How Should We Worship? Part 1 - Individually:

We understand what worship is. We understand that everyone worships something or someone. We know that we are commanded to worship our triune God. The last piece of the puzzle, then, is: how should we worship? I suggest that such a piece is a very large one. I suggest that we seek to answer that question in two parts: how should we worship on an individual level, and then how should we worship corporately. For reasons that may or may not be obvious, this first installment will deal with worship on an individual level.

First I will start with a brief review on what worship is. We looked at how the English word "worship" evolved, and we looked at the different words used in the Bible that are translated as "worship." Without re-typing the entire thing, to worship is to show honor, to bow down, to kiss towards, etc... We also looked at Matthew 15:8-9:

“This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (ESV)

We saw that worship can be, simply, actions. Bowing, lifting up hands, kneeling, singing, reading Scripture - but we can do those things in a way that is not God honoring. Jesus says that our worship is in vain if we teach as doctrines the commandments of men, and we give God merely lip-service if our hearts are far from Him.

As we realize this, it becomes clear that to have God-honoring individual worship, we need to be very careful to have hearts and minds that are engaged in our worship. Look at what Paul says in Romans 12:1:

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship" (ESV)

Paul's point here is that, as opposed to the Old Testament focus of animal sacrifice as worship, Christians are to present their bodies - their entire being - to God in daily obedience to His will as a spiritual service of worship. This is huge. Our individual worship is not supposed to be some every-so-often, half-hearted, rote thing! This is an every day, all-the-time, mind-body-and-strength, passion! We are to present our bodies to God as living sacrifices! THIS is spiritual worship.

I want to look at two different passages as we really dig in here to find out what it means to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God. The first is John 4:21-24:

"Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.'" (ESV)

The first thing to notice there is that inner spirituality has replaced geographic location. Our worship is no longer limited geographically - it is merely limited by our own inner lack of spirituality. If we are not worshiping in spirit and in truth we are not worshiping God. This is something we can do whenever and wherever. We have no excuses.

The second thing to notice is that there is a direct parallel to Matthew 15:8-9 and this passage. Worshiping God in spirit is the opposite of your heart being far from God, and worshiping God in truth is the opposite of teaching as doctrine the commandments of men. Let's look at this more closely.

What does it mean to worship God in spirit? Spiritual worship is non-physical worship. This is attributing ultimate worth to God on an emotional level. Worshiping God in spirit means that our most inward thoughts and deepest emotions (repentance, sorrow, longing, desire, fear, awe, gratitude, joy and hope) are all directed toward and honoring to Him. When we worship God, if these emotions are vacant, it is an indicator that our hearts are far from Him. And we are no longer worshiping in a God-honoring way.

What does it mean to worship God in truth? This is worship that is Theologically grounded. This is worship that is grounded in fact and reality. Our worship needs to be grounded in God's truth... which is Scripture. Worshiping God in truth means that, in our worship of Him, we need to be worshiping Him for who He is. We need to worship every aspect of who He is. We need to make sure that our worship is rich with the truths and principles that God has revealed to us in Scripture. When our worship fails in this aspect, we begin to invent our own "facts" and "truths" about who God is and worship those. We begin to teach as doctrine the commandments of men. When this happens, we worship in vain.

It is very easy to see how these two things work together. When we worship, we need to worship Him for who He is, and what He has done. When we do that, if our hearts are engaged (and not far from Him), our emotions will respond and we will feel sorrow and repentance for sin, reverent fear and awe of our awesome God, a desire to know Him more, and we will feel a deep sense of gratefulness, joyfulness and hopefulness because of His love for us, and because of what He has done for us. This is true, God-honoring worship. This is worshiping God in spirit and in truth - which is the only type of worship He wants. This worship is the exact opposite of the worship described in Matthew 15:8-9.

The second passage that I want to look at is Philippians 1:20-21:

"as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (ESV)

This is an amazing passage. To understand it fully, let's take it apart a little. Paul says that it is his hope that Christ will be honored in his body whether by life or death. This is to say that it is Paul's hops that Christ will be honored in his body by life, and that Christ will be honored in his body by death. Each of those statements have matching pairs in the next sentence. "Christ will be honored in his body by life" pairs with "For me to live is Christ," and "Christ will be honored in his body by death" pairs with "and to die is gain." Let's look at the second pair first.

Paul says that his death honors Christ when death is gain. The meaning of this is readily seen. He counts everything on this earth as rubbish - so much so that he faces death joyfully with the expectation of gaining and eternity spent dwelling with Christ. With such a mind set, anyone watching his death will see his joy in what he will be gaining. This will not put the focus on Paul - it will put the focus on God. Through Paul's death, Paul gets an eternity of joy with Christ, and God gets the glory. God is so glorified in that Paul considers everything in this earthly life to be loss when compared to the gain of knowing Christ. See Philippians 3:8:

" Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (ESV)

Looking back to the first pair, after viewing the second pair, it is very obvious what Paul means. When he says that his life brings honor to Christ when to live is Christ, he means that he brings honor to Christ if he lives in such a way as to put ultimate value on Christ. He values nothing over Christ.

