Thinking Theologically 8:
The Holy Spirit in Worship
READ:
John 14:15-17, 26-27, 15:26-27, 16:5-16
DISCUSS:
1. Where have you had a hard time understanding the Holy Spirit?
2. What do we learn about the Holy Spirit in these verses?
3. What is the relationship between father, son, and Holy Spirit in these passages?
4. How does the Holy Spirit relate to what we do as worship leaders?
5. How has the Holy Spirit been working in your life?
REFLECT:
How Does the Holy Spirit move, shape, and define our worship? I serve a church where worshipers represent over 30 different Christian denominations from around the world, and I notice weekly that they have vastly different understandings of how the Holy Spirit works in their lives and worship.
In some of their traditions they hardly talk about the Holy Spirit at all, and in others everything is defined by the Holy Spirit. So, some people are uncomfortable when we talk about the Holy Spirit too much and others would rather we were more ‘spirit led’ and focused on the outward spiritual gifts (tongues, prophesy, being ‘slain’ in the spirit, etc…) in worship.
So, as we seek to continue through our Bible study to build a framework of how to understand worship and our task of leading worship through music, liturgy, and preaching, we need to understand how to view the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in worship.
In our passage today, Jesus explains that the Spirit calls us to worship, convicts us of sin and guilt, teaches us the truth of God revealed in Jesus Christ, leads us to a new perspective on our lives and world, and gives us truth and peace. There is no worship of the triune God without the Holy Spirit. Whether we acknowledge the Spirit or not, as Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 12:3 “no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.”
1. Calls us to worship and convicts us of Sin and guilt.
In the past weeks we have talked about worship as an encounter with God that is transformative and this week we see that the Holy Spirit is the instigator and facilitator of this transformative encounter. As we have discussed before, when we come into the presence of God the first thing we hear is God’s ‘NO’. Through our own power we can do nothing to know God or bring an offering that is pleasing to Him. As theologian Ralph Martin writes, through sin all of our hearts are “turned in upon themselves so that we turn all God’s gifts to poison.”
Because of this we often use worship for our own selfish needs or agenda. Whenever we seek to “get something from worship” all we are doing is seeking our own agenda, which will always fail because the church can’t promise happiness, security, health, and prosperity. On our own we can’t even praise God without falling into selfishness.
2. Teaches us the truth of God in Jesus Christ.
That is why we need to rely on the Holy Spirit in our worship. We rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us into the presence of God and keep our focus there. Without the Spirit’s presence it is impossible to focus on God or understand His loving design revealed in Jesus Christ. As Jesus comments in John 16:13 “but when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.” The Spirit’s whole work is to focus us on Jesus Christ. He has no word of His own, but as Jesus continues in John 15:14: “He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.”
Sometimes we think that we will get something more from God if we focus on the Holy Spirit (special knowledge, special powers, special gifts, etc….), but God has sent the Holy Spirit to help us draw near the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ, and to focus our lives on Him.
As Ralph Martin writes: “The Spirit’s work is to make it possible to focus on God and Jesus Christ and to keep our gaze fixed there, whether the temptation to avert it comes in the form of a luxuriant emotionalism, a fierce call to compromise, or an etherealizing of our faith whose contact with history is made tenuous.”
3. Gives us new perspective on our lives and our world.
Because the Holy Spirit leads us to God’s truth, our perspective on ourselves and the world begins to change as God’s spirit works in our lives.
John Calvin describes it this way: “as we cannot come to Christ unless we are drawn by the Spirit of God, so when we are drawn we are lifted up in mind and heart above our understanding. For the soul, illumined by Him, takes on a new keenness… and humans understanding, thus beamed by the light of the Holy Spirit, then at last truly begins to taste those things which belong to the kingdom of God.”
So, every time we are reading the Bible and something suddenly makes sense, we can thank God’s Spirit. Every time we are convicted of sin, every time we come to a new revelation about our lives that changes us, we can thank the Holy Spirit. And we can trust that in our worship services God is doing the same in the lives of our congregation, though we may not be able to see it.
God gives us new perspective through the Holy Spirit. And one of the main ways this works in believers is helping us understand who we are as the body of Christ. The Spirit is always working to build up the church and help us find our true gifts and purpose. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-7: “Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
The Holy Spirit blesses the community of faith with wisdom and guidance, charismatic gifts and signs, new perspective and love towards others. These gifts are given to individuals but are meant to bless and edify the body of Christ. The Spirit desires to bless us individually but the main goal of the spirit is the unity, health, and mission of the body of Christ, for the renewal and redemption of the world. As a church we always gone astray when we forget who are in Christ and we forget the Holy Spirit’s work in forging us into a new people, with new gifts, and with a new purpose in the world.
4. Gives us truth and peace.
Jesus comments in John 14:26-27: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
As we trust God to help us and guide us through His Holy Spirit, there is deep comfort that He is working in our lives and the lives of those we serve to guide them, bless them, and show them the way. We can have peace, as we lead worship; that God is leading us into all truth as we focus on Jesus Christ, so we don’t have to worry or be afraid. What a huge comfort to us, as we trust this and let God’s spirit guide us!
Final Thoughts
It seems to me that often worship leaders either discount or overstate the Holy Spirit’s work in our worship services. Either the Holy Spirit is hardly mentioned and there is little time and space to listen to God’s Spirit speaking through the service, or the Spirit is viewed as a heavenly power outlet that we just need to ‘plug into’ by praying in the spirit and worshipping in the spirit, so that we will receive the additional power and blessing.
Yet in the passages that we have just read, we’ve seen that the Spirit is a great gift given by God to believers, given for our flourishing and growth. So, the Holy Spirit is working whether we are listening or not, and every time we are praying or worshipping, we are doing so ‘in the spirit’, because the Spirit is the instigator of worship, the convicter of sins, our guide to the truth of the gospel, and our hope and peace.
This gives me great hope as a worship leader because I know that God is working and I don’t somehow need to save those whom I serve through my excellent worship leading and musicianship. And God’s Spirit gives in an assurance that God is doing something every week in worship, whether I see people falling down in the aisles or not. God is working, because God has sent his Spirit to fill us, guide us, empower us, shape us, and move us. Out of this hope my only response can be gratitude, thanksgiving, and praise, which is exactly what our attitude needs to be as leaders of worship.
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES (to read throughout the week):
Psalm 51:1-5, Acts 21:1-41, Romans 5:1-5, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
REFERENCES (for further reading)
The Worship of God, Ralph P. Martin
Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin
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