Is there confusion about worship?

Editor’s note: This is a reprinted column from Jack Purcell’s “On the Journey” archives. It originally appeared in The Star in 2013.

I think it is safe to say that every soul on the earth worships something or someone. Even the most primitive of people on the earth chose to create objects of worship.

Interestingly the Islamic Imams who call for the annihilation of all things that are not Muslim carry out these pronouncements while worshipping Allah.

Even those of us who worship the God of the Bible have a very broad range of ideas about what constitutes worship.

While our definition of worship may be to express reverence and homage rendered to God, the actual practice of worship has a host of interpretations.

The Psalmist said in 66:4, “All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; They shall sing to thy name.”

And in Psalm 95:1-2a, “Oh come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving …”

This certainly gives reason to believe that singing to the Lord is a form of worship, but is there more involved? In the 15 years I spent on two Christian college campuses, I saw hundreds of acts of worship involving well-meaning college students who could raise their hands in praise during a time of worship, but under different circumstances appeared to have misunderstood the meaning behind it.

To get a better picture of worship let’s look at Psalm 95:6-7 from The Message. “So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God, who made us! Oh yes, he’s our God, and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.”

This seems to have more of the reverence and homage sound to it, does it not?

Jesus takes the issue of worship to another level when he is taken high up on the mountain by Satan.

Satan shows Jesus the world before him and declares it will be all his if he will fall down and worship him.

Jesus’ response from Matthew 4:10 is not only an answer for Satan but a reminder to us.

“Then Jesus said to him, ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

So here we have it. Worship is to be singular. Only one being is worthy of our worship and that is our God.

Jesus, quoting the Old Testament, made it clear that nothing had changed. God alone is to be worshipped.

This all leads us to a number of interesting questions. You may have heard the term “worship wars.” That is where God worshippers get all wrapped around the axle over the kind of music in the “worship service.”

Really now, I thought worship was about God and our love and reverence for him.

I am not suggesting that we all have to worship in the same way, but I am saying that the object of our worship is more important than our preferences.

Finally, if there is something or someone in our lives that we show more reverence and homage to than God, then that is what we worship.

We can call it whatever we want but it has become an idol to us, and it stands in opposition to God. Serious business that requires serious attention.