what is worship?

[blessedbe]

I see alot of talk on here about whether or not Jesus is to be worshipped, and how we should worship God only. I see alot of different posts about this, and I was just wondering...

What IS worship? And how is obeisance different? I'm not interested in the "definition" unless you go on to say what it means to you personally. How does one "worship" and how does one "do obeisance"?

I'm not interested in debating whether or not Jesus is to be worshipped, I'm interested in personal views about the difference between worship and obeisance. Thanks all!!!

 

[Starcrystal]

John 4:23 - 24 I think about sums it up.

Of course I don't think thats the answer you were looking for, but its first thing that popped in my half-awake mind! I also think its all inclusive of any of the variety of "forms" of worship: devotions, prayer, praise, clapping hands prostrating oneself on floor church attendance, singing hymns, etc, etc. All these acts of worship are not worship in themselves unless done in "Spirit and in truth"

Also, John 14:6, where Jesus says, "I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life.... no one comes to the Father but by me." He is the truth. We are to worship in Spirit and in Truth. Worship IN Jesus, who is truth.

 

[arizona_sunshine]

Worship :

Gratitude
Reverence
Prayer
Charity
Sharing the Gospel
A Cheerful Attitude
Keep the Commandments
Music

... and I am sure there is more

 

[ByGrace]

Some of the ways in which I worship God...

Partaking of the Lords Table
Music
Seeing His creation when I go to the mountains
prayer
Sitting in awe of His majesty
reading His words
sharing Him with others
And any and all other things you do that bring glory to Him

 

[great1skingship]

Grace and peace to blessedbe and the others who have posted here on this topic.


From what I have seen, the issue comes with the Greek verb "proskuneo" which is mostly translated worship, but is also defined as making obeisance to someone or something. People seem to be overly critical of the verb and tend to differentiate between the two. But from my understanding, obeisance is just one type of worship. Obeisance means to bow down to someone to honor them , so that would be to me lying prostrate before the Lord which is, as I said, just one form of worship.

My personal definition of worship, as I taught my college Bible study is:
The deepest expression of humility in the awe of realizing the undeserved privilege of standing before a holy God, intertwining heart, mind, soul, and strength with Spirit and truth and engaging God to the maximum degree as we glorify Him for who He is.

This can take on many forms such as kneeling, crying, bowing, lying prostrate, lifting hands, waving hands, etc.

Hope this helps!!!

 

[skylark1]

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word shachah is translated as worship. It means to bow down, or to prostrate oneself.

In the New Testament, sevral Greek words have been translated as worship. The word used most often is proskuneo, which conveys the idea of showing reverance, homage, or bowing down to. Another word that is translated as worship is latreuo, which means to serve.

So, worship involves both an attitude and an action. It is the attitude of reverence, honor, and adoration. But it is also an act of humble and loving service to God.

I can worship God through prayer (adoration), song, appreciating His glorious creation, communion, and by giving thanks to Him.

I can also worship God by humbly serving Him, in any way that glorifies Him. This could be sharing the gospel, teaching, serving the poor and sick, even cleaning if it is done for the glory of God. If anyone does these things to honor themselves, rather than God, then I would not consider them an act of worship. Our attitude behind our service is what makes it an act of worship.

It also includes obeying and following Christ, daily forsaking my desires putting my trust in Him.

Romans 12
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.

​

 

[blessedbe]

WOW!! thanks to all of you for your posts!! they were wonderful!!
So, what I have gotten out of this is that it is impossible NOT to worship Jesus, whether you believe he is God or not. Am I right?

I would love to hear from others on this. Anyone who may disagree with the above posts, and why....

I believe that worshipping is anything you do that gives glory to God. As skylark said, even cleaning can be an act of worship! Our church is rather large, and requires many many volunteers, from cleaning the church to greeting people as they come in, to counting attendance, to answering questions and everything in-between. One awesome thing about our church leaders is that they are SOO good at letting all the volunteers know that what they are doing is using their gifts for God and therefore worshipping! I love that!

