Worship Study #2 - April 13, 2010

God is in need of nothing, and yet His heart is seeking, yearning for something. What could God, the one Who spoke everything into existence, be seeking? He is seeking worshipers, but not just any type of worshiper. He is looking for TRUE worshipers.

What is a TRUE worshiper? It is a person who worships the LORD in spirit and in truth according to John 4:23-24. First, what does it mean to worship the LORD in spirit? The answer is found in the first and greatest commandment.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:36-38)

True worship begins with the inner man, which includes a person’s heart and soul, or you could say the human spirit and the human will.

True worship also requires truth, which is God’s perspective on life and is meant to transform our natural way of thinking. Embracing what God says in His written word is necessary for true worship, but the word “truth” is not just restricted to the revelation of God’s written word. It is also the revelation of ourselves by way of our conscience. God requires that we approach Him with complete honesty about the way we live and relate to one another. This fulfills the second greatest commandment. Jesus said,

“And the second [greatest commandment] is like it [the first commandment]: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39)

Jesus also said:

“But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment…Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:22a, 23-24)

As we can plainly see, worship is NOT about me or thee; worship is only about Him and His commandments to love.

Because God requires that worship begin with love from our hearts, souls and minds, then how are we to corporately worship based on what God says? Colossians 3:16 gives us a clear guideline.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Our worship should always be directed to the Lord and from our hearts. The content of our worship should be the word of Christ so that whatever is sung can be used for teaching and admonishing the Body of Christ. Our songs should be filled with Jesus’ very own words so we can be transformed into thinking and speaking like Him. Worship actually aids us in being conformed to His image!

Paul uses three different musical words as a foundation for corporate worship. The first one is psalms. The Greek word for psalms is psallo which means to twitch or twang. In other words, the songs are to be accompanied on a stringed instrument. The Book of Psalms is a literal songbook of 150 songs that were sung while being accompanied by various string instruments.

The second word Paul uses is the word hymn that comes from the Greek word humnos meaning a psalm or song put to a religious metrical composition. A metrical composition means a song that has a repetitive meter throughout. For example, the words of the hymn “O Worship the King” come from Psalms 104:1, and the meter is 3 beats to every measure.

O / wor-ship the / King, all/ glo-rious a / bove, And / grate – ful – ly /

sing His / won – der – ful / love; Our/ Shield and De- / fend – er, the /

An – cient of / Days, Pa- / vil – ioned in / splen – dor, and / gird – ed with /

praise. //

And thirdly, a spiritual song means a song that is non-carnal. The word spiritual comes from the Greek word pneumatikos. This refers to the source of the song coming from someone’s heart or regenerated spirit. This type of song is not restricted to a definite metrical beat. An example is “As the Deer.” The words originate from Psalms 42:1, and the metrical beat varies just slightly.

As the deer pant-eth / for the wa-ter, so my / soul long-eth af-ter / Thee. /

You a-lone are my / heart’s de-sire, And I / long to wor-ship / Thee. /

REFRAIN:

You a-lone are my / strength, my shield; To / You a-lone may my / spir-it /

yield. /You a-lone are my / heart’s de-sire, And I / long to wor-ship / Thee. //

These three song forms are a biblical basis for our corporate worship; however, using worship form without them flowing from the heart to God is meaningless. Jesus said,

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” (Matthew 15:8-9)

If the focus or attention of our hearts is faced toward anyone or anything other than the Lord, it is stealing the glory that is due only to His Name, and it is not true worship according to the Scriptures.

My prayer is that we will go deeper in our worship, and that we will be found by God as true worshipers loving Him with all of our hearts, souls and minds. Only when we are true worshipers are we ready to minister to each other and to the world around us.