What Is Worship Really?

Have you ever heard—or perhaps even said—something like this: “I enjoyed the worship today, but the sermon was boring!” Or maybe, “I missed worship because I was late to church.” Sometimes we even comment, “The worship team in that church is really good.”

 
These statements reveal something important. Too often, we reduce worship to a segment of the Sunday service—usually the music before the sermon. At best, we think of it as scripture readings and times of praise. At worst, we treat it as nothing more than a set of songs to get through before the “main event.”
 
But biblically, worship is far greater than that. It is not merely about the songs we sing or the mood we feel. It is about who God is and how we respond to Him.
 
William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, expressed this truth beautifully:
 

Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God.
It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness,
the nourishment of mind by His truth,
the purifying of imagination by His beauty,
the opening of the heart to His love,
and the surrender of will to His purpose.
All this gathered up in adoration is the greatest expression of which we are capable.

 
In other words, worship is the response of all that we are to all of who God is. That is why Scripture commands us to love and worship the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, and all our mind.
 
True worship is always centred on God, never on ourselves. It may be expressed physically—through singing, kneeling, or raising hands—but it is never meant to appeal to shallow emotions. It must be grounded in the Word of God so that both our spirit and our mind are engaged. And because worship is an offering of the people of God, the songs we sing should be chosen in such a way that the whole congregation can join in, not merely listen to a performance.
 
If worship is truly the giving of all that I am to God, then I must ask myself: Do I only worship when the music starts, or does my daily life—my work, my studies, my choices, and even my conversations—become an offering to Him? The real question is never “Did I enjoy it?” but “Was God glorified?”
 
May we grow into worshippers who live every moment for His glory.
 
___________
 
Adapted from Dr. Chacko Jacobs, BSC Class Notes (2024).

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