But I guess what I don't understand is how you can separate worship of God and worship of Jesus. That pretty much is why I started this post, to try to get some understanding of that.

 

[arizona_sunshine]

So, what I have gotten out of this is that it is impossible NOT to worship Jesus, whether you believe he is God or not. Am I right?

Matthew 25: 40

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

In this scripture, we learn that service to others is service to God - whether or not the service is performed by an Orthodox Christian does not seem to present itself a prerequisite. I saw it posted once that 'good works without salvation is pointless'. I completely disagree with that ascertation. Thru the charity and good works of any human on earth, the needs of God's children are met, and God's own purpose is served.

I would not go on to tell an atheist or agnostic that their appreciation for this beautiful earth is worship to a God in whom they do not believe, because it would most likely offend them. However, in my heart I feel that the reverence, kindness, and charity of any human is recognized and appreciated by our Heavenly Father. If all goodness is of God, then this includes the goodness within all human beings, regardless of their religious affiliation.

 

[skylark1]

WOW!! thanks to all of you for your posts!! they were wonderful!!
So, what I have gotten out of this is that it is impossible NOT to worship Jesus, whether you believe he is God or not. Am I right?

I think that it is possible to not worship Jesus. As a trinitarian,it is difficult for me to separate worshipping the Father from worshipping the Son. But if I never sang songs of praise to Jesus, expressed my adoration of Him in prayer, or thanked Him for all that He has done for me, I would question my love and adoration for Him. If He is truly my LORD and my Savior, then I would want to express this to Him.

I think that every act of charity is serving God's purpose, whether knowingly or unkowingly. So an atheist who helps the poor and the sick is doing the will of God. But, I don't think that someone who denies the existence of God worships Him.

 

[Starcrystal]

Arizona Sunshine,
Matthew 25: 40

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

In this scripture, we learn that service to others is service to God - whether or not the service is performed by an Orthodox Christian does not seem to present itself a prerequisite. I saw it posted once that 'good works without salvation is pointless'. I completely disagree with that ascertation. Thru the charity and good works of any human on earth, the needs of God's children are met, and God's own purpose is served.

Exactly! I remember posting this on one of the threads here. We also see in this passage that this occurs when he gathers ALL NATIONS before him and separates the sheep from the goats. Now some may argue the "sheep" are the traditional orthodox Christians, but that really isn't in context with what the scripture is saying. I've used this especially when dealing with Native American culture. In most tribes its part of their being, part of their very nature to take in strangers, feed them, clothe them, and offer them the best room in the house as their guest. I know because some natives who are not even of my tribe did this to me. I look upon such acts of kindness & mercy as a direct fulfillment of what Jesus was saying in Matthew 25.

 

[Starcrystal]

In my opinion, this should not have been moved to Friendship Court. It addresses issues directly applicable to the perceptions of worship by the faiths on UTD. I beleive there was a similar thread on UTD that sparked this one. The "Obeisance" issue was definately brought up by Jehovahs Witnesses I do recall....

 

[Rafael]

Worshipping God is spirit and in truth envolves more than just outward symbolic acts of obeisanse. The Pharisees knew every act of obeisance, but were condemned for being hypocrits for not living the life instead of acting it out. That is why the verse in John talks of worshipping "in spirit and in truth". The two go together. The Pharisees had all the dead letter of the law down pat, but none of the spirit of the law which has love, mercy, and the good deeds that go along with love and mercy. Loving our neighbor as ourselves means to make sure our neighbor has food and clothing, as Jesus asks of this upon His return, and this takes action and sacrifice of giving. We are not greater than our Lord and must follow after Him in spirit and in truth by doing the things that He did in this life. Worshipping God then takes on the scope of being the way we live four lives before God as our bodies become acceptable sacrifices unto Him and not just acts of obeisance which are easily not genuine portraits of one's life. By the fruit of their lives, you know what people are like, whether giving or greedy, kind or hateful, full of God's spirit or just selfish.

