What is Worship?

When I asked a group of ten year olds on what worship was, I received examples such as music, singing, and bowing down before a king. When we think of worship, we may think of those as examples of worship, but they are really examples of worship being personified. Worship is more than our actions, it is what is going on in our hearts. Just singing a song that mentions Jesus is not worship. I can sing the song with a great voice, or I can mumble the song. Neither make it worship. Worship is a matter of the heart, a center of our being condition. Music at church is a time for us to bring ourselves to where we should be spiritually and mentally. If I sing the worship song about how great God is, but I am thinking about how hungry I am, that is not worship.

An analogy of this would be of kissing my wife before bed. Am I obligated to love her and kiss her good night? Yes, but the action is to convey something deeper. If she asked me why I kissed her, she wants to know it is because I love her and treasure her. She doesn't want me to say, “because I have too.” We are created and told to worship God, but it should be given freely from the abundance of reasons God has given us. Worship like that can freely be given when we think of how worthy Jesus is and how worthy He is of all of our praise.

We should not think of worship time as limited to the time we are standing and singing, but of the time between when we enter and exit the church building. Our prayers, songs of praise, study of scripture, and the searching of our heart if the sermon is particularly convicting, should all be times of worship.

“Worship is our innermost being responding with praise for all that God is, through our attitudes, actions, thoughts, and words, based on the truth of God as He has revealed Himself.”

- John Macarthur