How Should We Then Worship?

Regardless of your church background, you’ve undoubtedly heard one of these phrases during a Sunday service:

• Scenario #1: Contemporary megachurch. Dual big screens and rock band on-stage. Laser lights and smoke machine, to boot. Young song leader with hip clothes and hip shoes begins the service with a Michael Buffer-esque, “Ladies and gentlemen: Let’s get ready to worshi-i-i-i-i-i-p!”
• Scenario #2: Traditional small church. Dusty hymnals and a slightly-out-of-tune piano up front. Light bulb above the pulpit needs changing. Older song leader with a hip replacement (who was actually pretty hip during the Johnson Administration) says, “Now, let’s sing this last hymn with a worshipful attitude…”

Two very different scenarios, one all-too-common mistake: confining worship to the sung words of Christians on a Sunday morning.

This unfortunate misunderstanding dominates modern Christian culture more than one may think. Dedicated record labels produce “worship” albums, sold at your local Christian bookstore (in the “Worship” section, no less). A plethora of “worship-leading” conferences are available to aspiring singers and musicians in the church. I even saw a musical manuscript asking singers to sing “Worshipfully”. (In some churches, hymnals may as well state “Stone-faced and passionless” atop the notes and lyrics to “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”.)

Stephen Miller had this to say on the matter: “The Bible is clear that worship has an all-of-life-ness about it that can’t be relegated to just singing.” Maybe the publishers of the aforementioned choir piece were onto something. That word “worshipfully” isn’t such a poor term after all. If we split it into two, we actually arrive at a biblical concept that may guide us effectively: Worship Fully.

How can we worship fully in every facet of life? Here are
four (of many) areas wherein we can worship fully our all-deserving Almighty God:

1. The WORD. God’s Word is our life-giving food (Hebrews 5:14) and water (John 4:14). It also a “light to [our] path” (Psalm 119:105). On Sundays, the reading and preaching of God’s Word is no less “worship” than the singing of “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16). The rest of the week, our own reading and meditation upon God’s Word must be our daily delight (Psalm 1:2). This, too, is an act of worship. Some of us can’t sing to save our lives, but all of us can take up and read God’s Word!

2. Our WORK. While some worship their work, we as Christians are called to worship through our work. The Hebrew word ‘abad (Genesis 2:15) and the Greek word latreia (Romans 12:1) both carry with it the idea of service, or work. The common English rendering of the latter biblical word? “Worship”. This revolutionizes how we ought to approach our daily nine-to-five! From the VP of a large company to the janitor that cleans it, as children of God we all can worship Him through whatever work we’re called to do.

3. Our WEALTH. Why is it that, according to one statistic, only 5% of Christians faithfully give tithes and offerings? How can the other 95% be exhorted to change? Simple: remind such brethren we are commanded to “honor the Lord with [our] wealth” (Proverbs 3:9). Even Adam’s sons understood that worship of God was always accompanied with an offering (see Genesis 4:2-5). Practically speaking for our generation, purposefully set aside your offering to the Lord (I Corinthians 16:1-2) and give cheerfully (II Corinthians 9:7).

4. Our “WHATEVER”. Paul basically leaves no room for excuses with these words: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (I Corinthians 10:31). This covers all activities under the sun (so long as those activities are not sinful). How can we tell if our “whatever” is being done as an act of worship? Answer by asking yourself this question: “Is this activity causing me to love God more?” Only you can truthfully answer that question. But whatever our “whatever”, may it be that we do it for God to be glorified.

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Whether you attend that megachurch of 20,000 in the city or that small church of 20 in the country, may our worship no longer be reduced to a weekend vocal chord exercise. Whether we have been a child of God for five decades or five days, may our affections increasingly be for the things of God. And whatever our “whatever”, may we do all to worship fully our infinitely awesome God!