A Theology of Worship

There are thousands upon thousands of Christian denominations on the planet. There are thousands upon thousands of cultural variants represented within these denominations, and there is a plethora of preferences when it comes to the style in which one worships; subjectivity often dictates what is emphasized in worship, to its detriment. A theology of worship, however, must not be subordinate to subjectivity. A theology of worship ought to represent what is common amongst the thousands of variants for it speaks not so much to the style of worship as to the object of worship and what He demands of those who would claim to be worshiping Him. The point of this paper is to define what worship is, where it finds its source, and what, when stripped of the things of men, it should look like.
It will be posited momentarily that many in the church today are little concerned about a theology of worship and would be ill prepared to explicate one if called upon to do so. Such indifference does not do justice to the fact that worship is the only thing man gets to do alongside the angels (Heb 1:6, Rev 7:11) and that if he fails to do will be taken up by the very stones we walk on (Luke 19:40). Furthermore, a theology of worship is an important and worthy study to take up, if for no other reason that God says so. Yahweh declares himself to be a jealous God (Exodus 34:14) and promises destruction to those who forget him (Deut 8:19). And lest one think that because he goes to church and sings worship songs he has therefore not forgotten God, there is this warning: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men” (Isaiah 29:13).
Moreover, while the image of God inside a man draws him to worship his creator, he is still fallen and unable to do so without someone to teach him: “Then the king of Assyria gave this order: ‘Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires.’ So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the LORD” (2 Kings 17:27-28). It was God who first taught man how He was to be worshiped, and then He called upon some to teach it to others. A proper theology of worship is therefore important for those who are called to minister, both that they may draw near to God and that they may teach others to do likewise.
During a 1954 interview A.W. Tozer was asked what he thought would awaken the church from its complacency. He responded, "In my opinion, the great single need of the moment is that light‑hearted superficial religionists be struck down with a vision of God high and lifted up, with His train filling the temple. The holy art of worship seems to have passed away like the Shekinah glory from the tabernacle. As a result, we are left to our own devices and forced to make up the lack of spontaneous worship by bringing in countless cheap and tawdry activities to hold the attention of the church people" (Tozer, 87). Yet worship, perhaps more than anything else in which a human being participates in this life, is possessed with the supernatural and the eternal, and as human beings are neither one of these, to be left to one’s own devices when one is attempting to worship is a farce, it is a mockery of true worship. The act of worship sits, by its very nature, at the crossroads between Heaven and Earth, between this life and the next; the worshiper must make careful study of which route leads one closer to the Creator and which leads closer to the world, beginning with a definition of what worship is.
The majority of Christendom does not have a working definition of worship, at least not one that transcends cultural considerations. Anecdotal evidence of this can be found by simply listening after a church service for the common question, “Did you enjoy the service?” Understanding what worship truly is will tend to make one’s personal enjoyment of it a mute point. It must be first understood that worship has nothing to do with entertainment and very little to do with feelings. Rather, "true worship celebrates the most definite God of the covenant in Moses and Jesus, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, and of countless others. Fundamentally, worship is the celebrative response to what God has done, is doing, and promises to do” (Burkhart, 17).
An exploration of the meaning of the word ‘worship’ itself will aid in defining the action which it connotes. The English word ‘worship’ has as its derivation “worthship”, from the old English, which carries the idea of ascribing worth to something. This is a good starting point, but the question then becomes one of how to go about ascribing said worth. The biblical words for worship will help answer that question. In the Old Testament the word “shahah”, meaning “to be brought low, to be humbled, to prostrate oneself” can be found in Exodus 34:8: “Moses made haste to bow low to the earth and worship.” Another word, “abad”, is found in Deuteronomy 10:12, and means “to serve”: “Now, Israel, what does Yahweh require from you but...to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” The Greek of the New Testament carries the same ideas as the Hebrew of the Old; “proskyneo”, meaning “to kiss towards, to cast oneself on the ground” (found in Revelation 19:10) and “latreo”, meaning “to serve” (found in Philippians 3:3). The Greek also has a third word, “leitourgeo”(found in Romans 15:16), which has the idea of public work and service to people (Johnson, 2006).
