Worship in Spirit

On Sunday Morning our tradition is to come together to “worship” God. We have translated this to what happens during the worship hour relating music and preaching to worship. The problem is worship has become an action rather than an attitude.

If we define worship as an action which we do, then we can check it off for the week by attending a “Worship Service.” If worship is defined as an attitude then it becomes a lifestyle.
Webster defines Worship as:
1. chiefly British : a person of importance —used as a title for various officials (as magistrates and some mayors)
2. reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; also : an act of expressing such reverence
3. a form of religious practice with its creed and ritual
4. extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem

In middle English this is worshipe worthiness, respect, reverence paid to a divine being, from Old English weorthscipe worthiness, respect, from weorth worthy, worth + -scipe –ship.

The Old Testament word most often translated as worship is shachah (appears in 166 verses, strongs H7812) which means to bow down. Bowing down is showing respect, trust and honor. When we bend the knee we give the opportunity for the person standing over us to strike us down.

There are two words which the New Testament often translates as worship:
doxa – (Strongs G1391, appearing in 151 verses)- Estimate of a person, in NT adding glory & Honor. Splendor, brightness, Glorious condition
proskyneō – (Strongs G4352, appearing in 54 verses) means to kiss the hand, to bow down, to kneel.
Some would also add the Greek word latreuō (Strongs G30000, appearing in 21 verses) which means to serve, and its Hebrew equivalent `abad (Strongs H5647, appearing in 263 verses), again relating to serving (in the Temple) or as a servant serving a master.

So … Worship is to serve and pay respect to God because the Lord is worthy. If I understand the role of a servant correctly, it does not mean “one who makes a visit one hour a week in order to sing songs which convey our adoration for the Master and hear instructions which can be disregarded or put off until we come the next week … if we feel like it.”

Worship is an attitude we carry in our hearts and minds all day, every day, because we count our Master, the Lord our God worthy of our respect, our honor, and our life. We seek to carry out His every wish as we live our life. We seek to meet with the Lord every morning because we love Him and desire to please Him. Each morning we share our Love for Him and receive instructions, with frequent check points through the day to share our Love and to make sure we are on track. We attend church on Sunday to share fellowship with those who are like minded. Our duties on Sunday include, encouraging “one another on toward love and good deeds.” (Hebrews 10:24)