What is the difference between praise and 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.

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.

Praise is vocal, "the fruit of our lips, confessing His name" (Heb. 13:15). Praise can be for the Person or for His work. "Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted" (Ps. 148:13). This is the praise of His name, that which He is. "Praise Him for His mighty acts" (Ps. 159:2) is of course praise for what He has done. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is for something received. "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift" (2 Cor. 9:15). This gift is no doubt Christ Himself. All of these have their place in the breaking of bread, at least if we then do remember the Lord.

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).

We have here an important definition of praise. Sometimes people have an idea that it is the feeling in our own hearts; but that is its results, rather than praise itself. Praise is "the fruit of our lips confessing His name." God appreciates your joy, the happiness that fills your hearts and wells over; but there is one thing He appreciates infinitely beyond all our feelings, and that is Christ Himself confessed to God. It is a wonderful deliverance to realize that true praise is simply offering up to God the fragrance of Christ. That which delights God will delight the heart of every one who knows and loves Christ.

All praise is to be "by Him" (Heb. 13:15). The incense is to be upon the golden altar alone. Thus the linking of the name of our Lord Jesus with every prayer and thanksgiving is not a form, but a reality, a necessity. Could there be one particle of praise or a single prayer acceptable to God, save "by Him?" This sacrifice of praise is to be continual, in times of darkness as well as of light; it is the fruit of the lips confessing His name. Christ is the altar, the basis of praise; and the incense, the material of praise. Nothing is so sweet to God as the name of Christ; that is praise which offers that savor to God in truth — confessing what He has done and what He is. Praise is not offering our feelings or our state to God, though it will be accompanied by joy and gladness, but it is the confessing of Christ, and He produces joy in the heart of the true worshiper — the sinner saved by grace.

Prayer however is not the only function of the assembly. By "function" is meant other than privilege, which may be conferred apart from function. There are functions of the body essential to life; and if one become inactive, a source of weakness ensues to the whole body. Is it not the same with the assembly? The spirituality of the assembly is in proportion to what we may call the healthy vigour of its functions. The worship-meeting, as distinct from prayer-meetings, is equally a function as well as an immense privilege. If not so necessary, it is of a higher character, not perhaps expressive of greater nearness, but rising above our present need to bless God as the source and giver of all good (Ps. 103), to adore Him for what He has revealed to us of Himself. In prayer we come as suppliants to receive; as worshippers we meet together to give to Him. "By Him [Jesus], 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).

These services of praise are an entirely new and most interesting feature of these arrangements, of which we read nothing in the Books of Moses, and seem to be connected with the setting up of the throne. It was spiritual instinct, as far as we know, which thus guided David—an instinct true, indeed, as we through grace can testify. To approach God at all, each and all must come by the Altar, i.e. by the sacrifice of Christ; but once in God's presence on that ground, praise and thanksgiving are the suited form of worship. This is what is perfectly set forth in Christianity, and not separated as they were here in the scene we are considering, but never to be known apart since the Lord Jesus Christ ascended on high.

In John 4:24 we are told that "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" As God is a Spirit, spiritual worship is all that He accepts. He must be worshipped "in spirit and in truth." Spiritual worship is in contrast with religious forms and ceremonies which the unregenerate man is capable of. These are not that spiritual worship which God is looking for. True Christian worship is the expression of the new, inward, divine life in the energy and power of the Holy Spirit, and manifested in utterances of praise, adoration and thanksgiving. This sets aside all human formulas, imposing ceremonies and rituals practiced by human will and the energy of religious but unregenerate man.

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.