Students and Teachers in the Classroom of Worship
By Michael Kelley
Worship is primarily about God. When we sing, we should sing about God. We should focus on God. Our attention and our affection should be directed towards God. And while our worship should be God-centered, we should also remember some of the benefits that we ourselves receive from worship. Take Psalm 73 for example.
In this psalm, Asaph the psalmist was frustrated because it seemed to him that while the righteous were suffering, the wicked continued to prosper. Indeed, he was so frustrated that he acknowledged that “my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Psalm 73:2-3).
But then things changed: “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God…” (Psalm 73:16-17).
Worship, then, can help us rightly manage our emotions and alter our attitudes.
Alongside that attitude-changing quality, worship is a teaching tool. When we worship, we are not only educating our hearts as to who God is and what He has done, we are helping teach each other with our words. Consider Paul’s description of worship found in Colossians 3:
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts (Col. 3:16).
There are two actions listed in this passage that we are to take with regard to one another. We are to “teach,” and we are to “admonish.” Teaching is the positive imparting of precepts. It is when we help each other learn about who God is and what He has done. Admonishing is more corrective in nature - it describes how we use God’s Word to bring one another in line with God’s truth and will. We help each other not only by positively giving knowledge but correcting each other when we stray.
And how, in Paul’s mind, does this positive teaching and correcting admonishing happen? It happens through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit as we sing to God with gratitude in our hearts. Worship, then, is not just the means by which we express honor and adoration to God - worship is a classroom. And in this classroom, we are simultaneously teachers and students.
As students, we are learning not only from the lyrics we are hearing and internalizing, but also from the posture of our fellow believers. When we know the kinds of things people are walking through and yet see them fervently worshipping, the lessons about the faithfulness of God in the classroom of worship are powerful. As teachers, we have the opportunity to reciprocate.
In light of the classroom of worship, then, we should understand that our worship is not only an opportunity to give honor to God; it is one of the means by which we help one another. So worship in spirit and truth, Christian. Worship because God is worthy of it, of course. But also worship for the sake of your own soul and that of others. Because when we worship, we also teach and learn.
Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.