Intensity implies energy, vigor, ardor, fervor, passion, zeal. The Bible does not leave us wondering what kind of worship God is aiming at in all his work and word.
Over and over God calls for our hearts to be authentic and undivided in our worship. No competitors. No halfhearted affections. And the Bible makes clear what level of worship intensity God is pursuing. The psalmist had tasted this kind of joy and made it his lifelong quest. God is not pursuing lukewarm worship, but worship that is supremely authentic and intense—everlasting, white-hot worship.
It will never end. Whitehot and without end. Two Pressing Questions Two questions are pressing on us for answers. Raking leaves. Worship while you work through these tasks too, like changing diapers, cleaning the toilet. All of this can be done in worship, Paul said, done to the glory of God. So work as unto to the Lord. Work hard. Work without complaining. Work with joy. With creativity. Practice the Presence of God. Be in a conversation with God all day long, as much as you can.
Invite God to be right there with you. Next to your desk. Watching what you watch on your computer. Third, learn the spiritual exercise of focused periods of worship as larger church family. Let me share a private thought I have, one that I wrestle with. We have people in our congregation. But our Sunday morning attendance? It has been around 95, , or over the last few years. What is going on?
That is true in most churches. Why is this happening? But know this: there is an element of the Christian life, that can never be experienced by watching worship on TV or the internet, by listening to a podcast, or being alone in nature.
Worship is not just the songs. Worship is the giving, the sharing, the encouraging, the prayer, the learning. An extremely important part of worship is doing it together. Getting the family together. Do you need to change your heart attitude toward Sunday worship?
Do you need to gather with your church family more frequently? Fourth we should practice the spiritual exercise of personal periods of focused worship. This is when we take some time to focus on God, alone with him. This time alone with God can include song, Scripture, prayer. Include this as part of your regular prayer and Bible reading.
What kind of prayers were these? Did everyone say the same prayer in unison, like Jews in the synagogues did? Or did they just take turns, each saying a prayer out loud? We do not know. Either way would be possible. Scripture reading was an important part of the church meeting, since it had been an important part of the synagogue service. These are different ways of saying that doctrine was important to the New Testament church.
It was important to teach and learn certain truths. One of the longest passages about church meetings is in 1 Corinthians Some unusual things were happening in the church at Corinth, and Paul had to give them some guidance about it. Most of the chapter is trying to bring control to a situation that was out of control.
Paul summarized their situation and provided a focus in verse 1 Cor. When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Worship involves our entire relationship with God: our words, our attitudes, and our actions. Our words may be normal conversation, songs or prayers.
God wants worship not only on our lips, but also in our hearts. He wants our worship to be sincere — he wants to be the most important thing in our lives, that we are truly submissive to him. He wants our worship to affect our behavior, that we make sacrifices, that we put to death the deeds of selfishness, that we seek justice, be merciful and humble, and help others.
He wants us not just to obey him, but to serve in ways that go beyond specific commands. Our worship involves how we work, how we drive, and how we choose what to watch on television.
There are also actions that are more specifically times of worship. We might call these private devotions, or spiritual disciplines. These are habits and actions of worship we do individually, as opposed to worship when we gather as a church.
Worship is not restricted to a specific place and time. The best thing that has ever happened to us is that we have God in our lives. We have reason to celebrate all the time. We worship all the time, but we also worship together at specific times at meetings designated for that specific purpose.
Our response to the various elements of the worship service comes in multiple ways. One way is to do what God is telling us to do in the service. Some do this by serving in various capacities within the church. Others respond with service outside of the church, and some may respond by telling others how good and great God is — worshiping him by doing the priestly duty of sharing the good news of salvation — and hopefully all these responses will be common. Sometimes the proper response is more in emotion.
No matter what, we should expect God to affect, through worship, both our emotions and our minds. Our relationship with him involves all our heart, mind, soul and strength. God wants all of us, not just part of us. The real test of worship is not what happens at church, but what happens at home, and on the job, and wherever we go.
