Basic Biblical Principles 5

   What is worship?

   In the Old Testament there are two different words that are translated “worship”. These words show us the attributes of worship. The meaning of the words refer to ideas of humility, reverence, and obedience. Similarly, the New Testament Greek words translated “worship” have these same ideas, but they add honor and service.

   Both the Old Testament and the New Testament tell us the following things about worship:
1) We are to worship the one true God, only. (Exodus 20:3-5, Matthew 4:10, and Revelation 14:7) In fact, worshiping of other gods is said to be equivalent to prostitution (Judges 8:27).
2) We are to worship with praise. (1 Kings 47-48 and Hebrews 13:15) and
3) We are to worship in joyful song. (Psalms 100:2 and Ephesians 5:19)

   The New Testament adds these things:
1) We are to worship with reverence and awe. (Hebrews 12:28) and
2) We are to worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)

   In the Old Testament, sacrifice was a critical part of their worship. Sacrifice is tied into worship in the story of the testing of Abraham by God (Genesis 22:1-5), in the exodus (Exodus 10:26) and in the promise made in Joshua 22:27. In the New Testament, the sacrifice of bulls and goats was replaced by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross (Hebrews 10:1-10).

   There are actually two parts to our worship. One occurs when we come together to worship God on the Lord’s Day. The other is in our day-to-day living (Romans 12:1).

   When we come together for worship, we generally understand that we come together to pray, to sing, to encourage one another, to give of our means, and to commune around the Lord’s table. We need to do these things with humility, reverence, obedience, and honor. We need to do these things “in spirit and in truth”. The “truth” part does not give us too much trouble, but the “spirit” part can be a real problem, sometimes. Do we sing with all the enthusiasm that we can muster? Do we follow the prayer leader’s words and maybe add a few in our own thoughts? Do we give as God has given to us or do we give what we think is the minimum that will be acceptable to God? Do we listen to the lesson and try to improve our spiritual lives by what we learn? During communion, where are our thoughts? Are they on the sacrifice that was made for us? Are they on the suffering of Jesus on the cross? Are they on the glory of His resurrection and the hope of everlasting life that He has given us? I am not saying that we do not do these things well, but there is always room for improvement. At least in my worship.

   What about the other part of worship? (Romans 12:1) How do we worship God by offering our bodies as a living sacrifice? By living each and every day of our lives by the aspects of worship described in the first paragraph: humility, reverence, obedience, honor and service. When we do something well, do we thank God for the skills that he has given us? When we look around us, do we see the hand of God in our lives? Do we honor God by doing those things that He would have us do? Do we use our lives in service to others (see Matthew 25:30-46)? These are things that we can do in every aspect of our lives, whether we are at work, at school, or at play. And, as we do them we are worshiping God.

   One obstacle to acceptable worship is sin. In 1 Samuel 15:25 Saul asked that his sins be forgiven so that he could worship the Lord. In Matthew 5:23-24 we are told that we need to resolve differences with our brother, before we are offer our gift. And, in 1 Peter 3:7 we are told that an improper relationship with our spouse can hinder our prayers. This does not mean that we have to be absolutely sinless before we can worship God. But, it does mean that if we know of something in our lives that is not right, then we need to take care of it right away, so that we can be right with God and our worship will be acceptable to Him.

Steve Truman