by Abe Kim
I grew up going to church my entire life. In high school, I started getting involved with the praise team and learned how to play guitar. Through the years, I have been involved with music ministry in the church in various capacities. There are many titles used to describe the guy leading the music and singing time during the church service. The title most often used, in my experience, was worship leader. But this title never sat well with me because my understanding of worship from the Bible refers to much more than the music time during a church service or the weekly Sunday gatherings. Certainly there seemed to be a special feeling to the music time, especially at some of my previous church experiences. But God graciously gave me an understanding early on in my faith that worship was more than music or church time.
After becoming a member at LBC, one of the first ministries I joined was the music ministry. Playing music was something I was decently good at, and I enjoyed playing and being part of a team that might produce excellent and beautiful music for the benefit of the church. What I appreciated about the music ministry at LBC was its emphasis on truth. You hear emphasis on truth preached and taught a lot because John 4:24 is a verse many turn to define worship biblically. But in my previous church experiences, truth was often taken for granted and took a back seat to spirit. But at LBC, reading through several books together really helped me cement basic and fundamental truths pertaining to the concept of worship that was biblical and comprehensive. The first, and most impactful, book the Sunday praise team read was John MacArthur’s Ultimate Priority. The re-release of this book in 2012 (titled, Worship: The Ultimate Priority) combined with my desire to address this issue prompted this article. I pray it will correct your understanding of worship where needed, and above all, deepen your worship of the one true God.
My goal with this article is not to be comprehensive. This is not a graduate level thesis on worship. This won’t be a summary of John MacArthur’s book, though all the quotes below are from the 2012 release of Worship: The Ultimate Priority, unless otherwise noted. My ultimate goal is to broaden the view that worship is relegated only to music or Sunday mornings. I intend to show from Scripture a deeper, broader, and fuller definition of worship. But I say this knowing that I can’t address every question or argument. I am just skimming the surface here, but I pray it will be helpful. So let’s ask the basic questions about worship.
WHAT
Worship is the most fundamental purpose of all Christians. The Old Testament often associates worship with bowing down in humility and reverence (Genesis 24:26, Exodus 12:27, Joshua 5:14, Nehemiah 8:6, Job 1:20, Psalm 95:6), ascribing to the Lord His due praise (1 Chronicles 16:29, Psalm 29:2, ), and sacrificing animals at the altar (Genesis 22:5, 1 Samuel 1:3, Isaiah 19:21). The Magi who came to visit the baby Jesus also bowed down to worship the incarnate Son of God (Matthew 2:11). The twenty-four elders sitting around God’s throne worshiped by bowing down (Revelations 11:16).
The general sense in the Bible is that worship testifies to the character of God, particularly His perfect holiness. The only proper response to this testimony in light of our sinful state, and the most common display of worship, is to bow in humility and reverence. MacArthur’s basic definition is stated like this: worship is honor and adoration directed to God (p. 43). Simply put, worship is to give worth and honor to the one deserving of it, to God alone. Other ways it is often phrased in Scripture (and therefore, in church) is to glorify God, to love God, and to treasure God.
WHO
Since worship is defined so broadly, all who love and believe in God must worship God. Jesus, when he talked with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, said Jews and Samaritans worship God, though Jews worship out of their knowledge and Samaritans worship out of their ignorance (John 4:22).
From King David in the palace of Jerusalem to the lowly shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem, from Jews to Gentiles, from male to female, from slave to free, from the high life of New York City to the remote jungles of the Amazon to the villages in China to the plains of Africa, all types and walks of life must worship God. Worship is not reserved for the elite Christians. It is not a task for the music leader. It is the lifestyle that all Christians are called to live.
WHEN
Elkanah and his family, including Hannah, worshiped God early in the morning before leaving the temple (1 Samuel 1:19a). The patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) built altars to God after key encounters with God and worshiped. Much of the call to worship from the Psalms appear to be a continual, present-tense idea. So the bottom line is that worship can be done at any time, but it is particularly done as a natural response to an encounter with the living God. So if you are thinking much of God all the time (as Christians ought to be doing), then you are to worship God all the time.
In John 4, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well that a new age or worship is starting. With Jesus’ arrival and His finished work on the cross, no longer did the redeemed need to approach God after a sacrifice at the altar. The people of God no longer had to wait for an atonement act to take place. The tearing of the veil in the Holiest of Holies signified a new era that allowed full access to God at any time. Because of Jesus, we can truly worship God at any time.
WHERE
The Samaritan woman’s original question to Jesus was regarding where the appropriate location of worship is, at Gerizim or Jerusalem. Her people, the Samaritans, said Gerizim was where God must be worshiped, but she also knew that the Jews said Jerusalem was the location where God must be worshiped. Jesus told the Samaritan woman that neither Jerusalem nor Gerizim are the necessary places for worship. The location doesn’t matter, whether you are a Jew or not, whether you are familiar with the Scriptures or not. That means any and all locations are acceptable places to worship God. The how of worship is the significant issue. As long as that is right, the where is irrelevant.
Having said that, there was a clear pattern set from Israel’s inception as a nation to rest and worship God corporately on the Sabbath. That pattern was turned on its head after Jesus, and Christians met weekly on the first day of the week (Sunday) to remember Jesus’ resurrection. Christians still gather on Sunday to worship God corporately. One day, the Bride of Christ (i.e., all the people of God) will be gathered once and for all to worship God for the rest of eternity.
WHY
John Piper writes in the opening pages of Let the Nations Be Glad that the purpose of missions is worship, that missions exists because worship does not. In other words, the purpose of evangelizing is so that unbelievers would become true worshipers who, having been cleansed by Christ’s redeeming work, are able to approach and worship the one true God.
So why worship God? What is the purpose of worship? Simply put, we should worship God because He is worth the worship. His worthiness is rooted in His being. Jesus assumes that Jews and Samaritans alike ought to worship God. The real question Jesus needed to answer in John 4 was how.
HOW
Jesus’ answer in John 4:23-24 is succinct and complete. Worshipers must worship God in spirit and truth. There are no other ways. Both are necessary components to true worship. No other methods are acceptable. Worship is not limited to intellectual assent to the truths of God in Scripture, though it is not void of accurate doctrine. Worship can’t be defined by a Spirit-led life or zeal for God’s glory, though the emotions and passion are necessary. Worship to the true God is characterized by a Holy Spirit led life completely devoted to a passionate pursuit for God’s glory, undergirded by a biblical worldview and correct theology. The Spirit and the Word are the necessary tools for a truly God-glorifying life. This necessitates a Christ-like humility, a dying to self daily kind of attitude, that God would receive all the glory of all the good in our lives and that we are not living for our own glory or kingdom.
I pray this short article, though not comprehensive, helped in providing a more biblical understanding of worship. May our worship continue to mature and increase because God alone deserves any and all worship in the universe.