Reasons to Worship

2 Samuel 6:12-22

Under the leadership of Moses, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Then Joshua replaced him as the leader, and he led the entrance and initial conquest of the promise land. When He died, however, the land was still enveloped with unrest and wars. The Israelites were unable to wipe out their enemies. The Philistines were the greatest opposition. This means that although the Israelites were already in the promise land, they still faced hardships from their enemies. God promised that Canaan was a land of abundance, but He did not say it would be peaceful. If they wanted peace, they had to obey God and defeat the settlers of the land.

For 400 years, since they settled the land, they continuously battled against their enemies. When Joshua died, there were other leaders who emerged, who we call the Judges. Sometimes the Israelites were defeated, and sometimes they would win and experience peace. The people thought that their losses were related to the fact that they did not have a king, so they asked the prophet Samuel to give them a king (1 Sam 8:1-22). Reluctantly, God gave them Saul (1 Sam 9:1-11:14). But Saul was not able to defeat all the enemies. It was only during the time of David that the Philistines were defeated and the whole of Canaan was taken over by the Israelites. We read David’s two decisive victories in 2 Samuel 5:17-25.

This sermon is about what happened immediately after the whole land was finally conquered by the Israelites. David’s first action when he secured peace in the land was to lead the people in bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. This is what we read in 2 Samuel 6:1-22. The story has several fascinating themes, but we will just focus on one element of worship in the passage.

David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. ¹³ When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. ¹⁴ Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, ¹⁵ while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

16 As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

17 They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. 18 After he had finished sacrificingthe burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.

20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

²¹ David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. ²² I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

One the most immediate realizations we can have from the passage is the fact that David was a very enthusiastic worshipper. The passage narrates that “David was dancing before the Lord with all his might” (6:14) and he was “dancing and leaping before the Lord” (6:16). He was really into it that he did not notice how vulgar he had become (6:10). He was so enthusiastic that his wife criticized him: “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” (6:20). But when he received his wife’s rebuke, he was indifferent. He did not care. He even declared that for the sake of worshipping God: “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes” (6:22).

I am not going to deal with the forms of worship this morning. For me, the old debates—between solemn and celebrative worship, or between silent and loud music, or between traditional and contemporary, or between singing hymns and choruses—are not fruitful. So I am not going to argue today that you are not worshipping unless you dance half naked (or completely naked, as in the case of Saul (1 Sam 19:23-24), or clap your hands joyfully, or dance around unashamedly. I am also not going to tell you are not a true worshipper unless you are completely silent at the sanctuary. Next week, I am going to talk a bit about undignified worship, but today, we are just going to answer one question: “What prompted David to express his worship to God unashamedly?”

We can only understand David’s joy and enthusiasm if we read Psalm 132 alongside 2 Samuel 6.

Lord, remember David
and all the hardships he endured.

² He swore an oath to the Lord,
he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
³ “I will not enter my house
or go to my bed,
⁴ I will allow no sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
⁵ till I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob”

⁶ We heard it in Ephrathah,
we came upon it in the fields of Jaar.

⁸Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place,

you and the ark of your might (Ps 132:1-6, 8)

Worship God for Victories

In Psalm 132:1, David admits that he lived a very difficult life. Since Samuel anointed him (1 Sam 16:13), David experienced many hardships in life. He became the target of King Saul’s murderous plots (1 Sam 18:10-11; 19:1-17). Saul pursued him and he fled many times to different cities to that he can preserve his life (1 Sam 23:1-13, 26-29; 24:1-22). He carried the guilt of the death of the priests and residents of Nob, who were killed by Saul because they helped David (1 Sam 22:6-23). In order to preserve his life, he was forced to pretend to be mad at Gath (1 Sam 21:10-15). Then soon as he was crowned king, the Philistines united to pursue and kill him (2 Sam 5:17-25). David’s life was not a walk in the park; it was more like a swim in a piranha-filled river.

But in 2 Samuel 6, all of these difficulties are a thing of the past. Saul is dead, and the Philistines were already defeated. His enemies are gone. He can sleep at night without holding on to his sword. His political struggles are over. This is why we see in 2 Samuel 6 a joyful man, and whose shoulders are no longer filled with burden. He was once afraid, but now he is at peace. He feels liberated. He has a great life ahead of him, free from all the burdens he constantly faced before. God even promised him: “I will also give you rest from all your enemies” (2 Sam 7:11). How can he not worship God? Without a care about what others see or think, he just expressed his worship to God.

A freed human ought to worship God. A human who found new life ought to worship God. Like David, all of us have experienced freedom from suffering as well. For some of us, sickness and death may have been pursuing us lately, and yet here we are: alive and well. For some of us, financial problems may have overtaken us lately, and we experienced God’s blessing. For some of us, sorrow may have been looming like dark clouds over us, and then we experienced God’s sunlight. For some of us, iron balls of busy schedule and exhaustion may have been tied around our feet, but we have been liberated. We have all faced difficulties over the last few days weeks, but when we received freedom from them, have we liberally worshipped God?

