Five basic principles of worship
We glorify God with our worship because we answer Him as is right. He deserves praise not only for his power but also for his kindness. God is love and everything he does is out of love. That is worthy of praise. We even praise human love! We praise people who devote their lives to helping others. You haven't had enough strength to save yourself, but you use it to help others - that's commendable. In contrast, we criticize people who have had the ability to help others but refused to do it. Kindness deserves more praise than power. God has both because he is kind and powerful.
Praise deepens the bond of love between us and God. God's love for us never fades, but our love for him often becomes weak. In praise, we let his love for us resonate and in fact kindle the fire of love for him that the Holy Spirit has invested in us. It is good to remember and repeat how wonderful God is because it strengthens us in Christ and increases our desire to become like Him in His goodness, which also increases our joy.
We are made to proclaim God's blessings (1. Petrus 2,9) to praise and honor him - and the more we agree with God's purpose for our lives, the greater our joy will be. Life is more fulfilling when we do what we were made to do: honor God. We do this not only in our worship services, but also through the way we live.
The way of life of worship
Serving God is a way of life. We offer our bodies and minds as sacrifices (Romans 12,1-2). We serve God in preaching the gospel (Romans 1 Cor5,16). We serve God when we give donations (Philippians 4,18). We serve God when we help other people (Hebrews 13,16). We declare that he deserves our time, attention, and loyalty. We praise his glory and humility to have become one of us for our sake. We praise his righteousness and mercy. We praise him that he is what he is.
For that we are made to announce his glory. It is right that we praise the One who created us, who died and rose for us to save us and give eternal life, who is now working to help us become like him. We owe him our loyalty and our love.
We were created to praise God and always will be. The apostle John received a vision of our future: "And every creature that is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and everything that is in them I heard saying, 'To him that sits on the throne, and To the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and authority forever and ever!” (Revelation 5,13). This is the appropriate answer: reverence for those to whom reverence is due, honor to whom honor is due, and loyalty to those to whom loyalty is due.
Five basic principles
Psalm 33,13 urges us: “Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; let the pious praise him rightly. Give thanks to the Lord with harps; sing praises to him in the psaltery of ten strings! sing him a new song; play the strings beautifully with a merry ringing!” Scripture directs us to sing and shout for joy, to use harps, flutes, tambourines, trombones, and cymbals—even to worship Him by dancing (Psalms 149-150). The image is one of exuberance, of irrepressible joy and happiness expressed without restraint.
The Bible shows us examples of spontaneous worship. It also contains examples of very formal worship, with well-established routines that have been followed for centuries. Both forms of worship can have their justification; no one can claim to be the only authentic right to praise God. Below, I would like to outline some of the basic principles that are important in worship.
1. We are called to worship
God wants us to worship him. This is a constant that we can read from the beginning to the end of the Bible (1. Mose 4,4; John 4,23; Revelation 22,9). Worship of God is one of the reasons we are called to: proclaim his glory [his favors] (1. Petrus 2,9). God's people not only love and obey Him, but also perform acts of worship. It sacrifices, it sings songs of praise, it prays.
We see a wide variety of ways in which worship can occur in the Bible. Many details were set out in the law of Moses. Certain people were entrusted with performing prescribed actions at certain times and in certain places. In contrast, we see in the 1. Book of Moses taught that the patriarchs had few rules to keep in mind in their worship. They had no appointed priesthood, were local, and had few instructions about what and when to sacrifice.
There is also little discussion in the New Testament on how and when worship should take place. Worship activities are not limited to a specific group or location. Christ has abolished the Mosaic requirements. All believers are priests and are constantly offering themselves as living sacrifices.
2. Only God is allowed to be worshiped
Although there is a great variety of forms of worship, we see a simple constant that runs through the whole scripture: only God may be worshiped. Worship is only acceptable if it is exclusive. God demands all our love - all our faithfulness. We can not serve two gods. Although we can worship him in different ways, our unity is based on the fact that he is the one we worship.
In ancient Israel, Baal, a Canaanite deity, was often worshiped in competition with God. In Jesus' time it was religious traditions, self-righteousness and hypocrisy. Everything between us and God - everything that keeps us from obeying him - is a false god, an idol. For some it is the money; for others it is the sex. Some have a big problem with pride or concern for their reputation with others. The apostle John has described some of the usual false gods in one of his letters:
Do not love the world! Do not hang your heart on what belongs to the world! When someone loves the world, love for their Father has no place in their life. Because nothing that characterizes this world comes from the Father. Whether it is the selfish man's greed, his covetous glances or his bragging rights and possessions - all of these have their origins in this world. And the world with its desires passes; but whoever acts as God wants, will live forever. (1. John 2,15-17 New Geneva translation).
It does not matter what our weakness is, we must crucify, kill, remove all false gods. If anything prevents us from obeying God, we have to get rid of it. God wants people who worship only him, who have him as the center of their lives.
3. sincerity
The third constant of worship the Bible tells us is that our worship must be sincere. There is no value in doing it just for the sake of form, singing the right songs, gathering us on the right days and pronouncing the right words, but not loving God heartily. Jesus criticized those who honored God with their lips, but whose worship was in vain because their hearts were far from God. Their traditions, originally conceived to express love and worship, proved to be obstacles to true love and worship.
