Or, How Worship Done Well Develops Humility
Scripture: Selected Scriptures
Date: January 4, 2015
Speaker: Sean Higgins
I think Augustine said once that the three greatest Christian virtues were: 1) humility, 2) humility, and 3) humility. Humility isn’t itemized as part of the fruit of the Spirit, but a spiritual man must be a humble man. A Christlike man must also be full of humility (see Philippians 2:1-11). God the Father gives grace to the humble (see 1 Peter 5:5; James 4:10). That’s a Trinitarian trifecta.
A humble man is almost invincible. Will you accuse him? He knows it is worse than you could know. Will you threaten him? He knows there are greater threats. Will you boast over him? He can still thank God for what is good in you. A humble man has God’s attention, God’s protection, God’s vindication. Try to knock him down, he’s already lower than you.
You’d think that all of us who have read the Sermon on the Mount would wake up every morning and make sure at once that we were “poor in spirit,” another way to describe the humble, because the poor in spirit are “blessed,” makarios, happy, and “theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
It is especially ironic, especially wrong, that our side of the family tree of Evangelicalism has so many proud branches. Pride grows in many soils, but why are so many of us Bible-loving, theology-conscious, Calvinistic and Reformed types so proud? We who exalt the truth about God’s sovereignty and righteousness, we who analyze the truth about man’s smallness and depravity, we who exegete and meditate and gate-keep, we who tell the stories about Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar and the ancient serpent, we who preach the refrain of woes against Pharisee types, why are we and our ilk so proud so much and so often?
Our only hope is God. We may be able to define sin, defend Scripture, and declare His attributes. But He Himself must keep our hearts sensitive to sin, hungry for His Word, and awake to His glories. He made us alive in Christ by the Spirit through the gospel, and if He removes His care for a moment, we will stray. We will depend on ourselves and that will be the end of ourselves.
We cannot change our own hearts. But by God’s grace we can acknowledge that we cannot change our own hearts. We can identify the things that tempt us to trust our own hearts. And we can put ourselves into position, into the right places, to have God humble us in order to have God lift us up the right way.
I am more convinced than ever, 208 services into Trinity Evangel Church, that one of the tools to help our humility is worship. By worship I’m referring to corporate assembly on the Lord’s Day that follows a liturgical pattern. We can worship God in whatever we do no matter what day of the week it is. But there is something special about Sunday mornings. As we’ve done four times already, we’re going to focus on the subject of worship again at the beginning of our fifth year. A few families have joined our fellowship this past year and may never have heard an explanation for our order of service. I think that most families like our fellowship but they still can’t explain why. And the emphasis this morning is a reminder for all of us anyway. God blesses His people when they worship humbly.
When I titled this message, “No Better Place to Be,” the “place” I’m referring to is humility. Corporate worship can help us get to that place, but the “place” is not defined by four walls or four part harmony. And when I refer to worship “done well,” I mean worship in a way that is “appropriate to the facts or circumstances,” so, worship that fits with God’s glory and our proper response to that from the inside out. Worship done well is responsive to His call, receptive of His Word, thankful for His grace, harmonious in His praise, and declarative about His gospel and glory.
Here are seven helps toward humility that are part of our service every Lord’s day morning.
The most challenging part of the Lord’s Day may be getting here and being ready to respond to God’s call to worship Him. So many of the Psalms jump off the praise cliff with almost no liturgical preparation.
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
(Psalm 8:1)
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
(Psalm 9:1)
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
(Psalm 110:1)
Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!
(Psalm 105:1–3)
It’s time, right now, let’s go.
It’s not hard to imagine how people could be taken aback by such a start. They prefer to get warm slowly, if they warm up at all. Of course, we include a brief time of community announcements to help. Before that the doors are open for greeting and mingling. And, we try not to make the day or time of our services a mystery. Preparing is possible.
It’s hard to be ready for worship, not just in finding a pew for your brood and having said brood in tow with bed-head wetted down. But doing all of that by 10:00 AM and having your heart ready? How many different things might distract or attack your heart? What burdens, exhaustions, or provocations line the gauntlet for you? I could wish that Sunday mornings were more smooth, that no one in the house woke up sick, that kids never bickered, that all the dress clothes were magically pressed, and my own sniffles cleared away. But we don’t worship in a Precious Moments tableau. You expect me to be ready at ten o’clock. Is it so surprising to think that God expects all of us to be ready on time and in heart?
It takes humility to be ready to worship. It takes humility to ask God to help our hearts be ready. It takes humility to respond, “who made heaven and earth,” even to receive the truth of Psalm 124:8 along with whatever the additional Scripture reading is. It takes humility to sing songs of praise to God when we’ve spent most of our week seeking praise for ourselves. From the beginning we are called to be humble.
The second movement in our liturgy exhorts us to sit in front of God’s mirror and admit that our hair, among other things, is out of place. We do not look good at all. He knows it. He knew it when we walked in. He wants us to know it. He hates sin. He receives sinners, though, who are broken sinners.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
(Psalm 51:17)
Those who mourn their sin are blessed and will be comforted (Matthew 5:4). He forgives those who admit their guilt and turn from transgression and trust in Christ (1 John 1:9).
Without humility we will stiffen our necks against His assessment. We will turn away from the mirror and resist His authority to judge. We will judge for ourselves between good and evil, thank you very much.
