Worship

Worship is praise and adoration, it is veneration and homage, emotion and intellect that instinctively flows from the inner soul of the created. Many religious people today are worshiping God according to their own inventions. But if we worship God according to the doctrines and commandments of men, we worship God in vain. Jesus said “And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mk 7:7). God is our creator and he is the one to give us directives on how to worship him not us. We therefore need to know Him and His will to truly worship Him in Spirit and truth (John 4:23). See how Paul addressed this worshipers “The one whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you” (At 17:23)

We need to worship God daily because we need to present our bodies as living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service (Ro 12:1). We have to do these in these ways:

   1.       Worship by studying and proclaiming God’s word (At 5:42,8:4)

   2.       Worship by singing to praise God and admonishing one another (Eph 5:19, Cl3:16)

   3.       Worship by giving yourself to prayer and fasting (1Th 5:17, Ph 4:6)

   4.       Worship in giving and doing good in praise of God (2 cor 9:10-13, 1 Cor 6:20, gal 6:10)

   5.       Worship by communing with Jesus and one another (1 Cor 11:24,25)

·         Ignorance of who God is leads to worship of Him in ignorance

·         One cannot worship God acceptably without a knowledge of who God is.

Simply because someone worships, does not mean that their worship is acceptable to God. Man is created by God to be a worshiping being, man does not need to be taught how to worship. The Bible is therefore not a legal manual for worship but it teaches us on who to worship. The Bible speaks more of what one should not do in worship than giving a legal system of worship.

There are worships that are acceptable and those unacceptable to God. We must know the God of the Bible and believe the Bible in order to offer acceptable worship to God. Because of ignorance of the word of God men have worshiped the sun, moon, stars, angels or things of their imagination. But the angel told John “Worship God” (Rev 19:10; 22:8,9). John was not told to worship but who to worship. Jesus reminded Satan “You will worship the Lord your God and Him only will you serve” Mt 4:10). In the O.T people worshiped gods of Baal, Molech and others created out of their own imagination and they were not acceptable to God. Today people worship positions, wealth and profiles as well as others worship men of God. They are unacceptable before God. We can deliver ourselves from worship confusion only by studying the Bible.

What is True Worship (Acceptable worship)?

When one’s heart bows to God in worship, his knees will follow. In the O.T the word is Shalah. So  there’s an in word bowing down of the heart. (see Gen 22:5, 24:26, 24:48, 24:52, Ex 4:31, 34:8, Joshua 5:14, Job 1:20, Ps 95:6). If you have not yet bowed down in your heart, you cannot physically bow down like these men of the O.T. In the New testament the Greek word used is proskuneo which means “to kiss-toward” (Mt 2:11, 4:10 Heb 1:6)

In N.T we also have sebomai which means reverence or feeling of awesomeness (At 16:14, 18:7). It is also giving service to the Lord “Latreuo” which means “give homage” ie. Offering gifts or service in worship of God (At 24:14, Ph 3:3, Hb 10:2).  So, singing and praying are not worship, but only the outward expressions of an inward appreciation and adoration of God. So one can worship without any outward expressions or actions.

   a)      True worship is in Spirit (Jn 4:23,24)

God who is spirit is worshiped by that which is spirit. (At 17:24,25) Mechanical things or material things cannot be used to worship God who seeks to be worshiped in Spirit. Such things may be used by man to produce an atmosphere wherein man seeks to worship. But our worship is from the heart. How can the one who give life to all be worshiped by that which has no life?

God is one and our worship must be directed only to Him. The melody is made in your heart not material (Eph 5:19). God is listening to the hearts of those who are using the instruments of their voices to speak praises to Him. Worship in spirit involves both attitudes and motives in the heart of the worshiper. True worshipers do not need earthly crutches to stimulate worship. True worship is spontaneous, from the naked heart of man poured out towards God regardless of the environment, the sound that comes to his ears, or images in front of his eyes or aroma that he smells.

