What Is Worship According To The Bible?

What is Worship?

I’m not always the brightest….dragon egg story OR switching car out story

If we seek an all-inclusive summary of worship, we end up with a bland “catch-all” phrase that means almost nothing, such as David Peterson suggest in his (otherwise quite helpful) work, Engaging With God, in which he says “the worship of…God is essentially an engagement with him…” (55). Such definitions are helpful, but they do not really tell us much about worship and how to grow in worship.Other than this, this book is a great resource.

As far as the English word is concerned, from around A.D. 1,000 on it was often connected with being deserving of honor or a good reputation. The common definition of worship as “ascribing worth” to something is fine (old English worthscipe).

As far as the New Testament Greek and Old Testament Hebrew is concerned, there are several words that are translated as “worship.” The two other words used in the New Testament (sebomai, and latruow), mean to “lift high, exalt,” and to “serve” respectively. All three words are action oriented–giving us a hint that “worship” is not something we attend, but something we do.

Sometimes people can fall into two opinions:

The “As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever more shall be” group.

And the “Old is cold, new is true,” group. This has to do with musical style as well as lyrical content–but we want to go deeper and see what God’s Word says about musical worship and get to the heart of what worship is to offer a helpful, Biblical definition and learn how to grow in this key discipline.

Worship is hard because it is the physical, emotional, and spiritual act of honoring God by offering ourselves in our daily lives. This can be delightful or painful.

What is Worship? Three Key Texts.

Worship as grateful _submission_. The Greek word, “proskynew” is a key term. It has the general sense of bowing down, paying homage to, or to worship (Mt. 2:2; 2:8; 18:26). It implies a gesture of kneeling, prostrating, and even kissing. The LXX helps make it clear that bending at the waist is in view rather than falling down on one’s face most of the time (Gen. 24:26-27; Ex. 4:31; Judges 7:15; Job. 1:20-21). Let’s look at Job’s grateful _submission to God’s Plan in his life.

Job had _terrible_ tragedy impact his life (Job 1:1-19).

Job responded with grateful _submission_ (Job. 1:20-21).

The text closes with Job saying “blessed be the name of the Lord.” It would be difficult to argue that this prayer of adoration, blessing, and reverence does not constitute _worship_.

Applications:

Worship does not always feel good, positive, cheery, or energetic. Sometimes, it is somber.

Worship sometimes emphasizes a _peace_ and _acceptance_ of God’s plan rather than a joyous _celebration of God’s plan, and that is OK.

Worship takes _faith_. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6), and it is impossible to worship.

Worship as genuine _service_.

This group of Greek and Hebrew words translated as “service” or “worship” “implies devotion to God as a pattern of life” (70). “The problem for translation …is that the English word ‘worship’ is generally used too narrowly” (70). That is to say, in the Bible, to “serve” and to “worship” often go together as one mental category, unit, thought, or action (e.g., Acts 17:25).

There are several Greek words used in the LXX to translate one Hebrew word, one of these Greek words emphasize religious, cultic, rites and responsibilities. Another emphasizes obeissance, subjugation, and total unflinching obligation as a slave. This latter was not used in extra-Biblical contexts among the pagans, as it was too strong and emphasized a loss of individual rights. But, it is used in the New Testament. We should not be surprised, because the New Testament explicitly says we do not own ourselves (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

We see this genuine service illustrated perhaps most clearly in Matthew 5:23-24 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25

Applications:

Worship is not just on Sunday; it is Monday through Sunday.

Seeking to worship on Sunday can be useless if we do not live for God throughout the week.

Loving other people and learning to get along with them is critical to our worship lives (Isaiah 1:1-20; 58:1-14).

3. Worship as genuine _reverence_.

In the Old Testament, a genuine reverence is essentially walking in His ways and keeping His commandments (Deut. 5:29; 10:20; Joshua 24:14), to obey his voice (1 Samuel 12:14; Haggai 1:12), to walk in his ways (Deut. 8:6; 10:12; 2 Chron. 6:31).