THEOLOGY OF WORSHIP

    Worship of God is central and integral part of Christian life. In worship we have to answer seven questions: WHO - who do we worship? WHO - who worships? WHAT - What is worship? WHEN - When do we worship? WHERE - Where do we worship? WHY - Why do we worship? HOW - How do we worship? This paper will focus on these seven questions.

    Who do we worship? We worship our Eternal God, our Maker and Sustainer, who revealed Himself to us in His Word and in the flesh (Isa. 43:7; Isa. 53; 1 Tim. 3:16). God is One in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He is Self-Existent, and has no origin (Is. 45:18; Col. 1:15-17). In John.1:1-3 we read: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being" (NASB). Origin applies only to things that are created. God that we worship is Self-Sufficient, He exists for Himself and is complete in Himself. He is Eternal, He exists outside of time and time was created for His purposes (Ps. 90:2; Isa. 46:9-10). God cannot be measured, He is Infinite and He is Immutable - God never changes (Mal. 3:6). God whom we worship is also Sovereign. It means that He is free to do whatever He wills, wherever and whenever He desires in order to carry out His eternal purpose. He has universal authority to do what He wants as He wants to. He is also Transcendent; He is above all creation in distance and in quality. He is exalted to such a high level that human thought cannot comprehend the place (Ps. 113: 4-6; Is. 57:15; Eph. 1:19-23). Although He exists so far above us He chose to reveal His Presence to bring redemption to the lost humanity. The psalmist wrote: "He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be astounded. They will put their trust in the LORD" (Psalm 40:3). Because God desires a relationship with us He even chooses to share His thoughts and His truth with us: "Many, O Lord my God, are… Your thoughts toward us… If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered" (Ps. 40:5). We must remember not to worship other gods or idols: "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…"(Exodus 20:3-5).

    Who worships? God is not only worshiped by His people, but by the whole creation. That includes the angels in the heavenly realm (Heb. 1:6) and all the matter on earth and elsewhere in the universe. In Chronicles 16:31-34 we read that nature too, worships God: "Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Tell all the nations, "The Lord reigns! Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy! Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise" (NLT). We should remember not to worship nature but its Creator (Rm. 1:25). Not only the earth, but also what we call the outer space gives glory to God. Psalm 19:1-6 states, "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands" (NASB). God is worshiped in the heavens by His angels: "And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God" (Rev. 7:11). Worship of God by man is beautifully expressed in many Psalms, such as this one: "To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in You I trust" (Ps. 25:1). Human beings worship not only in this life but also after resurrection in heaven: "And the elders fell down and worshiped" (Rev. 5:14b).

    What is worship? Worship is our response to God, to His revelation and grace. English word worship is derived from the Anglo-Saxon "weorthscipe", meaning - "worthy of reverence and honor". In Revelation 5:12 we read that "The Lamb is worthy of our honor, glory and blessing". Three most commonly used biblical terms describing worship are: Shachah (in the Old Testament) which means "prostrate" or "bow down" (cf. Ex. 4:31), it is used 96 times; Proskuneo (in the New Testament) meaning "to kiss toward" - touching the hand to the lips and extending it in reverence and obeisance toward the person so honored (cf. Matt. 2:11; 4:9; 28:9; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 7:11), used 60 times; and Leitourgia - "ministry" or "service", it is the "action of the people" or "service" which the Christian renders to God in faith and obedience (Gal. 5:22; Rms. 12:1ff). The service as described in Romans chapter 12 is a new concept. It talks about "a living sacrifice" as opposed to dead, killed sacrifices in the Old Testament. We are commanded to offer ourselves, our bodies-not bodies of substitutionary animals. Worship is not only actions, it is also our attitudes. It is a lifestyle. Worship is more an attitude than an outward expression, form or a passing emotion. Worship begins in the heart. In our church service we should remember that worship is more than just songs and music. Worship should occur in all parts of the service: prayers, music, physical actions, creeds, scripture reading, silences, offerings, sermons, and communion. But first and foremost we must remember to worship God in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:23) with worship that springs from loving Him with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our strength (Mark 12:29-31).