Worship, then, is at least this: a placing of oneself into the most humble position possible, and from their surrendering all of oneself to the One being worshiped, resulting in service to Him by serving others, and thereby proclaiming His supreme worth. The apostle Paul seemed to have something like this in mind when he said, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (Rom 12:1).
Having defined what real worship is, where does such worship come from? It has already been stated that left to his own devices, man is woefully unable to show God true worship (just ask Aaron’s sons). The only conclusion one can draw at this point is that God is both the object and source of worship. As worship is itself a transcendent act, it will have many of the same qualities as the transcendent God.
The first quality of true worship is that it is trinitarian. In all areas of redemptive history all three persons of the Godhead have been active. It was true at creation and at the cross, in the old covenant and now in the new, and it must be true in worship as the people recall, proclaim, and enact the salvation story. “Here, then, is what worship does. It acknowledges the transcendence, the great glory, and the incomprehensible nature of God the Father. It tells the story from beginning to end of how God created, how the world fell away from him, how he became involved in the history of the world in Israel and in his incarnation in Jesus to rescue the world through his death, resurrection, and coming in glory to reign as Lord over all creation. And it unleashes the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in the assembled people, in ministry, in Word and Sacrament, and it connects God and people in a relational manner” (Webber, 34).
The peak of human history, of the redemptive history which worship is to recall, is the death and resurrection of the Messiah (Gal 4:4). As the worshiper recalls the coming of Christ, so too is he mindful of what the resurrection means for him now and at the second coming, for, “God's secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ‑‑everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago” (Eph 1:9-11). Thus the worship has been chosen by the Father, purchased by the Son, and sealed by the Spirit.
As the center piece of all creation is the incarnation, so too must worship of the Creator be incarnational. As Yahweh is a relational God and worship is a divine-human encounter with Him, then in worship God is making himself known; likewise it can be said that the worshiper is making himself known to God. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who is not a typical source of ecclesiastical knowledge, indirectly addressed this point in saying, “A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshiping we are becoming.” As one seeks God’s guidance in growing more and more in Christ-like maturity he must be sure not to overlook worship as a possible source of that maturity, as a chance to know God better and be known by Him. Such Christ-like maturity deriving from incarnational worship comes, like the incarnation itself, with sacrifice. King David, who sought to be and was called a man after God’s own heart, exemplified this when he said, “I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing” (1 Chronicles 21:24). Indeed, incarnational worship demands something of the worshiper; if he comes to be entertained he will not be entertained by Christ, if he wishes to receive something from God then he must leave something behind.
As both the object and source of worship, all three persons of the Godhead take an active role and are likewise to be actively worshiped; worship most especially focuses on the incarnation of the Logos at the fullness of time. It is from these two facts that one draws the necessary elements of true worship.
First, worshipers are called to respond to the redemptive history of the triune God; worship is a response to truth (Neh 9:3), to God’s greatness (Neh 9:6), to suffering (Job 1:20), and to his great deeds (2 Kings 17:36), to name a few. As God is the initiator of worship simply by being who He is, there is nothing the worshiper can do but respond.
Second, worship is a dialogue. “Rightly understood, worship is a dynamic process that culminates in a rehearsal of our relationship with God” (Webber, 45). God both speaks and listens in the worship service, bringing us His words through the Holy Spirit and carrying our response back to Himself in the same way; “...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Rom 8:26).
Third, worship is holistic. Throughout history God has used all of man’s senses to communicate to him and he continues to do so. Since men first began worshiping God, worshipers have used there mouths to sing praise, their ears to hear the truth, there eyes to see the symbols of their God (consider, for example, the temple furniture), their mouths to taste the emblems of the covenant, and their hands to make a joyful noise and lift in praise. The holistic nature of worship becomes even more compelling when one considers again the broad spectrum of its definition; worship is service and it is singing, it is rising up and bowing low, it is listening and it is hearing, it is gathered together and sent forth. Considering that man is called upon to worship in every season of life it makes sense that the Bible says that worship can be done with both sacrifices (Isaiah 9:21) and with feasts (John 12:20); at the city gates (Ezekiel 46:2), in a cave (Matt 2:11), on a boat (Matt 14:33), or in the temple (Luke2:37), and again these are but a few of the ways and places the Bible speaks of.