Confession is one thing, but it is possible for a man in prison to speak accurately about his charge without humility. We must also be humble in order to receive grace and forgiveness. Even in our interactions with one another, there are times we won’t ask for forgiveness because we don’t want the other person to feel like he has the upper hand.
But here is where the humble are exalted. Those who turn from their wickedness will be blessed, not because they are better, but because God no longer opposes them. If our fathers had learned from their fathers how to be humble, how to confess their sins and seek reconciliation, perhaps we would not be so buried in generational pride.
The third movement includes more praise, more receiving, more depending, and seeking of transformation. It is part of presenting ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). Here is the altar call in our service, not for sake of evangelism for consecration.
To consecrate means to devote, to dedicate with a purpose. We give ourselves. We “present our bodies.” We give God our mouths that sing. We give Him our ears to hear the Word. We give Him our needs in supplication. We give Him our necks, so Hebrews 4:12-13, exposed to Him for him to cut us up and arrange our thinking/priorities/behavior as He desires (see also Romans 12:2). We even give Him our wallets, cheerfully offering as we’ve received.
This is different than singing merely as a warm up to listen to a sermon in order to fill up our truth-tubes. You do not need to learn something new, or fill up another page in your notebook, in order for this to please God. You do need to be humble to please God. Learning is great as it changes our thinking, but not so that we will be an army of scholarly Christians. He is developing an army of sanctified sacrifices. In order to expect to be rearranged, we must be humble.
The fourth movement is our meal at the Lord’s Table. It also requires and nurtures humility for at least two reasons.
First, the primary attitude of this supper is thankfulness. The Lord prayed twice when He instituted this meal (1 Corinthians 11:23-25) and we do the same, thanking God for His provision of both the bread and the cup. Proud people do not express gratitude. They know entitled expectation. Thankfulness crowds out haughtiness.
Second, the Table is a communion, something shared, at a community table. This is not “Me and Jesus” time, it is Jesus and His Body. The sharing we all do is a uniting of us all as one. Egos must be muted, preferably mortified. I don’t deserve fellowship with God more or less than you do. And because we fellowship with God, He knits us together as one. It’s humbling to be a part of something such as this.
The fifth movement is the last charge and benediction as God’s people are sent out. You have already been called to the altar, now you go into all the world as His disciples. Salt it up (Matthew 5:13). Light it up (Matthew 5:14). Take dominion (Genesis 1:28). Give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18) and be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15). You won’t do that in your own strength. O Lord, how silly that is! So you go with His blessing, His words of promise. Our purpose is spiritual, global, and eternal, but our perseverance, let alone our successes in any arena, depends on humbly receiving His help.
Though we’ve covered the five sections of our liturgy, it’s worth mentioning our worship in song as it’s own part of developing humility.
We believe that the assembly worships, not that the instrumentalists and preacher worship while the assembly watches. Of course, it looks different on the speaking side, but there are still opportunities for the hearing side. Our worship in song is an obvious way for the many to participate in voice, and we have at least six spots for songs each Sunday.
Our strategy—yes, there is strategy—is to stretch as a congregation in our lyrics (more and more biblical), our variety, even in our harmony. Music is a huge part of our culture and Christians have mostly given it up to the culture. But we are the ones who can explain parts, unison, sharps, flats, and Picardy thirds. How could an entire song of minor chords end on a major chord? How could three days of sorrow be changed by one Sunday morning? It’s the gospel.
It takes humility to grow, to realize we have work to do, to try to sing Psalms or to learn something more than the melody, and to admit that we prefer simple chord progressions because our hearts don’t want to be stretched.
Another purposeful piece of our liturgy is that we welcome kids to participate. We want them to know that they are part of us, called to worship God, too. This requires humility on our part, including the humility to bear with those whose fidget capacities are even now about to burst.
But what humbles us most is that they are learning what is worthy about God by watching us, all of us, not just listening to the speaker. Or, they are learning that’s all they need to do, at least according to your example. They are learning not to sing when the song doesn’t suit their taste. They are learning to wait to participate until they are good and ready. They learn to measure prayers that are too long or sermons that fall flat or push off conviction that is too close. Or they are learning to kneel in humility before God and to desire communion with God. We cannot disembody worship, we always embody even if we’re wrong.
Romans 12:1-2 (and verse 3 and following) belong in a corporate context. Worship is itself an act of breaking free from the world’s mold. Worship waves our joy flag in a battle zone of despair; it hoists our faith colors over doubts and disregard of God. So worship is not private. When we give thanks to God, we are unlike those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18, 21). Humility, not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think (Romans 12:3), being interested in being “individually members of one another” (Romans 12:5), these are counter-worldly, counter-cultural. The gates of hell cannot prevail.
Worship done well develops a heart of worship. From the first call to the final commission, we are being changed.
Submitting ourselves to the weekly discipline of liturgy can and has gone wrong for persons, denominations, and generations. But remember, everyone has a liturgy, and everyone will be tempted to fall off one side of the horse or the other. Recognizing that liturgy helps us get to the place we want to be, humility, instead of believing that a certain liturgy is the place we want to be, makes a huge difference. Liturgy is a means, not the end. Humble worship that glorifies God is the end. What means should we use to get there? What means do you think we should use? Some are better than others for sake of our hearts.