I had the privilege to speak at a Worship Retreat for a church in Nebraska this past weekend. I spoke on several different things and even explored several different aspects of worship but there was one that keeps standing out to me and challenges me regularly.
First even asking the question, “What is Worship” is challenging one that will have many different meanings depending on who you ask. Sadly our answers our commonly based on our own favorite personal experiences instead on what we might found biblically.
So I was challenged to ask my self what was the definition of worship.
The dictionary says this:
“giving great honor or reference to, great love and admiration, and extremely precious is the receiver (Webster)
Reverent devotion and allegiance pledged to God; or an other deity, the rituals or ceremonies by which this reverence is expressed. The English word worship comes from the Old English word worthship, a word which denotes the worthiness of the one receiving the special honor or devotion.
There are several different biblical definitions when you look up the word worship in the Bible but the first two uses of the word used in the Old Testament have two different Hebrew meanings.
The first means to have a face to face, personal, encounter with God. The second means to bow and show homage to God.
Then the first use we find in the New Testament in the Gospel of John is when Jesus is describing in John 4:23 what the Father seeks.
This worship that the father seeks is an intimate encounter with God, to kiss the hand and bow low.
What I find interesting about both the dictionary and biblical seems to have a theme in common. The theme is that it is ALL about who God is and nothing about me. I am to encounter God and worship him because he is God and bow before him not to get something but to Give something.
Worship, however you might do it, is all about God. I heard a quote recently that sums it up.
To pretend homage to God and intend only the advantage to myself is rather to mock God than worship Him. When we believe we ought to be satisfied rather than God glorified, we set God below ourselves and imagine that He should submit His own honor to our advantage.
Steven Charnock Discourse IV “Practical Atheism”
Our worship of God is for God and not us. Now when we encounter God it is impossible to not get something out of this experience but to come for the experience or to let the nature of experience determine to joy or passion of our worship is to completely miss worship and it robs God of the worship he deserves.
Just something for all of us to think about. Obviously different people and people groups express worship differently but ultimately less always focus on worship itself. Let’s worship God for who he is no matter whether we may like or not like about the current conditions of the worship experience.
God bless!
6 comments:
Good to see you've written another post; and, I want to complement you in that I find this one particularly well written.
Something that stands out immediately to me (and that shouldn't really surprise you) is that you have define worship, at it's base root, as something that really has nothing to do with singing.
Do you feel then, as someone in church leadership, that it is fair to the very idea of worship to segregate it in a service as that "part were you stand up and sing?"
Yes it is fair and I will tell you why.... I actually covered this at the conference I spoke at and do beleive the use of music in worship as a primary corprete language of worship is completly biiblical and special to the heart fo God. However I will give this biblcial support very soon. Either has a reply or next post very very soon. But very much welcome more on this discussion.
What I'm getting at is that the church, through it's segregated "time to stand up and sing" section of it's service, seems to paint the picture of worship as exclusively singing.
I'm not going to question that singing is a way to worship, or even that it is a primary means to worship. But to say that it is the exclusive way to worship--is that fair? Especially after you have defined biblical worship as:
The first means to have a face to face, personal, encounter with God. The second means to bow and show homage to God.
First then, do you believe in worship as exclusively singing? (My guess is you don't...)
Second, let me rephrase my original question: As someone in church leadership, how do you structure a service (or educate your people) to experience the larger spectrum of what worship might encompass?
Let me rephrase my question a second time, to show the problem from another perspective: How do you keep a lay-person from equating worship with singing, when in a church context the two events are essentially synonymous?
And to really drive home the point, let me explain why I think this line of questioning is important.
It is extremely easy to worship money, celebrities, television, ourselves, etc. But if the definition in our heads of worship is singing (as defined by our church experience), how could we ever be convinced that we are worshiping an idol? And all the offerings we present to our idols, how could we ever be convinced that they are acceptable offerings we could be presenting to God?
Anything can be taken to an extreme. I don’t think church, at least in my experience, teaches that music is the only way to worship. There is prayer, scripture, visuals, testimonies and many many many physical expressions as well, again at least in my church or churches I have been a part of. Worship is a primary language used in corporate gatherings (That model is right from scripture). When individuals worship music instead of God this is showing a lack of leadership teaching on worship or people taking something to an extreme, which many do. Also I have seen that extreme going in other ways. I have seen in many very traditional churches they don't know hot to engage in intimate worship "worship the father seeks". They may have head knowledge but they lack intimacy. Actually many times they worship teaching or sometimes even the teacher. The problem is that we let tradition set our minds on these things more then exploring what we see in scripture. The challenge is to explore not what I enjoy but more to explore to see what God enjoys from his people. Plus there are different layers of worship. I will do a post on that next. It was a significant find for me and it was something I have not heard.
Singing is not worship. People sing in churches every week and don’t worship. Yet I see the bible calling me to worship through music, not only through music, but when we see the word praised used in the bible it is done or is defined (You have to look that one up) almost every time in a form of worship.
The issue is what we can do corporately and what we see the people of God doing when they get together corporately. We follow those examples pretty well, I think, and that is were I look to see what we do and how we do it. (At My Church)
are worship and allegiance synonymous? give reasons for your answer. thanks
That is a great question that has had me thinking on it for a while now. Here is what I feel right now.
I do not believe “worship” and “allegiance” are synonymous. I will do my best to answer the reasons here.
Webster, and several others sources, define allegiance as “loyalty or devotion to a cause or person, obligation of support”. Another dictionary says: “intellectually or emotionally being committed to”.
As I read these definitions I see a state of being in allegiance, a matter of what is in ones heart and what they believe to be right or true. This is the foundation of what will determine someone’s actions toward the one they have allegiance to, where as worship is the action. It is taking the allegiance you feel toward God and putting into action in a form that God asks of us to show him, an action that communicates love, respect, honor, and more. I would guess it would be hard to worship someone or something one as no allegiance to but that allegiance is not enough. Worship takes it to the next level. As I state in this post and hit on even more in the one following it, Worship is seeking to bless God and having an encounter with him. I can feel allegiance and even show it by obedience, and God wants that from us, but worship is something more, something deeper. It is an encounter with God in an intimate way to bless him through the very act of worship, like bowing as seen in the first Old Testament example. There is more I could say on that but I think I show that in the two posts about the actions of worship and what He seeks but…
What are your thoughts on this? I would love to hear your reasons as well. Thanks again for bringing up such a good thought and question.
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