Worship is…Christ Exalting

Dear Worshippers,

We continue our journey through the core values of our worship this week with the second value. As I said, you may be surprised that none of the things the Elders are considering as core values of our worship are necessarily music-oriented. Actually none of them deal with elements at all, but rather with the essentials of worship. They are more the why than the what of worship, if you will.

One of the early cries of The Christian and Missionary Alliance was, “Jesus Only!” Our four-fold gospel represented in our logo visualizes this Christ-focus: Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming King. Let there be no mistaking, as much as we desire our worship to be Word centered, we also desire for it to be Christ exalting. While one might say that Word centered and Christ exalting are very similar since Christ is the Living Word, there is certainly a place in worship to specifically exalt the person of our Lord and His life and ministry. There are any number of Scriptures that speak to this value, here are the ones we are recommending for inclusive in the philosophical document:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:16-17

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. Hebrews 1:1-4

I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Verses 17b-18 from Revelation 1:10-18

Clearly the Word, which we desire to have the central place in our worship, declares that we are to exalt the person of our Lord in all we do, whether individually or corporately. This heart of exaltation toward Christ is demonstrated in our individual lives and then certainly in our corporate life. Everything we do must exalt, lift up, magnify, laud, acclaim, pay tribute to, and sing the praises of Jesus.

You have heard the saying, “A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link.” I think this is evidenced in our corporate worship at times, in that our worship, our Christ exalting Word centered worship is only as strong as our weakest link. So I ask you the question, does your life magnify the Lord Jesus Christ? Again, I am not talking about perfection as much as inclination. Is it your aim to exalt Him in all that you do? As we each seek to exalt Christ is our individual lives, we will experience a greater degree of corporate Christ exalting worship when we gather.

May our individual lives of worship be Christ exalting, so that when we join together in our corporate worship it will be Christ exalting as well.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott