Worship means literally to prostrate one's self in token of reverence. Hence, in many places throughout the Bible people are said to fall down and worship. Worship, then, is reverence, homage. This worship may be expressed in various ways, as singing songs directed to God or by prayer. The manner of worshiping God has, of course, varied during the different dispensations. Burning incense or offering sacrifices, commanded under the law of Moses, is not to be practiced under Christ. Many typical forms of worship have given way to real worship. But worship is always essentially the same as to its nature, being reverence for God.
Reverence for God is simply a proper regard for him. He is deserving of man's homage. And to lack reverence for Jehovah is indicative of an evil heart. Man is the creature of God, made in his image. It is but natural, then, that man should revere him. Hence, it is said that man naturally worships. Man's natural dependence will manifest itself some way. If he knows not the true God, or if because of sin he desires to forget the true God, he sinks into idolatry. And if this homage is directed toward neither God nor idols, it is diverted toward wealth or some other material thing. Man simply must pay homage to something or some one.
Reverence for God is of fundamental importance. It was not by accident that the first of the Ten Commandments was:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Jesus in his temptation answered Satan by a reference to this first commandment:
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
And when asked by the Pharisees which was the greatest commandment of the law, he replied:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
A proper attitude toward God guarantees an obedient life toward him as well as proper regard for man. But the proper attitude toward God is reverence. Hence, those who do not worship him are living in sin. Lack of reverence leads to sin, just as sin in one's life destroys reverence. Hence, the neglect of worship is the beginning of apostasy from God. No wonder that we are warned against the neglect of worship!
Reverence for God, then, is the most fundamental, as it is the finest attitude of the human heart. Genuine refinement of soul is impossible apart from it. Man without it is at his worst, just as man adorned with it is at his best. Value respect for God. Cherish it and cultivate it. It is not a symptom of intellectual weakness, but a sign of the divinity within us. Be not ashamed to worship. A more sacred privilege was never granted man.
Reverence for God should be one of the first lessons taught children. The parent who instills into the child's heart genuine respect for God is laying a foundation for a useful and holy life. To neglect this duty is to expose the child to failure from the start. But reverence for God cannot be taught by those who are strangers to it. One is not fit to be a parent who either cannot or will not teach his child to respect God. More teaching on the part of elders and preachers is certainly in order here.
The constitution of man demands that there be some form of worship. The mute can possess reverence in his heart for God, but to speak the praise of God intensifies worship. Any other act expressive of worship adds to it. But as necessary as forms of worship are, worship is not mere form. Indeed, formality seems to have been the chief enemy of true worship in every age. Jesus said of the Pharisees, who were formalists:
This people honoreth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me. (Matt. 15:8.)
Mere lip service is not worship, but hypocrisy. In form the murderers of the Lord worshiped him. (Mark 15:19.) Singing may be or it may not be worship. So with prayer or eating the Lord's Supper. Singing for mere enjoyment, praying to preserve a custom, or eating the Lord's Supper through a sense of duty is not worship. These exercises thus performed are an abomination to God. Singing is worship when the songs sung are "spiritual songs" and when they express the melody of the heart. Prayer is worship when it is the soul's sincere communion with the Father through Christ. Eating the Lord's Supper is worship when it signifies communion with the body and blood of Christ. Mere eating and drinking have no mysterious efficacy. The tardy formalist who arrives at the meetinghouse just in time to "take the emblems" is making a mockery of this sacred service.
Having always the same order of worship tends toward formalism. Usually our services begin with a song. This first song serves a double purpose in some cases. It serves as a bell to call into the building those on the outside and drowns the conversations of those within. There can be no reason why singing God's praises should not be accompanied with the same degree of reverence as the prayers. It is sacrilegious to enter into the song service when the audience is in confusion.
Then after two or three songs are sung, custom calls for a prayer before the sermon or Bible study. To begin the service with a prayer or to postpone it until the close would be positively disturbing to some people--not because they desire to pray, but because a custom has not been observed. To prevent our services being too formal, it would be well to change occasionally the usual order of worship. A prayer following a sermon is usually more effective than one preceding, or a prayer both before and after the sermon would be in order. The performance of certain acts in a set order or in a certain way is not within itself worship. Doing the right thing apart from the right spirit is no better than the introduction of innovations.
Apart from certain elements worship cannot exist. In the first place, spiritual worship implies a spiritual birth. Of course, the sinner may have some degree of reverence for God; but Christian worship is here contemplated. Only when the conscience has been cleansed by the blood of Christ from dead works can one draw nigh unto God in worship. (Heb. 9:14.) Even the worship under the law was not spiritual to the same degree as worship under Christ. "Being only (with meats and drinks and divers washings) carnal ordinances," it could not reach the heart and make the worshiper perfect. (Heb. 9:10; 10:2.)
Humility is another element of true worship. By humility is meant a sense of spiritual need. Only those who have experienced a real conviction of sin can know the meaning of humility. For example, the deep humility of Paul had as its basis a deep consciousness of sin. He had unexpectedly found himself a grievous sinner against God. The conviction was deep and lasting. Then by the grace of God he was saved and made an apostle. This grace that proved to be more abounding than sin begot within his heart a humility seldom equaled and perhaps never surpassed.
Humility is a natural state of mind when man is placed in contrast with God. And worship implies contrasts. God is powerful: man is weak. God is wise; man is ignorant. God is holy; man is sinful. God is Creator and Savior; man is the creature and the saved. Humility and reverence are sure to follow a consideration of these contrasts.
Purity of heart and life cannot be separated from acceptable worship. The Christian's heart is God's temple. He dwells there through the Spirit. To admit evil thoughts is to profane God's temple. The Jew considered it a profanation of the Jewish temple for a foreigner to enter it. Thoughts and intents of the heart foreign to the Spirit of God profane God's temple and his worship.
In his conversation with the Samaritan woman Jesus named two fundamental elements of true worship:
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24.)
God is Spirit is fundamental. God being Spirit, his kingdom is spiritual. The mode of entrance into the kingdom is by a spiritual birth; the Spirit is sent into the heart of those spiritually born: these constitute a "spiritual house," and, as spiritual priests, are to offer up "spiritual sacrifices"--that is, true worship must be "in spirit."
Jesus was speaking to one who knew only a fleshly worship. The Samaritan worship was a corruption of Jewish worship, which was itself a fleshly one. (Heb. 9:10.) But his kingdom was to be a spiritual one, and the worship of his citizens must in kind be as the kingdom. But his kingdom was to be spiritual because God is Spirit. Hence, true worship must be an exercise of man's spirit. It is man's spirit that is born of the Spirit. And in man's heart the Spirit dwells, and by this Spirit he worships a God who is Spirit.
For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God. (Phil. 3:3.)
The Holy Spirit is a reverence-producing Spirit. He makes God's children cry: "Abba, Father." (Rom. 8:15.) True worship, then, must be "in spirit."
But worship must also be "in truth." Doubtless Jesus was still contrasting Christian and Jewish worship. The worship under the law was typical, and, therefore, was not real worship. The word "truth" is characteristic of John. He uses it more frequently than other writers. A study of this word as used by John shows that he used it in the sense of reality.
It was not Moses that gave you the true bread out of heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven. . . . I am the bread of life. (John 6:32, 35.)
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17.)
My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth. (1 John 3:18.)
For the word "truth" in the last passage Moffatt's translation has "real," and for "grace and truth" (John 1:17) it has "grace and reality"; also for "in truth" (John 4:24) Moffatt gives "in reality."
The manna was typical, and, therefore, not the true or real bread; and in saying "grace and truth" came by Jesus Christ, John did not mean to say the law was in any sense false. The law itself was typical. It was only a "shadow" of good things, not the very "image." Jesus taught that worship under grace was the real worship in contrast to the shadowy worship of the law.
This interpretation seems not only necessary from the use John makes of the word "truth," but it is wholly in keeping with the general typical nature of everything pertaining to the law. Its sacrifices were not the real sacrifices, but foreshadowed the true sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Even the fleshly Jew, with his fleshly circumcision, was typical of the spiritual Jew, with his circumcision of the heart. (Rom. 2:28, 29.)
While the interpretation sometimes offered on John 4:24 that worship "in spirit" means to worship God whole-heartedly, and worship "in truth" signifies to worship according to divine instructions, is in keeping with the general teaching of the Bible, such an interpretation cannot be sustained by this particular passage. This can also be said of worship under the law, and Christ was contrasting this worship with worship under grace. In this connection Jesus speaks of "true worshipers." By this the Lord did not imply that the worshipers under the law were false or vain worshipers, but that they were not offering the real, but only typical, worship.
It might be answered that man must worship because God commands it. Certainly this is a good reason. But why did God command it? He certainly had good reasons for doing so.
In the first place, man should worship God because he is worthy of reverence. He is from everlasting to everlasting; he is Creator and Preserver; he is mighty, nothing being too hard for Jehovah; he is wise, knowing all things at will; he is infinitely holy; and "his loving-kindness endureth forever." Such a being is altogether worthy of reverence, and man is naturally under the obligation to worship him.
Praise ye Jehovah.
Praise ye Jehovah from the heavens:
Praise him in the heights.
Praise ye him, all his angels:
Praise ye him, all his host.
Praise ye him, sun and moon:
Praise him, all ye stars of light.
Praise him, ye heavens of heavens,
And ye waters that are above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of Jehovah;
For he commanded, and they were created.
He hath also established them for ever and ever:
He hath made a decree which shall not pass away.
Praise Jehovah from the earth,
Ye sea-monsters, and all deeps;
Fire and hail, snow and vapor;
Stormy wind, fulfilling his word;
Mountains and all hills;
Fruitful trees and all cedars;
Beasts and all cattle;
Creeping things and flying birds;
Kings of the earth and all peoples;
Princes and all judges of the earth;
Both young men and virgins;
Old men and children:
Let them praise the name of Jehovah;
For his name alone is exalted;
His glory is above the earth and the heavens.
And he hath lifted up the horn of his people,
The praise of all his saints;
Even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him.
Praise ye Jehovah. (Ps. 148.)
Then man should worship because of the blessings he receives from such a spiritual exercise. Mention has already been made of the fact that to worship God increases one's reverence for him. It might be said that worship is unto worship.
Worship of the holy God makes for holiness in the worshipers. The worshiper is transformed into the same image, so to speak, as the object of worship. Worship of idols was degrading, because idol gods were not supposed to be holy. They were supposed to be man's superior in wisdom and strength only,
Worship means additional spiritual strength. To worship is to exercise the soul, and by such exercise man enjoys spiritual development. It is impossible for one to neglect the public worship of the church and retain normal spiritual strength. Observation verifies this conclusion.
Then to worship in spirit and in truth is a preventive. In the first place, real worship prevents neglect of the services of the church. When one quits attending church because the services are not enjoyed, he is a stranger to real worship. It is a real joy to worship God. It gives joy that can come in no other way. A lover of nature and of the beautiful has no reason for leaving California. An artist would not be bored by the exhibitions of an art gallery. Just so a "true worshiper" does not grow tired of spiritual worship. He will not forsake the worship; but he will say, as did David:
I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go unto the house of Jehovah.