Theology of Worship

Opening Story

Donald Whitney tells an interesting story of a childhood birthday of his. It is perfect for explaining and introducing what we do usually when it comes to worship.

One of the saddest experiences of my childhood happened on my tenth birthday. Invitations to the celebration were mailed days in advance to eight friends. It was going to be my best birthday ever. They all came to my house right after school. We played football and basketball outside until dark. My dad grilled hot dogs and hamburgers while my mother put the finishing touches on the birthday cake. After we had eaten all the icing and ice cream and most of the cake, it was time for the presents. Honestly, I can’t recall even one of the gifts today, but I do remember the great time I was having with the guys who gave them to me. Since I had no brothers, the best part of the whole event was just being with the other boys.

The climax of this grand celebration was a gift from me to them. Nothing was too good for my friends. Cost was immaterial. I was going to pay their way to the most exciting event in town—the high school basketball game. I can still see us spilling out of my parents’ station wagon with laughter on that cool evening and running up to the gymnasium. Standing at the window, paying for nine 25-cent tickets and surrounded by my friends—it was one of those simple but golden moments in life. The picture in my mind was the perfect ending to a ten-year-old boy’s perfect birthday. Four friends on one side and four friends on the other, I would sit in the middle while we munched popcorn, punched each other, and cheered our high school heroes. As we went inside, I remember feeling happier than Jimmy Stewart in the closing scene of It’s a Wonderful Life.

Then the golden moment was shattered. Once in the gym, all my friends scattered and I never saw them again the rest of the night. There was no thanks for the fun, the food, or the tickets. Not even a “Happy Birthday, but I’m going to sit with someone else.” Without a word of gratitude or goodbye, they all left without looking back. So I spent the rest of my tenth birthday in the bleachers by myself, growing old alone. As I recall, it was a miserable ball game.

I tell that story, not to gain sympathy for a painful childhood memory, but because it reminds me of the way we often treat God in worship. Though we come to an event where He is the Guest of Honor, it is possible to give Him a routine gift, sing a few customary songs to Him, and then totally neglect Him while we focus on others and enjoy the performance of those in front of us. Like my ten-year-old friends, we may leave without any twinge of conscience, without any awareness of our insensitivity, convinced we have fulfilled an obligation well.

What Worship Is

What is worship? This is a good question that all believers need to be able to answer. To be sure, worship is not just singing songs before a sermon on Sunday morning. Worship is also more than the sermon and more than prayers to God. Yes, worship is all of this but so much more. As Patterson has written, “worship was a verb, something you did” (1.4). Granted, each of the events listed above is something one does; these are ritual methods used to convey worship to God (Patterson 1.4).

These are actions that one does to worship, but they are not worship. Worship is a position that one is in before the Almighty God of heaven and earth. This position is of a prostrate, bowed down, self or heart before God. The singing, preaching, and prayer rituals are how one worships, but they are not precisely worshiping themselves. Bob Kauflin, a worship leader, has stated that worship, i.e., music, is done to help people “connect with the purpose for which they were created” (Kauflin Ch. 1, location 202, par. 1).

Worship is connecting one with their creator. It is so because it places one in their proper position before God. Music and many other mediums are used to place people in this position, but true worship is found in the position one is in before God. “To worship God is to ascribe the proper worth to God, to magnify His worthiness of praise, or better, to approach and address God as He is worthy.” (Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 87)

Defending What Worship Is

The defense of this belief comes from three interconnected Scriptures. These are found in Isaiah 45:23, Romans 14:11, and Philippians 2:10. Each of these verses shows that “every knee shall bow” (English Standard Version Isa. 45:23; Cf. Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:10). As Bob Wilkin has stated about this, “If you bow before God, you are worshiping Him” (Wilkin). This comment echoes what Patterson said that worship, as described by the Old Testament Hebrew word, means “a bowing down,” and the New Testament word means “to serve” (1.4). Bowing and serving before the Lord is what worship is. The texts from Isaiah, Romans, and Philippians state this, but several other Scriptures support this belief.

In Revelation 4, one sees the twenty-four elders fall before God in worship to Him (4:10). The word for worship here is proskyneō, which means “to express in attitude or gesture one’s complete dependence on or submission to a high authority figure” (BDAG 882). This high authority figure is none other than God the Father, as the verses leading up to this verse make very clear.