Worship God for Accomplishments

When we read Psalm 132:2-6, we realize that David actually made a vow to God that he would not rest until the ark finds its place in the house of God. As an Israelite, he knew the significance of the ark and its embarrassing history.[1] There was even a time when the ark as captured by the enemies (1 Sam 4:11). He knew that the ark has been resting at Kiriath Jearim for seventy years already (1 Sam 7:1). His dream was to move the ark to Jerusalem, the capital city. In the time of Saul, Jerusalem was still in the hands of the Jebusites. It is only in 2 Samuel 5:6-15 that David finally captured Jerusalem.

In 2 Samuel 6, David was now moving it to Jerusalem. From the day David was anointed to the moment when the ark is being moved to Jerusalem is a staggering 24-year period. Moving the ark to Jerusalem was a 24-year dream! It was 24-year project! It took David twenty-four years in order to fulfill his vow to the Lord. In between these 24 years were bitter struggles and near-death experiences. Therefore, moving the ark to Jerusalem, for David, was a massive accomplishment. He struggled for 24 years, and right now in 2 Samuel 6, he was witnessing the fruits of his labors and sacrifices. How can he not worship God?

God has given us victories. He has empowered us to accomplish our dreams. We do not come to worship God as if He has done nothing in our lives. The church is not a gathering of people with amnesia, people who have forgotten about God’s great blessings upon them. We are a gathering of people who remember God’s goodness and greatness. May God open our eyes so that we can see the victories He is granting us, both great and small. Our response to all these things is worship.

Worship God for New Beginnings

David was not only thankful. He was also excited. In the history of the ark, whenever the ark moved, miracles and victories happen. When Joshua led the Israelites to cross the Jordan river, the ark was right in front (Josh 3:6). When they caused Jericho’s wall to crumble, the ark was also at the front of the procession (Josh 6:13). When David and his people were moving the ark, “the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household” (2 Sam 6:11). David knew that when the ark moves, blessings come with it. So he was excited!

This excitement is evident in Psalm 132:8, “Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might (Ps 132: 8). The prayer for God to “Arise” is repeatedly found in the OT (Num 10:35; 2 Chron 6:41; Ps 17:13; 68:1). For God to rise meant for Him to move in a new way. It is for God to make decisive actions and interventions. Interestingly, Solomon used the same words when the ark was brought to the Temple in 2 Chronicles 6:41, “Now arise, Lord God, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. May your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation, may your faithful people rejoice in your goodness.”

In both Psalm 132:8 and 2 Chronicles 6:41, there was a great sense of anticipation. Both David and Solomon felt it. Something awesome was about to happen. When the ark moves, not only victories happen. When the ark moves, people are “clothed with salvation” (2 Chron 6:41). In the time of David, the ark was on the move. The Lord was again going before them. The future is full of abundant blessings. If David did not worship with gladness and excitement, we can only call him a fool. He had reasons to celebrate, so he celebrated without reserve.

Conclusions

2 Samuel 6 represents a turning point in David’s life. He already accomplished a lot. The complete fulfilment of the Lord’s promise to Abraham was reached through his leadership. Are you a grateful worshipper? But David was not only worshipping because of these past victories. He was also worshipping because he was excited about what God would do next. Are you excited about God’s work in your lives?

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[1] God commissioned its creation in Exodus 25:10-22. He anointed Bezalel and other craftsmen to make the ark (Exo 31:1-5). The ark would stay at the Holy of Holies, within in the Tabernacle. When the Israelites entered the promise land, the ark was kept at Shiloh (1 Sam 3:3), but when the Philistine army came to attack the Israelites, they thought that bringing the ark to battle would give them victory (1 Sam 4:1-4). Unfortunately, they were defeated and the ark was captured (1 Sam 4:11). It remained at the hands of their enemies for seven months (1 Sam 6:1) but when the Philistines were afflicted with a plague, they returned the ark to the Israelites (1 Sam 6:1-21).

God-centred Prayer

There are at least two ways “worship” may be defined. Firstly, worship should be a way of life. This is reflected in two of the Hebrew and Greek etymologies, ebed or avad (Exo 3:12; Ps 100:2; Deut 10:12–13) and latreuo (Acts 24:14; Rom 12:1), both meaning “to serve” or “service.” Thus, just as scheduled breathing is spurious, our “spiritual act of worship” (latrein; Rom 12:1) is not an act done in interval with other acts of non–worship, but is the conscious and uninterrupted offering up of our bodies to God. It is a life of integrity and consistency, and hence it has moral–ethical connotations (Rom 6:13). Worship is not an abrupt supernatural event in a life characterized generally by an “ever-increasing wickedness” (Rom 6:20), as if worship is a miraculous interposition of something sacred amid our ungodly routine. Rather, it is a way of life, so that it is actually the acts of wickedness that are the unwelcomed intrusions to a life of service to God. Unfortunately, the ought is not always reflected in current state of affairs, or the is. For many Christians, worship is something we do once or twice a week when we gather for about an hour or two at “Church.”

