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Chapter 1: The Art of Worship

“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.” (A. W. Tozer)

We all believe in something. Our beliefs shape who we are and how we act. There are beliefs that we profess but give up when something better comes along. Then there are beliefs that we would stake our lives on. It is easy to express a belief in God, but if that belief remains nothing more than mere words, then life is wasted, no matter how many other good things we may have done. The question is, Would we stake our lives on our belief in God?

A fulfilled life, a committed life, is about loving God and experiencing the promises that come with a relationship with him. Worship is the key to how we build a life of loving God. But if our worship doesn’t help, then we’re not learning to live. Let’s get real. If our relationship with God is not growing, then we need a new grasp on worship!

Say this word aloud: Worship. It is a great word, isn’t it? It tugs at the emotions and makes us feel good. Worship rolls off the tongue so smoothly. The word appears 254 times in the New International Version of the Bible. Abraham was said to have worshiped in Genesis 22. Worship continued throughout the Scripture clear to the end of Revelation when the angel told John to worship God. We use the word on a regular basis in church. But to use the word worship does not mean that every person interprets the word in the same way. So, before we can learn about worship, we must first establish a working definition of the word itself.

A. W. Tozer once proclaimed, “I wonder if there was ever a time when true spiritual worship was at a lower ebb. To great sections of the church, the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the ‘program.’ This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the public service, which now passes for worship among us.”1 In the more than sixty years since Tozer gave us this statement, we have not been very successful in adequately reestablishing the meaning of worship.

We gain a small glimpse of how to worship by looking at the Psalms:

“Come, let us bow down in worship,

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;” (Psalm 95:6)

“Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;

tremble before him, all the earth.” (Psalm 96:6)

“Worship the LORD with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalm 100:2)

“With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD;

in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.” (Psalm 109:30)

Bowing down, kneeling, trembling, singing and being glad, and praising him with the mouth are all a part of worship. When was the last time you trembled because you felt God’s power in your life? How often do you bow down before the Lord in your quiet time? Better yet, how often are you actually glad that you have the privilege of going before the Lord in prayer and devotion? Certainly, there is more to worship than these few words.

In today’s contemporary lingo, we use the word worship as a time when the church has a corporate gathering. We substitute the word singing with the word worship. When the leader says, “Let’s worship,” we know that we are going to sing. But, isn’t prayer a part of worship, too? How about the preaching of the word? Is that worship? Is meeting together as a congregation considered worship? We observed Tozer’s concern about worship. It is clear that he considered gathering with the body of believers as vital to worship. “Has it ever occurred to you,” he wrote, “that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified.”2

Southeast Christian Church in Parker, Colorado, is a church of close to 4,000 in weekly attendance. Jeff Percival is the worship pastor at the church. We talked about his perspective on worship. Jeff says, “the most important component in a worship service is worship itself. To worship God is to say to Him that He is good, that He is worthy . . . to proclaim His supreme value to Him and everyone else. This could be with or without music. Some of the best preaching I’ve ever heard is simply spoken praise and worship. There are many benefits to the assembly of the body of Christ—teaching, evangelism, edification, fellowship, accountability, etc.—but this highlights the difference between benefits and purpose. Our primary purpose for our assemblies must always be to worship God.”

The word worship came into prominence in the 1300s. It was a contraction of two words: worth and ship. It meant to ascribe or declare the worth of something, or to place value in the thing being honored. To worship, then, is to lift up the Lord, to declare his value, and to place life under his Lordship.3 The word is best used in Psalm 29:1–2:

Ascribe to the LORD, you heavenly beings,

Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;

Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

The word ascribe in this text can be used synonymously with the word worship.

We worship whether we realize it or not. Jud Wilhite, senior pastor of Central Christian in Henderson, Nevada, wrote, “Everybody worships something. The worship switch is always set to “on.” Anything we derive pleasure from, anything we derive satisfaction from, anything we ascribe supreme worth to (such as art, sex, music, and sports) can become the thing that we worship.”4 This is why when man refused to give God glory, he “gave them over” to replace His love with the things of their desire. “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 1:24–25). Jesus said that we cannot serve God and money, or God and power, or God and—you fill in the blank. We describe “sun worshipers” as those who spend their lives getting the perfect tan. When our job is our total focus, it becomes our object of worship. Our toys, the vacation house, television, food, or any number of other things can become the object of our worship when it becomes the main priority of our heart.

We can identify what we worship by the results that are exhibited in our life—our fruit. Our character is shaped by the objects of our worship. Worshipers of “things” become materialistic. Worshipers of money become greedy. Ruthless and controlling people worship power. An unhealthy focus on the opposite sex breeds lust. People who worship themselves become selfish and prideful. “But if by his very nature God is bigger and more powerful and more lasting than all of these things, then not only should our worship be tuned to him, but also our worship of him should be turned up to 11!”5 When we dedicate ourselves to this kind of worship of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we grow into Christlikeness. As Jesus said, “Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them” (John 7:20).

When we use the word worship, we must make a broad stroke with our definition. It must include corporate settings as well as personal one-on-one time with Jesus. It includes singing praises, and being quiet. It includes prayer, reading, serving, preaching, and evangelism. Worship takes place on Sunday, but it also takes place every other day of the week. In fact, as we will learn through this book, corporate worship is a reflection of the worship we experienced the previous six and a half days, as well as the springboard for our worship in the week to come.

Perhaps we struggle to define worship because we struggle to do worship. As Wilhite points out, “Basically, the meaning of life is to wholeheartedly worship the giver and sustainer of life… and to enjoy doing so!”6 Bob Sorge, in Exploring Worship, declares that worship is learned. The psalmist seems to agree. “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, LORD” (Psalm 89:15). Even though our worship switch is always on, we need to dial ourselves in, and rid ourselves of the static. Dialed-in worship takes practice. “Worship is the art of expressing oneself to God, and we must learn that expression and open our hearts as channels of the Holy Spirit.”7 We need to explore every aspect of the art of worship so that we might become more fulfilled in the acts of worship.

In the following chapters, we will explore the meaning of worship. All aspects of worship must be included if we are to be satisfied with any one aspect of our worship of God. You may already have knowledge of the information in some of the chapters. That is okay, read it anyway. God wants every aspect of your worship to grow. You might also face material that you were taught to disregard. Read that as well. By looking at things in a different context, you may find a whole new freshness in your worship. Static will fade away, and you will hear God loud and clear.

At the end of each chapter is a section titled “Try These Activities.” They are important and should not be skipped over. Read through each of the activity ideas and focus on at least one chance for enrichment.

Try These Activities

• Before moving on to chapter two, grab a pen or pencil to write with in the space below. Using your own experience and what you have read so far, create your own definition of worship. Write your ideas below each section. Don’t pass by this exercise without writing out your thoughts. It will help you process the chapters that follow.

• Name an area that you would like to expand on as a part of your worship experience, and focus on that area for a month.