Millie found her passion in worship. She’d never been a worship leader. She didn’t have the musical talent or training, and didn’t particularly want to be up in front of people. Millie instead loved being among the people when they were all standing, singing, and raising hands. She watched sports fans stand and cheer on their teams, wondering how they got so involved. But Millie understood why worshipers could stand, sing, clap, and shout for their Lord Jesus Christ. Next to the devotion she wanted to show her Lord, Millie didn’t care what people thought. And so, Millie was there, at every service, giving her heart, mind, body, and voice to the Lord.
Devotion
Worship is central to the Christian experience of the Lord Jesus Christ. One worships that which one elevates to the highest status, for which one has the greatest desire. Worship involves utter devotion, not out of convenience or for gain but compelled by the object’s place, standing, value, and allure. Worship involves such extreme devotion to the object as to be nearly involuntary, at least at its margins. And extreme devotion is certainly due the highest of all, the Lord Jesus Christ. When one grasps Christ’s nature, his creative, protective, and salvific acts, and his grace and desire, one has little choice but to fall prostrate before him in submission and exultation. We each have an innate capacity to devote ourselves to objects, which we naturally arrange in a hierarchy of values, giving greater devotion to some objects than to others. Whatever one devotes oneself to fully, as one’s highest object, is what one worships. One can do no better than to worship Jesus Christ.
Participation
Worship involves participation. One doesn’t worship from afar, at least not for long and not effectively. Because worship is extreme devotion, worship necessarily involves the mind, body, soul, spirit, and emotions. Biblical depictions of worship have participants bowing low, taking off their sandals or outer clothing, falling on their knees, and laying flat on the ground. They have worshipers singing, dancing, and offering sacrifices. And they have worshipers shouting praise, raising hands, offering up prayers, and petitioning for relief. Worship moves the participant’s heart not only to loving devotion but also to reverent awe, dependent humility, and the relinquishing of alternative identities, devotions, and desires. Participation in worship thus draws one closer to its object, with ever deeper connection and greater involvement. If you wish to draw closer to Jesus Christ, fully devote your mind, body, and soul to him in worship.
Submission
Worship also submits the will to its object. Be careful what you worship, for it will control you. Worship’s goal is not only participation with its object but also submission to its object. Worship isn’t simply dancing with its object. Worship desires instead to join with its object in grateful submission to its object’s desires. Worship is thus the proper stance toward the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not meet Christ merely as students or even merely as friends. Christ is our teacher and friend, but he is also our Lord, meaning that we desire not only that he instructs us but that he shows us his desires for us to fulfill. One cannot worship that which one wishes to manipulate and control. Worship instead evokes such extreme devotion as to turn the will to the desires of worship’s object. Turn your authentic worship to Jesus Christ, and you will no longer see him as simply the teacher of doctrine, principles, and rules. You will instead see him as the one to whom you wish to submit your full will.
Forms
Worship can take many forms. Christians commonly associate worship with Sunday morning gatherings of the body of believers, to praise God in song. Formal worship gatherings can also include kneeling, praying, lifting hands, reading scripture, tithing, offering, and listening and responding to preaching. Churches can each have their own worship rituals and forms. Some churches permit variety in worship practices, allowing for and even encouraging a range of worship expressions. Pentecostal services, for instance, may have worshipers all at once dancing, shouting, laying prone, sobbing, moaning, and running up and down the aisles. Other churches, valuing greater order, more strictly control worship expression, even right down to the last word, sound, movement, or other detail. Worship need not occur communally in a formal or informal church service, though. You can also worship alone, whether at home, in your car, or outdoors. Christians sometimes also refer to devoted work, generous giving or sharing, and other acts of service as forms of worship. Sing to the Lord as you work. He may well accept it and all else you do in his name as your devoted worship.
Emotion
Many Christians associate worship with an emotional experience. Indeed, biblical depictions of worship at times indicate participants experiencing exhilaration, striking awe, profound regret and repentance, weeping gratitude, stunned insensibility approaching stupor, and similar forms of overwhelming emotion. But other depictions show worshipful responses and attitudes involving calm, reason, and poise. Emotions can be a gift from God in the experience of worship. If you experience deep emotions in worship, accept and express them as such. Yet emotions can alternatively be a gratuitous and even inauthentic disordering of worship. Avoid making your emotions a show during worship, forcing emotions, or condemning yourself when not experiencing emotions. Don’t make emotion the point of worship. Worship’s object is to show authentic devotion to God, in whatever emotional state you are experiencing, from peace, serenitude, or sorrow all the way to exultant praise and joy.
