What is Worship?
A term frequently used around churches is the word “worship”? But what exactly is worship? When do we do it? Is it a particular style of music? Do you need to have a specific set of gifts to be able to worship? Some phrases you might have heard around churches include worship service, worship music, worship team, and worship leader.
So, what exactly is worship?
According to the Oxford Dictionary, worship is defined as “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.”
Now, the good news is, we don’t have a problem when it comes to knowing how to worship. We’re all really, really good at worship.
The bad news is, more often than not, we’re worshipping the wrong deity…the wrong god.
How do we know that? How do we know that we’re worshipping the wrong god?
Often, how we use our time and money reveals our priorities. It reveals deep down where our hearts are at, and it reveals who or what we truly love.
Some areas where we invest our time and money include board games, sporting events, new clothes, and concerts. We invest our time and money into things that we find interesting and fun…we invest in things that we determine are valuable (like family and friends) or things that make us feel good about ourselves (like attending charity events and donating).
Now, these things aren’t bad things.
I’m not saying we should be avoiding these things. We can and should enjoy these things, but not at the expense of prioritising God.
So often, we prioritise our likes and preferences above all else, and when we do so, worship becomes about us…we become our own gods, and that is a major problem.
As mentioned earlier, worship itself is not the problem for us…we do that just fine…our problem is who or what we worship.
If you were gifted an all-expenses-paid gift card up to the amount of $5000 and if time was not an issue, which of the following three options would you choose? You can only choose one.
Option 1: Attend a concert put on by your favourite artist as a VIP Guest;
Option 2: Go on your dream holiday with family or friends; or
Option 3: Anonymously donate the whole amount to your church.
Be honest.
How many of us would actually, joyfully, not begrudgingly because we know it’s the “right answer”…but how many of us would joyfully choose to anonymously donate that money to church instead of spending it on ourselves?
I ask this to highlight the daily struggle that we live with, in which we are constantly faced with two options: either we worship God or we worship something else.
Now, I may not know you very well. However, I expect that deep down, you’re much the same as me. We’re all sinful—the Bible’s pretty clear on that. We all do things that hurt ourselves, as well as those around us. And, more often than not, we put ourselves first to the detriment of others. Does that really sound like the kind of god you want to worship?
What’s the alternative?
Who is the God we are supposed to worship?
In the words of Paul (in Acts 17:24-25, & 28), he is the God who made the world and everything in it. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn’t live in temples built by human hands. He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. He is the God who himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. In him, we live and move and have our being.
This is the God who is worthy of our worship.
He is supremely powerful and mighty, fully self-sufficient, and he sustains us by giving us life, breath, and all that we have. We cannot do a single thing apart from him.
Through the blood of Jesus, he has fully paid the price for all our sins.
Perhaps you’ve heard this all before…but do you really understand what it means?
Do you really understand what it means for Jesus to set you free from all the power of the devil?
Do you really understand what it means that he preserves you and that he knows and cares about everything that happens to you, no matter how seemingly inconsequential?
What an incredible God!
This is the God we are to worship.
Now, it’s highly likely that you’re going to forget what it is that I’ve shared in this article. Maybe some of you have already forgotten things I’ve said so far… So can I encourage you, it is so important for you to get into the Bible yourself, daily, to read and remind yourself of who God is and of what he has done for you. It is so important to spend time in prayer, talking with God. If we are going to worship him, we need to know him deeply and personally…it’s not enough to just know about him, and the only way to know him deeply and personally is to spend time with him.
Some of us are or will be involved in publicly leading God’s people to worship him through song, through Bible reading, through prayer, through preaching…how can we genuinely worship him, and lead others to do the same, if we aren’t actually investing the time to know him deeply and personally ourselves?
Friends, I know this is confronting stuff…in fact, I hope it’s convicting stuff! Can you imagine what our church would look like if everyone truly worshipped God out of a deep and personal relationship with him?
Hopefully, you want to be part of that, which means that this has to start with us.
In order to worship God, we first need to know who he is. We need to know deeply and personally that he is worthy of ALL our praise, honour, and glory.
As we get to know him, how do we then worship him?
To answer some of the questions I asked at the beginning, worship is more than just what we do on a Sunday. It’s more than simply singing songs. And it is something that everyone does, no matter your gifts or abilities. In the words of the Heidelberg Catechism, our worship of the one, true, and living God is for us to be heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.
In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul writes 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.”
Romans 12:1
Worship is an all-of-life activity.
