WBS Hungary - Guest Authors

Parveen Singh:  What is Worship?

My name is Parveen and I am a member of the Church of Christ in the US and I received an receive an e-mail on the topic of worship.  I believe that this important topic that deserves more attention.

We sometimes go to a church building which says, "worship starts at 11am, bible study at 10am" There is a concern there.  Let's look at the conversation between the Samaritan woman and Jesus.  John 4:20-25 (English-NIV)

Worship for the Patriarchs The word for worship in Hebrew (proskanesis; check spelling) meant a physical prostration.  When the patriarchs(pre-Jews)bowed their heads in reverence, that was considered worship.  But that was only worship in it's beginning stages. 

Worship for the Jews

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"Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

After the covenant with the Jews, the temple was established.  And the Jews would go to the temple to worship God.  There was a place where they worshipped God.   There was also a division between the worshippers and the priests, who offered the sacrfices to God on behalf of the people

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Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

God was going to change people's concept of worship.  Worship was no longer going to be limited to a place. 

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You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

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Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

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God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

What is the worship that God requires of us?  Is it a physical prostration or restricted to a place as in the Old Testament?  Or are the scriptures moving us from the foreshadow(the law) to the reality in Christ (new covenant).  As the above passage tells us, should we worship God in Spirit and in truth?  When CAN that occur?   All the  time, if we have the right mindset!

Hebrews 9:24
For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.

Christ our high priest, has gone into the real Temple, where God resides on our behalf.   Why is that so important for us Christians? Because we have direct access to God through Christ.  Before that, we were limited to the temple and the sacrifices offered by the priests.  Only the priest could go into the Holy of Holies in the presence of God.

Worship for Christians  Hebrews 10:19-26 (English-NIV)

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Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,

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by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his
body,

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and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

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let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and
having our bodies washed with pure water.

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Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

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And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

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Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

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If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,

Although we don't worship at a location, we also meet to worhsip God
together.  We worship Him directly in heaven! (Heb 10:19)

How does this work?  Perhaps, Jesus statement that God is spirit and His worshippers must worship in Spirit is key.  Neither God, or our worship, is limited by a location. 

Some people may say, "We are on earth.  So how can we be in heaven at the same time?"

Where are we to worship God? Ephesians 2:6 (English-NIV)
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Colossians 3:1 (English-NIV)
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Being a Christian is awesome.  Not only are we forgiven, but we are resurrected individuals!  We don't understand worship, because we don't understand that we have been raised with our High Priest, Christ.  Before we can understand worship, we must understand that we are in a state of Glory with Christ!  Even though our bodies are here on earth, our souls are safely in the hands of God!  Brethren, we have nothing to fear.  We can only understand this through faith!  Faith is the certainty of things not seen! (Heb 11:1)  Even though we cannot see ourselves resurrected; God's word says so.  This is a very exciting topic which will require further study :)   But you will be blessed by our Father!

Brethren, the forces of evil are always attempting to frighten the believers from following God. Can a resurrected individual be afraid!  The media is continuously bombarding us with materials to take our eyes off of Jesus!  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus and worhsip Him in Spirt!

love

parveen

"I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" Ezekiel 36:25, 27

My homepage: http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Stu/psingh/gl2.html