The essence of worship is in finding satisfaction in God. Both the Old and New Testaments clearly confirms the essence of worship to be a life centered in and focused on finding one’s greatest satisfaction in God alone, beyond any “thing” or any “one” else.[1] It is a thoroughly personal endeavor. While people may attempt to categorize worship as public or personal (corporate or private), all worship is personal worship. Musicians may lead a congregation in corporate praise but, that which goes on in the heart – communication between God and man – can only be experienced personally. And, every person’s worship experience is different. This is because worship is experienced in the inner heart. The Psalmist of Israel re-enforces this notion:
(The) one thing I ask of the Lord,
this is what I seek;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord,
to seek him in His temple. (Psalm 27:4)
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:2-3)
Ultimately worship occurs when the core of a person, recognizing their absolute need for God, repentantly and personally turns to God, reveres Him and cries out to Him—looking to find their greatest satisfaction in Him. That is the essence of worship, personally.
As the essence of worship is realized, the worship experience is fully realized. The worshiper begins to enjoy a relationship with God biblical that is cognitive and experiential. Scripture suggests that this happens because:
1) Worship is God-initiated. Worship, theologically and experientially, is God-initiated. God initiates all things; and in that, all that has to do with worship is initiated by Him.
History started at God’s initiation. “In the beginning God created . . .” (Genesis 1:1).
At His own initiation He created Humankind to companion with Him. (Gen 1:26-28).
The moment Adam broke fellowship with Him, God initiated a redemptive program whereby human-kind could return to a companioning worship walk with Him (e.g. Genesis 3:15; Gen. 4:3- 7; Gen. 12:1ff). law
And ever since, it is God who initiates and energizes our dynamic, personal relationship with humans. Throughout the Old and New Testament God initiates through prophets, priests, disciples and preachers to provide:
1. His Law (Ex 20),;
2. His written Word (e.g. Psalm 119, 2 Timothy 3:16);
3. All that we need for daily living and life (Mt. 6:11; Acts 17:28);
4. Our salvation (John 3:16; 1 Cor. 6:20; Eph 2:8-10), to
5. Very life itself, 1 John 1:2; and,
6. Energy to live before Him daily (Philippians 2:13).
2) Worship is Encountering God. Worship is the substance of real encounters between God and human beings. This is where human beings actually respond back to God and in faith acknowledge Him to be God. There are two simple points here concerning worship as “encounter.”
First, worship phenomena are real encounters; and, Second, worship phenomena are relational encounters.
By stating that worship phenomena are real encounters—they are as real as any human-to-human encounter would be. The encounters God has with people are not imaginary, fantasy, or hallucination. His encounters and the relationship that develops between Himself and human individuals and community are as substantive and viable as any other sort of relationship humans might have. Interaction between God and humans is relational—it operates, at least in the human context, through the same relational resources that humans relate to other humans. God does provide the mysterious dimension but, He has created human beings, and gathered communities, with the ability to “relationally “relate to Himself.
In Exodus 3:14-15, God’s encounter was interaction in time and space. There was communication exchange, and circumstances in real life were truly impacted as a result: “Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”
The point of this section then is to underscore that
3) Worship is Engaging with God. A worship life with God is more than living generally in line with the morals and ethics God has revealed: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.” (Matt 23:27).
True worshipers possess a substantive connection with God. They “engage” with the Person of God in a visceral, relational, transactional way. Note how King David interacts with God at the deepest levels of intimacy. He connects with God from the core of his being: One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)
It seems that David’s ‘assumption’ that he could engage with a real God, coupled with a pattern of interaction with God allowed him to experience real engaged “transaction” with God. And the result was a real relationship between David and God.
4) Worship is Response. The principle of engaging with God is related to the truth that worship is a response to God.
Worship is response to God’s initiated encounter(s) with humans and human community.
An excellent biblical illustration of worship as response, is seen in Isaiah 6:4-5:
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Worship is a response which has been energized by God Himself.[2] When a believer (or a community of believers) chooses to respond to God in worship God, as well, responds to them ((James 4:8). When one takes a closer look at the Isaiah 6 passage, it can be seen that the Prophet was actually “touched” by the activities of a real heavenly being:
6 “Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I, Send me?” (Isaiah 6:6-8)
5) Worship is Awe of God. Scripture reveals that a major dynamic of worship is that, when worship happens, the worshiper is deeply moved by awe. This English term is often rendered in Hebrew by the term yare, meaning fear in the sense of deep positive reverence, or inspired homage. For example, 1 Sam 12:18 states, “Then Samuel called upon the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.”
The New Testament Greek often renders the term, eulabeomai, meaning caution, or moved by a godly reverence.[3] A second Greek term, phobeo,[4] is used to show reverential fear or marvel.[5]
The fullness of these terms express also humility and marvel in relation with the majesty and greatness of God. When one encounters God in true worship, there will be a spontaneous, “un-self -aware” demonstration of humility, caution, reverence, often coupled with at least a recognition if not an outright declaration of amazement and marvel.
6) Worship is Acclaim. Part of the dynamic of acclaim is the element of confession. But this kind of confession includes declaring or admitting to one’s lowliness, frailty or imperfection, especially in relation to the majesty and greatness of God. Jeremiah did this when he confessed:, “Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child” (Jeremiah 1:6).
