As a word nerd, it’s fascinating to see how language develops over time. Our vocabulary is filled with words whose original meanings have been lost to time. Something awful would fill us with awe. Meat was a broad term for “solid food.” And for Christians, worship is fast becoming a term that means little more than “singing Jesus songs.” But is that what it’s always meant?
How do we view worship?
When we think of worship, music is always forefront in our minds. We sing worship songs, we have worship services, and we say things like “Now let’s stand and worship God together” before the musicians start playing.
And there’s certainly biblical reasons for it!
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:16-17)
We’re told to worship God together through music. We are meant to be around our brothers and sisters, looking to God and speaking together about His majesty. That’s often called “corporate worship,” and it’s necessary for our spiritual lives. So does worship begin and end there?
Diamonds and dirt
In its most basic sense, worship is giving honor and reverence to something. Worship is central to humans, Christian or not. As beings who were created to worship, we need to understand how deeply worship affects us because we all do it every day.
When we were first married, my wife took very good care of her wedding ring. She would keep it clean and check to make sure the diamonds were firm in their setting. She loved the ring for its beauty and what it represented.
However, she didn’t show the same care and mindfulness for her regular shoes. She enjoyed them well enough, but she never sat down to clean them by hand or make sure the aglets were still in good condition. The shoes were functional and little else.
I haven’t said which she revered, yet you already know. Her ring held great value, thus it would come to her mind. Because she thought of it often, her actions led to her focusing on it. Whether touching it, worrying about damaging it, or just sitting and admiring the ring and what it meant to her.
Our false gods
That same process is what draws us to worship, whether it’s worshipping God or an idol.
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:25)
Worship isn’t just a single occurrence. We may set aside time to purposefully worship on Sundays, but true worship is an outward expression of our deepest desires. We worship whatever promises to give us what we truly want. Whatever we revere in our minds, our hearts and actions will follow it.
We need to be very clear here: we all set up false gods in our hearts. We create idols whenever we say “If I just had this I’d be happy!” We can identify idols when asked the question “If you could pray for one thing and God would give it, what would it be?”
What does it look like when worshiping idols in our hearts leads to action?
- Loving money causes us to work too much, be jealous of others, and get angry when we don’t have enough (1 Timothy 6:10)
- Idolizing a child or spouse leads to unhealthy fixation and clinginess, fear, control, and anger when that person inevitably fails us (Matthew 10:37)
- Thinking too highly of ourselves leads to a need for others to see and like us (in real life and social media), anxiety about failing, depression when we do fail, and a constant need for affirmation (2 Timothy 3:1-2)
Of course, none of these things are wrong. Money can be used to God’s glory; a child or spouse is a wonderful gift from Him; we have inherent value because we are made in His image. Yet those are all creations, completely imperfect and incapable of satisfying us. God’s gifts are good things, but they aren’t the ultimate thing.
Worshipping the ultimate
Worship is a lifestyle. The things we spend time and money on are marvelous indicators of our gods (Matthew 6:21). While that reality lays bare the ugliness of our hearts, it also enables us to worship God fully!
Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)
The book of Romans is a lengthy discussion on sin, salvation, and the Christian life. Approaching the end of his letter, Paul caps things off by urging the church in Rome to understand their lives properly. “Therefore” is another way of saying “because of everything we’ve discussed (how sinful we are, how good God is), do this.” And what are we, as Christians, to do? What is our “reasonable service” to God?
We worship with everything that we are. This verse isn’t a parent’s silver bullet to stop their child from getting a tattoo – it’s the entire summary of why and how we worship God every day.
Why do we worship? Because God came to earth to live among us, was beaten and killed by His own creation, and took God’s wrath in our place. He died and rose again to save a people who deserve God’s wrath for themselves and are completely undeserving of any form of forgiveness
And yet, He did it all. Christ took our place on the cross so that we can be called children of God (1 John 3:1). When God and our sin are understood properly, how can we do anything but worship Him?
We understand that worship isn’t just singing praise, but a moment-by-moment position that stems from our deepest desires (Matthew 15:8). We see that nothing else in the world can satisfy like our savior, and nothing is deserving of our abundant reverence. So how do we do it?
We give Him our lives. We present our bodies as a sacrifice, literally giving up everything we want and giving ourselves over to God. We give God our minds, allowing Him to transform it and pull us out of the idol-worshipping pattern of the world.
We desire and pursue holiness because we desire and pursue God. The more our minds are set on things above, the more our hearts desire them. And as our desires grow, our actions will follow. Our worship becomes complete because we’re singing praise to God not just on Sunday with our brothers and sisters, but throughout each day as we stand in awe of a God who takes His enemies and makes them His friends.
My confident hope is that I will in no way be ashamed but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die. For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. (Phillippians 1:20-21)
