Words construct ideas, thoughts, and imagery which eventually manifests in our our terminology. Consequently, inferences are deducted from our terminology which ultimately influences our belief systems. For example, when you hear the word, dog, a number of ideas come to mind. Most people think of a domesticated animal with canine teeth, a long slender muzzle, a waggly tail, and large ears. These ideas are pretty stereotypical of dogs; These ideas about dogs aren’t exhaustive, but they are a good starting point for understanding dogs. Let’s take this illustration deeper. What comes to mind when you hear the word “worship”? Are there specific characteristics that you suddenly visualize? Do these characteristics thoroughly encompass the depth and profound nature of biblical worship?
The reality is that most people think about going to church and singing to God when they hear the word, worship.
If you think about the way culture uses this misunderstood word, it is usually attached to a specific event or a specific style of music. The church even falls into a linguistic trap of belittling worship’s meaning. For instance, the church bulletin says “Welcome to the Worship Service” and songs use the term worship as if you can turn in off and on like a switch. Christians ask questions like, “Did you go to the worship service”? and “Have you heard the new Chris Tomlin worship song?” We use the word worship in todays vernacular in ways that make a mockery of its biblical intention. Consequently, todays understanding of worship is tragically belittled to a degree that affects the way we live the Christian life.
The bigger question is “How would you define worship?”
The confusion of worship is rampant because assembling a comprehensive definition to the word is almost next to impossible. However, the bible describes worship as a lifestyle and an event. Unfortunately, we have packaged worship into merely an event.
I remember as a young adolescent getting dressed to go to the worship service (also known as big church). My concept of church clearly came from the modern day vernacular. Unfortunately, the terminology I heard negatively affected what I believed about God. Each week, it seemed as though I entered a building that God resided in; he was the housekeeper of my church, or so I thought; after all, it was God’s house. As a young boy, I can remember walking into church, greeting God as if He answered the church doors and rang the church bells. I also remember thinking my pastor was the second incarnation of God. These thoughts were mere solely the results of what I was hearing from Sunday school teachers etc.
Everyone was threatened not to crawl under the pews as a toddler because you were in God’s house. If I couldn’t crawl under the pews and run around, then I didn’t want to be in God’s house. God’s house wasn’t very fun.
An event is an expression of our worship to God, but it shouldn’t be the complete action of our worship.
When Jesus walked into the scene 2,000 years ago, he radically revolutionized people’s perception of worship. Professional Jews and half-breed Samaritans of that day believed worship only happened at the temple. In order to worship as a jew, you had to bring a sacrificial animal to the alter of the deity you worshipped. In John 4, Jesus was asked where to worship by the woman at the well who was a Samaritan. Jesus responded to her theological question declaring that true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
What does that mean?
Worship is not restricted to a time and place, but rather, all the time in every place. Worship is a verb, not a noun.
Rather than creating a working definition to worship, it may be to our best interest to describe worship as scripture gives an account.
Worship described:
-Worship is constantly gazing inwardly upon God.
-Worship is Communally MEETING God.
-Worship is the constant encounter of God that has life changing effect.
Singing is something we do with our voices; worship is what we do in our heart.
The definition of worship includes attaching personal value to an object. We are driven in life by what we value most. Put differently, whatever we value in life, we eventually begin looking like and become. If our primary drive in life isn’t the value we have for God, then we are committing idolatry according to 1 Corinthians.
Everyday we take 28,000 breaths and worship flows from each one.
The apostle Paul truly understood the importance of New Testament worship. Romans 12:1 commands that we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. In the same way that Jews offered a sacrifice at the temple, we are to sacrifice our bodies to God. What does that mean? All that we are and everything that is in us should be consumed with God. Put differently, every time we so no to sin, we are worshipping.
Our conversations and activities point us to our throne of worship. We worship relationships, materialism, sports, hobbies, and even laziness. The synopsis of who we are is defined by the things we love. A student once asked how to discover his alter of worship. I asked him to record his day and recollect his conversations and activities. At the end of the day, he uncovered who or what he really worshipped.
What we value in life creates some form of response. For example, no one has to remind you to to plan for Valentine’s day? Or at least I hope not. Did anyone have to tell you to buy a gift and do something nice? No... Why? If you truly valued your Valentine, then you spend major money and consume much time planning the perfect day all because of the value the significant other plays in your life. If God is our highest value, we would naturally respond to him through spending significant amounts of time with Him. He should naturally consume our attention and our affection because He alone is worthy.
Does your life have your fingerprints all over it or God’s fingerprints? Put differently, who or what captivates your heart and consumes your mind? Where do you spend your daily energy on? Where does most of your money go? A person’s budget often exposes what matters most to an individual. Wherever you place your worship, you will never be satisfied until you are satisfied in Him. You will never regret being totally preoccupied with the things of God.
