Worship Liturgy: The First Fifteen Verses of Colossians 3 Are Important, Too

What does Colossians 3 have to teach us regarding worship (besides the obvious)? I’m sure many of us are familiar with verses 16 and 17: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Although many theologians have expounded upon these two verses, the previous fifteen verses can help pastors of music and worship plan biblically-faithful, Christ-honoring services every week. 

I have challenged myself to memorize this entire chapter this summer, so its words often reverberate in my brain. The chapter begins: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Immediately, our eyes are drawn heavenward toward Christ, away from our circumstances. Paul is reminding us that our ultimate purpose here on earth is not to fulfill our wants and desires, but to remember Christ’s ascension to the right hand of our Father. We begin by focusing our eyes.

Paul continues: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Not only are our eyes focused on Christ, but we remember his sacrifice for us. We recall that he took our sins and punishment so we could live (and die) in his righteousness. This humbling and grace-filled thought moves us to lay aside our own desires and ambitions to honor Christ.

As we focus on Christ and become less myopic on ourselves, we are charged to “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” Can you see the contrast that is being made between Christ’s sacrifice and righteousness and our filthy rags? We once lived for ourselves, but because of Christ, we now live for him. We once fed our selfish desires, but now we feed our desire to make his glory known. 

Further, the last verse above tells us that we have put off the old and put on the new. We no longer chase the pleasures that we once chased. We no longer fuel our unsanctified passions; rather, in our new God-given identities, we are being renewed in knowledge after the image of our Creator. Our desires should not be as they were before Christ. Our desires should be renewed. (For our specific discussion, it should be noted that our pre-Christ music choices should change after Christ. Our desires should be sanctified to honor Christ. Colossians 3 reminds us to serve others, not ourselves.)

Next, unity in Christ is new as well: “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” There is no room for “my desires” in this picture. It is Christ and him alone. My selfish desires are laid to rest upon the goodness of Christ, and him alone.

Verses 12 through 15 give us the model of how to come together as a corporate body: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”

We have focused our eyes on Christ, and seen our sinfulness contrasted with his righteousness. We have been reminded that we once walked in darkness, pursuing our own passions, but Christ is renewing us in knowledge of himself. We are reminded that our unity is in Christ, not our culture, our gender, or our skin color. And now we see how to interact with one another while still living in this sinful world. We are in the world but not of the world. We pursue the things of God and live in loving community, forgiving one another as we go.

How does this apply to worship liturgy?

It is my hope that pastors labor over their weekly liturgies, for the liturgy itself is formative. Is your current liturgy forming you more toward culture or more toward Christ? Do you have the opportunity to move beyond praise into thanksgiving, confession, and assurance? Colossians 3 provides a beautiful example of how liturgies move us from our current time and place as we enter into heavenly worship each week when we gather. 

Questions that worship pastors should be asking regularly:

If congregational singing is pursued above stylistic preferences, then the lights must be up, and the volume must be down, because that is how we edify each other. Further, by fostering congregational singing, the “style” conversation becomes obsolete.  The most important thing is the singing of God’s people in response to his revelation (this is biblical worship). When the congregation is to be heard and seen, then, I would argue, any instrument can be used because it is there to serve the congregation, not perform for the congregation.

When we focus our eyes on Christ and remember his sacrifice and our utter unworthiness, we move our attention from serving our unsanctified passions to serving our Lord Christ. In this scenario, there is no room for the thought, “Yes, but my preference in style is ________.” If I aim to serve Christ, then I will serve his bride, the church. How can I do that if the church cannot hear or see me when singing to our God?

This is the charge: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” My vertical worship of God is to encourage those around me horizontally. I do not sing of what I’m going to do for God; rather, I sing to God in ascribing him all glory, and I sing about God to edify my own soul and the souls of those around me.

God has not veiled his desires in how we are to worship him. It is plainly explained in Scripture, and Colossians 3 is just one chapter that details it obviously. May we always come before him with humble hearts, willingly submitting to his desires in our worship practices. 

Soli deo gloria.

Kim lives in Oklahoma with her husband Jason and they have one adult son. She is Visiting Professor of Music and Worship at Oklahoma Baptist University and enjoys teaching classes on various aspects of worship studies. Kim completed her Ph.D. in Church Music and Worship from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and also holds degrees in Music History and Piano Performance from other universities. She enjoys spending time with her family in God’s creation, quilting, reading, and drinking good tea.