Worship is something not everyone agrees on—in some places, it can even be divisive. Some gravitate toward certain styles and techniques, while others are drawn toward something else.
But, at its core, worship is the cure to one of our biggest problems: selfishness. When you worship, you’re taking all the focus off yourself and putting it on God. It’s a practice of glorifying God.
Years ago, Evelyn Underhill, an early Church of England writer, warned, “We are drifting toward a religion which, consciously or unconsciously, keeps its eye on humanity rather than on Deity.” When you truly worship, your eyes are not on yourself but on Him. You’re turning upward instead of inward.
We’re inclined to confine worship to a service. Or we think of it as an emotional exercise for which our inner feelings have to be conjured up, and when you reach a certain level, psychologically and emotionally, then you’ve attained true worship. But making it an activity ruins the meaning.
The truth is, not all people who attend worship services actually worship. Worship is a lifestyle. It’s an identity. Paul said, “We are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3).
Nehemiah led Israel back to Biblical principles for worship: “To praise and give thanks, group alternating with group, according to the command of David, the man of God” (Nehemiah 12:24). This is a reference to 1 Chronicles 23-26, when David organized the worship of the children of Israel according to the Law of Moses.
For any worship to be genuine, it must be Biblical. You can’t make it up. You can’t say, “Well, I feel that it ought to be….” It must be Biblically based.
The first two of the Ten Commandments are essentially all about worship. They instruct us to worship the only true God, and to do it in the right way.
If we don’t worship according to revelation, we’ll worship according to imagination. People do this all the time—another word for that is idolatry. True worshipers care about who God is and how He tells us He is to be worshiped.
Worship is an intelligent and obedient response to God. You read the Scriptures, you understand, and you worship accordingly. This is why Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Worship is not a frenzy or an emotional outburst. Worship is a lucid, sober-minded response to truth.
That’s why Jesus told the woman at the well that the Father is looking for those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth—according to truth (see John 4:23-24). Paul criticized the Jews: “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:2).
So, worship is a response to revelation. It’s based in truth. And that’s the reason we place a high priority on preaching and teaching Scripture. That’s paramount to worship. It forms our understanding of who God is, and it shapes how God is to be worshiped.
Biblical worship will lift us out of our selfishness and point us to God. Our worship should reinforce, not undermine Biblical truth.