Fourth, “...a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23-24). This last element, given by Christ, is perhaps the most essential of all. This is so because not only does the theology of these two verses encompass what has been said thus far, but by it the Christian has a litmus test for true worship and a warning against the false.
Not only is Jesus saying that true worship is not hindered by locality or style (4:21), but also that worship that is worthy of being called thus does not operate in the realm of the temporal but in the realm of truth, it is the response to “clear and definite knowledge of God derived from his special revelation” (Hendriksen, 167); and special revelation tells the believer that the very essence of God is spirit and therefore worship worthy of Him must have as its contents not the temporal (such as a chorus song or hymn one has memorized through repetition) but the spiritual (such as the proclamation, devotion, and obedience declared by the words of the song).
As mentioned, one can also extrapolate from these verses the converse of true worship. Whereas true worship focuses on the whole person of God, false worship is selective and allows the “worshiper” to leave unchanged, for he has not truly conversed with God. Similarly, whereas true worship springs from the truth of God, contemplated and meditated on, false worship is based on ignorance. It does not employ the mind but seeks only emotional responses. Moreover, whereas worship done in the spirit acknowledges the supernatural, false worship is superstitious, engaged in only out of fear of what might happen if it is ignored.
In summation, “genuine worship does not consist in coming to a certain place nor going through a certain ritual or liturgy nor even in bringing certain gifts. True worship is when the spirit, the immortal and invisible part of man, speaks to and meets with God, himself immortal and invisible” (Barclay, 161).
The idea of what makes up “essential” elements in worship may vary from one believer to another, and how the truth of a triune God or how the philosophy of incarnational worship actually plays out with the gathered church may likewise be different. What would be handy would be to go from the academic discussion of the theology of worship to actually seeing it lived out; the Bible portrays such an experience in a sort of case study in Revelation 4:
1 After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit, and there in heaven a throne was set. One was seated on the throne, 3 and the One seated looked like jasper and carnelian stone. A rainbow that looked like an emerald surrounded the throne. 4 Around that throne were 24 thrones, and on the thrones sat 24 elders dressed in white clothes, with gold crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and thunder. Burning before the throne were seven fiery torches, which are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the middle and around the throne were four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion; the second living creature was like a calf; the third living creature had a face like a man; and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is coming.” 9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne, the One who lives forever and ever, 10 the 24 elders fall down before the One seated on the throne, worship the One who lives forever and ever, cast their crowns before the throne, and say: 11 “Our Lord and God, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because You have created all things, and because of Your will they exist and were created.”
The reader should first note that the central figure in heavenly worship is the throne of God. What has been called worship by the western culture very often does not place God at the center. Common sense says that whatever is in the center (i.e. whatever is the primary figure) is that which is being worshiped; the question needs to be asked every time the church is gathered: who or what is being worshiped?
In this worship scene John attempts to describe what he sees around the throne of God and it is glory so overwhelming that human words are really too limiting. He attempts to describe what it is “like,” but the impression is given that there is so much more to say. It is probably not too bold to say that such glory is rarely witnessed in churches today, possibly because what is at the center is not the throne of God.
The next several verses give tell the reader of the transcendence and unequaled royalty of the One seated on the throne and the scene concludes by describing incessant and essentially compulsive worship of God. The people gathered are not talking amongst themselves, they certainly are not thinking of what needs to be done at home or who is playing in the big game. They have given their whole selves over to the worship of their God and He has rewarded them by revealing His glory.
There are several revealing components in this case study. The first is that God is always (this should be emphasized–always) the object and subject of worship. There is no “I” to be heard, only “He” and “You.” This is not to say that a song that says something about the worshiper is always out of place in church; but one must always question who is really being extolled. For example, if a parishioner sings with all her heart “I walk by faith...I put my trust in you,” or “Some men may turn away but not me (this is a paraphrase),” who is being worshiped? The worshiper has just proclaimed her own goodness to God! The songs of Heaven do not tell God about the worshiper, they recall and respond to His judgement, creation, and salvation.
