Worship

“Let us be thankful, then, because we received a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please Him, with reverence and awe.” Hebrews 12:28

What is worship? In the society now especially youth what does worship really means? Is it just an expression of emotion? So what is worship really means? Worship comes from the root word “worth or worthy” God is worthy to be praised. Let's see 4 areas of what worship is..
Worship: The priority (Exodus 20:2-11, 1 Peter 2:9)
Worship: Heart and Action (Hebrews 12:28, 2 Chronicles 25: 1-2)
Worship: Our Response to God (1 Corinthians 14, 1 Kings 18)
Worship: A way of life (1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:23, Romans 21:1)

Worship: The priority
The most common question that always disturbs the human mind is “Why are we here, what’s our purpose?” and the bible has answered this question: To Worship God. When we belief that worship is what we are created for it will change every area of our life. However, the concept of worship can mean differently for many people. Some may think worship is an expression to sing praises to God. Some worship means learning more on the Word of God. But all these can be worship.

Unfortunately, many people think that worship is just a current trend. It will soon fade away, the musical styles and instruments. Christians now are indulging more on the way of worship with expressions and emotions rather than the true worship of what worship really mean. It is very clear from the scripture and other sources that our main purpose in life is to worship God. Although this is never directly stated in Scriptures, it is obvious from the consistent made to the importance of worship that the real reason the Lord made us was to worship Him. The most evident place in the bible that our priority to worship God is in the 10 commandments. The first three of the Ten Commandments had worship as their focus. Even Jesus teaches us the way to worship God thru the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6.

Satan tempted Jesus in the desert for Jesus to worship him. Even the enemy understands the priority of worship. Satan will always tempt you and me as he did with Jesus. And if he cannot get us to worship him then he will do everything he can to keep us from worshipping God.

Worship: Heart and Action
So worship is our priority, so what next? The true worship is not passive where it involves actions on our part. The Hebrew word for worship is “to bow self down”. Worship in thru scriptural sense is not passive.

There are a lot of scriptures in the bible that show us the action on worship by the people in the bible. For instance: … all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:18) Then they bowed down and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground (Nehemiah 8:6) Come, let us bow down in worship (Psalm 95:6) They came to Him (Jesus), clasped his feet and worshipped him (Matthew 28:9) So on and on…

We must understand also that worship must originate from the heart. Worship that is only action is not a true worship. God wants heart and action. Most of the time we worship God during our youth fellowship I can felt the mood of the worship is very dull. Its just like a routine or a ritual of starting the program with just singing songs and some of us did not worship whole heartedly. God wants us to worship wholeheartedly not just a ritual. There is a passage sad passage in the book of Amos: “I hate, I despise your religion feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them… away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps” (Amos 5:21-23). Why did God have to say this? The problem is if we study the book of Amos is that the people were more interested in the forms of their worship than worshipping God. Aren’t we sometimes like that? We frequently find ourselves pondering and enhancing our form of worship that we neglect the most important thing “The heart of worship”.

Worship: Our Response and Offering to God
Worship is the response of man when he encounters either God or God’s actions. When we encounter the reality of God, true worship is the outcome. Remember the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel? In front of the people Israel, Elijah challenged the prophets of the false god Baal. When they prepared everything and the prophets of Baal started calling for their god from morning until evening there’s nothing happened. When it is Elijah’s turn, he prayed and the bull, the wood, the stones, the soil and even the water was all consumed by fire. “When the people saw this they fell prostrate and cried, ‘The Lord – He is God! The Lord – He is God!’” (1 Kings 18:39).

There are a similar situation happen in 1 Corinthians 14. An unbeliever comes into the church and people are speaking. He is convicted by their words and realizes God is there. Throughout the bible, even now as people encounter God the instantaneous response is worship.

Worship: A Way of Life
In the culture now, a lot of people refers to worship only a Sunday morning activity. The singing, prayer, sermon, offering. Nothing more. John 4:23 tell us that God is seeking worshippers. It does not say that He is looking for Worship. A worshipper does not just offer an occasional sacrifice of praise through song. A true worshipper lives a life of worship in all that he or she says and does. Because of todays culture worship is just a form of routine that we do every Sunday. The true worship is that we infuse it into our daily life not just on Sundays. We cannot live our lives any way we want for six days and expect to fully worship God on Sunday.

Ultimately, our Sunday worship should be the culmination of six days of worship lived in our lives. Its clearly stated in the bible “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31) “Whatever you do, work it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” (Colossians 3:23) Romans 12:1 says that we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.

So what is worship all about?
Worship is our priority, Worship requires both heart and action, Worship is our response to God, and Worship is our way of living. From this short talk I hope we all have a deeper understanding of what worship is really all about. If everyone of us start to understand the true meaning of worship our fellowship will grow deeper in the Lord and also it will enhance our youth fellowship worship towards God.