To understand worship as a scheduled event or act done by a gathered community is not altogether negative. Even the Israelites in the old covenant congregated at the Temple to offer their sacrifices. The Diaspora Jews gathered in the synagogue to listen to and reflect on the Word. The early Christians met together on special and designated days for worship in their homes. Like us today, they gathered to sing songs, listen to the Word, and then adjourned to return to their respective employment and tasks as civil servants, merchants, slaves, mother, father, children, and so on. In fact, this is the second way we may understand what worship is: worship as a special event. This will be the main focus of this presentation, although it is by no means argued that the first definition is less important.

Why will this presentation focus more on worship as an special event than worship as a lifestyle? It is because there are more confusions that need to be addressed in defining worship as an special event than in understanding it as a lifestyle. It will not be surprising that responses will be variegated should the members of a single congregation are asked what the purpose of worship is. The pastor or worship organizer may have a different mission or agenda in the worship service than what the members are looking forward to in coming to worship. There are song leaders whose definitions of what true worship means do not match those of the worshippers. Worshippers have different expectations. We all have our different understandings of what worship is, what the purpose of worship is, how worship should be done, why we worship, and so on.

The greatest problem of contemporary worship, however, is the loss of God as the heart of worship. This is the root of all confusions in worship. It is because we have dethroned God and enthroned ourselves in worship that terms such as “dissatisfaction” has become a possibility in worship. It is because of the elevation of the self and what it gains in worship that questions like “Are you blessed?” have become important. Rabid pragmatism and utilitarianism that emphasize meeting human desires, needs and wants have become the categories in which worship is planned and carried out. Worship services have been turned into an entertainment café where the value of the event is located in the satisfaction of customers through great music, good food, and the talk from the stand–up comedian. Customer satisfaction replaced God–centricism in worship. With Marva J. Dawn, “We must recognize this for the idolatry it is.”[1] As C. Weldon Gaddy also wrote, “To use Christian worship for any purpose other than the glorification of God is to abuse it.”[2]

The purpose of this presentation, therefore, is to put God back in his proper place in our worship services: at the center. We are going to accomplish this, by (1) defining what worship is, and (2) providing examples from both the biblical traditions and the early church on how God is placed at the center of worship. By doing (2), we hope to discover both the richness of their traditions and learn some principles we can apply today.

I. WHAT IS WORSHIP?

The word “worship” comes from two Anglo–Saxon words: weorth, meaning “honor” and “worthiness” and scipe, meaning “to create.” From weorthscipe, it became worthship, and finally to the form we know today as “worship.” It basically means “to attribute worth” or “to create honor.”[3] This is precisely what the Psalmists beckoned us to do:

“Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering, and come into his courts.
⁹ Worship the Lord in holy splendor;
    tremble before him, all the earth” (Ps 96:8–9)

Because “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised” (Ps 96:4), we must “extol the Lord our God” (Ps 99:9). The other biblical terms to express worship reveal this basic orientation of glorifying God. The  Hebrew shachah (Gen 24:26–27, 52; 27:29; Ps 66:4; 1 Sam 25:23; 2 Sam 14:33; 24:20; 2 Chron 7:3; 19:29) and its Greek equivalent proskuneo (Matt 2:11; John 4:21–24) literally mean “to bow down” or “to prostrate oneself.” If in the Psalm worship is done through words, proskuneo is a worship done through action. It is the gesture of bowing down to a ruler or master. An instance of shachah, followed by words of praise is in Genesis 24:26–27, when Isaac “bowed his head and worshiped the Lord and said, ‘Blessed be the Lord’.” Indeed, “all creation worships (shachah) [God]” (Ps 66:4). Related to shachah and proskuneo are the Hebrew yare and its Greek equivalent phobeomai, which stress the awe and respect with which God’s people must approach him. This is where the idea of “the fear of the Lord” is strongly emphasized. The early church, for instance, was characterized by Luke as “living in the fear of the Lord” (Acts 9:31). The relationship between fear and worship is most typified in Revelations 14:7: “Fear God and give him glory… and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” To fear God is also related to avad and latreuo, or worship as lifestyle, because to fear God “is to obey his voice” (1 Sam 12:14), to walk in his ways (Deut 8:6), to keep his commandments (Ecc 12:13), and to turn away from evil (Job 1:1; Prov 3:7).[4]

II. THE CONTENT OF WORSHIP

Of course, we cannot “create” God’s honor. Honor and glory are inherently God’s. Our role as worshippers is to devise ways to honor God in a way that does justice to his worthiness. On the one hand, all our creaturely attempts to do this are inadequate, so long as we are finite, but on the other hand, we can still worship him according to our utmost capacity. The goal of the worship planner is to create a platform where we can extol God so that the congregation that gathers is able to give their best in ascribing honor to God. So the questions are: “How do we bring glory to God in what we do in worship?” “What are the essential parts of the worship service that facilitate the exaltation of God?” Owing to time constraints, we are going to limit ourselves with J three major worship components: (1) prayers, (2) music and songs, and (3) reading of and listening to the Word. (I do not have the full manuscript for (2) music and (3) Word, so only (1) prayers will be given here. The powerpoint presentation will have slides on music and Word.)

