A Heart of Worship
By Peter Amsterdam
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“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.”—Revelation 4:111
When speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus said: “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.”2
God seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and truth. We who love God and want to please Him should endeavor to worship Him—in spirit and in truth—because He desires this. But how do we worship properly—in spirit and in truth?
The word “worship” comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word weorthscype, which meant worth, value, honor, which later became worthship and then worship. Worshipping God is ascribing proper worth to God; it’s acknowledging, expressing, and honoring His worth. As Donald Whitney puts it, “The Holy and Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, the Sovereign Judge to whom we must give an account, He is worthy of all the worth and honor we can give Him and then infinitely more.”
The basis of God’s worth and thus our worship is found in His nature and character, His attributes, in who He is. He is the Creator of all things visible and invisible. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, unchangeable, infinite, eternal, present everywhere. He is wisdom, truth, faithfulness, goodness, love, mercy, grace, patience, holiness, righteousness, justice, and more. While we as beings made in the image and likeness of God possess a small measure of some of these attributes, God is these attributes. As the one who created all that exists out of nothing, He is infinitely greater than we are and is therefore worthy to be worshipped.
Besides being the Creator, He is also our Redeemer. He made a way for us, as sinners, to be reconciled to Him. He acted through Jesus’ sacrifice to bring salvation to all who believe in and accept Him as Redeemer. He redeems us from sin and death, and thus is worthy of our praise. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”3
We worship God because He is worthy of worship, as He is so much greater than anything or anyone that exists. As we come to know Him more, to understand His love and power, all He has done and constantly does for us, we understand more clearly that our response to Him should be worship. His Word tells us that He created us for His glory.4 Therefore we are to do all things for the glory of God.5 Our ultimate purpose in life is to fulfill the reason we were created: to glorify God.
The Old Testament Hebrew word generally translated “to worship” is shachah (pronounced shah-khah), which means to bow down, to prostrate oneself before a superior in homage. The Greek word used in the New Testament, proskuneo (pronounced pras-koo-neh’-o), means to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence; kneeling or prostration to do homage or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication. It represents our inward attitude of homage and respect toward God.6 It expresses our surrender and submission to Him, recognition of His majesty and holiness, acknowledgment of Him as the ruler of our life.
Worship is our rightful response to the one who has revealed Himself as the triune God—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who has shown us His will and purpose through His Word. It’s our response to being brought into relationship with Him through Jesus; it’s our response to the gift of salvation we have received through His love and sacrifice.
In Old Testament times, worship of God was primarily centered around sacrificial offerings—the sacrificing of animals as the means for people to receive forgiveness of sin, as well as to show thanks and praise to God. From the time of Moses onward, these sacrifices were made at the tabernacle and later the temple in Jerusalem, the place where God dwelt among His people. Most people were only allowed to enter the courtyard of the temple, while the priests could go into the outer court, called the Holy Place. However, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, the innermost room of the temple where God’s presence dwelt, and he was only allowed to go in once a year.
The New Testament tells us that the sacrificial system was no longer necessary once Jesus laid down His life as a single sacrifice for all time7 and therefore there is no longer a need for any further sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God. Through His sacrificial death, we are now allowed to come into God’s presence directly in prayer, praise, and worship. As believers we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”8
As Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman, worship is no longer tied to a specific place as it was at the time, but is now based on the relationship between the worshipper and God—a relationship which became possible through Jesus’ death and resurrection. It is no longer necessary to go to the dwelling place of God, the temple, to worship. The time came when the connecting point between God and humanity became Jesus, through the salvation that His death and resurrection brought to us.
In saying that God seeks worshippers who worship Him in spirit and truth, Jesus was expressing that true worship is more than just words which come out of our mouths. It is our spirit connecting to His Spirit as we commune with Him, and worshipping God for who He is, as He has revealed Himself in His Word.
When we worship the Lord, we do so with respect, reverence, and awe. “Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.”9
There are many Bible verses that speak of fearing the Lord. The Hebrew words used for fear have the meanings to revere, to stand in awe of, to have reverence or veneration. When we understand “fearing the Lord” in these terms, we can grasp the blessings promised to those who reverence and stand in awe of the Lord. He takes pleasure in them,10 shows compassion to them,11 blesses them,12 is friends with them,13 and His love is always with them.
“The steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children.”14
Originally published May 2014. Adapted and republished June 2018.
Read by Jon Marc.
1 ESV.
2 John 4:23.
3 Romans 5:10–11.
4 Isaiah 43:6–7.
5 1 Corinthians 10:31.
6 T. D. Alexander and B. S. Rosner, eds., in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000).
7 Hebrews 10:12.
8 1 Peter 2:9.
9 Hebrews 12:28.
10 Psalm 147:11.
11 Psalm 103:13.
12 Psalm 115:13.
13 Psalm 25:14.
14 Psalm 103:17.
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