worship

[blackhaw]

What is worship? i would just like to get what different people think it means. I personally think it is honoring and praising God. That it is not a certain action but a mindset. Like i could be raking leaves but if i am doing that for the praise of god it is worship. Also obeying His word is worship. It is doing something in a mindset that gives God the glory. In this thread i would like to know what others do to worship God. I like to hear what others do to give praise to God. Also put in what you think the word worship means. i do not want it to b e a debate thread as much as an encouragement thread. So what do y'all think?

[justGina]

I hope I am worshiping God when I strive to obey and be in subjection to my husband even when in my heart of hearts I believe he is behaving like a donkey.

I hope I am worshiping God when I try to discipline my children, in hopes that they will one day grow up to worship Him.

I sing hymns as I work around the house a lot. And when I get the "joy bubbles" that only us Elect saved experience (y'all know what I mean! ), I worship and thank Him for choosing me.

[Andrew]

I usu worship God via singing praise and worship songs, whether in church or at home.

between the two I find that it is more "intimate" and "free" when I do it alone behind closed doors in my room. that way, i can kneel, lie down, stand up, dance around, raise my hands, shake my head, do the moon walk! etc without feeling self conscious or distracting to others.

I also see tithes and offerings as a form of worship.

Sometimes, when i'm walking down the street or driving in my car, i also worship God by just magnifying his name, singing or praising him in tongues.

My Pastor once said that God doesnt seek worship but worship-pers. ie it's not so much the songs or voice quality that He's interested in but you. He also said that when we come to worship God, we dont come "empty handed". ie we offer something to him, as opposed to just sitting down and receiving the Word during preaching. I agree.

God bless

[Peter]

It has been said, and righfully so, that our lives are to be worship. Worship isn't something we do, so much, as to who we are. This coming into being, however, requires a willful act on our part.

In Acts we see the apostles "fasting and worshipping." The word translated worship can be transliterated as "liturgizing." A liturgy are the deliberate acts in worship. These acts can include things like singing ("minister to one another in Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs."), but can be found in other acts as well.

These other acts can include prayer positions, standing, kneeling, prostrations, reading of the Scriptures, making the sign of the cross, taking of the body and blood of Christ (His words, not mine), tithes, offerings, acts of charity, or even, for a married couple, making love. In short, the hour to hour existance that is our daily lives.

In all of these areas we are to live our lives in compliance with God's holy will. We are to be holy because He is holy. We are to have the same mind in us that was also in Christ Jesus. Worship must be done with a pure heart, other wise it's just ritual. (Psalm 51; I Corinthians)

[Brandan Kraft]

worship = To ascribe worth to God.

[Peter]

Respectfully, Kermie, your answer sounds good, but does not cover the question. If worship was to only mean ascribing worth to God, then God would not have had to make a commandment not to worship false gods. No, I'm afraid worship is something much deeper, something we will never fully understand on earth. It is a mystery in which, on the Christian level, God and man commune.

[blackhaw]

Here are some definitions by others.

WORSHIP
Reverent devotion and allegiance pledged to God; the rituals or ceremonies by which this reverence is expressed. The English word worship comes from the Old English word worthship, a word which denotes the worthiness of the one receiving the special honor or devotion.
from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary

WORSHIP. The act of paying honor to a deity; religious reverence and homage. The rendering of the following Heb. and Gk. words:
1. Heb. shaha (to "bow down"), to prostrate oneself before another in order to do him honor and reverence (<Gen. 22:5>; etc.). This mode of salutation consisted in falling upon the knees and then touching the forehead to the ground (<19:1; 42:6; 48:12; 1 Sam. 25:41>; etc., often rendered "bowed"). It is, however, used specifically to bow down before God; spoken of worship rendered to God, and also to false gods <Gen. 22:5; Exo. 24:1; 33:10; Judg. 7:15; Job 1:20; Pss. 22:27; 86:9>.
2. Aram. segid (to "fall down"), spoken of in connection with idol worship; to fall down in adoration of idols <Dan. 3:5-6,10-12,14-15,28>; in honor of a man, as of <Daniel (2:46>).
3. Heb. `asab (to "carve, labor"), to serve an idol, as in <Jer. 44:19>; or according to others, to fashion her, i.e., the image (see Orelli, Com., ad loc.).
4. The Gk. words thus rendered are: proskuneo, properly to "kiss the hand to (toward) one," in token of reverence; also by kneeling or prostration to do homage-- the word most frequently used in the NT; sebomai, to "revere" a deity <Matt. 15:9; Mark 7:7; Acts 18:13; 19:27>. Proselytes of the gate are called worshipers of God (sebomene ton theon, <16:14>; <18:7>), or simply "devout persons" (tois sebomenois, <17:17>, "God-fearing"). Latreuo (to "serve") in the NT means to render religious service or honor and in the strict sense to perform sacred services, to offer gifts, to worship God in the observance of the rites instituted for His worship <Heb. 10:2; 9:9>. Ethelothreskeia ("voluntary worship"), i.e., worship that one devises and prescribes for himself, contrary to the contents and nature of the faith that ought to be directed to Christ; used for the misdirected zeal and practices of ascetics <Col. 2:23>. Therapeuo to "do service," as in <Acts 17:25>.

from New Unger's Bible Dictionary

[blackhaw]

peter i really liked something you said on another thread.

"1. Worship should be done with all the senses, smell included. "

I think so too. I know here you were talking about corporate worship and we are talkng about worship as a whole but I wish that my church would adopt more of a policy. Not that we woulkd always have to use all 5 senses but just use more than we do now. I also think that worship means something more than words can desribe. When we worship we come into the presence of God. It is an awesome experience. It is hard for me to describe at all sometimes. That is why I love some of the Catholic writers. They sometimes seem to have a more real view of worship to me. One that is not explained so neatly and cleanly. One that is more about a communication with a person and God.