Spirit & Truth: A Theology of Worship - 4

Part 4/5 - Responses: Worship that pleases God

Review -

God has REVEALED Himself -

Worship starts with a revelation of who God is

God has called us into RELATIONSHIP-

Worship can only be offered and received in the context of relationship. The work of Jesus is essential to new covenant worship.

God is to be REVERED -

Worship always holds a right awareness of the position of God as our loving Father and Holy

God seeks those who will RESPOND in Spirit and Truth.

The heart of worship will always be an encounter with God’s presence.

John 4:23–24 ESV

23 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. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Psalm 42:1–2 LEB

1 As a deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Psalm 27:8 ESV

8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

Psalm 63:1 ESV

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

TREASURING GOD’S PRESENCE AND LORDSHIP

Luke 12:31–34 ESV

31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. 32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

PRESENT YOURSELF

Romans 12:1 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

THANKS, PRAISE, WORSHIP

Psalm 95:1–7 ESV

1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,

A FRAGRANT OFFERING

Revelation 5:8 ESV

8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Revelation 8:3–4 ESV

3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.

Hebrews 13:15 ESV

15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Psalm 100 ESV

A Psalm for giving thanks. 1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

When we consider responses we must hold the previous aspects we talked through to fuel our responses

I MUST SEE GOD - I

I MUST KNOW GOD

I MUST FEAR GOD- His pleasure becomes my desire

In the Bible the two most common words for “worship” are Shachah (Heb) and Proskuneo (Gk). Both these words in the Old and New testaments respectively have at its heart a bowing down and laying down of self in God’s presence.

Before we go further, let’s quickly recap what we discovered as our pathway to worship through the things we saw in the Tabernacle while looking at Jesus.

Blood

Thanksgiving Praise Worship

(What Jesus has done) (What God does) (Who He is)

Thanks for His goodness Praise His Greatness Worship His Holiness

EXPRESSION IN WORSHIP:

SHABACH

Concepts we would associate with this:

Praise, Glory, Triumph, Power, Mercy, Testimony of Greatness, Shout unto God, Boast

Psalm 47:1, Psalm 145:4, Isaiah 12:6, Psalm 117:1,

The essence of what this kind of worship demands is a shouting like a crazy person for our favorite sports team.

However, when we are in church gatherings it somehow feels inappropriate and we occasionally muster up a voice to

shout “Jesus” or “Hallelujah” or “Praise the Lord”. I can be excited and shout out “touchdown” or “goal” when the

Steelers or Penguins score but find it difficult to bring that same intensity to a time of worship. Again, the goal is not

faking or recreating intensity, it is bringing an inside-out response to revelation.

2b. HALAL

Concepts we would associate with this:

Celebrate, Boast, Clamour, Rave, Shining, “Hallelujah”

Psalm 22:22, Psalm 35:18, Psalm 111:1,

You can see why the word hallelujah is often said with a shout. A ‘halal’ is not a mild mannered word for praise. It is

full of energy and enthusiasm! To hallal–yehovah is to be excited about Him and what he is doing and has done. In

these examples above, we see a trend. Part of the definition of hallal is “to boast”. Boasting is only possible if other

people are around you hear what is being said. In the congregation – among the throngs of people – to my brothers

– in the assembly of the upright... all of this suggests that a hallal is a corporate form of worship.

2c. GUWL

Concepts we would associate with this:

Rejoice, spin, outburst of joy

Psalm 9:14, Psalm 2:11, Psalm 13:5

This kind of worship is more a physical response that anything else. It is often accompanied with a shabach or halal.

It is part of the act of going nuts about God. It is interesting to note that God rejoices in the same way over His

children.

2d. ZAMAR

Concepts we would associate with this:

Sing with instruments, play the strings, break out the music

Psalm 150, Psalm 95, Genesis 4:21

This kind of worship involves instruments. God loves music! He loves it when we bring a song of praise and worship

with music. David found his times with the Lord to yield many creations of instruments of worship used in the Davidic

tabernacle, some of which are in use even today. What is striking about this kind of worship is that it all began with a

guy called Jubal, a son of Lamech through Cain, whom God blessed with the gifting to discover music. Isn’t just like

God to bring restoration and blessing to the unfavored. His name also happens to be the root word meaning a blast

of the trumpet, where “Jubiliee” springs from, a feast of freedom and celebration which God institutes for His people

many years later.

