by Eric K. Thomsen
Worship is a common word in church circles. It is hard to attend a service without hearing terms such as praise and worship, worship service, worship leader, or worship team. Yet, despite these frequent references to worship, a wide variety of ideas exist regarding this important subject. Many Christians mistakenly believe worship describes only what the congregation does each week before the sermon—songs, prayer, offering, and Scripture reading. While it is true worship includes those things, it is much more.
Together, these two articles briefly explore the biblical and historical definitions of the word worship, provide a biblical example of worship, examine biblical guidelines for worship, and suggest practical implications for the church today.
Worship Defined
In Worship by the Book, D. A. Carson notes, “Worship, like love, is characterized by intuitive simplicity (everybody ‘knows’ what worship is, just as everyone ‘knows’ what love is) and also philosophical complexity (the harder you press to define love or worship, the more difficult the task).”[1] For that reason, it is helpful to begin any exploration of worship with its description and usage in Scripture.
The primary Hebrew word translated worship is shachach. Used 172 times in the Old Testament, this verb paints a vivid picture of bowing or prostrating before a monarch.[2] Carson describes this prostration of heart and mind before God as the “only proper response” for one to “ascribe to the Lord the glory due His Name.”[3] He explains further: “One of the most striking reasons for worshiping him is the fact that he alone is the Creator. Sometimes, this is linked with the fact that he reigns over us. ‘Come, let us bow down in worship,’ the psalmist exhorts, ‘let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker.’”[4]
This aspect of obeisance carries over into the New Testament where scholars identify at least four Greek words interpreted worship. Proskuneó, the most common, literally means “to kiss toward” or “to kiss the hand.”[5] Latreuō refers to the act of paying homage, [6] while Sebazomai, a verb used only once (Romans 1:25), communicates reverential awe.[7] The Anglo-Saxon root of the modern word, weorthscipe or “worth-ship,” relates, as John MacArthur notes, “the concept of worthiness . . . ascribing to God His worth, or stating and affirming His supreme value.”[8]
In brief, the biblical concept of worship involves unrestrained acknowledgment of God’s worth, supremacy, sovereignty, lordship, holiness, and anything else that renders Him worthy of praise. Carson describes this acknowledgment as response.[9] MacArthur defines it as a gift, asserting the “selfless desire to give to God is the essence and the heart of worship.”[10]
This recognition of God’s preeminence manifests itself in many forms throughout Scripture, from Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac (Genesis 22:12–14) to the unrestrained praise of delivered Israel on the shores of the Red Sea (Exodus 15); from faithful adherence to the Levitical sacrificial system (1 Chronicles 16:29) to jubilation expressed by Temple feasts and celebrations; from the widow’s mites (Mark 12:41–44) and the nameless woman who poured out the precious contents of her alabaster box (Luke 7:36–50) to the earth-shaking hymns Paul and Silas offered from shackles (Acts 16:24–26). In every example listed above—and the list could continue ad infinitum—the worshipers acknowledged God’s greatness and responded appropriately. Situation and surroundings varied, but His preeminence and their responses were consistent.
A Biblical Example: For a clear example of the biblical progression of worship, one needs only look to Isaiah’s poignant description of the day God called him to be a prophet, as recorded in Isaiah 6:1–8. Isaiah’s experience clearly defines the steps involved in worship:
1. Worship requires an accurate view of God (6:1–4). Isaiah’s vision of the train or hem of God’s robe filling the temple left him shaken. The rest of his description of the Almighty stems from the worship song of the angels. Yet Isaiah learned much from those unforgettable lyrics: God is holy, on His throne, surrounded by angels, and filling the whole earth with His glory. Wow! No wonder Isaiah was overwhelmed. Through the seraphim’s words, Isaiah received a deeper understanding of an unfathomable God, and the revelation shook him to his core.
2. An accurate view of God results in an accurate view of self (6:5). Already a man of faith, Isaiah immediately responded by acknowledging his utter depravity contrasted with God’s overwhelming holiness: “Woe is me,” he exclaimed. “I am undone; I am a man of unclean lips; I dwell among a people of unclean lips.” In short, Isaiah acknowledged both personal and corporate (national) sin. Why? He answers the question himself: “For I have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts” (ESV).
