What is a biblical theology of worship?

They that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth, and the Father seeketh such to worship Him. John 4:24. They delight in what He is: they "joy in God," and they love Him. To worship 'in spirit' is to worship according to the true nature of God, and in the power of that communion which the Holy Spirit gives. It thus stands in contrast to worship consisting in forms and ceremonies, and to the religiousness of which the flesh is capable. To worship 'in truth' is to worship God according to the revelation which He has been pleased to give of Himself. It would not therefore now be worshipping God 'in truth' to worship Him simply as 'a great God,' 'our Maker,' and 'a great King above all gods,' as in Psalm 95; for He has been pleased to reveal Himself in another light, even as 'Father' to those who are His. They enter into His presence in the spirit of sonship, and in the sense of the love which has given them a place before Him in Christ, as sons according to His good pleasure: the sense of this love, and of the good pleasure of God in having us before Him in Christ, is the spring of worship. The Father and the Son are known, the Father's will is that the Son should be honoured as revealing the fountain of love, and the Son leading the hearts of the many sons into the Father's love. Worship is thus distinguished from ascriptions of praise and thanksgiving: it is the homage of love. Rom. 8:15.

In the Assembly the Spirit should control every motion. "What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also" (ver. 15). God's Assembly is marked by prayer — the expression of dependence — and singing, which is the outlet of the heart's joy. Some people think it is not spiritual to sing — I do not think they have the Spirit's mind. Paul says, "I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupies the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understands not what thou sayest?" (ver. 16) Here is worship; blessing and giving of thanks. What a lovely picture of the Assembly in function. It is marked by ministry that profits, and prayer, singing, and worship. That is what God's Assembly is put together for, to turn to Him in prayer, song, and worship. It is the New Testament analogue of Psalm 29:9 — "Every whit of it utters thy glory."

Worship is a most important function of God's Assembly. But what is worship? It is not thanksgiving — it is more. Thanksgiving is gratitude and blessing for what God has given; but worship is the delight of the heart in what He is. It is the soul finding its delight in God — its rest in the revelation of Himself, in Christ. It is not merely gratitude for blessings conferred, for what you have got, though that be not forgotten, but your soul is delighting in Himself, and that is what God looks for. One saint expresses it for all the rest, and the Assembly says Amen. In what takes place in the Assembly God likes warmth and fervency, and if a brother prays to, or worships God, one likes to hear a hearty Amen. There will be a worship meeting by-and-by, in which the Assembly will take part, and hear an Amen that will reverberate through creation. "And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour and glory, and power, be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen" (Rev. 5:13-14). There is a deep diapason note in that Amen. Sometimes brothers pray and lead in worship, yet there is not a sound at the end. I believe if the heart is right there will go out an Amen, a so be it. You are putting your seal upon that which the Spirit of God elicits, and God looks for that.

What, then, is worship? In the Old Testament the term frequently occurs and is often used in a purely ceremonial sense. The Hebrew word most frequently used means literally "to bow oneself down." In the New Testament the word gets the inward and spiritual meaning with which we are concerned, and signifies the up-flow of responsive love, in adoration, from the believer to God, now known as Father.

Worship is the act of bowing[1] before God (see Q.16), acknowledging and expressing His worthiness: who He is, His attributes, and His character. See, for instance, Revelation 5:9: ‘Thou art worthy'. In this sense, worship involves offering or presenting something to God (Q.13).

Worship is a central part of Christian life, whether as individuals or collectively (Q.23). We have been saved with a view to becoming worshippers, both on earth (John 4:23) and for eternity (Rev. 4:10–11; 5:9, 11–12).

What is worship? Some people say “we worship in such and such a place” – and mean they go there to listen to a sermon. Others speak about ‘worship' but have in mind some sort of musical performance by a choir, orchestra or band. But is this actually what the Bible means by worship? As with all things we need to ask ‘what saith the scripture?' (Rom. 4:3)

The Bible shows that worship is the act of bowing before God, whether individually or collectively, offering something to Him that He can accept (see Q.1).

In a general sense, worship is the collective adoration rendered to God for what He is in Himself — for what He is and has: done on our behalf. Worship is of supreme importance in the eyes of the Father and of the Son. "The hour comes," said the Lord, "and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23-24).

Worship is the first thing realized by Christians who have understood what the Assembly is, for it supposes persons united in one body by one Spirit. Worship takes place in the presence of God the Father and around the Lamb. When one takes this place, one thinks of all that the Son is to the Father, and of all that Christ is for God (Rev. 5:9), of the fact that God has been perfectly glorified here below in the life and in the death of Jesus. But all this work, which, as well as its Author, forms the delight of the Father, has been accomplished on our behalf; We are able in a measure to appreciate its extent, because we are the objects thereof. Thanksgiving, then, mingles in worship with adoration of the Father and the Son. The Lord Himself is the centre of worship as regards praise. He Himself has gathered us together; He takes His place in our midst. His personal presence in worship has such importance that without it there can be no praise worthy of the name. He says: "In the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee" (Ps. 22:22). How does He praise? By using the voice of the Assembly as gathered around Himself. It is unquestionable that this can only be by His Spirit and by our mouths, but it is equally true that it is He who praises. Praise is expressed in this psalm towards the God of love Who saves and delivers; but it is Christ Himself Who has been delivered from death. "Thou hast heard Me from the horns of the unicorns." He only can know the extent of this salvation and can celebrate it in an adequate manner. But this deliverance is as much for us as the work which made Jesus to descend into death.

