Worship Background

One of the questions we must ask ourselves when we enter into worship is, “what does it look like”?  Does it look like a bunch of people standing in, what in any other context would be considered a rock concert, with their hands lifted and their eye closed in that kinda worshipful squint?  It is sitting in church singing songs composed 400-600 years ago?  Is it a capella (no instruments) voices working for perfect harmony?  Is it falling on our face saying nothing?

Worship can be all these things.  All these things can also be a complete abomination to God.  That’s right, the most fervent emotional worship can be a stink in God nostrils.  Worship in interesting in that, very often, it is not the form that makes it pleasing to God, its what lies beneath and behind.  It is the motive and it is the action that backs it up.

In Isaiah 58, YHWH depicts the junky “worship” of Israel.  The people seek just decisions from the Lord (now days we’d say, they seek His will and plan) and they delight in nearness to Him (we’d say they want a relevant, intimate relationship with Him).  Great, but God is frustrated that while the people ask for that, they fight and quarrel, oppress their workers, and deprive the poor.

The kind of worship that please God is worship is backed by the following things:

“Loosen the bonds of wickedness,
undo the bands of the yoke,
let the oppressed go free,
Divide your bread with the hungry,
Cover the naked,
Hide yourself from your own flesh.”
-Isaiah 58:6-7

If we look at Worship as a form of sacrifice, then it is important to remember that for a sacrifice to be a sacrifice it has to be worth something.  Its all well and good to desire God’s guidance in your life and to want to be intimate with Him, but what do you bring Him?  Ultimately, you bring Him the only thing you can give, yourself.  What are you worth?  How have you honored the image in which He has made you?

Here’s a disclaimer: the list above often does and will come into conflict with the values of this world.  It may even come into conflict with your values.  If you submit yourself to the Holy Spirit, you may find that God’s principles of mercy to not match up with the world’s.  The world’s may be either too lacking in compassion or too lacking in meaning.  This is why Jesus told us that people will hate us for His name (Matt. 10:24, 24:9; Mark 13:13; Luke 6:22, 21:17)…not just people far off, but people near to us.  Which, again, illustrates the sacrificial nature of worship.