I find that no matter where you go these days, it seems that Christians have equated that word “worship” with music. Let me give you some examples of church lingo that demonstrate this: worship center, worship service, praise and worship, worship team, worship leader, time of worship. The reality is “music” and “worship” are not synonymous. Let’s start by defining the term “worship.”
The English word “worship” comes from two old English roots, “worth” and “scipe”. The first means “value”, the second means “to ascribe to”. So the English word “worship” literally means to ascribe value to. Worship is really all about loving God! When we speak we might define the magnitude of our love by using a different word. The progression might go something like this: LIKE-->LOVE -->ADORE --> WORSHIP. The first word shows the least amount of love and the last word shows the greatest amount of love.
So what about in scripture? The Hebrew word shachah and the Greek word proskuneo account for more than 80% of the appearances of the word “worship” in most English versions of the Bible. Both of these words mean “to bow down.” The Hebrew word shachah is used of bowing or prostrating oneself, often before a superior or before God. The Greek word proskuneo literally means to kiss the hand to (toward) someone in token of reverence, or to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence. So the word that we read as “worship” means that we are to bow, surrender, honor, reverence, give allegiance to Christ! This is much more than music!
There are many different forms of worship. The Bible tells us that singing, dancing, prayer, meditating on scripture, giving of our finances, service to others, hearing the preaching of the Word, reading, studying, and reflecting on the Scriptures, baptism, communion, sharing the Good News, volunteering at your church, feeding those who are hungry, visiting those in prison, caring for the sick, widowed, or orphaned, and many other acts are all forms of worshiping the Lord. The matter is not the specific outward manifestation, but the intent of the heart. Is your intent to follow the admonition of Colossians 3:23 and do it for the “glory of God,” or some other reason?
See, music is simply one modality of expressing our worship. To equate “worship” and “music” would be like saying that “blue” is synonymous with “light”! “Blue” is not the same as “light,” it is one frequency in the light spectrum. You can have blue light, but the word “blue” doesn’t automatically equal the word “light” when used in a sentence. “Hey honey, would you turn off the blue when you leave the room please?” It doesn’t translate! But for us in the Christian community, somehow we get it. We say, “Hey, it’s time to worship.” And everyone knows that means “it’s time to sing.” Why is that?
So believers! Let’s make it our goal to redefine the term “worship” in our conversations and practice. In all you do this week, make it your aim to do it for His Glory and for His fame as an act of worshiping Christ!
Praising Him,
John
Good word!
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