Idols
Among God’s Ten Commandments is not to make an idol of anything. An idol is an object of devotion raised above God. An idol need not be an image of another, lesser deity. We can make an idol of anything, from money, influence, and power, to work, accomplishments, awards, and artistic designs. One can also make an idol of anyone, from a spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend, to a film, television, or sports star, or political leader. Idolizing people and things is corrupting. It disorders God’s hierarchy. You do well to love your spouse devotedly. But when you elevate your devotion to your spouse above God, you do neither yourself nor your spouse any favor. The priority you give your spouse over God will distort you, your spouse, and your marital relationship, when your proper worship of God would have maintained good health, relationships, and order. The persons and things out of which we improperly make idols are not in themselves bad and may instead be good or very good in their proper place. Idolatry ruins them and the idolator’s relationship with God. Avoid idolizing anything in your worship other than the living God.
Liturgy
One way that many churches keep order and communicate meaning in their worship services is to follow a liturgy. A liturgy is an accepted order of worship within the tradition, lending structure and meaning. A worship service may, for instance, begin with acts of gathering such as greeting and scripture recital, proceed to acts of celebration such as joyful song and tithing, form the body in communion, baptisms, and commissioning, move to acts of petition in prayer, and then hear the word of God in sermon before responding in brief song and closing in benediction. Members grow accustomed to their church’s liturgy, whether announced and formal or unannounced and informal, adding to worship’s structure and meaning. One might say that every church has its liturgy, meaning its ritualistic structure for ordering worship, even if worship seems largely or entirely informal. Appreciate your church’s liturgy and participate richly, showing the greatest devotion while seeking the greatest intimacy and meaning.
Styles
One can also recognize diverse styles, culture, and customs in church worship services. Catholic services may appear solemn, formal, and austere to Protestant worshipers, although Catholics draw great peace, promise, and reassurance from them. Protestant services may appear informal, spontaneous, and even slightly irreverent to Catholic worshipers, although Protestants draw great joy, warmth, energy, and relationship from them. Orthodox services involving sung prayers and long chants, frequent standing and sitting around brief affirmations or prayers, and ceremonial censers emitting the smoke of incense, may appear peculiar to Protestants and Catholics, although Orthodox worshipers find great tradition and symbolic meaning in them. The diversity continues within branches and denominations. Some Protestant churches may sing and play only gospel music, while other Protestant churches sing and play primarily old hymns, and still others use contemporary rock-based bands to play popular new Christian anthems. The liturgical dress of pastors and priests can also differ widely, as can the formal or informal dress of the lay worshipers. Adjust to the worship forms, practices, and styles of your church home. The meaning and purpose of worship is beyond its styles and forms.
Reflection
Do you worship God above all else? Or do you idolize other things, giving them equal or greater devotion? What would indicate to you that you might be idolizing something above your worship of God? What do you see in others who idolize things above their worship of God? How do you participate in worship? Does your worship participation adequately reflect your heart for and devotion to God? Do you involve not just your mind but also your voice and body in worship? Does your worship adequately reflect your submission to God? Do you genuinely desire to submit your will to God? Are their forms of worship that make you uncomfortable? If so, why? Do you need to address your reluctance to worship, to more clearly devote yourself to God? What role does emotion play for you in your worship? Can you describe your church’s worship liturgy, meaning its ritualistic structure for worship, even if your church does not clearly announce it? Do you have a favorite style or tradition of worship?
Key Points
Worship involves utter devotion to God as the highest order of value.
Worship involves full participation of the mind, body, and emotions.
Worship should reflect your full submission to the desires of God.
Worship can take many communal and individual forms.
Worship can but need not always evoke an emotional experience.
Do not elevate anything in worship or devotion above God.
Churches structure worship in liturgical order and forms.
Worship styles of dress, music, and participation can differ widely.