About this series:

The Holy Spirit is fully God, eternally existing with the Father and the Son. Throughout the Old Testament, we see glimpses of the Spirit’s presence and work, but it is through the teaching of Jesus and the events of the New Testament that the church’s understanding of the Holy Spirit is revealed more fully.

About this talk:

The New Testament contains a number of words translated as ‘worship,’ which together mean: to fear, to serve, to render homage, to praise, to extol, to give thanks, to request, to pray, to kneel. However, when we talk of worship in a church context, we probably mean two primary things - see below. It is the second of these that we will consider here, though it should be framed within the first.

1. The whole of life given over to honouring God The person who owns Jesus as Lord and Saviour has come to a place where God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) have been recognised as supreme and therefore as deserving of primary allegiance and devotion. It is in that sense that we talk of the whole of someone’s life being lived as worship of God - that he has the supreme place in our lives; that he has the right to our ultimate obedience; that we recognise him as the source and the goal of life; as the one who is of ultimate worth. For example, where “worship” is a translation of latreuō, meaning to serve with the whole of one’s being:

Romans 12:1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.”
Hebrews 12:28: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”

2. The part of a meeting where we engage in expressing God’s worth and our love for him through song The Old Testament frequently refers to Israel’s sung worship. In fact, the book of Psalms is known as Israel’s worship songs, where people are encouraged to bring their praise to God:

Psalm 98:4: “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music.”
Psalm 100:2: “Worship (serve) the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” The New Testament has far less to say about sung worship, though that is not to say it wasn’t a feature of early church life:
Ephesians 5:18-20: “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Colossians 3:16: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”
James 5: 13: “Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.”

The only instance of singing in the book of Acts is in prison(!): “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them” (16:25).

While the place of singing in church life has a long tradition as an important opportunity for God’s people to express together their praise of God and trust in him, we can add that singing is not the only element in worship when the church gathers. Our hope is to help people connect with God in such a way that they are encountering him in both Spirit and truth. In John 4:23-24, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that, “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The correct way to honour God (whether in song or otherwise) is not related to a location or a form, but to a spiritual life that accords with the truth God has revealed to us.

So we anticipate that the time we give to declaring God’s worth when we meet together is a two-way street, where we are both giving praise to God and receiving from him through his presence with us - in spiritual gifts, communion, his word and his people.