Passion in Worship
© Mike Druckenmiller Sr. October 9, 2005
There are those that state that Passion is ONLY for Private Worship that it is NOT to be used in the Public Congregation, ever.
Please consider:
Psalm 22:22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
Congregation means then basically what it means today. An assembled group.
Praise here includes the meaning: to be clamorously foolish. It also includes the meaning of: to rave. As in: such and such received rave reviews. Tell me now how much receiving a ‘rave review’ in ‘high brow propriety’ would make you feel really ‘raved’ about?
Backing up a few words, the declaration part also is interesting in that it includes the concept of keeping score…
Now why is it alright (even expected) to rant, rave and scream at the top of our lungs at a game when our side is winning and, then, when the Sovereign of the Universe continues to ‘Score’ we sit on our hands?
In fact if you remain too somber during a critical score you’ll be kicked out of the home team’s section of the stands! Possibly even the home town!
You can stretch Greek and Hebrew all you want. But, when the Angels in heaven rejoice that another soul has been claimed for Christ, I do not think it is a quiet mere assent!
Yet, this is exactly what is expected of us in church. A passionless assertion of mental truth with no corresponding heart felt response!
To be converted is NOT a mere mental acceptance or assent that God is right and you are wrong.
No, it is a heart-core radical change of being. Anything less is not salvation.
And, if it isn’t deep enough to cause an outward reaction (at some point) then I dare say I seriously doubt that any Spiritual Transaction has taken place.
In Psalms 22:25 it speaks of praise in the Congregation again.
Here Praise speaks of a hymn. Now, for some, a hymn is a somber funeral dirge.
But, how much laud and honor is there in a funeral dirge. No, this type of praise is laudation. That holds the connotation of a general returning victorious from battle.
Do, we really laud Jesus when He enters our midst’s as the victorious conqueror He is?
Or, are we singing songs with an attitude of loss. (irregardless of the lyrical content.)
If there was any question about the praise being done during the ‘big’ Sunday Morning Service, reading Psalms 35:18 should squash that pretty well.
Again, Praise here is Clamorously Foolish in ones declaration and making a show of God’s greatness…
In Psalms 40:9-11 David confesses that he has not refrained his lips and intimates that to refrain our lips results in God’s withholding His Mercies…
Could David have been remembering when he danced before the Lord, Michal scorned, then was barren?
Is your church barren?
Psalms 89:5 Speaks of the congregational Praise being compared to the Worship of the heavens.
When was the last time your Sunday service could be compared to a bright morning sunrise after a stormy night?
(For many of us Sunday Morning services are the only respite from the maddening and tumultuous storm of the work week.)
Psalms 107:32 we are told of a Loud, Proud and Haughty Praise. That’s what Exalt in this usage means. As is further amplified by the word used for Praise. I.e., Clamorously Foolish….
Psalms 111:1 talks of being physically involved in our Praise. I.e., to shoot, to throw… that is to be, visibly demonstrative.
Finally when we walk through all the Hebrew in Psalms 149:1 we a picture of Acts 2 where people thought the disciples were drunk.
Here in Psalms we see a picture of the saints of God strolling through the Congregation singing spur of the moment songs in a manner you’d expect only of people coming out of a bar!
Yet we are SO caught up in seeker sensitivity…
We are so caught up in trying to win those that are not even, yet, interested in being saved…
That we deny ourselves and those around us of the one of the Prime Liberties for which Christ has set us free. That is, blatantly bragging about what Jesus has done to the whole congregation.
Remember, that when Israel couldn’t brag to the nations they split up the congregation on opposite sides of a valley and shouted God’s Goodness across to each other!
Now, while I readily admit that this is not the whole counsel and complete picture of Worship in the Body of Christ. It is a vital part of it.
To deny exuberant passionate expression to the congregation as a whole when gathered is, in my view, contraindicated by God’s Word. (Possibly worse.)
You can say all you want that Passion is {only} for Private Worship. Please show me chapter and verse. (I doubt you can.)
The sad fact is, is that the vast majority of believers do not have either the time or inclination to have a passionate worship service on their own time. (What little they have.)
Further, this bragging about God to each other is a vital part of the Believers Confession of Faith. It’s where we remind each other about what God has already done, considering that what He has done already, He can and will do again.
When the lame man was healed at the Gate Beautiful he immediately disrupted a rather staid and somber temple atmosphere as he proclaimed what had happened.
We, sinners saved by Grace, have been healed from far worse than any crippling ailment! How dare we be led to believe that it is 'proper' to sit on our hands and be well behaved lest some non-serious seeker be insulted!
**Hogwash**
Praise: halal haw-lal'
A primitive root; to be clear (originally of sound, but usually of color); to shine; hence to make a show; to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively to celebrate; also to stultify: - (make) boast (self), celebrate, commend, (deal, make), fool (-ish, -ly), glory, give [light], be (make, feign self) mad (against), give in marriage, [sing, be worthy of] praise, rage, renowned, shine.
Variations in Translation:
praise, 92
praised, 19
glory, 12
mad, 8
boast, 6
praising, 4
boasteth, 3
commended, 2
foolish, 2
fools, 2
rage, 2
shined, 2
sing, 2
boastest, 1
celebrate, 1
foolishly, 1
gloriest, 1
glorieth, 1
marriage, 1
praises, 1
praiseth, 1
renowned, 1
shine, 1
Praise: teh-hil-law'
laudation; specifically (concretely) a hymn: - praise.
Variations in translation
praise, 52
praises, 5
Declare: saphar saw-far'
A primitive root; properly to score with a mark as a tally or record, that is, (by implication) to inscribe, and also to enumerate; intensively to recount, that is, celebrate: - commune, (ac-) count, declare, number, + penknife, reckon, scribe, shew forth, speak, talk, tell (out), writer.
Variations in translation
scribe, 42
told, 31
declare, 20
tell, 12
numbered, 11
number, 10
scribes, 6
show, 5
count, 4
declared, 4
counted, 2
scribe’s, 2
speak, 2
writer, 2
writer’s, 2
accounted, 1
commune, 1
forth, 1
numberest, 1
numbering, 1
reckon, 1
showing, 1
talk, 1
tellest, 1
telling, 1
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