JANUARY 2, 2008



We need to be more careful with language.



I'm not talking here about "hei-run" jokes, even though we should be careful with that. In particular, I'm miffed at the frequent interchangeability of the words "praise" and "worship". Praise is worship, but worship is not just praise. We can only use two words interchangeably if they share an "if and only if" relationship. Example: we can use "stupid" and "dumb" interchangeably because to be stupid is to be dumb, and to be dumb is to be stupid.



What is praise? What is worship? Perhaps it would make more sense if we begin with what a relationship with God is.  A relationship makes little sense if it is one-way. God showers Himself on us. Appropriately, we respond in worship. Indeed, the primary mission of the Church is to worship God. As the Reverend John Piper said, "Missions is not the goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship does not." Praise, then, is the outward expression of our response to God. Note that not all worship is outward. In fact, it cannot be all outwardly (otherwise, it'd be all show-and-tell).



We live in a curious time of the Church when the gift of music is particularly valuable. Strange, considering that in the time of the first churches, speaking in tongues was the gift everyone wished they had. Brothers and sisters, in the Church, there is no one gift that is particularly valuable. Rather, all are equally valuable and necessary. A church that is all about singing praises but no prayer is Buddhist in essence (endless chanting for only emotive purposes). A church all about prayer but no evangelism is cultic. A church all about evangelism but no service is being annoying. A church just about preaching is called Wheaton College (joking... joking...) But you get the point-- a proper church needs to have meaningful praise, vibrant prayer, truthful preaching, interesting tongue speaking (with proper interpretation, of course), etc.



By meaningful praise, I do not mean that there needs to be a proper 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound system with Martin guitars and Steinway grand pianos and a Casavant organ to boot. The first churches had nothing to go off of except their voices (and they lived in a time where there were musical instruments) because not everyone could afford one. Let's be honest-- the fact we have a sound system and people who can play instruments is already blessing upon blessings. Why fight the war between hymns and modern praise songs when that does not matter?



What does matter, however, are the words to the songs. I love hymns. I love modern praise songs. However, there are good hymns. There are good praise songs. And there are as many bad hymns and bad praise songs. We need to be mindful of the implications of these songs. Bad hymns are blatantly heretical. Bad praise songs, however, play with the emotions. We must remember that our faith is not grounded in raw emotion. If it were, then we convert people by ensuring that they cry out for Jesus. Our faith is grounded in reason. Reason is not something you learn from textbooks. It's something in your heart and mind.



So in all, let us worship God in singing songs of praise! Let the heavens rejoice, and let the Earth be glad!