III. WORSHIP IN PRAYERS

A. Prayer as Confession

In an age where the self and what benefits the self are emphasized, prayers can become avenues of self–assertion, self–indulgence, and self–promotion. In our technological–economic–utilitarian age, prayers can become too concern–oriented. We pray because we have “concerns” that require attention or we pray because we have needs that need to be met. This is all too evident in Prayer Meetings, where most (if not all) of mentioned prayer requests are actually personal and communal concerns that we hope God can do something about. God is only a part of the Prayer Meeting as the recipient of our requests, or as the Santa Clause receiving our wish lists. So if worship is primarily the human attempt to bring honor to God, how can our self–centered and need–oriented prayers in worship services accomplish such an honoring of God?

Jewish prayers are different. One of the primary types is called berakah (plural, berakot), from barak, meaning “to bless.” Its Greek counterpart is eulogetos. It is a prayer concerned with blessing the name of God through proclaiming his qualities (Ps 89:52; Exo 18:10).[5] Exodus 34:6–8 beautifully illustrates this:

“The Lord, the Lord,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
⁷ keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
yet by no means clearing the guilty,
but visiting the iniquity of the parents
upon the children
and the children’s children,
to the third and the fourth generation.”

⁸ And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.

In the OT, there are numerous instances where shouts of exaltation just erupts, beginning with the words “Blessed be the Lord” followed by adjectives and reminiscing of God’s acts (Gen 9:26; 24:27; Exo 18:10; Ruth 3:10; 1 Sam 25:32, 39; 2 Sam 18:28; 1 Kings 1:48; 5:7; 8:15, 56; 10:9; 1 Chron 16:36; 29:20; 2 Chron 2:12; 6:4; 9:8; Ezra 7:27; Ps 28:6; 31:21; 41:13; 68:19; 72:18; 89:52; 106:48; 113:2; 115:15; 124:6; 135:21; Luke 1:68; Eph 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3). In the NT, the word Amen is usually the response the congregation utters at the close of doxologies that ascribe praise to God and to Jesus Christ (Rom 1:25; 9:5; 11:36; 16:27; 2 Tim 4:18; Heb 13:21;1 Pet 4:11; 4:11; Jude 25; see also 2 Cor 1:20f).

When we pray by proclaiming who God is, we are engaged (1) in worshipping God, i.e. bringing honor to him, and (2) in theology. It is when we use human language to express the qualities of God that prayer also becomes an act of confession. This is what we need to recover. As the Greek Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemann wrote:

Ultimately, the liturgical problem of our time is… a problem of restoring to liturgy its theological meaning, and to theology its liturgical dimension. Theology cannot recover its central place and function within the church without being rooted again in the very experience of the Church (in thanksgiving and supplication)… Theology must rediscover as its own ‘rule of faith’ the Church’s lex orandi, and the liturgy reveal itself again as the credendi.[6]

Truly, lex orandi lex credendi, “what we pray is what we believe.” It is when prayer is an act of giving honor to God that we are engaged in reflecting about the Thou we encounter. Prayer, therefore, is theologica prima. The more abstract form of critical reflection is but a secondary act.

B. Prayer as Thanksgiving

Another Jewish prayer form is called hodayah, “to give thanks.” In the NT, it is closely connected with homologeo and eucharisteo (Ps 30:12; Isa 12:1; 1 Cor 14:16; 2 Cor 1:11; 9:12; 1 Thess 5:18). Like berakah, it is concerned with giving praise to God not only for his attributes but also because of his mighty acts. Daniel can be cited as an example:

“Blessed be the name of God from age to age,
    for wisdom and power are his.
²¹ He changes times and seasons,
    deposes kings and sets up kings;
he gives wisdom to the wise
    and knowledge to those who have understanding.
²² He reveals deep and hidden things;
    he knows what is in the darkness,
    and light dwells with him.
²³ To you, O God of my ancestors,
    I give thanks and praise,
for you have given me wisdom and power,
    and have now revealed to me what we asked of you,
    for you have revealed to us what the king ordered” (Dan 2:2-0–23).