-          God is Holy Spirit, so one must worship Him in the holiness of one’s spirit (Is 1:15,18)

-          God is benevolent spirit, so one must worship him with a spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving (Ps 100:1,2, Ts 1:17, 2 Cor 4:15)

-          God reigns over all things, so one must worship him in reverence and awe (Is 6:1-5, rev 1:12-18)

-          God is spirit of wisdom and intelligence, so one must worship him in totality of one’s mental abilities (mt 15:5,6,22:37)

-          God cannot be seen with eyes of men, so he must be worshiped in faith (Ex 20:4,5, 2 Cor 5:7)

-          God is loving, so he must be worshiped with a spirit of love for Him and fellow worshipers (mt 5:23-24 1 Jn 4:8,11,20,21)

-          God is a forgiving spirit, so one must worship him with a forgiving spirit (Mt 6:14,15)

-          God is a Fatherly spirit, so we must worship him like a child who trust in and depend upon the Father of our spirits (Mt 6:9, Hb 12:9)

   b)      True worship is in Truth

He who is truth is worshiped only by those who walk in His truth. Worship cannot be legalised lest worshipers assume that they have worshiped after their performance of legal actions. When one seeks to be true in heart to God, then he will worship God in truth. True to god means that one’s life is given to God as His servant. We are servants to god, not in word, but indeed and truth (1Jn 3:17)

When one recognizes the grace of God, it is natural to respond with service. There’s a difference between worship and service, though some services are worship of God. Eg when you clean your house, it’s a duty because you don’t want a dirty house. It is not to worship God. However, if I clean your house it can be in worship to God (2 Cor 4:15) “Indeed, everything is for your benefit, so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving to increase to God’s glory.” So in thanksgiving to God, we worship through our service to others.

Because of the overwhelming grace of God in my life, I may be moved to clean your house in service to your needs. So we talk of “worship service”. I have worshiped God in serving you. See how Paul puts it in Col 3:17. When men fee inspired and thankful to god, they worship.

Is there any particular place or condition for true worship?

In Acts 17:22-23 the Athenians crafted many idols with their hands but they were wise to know that if a god they made after their own thinking behave as their thinking then that god cannot be greater than their thinking. They concluded that there must be a God beyond the imagination of men. So they made an idol to “The unkown God” just in case they offended Him if they did not offer Him worship.

That is the true and living God of which they were ignorant and so they worshiped him in ignorance because they had worshiped him in ignorance because they had no revelation from Him. Through the revelation of the Bible, the same God is revealed today. People worship God out of the awesomeness of His presence in their lives. When the word of God is taught, the audience do not worship God though the preacher may be worshiping in service of God. But the audience is inspired by the word to worship in obedience to the word.

There’s no particular place for worship, no particular condition for worship from a true believer. You don’t need any song or music or a starter before you can worship God. It comes from the heart of one who truly knows God. When Gideon was in the camp of the Midianites after the Lord had promised deliverance for Israel; a midianite had a dream and another midianite was interpreting the dream while Gideon listen secretly outside the tent. The dream was that God would deliver the Midianites into the hands of the Israelites. “And so it was that Gideon worshiped when he heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation” (Judges 7:15)

So in the camp of the enemy, in the middle of the night, quietly with his fellow companion, Gideon worshiped. It was immediate, individual, quiet, and in a hostile environment. There were no drummers, no assembly, no audience, and certainly no noise.

·         The magi worshiped Jesus in a manger instantly when they saw Him (Mt 2:11)

·         Joshua worshiped when he saw the commander of the Lord’s army (Joshua 5:14)

·         Israel worshiped in their encounter with God (Ex 4:31)

·         Abraham’s servant worshiped in solitude (Gen 24:26)

·         Abraham worshiped with his son (Gen 22:5)

·         A leper worshiped Jesus though in the presence of many he focused on Jesus (Mt 8:1,2)

·         A ruler worshiped Jesus while he was teaching among multitudes of people (Mt 9:18). The multitudes were just listening to Jesus teaching no worship.

·         The disciples worshiped Jesus after seeing Him walking on water and calming the storm (Mt 14:33). He was the creator of all things.

Most of the time we quote Mt 18:20 out of context “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.” This is not a statement about worship; but of judgement actions taken in reference to the one who refuses to hear the church concerning his sin (Mt 18:17). If this passage is talking about assembly and worship, then the poor brother who is alone in the desert or jungle does not have a promise that the Lord is with him in his worship.

Our presence with two or three does not validate our worship. Neither does being alone restricts God’s presence with us as we worship in the solitude. Our assemblies do not mandate the presence of God. God is there before we get there. David concluded “where will I go from your spirit? Or where will I flee from your presence?” (Ps 139:7). Your worship must not be dependent on anything outside your heart. Though one may be inspired to worship because of his surroundings, it doesn’t mean we must have special surroundings to worship.