There is no moment in time when we are not worshipping. Even sleeping is an act of worship.
In Psalm 3, King David writes:
“I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.”
Psalm 3:5-6
For David, and for us, sleeping can be seen as a sign of trusting in God. That’s not to say that if you can’t sleep, you don’t have enough trust, but that’s a whole other topic.
How are we to worship God?
We are to worship him with our whole lives, even with our sleep.
So, what does that kind of worship look like?
It looks like us wholeheartedly giving him our everything.
Australian Olympic silver medallist in high jump, Nicola Olyslagers was quoted at the 2024 Paris Olympics as saying, “My worship might not be my singing, it’s in my feet jumping over a bar.”
She worships God who has given her an incredible ability to jump by giving her all and doing it wholeheartedly. She’s giving him her best…she’s giving him her all, and that’s what God wants from each of us.
When the Israelites in the Old Testament offered sacrifices, there were very specific guidelines regarding what they could bring. They had to bring their best…the cream of the crop…the pure…the spotless…the unblemished…the ones that were worth the most. Sacrificing their best was the act of worship that God desired.
Praise God, we don’t have to sacrifice animals to him anymore as our act of worship.
However, instead, he wants us to give him ourselves…our lives—the best that we can offer—not the leftovers…not the breadcrumbs…not what’s convenient.
Because if that’s all we’re giving him as our worship, are we truly worshipping him?
So, when you think about your approach to work…to study…to relationships with your parents, spouse, siblings, kids…
When you think about your approach to hobbies…whether that’s sport or music or art or something else…
When you think about your approach to meeting with your church family on Sundays or during the week…
When you think about how you serve on the tech team or music team or kids team or any other serving team…
How are you worshipping God in those moments?
Is it with your best? Is it with everything you have?
If it is, then those around you will be able to tell.
How would others rate you if you were to ask, “Hey, on a scale of 1-10, how wholeheartedly would you say that I am worshipping God with my life…with how I live?”
What would their response be?
You weren’t created first and foremost to love your spouse or kids. You weren’t created first and foremost to excel at your job. You weren’t created first and foremost to make the most of what this life has to offer.
You and I were created first and foremost to worship God. We were created first and foremost to live our lives…our WHOLE lives…as a living sacrifice. This means that we were created to live, not for ourselves, but for God. We were created first and foremost to live lives that are holy and pleasing to him. This is what true worship is.
In the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, we’re asked.
“What is the chief end of man?”
And the answer is, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
Worshipping God means glorifying him and enjoying him forever, and that starts now.
When you enjoy something, you don’t just sit or stand around with a blank look on your face. No! You express your enjoyment!
When you’re enjoying that first hot cup of coffee on a cold morning, do you just sit there, deadpan? I imagine there’s a peaceful smile on your face and maybe you even let out a, “Mmmm”, as you sit there enjoying your coffee.
When you’re enjoying a good piece of music, do you just sit there and stare into space? Chances are, you’re moving along rhythmically to the beat or you’re tapping along. You express your enjoyment.
So how do you express your enjoyment of God? As you worship him and glorify him, what does it look like for you to enjoy him?
I think that sometimes we can overthink things…and we end up flipping things the wrong way around. We think it’s totally fine to get excited and be able to shout and scream when supporting our team at a sporting match…we think it’s fine to sing at the top of our lungs no matter how out of tune we might be and to dance the night away at a concert, but when it comes to singing praise to God, we stand with hands by our side…barely smiling as we “worship” the one we call creator…the one we call Father…the one we call Saviour. Doesn’t that all seem a bit backwards? No sporting match or concert comes close to being as worthy as he is of our wholehearted praise and adoration.
When I sing of God’s goodness and greatness…when I sing of the salvation I have because of Jesus, my heart is so filled with joy and gratitude that I cannot help but smile. I cannot help but smile and sing passionately of who God is and what he has done for me. Some like to lift their hands in praise, while others prefer to kneel and bow down before the one they worship. There are so many ways we can express our worship.
A previous pastor of mine used to express his enjoyment of God pretty much every time we ate something. He’d say something like, “How amazing is it that God created such incredible flavours and gave us tastebuds to enjoy them!” He’d say, “As Christians, we get to enjoy food so much more than those who don’t know God. How cool is that?!”
That’s worship! That’s expressing reverence and adoration for God, the creator, our heavenly Father.
This is what we have been created to do with every breath and in every moment of our lives. We have been created to worship.