Jesus also emphasizes the need for sincerity when he says that God must be worshiped in spirit and in truth (John 4,24). If we claim to love God but reject his commandments, we are hypocrites. If we value our freedom above his authority, we cannot truly worship him. We cannot take his covenant in our mouths and throw his words behind us (Psalm 50,16: 17). We cannot call him Lord and ignore his instructions.
4. obedience
Throughout the Bible it is clear that true worship and obedience go together. This is especially true of God's Word regarding the way we treat one another. We cannot honor God if we despise his children. "If anyone says, 'I love God', and hates his brother, he is a liar. For whoever does not love his brother, whom he sees, cannot love God, whom he does not see" (1. John 4,20-21). Isaiah describes a similar situation with stinging criticism of people who observe worship rituals while practicing social injustice:
Make no more such futile meal offerings! I hate incense! New moons and sabbaths, when you come together, I do not like sacrilege and festive assembly! My soul is the enemy of your new moons and annual festivals; they are a burden to me, i am tired of carrying them. And even if you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; and even if you pray a lot, I still don't hear you (Isaiah 1,11-15).
As far as we can tell, there was nothing wrong with the days people kept, or the type of incense, or the animals they sacrificed. The problem was their way of life the rest of the time. "Your hands are full of blood!" he said (verse 15) - and the problem wasn't just about actual murderers.
He demanded a comprehensive solution: "Let go of evil! Learn to do good, seek justice, help the oppressed, restore justice to the orphans, administer the cause of widows” (verses 16-17). They had to put their interpersonal relationships in order. They had to shed racial prejudice, social class stereotypes and unfair economic practices.
5. It affects all of life
Worship should affect the way we interact with each other every seven days a week. We see this principle throughout the Bible. How should we worship? The prophet Micah asked this question and also wrote down the answer:
How should I draw near to the Lord, bow before the high God? Should I approach him with burnt offerings and one-year-old calves? Will the Lord take pleasure in many thousands of rams, in innumerable rivers of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for my sin? You have been told, man, what is good and what the Lord asks of you, namely to keep God's word and practice love and be humble before your God (Micah 6,6-8).
The prophet Hosea also emphasized that relationships are more important than the systematics of worship: "I delight in love and not in sacrifice, in the knowledge of God and not in burnt offerings" (Hosea 6,6). In addition to praising God, we are called to do good works (Ephesians 2,10). Our idea of worship must go well beyond music, days, and rituals. These details are not as important as the way we treat our loved ones. It is hypocritical to call Jesus our Lord if we do not seek His righteousness, mercy, and compassion.
Worship is much more than external action - it involves a change in behavior that, in turn, comes from a change in the attitude of the heart that the Holy Spirit brings to us. Decisive in this change is our willingness to spend time with God in prayer, study and other spiritual disciplines. This fundamental change is not magically happening - it is due to the time we spend in communion with God.
Paul's expanded view of worship
Worship encompasses our whole life. We read this in Paul's letters. He uses the terms sacrifice and worship (worship) in the following way: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto God. This is your reasonable worship" (Romans 1 Cor2,1). We want our whole life to be worship, not just a few hours a week. If our whole lives are devoted to worship, it will surely include some time with other Christians each week!
Paul uses other paraphrases for sacrifice and worship in Romans 15,16. He speaks of the grace that God gave him to be a servant of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles, one who priestly directs the gospel of God so that the Gentiles might become a sacrifice that may be pleasing to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. The proclamation of the gospel is a form of worship and worship.
Since we are all priests, it is our priestly duty to proclaim the favors and glories of those who called us (1. Petrus 2,9)—a ministry of worship that any believer may do or participate in by helping others to preach the gospel. When Paul thanked the Philippians for bringing the financial support, he used terms of worship: "I received through Epaphroditus what came from you, a sweet savor, a pleasant offering, acceptable to God" (Philippians 4,18).
Financial assistance to support other Christians can be a form of worship. Worship is described in Hebrews as manifested in word and deed: “Let us therefore through him always present to God the sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of the lips that confess his name. Don't forget to do good and share with others; for such sacrifices please God" (Hebrews 1 Cor3,15-6).
We are called to worship, celebrate and worship God. It is our pleasure to share, to proclaim His benefits - the good news of what He has done for us in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Five facts about worship
- God wants us to worship Him, to meet Him with praise and thanksgiving.
- Only God is worthy of our worship and absolute faithfulness.
- Worship should be sincere, not a performance.
- If we worship and love God, we will do as he says.
- Worship is not just something we do once a week - it includes everything we do.
What to think about
- For which attribute of God are you most thankful?
- Some Old Testament sacrifices were completely burnt - leaving nothing but smoke and ashes. Was one of your victims comparable?
- Spectators cheer when their team scores a goal or wins a game. Do we respond with equal enthusiasm to God?
- For many people, God is not very important in everyday life. What do people value instead?
- Why does God care how we treat other people?
by Joseph Tkach