Is God important enough to make a difference in the way we live, in the way we work, in the way we get along with other people? When the Holy Spirit lives in us, when we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, worship is a part of everyday life.
To some people, ritual suggests meaningless actions. Some rituals are like that, but not all rituals are. God has commanded us to have some rituals, some repeated actions. Some churches have many rituals, a highly structured service, a liturgy with carefully designed prayers, responsive readings, reciting creeds, and other repeated actions.
In some respects, this is like what the temple worship was. Other churches are much simpler, more like the synagogue, with a focus on Scripture. Neither approach is commanded or forbidden. Grace Communion International has traditionally been on the simpler side of things. We have a small number of ceremonies, such as weddings, funerals, ordination, blessing of children, anointing the sick, and a few others. Both of these picture, through physical actions, spiritual truths about the gospel.
In different ways, they picture the death and life of Jesus Christ. To analyze a worship practice, we need to ask these questions:. Of course, no how carefully planned and carried out, our worship is never perfect. This is due largely to the fact that our lives are imperfect. As some have said, the problem with living sacrifices is that they keep crawling off of the altar. Like the people of ancient Israel, our lives are mixed with sin. We do not pray as well as we wish we could.
We would like to present our king with sparkling jewels, but we have only plastic trinkets to give! How do we face our shortcomings in worship? We respond in the same way that we respond for other areas of failure: we look to Jesus. He has offered the perfect sacrifice for all of us; he has given his life to God as an act of worship for all humanity. He is our substitute — this is what theologians mean by a vicarious sacrifice.
What he did counts for us. He had no sins of his own, and yet he gave himself as a sacrifice for sin — our sins. Many Christians realize that Jesus was our substitute when it comes to sacrifice. He has given the worship that we could not. But Jesus is our substitute in other ways, too, because our lives are hidden in him Colossians , and he lives in us Galatians He takes our defective prayers, removes the parts where we ask amiss, adds the details that we have neglected, and offers those prayers to God as perfect worship.
Because Jesus Christ is our representative, he offers perfect worship on our behalf, and our role is to join him in what he is already doing for us. Whether it is sacrifice, prayer, study or response, he has already been there and done that for us. The worship he gives to God is a vicarious worship, done for us, on our behalf.
So the last word on worship is that we must look to Jesus as the one who is doing it right for us, and he invites us to join in what he is doing. Skip to main content. You are currently using guest access Log in. What Is Worship? A Survey of the Bible, by Michael Morrison This article explores the topic of worship, looking at how the people of God worshiped before Moses, after Moses, and after Jesus, and how those insights inform our worship today.
Response with all our being Another preliminary point is that worship is a response to God. First, no one needed a priest. Everyone built their own altars, sacrificed their own animals and did their own worship. The head of the household acted as the religious leader for the family. We see that in the book of Job, too: Job made sacrifices on behalf of his children. There was no special priesthood.
Each person could worship without a priest. God sometimes told his people where to build an altar and what to offer, but for the most part, the altars and offerings seem to have been initiated by the people. The patriarchs stayed away from Baal worship, but other than that, they worshiped the true God wherever and whenever and however they wanted. Third, not much is said about method — the people could pour out wine or oil, totally incinerate an animal, or roast it and eat part of it.
Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not limited by time, location or method. The key word is flexibility. The detailed rules that God gave through Moses did not apply to the patriarchs. They were not restricted by rules about special places, people, rituals and days. Moses and the tabernacle In the days of Moses, worship went from very little structure to specific, detailed structure.
God specified exactly how they were to be made where they were to be made who was supposed to make them Worship became much more formal. A matter of the heart In the Law of Moses, it is easy to be distracted by all the detailed worship regulations, but that is not the real focus.
Synagogue worship After the temple was destroyed and Jews were scattered throughout the Middle East, a new format for worship was developed. This is their response to God, their devotion, their worship: they accepted the message — they believed, they were repentant, they were baptized — and they devoted themselves to being taught sharing with one another breaking bread prayer Luke is giving a summary description, not a formula for worship services.