See then that you worship the Father in spirit and truth. We have in the N.T. the clear impression how the believers worshipped since redemption. No doubt there were at first the effects of their old religious associations. But the fresh grace and mighty truth of a risen and exalted Saviour led them out surely if slowly. And the Lord's Supper became by His institution the central symbol and ever recurring observance every Lord's day at least. Nor did the now sent and ever abiding Spirit fail to work in the assembly, not only in teaching, and exhorting and edifying but in singing, blessing, and giving thanks. Flesh might deceive and intrude; but the holy responsibility of all was to worship in spirit and truth — to worship the Father in that near and blessed relationship, as the Son revealed Him and the Spirit gives us to enjoy, to worship God in that holy nature and majesty Whose perfect love has cast out our fear; for He has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ made sin for us that we might become God's rightousness in Him.

But there is something beyond this in the present worship of the church; it is "in spirit and truth" (John 4:21-24), as well as "by the Spirit of God" (Phil. 3:3), because the Holy Ghost has been given us that we may so worship, enabling the saints to call God "Father" and Jesus Christ "Lord." There is now communicated power, as well as revelation for the ends of worship. The worshippers are sons, and also priests (Gal. 4:6; Rev. 1:6); having access with filial confidence they are in the holy place — the brazen altar (the remembrance of sin) behind them, and the fulness of God disclosed, and all that must be for blessing. Everything is told to the worshippers now, for the second veil is rent before them, and they see their Father on the mercy-seat, on the throne of the sanctuary; the blood of the Son has introduced them there, and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost makes them to worship in a way worthy of such a sanctuary; and the Father seeking such to worship Him does not rest on anything short of this, which thus the confidence and love and honour of children give Him. Such is worship, I judge, "in spirit and truth," for thus it is where it is according to revelation, and in the grace of the Holy Spirit.

But its materials or its form may be very different, as we may further notice; for, properly and simply understood, it is rendering glory to God in the sanctuary, according to His own revelation of Himself. Many things may gather around it or accompany it, but which are not so properly and simply worship. Abel worshipped when he laid his lamb on the altar, though that was very simple; but it was enough, for it was meeting God in the appointed way, and owning His glory.

So did Abraham worship when he raised an altar to God, who appeared to him (Gen. 12:8). Israel worshipped when they bowed the head at God's revelation by Moses (Ex. 4:30-31; 12:27); as Moses did at another revelation (Ex. 34:8). So David worshipped (2 Sam. 12:20). And so Solomon's congregation (2 Chr. 7:3) and Jehoshaphat's (2 Chr. 20:18) worshipped; and though it be not so called, yet Jacob's anointing the pillar at Bethel was worship, because it was owning God according to His revelation; and so David's "sitting before the Lord" was worship, I judge, on the same principle (2 Sam. 7). Job worshipped when he fell down in subjection to God's dealings with him. Eliezer worshipped when he bowed his head, for in that act he owned the divine goodness to him (Gen. 24:26, 52). The nation of Israel worshipped when they presented their basket of first-fruits, for their basket told God of His own gracious ways — set forth His praises in the sanctuary (Deut. 26). The appearing of the males at the three annual feasts in "the city of the great King" was worship, for such feasts set forth God's own gracious acts and ways, and that is worship. What were all these acts but the thankful acknowledgment of God, according to what He had either done or spoken, and the acceptance of His mercy accordingly?

Immediately thereafter, the Lord Jesus reveals to the woman of Samaria the true purpose of God concerning His worship : God has saved us to gather for Himself a people as a company of worshippers. The apostle Peter confirms that we are built up as "an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2 : 5). So if God has saved us and given us eternal life with the Holy Spirit, it is because He, the Father, seeks worshippers. God seeks such because He is spirit, and "they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (v. 23-24). The hour for the accomplishment of God's eternal counsels had now come ; it was consequent upon the coming of another hour, the solemn hour of Christ's death. Christian worhip is now solely spiritual, and all former material display and decorum are out of place : neither Garizim (for the Samaritans) nor Jerusalem (for the Jews ; v. 21) were any more the place of worship. But christian worship is also in truth : away from mysticism, it is the earnest but sober outpouring of hearts overflowing with joy in the Father and the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.

But besides the accomplished work of redemption, the new birth and our union with the risen Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit is indispensable to christian worship. Nothing can be plainer than our Lord's own teaching to the woman of Samaria on this subject. "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Here our Lord insists on the moral necessity of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in christian worship. And surely He knows best what suits the Father, from whose bosom He came, and even then He was "in the bosom of the Father." (John 1:18) It is by the Spirit, though children of God, that we understand, enjoy and worship Him. God being a Spirit, He must be worshipped in His own nature — "in spirit." A son is the same nature as his father.