Four Faces of Worship — 1. Heavenly Weirdness

I love church but I’ve definitely heard a lot of complaints about worship services. Like, how are they any more relevant than a Blockbuster Video membership these days. "How does obsessing over an ancient book that chronicles the life and times of the first Jesus freaks help pay my mortgage?" And I’m not saying church is always boring but sometimes it’s about as captivating as watching paint dry on the wall at the DMV. 

Some people like their traditions—the way church has always been done. The way it’s supposed to be. They’re like, “if it was good enough for Luther and St Paul then it’s good enough for me.” 

And worship is supposed to be about community, right? But a lot of people feel more connected to their smartphone than to the dumb people sitting all around them—more connected to their wifi at home than the Holy Spirit in church.

Maybe it’s the country club vibe. The way we sometimes make visitors feel about as welcome as a vegan at Rudy’s. 

Gandhi has been quoted as saying, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Fair enough, I mean… we know! But maybe we could at least make an attempt. It’s like we’re on a reality TV show called “Hypocrites Gone Wild—Sunday Morning Edition.” Instead of “what would Jesus do?” Maybe we should be more like Dwight Schrute from The Office and when we’re about to do something think, “what would Jesus not do?” and then not do that thing.

And nothing gets more complaints than worship music. It’s great if you’re into either pipe organ or amateur cover bands—or fingernails on chalkboard knockoffs of Kenny G or U2. I would have used more recent references for that joke but I don’t know any. I haven’t listened to music since 1986. Not really. I’ve heard a lot of it, I just didn’t realize it was music.

What else do people complain about? Oh yeah, the length of services. People show up and they’re like, “I didn’t train for a Jesus marathon, I just wanted to go to church.” I’m like, “The service is an hour and fifteen minutes—you’ll spend more time than that arguing about who’s racist and who’s not on Facebook this week.”

People who don’t even go to church have complaints about what we do here. We’re too judgmental. Too holier than thou. “Hey, want to come to church so we can make you feel bad about your life choices? It’ll be fun.” And then, if for some reason they do show up, that’s the week everyone else goes on vacation. And those of us who are here act like we’re being forced to sit through some kind of sensitivity training for work. So, they wonder why we invited them to church when we’re not even into it. And people are so cynical these days, afraid someone’s trying to scam them—trying to get their money. People outside the church are like, “If love of money is the root of all evil, why do you take an offering?” Which is easy to answer—the devil’s had that money long enough! Hand it over, demon! Ha No.

So yeah, people have a lot of opinions about worship services. But what does the Bible say worship is supposed to be like? What is worship? We all show up here to worship God, but what does He say worship is?

The word for “worship” in both the Old Testament and the New Testament means to bow down, as low as you can, before your God. The word is "שָׁחָה" (shachah) in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, the word "προσκυνέω" (proskyneō) means the same thing—Bow in reverence and submission to God. 

That’s what we’re supposed to be doing when we worship—bowing in submission to God. Bringing everything in our life under the authority and blessing of God. Here’s my life, my dreams, my desires, my plans, my thoughts, my words, my deeds—I bring all these things to my God and bow before Him in reverence and submission. It’s all a response to Him calling me by name to be His own. His servant, His child. Worship is our response to God forgiving us of our sin and showing us mercy because of Jesus. We respond by bowing in humble and thankful praise.

Now—Where does worship take place?

In church? Yes. Everywhere we go? Yes.

But in particular, where does this thing we call “going to church”—corporate worship—where does it take place?

On earth, in our church buildings? Or make-shift sanctuaries like school gymnasiums and paintball event centers? Yes. On earth but also as it is in heaven. 

I’m going need you to buckle up—it’s about to get trippy.

Hebrews 12:22-24 (NIV) describes the heavenly throne room of God and the assembly of angels and the church, suggesting a unity and continuity between the worship of God by the angels and the worship taking place when Christians gather for a church service:

"But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant.”

When we gather here on Sundays in our humble sanctuary, we join all the others who are worshiping God—we are mysteriously lifted into the heavenly space with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. We join an eternal moment of worship that is outside of time and space. We join with all the holy angels and all the redeemed who have ever lived and who will ever live—past, present, and future. 

Can you picture it? Do you see the throne of God? Surrounded by thousands and thousands of angels?

What do the angels look like?

Like this? A cherub, the way Raphael envisioned them? Little cupids? My friend Johnny and I like to pretend that the baby angels are like Pokemon, they’re the most powerful, fierce destroyers of worlds. It’s funny, but it’s not how angels are described in the Bible.

