I. What is Worship?

A. Worship is not:

1. About being Entertained

Hebrews 13:15 (KJV)
¹⁵ By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

2. About Being seen

Amos 5:21-24 (KJV)
²¹  I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will no delight in your solemn assemblies.
²²  Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. ²³ Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
²⁴  But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

3. About Being Blessed

Job 1:20-22 (KJV)
²⁰ Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, ²¹ And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. ²² In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

B. Worship is:

Worship is about a God-centered devotion expressed in various ways. C. H. Macintosh says “worship is simply telling out, in the presence of God, what He is, and what He has done. It is the heart occupied with and delighting in God and in his marvelous acting in ways.” Worship can be expressed in various ways such as through music (Psalms 150), prayer (Psalms 5), giving (Matthew 2:11) and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s supper (Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 22:14- 20).

1. Dedication to the Lord (worship is a lifestyle) Could there be a greater act of worship that presenting yourself as a living sacrifice to your God? Worship is an expression of God’s worth to you. It says to the Lord that “He means more to you than your own self.” You are more precious to me than my own life. Thus, worship is about God, not us.

Romans 12:1-3 (KJV)
¹  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
²  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
³  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

2. Letting the Word Dwell Richly and Glorifying God in Our Heart Worship is not about one’s culture, but theology. The theology of worship ought to determine the practice of worship. The pages of Scripture teaches how we are to derive our theology of worship. So, the content of worship comes from the Bible, while the goal of worship is to praise God.

Colossians 3:16-17 (KJV)
¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
¹⁷ And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

3. Obeying God Completely

True worship assumes that only God is worthy of worship. The premise is that God is God, not man. This means man should obey God. All mistakes about worship are mistakes about God. If people would acknowledge God as God, and recognize that they are his creatures, they would be well on the way to true worship, which is obedience.

Romans 1:18-25 (KJV)
¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
¹⁹ Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. ²⁰ For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: ²¹ Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²² Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, ²³ And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. ²⁴ Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: ²⁵ Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

II. Biblical Examples of Worship

A. Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord

Isaiah 6:1-8 (KJV)
¹ In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. ² Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. ³ And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. ⁴ And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
⁵ Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. ⁶ Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: ⁷ And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. ⁸ Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

B. Jacob’s Wrestling Match with God

Genesis 32:22-32 (KJV)
²² And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. ²³ And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. ²⁴ And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵ And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. ²⁶ And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. ²⁷ And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. ²⁸ And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. ²⁹ And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. ³⁰ And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.³¹ And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. ³² Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.

C. The Apostle Paul’s Conversion

Acts 9:1-9 (KJV)
¹ And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,² And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. ³ And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: ⁴ And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” ⁵ And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” ⁶ And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” ⁷ And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. ⁸ And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. ⁹ And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

III. Disciplines of Worship

A. Focusing and Responding to God Whitney defines worship as “to ascribe to the proper worth of God, to magnify his worthiness of praise, or better, to approach and address God as he is worthy.” To do this properly there must be focus and response. In other words, we must think. This is done through knowledge of God’s word. To sum this up the author states, “worship is the God- centered focus in response of the inner man; it is being preoccupied with God.”

Revelation 4:8 (KJV)
⁸  And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV)
¹⁶  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

B. Done in spirit and in truth God’s spirit is required in order to worship him in spirit and in truth. As stated by Whitney, “having the Holy Spirit residing within does not guarantee that will worship him in spirit and in truth, but it does mean we can.” This means that worship is to be done with the heart as well as with the head.

John 4:23-24 (KJV)
²³ But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
²⁴ God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth

1 Corinthians 12:3 (KJV)
³ Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

C. Expected Both Privately and Publicly The Bible is clear that we are to worship God in private, among ourselves, and in public, before mankind. The assembling of the saints is centered on the notions of encouragement through worship. This will develop a lifestyle of worship that remains even within the scope of the personal privacy.

Hebrews 10:23-25 (KJV)
²⁴ And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
²⁵ Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Luke 5:16 (KJV)
¹⁶  And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

D. True Worship Must be Cultivated

How can Worship be Cultivated?

The true worship of God is accomplished by the following criteria:

first, it comes from the redeemed heart of a man or woman who has been justified before God by faith and who is trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins. How can one worship the God of heaven if his sin has not been dealt with? Never can that worship be acceptable that comes from an un-generated heart where Satan, self & the world rules in that person’s life (2 Timothy 2:26; 1 John 2:15). Any worship, other than from a “washed” heart, is vein.

Second, true worship of God comes from a heart that desires Him alone. What is it that absorbs all our will, our time, our resources? Is it careers, material possessions, money, health, even our families? Nothing less than God should satisfy the heart of the believer that has been regenerated.

Third, true worship of God is the desire to continue to build up our knowledge of God. It seems that in these days we have lost that desire. Apart from the Bible, which we should be reading daily, we need to supplement our knowledge by reading other good books, too. We need to fill our minds consistently with the things of God; God should always be on our mind, and everything we do should be done with reference to Him (Colossians 3:17; 1 Corinthians 10:31). It is interesting that the Greek word for “worship” in Romans 12:1 can also mean “service.” So, our daily lives should be considered as worship. Every day we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1)

Let us purify our hearts if we really want to worship the triune God in spirit and in truth. God will not share us with other objects of our affection. He is a Holy God who will not share us because of his holiness. We were made to be creatures who worship, but the fall has crippled and ruined us. Worship is the most natural thing for man but until we are restored to God through the sacrifice of his dear son, then all our worship is in vain. (gotquestions.com)