October 6

Worship #4

The very word used for worship in the Greek is a verb (proskuneo) which means to come toward, to bow down, to kiss, to adore, to worship… It is a verb first and foremost. Remember that song by DC Talk, “Love is a Verb”, well let’s write a new one, “Worship is a verb”. It is something you do, something that others can see you are doing. As we discussed before, it is not an act of singing (although it could be), but it is a way of living. It is a constant in our lives that is too often segmented to church and singing. However you look at it though, you and others should be able to see it and tell me what it looks like.

You might say that John 4 says that Jesus said we should worship in spirit. How do you see that? Glad you asked. There is no disconnect between your spirit and your body (or for that fact any other part of you). Jesus said, “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Who you are inside is what shows on the outside because they are one and the same person. You can’t be “worshiping” God in your spirit and be a cranky critical person. The two are juxtaposed to one another. It’s is like saying I have faith that God will supply and having a nervous breakdown with worry that you won’t make your mortgage.

All of this is to say this: The spiritual shows up in the physical. In other words, what is going on spiritually with you, will manifest (show – be brought to light – revealed) in the physical realm for all to see. When we sing in worship and you sit with your legs crossed looking around wondering when the music is going to stop – you are NOT worshipping! You might say do I have to act like a wild Pentecostal to be worshipping? No, you have to act like what your spirit is doing! The acts of raising hands, dancing, kneeling, laying prostrate, clapping, shouting, singing, praying, waving and the like are done to express the inward function of your spirit and your now engaged mind, will and emotions! They in turn engage the body so what is going on in your spirit is SEEN. You may weep, you may laugh or everything in between, but you will DO something if you are worshipping the Lord. Some may say that you don’t have to do those things. I would so strongly disagree because of what the scripture has to say about it. We are so tied up with worldliness and our own ideas that we are held back from a full submission of our TOTAL personhood in worship in the context of a church (type) worship time. Let go people of God! Get recklessly abandoned to the One who deserves more than you can give or do!

There is a bleed over of course. What bleeds over to what, I don’t know. But if people can’t worship at church fully engaging all of themselves, they usually can’t live a life of worship. Maybe it is vise-versa, but either way the principle is true. What is happening in the spirit of a man, manifests in the physical. In fact what is happening in the spirit realm is manifested in the physical realm.