Interestingly, before Revelation 4 mentions the elders’ worship, it speaks of four living creatures and their worship. It says, “day and night they never cease to” worship God (Rev. 4:8). This is not just something that is done periodically; no, it is always done. This is done because they are bowing before God in awe and wonder of His glory. They are worshipping Him always. One can only do this if they are bowed before God in humble humility.

In the Old Testament, one sees the same concept of worship. It is found in 1 Chronicles 16 and Psalms 29 and Psalm 100. In 1 Chronicles, one sees that all are to ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name (1 Chronicles 16:28-29). Not only is this seen, but the chronicler also wrote that one is to “Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness…” (v. 29).

The word for worship here is the Hebrew word šāḥā. This word means “bow down, prostrate oneself, before a monarch or superior, in homage” (BDB 1005). This same word is seen in Psalm 29, “worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness” (29:2). It could read that “fall before and prostrate yourself before the Lord God.” This is worship. This is giving the honor and glory that is due to the one to which it is due.

Psalm 100 takes a different spin on worship. It speaks of the servitude before the Lord that all should have. Although a psalm of thanksgiving to the Lord, that does not remove the reason for worship. By being a psalm of thanksgiving, it enhances the reason for worship. It states that one is to “Serve the Lord with gladness!” (100:2).

One serves the Lord with gladness because they are thankful to Him. This word serve, ʿā·ḇǎḏ, can mean “expend considerable energy and intensity in a task or function” and “be a slave, be indentured… serve, minister, work in ministry, i.e., give energy and devotion to God or a god, including ceremonies” (Swanson). To serve the Lord is to worship the Lord. This demonstrates an active commitment to the Lord. It is being in a state of humble, heart bowed, submission before God.

Feelings Do not Change What Worship Is

One’s feelings should not hinder whether they worship God or not. As Peterson wrote, “Feelings are great liars. If Christians worshipped only when they felt like it, there would be precious little worship” (54). Although this is agreeable, a Christian should always feel like worshipping God. If one is worshipping God, through service, with their entirety, they will worship God whether they feel like it or not.

This is said because if one has their heart always bowed before the Lord, worship cannot help but shoot forth from them. Patterson states that the ones worshipping are the performers before God (2.4). This, then, makes God the audience. As performers, one must not simply show up and try to perform once a week. No, one must practice and constantly seek to bring glory to God. Patterson makes this very clear when he says, “Because we are the performers, we must come prepared” (3.4).

This, though, takes considerable work to accomplish. One must diligently seek to honor God daily. One must be like the four living creatures of Revelation. They must never cease to worship God. As that text implies, one must have God on their minds constantly in continual praise to Him. Worship is work, but the work is being done for an Almighty and amazing God. As Bob Wilkin said, “every time you sing or raise your hands or listen to God’s Word being taught, you should spiritually bow your heart before the Lord” because “All worship grows from the person who bows before God, whether literally or spiritually or both” (Wilkin).

Worship is not just the ritualistic mode that accompanies all church services. True worship is wholehearted, reverent, obedient, and truth-led lives for the Lord. One worships God when they live as He desires His creatures to live. Just as Christ said, “If you love me you will keep my commands” (John. 14:15). Worship is loving God and obediently serving God in all parts of one’s life. “Since worship is focusing on and responding to God, regardless of what else we are doing we are not worshiping if we are not thinking about God.” (Whitney, 88)

Works Cited

Arndt, William, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature. 3rd Ed. University of Chicago Press, 2000

Brown, Francis, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs. Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Hendrickson, 1977

Kauflin, Bob. Worship Matters. Kindle ed., Crossway books, 2008.

Patterson, Ben. “Worship as Performance.” Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. 1981.

Peterson, Eugene H. “Worship: Let’s Go to the House of God.” A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. Np., Nd.

Swanson, James. Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament). Logos Research Systems, 1997.

The Holy Bible. English Standard Version. Crossway, 2001.

Wilkin, Bob. “Worship Isn’t What You Think (Mark 15:19).” Grace Evangelical Society, 27 Aug. 2019, https://faithalone.org/blog/worship-isnt-what-you-think-mark-1519/. Accessed 9 Dec. 2019.

Whitney, Donald S. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.