Worship vs. Service, Part I by Dr. Paul Hunsicker

Dr. Hunsicker pastors Christ Lutheran Church in Abbotsford, Wisconsin. He is a dear friend of mine who has taught me a great deal about theology. For years, he has kept up a column in the local newspaper seeking to answer the layman's question with sound theology. He has kindly given permission to reprint this article on Kirchenmusik. You can access more of his writing ("Words of Faith") on the church website.

What is the difference between worship and service?

This is an interesting question to consider in the midst of contemporary Christianity’s flirtation with all sorts of “stuff” which is labeled as worship. There is little worship of God going on in much of Christendom today. Much of what is popularly called worship is actually entertainment, Christian entertainment, but it is not worship.

The German Lutheran tradition has a word which clearly describes what worship is to be about. The word is “Gottesdienst.” It means, a time when God serves us. This meaning clearly relates to the Third Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” The Commandment means, “Remember the Day of Rest (Sabbath) and keep it set aside for God’s use (holy).” Worship is to be a time when we stop our activities and let God work on us. Worship is a time when people rest and God works! This is “Gottesdienst.”

What happens in true worship? People recognize that they cannot save themselves. Worshippers recognize that they need God’s help and take time to let Him give them help through the hearing of His Word as it is sung and spoken in hymns and liturgy and through the reception of the Sacrament which is given for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith. Worship is God centered in that the entire time centers upon humble sinners gratefully receiving God’s blessings through Word and Sacrament.

Too much of today’s “worship” is actually man centered. People leave church “feeling” good because they have been entertained. They have spent time singing certain songs which make them feel good. And when that is the highlight of “worship” they are the ones who have been worshipped and entertained and the experience in church has had little or nothing to do with God working on them. They have worked on themselves. This is a man-centered experience. Man has been served by man. It is not “worship.”

When the activities of worship have pointed us to God’s activity on our behalf we have worshipped. When that worship makes us “feel good” because we have sung a hymn which glorifies God and also makes us “feel good,” the secondary aspect of “feeling good” is not a problem. But when “feeling good” becomes the primary reason for assembling in a church, we do not have worship of God, we do not have God serving us, we have entertainment, the worship of and service to man.

Our service takes place once we leave worship. When we have been fed on Word and Sacrament, when God has strengthened our faith and our relationship with Him as we rested from our labor and let Him work on us, we proceed into the world and work for Him. Then we live out our holiness, the fact that we are set aside for His use (Ephesians 2:10). We serve Him by sharing the faith He has strengthened in worship. We service Him by caring for our fellow man in His name. We serve Him living as examples of redeemed sinners who are thankful for our cross-established salvation. Worship is only worship when God and His blessings for us are at the center of the activity.

When we bring ourselves, our activity, and our songs to the forefront in an activity at our place of worship, we have asked God to reward us for our actions. This is, in effect, asking God to worship man. It is a form of idolatry, a form that is rampant in the church today.

Think about what you do when you worship. God must always be at the center. He must get the glory. We are to be at the receiving end of everything. And once we receive from God, then we serve Him Who has given us everything.