Worship services In our worship services today, where is the worship? Worship today Worship involves our entire relationship with God: our words, our attitudes, and our actions. Our first act of worship is gathering together. Simply by gathering, we are showing that God has worth.
Where two or three are gathered in his name, he will be present in a special way. When we gather, we gather in the presence of God. As the Old Testament says, we appear before the Lord. In our worship services, we want God to be present.
We specifically ask him to be present. He promises to be present. And if we are sincere about this, we should expect him to be present. These are words spoken to him. Like many of the psalms, the hymns we sing are often prayers set to music. He is the audience; we are the participants.
Like the psalms, our music comes in a wide variety. Some songs express positive emotions, such as adoration, praise, thanksgiving, confidence, faith, joy or excitement. We should always be happy that God is in our life. Even when we have trials, we are to rejoice. During the service and personal worship, various repetitive prayers are recited. Other elements include hymns, missal, laypeople, an altar, crucifix, sanctuary lamps, statues of Mary or other saints, and the Rosary.
This public worship takes the form of praise through preaching, Bible reading, prayer, and music. This denomination also includes a Holy Communion. These services can reflect those of the Roman Catholic Mass in their grandiose. They can also be more simple and informal. Scriptures are also read together and are followed by an application for the current time. Furthermore, there is an altar, pulpit, lectern, and a lay reader.
Hymns are sung, an organ and choir lead the singing, and stained glass windows depict Bible accounts. Typically, services are concluded with solemn reflection and silence. The main service of the Orthodox Church is the Divine Liturgy. The Proskomeida is the offering that is given as the bread and wine is prepared. Lastly, there is the Liturgy of the Faithful which places its focus on the Eucharist.
Moreover, the Orthodox church chants, lights candles as a visible sign to God of their prayers, and burn incense. There is a divide between the icons of Jesus and saints that separates the common people from the sanctuary and the altar. Only the priests are allowed to cross this divide.
Orthodox Christians pray to God through the icons. Lastly, believers offer their prayers to God through the petitioning to the saints. They believe that the saints will intercede on their behalf. Non-liturgical worship does not include a strict order of service or events. There is no set order that is mapped out either in tradition, or a book. The service order can change and be altered at any time.
Some non-liturgical denominations of worship still have a basic sequence of service, yet it is not the end-all. For example, in many denominations, the service begins with worship, greeting time, prayer, and a sermon.
At times the service concludes with additional worship. Despite this common arrangement, exceptions are often made for baptism, communion, holiday, and special services. At times, a full service is dedicated solely to musical and vocal worship. Other services have different purposes such as prayer, encouragement, guest speakers, and the sending of missionaries or those going into ministry.
The greatest difference between liturgical and non-liturgical worship is that liturgical worship has specific items, objects, requirements, and timely rotations of types of services.
Non-liturgical services maintain a type of order but it is not as strict or reliant on other objects. The Quaker denomination has perhaps one of the most anti liturgical forms of worship. Quaker services usually are in a space of stillness that is simple and plain with little or no decoration. There is not a stage or platform. Instead, the chairs are formed in either a square or a circle. At times the services are structured. However, more often, the services are completely open to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
They are based upon waiting, silence, and listening for the Lord. Meetings focus on the truth and love from God alone. Believers collectively gather to experience the Lord individually and share with one another.
Inspiration from God leads each service. Quakers are not specific to who can attend their services, they invite all. Additionally, Quakers do not have a priest or minister because they believe that all believers are equal to hearing and receiving from the spirit and presence of God. Believers are able to speak, share scripture, worship, or read aloud to deepen the worship. The Baptist denomination can vary from one local church to another. Unlike the ritualistic denominations, there are no high authorities commanding the people on how to worship.
Rather, all decisions are made by the local church and the members within it. Baptists worship through praise, worship, and prayer. Worship includes the reading of the Bible, preaching, discussion, and songs, including hymns. Baptism services are also a highlight of this denomination. There are ordained ministers within the Baptist church, yet the focus is on the Priesthood of Believers. This gives the right to all believers to interpret the Bible and minister to other individuals.
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