What is worship?

Therefore, brothers I urge you by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice which is your spiritual act of worship.-Romans 12:1

Christians are sharply divided over worship these days. Some insist that God can be honored only through traditional hymns sung to an organ. Others cannot worship God without guitars, amplifiers, drums, and a worship team. Which style does the Bible mandate? Neither, of course. The Bible says almost nothing about the style of our worship. But it does say a great deal about other elements of our worship. Romans 12:1-2 makes two important points about our worship.

First, worship is not merely, or even mainly, what we don on Sunday morning. Worship is a "24/7" matter. We worship God when we give ourselves to him in service. We worship God when we show love to others, when we do our jobs faithfully and with integrity, when we play with our kids and nurture our families. God wants us always to be bringing glory to him by the way we live. A worship "service is quite appropriate, even mandated by Scripture. But we delude ourselves badly if we think that God is interested in our worship only during that service.

Second, worship that God honors involves the mind. I don't think that God much cares whether the songs we sing to him are accompanied by an organ or by a guitar. But I am sure that he cares about the words that we sing to him. The words that we sing should not only stir our emotions but also engage our minds. Our worship songs should reflect that fact that we are creatures endowed by God with reason. He wants us to think about him as the foundation of true worship. The best worship songs will remind us of some truth about God, Christ, or the Spirit, or about God's plan and purpose. As we sing to ourselves and to each other, we will be taught, and that teaching will be the stimulus for praise, confession, and thanksgiving.