This is the second post in my interaction with David Whitcomb and Mark Ward’s True Worship. Chapter two is entitled “Worship that Pleases God.” The authors begin with an analogy. Just as many fast-food restaurants are now offering value menus with quick and inexpensive offerings, so too are many churches offering quick and easy worship services that cost the worshipers very little. It is an excellent point. But I think a look at the motivation behind these services is necessary, because as I have come to understand worship two churches could offer totally identical types of worship styles and schedules. One could be scripturally founded and wisely implemented and the other could be a simple marketing ploy. Same outer appearance, different inner drive. As a result, the authors rightly state that “when our worship is based on the fact of God’s Word, then we have a foundation to stand upon even when our feelings fluctuate.”

The book then recounts the second recorded instance of worship in the Bible, Noah’s building of an altar following the flood. The authors write, “In Genesis 8:20 we read tha Noah walked out of the ark, built an altar, and worshiped God. Why? The Bible does not give a specific reason for Noah’s action. But common sense dictates that Noah’s immediate circumstances instilled the fear of God in him.” Actually, I don’t think common sense does any such thing with this passage. It could have been a sense of thanksgiving, awe, adoration, or a combination of any of these, including fear, that drove Noah to worship. And even if common sense did lead us to such a conclusion, are we to base our theology of worship on common sense or on the explicit Word of God? This is, in my humble opinion, another example of weak exegesis on the authors’ part.

In a section called “Worship Involves Sacrifice,” the authors do an excellent job of pointing out that worship should cost us something. Worship that costs us nothing isn’t worship. A fellow worship pastor I know tells of an encounter with someone in his church who serves as a volunteer in his church’s Welcome Ministry. He would pass by this individual frequently and the individual would ask the worship pastor almost every week, “Am I going to like worship this week?” The worship pastor would respond, “What are you bringing to worship this week?” Excellent pastoral response. Worship is not activity we seek to get something from (although we do get something from it); it is something we must take a sacrifice to. We must offer ourselves, our lives, our hearts, our minds in worship. Anything less is unacceptible to God. The authors conclude this section by saying a couple of important things.

. . . so many Christians prefer worship of convenience, worship that meets their needs but demands nothing from them.

. . . when our worship services—their music, their format, and even their message—are driven by human preferences, have we failed the test of true worship?

The answer to this last question is, I believe, YES!