Worship
The Rev. Lou Tiscione, Pastor, Weatherford Presbyterian Church (PCA)
Worship is the most important activity of life. The Creator of all mankind made man for worship. A practical definition of worship for all of us who profess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is to love, honor, and obey God. Worship is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, in part, as “reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object.” The source of the word is an Old English compound word, “worth ship.” It described the devotion and obedience that a knight offered to his sovereign. In kneeling down before the king, the knight would bow his head, offering the back of his neck to the king’s sword. In so doing, the knight was visibly displaying to the king that his life would be forfeit if he failed to faithfully serve the king.
Worship is fundamentally about our primary relationship. It is about our relationship to God. God made us to worship Him. But because of sin, we naturally seek to make our own gods to worship. The great reformer John Calvin said this, “Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.”
Therefore, in view of man’s sinfulness, God by His grace declared that He alone was to be the object of worship (Exodus 20:1-3 ESV). God said that His people were forbidden from bowing down to or serving any man-made image or likeness of God (Exodus 20:4-5). Isaiah wrote, “For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited); ‘I am the LORD, and there is no other’” (Isaiah 45:18). Worship that is not based in God’s word and not directed to Him is false and is idolatrous (John 4:23-24).
The only object of true worship is the God who has revealed Himself in His Word Written and Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ. To make things even more direct, Jesus said that God the Father is the one who seeks worshipers (John 4). Even though we have been made to worship God, we tend to substitute our own gods in place of Him.
The Apostle quoted the Psalms and wrote that no one seeks after God (Psalm 14:2; Romans 3:11). Even though God has made His existence plain for all to see by what He has made, men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. We are eager to fulfill our God-given desire to worship and often do so by erecting idols in our minds. Our idols are the things that control our lives.
We don’t see people bowing down to or serving carved images as part of their acts of worship and devotion in evangelical churches. But we must honestly reflect upon those things that we value the most and serve. In other words, we are loving, honoring, and obeying things or people more than God! Why else would Christians rationalize their lack of gathering with God’s people on the Lord’s Day? The writer of Hebrews exhorted the church, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
When God is truly worshiped, the Lordship of Christ is demonstrated. The words “love, honor, and obey” are relational words that describe our primary relationship or lack thereof. In the primary relationship to God, He is the one who establishes the requirements for our relationship. Jesus said, “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).
Worship is not only a weekly event; it is what we do every moment, every day of our lives. In applying the words of Jesus quoted above, God through the Apostle Paul, made the daily reality of worship clear to those who have experienced His saving grace. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1. Therefore, worship on the Lord’s Day is not only our top priority but our deepest desire!