Maybe you picture the angels to look like supermodels—Victoria’s Secret. Sexy Angles. Or like the weeping angel statues from Dr Who. Or glam rockers. The first rock concert I ever went to was this band called Angel.

Well, those are fun but they don’t have much in common with the way the Bible actually describes what angels look like. 

The most complete description comes from Ezekiel 1:4-2:1, check this out (this is the trippy part):

As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went. As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. And each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning. Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads. And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. And each creature had two wings covering its body. And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings. And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings. And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face.”

Dude. No wonder the first thing angels always say is, “Don’t be afraid.” They’re like made of fire and light and metal—they have mechanical parts, and eyes all over them with four faces and wings and hooved feet and human hands. 

When Elijah was carried off to heaven in a chariot of fire—I’m pretty sure one of these guys was the chariot. This kind of angel is called a cherubim. They are the guardians of the holiness of God. They are heaven’s worship leaders. Here’s a shorter description of them from the Book of Revelation 4:6-11…

And before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

So, that’s the heavenly space we join when we worship. Surrounded by all those terrifying creatures who lead us proclaiming God’s eternal holiness. The One seated on the throne is the Lord Jesus who appears as a lion and as a lamb. And you might not have realized this but we — the church, the people of God in Christ — are the 24 elders. We’re the ones who are bowing—worshiping. We’re the ones who are saying, “God is worthy to receive glory and honor and power because He created all things—that everything only exists by His will and for His purposes.” We, the church, the people of God, are the crown of God’s creation. And what do we do with that crown? We bow. We throw it at His feet in thankful praise. This is what worship is, this is what it looks like, this is where it happens—it’s far more mysterious and powerful and important than anything we can merely see in our little corner of the earth. There’s a lot more happening here than meets the eye. Wheels within wheels is just the beginning.

So, over the next four weeks we’re going to dive into what worship is all about. We’re going to use the four faces of the cherubim as a framework to dig a little deeper into what those heavenly worship leaders are leading us to do. The living creatures with the faces of a Lion: A symbol of strength and courage, an Ox: a symbol of service and sacrifice, a Man: symbol of the incarnation and reflection of God’s connection to humanity, and an Eagle: a symbol of vision, perseverance and soaring faith. In worship we bow deeper and more completely than perhaps our church services would lead people to believe.

We agree with Luther when he insisted that Scripture be the absolute, most important standard for what we do in worship. That we should ground all of our service elements on the Bible—including understanding what we can learn from the cherubim about God’s holiness and majesty. Everything we do must be guided by the Bible. The people should understand what’s happening and why it’s happening.

I think we’ll find that all the complaints people have about church services being irrelevant, lacking community, and all the rest—those are issues people have with all us sinners who show up to be forgiven—not issues with the holy God who calls us to come here and worship. In fact, God’s word clearly commands us to do and be the complete opposite of all those complaints.

When we engage in worship, we’re not doing God a favor. He doesn’t need our worship. We do—worship is a means through which God meets our deepest needs.

We need what God is offering us here. You need what God is offering you here. 

The first church I ever went to, when I was a new 14 year old believer, had a phrase painted on the wall. I didn’t understand how foundational it was at the time. It said, “Where your needs can be met.”

But it’s not just the one hour of worship we do here on Sunday—that just sets the direction for the rest of the week. The way we will bow before God with the rest of our lives. It starts in that heavenly throne room but it doesn’t end there.

As bizarre as the description of those angels sounds to us—it was far more strange from their perspective, when they saw what almighty God who they were created to worship and guard His holiness was planning to do for the very not holy fallen race of mankind. That same army of heavenly cherubim, what Luke calls a multitude of the heavenly host, they watched the Son of God humble Himself and be born as a helpless baby. Remember that night with the shepherds when all those freaky chariots of fire with four faces praised God saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.”

That’s how God was going to save the world. The angels hadn’t seen anything as weird and terrifying as that. They had watched God create the universe. They had watched Lucifer rebel and get thrown out of heaven. They watched Adam and Eve follow in his footsteps and get kicked out of paradise. They had seen it all, but they hadn’t seen anything like this: God became a man, became part of His creation, so He could die and forgive your sin. So He could rise from the dead and give you the promise of eternal life. You are forgiven because of Jesus!

That’s why we show up here every week. To respond with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength in thankful praise for what He has done for us. In boldness and with courage, to offer a living sacrifice of our whole lives, to lift our eyes in faith and see His glory. To bow in humble reverence in submission to His kindness and mercy. To worship. AMEN