Worship

Assuming that you are speaking of the verb rather than the cognate noun, I would define “worship” as it is defined in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

transitive senses
1 : to honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power
2 : to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion
intransitive senses : to perform or take part in worship or an act of worship
synonym see REVERE

synonyms REVERE, REVERENCE, VENERATE, WORSHIP, ADORE mean to honor and admire profoundly and respectfully. REVERE stresses deference and tenderness of feeling <a professor revered by generations of students>. REVERENCE presupposes an intrinsic merit and inviolability in the one honored and a corresponding depth of feeling in the one honoring <reverenced the academy's code of honor>. VENERATE implies a holding as holy or sacrosanct because of character, association, or age <heroes still venerated>. WORSHIP implies homage usually expressed in words or ceremony <worships their memory>. ADORE implies love and stresses the notion of an individual and personal attachment <a doctor adored by her patients>.

I find that there is much confusion today among Baptists regarding the word “worship” and that many Baptists use the word very carelessly and inaccurately. A good example is their misapplication of the word to practices of veneration in the Roman Catholic Church.

Note: The UBB Code for underlined text does not function on this board. I included the code, however, in order to as accurately as possible quote my source.

 

Genesis 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

This was as I am sure you know the sacrificing of Isaac. In one sense worship can be defined as obedience.

God Bless, my brother, His Word in your heart.

 

There is absolutely nothing in the 22nd chapter of Genesis or any where else in Genesis that even remotely suggests that “worship can be defined as obedience.” Abraham’s obedience was not an act of worship! The worship spoken of in Gen. 22:5 is the act of offering up Isaac as a burnt offering on the mountain in the land of Moriah. God told Abraham to do this, and Abraham was obedient and went to the land of Moriah and went up on the mountain and was preparing to worship God by offering up Isaac as a burnt offering, but God honored Abraham’s obedience and “the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.’” And God provided a ram so that Abraham could worship Him without killing Isaac.

 

My partial definition of worship:

The proper recognition of who we are and and who God is and the proper response.

Obedience I would class as a part of worship:

In Psalm 29:2 and many other passages we are commanded to worship the Lord. You cannot have worship without obedience and for that reason I would say obedience is a part of worship.

 

I read somewhere that worship is simply telling God the truth about Himself.

Tom B

 

Strong's Greek Dictionary

G4352
προσκυνέω
proskuneō
pros-koo-neh'-o
From G4314 and probably a derivative of G2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, that is, (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore): - worship.

I have heard people extrapolate from this and include everything even remotely related to being Christian. They will say that it means everything we do, think, say, and feel. The truth is that worship must be directly pointed at God, directly praising Him, directly glorifying Him, directly blessing Him and whether it is a literal prostration or a figurative one or both it is still bowing before Him. Everything else may result from that worship but it is not worship. Obedience, works, loving your neighbor, etc. is not worship but the product of having worshiped.

When we go to worship God on Sundays and sing songs that tell other people about Jesus but the song is not directed at Jesus, it is not worship. "Jesus Loves Me" is a great song to sing at church but it is not a song of worship.

 

That was the custom then.

 

My point was that worship must be directed at the object of worship and not merely a demonstration of submission which could be pointed in any number of directions.

 

I would encourage you to do a study on the word worship found in the Psalms. It will prove very helpful.

Worship in the Pslams means to bow oneself, to prostrate oneself.

 

Worship is doing what God tells us to do, the way He tells us to do it... for His glory.

 

Worship, in its purest form, is response to Truth.

 

Worship is singing "In all I do, I honor you", after which you zone out through a sermon and then go home and live however you want.

Oh - you were talking theory, not practice?

 

Al Mohler has an excellent 3 part series on worship on his website right now. The 2nd part was posted today and the final part will be tomorrow. I would encourage you to read it.

http://www.albertmohler.com/

 

So it's ok to worship doing a square dance and or breakdancing?

 

Salamander, lets just save each other trouble and agree to disagree.