A Life Surrendered To God
One of the most quoted passages in the Bible, related to worship, is Romans 12:1. It says:
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.”
If there was one thing that Paul (the writer of Romans) and the people of his time understood, it was that sacrifices are dead. In other words, when he talks about our lives being “living sacrifices” of worship, he is literally saying, “As dead as a dead sacrifice is, that is how living your life offering to God is to be – a complete and a done deal!”
This passage is telling us, through a metaphor, that the worship God seeks involves our entire lives, offered as a response to His great love. [bctt tweet=”The way we speak to our spouse, handle our money, love our neighbor – worship is an all encompassing act.” quote=”From the way we speak to our spouse, to the way we handle our money, love our neighbor, and work at our jobs, worship is an all encompassing act.”] An old Latin phrase, coram Deo, sums up this kind of life. It means to “live before the face of God,” or to “live in the presence of God.”
When we gather to worship in a Vineyard context, we see it as a time of encounter, of refreshing, of empowering in the presence of God. That encounter touches us in the deepest places of our hearts, where God’s love can begin to change us from the inside out. We find courage to live, and strength to face our greatest challenges. Because we believe that everything we do flows out of our love relationship with Jesus, we create ample space in our worship settings for people to get beyond the words and music to actually sing to God and experience His manifest presence.
People who are desperately in love with Jesus are in a constant state of active and ongoing repentance from their sins. They overcome their insecurities and join God in His work of touching lives all around them. They let God lead in their lives, and it affects how they treat their co-workers, raise their children, and give their resources with generosity.
Kingdom Worship
Deep in the theology of the Vineyard movement is our commitment to the Kingdom of God being in our midst, as Jesus taught. The Kingdom of God is where God’s rule and reign is active, and as we worship, we are yielding ourselves to become vessels through which our King can impact the world He so loves (Jn. 3:16).
Our worship practices are rooted in our theology of the Kingdom of God. Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God in two distinct ways. Sometimes, it seemed like the Kingdom of God was something that was already present in his ministry. This is the Kingdom “Now.” Sometimes, it seemed like the Kingdom of God was something that was yet to come. This is the Kingdom “Not Yet.”
The Vineyard has always believed that healthy Kingdom worship recognizes this tension. At times, we experience the Kingdom as a present reality. The sick are healed. Justice comes for the oppressed. People struggling with mental illness are set free. At other times, the Kingdom does not come fully in the present. But we believe that one day, Jesus will return to make all things new – and in that day, all of our prayers for healing will be fully answered (We Are The Vineyard, p. 8).
The Now And Not Yet In Worship
How does this view of God’s Kingdom being “Now” and “Not Yet” influence how we worship? The songs that come from the Vineyard reflect this theological tension we see in the teaching of Jesus.
In a time of worship in a Vineyard, we may sing songs that celebrate God’s Kingdom being here, now, and breaking into our midst. These songs are filled with faith, joy, and celebration of God’s present, miraculous, saving work among us. [bctt tweet=”God heals. God delivers. God reigns.” quote=”God heals. God delivers. God reigns.”] These kinds of lyrics are in many of our songs, and are true.
In other worship songs, however, you will notice a different tone. These songs are also filled with faith, yet they give space for our longing for God in a broken world to be expressed. We live in this reality – some people are prayed for, and are not healed. Devastation occurs due to earthquakes, disease, suicide – and our hearts break. Our own sin sometimes gets the better of us, and we must turn our hearts to repentance.
Our songwriters care for this side of the Kingdom “Not Yet” being expressed in our lyrics and approach to worship. Among our thousands of songs are lyrics like “Come, let us sing for joy!” as well as “Broken, I run to You for Your arms are open wide….” These kinds of songs stand side by side in our catalog, reflecting both of these realities of the Kingdom.
All are songs of worship, reflecting the diversity of the book of Psalms with its exuberant words of praise and contrasting cries of desperation. Some songs give us permission to shout with rambunctious joy at all God is doing in the world. Other songs give us permission to express longing, offer Jesus our pain, repent of sin, surrender our hardened heart, and cry out to God for the oil of His mercy to comfort us. While this tension can be difficult to navigate, we in the Vineyard choose to hold the “radical middle” – as we worship a God who is present among us, in times of both joy and sorrow.
Worship Stirs Worship
As it says in the opening statement of this booklet, “In response to God’s initiative, we value the life-changing power of the experience of His presence. …So, experience-based worship is the central activity of all that we do in the Vineyard. It is worship that causes all else that we do to become an act of worship.
