Sean du Toit ::
Alphacrucis :: 2013
There is a necessary relationship to the theology that we have and the
worship to God that we give. Theology
shapes and informs our worship of God.
All authentic worship assumes a theology. I wish to go further and suggest that
theology itself is a form of worship. Listen
to what Jesus says in John’s gospel:
John 4:23-24 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when
the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father
seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who
worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.”
Every time we declare truth about God, it
is an act of worship. In the verbal and,
ethical, individual and communal proclamation of the truth about who God is and
what God has done for humanity, we are engaged in acts of worship. John’s gospel is itself a theological
reflection on the truth about the identity of God revealed in Jesus through the
revelatory agency of the Spirit to the community gathered to worship and
encounter God. John’s gospel is thus a
declaration of worship, enticing those who hear to enter into communion with
God. The vivid metaphors employed
throughout are possibly strongest in the Eucharistic sections of John 6 where
hearers are instructed to feast on the very body of Jesus, a feast of intimacy
with God. However, that intimacy is developed
and maintained through theological reflection on the Christ event revealed
throughout John’s gospel and Jesus’ teaching.
There is therefore a dynamic interplay between theology and worship
throughout the gospel that invites those with ears to hear to come and taste
and see that the Lord is good. As N. T.
Wright has perceptively noted that,
When you begin
to glimpse the reality of God, the natural reaction is to worship him. Not to have that reaction is a fairly sure
sign that you haven’t yet really understood who he is or what he’s done.[1]
John’s explicit purpose in this gospel is
to evoke a continued relationship of trust in Jesus.
John 20:31 This is written so that you may [] trust that Jesus is the Messiah, the
Son of God, and that through trusting you may have life in his name.
The subjunctive πιστεύ[σ]ητε may either suggest “come to
trust” or “continue to trust” that Jesus is who this gospel declares he
is. We need not quibble over the options
as it is probably both. But that means
that an explicit purpose of this gospel is to feed the faithfulness, memory and
imagination of God’s people with the truth about God so that they may continue
to trust him and rely on him for life through him. Worship sustains the community of God by
facilitating an encounter with God and declaring truth about God. Furthermore,
lyrical theology, i.e., the words of the songs we sing, should give voice to the theology that
shapes the life and practices of the church.
It is for this reason that Karl Barth declares that,
Theology is a particularly beautiful
discipline. Indeed, we can confidently say
that it is the most beautiful of all disciplines. To find academic study distasteful is the
mark of the philistine. The theologian
who labours without joy is not a theologian at all. Sulky faces, morose thoughts and boring ways
of speaking are intolerable in this field.[2]
Joy and exciting thoughts must accompany
the theologian for it is upon reflection of God given in Scripture that the
theologian must wrestle with theology and construct imaginative portraits of
this encountering God that remain in sync and faithful to the revelation of God
throughout Scripture. Vanhoozer aptly notes that “To witness to the
love of God is the Christian theologian’s supreme privilege and supreme
responsibility.”[3]
Declaring truths about God which are
faithful and in sync with the Scriptural revelation, are themselves an act of
worship to the One who is worthy of our attention, affection and
allegiance. The very act of theology
must be an act of worship because God is no object to be studied but rather as
humble subjects we contemplate the supreme excellency of the divine nature (to
echo Jonathan Edwards). This God who
came for us, and revealed Himself to us in many and varied ways of love and
salvation, healing and compassion is worthy of our worship. Stating that God is loving, saving, healing
and compassionate is in sync with the truth of the Scriptural revelation, and
thus reaffirms the character of God which is thus an act of worship
itself.
If we return to John 4:23-24 we notice the central role of the Spirit. In John’s gospel, it is the role of the
Spirit to reveal to us the identity of God and ourselves, but it is also the
role of the Spirit to connect us to God (John 20:22). The Spirit facilitates an encounter with God
as the revealing God. And truth about
God is a medium through which God speaks and encounters his people. The Spirit thus reveals truth, declares truth
and inspires truth.
There is therefore a dynamic interplay
between theology and worship. Theology
not only inspires worship, but is itself an act of worship. This worship causes us to further reflect on
the God who is worthy of our worship, and thus inspires further theological
reflection.
[1] N. T. Wright, Simply
Christian, (New York: HarperCollins, 2006), 123.
[3] Kevin J. Vanhoozer, “The Love of God: Its Place, Meaning and Function
in Systematic Theology” in First
Theology: God, Scripture and Hermeneutics (Illinois: IVP, 2002), 95.
