Worship - Lesson 5

Four Purposes of Worship - Part 2

Background Information for the Teacher

Objectives:

  1. The student can list four purposes which should characterize worship and can cite a scripture with each. (The second one today.)
  2. The student can describe how each of these is achieved though such worship as singing and the Lord’s supper.

Preparation:

  1. Each student should have access to a Bible.
  2. Have the evaluation sheets ready for use at the first of the class.
  3. Each student should have access to the songs to sing.
  4. Have a blackboard or chalkboard ready for use.
  5. Have quiz sheets ready for distribution.
  6. Write on a card each passage you will want someone to read and distributed them before class starts.
  7. Provide for everyone in the class a copy of Psalm 136 so they can read it together. All the response lines should be in italics or underlined.
  8. In advance, ask three men to lead short prayers when called on toward the end of the lesson: one a prayer of praise to God, one a prayer of thanksgiving to God, and one a prayer of submission to God.

Theme:

Four purposes which should characterize our worship are: proclamation, adoration, communication, and edification. (Reveal only the first two of these to the class today.)

Lesson Plan for Conducting the Class

Introduction: (About 10 minutes)

  1. Welcome the visitors, check the roll, and make necessary announcements.
  2. On the evaluation sheet provided for you, write the first purpose of worship we studied last time with the passage of scripture which teaches that purpose. Also write one expression from the hymn “O Worship the King” which fits that purpose. (The answer is—proclamation and the passage is 1 Corinthians 11:26. Get some answers from the class on phrases from the song expressing proclamation.)
  3. Q: Does anyone have an example of proclamation in worship which you have noticed?
  4. Let’s sing a song of proclamation together: “I Know that My Redeemer Lives.” As I read the first verse, notice how this is a song of proclamation. Let’s sing it in this spirit—a proclamation. We want everyone to believe as we do.

Learning Experiences: (About 35 minutes)

  1. Read Hebrews 13:15. Q: What does this verse call on us to do with our worship? (Offer a sacrifice of praise from our lips.) This introduces the second of the four purposes for worship. We shall use the name “adoration” for this purpose of offering praise to God. As we introduce this topic, let’s sing the song “Majesty.” According to Taylor, this song was written by Jack Hayford after he traveled for two weeks in Scotland, Wales and England during the time when that country was preparing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s becoming queen. Everyone was preparing for their part in the celebration. As he drove from place to place, he was struck with the sense of the grand, noble, and regal way in which they were going to honor their queen. Each person seemed to him to be recognizing his/her particular relationship with the monarch. He told his wife, Anna, “I can hardly describe to you all the things which this setting evokes in me. There is something of a majesty in all this.” He told his wife to get a notebook and “write down some words.” Then he began to dictate both the words and the music to this song. Let’s sing it now with the sense of awe and spender in which we should exalt our king Jesus who is far more than a mere mortal ruler.
  2. (Pass out the sheets with Psalm 136.) Psalm 136 is intended to have a line of praise to God followed by a line of response from the listeners. We are now going to read this psalm of adoration to God. I will read the statement and the class will repeat aloud in unison the response line. Q: (After the reading) Who will volunteer to write a “psalm” in a similar fashion, mentioning things that we, in the New Testament time, should thank God for? Use the same first four verses and use the same refrain, but put new items for the rest of the “psalm.” It does not have to be as long as Psalm 136. We will read this together in class next time.
  3. Look at two songs of praise: “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name” and “How Great Thou Art.” Q: What do you notice that is different about these songs? (“All Hail” is a call to praise while “How Great” is a statement of praise directed to God.) Let’s now sing these two songs with that difference in mind. First let’s call on everyone to praise Jesus by singing All Hail the Power of Jesus Name. Now let’s sing directly to God in How Great Thou Art.
  4. Now let’s look at Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee. There’s our word—Adore. Q: To whom is this song directed? Q: What is the basic message of the first verse? (A statement to God of our praise and a request for his blessings.) Q: What is the basic message of the second verse? (All God’s creation praises Him and calls us to join in.) Q: What is the basic message of the third verse? (A description of what God is like and a request that we can be like him.) Q: What change takes place in the fourth verse? (We are now calling others to join rather than addressing God directly. This verse is the song of an army marching to victory.) Now let’s sing all verses of this hymn of praise with these thoughts in mind.
  5. We are now going to have a season of prayer when three men will lead us. The first will lead a prayer of adoration emphasizing our praise to God; the second will emphasize our thanks to God; the third will emphasize our submission to God. These are three types of adoration to Him.

Application:

  1. Each time you start to sing a song of praise, ask to whom it is addressed—to God or to others about God. This will help you make the words more meaningful.
  2. Be sure to include in your prayers, both public and private, a portion of adoration by praising Him, thanking Him, and expressing submission to Him. You can write these down for the next class and use your notes during the quiz.

Assignment:

  1. Be ready to write down the two purposes of worship we have studied so far and to give a scripture with each.
  2. Look through a hymnal and find a song of praise directed to God and another which is a call for other to join in praising Him.

Evaluation:

  1. Quiz on two purposes of worship studied this far.
  2. Discussion of a song of adoration and its meaning.

Back to Worship

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.