In Spirit and In Truth
A Series on Worship
#1: What is Worship?
We’re beginning a new series on worship, designed to help us worship God in spirit and in truth. As we begin, I thought it would be helpful to look at what worship is.
In the New Testament, we see four basic words (or word groups) for worship:
PROSKUNEO
Literally means “to kiss toward” something or to "kiss the hand." Sort of like the idea of blowing kisses. There are ancient drawings of people blowing kisses to the gods. Came to mean a bowing down, particularly in worship. They think that that came from the idea of bending down to kiss the idols.
I Kings 19:18 shows the connection between bowing down to an idol and kissing the idol:
I Kings 19:18 "Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel — all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him." That’s why the principal word used in the Old Testament to describe worship has its root in a word referring to kissing.
Used 64 times in the New Testament, mainly in the gospels and Revelation. Only used 3 times in the letters to the churches. Two of those times are quotes from the Old Testament. Only once, in I Corinthians 14:25, does it refer to a Christian assembly (And that refers to the actions of a non-Christian). Apparently, this wasn’t a word that the early church used often to talk about Christian worship.
Why include it at all? Well, it’s used in John 4:24, which is an important verse. That’s the verse that I’ve chosen for the title for this series. Look at verses 23 and 24:
John 4:23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
Seemingly the Samaritan woman in John 4 was saying to Jesus "We Samaritans bow down toward this mountain, and you Jews bow down toward that mountain. Which mountain should we bow toward?” or “Where should I bow down?” That’s the word she’s using, "proskuneo." If you want an idea of what this is like, think about those images of the Afghanis in Guantanamo Bay bowing down toward Mecca. "Which way should I go? I want to do it right."
Jesus’ answer was that "bowing down" was now to be spiritual. Do you see the important change there? Do you see why the word isn’t used much in the letters? Jesus says, "We’re not going to be doing that physical worship that you have known in the past. Our worship will be spiritual." And that word had such strong physical connotations for them that they could not think of it as a spiritual word. The Christians didn’t use it.
So the word is important because we need to picture ourselves mentally throwing ourselves before God, but we’re not going to come in here every Sunday and do that. Because Jesus said it is spiritual now. I think there are extreme moments in our life, just like in Jesus’ life, when we can throw ourselves on the ground and pray to God. But it’s not a part of our public worship.
LATREUO
Literally means “salary” or “pay.” It came to refer to service done without pay, particularly religious service. The King James version often translates this word as "service."
It is used 25 times in the New Testament, never referring to the assembly. When I said "We’re going to do a series on worship," did you have in mind that we were going to talk about what we do in here on Sundays? That’s going to be part of it. But Christian worship happens 7 days a week. It’s something we live, not something we do a couple of times a week.
It’s used in Romans 12:1--
Rom. 12:1 Therefore, 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.
Giving yourself to God every day is your worship to God.
LEITOURGEO
Literally means “service” or “ministry.” In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it was used almost exclusively to refer to the sacrificial ministry of the priests. When they talked about sacrifices and temple worship, they used this word.
It is rarely used in the New Testament. In fact, many other studies on worship don’t include this word. I want to include it because of Acts 13:2--
Acts 13:2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
This passage is of special importance because it is the only passage in which one of these words is used to describe what Christians do when assembled together. The words for worship are never applied to Christians worshipping together except for this one case. The Bible doesn’t talk about this assembly as being our worship time... like we do. It talks about Christians assembling to take the Lord’s Supper and of them assembling to hear God’s word... but worship is something you live every day.
The Greeks had come to use this word for the sacrifice of prayer; they compared their prayers to sacrifices to the gods.
PHOBOS
EULABEIA
SEBOMAI
Group of words referring to “fear.” The first is familiar, like the word phobia.
Look at Hebrews 5:7--
Heb. 5:7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
The word "reverent" is "fear." The King James version talks about "holy fear."
We see this idea in Revelation 14:6-7, how these words are used to describe Christian worship:
Rev. 14:6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth — to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
My mind doesn’t like to think about fearing God. But some examples help. For example, did you know that you are surrounded by electricity? There are wires all over the place in this building. It’s full of electricity. Aren’t you scared? No, probably not. Are you scared every time you turn on a light switch? I doubt it. You’re probably not scared of electricity. But if I asked you to stick a fork in the socket, would you do it? Or do you fear electricity?
I’m not scared of God. I don’t walk around saying, "Oh, He’s around me! He’s going to get me." But I am scared to cross Him. I’m scared to rebel against His will. He is a just God, and He has given me laws and guidance. I will do what He wants because I fear Him.
I fear the laws of this land. I don’t hide from every policeman I see, but I know that if I do something wrong, I’d better start hiding.
That’s the fear we are talking about.
What do we learn from this word study? Word studies aren’t always exciting. What do these words tell us?
1) Worship that once was physical is now spiritual. God doesn’t ask us to bow to Him like the ancients did to their idols. The Bible does talk a lot about kneeling in prayer; I don’t think that’s excluded. That’s a constant thing, even in the New Testament.
2) Worship means service, daily service, not just special times of worship. Sometimes we say that we are going to have a "time of fellowship," which means food, right? Fellowship isn’t limited to what is done in a fellowship, is it? It does give us more chances to have fellowship, but it’s not the only time we do it. We come together to worship, and there are things that we do differently in public worship than in private worship. But there should be worship every day of our lives. We serve God, and that is worship.
3) Our worship should be done in reverent fear. We should fear God. We shouldn’t be flippant. Jesus is not my good buddy... He’s my Lord. I will treat Him with respect. He is my friend, but He’s not my buddy. I see a difference there.
The next few weeks, we want to go deeper in studying worship. It’s an important part of who we are. I Peter 2 tells us that we are a chosen people to declare the praises of Him who brought us from darkness into light. Worship is who we are. It’s part of our identity as Christians. We will be studying worship for the next few weeks.
A key part of worship is the heart. We will talk more of that. You know how your heart is before God. If you need us in any way to help you get right with God, you can come forward as we stand and sing.
Resources:
“A Theology of Worship” by Robert Odle. This sermon may be found at www.sermoncentral.com.
Series on worship by Mark Edge, presented at the Main Street Church of Christ in Winters, Texas
