Grace Church-Burlington

November 2nd

A definition is "the enclosing the wilderness of an idea within a wall of words." Samuel Butler

Two young boys are walking down the street on the south side of Chicago and out from an alley runs a Rottweiler and attacks one of the boys. The other boy grabs a 2 x 4 lying near the alley and beats the dog to death, saving his friend’s life. A reporter from the Chicago Tribune gets wind of the story and requests an interview from the first boy. He runs the story on the front page and the headline reads: "Bears Fan Bravely Saves Friend’s Life From A Rabid Rottweiler." The boy calls the reporter and says, "But I’m not a Bear’s fan." The reporter says, "Well, I just thought that since you are from Chicago that you would be a Bears fan. I’ll correct the mistake in tomorrow’s paper." The next day the front page reads: "Bulls Fan Bravely Saves Friend’s Life From Rabid Rottweiler." The boy calls the reporter and says, "I’m not a Bulls fan either!" The reporter says, "Are you a fan of sports at all?" The boy says, "Yes. In fact, I am a die-hard Green Bay Packer’s fan." The reporter agrees to note the change in the next day’s newspaper. The next day the front page reads, "Juvenile Delinquent Viciously Kills Faithful Family Pet!" Now that was his viewpoint.

When it comes to worship in today’s world, it seems that everyone has a different viewpoint, everyone’s take is different. Ask a Pentecostal; a Lutheran; an Episcopalian; a Catholic; a Methodist; a Baptist; ask young people or older saints...all have a different definition of what worship really is. Samuel Butler was right, some things are just difficult to define.

A devoted husband and wife might have to struggle defining the love that they feel so deeply. A gifted artist might have difficulty defining beauty. And we have to be careful, too, that our definition is not so high a wall that we build for ourselves an intellectual and emotional prison. While good definitions must set limits, they must also leave some room for expansion. It’s all right to put up walls as long as you include a door and a few windows. That may have been what Erasmus meant when he wrote, "Every definition is dangerous."

Worship is very difficult to define. Our worship must be Biblical but like many other truths, our Bible does not give us a definition. Instead, it majors on demonstrations and descriptions. God’s Word is not an encyclopedia or a dictionary. Instead, it’s a Who’s Who of men and women who knew God, trusted Him, and got things accomplished. The cast of characters in Scripture would agree with Thomas B Kempis, "I had rather feel compunction than understand the definition." Experience is very important to understanding.

If there is any word in our Christian experience that is difficult to define, it’s worship. Most of us know that our English word worship simply means "worth-ship." In other words, we worship that which is worthy. "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power" ("Rev. 4:11). "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain" (Rev. 5:12). Our possessions...our work...even ourselves – none of these are worthy of worship. Only God is worthy of worship. What a person worships is a good indicator of what is valuable to him or her.

There are several words used in both the Old and New Testaments for worship. When we put their meanings together, we discover that worship involves both attitudes (awe, reverence, respect) and actions (bowing, praising, giving, serving). It’s not an unexpressed feeling, nor is it an empty formality. Biblically, true worship is balanced and involves the mind, the emotions and the will. It must be intelligent; it must reach deep within and be motivated by love; and it must lead to obedient actions that glorify God.

Evelyn Underhill defines worship as "the total adoring response of man to the one Eternal God self-revealed in time." I like that phrase, "adoring response." Worship is to be personal and passionate. It’s our response to an awesome, living God, voluntarily offered to Him as He offered Himself for us. The truth is though that worship cannot be boxed in. It defies definition. Yet, too many believers think that they can define worship. Unfortunately, they’ve defined it experientially and culturally, rather than theologically and Biblically. Their definition tells us a lot about their spiritual background but that often is not in line with God’s Word...though they think it is.

Over the next five weeks we are going to be studying worship, iPsalms Worship. We’ll use as our textbook, God’s Word. Yet, the fact is that we will only scratch the surface. After this study, hopefully, we’ll all have a better handle on worship and will have grown in our worship experience both individually and corporately. But the fact is that no two churches and for that matter, no two believers, have identical worship experiences. God is not in the mass production business and He does not clone either churches or people. Add to that, because God is infinite and so beyond our comprehension, there is a mystery aspect of worship. For example while we bathe in God’s love, we also know that He is a consuming fire. We know that the Savior is also the Sovereign. That the God who created Heaven created Hell. Worship, then, is unexplainable. We do not and will not fully understand worship this side of eternity. The Apostle Paul understood that. He cried out, "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments" (Rom. 11:33).

During the course of the next few weeks pray with me that our understanding of worship will deepen, that we will experience our awesome God in a fresh and more vibrant way, that we’ll be more committed both corporately and individually than ever before to exaltation. And that we will truly realize that when it comes to worship, we truly have only just begun!