“Deep” is a word in our Christian sub-culture that has caused a great divide at times.  Modern churches who focus on reaching the unchurched have been charged with not being “deep”.  It’s been said that modern worship music lacks the “depth” of the old hymns.  Christians have even left churches because they were pursuing “deeper” teaching or “deeper” worship.

There have been some that have labeled spontaneous worship as “deep” and alluded that planning too much makes worship “shallow”. But I believe that deeper worship has more to do with our personal pursuit than it does a style or a method. It has more to do with our longing for a greater glimpse of God’s holiness, a greater familiarity with our own brokenness, and a richer joy in the hope of the Gospel.

This cycle can help us more deeply worship God.

Holiness —> Brokenness —> Hope

At the center of God’s glory, at the apex of his character is his holiness.  It is what sets him apart.  It is what the angels and the elders emphasize when they sing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty”.  The more I explore the holiness of God the higher I want to lift him.  The more I want to exalt him.

His holiness magnifies his attributes meaning that it reminds us that all of his attributes are unmatched and set apart.  No one is as powerful, as good, as creative, as beautiful, or as wise.  His holiness gives perspective to the endless reasons we have to worship him.  There is truly none like him, no one higher, and no one greater.  He is transcendent, perfect in every way, and completely without sin.

The Word of God declares his holiness so beautifully and Psalm 96 is a chapter that has always pushed my eyes upward.  It’s a wonderful Psalm to pray.  Read the whole thing.  Read it slowly and absorb what it declares.

Psalm 96 (ESV) –

and the peoples in his faithfulness.

I love how this psalm moves me to think on the holiness of God, but the more I look upon his holiness the clearer the perspective becomes of my own condition.

Isaiah was very familiar with this type of moment.  He vividly lived and described this moment in his life when the holiness of God put his sin into perspective.  He was broken and it drew him into worship.  He saw the Lord and he also saw his own spiritual poverty.  I’ll let him tell the story…

Isaiah 6:1-5 (ESV) – In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another.

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Isaiah looked upon the holiness of God and for four verses he describes it.  He’s in awe of it, but then it brings perspective to his own sin.  Some of us pursue the holiness of God in worship, but we can only lift him so high.  If we long to lift him higher we must lower ourselves.  We must be broken.

Brokenness is a good thing.  In fact, it is what God desires most from us.

Psalm 51:17 (NLT) – The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

Sometimes when worship grows stale for us it has nothing to do with the song, the church, or the method.  It has to do with the fact that we have become stuck in the cycle refusing to be broken.  We don’t want to confess our sin, admit our pride, or surrender our self-reliance.  It’s easier to go searching for deeper seas not realizing we will carry our ankle deep worship with us wherever we go because we refuse to be broken or we’ve grown numb to our own sin.

We need to seek a deeper vision of God’s holiness, put it up against our own sin and be broken before him. It brings to great attention the massive chasm between our sin and God’s holiness.  God wants us to see that perspective, but he doesn’t want us to stay there.

He wants that perspective to bring a whole new depth to the hope of the gospel. He wants us to lift our eyes from our brokenness to look upon the cross.

The hope we have in Jesus is what allows us in all our brokenness to draw near and worship God in all his holiness.

Hebrews 10:19-23 (NIV) – Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

The hope we have in Jesus is what lifts us from our brokenness.  It is true that the chasm is great between God’s holiness and our brokenness, but it is also true that the sacrifice of Jesus is greater than that chasm. Our faith in Jesus and what he has done for us on the cross is the hope we have that we can draw near to God now and that we will one day live in the fullness of his presence.

When we realize our brokenness guilt and shame try to keep us there, but though God wants us to know our brokenness he never intended for us to live in it.  He wasn’t satisfied with the distance between us.  He wasn’t satisfied with distant ritualistic worship.  He wants us to draw near to him as we worship and the blood of Jesus makes that possible.  He has covered all our sin, he has rendered us forgiven, he has raised us up in new life and because of him we can draw near with full assurance that faith in Jesus brings.

This leads us to deeper worship.  Recognizing God’s holiness, realizing our brokenness, and celebrating the hope of the gospel.  But it isn’t something that only happens once in our lives.  Every time we walk through this cycle the goal is go deeper.  Deeper worship happens when we seek to know higher heights of his holiness, which helps us to become more aware of our brokenness, which makes the hope of the gospel of Jesus that much more astonishing, that much more amazing.

Deeper worship has little to do with style or method and more to do with our personal pursuit.  You can deeply worship God through hymns or modern songs, with extravagant lighting or without it, with a 5 piece band or massive orchestra.  You can deeply worship God holding a hymnal or reading lyrics on a screen, loudly or quietly, in a suit or a t-shirt… what matters is the condition of our heart and our personal pursuit of God’s holiness, our brokenness, and the hope of the gospel.