Hodayah is basically a prayer to make confession or affirmation of God’s goodness. For instance, David wrote:

You have turned my mourning into dancing;
    you have taken off my sackcloth
    and clothed me with joy,
¹² so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.
    O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever (Psalm 30:11–12)

It is for this reason that anamnesis, the act of remembering, is very important in Jewish life (Deut 6:21–25; Acts 2:22–26; 1 Cor 11:24). In fact, the hodayah prayers of the OT do not only recall up to the Exodus from Egypt or the election of Abraham. Psalm 136 is a classic example of a thanksgiving prayer that combines the elements of berakah, hodayah with an anamnesis of God’s work and goodness since creation!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good (His love never ends)

Give thanks to Him, the God of gods (His love never ends)
Give thanks to Him, the Lord of lords (His love never ends)
Who alone does great wonders (His love never ends)

Who by understanding made the heavens (His love never ends)

Who spread out the earth on the waters (His love never ends)
Who made the great lights, the sun and the moon (His love never ends)
Who brought Israel out from Egypt (His love never ends)

Who divided the Red Sea into two (His love never ends)

Who led his people through the wilderness (His love never ends)

He remembered us in our lowly estate (His love never ends)

He rescued us from our foes (His love never ends)

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good (His love never ends)

C. Prayer as Invoking and Beseeching

Another practice in worship today that would have been weird for early Christians is not beginning with prayer. In many churches, services begin with either a Call to Worship or with songs. The Call to Worship is actually practiced in the synagogue too, but it is different from what we do today in our churches. In the synagogue worship, the Call to Worship is led by an attendant (Luke 4:20) and is essentially a berakah: “Blessed ye the Lord, the One who is to be blessed,” and the people respond in unison: “Blessed be the Lord forever” (cf Neh 9:5).[7] Thus, because it is a berakah, it is centered on honoring God, and makes God the Subject of worship. This is unlike what some congregations are doing, i.e. replacing the berakah with a casual greeting by the pastor in a false attempt to create “community” and make worshippers feel comfortable. Others, with more well–meaning motives, but still questionable, do the Call to Worship as an exercise directed to worshippers. In this, what matters at the beginning of the service is my readiness, my awareness, my experience, and my response.

The early Church, on the other hand, started worship always with a prayer called the Epiclesis, which is basically the Invocation of the Holy Spirit into the worshipping community. What is emphasized by this prayer is that we do not know how to worship or how to pray as we ought and that it is only through the Spirit that we are able to communicate with God, with or without words (Rom 8:26). It is easy to miss what Don Saliers calls as “the paradox of prayer,” or the fact that when we pray, we exist in the tension between knowing and not knowing. In fact, for him, “too much certainty about God leads to presumptive prayer” which is “the seedbed of idolatry.”[8] The Epiclesis recognizes what Jesus said to his disciples that the Spirit, when he comes, will teach them all things (John 14:26).

The importance of the Epiclesis is that by giving prerogative to God’s work in the assembly, worshippers are not only made aware of the significance of divine help in worship but also that God is again placed at the center of worship. When we gather for worship, we honor God with words and rituals, but we must realize that such are Spirit–empowered and enabled. We do not worship or we cannot worship on our own innate capacities; rather, we can only worship in the power and presence of the Spirit, who lifts us up into communion with the Father through the Son. This idea of “empowered prayer” is not so far from the concept of mediated prayer. The former is pneumatological; the latter is more Christological. Mediated prayer refers to the fact that when we pray, we always pray “in the name of Jesus.” In the first place, no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). In the second place, we only have confidence to “enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God” (Heb 10:19–21). We do not come to Father and we do not pray according to our own significance or in the significance of our own names; rather, we come to the Father in prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, who is our Savior, High Priest and Mediator (Heb 4:14–16). It is by acknowledging that it is only in Christ and in the Spirit that we worship that we put the Triune God as the primary Subject of worship.

[This paper was presented at a workshop entitled “Theology of Worship” on 14 November 2013 at APNTS. With me who presented are Joy Pring and DooHyun Choi. Their presentations are included in the powerpoint presentation we showed. Should you wish to have the said powerpoint presentation, email me at deugenio@apnts.edu.ph. To get more materials, should they become available, be a follower of this blog.]

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[1] Marva J. Dawn, Reaching Out without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the Turn–of–the–Century Culture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 87.

[2] C. Weldon Gaddy, The Gift of Worship (Nashville: Broadman, 1992), 40.

[3] Ralph P. Martin, Worship in the Early Church (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), 10–12; Dawn, Reaching Out, 76–77.

[4] See Robert E. Webber, Worship Old and New, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 29–30.

[5] It is also concerned with the confession of sin or protestations of unworthiness and faithfulness (1 Kings 8:60). See Paul F. Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship (New York: Oxford U. Press, 1992), 15–16.

[6] Alexander Schmemann, “Liturgy and Theology,” Greek Orthodox Theological Review 17 (Spring 1972), 100.

[7] Martin, Worship in the Early Church, 25.

[8] Don E. Saliers, Worship as Theology: Foretaste of Divine Glory (Nashville: Abingdon, 1994), 110–111.

God's Repulsive Presence

read Genesis 3:1-10

The Church today is overwhelmed by an all-encompassing sentimentalization of God’s presence. The most famous contemporary worship figures are themselves the advocates of such a disposition. It is no wonder, therefore, that this metatrend is gaining more and more unstoppable momentum. The meta-ideology of worship today is that worship, if it is true worship, should be adrenaline-flooding, heart-warming, tear-dropping, hand-raising, and emotion-stirring experience, particularly when we sing, usually accompanied by a band. With this frame of thought, God’s presence is quantified primarily by the manifestations of loud applauses, whistles, extemporaneous words of praises, and numerous choruses of “Hallelujahs!” and “Amens!”

