What's worship to you?

I bumped into this and read it with interest.

I Want the Word "Worship" Back

Posted by Scott Hill

Have you noticed how many words we have lost over the past several decades. It seems like all the good words have been hijacked by everyone except the people who actually epitomize the word. "Fundamentalist" means either a turban wearing, dynamite strapped, terrorist ready to kill all Westerners at will or a "Christian" who is so into political action he has lost the real heart of the Gospel. "Reformed" now means someone who believes the doctrines of grace regardless of their confessional position. "Relevant" means doing whatever possible to not offend someone with your preaching no matter how much bible is lacking in the sermon. "Contextualizaton"... you know where I am going with that one.

These words are gone and personally while I would like to have a few of them back but none of them are biblical words, so I am sure we will replace them with something. We either replace them or spend about 2 hours trying to explain to someone what we believe every time we meet someone new. "I am reformed, but by that I mean... or Sure we need to be relevant if by that you mean... I feel like that in lots of conversations lately and I am sure you do too.

Recently I have a real desire to take the word worship back. You know the one that the CCM industry took in the 80's and made synonymous with raised hands, dancing feet, clapping and yes (insert dramatic pause) music. I find myself frustrated more and more with the fact that no matter how many books are written and no matter how many times I hear worship defined as: The English word "worship" comes from two Old English words: weorth, which means "worth," and scipeship, which means something like shape or "quality." We can see the Old English blah blah blah. The term remains relegated to a 40 minute segment of music every week, or what we do in our car when we play the new WOW Worship CD.

At times I want to throw my hands up and say "forget it I can't compete", but this issue is too important to the life of the church to not go down swinging. I ran across a fantastic example of this yesterday while trying to find a way to get a free copy of Bob Kauflin's new book Worship Matters. Following links I ended up at a blog called flowerdust on a post called Keeping Your Mouth Shut 'what are some things you feel you can't say in church". Some of the comments were funny, some frightening, but one comment that epitomized what has happened to the concept of NT worship is posted below. This is what a guy named Kyle posted as his "what I can't say in church" comment.

I currently feel NO connection to God when I pray or read the bible. [side note: my only current connection to Him spiritually seems to be through worship] http://www.vagabondrunn.wordpress.com

I don't know who Kyle is and I am not just picking on him. I actually feel for a guy in the positions he is currently in, but the comment above is the downside of this new unbiblical concept of NT worship. How can a guy not feel any connection to God when he prays directly to God or when he reads God's own revelation to us, but somehow feels close to God when he "worships"/listens to music or sings. I have been in positions where I felt like the heavens were silent when I prayed and like scripture was just words on a page. I can empathize with this guy. But to say I only feel God when I worship in my opinion doesn't add up.

This concept of worship doesn't carry over into the new covenant. According to Hebrews Christ brought an end to religion. He brought an end to high priest, no more holy places, no more atoning sacrifices. We no longer have to go to a temple to meet with God. We now have a perfect Priest, a perfect sacrifice, and perfect access to God through Jesus Christ. As believers we are now priest who have the Spirit of Almighty God dwelling in us. Do we need special ceremonies to meet with God? Do we need special times of "worship" to feel close to God? What took place on the cross changed everything. Because of the cross our lives should be worship. Worship is not just showing up on Sunday and singing and praising with all our might. Worship is not getting quiet in our bedroom and meditating on the latest Chris Tomlin CD. If can't worship when you pray or read scripture then you are not worshiping when you listen to music or sing. You just think you are.

Why? Because worship is about a life sold out to Jesus Christ. It means submitting to Him and giving Him our undivided allegiance. It means serving Him daily. It means being obedient to His will in all things. If you are not doing these things then I don't care how much you sing and shout and lift your hands on a Sunday morning you are not worshiping. Worship is what you do during the week more than it is what you did on Sunday. Worship is not a feeling or an emotion it is an attitude of obedience. When you approach worship as an opportunity to feel something it becomes something you get not something you give, and that is not worship. Give you life to Christ and completely obey his will for your life. Then you are worshiping.