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Romans 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

I JOHN 3:16-19 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with ACTIONS and TRUTH. This then is how we KNOW that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us.

MATT. 25:31-45 When the Son of Man comes in his glory....He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.....Then he will say to those on his left,'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil & his angels. FOR I WAS HUNGRY & YOU GAVE ME NOTHING TO EAT, I WAS THIRSTY & YOU GAVE ME NOTHING TO DRINK, I WAS A STRANGER & YOU DID NOT INVITE ME IN, I NEEDED CLOTHES AND YOU DID NOT CLOTHE ME, I WAS SICK AND IN PRISON, AND YOU DID-- NOT LOOK AFTER ME.". "Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."

Luke 6:44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

 

[klewlis]

skylark's post sums up my own view the most accurately.

anything I do which honors God is worship!

 

[LilAngelHeart]

Hi there,

I think there are many ways to worship God and since Jesus is God it's impossible to worship God without worshipping the Son too, but we are not to worship Jesus which was the Son in human form but to worship the trinity which includes the Son, Jesus' divinity. Remember Jesus was God in humanity, we are not to worship His humanity but His divinity. That's why we can worship the trinity which includes the Son but not worship Jesus which was the Son's humanity.

We worship God by doing His will and putting Him first in our life and obeying His commandments. That's why worship is soooo easy and why everyone in Heaven will worship God continually. Worship can also include singing praises to him and other things people usually think of as worship, but at the very least and basic it is to do His will, put Him first and obey His commandments.

 

[Starcrystal]

Lil Angel Heart,
I think there are many ways to worship God and since Jesus is God it's impossible to worship God without worshipping the Son too, but we are not to worship Jesus which was the Son in human form but to worship the trinity which includes the Son, Jesus' divinity. Remember Jesus was God in humanity, we are not to worship His humanity but His divinity. That's why we can worship the trinity which includes the Son but not worship Jesus which was the Son's humanity.

We worship God by doing His will and putting Him first in our life and obeying His commandments. That's why worship is soooo easy and why everyone in Heaven will worship God continually. Worship can also include singing praises to him and other things people usually think of as worship, but at the very least and basic it is to do His will, put Him first and obey His commandments.

When this thread was on UTD forum, there may have been some rebuttle of paragraph one in your post, because I think the original question may have been to examine responses from Jehovahs Witnesses, Mormons, and Oneness folks who worship Jesus yet do not beleive in the Trinity....

The second paragraph ~ Right On!

Raphe's post, again ~ Right on! John 4:24 was the very first thing that popped in my head when I read the OP.

 

[LilAngelHeart]

Ooooh okay Thanks!

 

[LisaStar]

You must be on the same wavelength as our Pastor because he taught from John 4:24 today. He said true worship is giving your all to God and being persistant about it like the widow in Luke 18.

 

[thinbo]

'Worship' to me, is a bit like Love (agape), it becomes more fragrant, the more costly it is. The more personal sacrifice involved, the better. There have been times when I have been overwhelmed, by all that God is, and the worship that rose up in me, was an overflow of this realisation. But I think the greatest worship takes place, in the midst of the greatest pain & suffering.

Jesus & the Father: The New Testament presents Jesus as the exact representation of His being. Jesus himself said, he who has seen me, has seen the Father. To me, I cannot even conceive of the Father in heaven, without first looking at Jesus in the Gospels. There was a time when I would have thought of the Father as a Zeus-like figure. Jesus' chief charge against the Pharisees, was that they did not know the Father, let alone worship him, because if they did, they would have recognised Him in His Son.

 

[LilAngelHeart]

Good post!

 

[LilAngelHeart]

You must be on the same wavelength as our Pastor because he taught from John 4:24 today. He said true worship is giving your all to God and being persistant about it like the widow in Luke 18.

Cool! Good post!