That God’s presence can be sentimentalized is not without biblical foundation and precedent.[1] Already in the Old Testament, God’s presence is understood as a comforting presence in times of trouble (Josh 1:5). Moses encouraged Joshua with the promise of God’s presence as they would conquer the Promised Land: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Josh 1:9). The Israelites were doubting whether they could enter the land of the giants (Num 13:31–33; Deut 3:11), but Moses assures them by affirming that they stood in God’s presence (Deut 29:15). They were not alone in their endeavors; in fact, God would guide them in conquering Canaan (Deut 32:29, 32). God’s mere presence can truly drive our anxieties away. There is comfort in the awareness that we are not alone when we walk through the shadows and the valleys (Ps 23:4).

Through the Psalmists, we know that the presence of God is a haven of rest. Often times, we seek God’s presence because we know that it is where our petitions are heard. David himself sought the Lord’s presence when Israel faced a three-year famine (2 Sam 21:1). People gathered at the Temple because it was his tabernacle. Worshippers experience a special closeness to God in such a place. In fact, it is the Temple that constantly reminded Israel of God’s indwelling presence and nearness. God’s presence is a place of blessing. David proclaimed that he is filled with joy in the Lord’s presence (Acts 2:28). When we turn and come to God, there is forgiveness, sanctification, and refreshing (Acts 3:19). Throughout the whole of Psalms, writers spoke about seeking God’s face, because it is there that God’s grace and blessings are found, right where God’s “face shines upon us” (Ps 67:1). In the last days, God’s presence will mean ultimate blessing, for believers will see him face to face (1 John 3:2). But even today, if we, as God’s people, humble ourselves before God, he promised that he will hear our pleas and prayers (2 Chron 7:14; Mal 3:16).

But is the presence God solely to be understood as the place of blessing?

The story of Adam and Eve suggests that there is something about the presence of God that they wished to avoid; hence, they hid (Gen 3:8–10). The same is evident in the attitude of the Israelites before God at Mt. Sinai, narrated in Exodus 19:16–19 and 20:18–21:

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. ¹⁷ Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance ¹⁹ and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” … ²¹ The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

So the question is: what is there about the presence of God that made the people of God tremble? If God’s presence is a comforting, saving, revealing, forgiving, rejuvenating presence, why was there reluctance on the part of the Israelites? The same fear before God is evident in several other encounters with God. When Isaiah was in the presence of God, his reaction was not “Hallelujah!” but “Woe to me!” (Isa 6:5). When Peter realized that he was in the presence of God himself in Jesus Christ, he did not embrace him; rather, he cried “Away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). When Manoah realized that they he and his wife were in the presence of God’s messenger, Manoah lamented: “We are doomed to die! We have seen God!” (Jud 13:22; cf Exo 33:20). Many others who encountered God or his angels feared for their lives (Luke 1:11–12; 2:9). But it is only people who fear, for in God’s presence, the whole earth trembles (Jud 5:5; Ps 68:8). In fact, the Lord himself rhetorically asked: “Should you not tremble in my presence?” (Jer 5:22).

So, why indeed, is God’s presence not as awesome as we actually thought it is? How is God’s presence a threat? Why is God’s presence frightening and is something that many want to avoid, if at all possible?

God's Judging Presence

It is the people who know who God is, who are afraid of his presence. The people who shudder at the presence of God are those who recognize God in his majestic and incomparable holiness. Let us compare, for example, the attitude of the Pharisees with that of the demons to Jesus Christ. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law––who are both oblivious and blind as to who Jesus really is––have dismissed, accused, slandered, oppressed, mocked, and plotted against him. We, today, are utterly flabbergasted at how they have treated the Son of God, but that is because we know who Jesus is; they simply did not know or did not recognize such an important truth. Had they recognized that Jesus is God himself in the flesh, they would have acted like the demons in the Gospels. Demons who encountered Jesus responded to his presence quite differently. The Legion who recognized Jesus trembled and feared, crying out with a loud voice: “What do you want from me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” (Mark 5:7). The said demons begged Jesus not to torture them (5:7) and that they be sent among pigs (5:12). In the presence of the Son, who is the Holy God himself, those who recognize him shudder. 

But why is God’s holy presence so frightening? Should not the presence of the holy God bring people closer to him? Should not the presence of the holy God be inviting? Why were the Israelites at the foot of Mt. Sinai so afraid of God? Why did Adam and Eve instinctively hide from God after they sinned?

