The centrality of worship also becomes clear as we look at the Ten Commandments personally engraved by God on tablets of stone. Those 10 “words” or commands formed the heart of God’s covenant agreement with Israel, and the punishment for breaking them was death. Christianity has a long tradition of connecting the Ten Commandments with the two commandments to love in Matthew 22:10. Commandments 1–4 define love to God, and Commandments 6–10, which admonish us to refrain from stealing, murder, adultery, etc., describe the reality of love to our neighbor.
A close look at those first four commandments reveals that they all deal with worship. They safeguard worship of Israel’s God. Not only that, but the preface in Exodus 20:2 gives the basis or reason for true worship—Yahweh God is the one who has delivered Israel from Egyptian slavery. All calls to true worship stem from the convicting power of that truth about God’s redemption.
The first commandment states: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). In a world that believed in a multitude of gods and in which polytheism was rampant, God summoned Israel to “have” or worship only the Redeemer God Yahweh. The commandment does not specifically or implicitly deny the existence of other deities, but simply says that we should not worship them. They are not worthy of the adoration reserved only for the delivering God of the Exodus.
The second commandment forbids the making of idols (verses 4–6). Since worship of the idols of other gods would already be covered by the first commandment, the real essence of the second commandment would be the forbidding of the use of images of the true God in worship. Israel was to avoid the worship methods of the surrounding peoples—who made wide use of idols. Idols lessen God by capturing or localizing Him. He is too big and too universal to be limited to a humanly made representation. Those who worship Him can do so any place at any time without dependence on a material representation.
The third commandment forbids taking God’s name “in vain” (verse 7, KJV) or misusing it (verse 7). Traditionally many Christians have interpreted the passage as speaking against what we call “swearing” or profanity. Many understand it to mean the use of God’s name to curse someone else, or the voicing of inappropriate expletives when we are angry or hurt. No Israelite who valued his life would have even thought of doing such a thing. In later times God’s people came to consider His name as so holy that they could never utter it, even in worship. What the passage refers to is using God’s name to support one’s own words or promises by an oath, such as “I swear by the name of the Most High that I did not steal your lamb.” We bring disrespect to God and fail to worship Him when we use Him to back up our words that may or may not be true. Such a concept lies behind Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:34–37: “Do not swear at all … Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’” Using God to support our human schemes is failing to give proper worship to Him.
The fourth commandment, Exodus 20:8–11 (see also Deuteronomy 5:12–15), speaks of keeping the Sabbath holy in order to remember God as Creator and Savior from Egyptian slavery. It sets aside time to remember Him. Love requires opportunities for remembrance and thus is part of worship. The fourth commandment safeguards that time of love and worship.
Worship is not only the predominant activity of believers in the Bible and the core of our response to God—it is even a preoccupation in heaven. The book of Revelation graphically pictures a divine realm in which praise has a central place. Four living creatures praise God (Revelation 5:11–12). The chorus of praise songs bursts forth from “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them” (verse 13). For the saved believer, praise flows joyfully with a loud voice in the courts of heaven (Revelation 7:9–10).
Why does the Bible identify worship as central to human existence? Why does it call for its careful safeguarding? Why do God’s creatures do it not only here but in heaven?
The answer is a simple one. It is that worship shows we understand God’s free grace. When we earn something, we do not worship the giver. After all, we deserve what we have received. When I get my salary, I do not worship the one signing my check, because I’ve worked for that money. The issuing of the check is the treasurer just doing his job. Rather, worship is so central because it vividly demonstrates a response to something undeserved. God’s rescue of Israel did not result from their merit. His deliverance of us from sin does not have its basis on our goodness. There is no way we deserved the grace that we received and no way that we can repay it. The only response we can make is worship as we acknowledge and clearly realize the tremendous love and grace that we have received. To fail to worship is to misunderstand or ignore grace, the core of Christian belief.
What Worship Is (and Is Not)
We may define worship first of all, as a response to God’s presence and/or action. Worship, then, sees Him as our primary audience, one whom we believe sees our reaching out to Him in praise. While this response can be personal and happen in my private prayer closet, often it will be corporate and take place as a group of believers together seek Him in joy.
Second, worship is a wholistic response in which our entire being reaches out. Matthew 22:37–38 calls on us to love God with all our heart and soul and mind. When that happens, the body is involved as well. Worship, then, includes more than just the cognitive, intellectual reasoning processes. All we are—including body, mind, emotions, will, and spirit—is involved.
Third, worship assumes real divine-human interchange. God sees and responds to worship, and the worshiper knows that God is there and basks in His presence. Just as we delight in being in a place where others cherish and love us, so God joyfully shows up where He is worshiped. True worship then feeds itself. As praise begins and the interchange commences, God’s presence enters that worship, which in turn intensifies the presence and the worship. It is a far cry from the formal “worship” found in many churches.
One of the problems with worship is that it has become a word used for many things that are not really worship. I see at least four common false models of worship. The first three can operate either corporately or individually.
The first false model is that of the classroom. It views worship as learning. In either our private devotions or church gathering we evaluate what goes on by how much knowledge we acquire. Church becomes a lecture hall, and personal study becomes God’s homework. Study is vital, but it is not worship. What study should be is a prelude to worship. Knowledge of God leads to worship, and further study should give birth to even more fervent and meaningful worship.
The second false model is that of the evangelistic tent. It regards the corporate religious services as a place of proclamation that invites sinners to accept Jesus. Private devotions are to convert or perhaps prepare one to share their faith with others. Again, evangelism itself is not wrong, but it is not worship. Rather, evangelism should be the result of worship. Meeting God in worship should inspire and empower us to invite others into the joy of worship.
The third false model is that of the psychologist’s couch. This approach uses worship or private adoration as an occasion in which God meets emotional and psychological needs. The sermon is kind of a mass counseling and private prayer is do-it-yourself therapy. One cannot doubt that true religion helps heal people emotionally. But if worship sets out initially to do that, something is not right. I believe that inner emotional healing often takes place as a result of worship. As we admit our unworthiness and celebrate God’s grace to us in worship, we are blessed, but it is a derived serendipitous fruit of worship, not the essence of what worship is.
The fourth false model is that of a spectator sport. For many, corporate worship is watching the professionals perform. We evaluate them. If they do well, we cheer, and if they do poorly, we criticize. We in the