2e. BARAK

Concepts we would associate with this:

Reverence, adoration, bless, extol a virtue, kneeling

Whenever Barak is translated as praise, the immediate difference is seen to be the physical act of kneeling in

worship. Usually, we associate kneeling with prayer, but in this next scripture, we see a difference made between the

two.

Psalm 72: 15 And He shall live; And the gold of Sheba will be given to Him; Prayer also will be made for Him

continually, And daily He shall be praised.

2f. YADAH

Concepts we would associate with this:

“Pick me Up” with outstretched hands, Wringing of hands in desperate need, confessing trust, revere with

dependence

Genesis 29:35, Psalm 28:7, Psalm 42:5

If you have ever had children, you have seen it. Perhaps you have just come home and walked through the front

door when you hear those little feet shuffling towards you. As you round the corner you see that little one, and that

little one sees you! You smile at each other as he or she runs that baby run toward you, probably calling your name

and stops at your feet, arms extended, wanting to be picked up in the loving comfort of your arms.

If you’ve never had children, you still know what it’s like, because you were once a child and were the one doing the

reaching! Maybe you were thinking, “Here I am! Come over here! I love you! Get me out of this playpen!”

Did you know that one of the Hebrew words for praise is just like that parent / child moment? The word is Yadah.

Here it is defined:

Yadah – yaw-daw – to worship with the extended hand. The giving of oneself in worship and adoration. To lift your

hands unto the Lord. It carries the meaning of absolute surrender as a young child goes to a parent. – “pick me up,

I’m all yours.” A primitive root; used only as denominative; literally, to use (i.e. hold out) the hand; physically, to throw

(a stone, an arrow) at or away; especially to revere or worship (with extended hands); intensively, to bemoan (by

wringing the hands):

So the main definition of yadah is to offer yourself completely, as a child does to a parent.

2g. TOWDAH

Concepts we would associate with this:

Sacrifice of thanksgiving, thanks before the breakthrough, Recalling the covenant, Declaration of faith

Jeremiah 33:11, Psalm 50:23,

“You are under arrest. Come out with your hands up.”

This is a commonly heard phrase on police drama programs. Hopefully that is the only place we have heard it! At any

rate, we all know what it means. If we hear this, we must agree with the officer, lift our hands and do as the officer

says... or suffer the consequences.

There is a word for praise that is similar to this. The word is towdah. Here is a definition:

Towdah – to-daw -To give worship by the extension of the hand in adoration or agreeing with what has been done or

will be. This word is commonly found in connection with sacrifice-applying the giving of thanks or praise as a

sacrifice before reception or manifestation. Thanking God for something that I don’t have in the natural. Agreeing

with His Word – faith in His Word.

Okay, you got me. Maybe being under arrest is not the best example for a towdah, but I wanted to stress the

agreement aspect. When you lift your hands in an arrest, you are surrendering your will, whether you fully

understand the situation at hand or not, the proper thing to do is to submit to the authority. You are sacrificing your

freedom and agreeing with the words spoken.

When offering a towdah to God, we are accepting His Word as truth just because we know that it is true.

2h. TEHILLAH

Words we would associate with this:

Break into spontaneous song, a new song, public praise, exuberance, spiritual songs

Psalm 22:3, 1 Chron 20 , Psalm 40:3, Psalm 34:1, Psalm 66:2

Have you ever just burst into song unexpectedly? Most of us have at some point and it might have been something

silly, but it must’ve been a moment worth singing about. In worship we are faced with a God who is always worthy

and always surprising us with new stuff. This calls for a new song! This does not mean polishing off the old classic

“Sing unto the Lord a new song”....it literally means “sing a new song about Who you are seeing”. Ephesians calls this

“...spiritual songs, making melody in your heart”.

Tehillah -teh-hil-law- to sing, to laud. A spontaneous new song. Singing from a melody in your heart by adding words

to it. This refers to a special kind of singing. It is singing unprepared, unrehearsed songs. To sing whatever comes

to mind as a praise to God.

This type of singing is not likely to be found at the top of the charts or on many albums. Man has become cultured

and refined. Our music has to be just so. Songs are written and re-written and recorded and re-recorded until the

finished product is flawless. There is a place for excellence and God appreciated it as much as we do when we do

our best for him... but he also loves the tehillah! In fact, the word says that this is the type of praise that God

inhabits.

2i. SAHAR - Seek after early, earnestness

Ps 63:1, Is 26:9,