It is because of this: the presence of the holy God reveals and condemns our sinfulness. Firstly, like Isaiah, it is in the presence of the holy God that our true identity is fully exposed. It is fascinating that throughout the history of the Christian church, it is those who we consider as spiritual giants that write about their sinfulness. When we read about the life of St. Anthony and St. Francis of Assisi, or the writings of Pseudo-Macarius or of Henri Nouwen, we don’t read them boasting about what they have attained or how they are different from others; rather, we read them confessing their sins, admitting their faults, divulging their daily struggles, acknowledging their weaknesses, even declaring their flaws and their self-assessed unspirituality and worldliness. The closer we are to God and God to us, the more he draws himself to us and the more we draw ourselves to him, the more do we see who God is in his holiness and see ourselves in our finite, limited, and sinful existence.

In our theology classes, we understand that the act of God making himself present is a moment of revelation, but we usually understand this to mean that it is God who is making himself known. The self-presencing of God is God’s self-manifestation and self-disclosure. We know God and about God because he appears and draws himself to us. Such is right, but we must also admit that God’s presence reveals not only himself, but also others. How can this be? According to 1 John 1:5, God is Light. Light has interesting properties. As an electromagnetic radiation, it can be seen. [Maxwell’s Equation, named after James Clerk Maxwell of Cambridge University, argued that light is a wave that has amptitude (the brightness of the light), wavelength (the color of the light), and a polarization (the angle at which light is vibrating). When Albert Einstein came, along with quantum theory, the electromagnetic radiation was also recognized as particles called photons. The famous dual slit experiment validates light as both wave and particle.] The importance of light, however, is not found in its color or amptitude, but in the fact that it is the agent by which we see other things. It is true that we see through our eyes, but our eyes are useless without light, even if nothing is wrong with them. What we usually interpret as “seeing an object” is actually a progressive process that starts with light clusters (or photons) travelling from the object to the eye.

Without light, we cannot see ourselves, or our features, complexion, and height. It is only when light appears that we realize what we look like. The stronger the light, the more will we see ourselves in our undeniable reality. The closer light is to us, the more we are revealed. Hence, if God is Light, the more God draws himself to us and the more we draw ourselves to God, the more we truly see who and what we are. God’s mere presence unveils us, and shatters our illusion that we can hide something from God. When God the Light comes, the darkness which has become the ally in our attempt to hide our true selves is banished. In this sense, there is comfort in the darkness especially for those who have many things to hide, for the darkness naturally conceals. In the absence of light, we can communicate with people without them seeing what or who we really are. But because God is light, we cannot be in his presence without being completely exposed. The New Living Translation of Hebrews 4:13 reads like this: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.” Being exposed is not something that nobody looks forward to.

It is also because God’s presence is a revealing presence that it is also a convicting and judging presence. When a man commits a crime, the mere presence of a police is an uncomfortable experience. When there is no police around, the criminal can forget about his crime and even pretend that nothing ever happened. But as soon as a police comes near, the memory of his past rises to the surface, and fear begins to creep into his soul, for he knows that judgment is at hand. In a similar way, when debtor owes money to a lender, and the debtor is unable to pay, as long as the debtor does not encounter the lender, there is a certain feeling of security. But as soon as the lender drops his or her presence to the debtor, the debtor knows that he or she can no longer escape judgment and shame. Avoiding the lender’s path, by all means possible, is the only way to escape embarrassment. It is for the reasons illustrated above that the absence of God implies the transcendence of judgment. The space between God and humanity forms a protective barrier against God’s penetrating gaze. But as soon as God makes himself present in our midst, we know that judgment has arrived. The world today lives in a fleeting and deceitful sense of security, but when Jesus Christ comes again, it will be a different story. The coming of God in Christ is the coming of an inescapable judgment.

The prophetic and apocalyptic passages in both the Old and New Testaments also speak about the presence of God as a double-sided coin. This is best illustrated in the concept of “the day of the Lord.” For the Israelites, typified by Joel 2:30–32, the day of the Lord is a day of salvation and redemption, usually entailing the defeat of their enemies and the restoration of their nation. It is basically a day of celebration, for God would come and bring salvation and deliverance to the Jewish nation. But the same day of the Lord is also painted using dark colors. Joel 2:28–32 speaks about the coming of the Holy Spirit, but verse 31 describes it not in a very pleasing manner: “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (cf Matt 24:29–31; Rev 6:12–17). Paul similarly regards the day of the Lord as an eschatological day of destruction: “You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (1 Thess 5:1–3; cf also 2 Pet 3:8–10). Isaiah seems to say that the day of the Lord is precisely the day he had “in store for all the proud and lofty and exalted” to be humbled (Isa 1:12). Amos paints the most depressing picture of all the prophets:

Woe to you who long
    for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord?
    That day will be darkness, not light. ¹⁹ It will be as though a man fled from a lion
    only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house
    and rested his hand on the wall
    only to have a snake bite him. ²⁰ Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—
    pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? (5:18–20)

Joel calls the day of the Lord as the day when “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (2:32) but also regards it as “great and dreadful” (2:31). The explanation is simple: the presence or coming of God is both saving and judging; it is salvation to the righteous and judgment to sinners.