    When do we worship? We are called to worship continually: "I will extol the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips" (Psalm 34:1), and "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess His name (Heb.13:15). Two different psalms, Psalm 103 and 104 begin with "Let all that I am praise the Lord". All that we are and all that we do should reflect and give glory to the Lord. This means praising and thanking God always; twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty days a year; all of our Christian lives. Very often it requires of us to change our lifestyles; to adjust our attitudes. We constantly let our lives be transformed, making sacrifices to give up things that are not pleasing to God, and through new habits change our routines, to live in a way that God wants us to. That process is described in Romans 12 "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice-the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect". I believe that when we continuously listen to God's voice, when we let the love and light of God shine in our daily lives, there is no boundary between private and public worship. In both, the common denominator is the Holy Spirit. Flowing in us; showing us the love of Jesus; guiding and prompting us. "The trick" is to tune our hearts and yield to Him, the same way when we are around people, as when we are alone. To sing to Him joyfully out loud or in our hearts the same way in church as in our homes. To give Him glory and honor when we walk down the street and feel compassion for a homeless man just as when we read from the Bible in a home group meeting. In both private and public worship our goal is to glorify God in Jesus Christ. That is the essence of worship which should direct our hearts.

    Where do we worship? The Bible tells us to worship in our lifestyle (Rom. 12:1), in private (Ps. 149:5; Ps.19:14-16) and in corporate gatherings (Ps. 100:1-4; 1 Cor. 14:26; Eph. 5:18; Col. 3:16-17). There are numerous examples commanding us to worship both in private and within a body of believers. In only one psalm, Ps. 149 we find instructions to praise God while "lying on our beds" (Ps. 149:5b) and praise Him "in the congregation" (Ps. 149:1b). The Bible presents great examples of corporate worship such as this one: "The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: He is good; his love endures forever. Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud" (2 Ch. 5:13). God wants us to gather together to give Him thanks and honor. "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Heb 10:25). In the Book of Revelation we read more descriptions of corporate worship when all of heaven, angels and resurrected believers sing and give glory to God. There is also time for private worship. In many passages referring to praising God, Bible uses a singular pronoun to describe the action : "I will praise You" in Psalms, as well as "I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted" (Ex. 15:1), "I will sing to the LORD, I will sing; I will make music to the LORD, the God of Israel"(Judges 5:3), "I will sing and make music with all my soul" (Ps.108). Thus worship is personal, in private and among others. How is then private worship different from public worship? Our individual worship will obviously look different than a Sunday morning gathering. One crucial distinction is the lack of potential embarrassment - in the privacy of our own homes we can be ourselves. It is easier to achieve an uninhibited and therefore fuller, richer worship in a personal, intimate way.

    Why do we worship? Man is commanded to worship God (Deut. 12:5-9). Psalm 150:6 says "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord". 1 Chronicles 16:29 says: "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name. Bring an offering and come before Him; worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness". We all have God-given desires to worship. The truth about God is put into our hearts and worshiping Him is our response to His revelation. Deuteronomy 30:14 says: "the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it". God has revealed certain truths about Himself through nature or the created order. Nature tells everyone about God's glory and that everything is made by Him. Romans 1:18-21 declares: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." In the first Century God revealed Himself through the person of Yeshua HaMashiach, His son who lived as a human being among His people, the Jews. Today God reveals Himself through His Word, the Bible and through an internal sense of right and wrong. Romans 2:14-15 states that every person has the Law of God "written in their hearts". Worship is our destiny: "It is written: 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'" (Rom. 14:11). Worship as our destiny is confirmed in Philippians 2:10, Revelation 5:13, and 7:15. We worship because God loved us first when we were still sinners. He restored our relationship with Him and saved us from eternal punishment. That is something to be happy about and thank God for (Rom. 5:6-11). Jack Hayford offers four distinct reasons to worship, they are: "our royal calling in Christ, our high destiny in life, our fullest personal worth, and our deepest human fulfillment" (Worship His Majesty, 60). There is one more, seemingly selfish reason to worship-it is our personal well being. In our contemporary society there are a lot of people who suffer from depression. The "garment of praise" is the opposite of "the spirit of heaviness" (Isa. 61:3). When we feel sad or when we are experiencing a period of personal problems, turning our mind to Jesus with an attitude of thanksgiving and praising Him will lift our spirits. "The spirit of heaviness" is found in the KJV translation, but in the original Hebrew it reads "the dimmed spirit". When we don't praise God, our spirit becomes dimmed, not reflecting God's light. But when we praise Him, we come close to Him and we walk in the light reflecting His glory. We also know that the road to the throne of God leads through praises and thanksgiving. It is written "God inhabits the praise of His people" (Psalm 22:3). In worship we can achieve a sense of closeness with our Lord, His joy and peace. There are many testimonies describing how worship was followed by anointing that made healing and answered prayers a reality. It seems that our prayers are answered more effectively when we praise God and give Him thanks.