True worship involves full surrender and obedience to the Lordship of Christ. However, full surrender and obedience may be the most toilsome and challenging experience of your life. Abraham in Genesis 22, which tells the story of God commanding Abraham to kill his son, will tell us that obeying God may even appear nonsensical at the least, maybe even ludicrous. When God demands our worship, He may ask us to surrender what we treasure most on this earth.
Worship wars in churches have polarized congregations internationally. A biblical understanding of worship isn’t concerned with how we worship, but rather, who we worship. The why you do what you do is infinitely more important than merely the method of worship you have. If you can’t worship Monday through Saturday, it’s not likely you can worship on Sunday because worship is something you do, not just a place to go to.
The real test of worship happens during the time of your life that no one else sees.
Worship demands a painful but necessary response of surrender to God. After all, He is more worthy than any treasure we have this side of heaven.
Isaiah encountered Worship in Isaiah chapter 6:1-8
-Isaiah saw the Lord
-Isaiah turned away from his sin
-God removed Isaiah’s sin
-Isaiah listened and acted to God’s call
Worship always leads to life change and action.
Isaiah had a proper balance of the transcendence (God beyond us) and imminence (God with Us) of God. Whenever the imminence/transcendence pendulum swings into either extremes, there can be a considerable amount of danger. Reverence to the transcendent One is an element of worship many evangelicals have lost for the sake of overemphasizing imminence as though God were a buddy. Imminence is de-emphasized in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy due to the elaborate cathedrals and liturgy.
What or Who do you Worship?
Isaiah understood that Godly worship demanded a response. What is the appropriate response to a God who reconciled a traitor race to Himself through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son? The appropriate response to God is not just one hour a week on Sunday morning. The Appropriate response to God for what He has done is full surrender. We are called to take up our cross and follow Christ and surrender everything that we are and inside of us to Jesus Christ. True submission to God will only happen when the biblical definition of worship is not only understood, but activated in our lives.
There is never a moment when we cease to worship and never a circumstance that prohibits our worship. Worship happens in school, at home, in your bedroom, web surfing, in your relationships; Worship is the heartbeat of who you are and is the essence of what we do all day every day. Biblical worship leads to a daily passionate response to God’s greatness resulting in observable righteousness. Unfortunately, we are a society of misdirected worship. Don’t be guilty of worshipping something or someone who will ultimately leave you or forsake you. Be the best evidence that Jesus is still alive and respond to him appropriately.
If you are actively pursuing the heart of God, you will inevitably feel the tension of the cosmic battle between good and evil. There is a cosmic battle that is at war for your allegiance; you know where the enemy plays your weak spots. This battle for your attention and your affection is eternally significant. The enemy daily reminds us how unworthy we are to worship God; don’t believe this lie. The power of the cross of Jesus Christ has empowered us to walk worthy before a holy God. Every day our lives enter a crossroads and we must decide that Jesus is better than anything this world has to offer.
Read Psalm 150
Our Greatest need in life is to know God well and we only do that by ascribing the most worth to Him alone. We must seek him, yearn, grope, and crave God in all of life. Worship is the reason we were created.
We are more than flesh and blood. we are given a spiritual capacity that is able to grab something that is beyond our humanity.
We know the satisfactory feeling of what matters most. It may be the taste of a perfectly grilled filet. A half price sale at your favorite boutique. Traveling to a remote country. Something in us ascribes natural worth to what matters in our life.
Where is our hearts true home? Jesus is Lord of our life only when we ascribe more worth to Him that is greater than anything else in our life.
Our God worship gets twisted when sin convinces us that something else is more important and valuable than God. The Bible clearly calls anything that we value more than God Idolatry. Twisting worship happens in a slow process. One way to avoid such twisting is removing yourself from TV and other cultural media a couple days every month.
Ascribing worth to the God who made u is twisted by idols we create. a pay grade, a title, a boyfriend, a child, travelling?.. What is it that will make your life matter? We manufacture worship and miss out on why we are created. Wouldn’t it be more reasonable to worship the creator, not the created?
We can ascribe worship to God in a multitude of ways. Taking your wife out on a date is worship because God loves healthy marriages. Anything performed with the right heart is worship.
All of life is fundamentally about worship. Worship is redirecting the trajectory of our heart, soul, mind, and strength towards God. The more we get to know God, the more we will desire to reflect His grace and mercy to other people.
Why is it we declare we worship God when in reality, our worship is twisted by idols we create. At then end of the day, the altar of our life is a financial deity, a job title, a relationship, a hobby, laziness or anything else we ascribe more attention and affection to other than God. So many times we find ourselves showing allegiance to the created and not the creator. Consequently, we are committing idolatry. Beware. Twisted worship happens slowly, but surly. The test of worship happens during the time of your life that noone else sees.
Worship is more than a Sunday or a Song...
.....It's the DNA of who we are...