God's Transforming Presence

If we think that it is unfortunate that God’s presence is an exposing and judging presence, then we must be prepared to be further disappointed. The presence of God does not only expose our ugly selves, but also demands transformation from us. God’s presence is a demanding and transforming presence. Before the holy God, our ugliness is exposed, not because God delights in seeing our stained-covered selves but because he wants us to be transformed. When we stand before God, it is either we are transformed, so that we are enabled to remain and bask in his presence, or to persist in our ugliness, so that we are banished from his sight. In the presence of the holy God, it is either we conform to his demands or we leave. The parable of the wedding banquet points out that we cannot stand before God without proper garments, and those who come before him without conforming to his will are thrown out (Matt 22:1–13). Hebrews 12:14 says that “no one may see the Lord without holiness.” Psalm 24: 3–6 even has greater demands:

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? ⁴ The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god.

But how can the mere presence of God exude such a demand for transformation? The relationship between Yahweh and Israel serves as an illustration. The Israelites, the people of God, were chosen to be the recipients of God’s blessing, provision and protection, but such things came with a costly price. The Israelites, being in relation with the holy God, needed to be shaped, molded, and transformed like clay pots (Jer 18–19) into the people that reflect the holiness and glory of God. Simply put, they are to be holy, for their God is holy (Lev 11:44; 19:2; 1 Pet 1:16). The more God drew himself closer to Israel, the more they needed to conform to his image; the more God revealed himself to them, the more they had to be redeemed from their previous worldviews and mindset; the more God gave his laws, the more they had to abandon their former lifestyle; the more God lavished his love on them, the more they were asked to reciprocate; the more God manifested himself in their midst, the more the demands added. When God was not in their midst they were free to think and act according to their own wishes, but as soon as God came into their lives, they had to live according to the transformation that God requires from them.

A more simple analogy from mundane human experience is that married people are not as free as when they were single. When two strangers meet, they have no demanding influence on one another’s lifestyle. But the moment these two strangers enter a relationship, each will have to realize that if the relationship is to endure, they need to conform their lifestyle according to one another’s likes and dislikes. When they get married, they will realize that they have to give up many things which they previously enjoyed in their uncommitted life. The more two persons draw themselves close to one another, the more the demands for transformation is felt.

This is problematic for us, self-centered human beings, for two reasons. Firstly, we are greedy and parsimonious beasts. Greed and thriftiness are twin brothers. We want to receive (greed) but we hate to give (parsimony). We want to enter God’s presence because we are aware that it is the place of healing, reinvigoration, and blessing––things that we can acquire––but seldom, if not never, do we think of coming before God in order to be transformed or in order that God’s will is done in our lives. The ironic reality is that our desire to be with God, as long as we only wish to be there for the goodies, is actually a symptom of our own unredeemed selfishness. Let’s face it: we want a gift with no strings attached; we want a presence that leaves us alone. Unfortunately, God’s presence is not just a giving presence, but a receiving presence. The more God draws himself to us, the more we become aware of the aspects of our lives that need to be changed or strengthened or simply given up. 

Secondly, we are rebellious creatures. The more God imposes himself on us, the more we tend to erect our defense barriers; the more God wishes to conquer the citadel of our heart and soul, the more we erect barricades; the more God demands transformation from us, the more we entrench ourselves and create imaginative grounds not to comply; the more God draws himself to us, the more we draw the boundary lines; the more God dwells us (1 Cor 6:19–20), the more we cherish the word “privacy”; the more God stretches his arms to embrace us, the more we raise our fists against him; the more he seeks us, the more we run and hide from him. It is in the presence of God that human sinfulness and pride manifests itself. It is because God’s presence demands transformation that it is repulsive.

Do you still want to be in the presence of God? Do you still want to pray, Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!? Do you still want to invite the Holy Spirit in your prayers?

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of God is like eating a double-tasted candy: it is both bitter and sweet. Sinners hide from God because of the guilt and shame of their sins. God’s mere presence is an act of judgment for them. But it is better to come now to God, swallowing our empty-founded pride, while there is yet time. Today, we hide from God’s judging presence; in the last days, the Lord will cast us from his presence (Jer 15:1; 52:3). Our face-to-face encounter with God is inevitable anyway, for no matter how we avoid him, he will one day summon all nations before him (Rev 10:11). When the day of the Lord comes, people in his presence will beg for deliverance, but to no avail (Rev 6:16). In fact, the ironic consequence for avoiding his saving, judging and transforming presence today is that he too will banish us from his presence––this is what we call death––thanatos––which essentially means “separation.” Paul encapsulates it: “They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power” (2 Thess 1:9). Therefore, it is better to come to him now, before he hides his face (Isa 59:2; Ezek 39:29).

We are now invited to come to the presence of God to both be saved and transformed, and there is no better way to enact our coming to God than in the celebration of the Eucharist. As we partake of the body and blood of Christ, broken and shed for us, remember as well that we are also baptized in his suffering and death (Rom 6:1–14; 1 Pet 4:13).

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[1] A lot of these are borrowed and copied from a study done by Bryan E. Beyer, posted online at http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/presence-of-god.html