Acclaim also includes praise, acknowledgement and thanksgiving. Note the following example from1 Chronicles 29:20: Then David said to the whole assembly, “Praise the Lord your God.” So they all praised the Lord, the God of their fathers; they bowed low and fell prostrate before the Lord and the king.
7) Worship is Approach. This is the desire of those encountered by God wanting to approach Him. Where there is growing understanding of the heart of God, even in spite of His majesty, perfection and glory, true worshipers will respond to God’s invitation to draw near to Him. This is an Old and New Testament phenomena:
King David, through his psalms, is known for this. For example, he declares,
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
11 Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always. 1 Chron 16:10-11.
4 One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, . . .
and to seek him in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)
8b. . . bring an offering and come into his courts. 9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. (Psalm 96:8b-9)
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100:1-5)
The blind man healed by Jesus exhibits the same sort of desire to approach Jesus. Note: So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” (Mark 10:49-52).
The Letter to the Hebrews gives the same sort of admonition to draw near: 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, . . . 16 [So] Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)
And again: 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, . . . 22 let us draw near to God . . . (Heb 10:19-22).
8) Worship is Availability. Where an individual or community of believers are maturing in their worship-walk with God they demonstrate readiness and availability to do the outward God-motivated actions of the worship life. Isaiah cries out his availability in worship response to God’s call: “. . . Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” “Here I am!” (Isaiah 6:8a).
The Apostle Paul considered his entire assignment to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles a dimension of his worship, and his availability for it was a dynamic of his worship-way-of-life. He believed that “. . . the grace God gave [was the grace] to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God . . .” (Romans 15:15-16) [6]
9) Worship involves Obedience. Where worshipers are maturing in the worship-way-of-life, the obedient actions prompted by their worship encounters with God are themselves activities of worship. They are in fact what the Hebrew terms sharat and latreuo are describing—that which is often translated serve or minister, service or ministry.
Worship is much richer than the actions of actually approaching God—attending worship services, practicing various religious rituals, even going to God in one’s heart during daily activities. Perhaps the activities of approaching God in worship may constitute worshiping. But so do the actions that involve service or obedience. This is living out the Hebrew (sharat or sheret) and Greek (latreuo) terms which mean to minister, serve, or obey. (More about this later).
When worshipers involve themselves in true approachful worship, God will encounter them, deal with them transactionally, and give them assignments. Those assignments are also, in themselves, worship. Obedience and service are worship; not something else separate from worship.
10) Worship is Way-of-Life. The Bible clearly emphasizes that the life of worship is a general way-of-life – a life style. Worship of The Most High is not simply limited to the parts of life focused on exercising religious rituals, or private personal devotions. Yet believers —modern and ancient — struggle to focus on worship as a general way-of-life. Ancient people clearly moved towards worship expressed through a wide variety of idolatry, spiritism, animism, the occult and mythology. Modern people drift towards isolating worship to the “religious practices” of their life.
But, Biblical worship is a repeated encountering and response to the person and work of God. It is in the Gospels where we see the greatest record of the way human life is to be lived with God: The daily life-walk of Jesus,[7] God the Son. Jesus models and teaches that worship is an inward, Godward heart expression of deepest reverence, admiration, and gratitude to God. It is outwardly manifested through worship-motivated actions of service and obedience. Some might call this “serviceful worship.”.
The Apostle Paul makes a very important expansion on Jesus’ worship teaching. Paul’s confirms that worship is more a way-of-living than is simply the exercise of particular religious rituals. In Roman 12:1, he emphasizes — through the use of the term latreuo[8] — that it is only logical for believers present themselves as living sacrifices (of worship) to God. Paul is emphasizing that every activity of a believer’s daily living should flow out of heart-worship. And, that heart-worship will naturally develop into a worship-way-of-life.
[1] One of the finest biblical developments of this contention—that the essence of worship is finding one’s satisfaction in God alone, beyond any “one” or any “thing” else—is dealt with in detail by Pastor, Dr. John Piper in, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2002; Chapter 28.
[2] Note too, Romans 11:33-36 vis-a-vis Romans 12:1.
[3] “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark . . .” Hebrews 11:7.
[4] W. E. Vine, John R. Kohlenberger, James A. Swanson, and W. E. Vine. The Expanded Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 1984.
[5] “He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, . . .” Rev 14:7.
[6] Notice here, in his metaphor of his assignment being a “priestly duty.” He is comparing his assignment to those of the Temple Levites who “stood before the Lord to minister” (Deuteronomy 10:8). What did the Levites do? They facilitated the “worship of the people.” They were “worship facilitators.” Paul saw that, just as the Levites facilitated the worship of the people through their service of worship in the Jerusalem Temple, likewise he was available to God to carry out his service of worship.
[7] A first major consideration related to worship being a way of life, is observing the life and ministry of Jesus. The teachings and life-style of Jesus both point out that the one truly maturing as a worshiper is one who moves from periodic instances of worshiping God into an inward heart-orientation of more constantly and repeatedly encountering and responding to God at the core of the worshiper’s being.
[8] Meaning in the Greek “the God-motivated-serving-actions of worship.”