    How do we worship? We are commanded to worship in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24). Worship should not be confined to any locality - we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19; 3:16-17). The Holy Spirit is in us. Worship must not be just an outward ritual. "The Lord says: 'These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is made up only of rules taught by men" (Isa. 29:13). God desires that we worship Him in Spirit because the Spirit is life. "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life" (John 6:63). Worship springs from loving Him with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our strength (Mark 12:29-31). We worship God in the Spirit, yet consciously: "So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind" (1 Cor. 14:15). Worship in Spirit also means worship not based on rituals. Worship in Truth means worship according to knowledge (Jn. 4). We need to know Who we worship (Jn. 17:17; Ps. 47:7; Col. 3:16). Worship takes place in True Love. Worship should arise from a life of truthfulness. We need to submit and embrace the Truth (1 Cor. 14:15; Col. 3:16). One neglected element of worship in our churches is dance. The Bible mentions "dancing before the Lord" just as we are to "play music before the Lord". First mention of dance in Bible was Miriam rejoicing before the Lord for His deliverance of the people of Israel (Ex. 15:20). Other examples are in 2 Samuel 6:14-15, 21:22; 1 Chronicles 15:29; Ps. 68:25; Jeremiah 21:13; Luke 6:23; and Acts 3:7-9). Bible invites us to dance (Ps. 30:11; 150:4). Many of us wish, I suspect, to worship in dance like King David: "David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets" (2 Sam. 6:14). I also believe that worship should happen in an atmosphere of freedom. Because "the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Cor. 3:17). Too often we seem to be held back by pride, shyness or fear (of ridicule). Pride or tradition should not stand in a way of our worship. The attitude of restraint might be influenced by these verses:"But be sure that everything is done properly and in order" (1 Cor. 14:40). In their effort to be proper and orderly many houses of worship quenched or at least dampened the Spirit. Worshiping "In Spirit and in Truth" means, among other things, that we ought to follow the voice of the Living God inside us, not man made traditions. In many traditional churches any sort of movement (dancing, raising arms, jumping etc.) is not accepted. We should not fall into a wild disorder, but the Bible makes it clear that our Lord wants us to be spontaneous, responding to Him, being only concerned with Him "In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?" (Ps. 56:4). The main form of worship is singing (Eph. 5:18-20; Col. 3:16) accompanied by instruments (2 Chr. 29:27; Rev. 14:2) directed by the Spirit of God (Eph. 5:18-19). But we should always respond to the Holy Spirit directing us in our worship. We should not be afraid to kneel before Him (Ps. 95:6), or even fall down before Him as Abraham (Gen. 17:3), the Samaritan at Jesus' feet (Lk. 17:16) or the elders in Heaven (Rev. 5:14). 

    To conclude let me present two contrasting lifestyle pictures as presented in the Bible. In Romans 1:21 we read: "For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened". It is a sad picture of people who chose not to give God glory and thanks. The effects of that were subsequent foolishness, darkness and lives of sin. On the opposite side of the spectrum we have a promise from our Lord, that any darkness, depression or sadness in our lives will be lifted by praises (Is. 61:3). Isaiah 61:3d which in NIV reads "spirit of despair" in original Hebrew says "the dimmed spirit". When we worship God His light within us is brighter. Worshiping God is good for us and He is worthy of our praises. We should worship God without ceasing, worshiping Him always in Spirit and in truth.

So let's praise His name!

Jarred Drozd 2010