What is the meaning of Christian worship?

Is this then worship? Not an element of it. It may be service, as far as it goes, and it is; but this confusion of things, so widely differing, makes it the more needful to explain what Christian worship is, what is its nature and distinctive character. I answer, that it is the united outpouring of thanks and blessing to God and the Lamb, from hearts purified by faith, who have the knowledge of the Father and the Son by the power of the Holy Ghost; and who therefore draw near in the happy confidence of His love, in the confessed delight and enjoyment of what God is, in the praise of what He is, and of what He is to them.

But first, what is worship? It is the homage of the creature rendered to God. Hence the terms commonly used, both in Hebrew and Greek, to express it, have reference primarily to the action of the body as that by which worship is outwardly indicated; so that, although it may at times be but an external act of homage without the heart being really engaged in it (Zeph. 2:11), the idea conveyed by the terms in frequent use indicates the occupation for the time being of the worshipper with an object outside of himself. Where the homage of the heart is rendered to God, the worshipper is of course rightly occupied with Him. Worship, then, differs from prayer in this. In prayer we are occupied with the wants which we thereby present to God. In worship we are occupied with God. Hence true worship of God may take the form of praise, or thanksgiving, or both. If we praise Him, we tell out what He has discovered to us of Himself. If we thank Him, we speak of what He has done for us, or of what we have received from Him. In a certain sense His works praise Him, for they set forth something of what He is. But His saints bless Him, or speak well of Him; for they have received from Him. (Ps. 145:10.) For fallen creatures then to worship Him in truth they must be partakers of His grace. For one conscious of his sinfulness and sins, and what such deserve from God, cannot really worship Him till saved by faith in Christ. Till then such an one would be occupied with his condition and deserts, and not with God.

Worship, in a Christian sense, is the tribute of our hearts and lips offered up to God, for what He is in Himself, and towards us, as revealed in the unspeakable gift of His dear Son Jesus Christ. The object of worship, therefore, is, our Saviour-God. The basis of worship is, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Power of worship is, the Holy Spirit. The place of worship is, the heavenly Sanctuary, where our High Priest has entered; and — The position of the worshipper is, in resurrection. (Col. 3 and Eph. 2.)

In brief, we might say that Christian worship has its source in an accomplished redemption; its object is God the Father and the Son; its place, the presence of God; its power, the Holy Spirit; its material, the truths fully revealed in the word of God and its duration, eternity.

I beseech my brethren in Christ, on the other hand, that it may be their hearts' joy, when assembled for the purpose, to rise up into worship, and not to content themselves with mere speaking about it. Sometimes there seems too much of this when we meet to praise the Lord. It is rather something said or prayed about worship than actually adoring Him. I may talk about worship in my prayer or from the word of God, perhaps even in the very hymn. Beloved, worship is not talking about worship. We do not come at such times to expound or enforce the matter: this may be all well to set forth at another time. If we are there to worship, let us be found engaged in the thing, adoring Him who should be before every soul to praise and magnify and delight in. Christian worship is the outflow to God of hearts that have seen and found their joy and satisfaction by the Holy Ghost in the Son and in the Father.

Worship here is the word for priestly service, and would involve all our movements of soul Godward. It has been said that thanksgiving is for what God has done for us; praise has more in view the way God has acted, while worship has more in view who and what God is in Himself.

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.

The essence of all true worship lies in communion with God in regard to all that Christ is and all that He has done, and in the contemplation of all the precious and eternal results flowing from that stupendous work of redemption. Neither our thoughts nor our feelings have any place here, only what delights the heart of God, of Christ Himself, who could say, "I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have completed the work which Thou gavest me that I should do it." True worship is alone by the Spirit, even as we read, "We are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God."

Even edification, however precious, is not worship: it has the saints for its object, not the Father and the Son. Teaching is admirable in its way, of course; and I do not deny that, if we are really occupied with the Father of our Lord Jesus in adoration, there will be refreshment and edification; but it remains ever true, that the proper aim of worship is our common praise going up to God, of ministry is the grace and truth of Christ coming down, and so building up the saints. Even thanksgiving, though a real part, seems to me the lowest form of Christian worship; and for this reason, that it is not so much the expression of our joy in God as in what He gives to us. Now, though this abides, and it is right we should ever feel what He has done for us and given to us, we are entitled as His children, and are so richly blessed as Christians, that we may yield our hearts to the Spirit's revelations of what our God is in Himself, and so rejoice before Him. All has its place, and room is left for the state of souls, and the actual guidance of the Holy Ghost.