We have been created to love God. Everything that we say or do that involves loving God is worship. Our normal definition or understanding of worship is way too small. Worship is not limited to what we do on Sunday morning at 8:30 or 11:00 a.m. It is not the music or the liturgy or the sermon. These are merely tools that allow us to express part of worship. Worship is an attitude we have about God. Worship is meant to be a lifestyle that is developed in response to who God is, what God has done, what God continues to do and what God has promised to do. Of all the activities we define as being 24/7 worship should be at the top of the list. We need to discover, understand and accept that worship is indeed all about God. God alone must be the focus of our worship.

In the Old Testament much of the practice of worship was focused in sacrifice and in holy days. Robert E. Webber is considered by many to be one of the leading experts of understanding Christian worship. He is the editor of a large 7 volume work called, The Complete Library of Christian Worship. Richard Leonard writes in the initial article of the first volume that the Hebrew word for worship translated into English means to bow down. To give thanks means to confess that God is Lord. The congregation comes before God to serve God and to await God's presence and favor.

The whole body is to be used in worship as people dance, clap, raise arms and hands and parade together. While sacrifice by the priests was long at the heart of worship, there is an early movement to strongly suggest that what God desires is praise and thanksgiving from individuals. Worship involves ascribing worth to God.

God makes it very clear from the beginning that only God is to be worshipped. In Deuteronomy 5:8-9 we are told, "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God." This instruction for worship continues in Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." The passage continues with instructions that these words are to always be in the hearts and minds of God's people.

The worship manual of the Old Testament is the Book of Psalms. The examples are too numerous to completely list here but the following are representative offerings. Psalm 95:1-2 "Come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise." In verse 6 this continues, "Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!" Psalm 100 begins, "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into His presence with singing."

The Psalmists employ all of creation to worship God. Hills and mountains, birds, animals and sea creatures are all called upon to glorify God by being and doing what they were created to be and do. It is very clear that God has created everything for each of us to enjoy. Whenever we enjoy what God has created for us we are worshiping God and bringing God pleasure. The Old Testament understanding of worship is that it is an activity of God's creation done for the purpose of pleasing God. We certainly need to examine whether or not this is our understanding of worship today allowing for the possibility that we may somehow have turned things around to the place of thinking that worship is more for us than it is for God.

It is interesting to note, I believe, at this point that the last thing with which the devil tempts Jesus in Matthew 4:9 is faulty worship. The devil tells Jesus, "I will give you all the Kingdoms of the world if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus only sought the Kingdom of God so He replied, "Away with you, Satan!" for it is written, "Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him." We must be careful so as to not fall for thinking that the Kingdoms of the world can bring us better gifts than the ones God offers us.

There are three passages in the New Testament which I believe speak to worship. No doubt there are more than three but these three seem to give us a rather complete picture. The first passage is from the original Gospel writer, Mark. In chapter 12 verse 29 Mark has Jesus quote Deuteronomy 6:4 reiterating the importance and necessity of loving God with everything we have and also loving our neighbors in like fashion. Nothing has changed from the original command. Jesus tells us quite clearly that God alone is to be number one in our lives. He goes on to say that if we don't also love each other, which we will discuss next week, then loving God is meaningless. You cannot do one without doing the other.

The second passage is found in Romans 12:1-2. As Rick Warren correctly points out, we need to pay attention to what follows the word, "therefore." In this instance Paul spent eleven chapters telling the Romans all God has done for them. He then writes, "therefore" which is Paul's way of saying, "Here is what we need to do for God." As God has now made it possible for us to have eternal life we are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice for God. This is in Paul's mind the only reasonable thing for us to do based upon his understanding of what God has done for us. We have been given the opportunity by God to have eternal life. The only reasonable response is to accept it. Paul warns us to be like Jesus. "Do not settle for the earthly kingdoms with which Satan tempted Jesus and now which are temptations for us." Rather, "be transformed or changed into that for which you were created by placing your mind on God so that you may discover what God wants for you and be willing to accept it.

The final passage in John 4, I believe, completes the New Testament instruction. Jesus is at the well with the woman from Samaria. When Jesus starts to reveal too much of her personal life the woman attempts to change the subject by talking about where real worship is to occur. Verses 23 and 24 are informative and important. "The hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and have invited God to send the Holy Spirit to make you over again so that you are prepared to receive eternal life, then you are living in a new kingdom, the Kingdom of God, which is a spiritual Kingdom. This does not mean we are to attempt to reject the world. It means we are to know the difference. We are to choose God's Kingdom and do all we can to bring the rest of the world to this Kingdom of God.

The power by which this is done is love, God's love working through us by our being loving in God's name which is the meaning and activity of worship.