I wonder if there is anyone less qualified to write about “worship” than me. And note that I didn’t put any conditions on what I worship—starting with God and descending to, well, anything that isn’t God.
In other words, I really don’t revere anything these days—a record that I am not very proud of. These could include both tangible and intangible things. The list is, unfortunately, endless.
There is no need for a thesaurus here: Worship includes a deep excitement or veneration of certain objects. In terms of synonyms, words like adoration, honour, and respect, come to mind.
My own personal battle is that there is really little in my experience that garners that level of honour—especially if I use the term “worship.” It is such a strong, intense word, that it is appropriate to limit its use to God. Sometimes it is defined in word play as “worth-ship”—speaking obviously of an object that has worth or value.
In the normal run of events, that is good, because I could be guilty of idolatry, if I ever substituted it for true, biblical worship. Idolatry, then, is the act of worship towards something other than God, something that He alone deserves.
I understand that God, and God alone, is to be worshipped (Exodus 20.1-6). Anything that replaces (or better: displaces) God is nothing less than idolatry. This warning bears repeating, though it is not mere repetition.
If I am lax in my worship of God, does that make me an idolater? As we’re born to worship, and God is not the object, then something else must be. That would be an idol, so that actually would be idolatry. That sounds so severe, but it’s true. I can honour any number of things, so long as they are not greater than God.
Recent studies in I Corinthians 10 brought this truth home. Israel’s recorded history (vv1-5) was reduced to five grievous sins and punishment (vv6-11). Out of that record, one was brought forward to the church—idolatry. The Corinthian church was warned to “flee from idolatry,” v14. Why it was selected out of the five, I do not know for certain. A little further on the Lord’s supper is discussed, as well in the next chapter, one of the key spheres of public worship.
Israel seemed to idolize their history with God and the way God preserved and blessed them, rather than the God of that history. That perspective is linked with worshipping the creature rather than the Creator (see Romans 1.16-32).
Whether it is Israel or the church, the principle is the same: You can be exposed to the truth and practice it thoroughly, but you can still fall flat on your face in terms of “worship,” if you focus on the wrong object. In terms of the function of the church, it could all be good in its own way—good but not God.
That is very discomforting, but it can actually be very comforting—one of life’s ironies. It shows how
we can be duped into thinking we doing fine when, well, we’re not. After all, Saul of Tarsus thought he was honouring God by killing His people.
In other words, while I personally don’t worship very well, there is small comfort that it has plagued the nation of Israel and the global (and local) church for thousands of years, too.
True worship is a multi-faceted experience; that is, it can be done privately or publicly, individually or corporately, silently or audibly, and with hands up or down. Or it can be a combination of the above.
In a basic sense, true worship is the overflowing gratitude and reverence reserved for God alone. Not only does it give Him His due, it also takes the focus off any other object. True worship for God always does that.
~ Craig Funston
Silver Quills Blog 