What is Worship?

If you are looking for the broadest definition of worship when it comes to the Christian faith it is summed up in this way, “To glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Scripture teaches us that this is what human beings were created for, so we will find our fullest selves and enjoyment in life when we are fulfilling this purpose.

There is a more specific type of Christian worship which is centered around music and singing specifically. It is often called “Praise and Worship”; this is when Christians gather together, usually on Sunday mornings, and sing songs to God, praising him. One author describes it this way, “Worship is the activity of glorifying God in his presence with our voices and hearts.” W. Grudem Systematic Theology. Although the goal is to worship God with our whole lives, there is also a very important and wonderful part of worship that includes gathering with other believers and singing with our mouths and hearts words that praise God and give him glory.

In the first book of the Bible we read that God met with a man named Abraham and told him He would make his descendants into a great nation, and that he would be their God. It’s not until over 400 years when we get to the second book of the bible, Exodus, do we find that God has made Israel (the descendants of Abraham) a great nation as he promised. But they are slaves in Egypt. God tells Moses that he wants to free his people so that they can worship him (Exodus 7:16b). It is through this incredible saga that we read of the very first worship songs ever written to God. The people praise God with singing for the mighty works he has done in bringing them out of Egypt.

From that point on singing worship songs to God is regularly seen in the Bible. In fact there is an entire book of the Bible that is purely songs called the book of Psalms. There we find some of the most beautiful songs to God ever written.

Then we come to the New Testament, and specifically after Pentecost when the Church is born, the fulfillment of what God is calling his people to. We read this command,

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16

Put very simply, there are two main reasons that are intertwined. The first is because God is worthy of our worship. Meaning all that he is, his greatness, power, perfect, beauty, majesty and all of his works merit praise and worship. God deserves all the glory. As the church gathers together praises, we are essentially saying, “God, you are worthy of all glory and we are not.”

The second main reason is that as groups of Christians gather together and sing songs that worship God, we are practicing a manifestation of a heavenly reality. Multiple places in scripture we read about what is going on in heaven all the time. We see it in the most detail in the book of Revelation, there is a vision given to the Apostle John of the throne room of heaven and the worship that happens there. We are told that day and night, night and day God is being worshiped in the massive unimaginably beautiful “church service”. Angels and saints all sing of God’s worthiness, glory, power and honor. When the people of God (the Church) come together to sing also, we are reflecting the worship of heaven. This is a wonderful and glorious thing.

It is a common misconception that “heaven” is a place in fluffy white clouds with chubby cherubs floating around, playing harps. Where we’ll go and float around and sing, playing harps too, forever. No wonder some people think heaven sounds boring! This is not at all the picture the Bible gives us of eternity. It is simply a made up misunderstanding based on old paintings and movies perhaps. Scripture is clear that one day Jesus will come again and restore the earth to God’s original design. No more pain or tears, no evil. Only goodness, beauty and perfection. There will still be a city, and jobs for us to do. That being said there will be continuous worship of God and likely that will include singing all together. This will be a wonderful experience beyond what we can imagine now. When Christians come together and sing songs to God, we are expressing a foreshadow of eternity!

Jesus said to his followers, “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.” John 4:23

Over the past thousands of years worship songs have varied greatly, culture to culture they also vary. In the more recent past, as in maybe 50-100 years ago, people have gotten caught up arguing what styles of music are acceptable as “worship”. Not too long ago some denominations had insisted that it was only acceptable to have an organ playing. Some only sing acapella. The idea of using drums was initially quite controversial, same with the introduction of electric instruments. The reality is that much of this debate was purely based on preferences and culture. Thankfully most people have moved past this hang up, and recognized that the style of music is not explicitly instructed by God. Funny to think though, that maybe 70 years ago, some people insisted on only singing “old hymns” thinking them to be the most proper form of worship song. When some of those songs were written using the melodies from old bar tunes!

Jesus was clear that the most important thing was that we worship in spirit and in truth. He is far more concerned with our hearts than a specific style of music. Even in the Old Testament God said through one of his prophets, said “And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me,” Isaiah 29:13 Clearly God cares far more about the state of our hearts!

When we give God glory with our voices and our hearts two things happen. We delight in God the way that we were created to. And incredibly, he delights in us! Scripture tells us that we draw near to him and he draws near to us! How wonderful.

You can be a great singer… or not. Know all the words… or not. Sing together… or alone. There are no set rules. No perfect way to worship. God only cares about is your heart. What about you? Are you a true worshipper?Do you want to learn about Jesus? Go to the website Jesus.net, an online library full of articles and videos about the Christian faith. Or you can make it easy. Get an inspiration devotional in your inbox every day by signing up for A Miracle Every Day.