Worship Service

When I say "worship", what comes to your mind this Sunday morning? Most of us think of "singing". That's the "worship time". There are, of course, other components to our Sunday morning church service. There are, typically, announcements and a sermon and the mandatory taking of the offering. But we generally think of "worship" as the part where we sing praises to God. Of course, that's our definition, not God's definition. Here's what Jesus said:

"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24).

True worship, then, in God's eyes is necessarily "in spirit and truth". Genuine worship occurs in the spirit and entails truth.

Okay ... that doesn't define worship. It does lay out necessary parameters. Worship, in the English language, is essentially when we acknowledge something or someone as greater than ourselves. It is when we assign worth to that which is worshiped, a worth that includes the necessity for obedience, fear, and adoration. In light of Jesus's words on the topic and the standard English definition, then, it would seem that our quick idea of "singing" as "worship" is short-sighted. It would seem, instead, that genuine worship occurs wherever you may be when you assign to God the worth that He is due. You may do it when you obey. You may do it when you share the Gospel. In a church service, it would occur when someone shares what God is doing in that church (you may call it "announcements" or the like, but that's what it is) and when you sing to the Lord and when the pastor preaches and when you give your tithes and offerings. All of that is worship if you do it in the spirit and it entails truth. All of that is worship if you make it so.

The real question of worship is ... what is God worth? If He is of the ultimate worth as we say we believe, then it would follow that worship would begin on Sunday morning when we get out of bed. It would continue through breakfast with the family. It would keep going when you're all getting ready for church and driving over there. Worship would be going on in the way you address people, in the attitude of the heart as you wait for the service to start. It would proceed through announcements because it is about what God is doing and be lifted up in song because it is about God's supreme value and be lifted even higher when the pastor lays out the Word for you to hear because it is God's Word. It would be present in the response of giving back to God of what He has given you in the form of tithes and offerings. (I would think, in fact, that the entire process and content of giving would change if it is with a view to the worth of God.) It would even continue beyond as you interact with others, eat a meal with friends and family, reflect on a day of rest from the hand of God. Indeed, Sunday (or any other day) would not be your own. It would belong to God.

True worship is performed when we assign to God the worth He deserves. We do it in spirit. It requires truth. And it occurs at any moment of any day. Genuine worship results in obedience, fear, reverence, and adoration. Every church service should be a worship service from beginning to end. Today is a day of worship.