Worship and praise are not the same thing. Worship is actually the foundation of praise.
“Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.” (Deut. 6:13).
“Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matt. 4:10).
What is worship then? The biblical answer is that it is service—the offering of yourself for service.What is worship then? The biblical answer is that it is service—the offering of yourself for service. In the Old Testament and New both, the main words for it (aboda and latria) originally refer to the service of slaves or hired servants. And so a worship service is where you offer yourself, body, soul, and spirit, to God for his work. The quintessential demeanor of worship can be seen with Isaiah in the Temple (“Here am I; send me”) and our Lord’s mother at the Annunciation (“Be it unto me according to thy word”). And in the temptation in the wilderness, the Lord was refusing to render service to the devil.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:1–2).
“I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness” (Rom. 6:19).
Having done that, having offered ourselves in worship, praise is proper and appropriate. This is because the praise needs to be upright. “Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: For praise is comely for the upright” (Ps. 33:1).
And because we are servants of the Lord all the time, it is fitting to be praising Him all the time. “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Ps. 34:1). “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name” (Heb. 13:15).
Where do we praise Him? Well, wherever we are. We praise Him in the congregation of the saints (Ps. 149:1). We praise Him upon our beds (Ps. 149:5). We praise Him in the middle of combat (Ps. 149:6-7).
How are we to praise Him? It is to be done naturally. Praise is the fruit of our lips (Heb. 13:15). Our praise should be orderly, and with no chaos in it (1 Cor. 14:40). It is to be wholehearted, no holding back, long haul praise—“I will extol thee, my God, O king; And I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; And I will praise thy name for ever and ever” (Ps. 145:1–2). And our praise should never be slipshod; we should offer the Lord the best we have. “Sing unto him a new song; Play skilfully with a loud noise” (Ps. 33:3).
But worship first. Then praise.
Closely related: “You shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart …”
Love is the law. We succeed or fail as human beings to the extent we succeed or fail at loving God and neighbor. Worship is love working itself out.
Also, paraphrasing and mashing up stuff from James Dolezal: the theologian on encountering mystery does not seek to minimize it but to adore.
Wonderful post Doug! Thank you.
Rod Dreher has a very interesting take on the ongoing (losing) battle between sports and worship: Chariots Of Fire Vs. Minivans Of Apathy
Good read, thanks. I’d have upvoted just for the title. I was surprised at his sense of solidarity with the Mormons though. The benefits of keeping a Sabbath must be somewhat undermined by singing hymns to Joseph Smith. I appreciated the segment on ritual and memory. The most powerful rituals involve the body, says Connerton. They make use of all the senses to impress the sacred story upon the individuals gathered. For example, when worshippers kneel or prostrate themselves at a certain point in a ritual, they learn in their very muscles the awe-filled meaning of that sacred moment—and it… Read more »
I agree with all that, Indighost. It’s sad that whenever I genuflect these days, I have to wonder if my bad knees will let me get up again without falling into an adjacent pew! I may have to cultivate a reverent bow instead.
I’m going to go against the grain here and say I disagreed with much of what he has to say. Primarily because I think he’s starting the story at Chapter 4, rather than Chapter 1. It’s not as if we had a glorious functioning church and people just suddenly started not attending at random because sports are fun. We’ve had churches slowly decaying for decades internally, reducing the incentive to go. I know of no one more dedicated to following and affirming himself to God than my father (if perhaps, I don’t always agree how he interprets God’s intent), but… Read more »
Now that we’ve established that neither “worship” nor “praise” means specifically singing, specifically at church, can I get a Sunday service where half the time isn’t spent on people stumbling through acoustic guitar revisions of songs most of the congregation doesn’t have the vocal experience to sing correctly? Maybe a William Shatner style spoken word rendition of some psalms.
Can I get a Sunday service where people are humble and so grateful for the opportunity to simply come together and worship, that no one ever thinks to complain about the thermostat and the guitar music and the unfriendly greeter and the length of the sermon and politics?
Even better, can I get people to come to church with a sacrificial heart thinking, how can I serve my brothers and sisters in Christ , what do they need from me today ?
I can’t make a lighthearted comment with little serious religious consequence. Thoroughly noted.
“Even better, can I get people to come to church with a sacrificial heart thinking, how can I serve my brothers and sisters in Christ , what do they need from me today ?”
Given your history, I would think you should start with yourself. Unless you think lying about and slandering your brothers and sisters in Christ in obvious disprovable ways is what we need from you.
“… what do they need from me today ?”
Peace and quiet?
I don’t actually think you can, human nature being what it is! There is no way I can imagine that a whole bunch of people can come together without something getting on someone’s nerves. I am pretty good about enduring guitar music, but lethally awful about thermostats set to 78 when I am used to a subarctic 66. On the other hand, these are all opportunities to practice patience and mortification.
Hi MeMe, I answered your post from yesterday. I wasn’t sure if you’re still reading that one.
Wait, you don’t like this kind of thing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cst1YYQZwsM
You have my deepest thanks. This made my day. Brings back lots of memories of being 14 and having a stronger Biblical education than the youth pastor at my foursquare church.
You’re welcome. It also shows why complaints about the cheesy/shallow/feminine praise songs are usually legitimate (MeMe’s comment).
I occasionally l feel like there’s something missing from worship at my church.
Now I know what it is.
Pictures of ducks.
What state do you live in?
Acapella exclusive psalmnody. Problem fixed.
Prov 30:8 Feed me with the food that is needful for me.
Thanks for dinner.
Delicious!!!
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:1–2). When he says “reasonable service”, the type of worship that Paul is advocating for is avoiding two “unreasonable’ extremes. On one hand there are the traditionalists (Jews) that repeat the same ritual over and over again, losing meaning after… Read more »
I’ve read a lot and thought a lot on this issue. We, in the American evangelical churches I have been a part of, tend to think of worship as singing praises and nothing else. While singing praises can certainly be worship, it isn’t always. Further the essence of worship is internal, not external. Praise is a response to worship and isn’t worship itself. I usually define worship as our proper response to God – be that in observation or contemplation. When we consider something about him and that moves us to some action – which could be a word, a… Read more »