"Clap Your Hands, All Peoples" Continued

This is the sixth article in a series on worship. Previous articles have defined worship as ascribing supreme worth to God, something that touches all of life, but for the purposes of this series, our focus has been on corporate worship as the body of Christ.

We’ve said that our corporate worship must be Trinitarian, worshipping God as He has revealed Himself: Father, Son, and Spirit. It must be Word-saturated, so that the content of our worship teaches us, by Scripture, who God is and what He has done. And we’ve said that our worship must be Gospel-centered, focused on the incredible truth that even when we were lost in sin, God reached down to us and brought us to Himself through Jesus’ death on the cross.

We’ve looked at the role of music in worship, and have seen that God wants our worship to be creative, to sing His praise with a variety of music, new, old, vocal, and instrumental, and He wants our worship to be marked by excellence. And finally, we’ve said that our music should be filled with God-honoring emotion, and that such emotion is often expressed in Scripture physically, the focus of the previous article. We saw that God created our bodies to glorify Him, and that the Bible says quite a lot about expressing our praise physically, including singing, playing instruments, bowing, raising hands, clapping, shouting and silence, dancing and standing still.

We said that rather than command a physical response in worship, (i.e., “Raise your hands to God!”), we will serve our people better if we help them understand God’s glories so that their natural desire is to raise their hands to Him (or sing, stand still, or clap…). And we said that physical expression by itself is not the critical part of worship. Physical expression in worship must flow from a heart that seeks to honor God. Physical expression in worship, without the desire to honor God from the heart, will hinder true worship, not help.

In this article, we will bring this discussion to a close with a focus on practical application. How should physical expression be displayed, especially in a strongly Bible-believing but somewhat reserved church? What follows are three practical considerations when it comes to physical expression in the corporate worship service.

First, we all need to guard against insisting on the “Church of My Cup of Tea.” Some have placed negative connotations on outward expression, thinking that people who do that are just showing off, or are overly emotional, or whatever. But God’s Word must determine our practice, not our preferences. After all, our bodies react to what affects us deeply. If I knock something over, I reach out to grab it without even thinking. When I see my granddaughter, I open my arms. When my favorite team scores, I shout and raise my hands. I’ve even been known to clap and jump about.

So why should a church service be the only place where we can’t express physically what we feel? When something in Scripture hits us, we should feel free to say “Amen.” When we sing, “No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand,” we should feel free to raise our hands in worship. When we sing “Your blood has washed away my sin, Jesus, thank you,” we should feel free to clap our hands to the One who rescued us from the kingdom of darkness. And when we sing, “My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,” we could even feel led to kneel in thanks that all our sins have been paid for.

And if singing, which is commanded in Scripture, is appropriate for public worship, why isn’t raising hands, clapping, bowing, or shouting, each of which are also commanded?  

Second, there are many who are not naturally expressive physically. So, what if I’m not “feeling it” in corporate worship? What if I just want to get done with the songs and get to the sermon? Then I believe the right response is to confess my lack of passion for God, to ask Him to fill my mind with His mercy and grace, to give me a greater desire to praise Him, and then act in faith.

Even when my heart isn’t affected by what I’m singing, expressing my praise bodily can stir up affection in my heart. John Piper writes in Desiring God, “The fuel of worship is a true vision of the greatness of God.” And as the Spirit works in our hearts to show us God more clearly, the result should be “powerful worship, pushing its way out in confessions, longing, acclamations, tears, songs, shouts, bowed heads, lifted hands, and obedient hearts.”

Physical expression will look different for every one of us. There may be times when we find ourselves moved while those around us sing on, seemingly unaffected. Or we may find ourselves unmoved while our neighbor can’t sit still. However, just because I see a couple display inappropriate affection in public, that won’t keep me from holding my wife’s hand when we’re out. I do it first because I love her. I do it second because I want the world to know that I love her.

I am freer physically in worship where I am not known, such as at conferences, or visiting other churches. Why is that? It could be what Proverbs 29:25 calls, “the fear of man.” Maybe in those settings I’m less concerned with how I’m viewed and more willing to surrender myself. But our worship must be based on God’s worth, not the image we are trying to protect.

You might be saying, “But Tim, I’m shouting on the inside.” Okay. That’s a great start. I’m content to leave any other movement between you and the Lord. I’m not looking to impose a rulebook on gathered worship, because we too easily justify ourselves by what we do or don’t do and end up missing the bigger issue of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Rather than argue over this command or that, it’s better to ask, “Does my heart, soul, mind, and body reflect what Scripture says about honoring, praising, worshiping God?”

Third, this is an area where our worship does impact those around us. Each one of us is comfortable with different degrees of physical expression. While the focus of our worship is always to be God Himself, we are called in love to do what edifies others (1 Corinthians 14:12). That means we don’t break into shouting and dancing just because we feel like it. We want people to see God’s glory, not us. And we are called to prefer others over ourselves (Romans 12:10; Philippians 2:3).

I can’t help but notice that physical expression often seems to be tied to the type of music we sing. In other words, I’m far more likely to see hands raised during a contemporary tune than during a hymn. Maybe that’s just music doing what music does, moving our emotions. But an emotional response to a moving song is not the same thing as a heartfelt response to a deep understanding of God’s worth. We have to make every effort to engage with God, not with our emotions.

As we express ourselves physically we need to take care that we are giving preference to others, not being distracting, not being uncontrolled, but honoring to God and those around you. By the same token, that also means that we don’t insist on those around us limiting their physical expression to just what we are personally comfortable with. What if someone is distracting? Is uncontrolled? Then it’s the pastor’s (or the elders’) responsibility to speak to them, to help them consider how their worship affects others.

Preferring others also means I don’t assume that those who are physically expressive are seeking attention or are being insensitive or hypocritical. “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” That means it thinks the best of others, not the worst. And who knows? Perhaps God wants you to learn from their unhindered, sincere expressiveness. For the same reason, it also means I don’t assume that those who are not physically expressive are cold and joyless, devoid of feeling toward God.

Each one of us should examine our hearts to see where we might seek to exalt our Savior more sincerely, fully, and passionately. That should be our main focus from start to finish. May we worship God with full hearts that spill over into every aspect of our lives, may we grasp His infinite holiness and His unfathomable grace which has brought us near to Him through Jesus Christ, and may we, as the Church, be filled with the kind of truth and expression that most clearly communicates to others the infinite, matchless worth of the One we worship.

The next topic in this series on worship will be the last: leaving a legacy of worship.

Tim Schoap is co-pastor of Signal Mountain Bible Church in Signal Mountain, Tenn.