The passage, then, tells us that in order to honor Christ by life or death, we need to be attributing ultimate worth to Him. We need to value Him above all else, even to the point of death. We find our joy in life in Him, and we find our joy in death in Him. When we live this way, we put focus on God and his glory, and we make much of Him, and in doing so we worship Him. The pursuit of joy in God is worship, it is the chief end of mankind, and it is the only acceptable form of worship to God. Worship to accomplish anything else dishonors God, and therefore is vain worship.

In our individual worship, then, we are to worship God in spirit and truth, and we are to place ultimate worth in Him. Our worship must be all-inclusive, and all-encompassing. Our worship needs to be Theologically grounded, emotionally evocative, and Christ treasuring. Any other type of worship is not God-honoring, and is therefore dishonoring to Him.

Whom Do We Worship?

So after nearly a month between the first and second installments, this next one is coming to me rather quickly. In the last blog I finished by asking if we are worshiping creation or the Creator. That question is a perfect segue into the question we are addressing this time around. Let's start out by looking at what Psalm 96:7-9 has to say:

"Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts!
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth!" (ESV)

I would really actually encourage you to read all 13 verses of that Psalm before continuing on - it is an incredible song of worship. It was hard for me to pick that excerpt out without just putting the whole Psalm up. At any rate, the Psalmist is very clear on whom we should worship. We should worship the Lord. And if you notice the language in that Psalm, it is not a suggestion. We are told to worship the Lord. Take a look at Revelation 22:8-9:

"I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, 'You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.'" (ESV)

Again, no suggestion was made here. We are told to worship God. There are many more verses which command us to worship God (Exodus 34:14; Psalm 99:5,9; Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8; Hebrews 12:28; Revelation 14:7; and Revelation 19:10), and there are even more that command us not to worship any other gods. At this point it should be very clear that we are to worship God, and no other.

As usual, there is a complication. Our God is a triune God: three in person, one in essence. Which do we worship? God the Father? God the Son? God the Spirit? All three? This is an important question to think about. It is an important question to be able to answer. Let's take a look at what Jesus says in John 5:22-23:

"The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him." (ESV)

In saying this Jesus makes a very clear statement of deity (since judgment comes only from God). He is also clearly commanding us to worship Him (which by the way is yet another statement of deity). In fact, He says that if we do not worship Him, we do not worship God the Father either. This statement has clear implications for those who do not view Jesus as God. Jesus must be viewed as God, and worshiped as God, in order for our worship of the Father to mean anything. We are required to worship the Father and the Son.

I would further conclude that John 5:22-23 points to a "trinitarian" worship. That is, we must worship the trinity: God the father, God the Son and God the Spirit. The verse in point of fact says nothing of the Holy Spirit, but it is clear about the Father and the Son. We know that they are two of the three persons in the Trinity, so it at least commands us to Worship part of the Trinity. Moreover, when we are commanded to worship God I see no reason to conclude that this command leaves out one of the persons of God. They are three separate persons, yes, but they are one essence: one God. I would conclude that for the same basic reasons we must worship the Son in order to worship the Father, we must also worship the Spirit. To further this point, let's look at what Jesus says in Matthew 28:19:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," (ESV)

Doing something in the name of someone else is designed to bring honor to the person the act was in the name of. Baptism is to be done in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - so baptism honors (or worships) all three persons of the Trinity. I see no reason to assume that Baptism is alone in worshiping the Trinity. Since the Trinity IS God, I believe that when we are told to worship God we are told to worship the Trinity.

All things considered, we are to worship God. We have a triune God, so we must worship all the members of the God-head. Not worshiping one of the members is not worshiping God at all, because we are making little of part of His essence. Anyone who rejects the Trinity cannot therefore worship God. This is a serious statement with very serious implications. Since getting into these implications would make a wild leap from the topic at hand, I will merely challenge the reader to think about what these implications are.

So we have defined worship. We know what it is and what it isn't. We also know that we all, without exception, worship on some level. We know that we do this because we were created to worship. We know fallen man worships creation rather than the Creator. We know that we are commanded to worship God, the Creator. While thinking about all of this, it becomes clear to me that a discussion on who should worship would only be a repetition. We know all mankind was created to worship and that we are told to worship God, so everyone is to worship God. This being the case, I will be skipping that question. I will be looking, in the next blog, at what it means, on an individual level, to worship God.