“All the earth will worship You, and will sing praises to You; they will sing praises to Your name.” – Psalm 66:4
When I was still living in Canada several years ago, I loved the music ministry in the church. I participated in leading and playing during the worship services of my church – it was indeed one of my passions and still is. Little did I know that God was preparing me to teach about worship overseas! In recent years, the Lord challenged me on my understanding of worship. Through studies in the Bible and listening to His voice, I was shown that worship is NOT a song sung in church to God, nor is it an action like raising hands, or even speaking words, in and of themselves. These are all outward expressions, vehicles. They can be part of worship, but they are not the essence of worship. So what is worship? John 4 tells us through the fascinating account of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Our key verse is 23:
“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers.”
What a powerful statement this is by Jesus in a society that supposedly revolved around and “understood” worship (the Samaritans, too, had their religion and forms of worship, albeit different from the Jews). Simply I would like to point out three things that Jesus teaches us about true worship:
1) It is Vertical – “in spirit” – Our worship is a spiritual response to God. It is our interior, our heart and soul crying out in response to God’s reality, goodness, and holiness. It implies knowledge and relationship. God is a spirit and to relate to Him we must do so at a spiritual level. Let’s look at our heart’s response to God. Is our heart bowing down or just our physical knees?
2) It is Biblical – “in truth” – Our worship is not just an ethereal act or thought based on an abstract knowledge of the existence of a higher power. No!! Our worship is based on a clear, Spirit-facilitated understanding of God, His character, and His acts as found in the Word of God. Our worship comes from the Truth of the Word. We worship, our heart responds to God, according to its truths.
3) It is Missional – “such people the Father seeks” – God wants true worshippers! Our worship comes with the understanding that sadly, there are many who do not know the awesome God we worship. Our passion becomes the Great Commission – "Go and make disciples.” What is a disciple but a true worshipper of Jesus! Let us endeavour to make worshippers of Jesus wherever we go. Magnify His Name!
We are first called to BE God-worshippers from the heart, and then are called to DO the work of making other true worshippers of God wherever we go.
