Worship; Who, Why, What, When, Where and How?

[HKHaugan]

Worship; Who, Why, What, When, Where and How?

We are blessed with 2000 years of history since the incarnation of Jesus, an event that has changed history. Just as three kings ventured to follow a distant star to find Him and worship Him so we too need to take a journey within and understand that worship is the elementary experience of bringing us to His feet that we may worship Him. But the currents of our surrounding culture can cause us to drift from what that means. Let's give ourselves these moments to renew what really is our heart's most intense desire.

At the end of the recent national football championship game the winning quarterback took the crystal trophy and did three things. With a mile wide smile he looked at it with adoration, he lifted it up, and then he kissed it. After those he passed it on to the rest of the team for their adoration and sharing.

Another scene was in a commercial where a man adores his car, runs his hand across its surface and then kisses it while yet another ad shows a man driving around a block of buildings with reflective glass again and again so that he could admire his car.

When I was in Jerusalem back in the 60's I was on a tour of its holy sites one of which was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Carefully descending down a narrow stairway and coming into the open space we were shown what the guide said was the footprint of Jesus embedded on one of the floor's stones. He then pointed to the tradition for tourists which was to kneel down and kiss the impression.

The presentation of those three momentary pictures has got to do with the idea of kissing a material object because of its meaning. The adoring look, the lifting up and the kissing are what the Greek word 'proskuneo' describes as worship. Subtle though it may be, the seemingly innocent act of kissing an inorganic object is actually worship and even more specifically, idol worship.

The shades of kissing of course vary when it involves human beings. In Scripture it ranges from affection (between family and friends), to adoration and honor (as when one greets a superior) and even used in deceit (the 'Judas kiss'). But regardless of its intention its basic meaning points to worship. There is that giving of one's mind, heart and spirit, our God-image, in recognition of relational worth. The object of adoration has an invisible value and worth beyond material wealth that fulfills the deepest yearnings within. Worship is kissing God with the mind, heart and spirit. Psalm 85:10 gives us the picture of a spiritually relational kiss, “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Note how the conditions of love and faithfulness are relational so the call to righteousness by the believer brings spiritual peace. Jesus, the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace is one with believers through faith and its practice. From a human perspective this kind of adorational worship with one's entire being is recorded in Luke 7 when Mary wept tears onto Jesus' feet, wiped them with her hair, kissed them and anointed them with her perfume. That was pure worship, worship in the raw.

Jesus' own worship of His Father, the complete and fulfilling act of worship, worship in its total reality of mind, heart and Spirit was His Cross. If we want to worship Him He tells us to take up our cross each day; the cross of faith, the cross of prayer, the cross of loving both friend and enemy, the cross of service, the cross of ministering with our spiritual gifts, the crosses of humility, sharing, witness, testimony and Scripture study. Last but not least is the cross of laying down our mind, heart and spirit before the altar of God each Sabbath with spiritual brothers and sisters. Laying our lives open before the Holy Spirit each day takes the Cross of Christ to show the way. Every next moment is a cross moment which means there is on the other side of those moments a resurrection experience. Now we are on the road to worship, true worship, real worship, worship in the raw.

So we come to the heart of worship which is the heart in worship, the mind in worship and the spirit in worship. When the mind believes and is reminded of what it believes the heart is engaged and the spirit motivates the action. Let's spell it out in a practical day by day way and recount for a moment what gets us into a worship mode, that is when our mind, heart and spirit come together, are blended and we allow our total immersion into the moment that the worth of God becomes the worship of God. We will continue our walk into the atmosphere of worship next but before we do there is a song that captures something of the thrill of worship. For now we'll close with it.

"The Heart Of Worship" by Matt Redman

When the music fades
and all has slipped away
and I simply come.
Longing just to be
something that's of worth
that will bless Your heart.

I'll bring You more than a song,
for a song in itself
is not what You have required.
You search much deeper within,
through the way things appear,
Your looking into my heart.

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
and its all about You, its all about You, Jesus.
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
when its all about You, its all about You, Jesus.

King of endless worth,
no one could express
how much you deserve.
Though I'm weak and poor,
all I have is Yours,
every single breath!

I'll bring You more than a song,
for a song in itself
is not what You have required.
You search much deeper within,
through the way things appear,
Your looking into my heart.

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
and its all about You, its all about You, Jesus.
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
when its all about You, its all about You, Jesus.