There are those that state that Passion is ONLY for Private Worship that it is NOT to be used in the Public Congregation, ever.

Please consider:

Psalm 22:22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

Congregation here means basically what it means today, an assembled group.

Praise here includes the meaning: to be clamorously foolish. It also includes the meaning of: to rave. As in: such and such received rave reviews. Tell me now how much receiving a ‘rave review’ in ‘high-brow propriety’ would make you feel really ‘raved’ about?

Backing up a few words, the declaration part also is interesting in that it includes the concept of keeping score…

Now why is it alright (even expected) to rant, rave and scream at the top of our lungs at a game when our side is winning and, then, why when the Sovereign of the Universe continues to ‘Score’ we sit on our hands?
(Of course it's hard to keep score when our services have no remembrances of what God has done in the past, is doing now, and will be doing in the future.)

In fact if you remain too somber during a critical score you’ll be kicked out of the home team’s section of the stands! Possibly even the home town!

You can stretch Greek and Hebrew all you want. But, when the Angels in heaven rejoice that another soul has been claimed for Christ, I do not think it is a merely quiet assent!

Yet, this is exactly what is expected of us in church. A passionless assertion of mental truth with no corresponding heart felt response!

To be converted is NOT a mere mental acceptance or assent that God is right and you are wrong.

No, it is a heart-core radical change of being. Anything less is not salvation.

And, if it isn’t deep enough to cause an outward reaction (at some point) then I dare say, I seriously doubt that any Spiritual Transaction has taken place.

 

In Psalms 22:25 it speaks of praise in the Congregation again.

My praise shall be of You in the great congregation. I will pay to Him my vows [made in the time of trouble] before them who fear (revere and worship) Him.

Here Praise speaks of a hymn. Now, for some, a hymn is a somber funeral dirge.

But, how much laud and honor is there in a funeral dirge. No, this type of praise is laudation. That speaks of the connotation of a general returning victorious from battle. Or, perhaps the voices of those welcoming David in after his victory. 1 Samuel 18:7-8. Do we praise properly enough to make the devil wroth?

Do, we really laud Jesus when He enters our midst’s as the victorious conqueror He is?

Or, are we singing songs with an attitude of loss.

If there was any question about the praise being done during the ‘big’ Sunday Morning Service, reading Psalms 35:18 should squash that pretty well.

 

I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among a mighty throng.

Again, Praise here is Clamorously Foolish in one’s declaration and making a show of God’s greatness…

In Psalms 40:9-10 David confesses that he has not refrained his lips and intimates that to refrain our lips results in God’s withholding His Mercies…

I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great assembly [tidings of uprightness and right standing with God]. Behold, I have not restrained my lips, as You know, O Lord. (10)  I have not concealed Your righteousness within my heart; I have proclaimed Your faithfulness and Your salvation. I have not hid away Your steadfast love and Your truth from the great assembly. [Acts 20:20, 27.]

(When are we given a chance to share what God has done? To share our stories and not be doubted for it as a braggart? For it is Jehovah who has done it.)

Could David have been remembering when he danced before the Lord, Michal scorned, then was barren?

Is your church barren?

Psalms 89:5 Speaks of the congregational Praise being compared to the Worship of the heavens.

Let heaven (the angels) praise Your wonders, O Lord, Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones (the holy angels).

When was the last time your Sunday service could be compared to a bright morning sunrise after a stormy night?

(For many of us Sunday Morning services are the only respite from the maddening and tumultuous storm of the work week.)

Psalms 107:32 we are told of a Loud, Proud and Haughty Praise. That’s what Exalt in this usage means. As is further amplified by the word used for Praise. I.e., Clamorously Foolish….

Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people and praise Him in the company of the elders.

Psalms 111:1 talks of being physically involved in our Praise. I.e., to shoot, to throw… that is to be, visibly demonstrative.

PRAISE THE Lord! (Hallelujah!) I will praise and give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart in the council of the upright and in the congregation.

Finally when we walk through all the Hebrew in Psalms 149:1 we see a picture of Acts 2 where people thought the disciples were drunk.

PRAISE THE Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, praise Him in the assembly of His saints!

Here in Psalms we see a picture of the saints of God strolling through the Congregation singing spur of the moment songs in a manner you’d expect only of people coming out of a bar!

Yet we are SO caught up in seeker sensitivity…

We are so caught up in trying to win those that are not even, yet, interested in being saved…

 

(There is no desire of the “Good News” without a proclamation of the “bad news”.)

That we deny ourselves and those around us of the one of the Prime Liberties for which Christ has set us free. That is, blatantly bragging about what Jesus has done to the whole congregation.


Now, while I readily admit that this is not the whole counsel and complete picture of Worship in the Body of Christ. It is a vital part of it.

To deny exuberant passionate expression to the congregation as a whole when gathered is, in my view, contraindicated by God’s Word.

You can say all you want that Passion is {only} for Private Worship. Please show me chapter and verse. (I doubt you can.)

The sad fact is, is that the vast majority of believers do not have either the time or inclination to have a passionate worship service in what little they have of their own time.

Further, this bragging about God to each other is a vital part of the Believers Confession of Faith.
It’s where we remind each other about what God has already done, considering that what He has done already, He can and will do again.

(This is why the lyrical content of the songs we sing are so important!)

When the lame man was healed at the Gate Beautiful he immediately disrupted a rather staid and somber temple atmosphere as he proclaimed what had happened.

We, sinners saved by Grace, have been healed from far worse than any crippling ailment! How dare we be led to believe that it is 'proper' to sit on our hands and be well behaved lest some non-serious seeker be insulted!

**Hogwash**

Finally, we used to sing a song about sending Judah (Praise) first and the battle will be won. Check out

2 Chronicles 20:21  When he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him in their holy [priestly] garments as they went out before the army, saying, Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were [self-] slaughtered;

As soon as they were obedient in Praise they knew they had won the battle, and I guarantee you this was no somber procession.