worship
Worship is the divinely created response to the glory of God. It is motivated by divine love and springs from God's self-revelation to His creation. In worship, the believer enters into communication with God the Father through Jesus Christ, mediated by the Holy Spirit. Worship also means humbly and joyfully giving priority to God in all things. It is expressed in attitudes and actions such as prayer, praise, celebration, generosity, active mercy, and repentance.Johannes 4,23; 1. Johannes 4,19; Philipper 2,5-11; 1. Petrus 2,9-10; Epheser 5,18-20; Kolosser 3,16-17; Römer 5,8-11; 12,1; Hebräer 12,28; 13,15-16)
Answer God with worship
We respond to God with worship because worship is simply to give God what is right for him. He is worthy of our praise.
God is love and everything he does, he does in love. That is glorious. We even praise love on a human level, right? We praise people who give their lives to help others. They did not have enough power to save their own lives, but the power they used used them to help others - that's commendable. In contrast, we criticize people who had the power to help but refused to help. Goodness is more praiseworthy than power, and God is both good and powerful.
Praise deepens the bond of love between us and God. God's love for us is never diminished, but our love for him often diminishes. In praise we remember his love for us and kindle the fire of love for him that the Holy Spirit has kindled in us. It is good to remember and practice how wonderful God is because it strengthens us in Christ and increases our motivation to be like Him in His goodness that enhances our joy.
We were made for the purpose of praising God. (1Pt 2,9)to bring Him glory and honor, and the more we are in harmony with God, the greater our joy will be. Life is simply more fulfilling when we do what we were created to do: to honor God. We do this not only in worship, but also through the way we live.
A way of life
Worship is a way of life. We offer our bodies and minds to God as a sacrifice. (Röm 12,1-2)We worship God when we share the gospel with others. (Röm 15,16)We worship God when we make financial sacrifices. (Phil 4,18)We worship God when we help other people. (Hebr 13,16)We express that he is worthy, worthy of our time, our attention, and our faithfulness. We praise his glory and his humility in becoming one of us for our sake. We praise his justice and his grace. We praise him for who he truly is.
He created us for that - to announce his fame. It is just right that we praise the One who made us, who died for us and rose to save us and to give us eternal life, the one who even now works to help us, to him to become more similar. We owe him our loyalty and devotion, we owe him our love.
We were made to praise God, and we will do so for all eternity. John was given a vision of the future: “And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and everything in them, saying: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever!’” (Offb 5,13)This is the correct answer: Reverence for the one who deserves reverence, honor for the honorable, loyalty for the trustworthy.
Five principles of worship
In Psalm 33,1-3 We read: “Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones; let the upright give praise to him. Give thanks to the Lord with the harp; sing praises to him with the ten-stringed lyre! Sing to him a new song; make beautiful music on the strings with joyful sound!” Scripture instructs us to sing a new song to the Lord, to shout for joy, to use harps, flutes, tambourines, trumpets, and cymbals—even to worship with dancing (Psalm 149-150). The image is one of exuberance, of unbridled joy, of happiness expressed without inhibition.
The Bible gives us examples of spontaneous worship. It also gives us examples of very formal forms of worship, with stereotypical routines that remain the same for centuries. Both forms of worship can be legitimate, and neither can claim to be the only authentic way of praising God. I would like to reiterate some general principles related to worship.
1. We are called to worship
First and foremost: God wants us to worship him. This is a constant theme we see from the beginning to the end of the Holy Scriptures. (1Mo 4,4; Joh 4,23; Offb 22,9)Worship is one of the reasons we were called: to proclaim His glorious deeds. (1Pt 2,9)God's people not only love and obey Him, but they also practice specific acts of worship. They offer sacrifices, they sing hymns, they pray.
In the Holy Scriptures, we see a great variety of forms of worship. The Law of Moses prescribed many details. Specific people were assigned specific tasks at specific times and in specific places. The who, what, when, where, and how were specified in detail. In contrast, we see very few rules in the Book of Genesis regarding how the patriarchs worshipped. They had no appointed priesthood, they were not confined to a specific location, and they were given little guidance on what to sacrifice and when to offer sacrifices.
In the New Testament, we again see little about the how and when of worship. Worship activities were not limited to a specific group or location. Christ has abolished the Mosaic requirements and limitations. All believers are priests and constantly give themselves as living sacrifices.
2. Only God should be worshipped.
Despite the great diversity of the styles of worship, there is a constant throughout the Scriptures: only God should be worshiped. Worship must be exclusive if it is to be acceptable. God demands all our love, all our faithfulness. We can not serve two gods. Although we may worship Him in different ways, our unity is based on the fact that He is the one we worship.
In ancient Israel, the rival god was often Baal. In Jesus' time it was religious traditions, self-righteousness and hypocrisy. In fact, everything that comes between us and God - everything that makes us disobey Him - is a false god, an idol. For some people today it is money. For others it is sex. Some have a bigger problem with pride or they worry what other people may think about them. John mentions some common false gods when he writes:
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1Joh 2,15-17).
