Something Greater

Expressions of Worship How does the Bible describe worship? Two words, one Hebrew and one Greek, are translated as "worship" in the Bible. In the Old Testament: "I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord." Genesis 24:48 (ESV) WORSHIP: shaha (to depress, to prostrate) Our English word, depress, means to press down, to let fall or lower. It commonly now is used to describe longlasting sad and lethargic emotions. Prostrate literally means to throw down. It describes a person with face on the ground in humble adoration. It can also describe someone utterly exhausted, lying flat on the ground. In the New Testament: "The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:23-24 (ESV) WORSHIP: proskyneo (to fawn or crouch to, to prostrate...

Pretense and Fear "A man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet." Acts 5:1-2 The names of the man and woman in this story communicate happiness and wealth : ANANIAS: Ananias (name of three Israelites); from Hebrew, hananyahu (Jah has favored); from hanan (to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to favor, bestow or implore) and yah (Jah, the sacred name, shortened from Yehovah, the self-Existent or Eternal) SAPPHIRA: Sapphire (an Israelitess); from sapphiros (a "sapphire" or lapis-lazuli gem; from Hebrew, sappir (a gem, probably the sapphire, used for scratching other substances); from sapar (to score with a mark as a tally or record, to inscribe, enumerate, recount or celebrate) From birth, Ananias enjoyed the influence of a name that meant "favored by God". The Hebrew root o...

Wayne Grudem on Worship As part of my study of worship, I read a chapter of Systematic Theology , by Wayne Grudem . The following are quotations from the book (in bold) with references from the Bible (in italics). Worship is the activity of glorifying God in his presence with our voices and hearts. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Colossians 3:16 (ESV) Worship is therefore a direct expression of our ultimate purpose for living, to glorify God and fully enjoy him forever. God is worthy of worship and we are not. "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." Revelations 4:11 (ESV) When we feel the absolute righteousness of this deeply within ourselves we then have the appropriate heart attitude for g...

Sovereignty of God The religious rulers in Jerusalem were between a Rock and a hard place: they feared the power of Jesus and they feared the power of the people. They squirmed out of the trap, temporarily, by threatening Peter and John , charging them to speak and teach of nothing concerning Jesus, and releasing them from custody. "When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, - Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, - "Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed - "For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, w...

Worship and Blessing When God created the heavens and the earth, vegetation, animals and man, He blessed them and praised them as very good: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, - Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth...God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, - Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Genesis 1:1, 21-22, 27-28 God blessed His creation, and He continually blesses us all , with breath and life and fa...