Worship (PROSKUNEO) is a conscious glorification of God flowing from an inner attitude of lowly submission to His authority and awe at His majesty.
The worship in heaven is about honour
Honour means to ascribe weight and value to something.
“Worship Him who made heaven and earth” (Revelation 14:7).
“You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matthew 4:10)
We have to be careful we don’t get caught up into thinking that one style of worship is better or more important than other ways of worship.
So what are some of the ways that people in the bible worshipped God.
1. Praise and Thanksgiving by grateful declaration, public or private. This includes prayer. One example of this is Hebrews 13:15 :
“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
2. Joyful songs. Psalm 100:1-2 is an example
“Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.”
Ephesians 5:19-20 exhorts us to:
” . . . speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
See also Colossians 3:16.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
3. Unity within the body Christ
Worship (PROSKUNEO) is a conscious glorification of God flowing from an inner attitude of lowly submission to His authority and awe at His majesty.
Unity – Acts 2:1
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord[a] in one place
Proverbs 6:19
19 A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren
Ps 133 – Unity is the place of commanded blessing
1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the LORD commanded the blessing—
Life forevermore.
4. Physical movement as an expression of worship
3.1 Dancing. Look at David’s example when he rejoiced over the Ark of the Covenant. 1 Samuel 6:14 :
“Then David danced before the Lord with all his might: “
3.2. Bowing –
Psalm 95:6 says, “Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before
the Lord our Maker.”
3.3 Dancing
– Psalm 149:3 says, “Let them praise his name with dancing and make
music to him with tambourine and harp.”
3.4. Playing Instruments
– Psalm 33:2, 3 says, “Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him
on the ten stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully,
and shout for joy.”
3.5. Clapping
– Psalm 47:1 says, “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God
with cries of joy.”
3.6 Lifting Hands
– Psalm 63:4 says, “I will praise you as long as I live, and in your
name I will lift up my hands.”
5. Worship through faith filled prayers
Matt 8:1
1 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. 2 And behold, a leper came and worshipped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.
6. Observing the Lord’s Supper.
1Corinthians 11:26
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”
7. Cheerful giving of money.
2Corinthians 9:7
“So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”
The wise men came to worship Jesus – what did they do – they gave him gifts.
Gold Frankincense and Myrrh
8. What we meditate on
Ps 145: 5
5 They will speak of the glorious splendour of your majesty,
and I will meditate on your wonderful works
Psalm 19:14
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight O Lord, my strength, any my redeemer” Creation shows God.
Psalm 19:1 “
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork” .
The Message paraphrase
1-2 God’s glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.
9. Talking about God
Ps 145 :6
Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
And I will declare Your greatness.
10. Nazarite Vow – Samson – didn’t cut his hair
Numbers 6:1-8
1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When either a man or woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD, 3he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. 4All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.
5 ‘All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. 6 All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body. 7 He shall not make himself unclean even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the LORD
Read: Numbers 6:1-27
The vow of the Nazarite was voluntarily made by those who desired to separate themselves unto the LORD (v.2) for a determined season. All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD (v.8).
The vow was offered voluntarily. Evidently, the Nazarite himself determined the length of the vow. Therefore, he decided how much he was willing to sacrifice. Yet, after the vow was made, its requirements were very strict. Consider the three restrictions placed on the Nazarite. As a whole, they illustrate the cost of discipleship for the believer today.
Sacrifice
First, the Nazarite could drink no wine or grape juice or eat anything that came from the vine. Wine and grape juice have a wide and varied use in typology. They picture many things. Yet, one Old Testament type remains fairly consistent. The fruit of the vine pictures joy as in the joy of harvest.
One who separates himself to the service of Christ must be willing to give up some of the joys of this life for the sake of the Saviour. Christ said, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself (Luke 9:23). To serve the Lord fully, you must be willing to deny yourself some of this earth’s pleasures. Sinful pleasures must certainly go. But God may ask you to sacrifice seemingly harmless pleasures for His service. If you really want to serve Him, you must be willing to sacrifice whatever He requires.
Shame
Second, the Nazarite could not cut his hair during the time of separation. If his vow was for a long time, his hair would grow long. But in the Bible, long hair on a man indicates shame (1 Corinthians 11:14). Someone who willingly takes upon himself that which causes shame has conquered his pride. The disciple must be willing to take upon himself that which causes the world to scorn and laugh at him.
Separation
Third, the Nazarite was prohibited from touching any dead body. He must totally separate from death. Once again consider the requirements of discipleship as found in Luke 9:23. (You may have noticed that the three restrictions on the Nazarite perfectly match the three requirements of the disciple as found in this verse.) If any man will come after me, let him follow me.
The entire world is dead in trespasses and sins. In order to serve the Lord with all our hearts, we must follow Christ entirely and turn our backs on the things of this world. Christ told the would-be disciple, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead (Matthew 8:22). To follow Christ requires us to separate from the deadness of this world.
11) Circumcision
Abraham
Romans 2:29
but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Circumcision of the heart.
Acts 7:51
51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
What does circumcision of heart mean?
To put it in a nutshell, circumcision of the heart is ‘holiness.’ It implies being cleansed from sin … “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). As a consequence, the believer has the virtues of Christ, and aims to fulfil the text which says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
I hope this helps expand your understanding of the ways that you can worship God.
Peter
