Is Worship really what happens every Sunday Morning?

Worship? What is it to you? How do you define your worship experiences? Is singing a song and clapping your hands worship? Is reading the bible worshipping?

In the truest biblical sense the act of worshipping has nothing to do with most Sunday morning services across the land. Most churches have “worship time”, “worship bands” or even “worship leaders”. My main question is: Are any of the things promoted as worship in most churches as worship really worship in a biblical sense? Most instances of worship through scripture also portray a physical act of bowing of the head or kneeling. Most are also a personal event or act and not a corporate event or act.

The first instance I can find of the word worship in scripture is Genesis 22:5, we are all familiar with the story of Abraham offering up his son Isaac as a sacrifice. In Genesis 22:5 Abraham told the 2 men he had as travel companions that he was taking his son Isaac to worship. So in the sense of this first verse of usage worship in it’s truest sense means to follow through with what God has set forth before you, or more clearly to bow down to God’s desire for you and do it. Most importantly here is that it is God’s desires and not your own. Did Abraham want to give Isaac as a sacrifice? Not in the least bit. But when Abraham followed through with Gods desire, then God made a way that Isaac would be spared.

Now what about Isaac’s worship? Most people glaze over the fact that Abraham was about to kill his son, but most don’t see that Isaac was a willing participant in this. There was no mention of a struggle, no mention of even a “Please don’t do this”. Isaac was probably the most worshipful in this story – if there are degrees of worship that is.

Now let’s look at the story of Job. This is said to be the oldest book of the bible. We all know the story, but have you overlooked the fact that Job after losing his children and possessions fell upon his face and worshipped God Job 1:20? He then proceeds to say that the Lord gave him everything and God had the right to take it all away. Is that your heart? If you lose a dollar out of your pocket do you think, “Well God allowed me to have that dollar and God decided to let it fall from my pocket and with that I am content?” One would probably not say that, as most people will go into a tirade and snort and fume over the loss of a single dollar. What if you lost everything? Or maybe that is the point; God wants us to be broken when we come to Him in worship. God wants us at our purest calling out to Him in adoration and thankfulness of all He does for us, all He gives to us and all His grace he bestows to us.

So, to me, that is worship. Not singing songs (my voice is not that good), getting in the mood to hear a sermon (you should always be in the mood to hear from God through His servant) or fellowshipping with other believers (fellowship is a fruit, not worship). Worship is the act of revering God as He should be, acknowledging God in His greatness, falling down before Him stripped and exposed with your hearts flowing praises to the King for His mercy of reaching out to you when all you really deserve is the opposite. One on One with the Father. We deserve hell and damnation and what does the Lord do? He supplied The Way of forgiveness through Christ, His Son that He offered a Sacrifice but did not make a different way. He was The Way, The Sacrifice, The Atonement. God spared Abraham’s son Isaac, but not His own Jesus.

Don’t get me wrong, I think there is good that comes from the singing of hymns and songs that praise God, but you might want to redefine what it is called. Is it really “Praise and Worship” music? Or should it have a different label? Maybe just “Songs of Praise” or “Music Time”, but probably not worship music unless everyone falls upon their face and actually worship God.

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