What does Sunday morning worship have to do with making disciples?

Since Christ’s commission to all believers is to “make disciples” (Matt. 28:19-20), it’s only reasonable for us to make sure that all the church’s activities seek to fulfill that commission. Worship is one of those.

Most the words in the Bible translated “worship” carry the idea of “bowing down.” What a vivid picture! As believers, there we are in the presence of God Almighty with our hearts and minds and bodies compelled to lower themselves before the majesty of the One, the Creator of all. And as we consider Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection, we respond in worship as did Thomas when he experienced the resurrected Christ face to face exclaiming, “My Lord and my God.” (John 20:28) Wouldn’t it be interesting if we said, “Let’s go to church on Sunday and bow down.” Well maybe that’s a bit radical, but you get the point.

Disciples are Spirit-born followers of Jesus who have experienced God’s mercy and grace. Disciples are apprentices of the Messiah, living lives of love that do justice. And, disciples are worshipers. I’ve come across four truisms to help me remember what true worship for disciples is all about.

1. Worship is more about meaning than about preference.

We know what we like, and we like what we know. Familiarity can be our friend and our enemy. Just as we might have a favorite flavor of ice cream, we might have favorite hymns and songs and Bible verses that help make life feel comfortable and predictable. But public Christian worship (bowing down!) is more about retelling the story of God’s great love, grace, and mercy to us through faith in Jesus than it is having a sing-along of our favorite hymns and choruses. The weekly gathering of God’s people in praise and thanksgiving and lament in utter dependence is the reason we meet.

2. Keep first things first

Worship songs cannot usher us into the presence of God. The death and resurrection of Jesus already has. Music is a wonderful vehicle for expression in worship, but it’s not the foundation of our closeness to God. Music is not the “first thing” of worship; Only Jesus is.

3. Worship is our response to meeting with God

We don’t “experience worship,” we experience God. Our response to that experience is worship. Worship is not a means to something else. To bow before (worship) the God of our salvation is the reason for the Church’s existence.

4. Content is more important than the Container

Musically strong tunes never justify theologically weak words. Music can have a powerful influence: melody, rhythm, phrasing can cause us to feel great toe-tapping elation. But the truth of a song is carried by its words. The very best songs used in gatherings for worship are those songs which have a beautiful synergy of music and lyrics.

If you are a follower of Jesus by God’s grace through faith, then you are a disciple – and you are a worshiper!

Communion

With my current congregation we practice "open" communion. Open communion is the opposite of "closed" communion which "fences" (read "restricts") the participation of non-members of the congregation and members not-in-good-standing from partaking of the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper.

Communion, the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist (mostly interchangeable labels) is a holy observance; it is sacred activity. Since I live in the legacy of Protestant reformer Huldrych Zwingli, I believe that this holy ordinance is a profound remembrance and celebration of what Jesus, the Christ, accomplished on the cross, in our place, atoning for our sin against God and one another. By drinking the wine, we proclaim that the cup symbolizes "the new covenant in My [Jesus'] blood." Luke 22:20

I can understand how the sacredness of Communion caused the Church at varying points in its history to "close" or restrict access to the Table. But this exclusivity did not seem of the same heart as Jesus' offer for "whosoever" to "come unto Me." "What if," I thought, "by touching and tasting the God-given symbols of His covenant love and grace and mercy a sinner could come to believing faith in Christ?"

Then one day I came upon the following in Dr. Jack Hayford's Worship His Majesty:

I feel keenly about and have always been cautious over inviting any "as-yet" unbelievers to Christ Table. However, I began doing it, notwithstanding my caution, because the more I studied the Scriptures, I couldn't find anything prohibiting an unbeliever being invited to the Table..... I had grown somehow to see myself as The Table's guardian against unworthy intruders. Any suggestion of an open table was reckless if not heretical, but an important line of discernment changed my perspective.

I began to recognize the vast difference between a sacrilegious person and a searching one; between the indifferent and the inquiring. I became convinced that Jesus would invite the searching heart to partake at His Table....He ate with publicans and sinners, never compromising, but ever reaching to them. [pages 193-194]

And at the Table on those Sundays of Communion celebration, Pastor Hayford would state to all assembled:

The Table is Christ's. he is the One who provided this feast - a feast of forgiveness. He did it when He died to open salvation to us all, and he's the One who calls us all to come here and remember that. His word is clear: "Whosoever will may come." [Rev. 22:17; Matt 11:28-30; John 3:16]

So in this spirit, I wrote a Call to Communion inviting any and all who had ears to hear to came and dine with the Creator of the universe and the Savior of their souls. Let us be generous, then, with the pictures of God's mercy and grace.

Call to Communion

The invitation to Communion is simple: This is the Lord's Supper table; we are merely the local hosts - all are welcome.

But know this, by your eating and drinking, you proclaim that you are a follower of Christ, in faith believing that He is the unique God/Man, the only sinless one whose death on the cross was in your place and the only satisfactory sacrifice for your sin - which is your only hope to be made right with God.

And having identified with His death, by God's grace you are raised to new life in His resurrection from the grave.

This is the meaning of what we do now in our eating and drinking. This is what you proclaim.