The Bible Nerd

Ancient future worship. Modern worship. Emerging worship. Interactive worship. Liturgical worship. Postmodern worship. Contextual worship. Generational worship. Elmo worship. By the time you are through, the complexity of worship styles and approaches can leave your head spinning. Everyone has an opinion on HOW the church should worship. As a missionary, I have the added fun of thinking through how culture shapes and alters worship. In the end, sometimes I miss the simplicity of worship from my younger days.

That is when I go back and read through the life of Abraham, and think about his worship of God. It was simple. No law to speak of, no priesthood, no tabernacle or temple, no ceremonial liturgy, no Psalms, nothing that would come later in the covenant based worship. Genesis 12:6-8 describes what Abraham’s worship looked like.

Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.  Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

Wow, that seems way simpler than what we do today. Abraham is in daily relationship with God, praying and receiving revelation. In response to God’s revelation and guidance, Abraham wants to express his gratitude and awe of a personal, yet powerful God. He doesn’t travel to some far away place making pilgrimage. He doesn’t build some elaborate building or temple. He doesn’t start a cult or set up ceremonial laws. He grabs a few rocks and makes a crude altar. Most likely, he offered some type of sacrifice, although that isn’t stated here. It would have been something simple and on hand, possibly a sheep. Then he “calls upon the name of the Lord”. What did that look like? What did he say about the name of the Lord? We don’t know, and the author of Genesis thinks that information is sufficient.

Can worship really be that simple? We don’t even need to offer sacrifices anymore (see Hebrews), so we can even cut that step out. Simple worship doesn’t mean that Abraham’s reverence for God wasn’t meaningful or deep. Intricate ceremony doesn’t mean that the heart behind it is more sincere. This would be proven in Genesis 22 in Abraham’s case.

“After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship (shachah) and come again to you.”

When God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Abraham tells his men that he is going to “worship” God. After waiting so long for his promised son, the heir of the land, Abraham doesn’t appear to hesitate when told to sacrifice him. Hebrews 11:19 tells us that he believed that God would raise him from the dead to fulfill His promise. Even though there was no law, there was an understanding somehow that sacrifice was necessary to approach and worship God. We will discuss this more when looking at worship in Leviticus. Though Abraham’s worship was simple, it had a challenge that most will never face in their lives, testing the authenticity of his faith toward God.

Thankfully, we know how the story ends. God provides a ram and Isaac is spared. The whole event is a clear foreshadow of God the father offering His son Jesus on the cross to make atonement for man and open up true worship. A clear message was also sent that God is not an idol who requires the life of children to satisfy Him (unlike Molech, a Canaanite god Israelites end up worshiping). The challenge to us is to return to the depth and simplicity of Abraham’s worship. Of course, we still need to consider culture, details of the service, words of the songs we sing, and other matters. However, if we lose the heart and power of true worship, we are wasting our time fighting over details or stressing out over complexity. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go grab a couple of rocks, make a pile, and call upon the name of the Lord.

“I don’t feel like worshiping today.” I have to admit that I have either said that out loud or thought that way more times than I would like to admit. It is basically saying that my worship of God depends on how I feel, which usually means am I happy with my life. Are things going well with ministry? my family? my finances? If they are, then yeehaw, it is time to do same David like worship and dance in the streets. However, if an unexpected bill comes in, my car breaks down, or the internet is too slow today, and my hands go in my pockets during worship (or I at least fold them behind my back to sort of look respectful when I am refusing to sing along). This kind of attitude doesn’t really go with the Biblical definitions of worship.

In the New Testament, the word “worship” is most often used for the Greek word “proskuneo”. “Proskuneo” has a very similar meaning to the Hebrew “shachah”, in that it was used to describe the action of bowing down and kissing the feet of a king, ruler, superior, etc… It can literally be translated “to kiss” or “kiss the hand to” and was the Oriental practice of touching one’s head to the ground as a sign of profound reverence. You can see this in the following verse:

Matthew 18:26 (NIV)
“The servant fell on his knees [proskuneo] before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’

In the same way as the Old Testament, when “proskuneo” is used to describe an action toward God, most often the word “worship” is used by translators.

John 4:24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship [proskuneo] in spirit and in truth.”

Since it took on meaning beyond the original action of bowing and doing obeisance, we have to ask what additional meanings did it take on? First of all, no where in the New Testament is proskuneo/worship used to describe the whole service of when a church gathers together. That leaves the question though what actions or attitudes accurately describe worship. Prayer? singing? communion? Before we can try to answer these, we must consider why this Greek word was chosen. Also, just as with the Hebrew “abad”, a few times the Greek word “latreo” (service) is translated as “worship”. So, deep reverence and respect is combined with obedient lifestyles to make up the term worship.

I don’t see anything about our feelings in any of these Biblical terms. Of course, we want to “want” to worship God. I love the times of worship when I feel true joy AND happiness in my praise of God. Yet, even in the worst times of my life, I still should have deep respect and honor for God, as well as an obedient lifestyle. Obedience tested by the fires of trials often yields the sweetest worship times. Great hymns that we treasure have often been borne out of times of personal tragedy (“It is Well with my Soul” for example). Our obedience also doesn’t hinge on how much we are enjoying our lives. Otherwise, Jeremiah the prophet should have had a free pass to sin based on his suffering.

The other thing that you can’t get around is that whatever word is translated as “worship”, it seems to involve some type of action. Yes, true worship comes from the right heart attitude, but it is still an action. Whether we decide it is still bowing down, singing, or praying out, worship must not be reduced to a concept or feeling. That would be like saying, “I am an evangelist at heart, and my life shows Jesus, so I don’t need to actually say anything.” Lame. The Bible always portrays evangelism as proclamation of the Gospel, the message of the cross. In the same way, you can honor and respect God in your heart, but that is not worship. At least not in the Bible.

It doesn’t really matter then whether or not I “feel” like worshiping or not. God is ALWAYS deserving of my homage and obeisance. Worship is based on who He is, and He is never changing. He is king yesterday, today, and forever, so I must bow before Him forever. Isn’t that the picture we see in Revelation 7 as all the saints bow before Him in eternal worship? I guess I have to take my hands out of my pockets, set aside whatever worries me, and focus on the sovereign creator of the universe. You didn’t get to tell the kings of this earth, “Hey, I don’t feel like bowing before you, so maybe tomorrow.” Attitudes like this were followed by statements like, “Off with his head!” God isn’t going to whack my head off (hopefully), but it is His grace and love that motivate me to worship Him at all times.