Worship is a term which has taken on a relatively narrow meaning in American churches, especially those churches of a modern evangelical bent. In that context, when one mentions worship, one is generally referring to musical worship.
I have served as a worship team member, under the leadership of a variety of worship team leaders, under the purview one or more worship directors. By this, I mean that I have been a musician playing worship music during a church service in a church band led by another musician who receives overall guidance from one or more musical directors.
Musical worship is only one manifestation of worship. Musical worship is not mere music, not mere performance. It is an outlet. More and other things can be worship, aside from music itself. If worship is not merely music and not necessarily music, what is worship?
Simply put, worship is the real-time demonstration that God is great and I am not. Worship is heart, mind, spirit and strength with unanimity and integrity pointing away from self and toward God. Worship must come from a place of humility.
There is a word in Hebrew, “shachah”, which means to depress or prostrate oneself in homage to royalty (God), to bow oneself down, crouch, fall down flat, humbly beseech, to do or make obeisance, to demonstrate reverence, to make to stoop, to worship1. This word is used well over 100 times in the Old Testament and is often translated as “worship”. Other times you may see it as “bow down”, depending on your preferred English language translation of the Bible. The word is not used to discuss worship music, but it has been sung, as it is included in the Psalms!
Our first encounter with the word “shachah” is in Genesis: “And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He [Abraham] lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth” Genesis 18:1-2 (ESV).
Our second encounter with the Hebrew word “shachah” is in Genesis 22:5: “Then Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.’” (ESV) Those of you who know this story know that this is Abraham’s obedience to the command of God to offer his promised son as a living sacrifice.
Worship in scripture is a humble demonstration of the proper relationship between God and man.
We must not allow our common use of the word, “worship”, to replace how God wants us to understand the concept. In better understanding the concept, we better understand Him.
God wants our offering. He wants our first. He wants our best:
“In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:3-7 (ESV).
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.” Hebrews 12:28 (ESV)
God wants our heart, mind, spirit and strength:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27 (ESV)
“in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy” 1 Peter 3:15 (ESV) In another translation, the passage reads, “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts” (KJV) It is the beginning of the Lord’s prayer, “Father, hallowed be your name” Luke 11:2 (ESV) The Lord must occupy the high seat in our hearts. He is to be the target and object of our highest praise, honor, and love.
God wants our actions:
“Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”
The passage continues, showing how acceptable worship may be performed:
“Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” Hebrews 12:28 – 13:5 (ESV) Acceptable worship is demonstrated in our conduct.
Worship must occur in His presence.
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his start when it rose and have come to worship him.’” Matthew 2:2 (ESV) To paraphrase, “Where is He that we may worship Him?”
“Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool!” Psalm 132:7 (ESV)
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” Matthew 18:20 (ESV)
He wants what is His. He is the source of all we have and by worshiping Him, by our real-time demonstration that He is who He is, we both show and tell that it all belongs to Him. He is God.
“The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” Psalm 24:1 (ESV)
We worship him because He, “being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:4-10 (ESV)
In Christ, we are co-located with Him in the heavenly places. We have access to His Presence.
We worship Him with our all, because He has given us all. We didn’t earn a thing. We must recognize what God has done by the work of Christ on the cross. Jesus was punished for our shortcomings, failures, and sins. He died as a result of that punishment, was buried, and was resurrected on the third day, according to the Scriptures. Through faith, we now have access to His gift to us. Through faith, we can worship rightly, because of who He is.
David A. Larson 