“But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
-Jesus (John 4:23-24 MSG)
We can see all around us that humanity is almost inclined to worship - and it happens without us even realizing it! To name just a few things we love to show our utmost devotion to: we worship celebrities, football teams, money, our phones, our spouses or significant others, and political parties.
How to worship seems to be woven into is. Regardless of our religion, we all worship something.
I’ve been a part of the Church my whole life, where we claim to worship the God of Israel as revealed in Jesus Christ. I’ve been a “worship leader” for 10 years or so now. What I’ve seen is that the Church likely has a few misconceptions about what worship is and what it isn’t. Unfortunately, these misunderstandings can have huge implications for how we live our lives.
Misconception #1: Worship is only about music and singing.
Usually, when Christians hear the word worship, we think it’s synonymous with singing or music. That’s for good reason, but singing is not really what the word ‘worship’ was intended to mean. The first place we find worship of any sort (defined as showing specific acts of adoration or devotion to God) in Scripture is not until Genesis 4, where Cain and Abel bring offerings to the Lord. You can read it - there’s no music (as far as we know)! Music doesn’t really show up as worship in the scriptures until Exodus 15, when Moses sings a song after God rescues His people out of slavery in Egypt and through the Red Sea. Surely there was worship of God happening before this, right? What was worship actually supposed to be? How did the first people of God worship God?
The Scriptures are pretty clear that the way Israel was to worship God was to obey God and serve God.
Revolutionary.
Actually, the Hebrew words that we translate into the word English 'worship' are actually two verbs that meant ‘to bow down’ and ‘to serve.’ Worship in the mind of the Israelites meant submitting to God’s authority and being obedient and faithful to His rule. They didn’t worship God by singing a song - they worshipped God by actually doing what God said to do! Today, we tend to think worship means singing songs, when it actually means nothing less than the surrender of our entire lives to God.
Jesus said that true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). Spirit and truth are two things that very much transcend music or words. They require your whole honest being, your whole mind, your whole presence. Worship is clearly more about the condition of your heart and spirit than about your taste in music or your singing voice. (That’s good news, I think!) Jesus seems to suggest that many people pretend that they are worshipping God; however, the Lord sees their hearts and lives - He knows that which is truthful worship.
Misconception #2: Worship happens only on Sunday (and definitely only in a church building). If worship is about our whole lives, then where or when aren’t qualifiers. Jesus doesn’t say true worshippers worship ‘in the temple’ or ‘on Sunday.’ He just says they worship in spirit and truth. That’s all. This means you can worship anywhere. To us, maybe this isn't so revolutionary. We mostly get this part. But to Jesus' Jewish audience, it was life-altering, even hard to believe. And this is exactly the point he was trying to make to the Samaritan woman on John 4. The Samaritans didn’t believe everything exactly as the Jews did - they had a few different religious views, which had caused a nasty split between their people groups. The woman said to Jesus “well, the Jews say everyone has to worship in Jerusalem…” and Jesus said, in essence, “well actually, God just desires people who will worship in Spirit and truth. Because a time is coming when God’s presence will be everywhere, not just in the temple in Jerusalem!” Jesus is foreshadowing His sacrificial death that would change everything - that would flood the whole earth with the presence of God. All that to say: worship doesn’t just happen on one day or in one place because God’s presence is everywhere and the earth is His temple now. Indeed, Paul says that we are His temples (1 Cor. 3, 6)! The Psalms consistently use the imagery that the world is God’s temple. One example is Psalm 29, where the author is calling all creation to worship God – the waters, the trees, the desert, the forest - and then at the end it says “And in his temple all cry, “Glory!” If the whole earth is God’s temple, what does that mean for worship? The early Christians understood what this meant. The physical temple was the place they had to go to be in the presence of God and to worship in prayer or with offerings. But now, God’s presence fills the whole earth! We don’t have to go to the temple to worship – our whole lives can be lived in the presence of God, surrendered to Him and worshipping Him. If we’re all living in God’s temple, everything that we do can be worship of God. Worship is a lifestyle choice. It’s not just singing and music, but worship can also be working, gardening, leading cities, changing diapers, running businesses, and developing culture and art and literature. This is what humans were created to do and we were created to do it all to bring glory to God!
Tragically, Christians think that when Sunday is over, worship is over. No way! Worship is meant to take place in our cubicles, in our cars, and in our kitchens. All of it is meant to be worship when we’re surrendered and obedient to God. Martin Luther put it this way a few hundred years ago: “The idea that the service to God should have only to do with a church altar, singing, reading, sacrifice, and the like is without doubt but the worst trick of the devil. How could the devil have led us more effectively astray than by the narrow conception that service to God takes place only in church and by works done therein… The whole world could abound with services to the Lord…not only in churches but also in the home, kitchen, workshop, field.” Paul puts it this way: “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father” (Col. 3:15-17). Worship is about our whole lives.
Misconception #3: God needs our worship. A.W. Tozer famously said that “what comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.” It’s crucial that we know that God is complete, perfect, and good. He didn’t create humankind so that he could have a bunch of creatures who would worship Him or serve Him because He just couldn’t go on on His own. He’s not so full of Himself that He desperately needed to be worshipped by someone. He’s not currently just hoping someone will sing to Him today and remind Him who He is because He forgot. There is nothing that God lacks, and God doesn’t need our worship. However, it would seem that we (humans) do need worship. Like I mentioned earlier, worship is in our DNA. Somewhere in us we know that we were wired to do it and that something calls us to it. Psalm 148 is a beautiful Psalm that tell us that all of creation is called to worship God. Worship is fundamentally part of all the created order. It’s built into everything we see – the sun and moon and stars and the snow and lightning and trees and hills and birds - and also humans (see Psalm 148). All of God’s creation has this innate need to worship Him and that worship (serving God daily with our whole being) is the life that calls to us, satisfies us, strengthens us, and brings meaning to our days. God doesn’t need worship, I need worship. I’m called to it. And it’s in service and submission to God that I find out who I truly am. God doesn’t need your worship, but He deserves our worship. In Revelation we get John’s vision of the worship in Heaven: “Day and night the creatures never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come” (Rev. 4). If you believe in Jesus and have surrendered your life to His Way, we can be confident that we will worship God forever in eternity with Him. I’ve often heard people say “I just can’t wait until we get to Heaven for the giant never-ending church service.” I cringe. It’s true that Heaven will be filled with never-ending worship of God, but I’m 98% certain it’s not a never-ending church service forever (thank You Lord!) That’s a very narrow view of what worship actually is. Worship is so much more than music. A much more biblically accurate picture would be to say that each of us will continue to worship and serve Jesus for eternity in God’s presence in all the ways and work that bring us joy! What if we viewed our whole lives as an opportunity to worship? What would happen if Christians around the world actually realized that every moment is filled with the opportunity to worship a God deserving of nothing less than my entire life as worship? I think this could change the world...(pretty sure this was God's plan!) and allow God’s will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Let’s be true worshippers.
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