Proclamation and Praise
Hebrews 2:12 and the Role of Christ in Worship
This understanding has profound implications for how we look at what happens in corporate worship. The ministry of preaching is seen to be an extraordinarily important and holy task, as the preacher undertakes the sobering responsibility of a being a channel for Christ’s own ministry of proclaiming the name of the Father to His brethren. In a sense the preacher performs a “sub-priestly” function of representing before the congregation Christ in His high-priestly role (Heb. 7:23--8:2) of mediating the Father’s divine will to the people. The Son of God speaks through the faithful preacher to display the wonders of God’s glory.
There are of course other ways besides preaching in which the communication of revelation can take place in corporate worship, other ways in which Christ proclaims the Father’s name to us: through any presentation of Scripture (spoken, as in calls to worship, unison and responsive readings, etc.; sung, in Scripture texts set to music; visual, printed in bulletins, displayed on banners, etc.); or through the accurate communication of scriptural truth, paraphrases of Scripture or commentary on Scripture (as in comments by the worship leader, testimonies, song and anthem texts). And of course Christ can work through all of these means (and more) outside of the worship service in our individual walks of worship.
Man to God
The other half of Christ’s mediating work in worship is probably less familiar to us.
“In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.” (Heb. 2:12b)
Jesus Christ in His full humanity mediates not only the revelation of God to man, but also mediates the response of man to God. In our worship (be it corporate or individual, formal or in our daily walk), Christ does not just receive our worship as God’s co-equal, but in His grand condescension and consummate manhood He Himself is the supreme and perfect worshiper (cf. 2:12b, “I will sing Your praise”)! And not only that, but He leads His brethren in all their responses of worship to God the Father (“in the midst of the congregation”). He is not content to receive worship at the Father’s right hand from those whom He has graciously redeemed; rather He insists on standing with His brothers and sisters; and not just joining in-- but actually leading the chorus of grateful response to the Father for His grace!
This amazing truth means that in corporate worship it is not only the preacher who has the awe-inspiring duty of representing or standing in the place of Christ, and of being a conduit of his ministry to His body: so does the worship leader. The worship leader leads, and sings, and conducts, but it is Christ who is actually leading the worship-- on behalf of, and along with, His brethren!
As the preacher is properly a channel for Christ’s own ministry of proclamation from God to man, so the worship leader is to be channel for Christ’s ministry of praise to the Father! And thankfully, as the truth of God can shine forth and do its work even in spite of a mediocre human preacher-- exactly because it is Christ Himself who is ultimately the One proclaiming-- so too the worship leader’s (as well as the people’s) limited and feeble expressions of praise are lifted up, absorbed, and transformed into Christ’s own perfect offering of worship. Our worship is worthy and acceptable because He is worthy and acceptable; our worship is excellent to the extent that it connects with and relies on the excellence of Christ.
This is grace applied to the deepest levels of our Christian walk; this is divine enablement provided for the life of faith in all of its fullness. Whether in corporate worship, individual worship, or in our daily walk (which too is to be worship, Rom. 12:1), there is not a single bit of God’s truth which we apprehend without it being mediated to our minds and hearts through Christ in His ministry of proclaiming the Father’s name to the brethren. Similarly, in any of the above contexts (corporate, individual, or lifestyle worship) there is no response of adoration or gratitude or commitment lifted up to the Father which is not initiated and enabled by the Son in His ministry of praise to the Father in the company of His brethren.
What could give God greater pleasure, in relationship to those He has created in His own image, than to see them receiving His revealed truth and responding in love and worship? And by His marvelous and gracious design, what He requires He enables, for it is He who is “working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ [in His mediatorial ministry of Proclamation and Praise] . . .to whom be the glory forever and ever! Amen!” (Heb. 13:21)
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This is the debut album by EXW friend Paul Langford. Paul is a Chicago based singer, arranger, keyboardist, producer and conductor. Paul has a career that spans 14 years. Paul's work includes arranging for groups like GLAD, Voices of Liberty, VoiceTrek, The Chicago based "Caroling Party" and Day of Discovery Singers. His arranging has appeared on recordings side by side with greats like Gene Puerling and David Maddux, and he has sung with Don Shelton, Bonnie Herman and Bob Bowker, among others.