3. An accurate view of self leads to repentance (6:6–7). Worship begins at repentance, Jonathan Leeman contends, not before. “Worship, very simply, is born of repentance. It’s the result of a Word and Spirit-induced change of nature. The unrepentant, by definition, neither worship nor experience worship.”[11] The gap between man and God can be spanned only from God’s side, for God is holy. And if one is to approach God, if he or she is to repent, that individual must do so on God’s terms, not his or her own. Humanity can do nothing to bridge the gap, but thankfully, God has offered a redemptive bridge through the perfect life, death, burial, and resurrection of His Son Who lived the perfect life no man ever could live. To accept this saving work by faith and repentance is to leave the country of condemnation and cross the bridge of redemption into the realm of worship.
4. Awareness and repentance lead to response (6:8). Isaiah’s repentance and acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty led him to the appropriate response to God’s call: “Here am I; send me.” Isaiah offered God the remainder of his life to deliver faithfully the prophecies of impending judgment along with the promise of redemption for wayward Israel. In summary, the prophet acknowledged God’s lordship and responded appropriately.
Worship Explored
With worship defined simply as acknowledging God’s lordship and responding appropriately, the question then follows, how should the Christian worship? How is this response to God manifested, especially in terms of corporate worship? MacArthur indicates that perhaps the best way to understand how to worship is first to understand how not to worship, noting: “[H]alf of everything the Bible says about worship condemns false worship.”[12] He proposes four false or “deviant” types of worship: [13]
1. Worship of false gods: From the opening duo of the Ten Commandments to Jesus’ dialogue with Satan, the message is clear: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. . . . Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Exodus 20:3–4; Matthew 4:10).
2. Worship of the true God in the wrong form: In the Exodus 32 account, God condemned Israel for worshiping a golden calf erected in Moses’ absence (even though the Israelites sought to worship God through the image). The message was unmistakable. God cannot be reduced to any man-made form or image. “Only the incarnation of Christ was adequate to reveal God in a tangible form . . . to attempt to express God in any lesser image is to commit idolatry.”[14]
3. Worship of the true God with a wrong attitude: In Luke 10:27, Christ admonished His followers that true worship requires the whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. In contrast, the wrong attitude for worship is evidenced by defiled, distracted, or deceitful offerings (Malachi 1:7–8; Amos 5:21–24; Hosea 6:4–6).
4. Worship of the true God in a self-styled manner: Jesus forcefully condemned the Pharisees for trying to worship God according to their own system, by their own standards. MacArthur notes: “He told them, ‘You yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition.’ And “their [self-styled] worship was an abomination. The basis of the biblical rule for worship is the principle of sola Scriptura, Scripture alone. When it comes to worship, whatever the Scripture does not expressly command is forbidden.” [15] How should we worship? In the words of D. A. Carson, we should worship “bythe Book.”[16] However, we will pick up on that point in part two of this series to post next week.
About the Author: Eric K. Thomsen has enjoyed more than three decades in Christian publishing. He currently serves as the managing editor of ONE Magazine and additionally leads music at Bethel Free Will Baptist Church near Ashland City, Tennessee, where he and his wife Jennifer also work with college and young career students.
[1] D. A. Carson, ed., Worship by the Book (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 26. In this passage, Carson is quoting Robert Shaper.
[2] Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, 7812 (Lockman Foundation, updated 1998), http://biblehub.com/strongs.htm, accessed December 27, 2016.
[3] Carson, Worship by the Book, 28.
[4] Carson, Worship by the Book, 28.
[5] Strongs, 4352.
[6] Strongs, 3000.
[7] Strongs, 4573.
[8] John MacArthur, “Worshiping,” in Pastoral Ministry: How to Shepherd Biblically (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005), 198.
[9] Carson, Worship by the Book, 26–36.
[10] MacArthur, “Worshiping,” 198.
[11] Jonathan Leeman, Reverberation: How God’s Word Brings Light, Freedom, and Action to His People (Chicago: Moody, 2011), 80.
[12] MacArthur, “Worshiping,” 190.
[13] MacArthur, “Worshiping,” 190–97.
[14] MacArthur, “Worshiping,” 194.
[15] MacArthur, “Worshiping,” 195.
[16] Carson, Worship by the Book.Carson notes regarding the four perspectives offered in this volume: “What unites us is our strong commitment to the ministry of the Word. . . . [W]e are addressing the worlds we know best from the Word we love best. Our prayer is that this record of our own struggles, reflections, and practices may stimulate others to careful, biblically informed reformation of corporate worship” (7–8).
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