No matter what our weakness is, we must crucify, kill, we must set aside all false gods. If something prevents us from obeying God, we have to get rid of it. God wants to have people who worship Him alone.
3. Sincerity
The third constant about worship that we see in scripture is that worship must be sincere. There is no use doing something for the sake of form, singing the right songs, gathering together on the right days, saying the right words if we don't really love God in our hearts. Jesus criticized those who honored God with their lips but who worshiped him in vain because their heart was not close to God. Their traditions (originally designed to express their love and worship) had become obstacles to real love and worship.
Jesus also emphasized the need for sincerity when he said that we must worship him in spirit and in truth. (Joh 4,24)If we say we love God but are actually annoyed by his instructions, we are hypocrites. If we value our freedom more than his authority, we cannot truly worship him. We cannot take his covenant on our lips and dismiss his words. (Ps 50,16-17)We cannot call him "Mr." and ignore what he says.
4. Obedience
Throughout the Scriptures, we see that true worship must include obedience. This obedience must include God's words in the way we treat each other.
We cannot honor God if we do not honor his children. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1Joh 4,20-21)It reminds me of Isaiah's scathing criticism of those who perform worship rituals while practicing social injustice:
“What is the multitude of your sacrifices to me?” declares the Lord. “I am full of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened calves; I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, and goats. When you come to appear before me, who demands that you trample my courts? Bring no more of these worthless offerings! Incense is an abomination to me! New moons and Sabbaths, when you gather together—violence and assembly I do not take! My soul hates your new moons and your annual festivals; they are a burden to me, and I am weary of bearing them. Even when you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I will not listen to you, for your hands are full of blood.” (Jes 1,11-15).
As far as we know, there was nothing wrong with the days these people kept, or the type of incense, or the animals they sacrificed. The problem was the way they lived the rest of the time. "Your hands are covered in blood," he said—yet I'm sure the problem wasn't just with those who actually committed murder.
He called for a comprehensive solution: "Forsake evil, learn to do good, seek justice, help the oppressed, restore justice to the orphans, judge the cause of widows" (vv. 16-17). They had to put their interpersonal relationships in order. They had to eliminate racial prejudice, class stereotypes and unfair economic practices.
5. All of life
Worship, if it is to be real, must make a difference in the way we treat each other seven days a week. This is another principle that we see in Scripture.
How should we worship? Micha asks this question and gives us the answer:
“With what shall I draw near to the Lord, and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I draw near to him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with rivers of oil in my countenance? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my womb for my sin? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Mi 6,6-8).
Hosea also emphasized that interpersonal relationships are more important than the mechanics of worship. “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God and not burnt offerings.” We are called not only to praise, but also to good works. (Eph 2,10).
Our concept of worship must go far beyond music and days. These details are not nearly as important as our lifestyle. It is hypocritical to keep the Sabbath while at the same time sowing disunity among brothers. It is hypocritical to sing only the psalms and to refuse to worship in the way they describe. It is hypocritical to be proud of the celebration of the Incarnation, which sets an example of humility. It is hypocritical to call Jesus Lord if we do not seek His righteousness and mercy.
Worship is much more than just external actions - it involves a total change in our behavior that results from a total change of the heart, a change brought about by the Holy Spirit in us. To bring about this change, our willingness to spend time with God in prayer, study, and other spiritual disciplines is needed. This transformation does not happen through magic words or magic water - it happens by spending time in communion with God.
Paul's extended view of worship
Worship encompasses our entire lives. We see this especially in the words of Paul. Paul used the terminology of sacrifice and worship (divine service) like this: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Röm 12,1)Our whole life should be worship, not just a few hours each week. Of course, if our lives are dedicated to worship, that will certainly include spending a few hours each week with other Christians!
Paul uses other words for sacrifice and worship in Römer 15,16, when he speaks of the grace given to him by God “that I might be a minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles, to priestly establish the gospel of God, that the Gentiles might become a sacrifice acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit .” Here we see that the preaching of the gospel is a form of worship.
Since we are all priests, we all have the priestly duty to proclaim the blessings of him who called us. (1Pt 2,9) – a worship service that every member can attend, or at least participate in by helping others to spread the gospel.
When Paul thanked the Philippians for sending him financial support, he used terms for worship: “I received from Epaphroditus what came from you: a pleasing aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” (Phil 4,18).
Providing financial assistance to other Christians can be a form of worship. Hebräer 13 It describes worship that takes place in words and deeds: “Through him therefore let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (vv. 15-16).
If we understand worship as a way of life that encompasses daily obedience, prayer, and study, then we have, I think, a better perspective when we look at the question of music and the days. Although music has been an important part of worship since at least David's time, music is not the most important part of the service.
Similarly, even the Old Testament recognizes that the day of worship is not as important as we treat our neighbor. The new covenant does not require a specific day for worship, but it requires practical works of love for one another. He demands that we gather, but he does not dictate when we should gather.
Friends, we are called to worship, celebrate and glorify God. It is our joy to proclaim his benefits, to share the good news with others that he has done for us in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Joseph Tkach
