before the Lord. It also reveals that the transformation process the Holy Spirit is operating in someone’s life is at an early stage or even that it has been interrupted. The Church must be taught that as one converts to the Lord, one should abandon the old ways of dressing, speaking and behaving taught by the world and that may even be immoral at times. The pastors must learn to have the courage to teach the new believers about this issue. As one learns the Church history, one learns that the faithful Church has always been concerned about that.

9. The Spiritual Preparation.

The Church has ascribed small importance to the spiritual preparation of the instrumentalists and singers in Church, ascribing more importance to the technical ability. The esthetical beauty which is able to stir emotions started to be considered sufficient to inspire holy emotions in the congregation during the time of worship.

The Lord has revealed to His Church that, in order for instrumentalists and singers of a choir or a group of praise to worship Him, it is necessary that they live in sanctification, giving a good testimony to the Church and to the world. They should also prepare themselves with prayer and fasting to be used in worship. The importance of worship requires such spiritual preparation for them to be used as instrumentalists or singers.

This way, when a praise group – singers and instrumentalists – is used by the Lord, the Holy Spirit visits the congregation, working deliverance and even healings, the same as when David played his harp (1 Sam. 16:23). The Church has been learning that the spiritual condition comes first; the ability to play with technique and art comes in second place.