A second component is that heavenly worship is corporate in nature. While private praise is always a good thing, public praise just brings all that much more to lay before the throne. Each doxology in the above scripture passage increases the number of worshipers with it, from four to twenty-four and eventually to pretty much everyone. And all of these worshipers illustrate the third component, that heavenly worship is passionate worship. In bringing the church closer in line with heavenly worship the question is never whether it should be formal or informal, but rather how passionate can it be made in either case (Azurtia, 2006).
While one must be circumspect in rejecting the elements commonly thought of as comprising worship in this culture (which, the more one thinks about them the less they have to do with anything said thus far), it would not be unreasonable to say that much worship done by the gathered church in this culture is lacking. Some of this is understandable; the church, after all, is not yet the pure and spotless bride she will someday be. And no matter what happens in the churches of this country or even the world, the God of heaven will be worshiped; “A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell” (Lewis, 35). Yet the fact remains that Yahweh deserves better than what He is often given.
When the source of worship is called upon to provide, and the essentials of worship are included, style really becomes a non-issue; never-the-less, corporate worship is possibly (and quite probably) the most important and meaningful function that those gathered will participate in all week and as such it deserves planning and preparation. The church has a long history and many traditions that can and should inform a modern worship service, and at the same time the Holy Spirit continues to bring new talent and new songs into the heart of today’s worshipers. “The greatest challenges, as well as the greatest returns, will come to those churches that manage to bring both tendencies together (traditional and contemporary worship) in creative ways, that incarnate an ancient future faith” (Sweet, 48).
According to Robert Webber, in seeking out this ancient future faith a worship service should include four main elements: the gathering, in which those gathered ascend into the presence of God (Revelation 4 provides a map on how to get there); the Word, where those gathered hear God speak to them through His Word and the people respond to the truth they have been given; the table, where the gathered remember the central figure in redemptive history and share in a spirit of thanksgiving; and the sending forth, where the church gathered becomes the church scattered to love and serve the Lord in their daily lives. These elements are characterized by a narrative quality that takes the worshiper on a journey to the throne room of God, where a rehearsal of his relationship with God is expressed through Word, response, and service (Webber, 21).
These four things which compromise a worship service are not things which the culture as a whole participates in or even understands. To this end, true worship is and should distinctly counter-cultural. There is no reason for worship to be offensive to the non-believer; in fact, one would hope that it speaks to some part of him and makes him long for the God to whom it is addressed, but it does not have evangelism as its purpose.
Having said that, Christian worship always reflects the culture out of which it is offered. Everything from styles of dress to music and even the symbolism used vary widely depending on cultural contexts. At the same time it remains prophetic, challenging any dimension of local culture that is at odds with the gospel of Christ.
God desires worshipers. Worship is, according to John Piper, the very purpose of the church (Piper, 41). Jesus said that God seeks those who would worship in spirit and in truth. A proper theology of worship informs the believer that worship is a holistic experience, involving all of his senses, his heart and his mind in adoration, proclamation, and service. It happens all week, not just for a few hours on a Sunday (for it cannot happen even then if it has not been happening already) and it is at core of who he was designed to be as one created in the image of God. Let him place God at the center of his worship, call on God to aid him in doing that, and in so doing grow more like his Creator in the process.










Works Cited
Azurtia, Art.; John Johnson. Class Notes, Theology and Practice of Worship. Western Seminary, January 23, 2006
Barclay, William. Daily Study Bible Series, “The Gospel of John.” Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975
Burkhart, John. Worship. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1982
Hendriksen, William. New Testament Commentary, “Gospel of John.” Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953
Johnson, John. Class Notes, Theology and Practice of Worship. Western Seminary, 2006
Lewis, C.S. The Problem of Pain. San Francisco: Harpers, 1940
Piper, John. Let the Nations be Glad. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993
Sweet, Leonard. Faithquakes. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995
Tozer, A.W. Keys to the Deeper Life Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1957