By Mark W. Christy, PhD
In 1 Corinthians 2:2, Paul declares, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”[i] Commenting on this verse and noting the centrality of the cross throughout Paul’s ministry, D. A. Carson writes, “If [Paul] really holds that God has supremely disclosed himself in the cross and that to follow the crucified and risen Savior means dying daily, then it is preposterous to adopt a style of ministry that is triumphalistic, designed to impress, [and] calculated to win applause.”[ii] With these words in mind, how should a church adapt its worship style in such a way that the cross of Christ is magnified?
Before answering this timely question, it may help to look at some dubious alternatives that are on full display at many churches across the American landscape. Today, many churches prioritize the worship experience in their never-ending pursuit of people pleasing their audiences to drive up their attendance stats. In pursuit of this controlling ambition, prayer times have been made to perform double-duty to offer band members and worship team members the requisite time to be set up and ready when the prayer ends. At the end of service, music is often played to cover the awkward time when people are being called upon to respond to the message. Those giving the message have stepped away from their pulpits in order to present themselves as more personally available and vulnerable during their sermon. Sermons, increasingly more often than not, are little more than a self-help guide to prosperity and emotional fulfilment that relies on all of the hallmarks of eisegesis (and proof-texting) while sound exegesis is left behind in the ash heap of what is labelled as irrelevancy. To qualify to speak at these ‘relevant’ churches, the pastor must, in keeping with the demand of sensationalism, offer sufficient charisma and an attractive personality first and foremost.
Within the aforementioned style choices of many contemporary churches, it would be hard to picture Paul serving in the role of pastor unless he came with a word of rebuke. Even then, he would be blocked from such an opportunity because his goal would be to deliver the truth of the gospel (i.e., the form) and not the spectacle of those who in his day were considered master orators in the Greek world where one’s style of speaking was carefully weighed based on its experiential and emotionally titillating appeal.
Instead of simply tickling ears with fancy words within the context of fancy worship services, Paul had no intention of speaking with “smooth and flattering speech [to] deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting” (Rom 16:18). He avoided “cleverness of speech so that the cross of Christ would not be made void” (1 Cor 1:17). His goal and focus was never “superiority of speech” or profound displays of human wisdom (1 Cor 2:1). Such was his delivery that some of his detractors even said that “his speech [was] contemptible” (2 Cor 10:10).
As a communicator, Paul would have spoken in line with his advice to Titus: “show yourself to be…sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us” (Titus 2:7-8). Here, Paul is concerned with all communication, but even so it is nonetheless clear that communication that involves gospel proclamation from within a church service must indeed be sound and in complete harmony with the truth of the gospel. Paul’s communication was done in such a way as to facilitate his hearer’s growth in knowledge and their own ability to communicate in a way that is in-line with the gospel (1 Cor 1:5). He spoke boldly even when his message offended sinners who were being called out in their sin (Rom 1:16; 2 Cor 3:12; 2 Tim1:8). Despite the unwelcoming and even sometimes hostile response to his message, he knew that a workman “approved to God…does not need to be ashamed [so long as he is] accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15). His willingness to suffer such shame was because his ultimate goal was the same as Christ: the glorification of God (Phil 2:5-11; 1 Pet 4:16).
Following Paul’s example, a worship service should establish the glorification of God as the primary goal. Instead of pleasing people, everything should be weighed by whether or not it is pleasing of God. The prayer time (and the decision time and all other moments during the service) should be used as a time to exclusively focus on God. The worship music should be biblically based and thereby pleasing to God first and foremost. The preaching should offer clear and sound exposition of biblical truth even if some become offended during the delivery.
[i]All Scripture references are taken from NASB1995.
[ii]D. A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 38.