In part 1 of this series, What is Worship, we performed a few word studies covering the New Testament vocabulary translated by the English word “worship.” If you haven’t read that piece yet, I encourage you to go back and look it over. It is foundational to everything to come.
The basic observation made there is that the language of “worship” is very, 
very rarely used to describe the things Christians do when we gather together in groups, doing whatever it is Christians do when they gather in groups. Although the one or two exceptions we found indicate that it was possible to use worship vocabulary in that way, it is painfully obvious that the New Testament writers did not like to talk that way.
Large group gatherings, where Jesus’ disciples met to sing songs, pray and study scripture together, are not described as “worship services.” Surprising, perhaps, but true.
This conclusion raises two important questions: First, what types of activities are described as Christian “worship” in the New Testament? If not gatherings, then what? Second, how do the New Testament authors describe Christian gatherings?
This post will answer only the first question. We’ll save the rest for another day.
Some readers may have noticed that the answer was already hinted at in our previous word studies. Christian worship occurs in and through obedient living, not in church, not (necessarily) in groups, but in day-to-day (secular) life.
For the New Testament, worship is a lifestyle.
In saying this, I do not mean to describe a person that listens to praise music while driving to the market, punctuates every sentence with “praise
the Lord” and “hallelujah,” or hums the latest Christian top-20 wherever they go. It’s not that kind of lifestyle. While those activities might be fine, it is not what the New Testament refers to when describing worship as a lifestyle (and not simply because the early Christians did not have cars or radios).
Worship, first and foremost, is a life lived in continual obedience to our heavenly Father. We realize that God’s gift of salvation, abundant life now and in eternity, is wholly and exclusively the product of His mercy shown in Jesus Christ. So, we offer all that we are back to Him in perpetual – day by day, moment by moment – gratitude. That is New Testament worship.
The clearest expression of this sentiment appears in Romans 12:1-2. Paul says,
“I urge you, brothers/sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – which is your reasonable/understanding (logikē) worship (latreia). Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
First, notice that worship is offered in view of God’s mercy. It is an offering of thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation every single day for all the undeserved gifts of divine love made available to us in Jesus Christ. Doing full justice to this component of worship requires a study in the New Testament language of “thanksgiving” and the many injunctions to “always give thanks, at all times, in every circumstance.” Perhaps, we will look at that element of Christian faith in the future.
For now, let’s focus on the ways that worship is defined as each believer’s daily obedience to God, given up because we understand (logikē) the magnitude of all that Christ has done for us.
Also notice the accumulation of cultic/temple language in Paul’s sentence: “living sacrifice,” “holy,” “pleasing/acceptable to God,” “worship,” all liturgical vocabulary piled on top of each other, jumbled together. In other words, a life lived in a continually responsive understanding and appreciation of divine grace is the New Testament equivalent of offering “worship” in the “holy place” of the Jerusalem temple with a “blood sacrifice”.
Whoa Nelly…
THAT, my friends, is a dramatic and shocking statement – at least it would have been shocking to a good many of Paul’s Jewish contemporaries. What Israel used to do in the temple cult with the assistance of priests, goats, sheep and other sorts of “offerings,” Christians now do on their own by (a) understanding how much they owe to God and (b) self-consciously devoting all of life to His (c) service.
Yes…wow.
Paul begins his letter to the Romans by describing his own life in this way. He says in Romans 1:9,
“God is my witness, whom I worship/serve (latreuein) with my whole being in preaching the gospel of His Son, how I constantly remember you in my prayers.”
In other words, Paul worshiped God by preaching the good news of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. Why? Because that is what God has called him to do with his life. In fulfilling his life’s purpose, Paul was giving worship to God.
Paul revisited this idea at the end of Romans in 15:16,
“…God gave me the grace to be a servant/priestly worshipper (leitourgon) of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty (hierourgounta) of proclaiming the gospel of God so that the Gentiles might become an acceptable offering to God…”
Paul again deliberately takes the worship vocabulary traditionally reserved for the Levitical priests offering sacrifice in the Jerusalem temple, and he uses it to describe his work as an evangelist to the Gentiles. Obeying God’s call to be an apostle is the way Paul worshiped his Lord, every day, all the time. That is Paul’s offering of the daily “living sacrifice” which is his “acceptable, understanding worship” as described in Romans 12.
He simply did what God called him to do. Period.
Here are a few additional examples that you can explore on your own:
Philippians 2:17, “I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service/worship (leitourgein) coming from your faith…”
Philippians 2:30, “Epaphroditus almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help/service/worship (leitourgia) you could not give to me.”
Philippians 3:3, “We are the circumcision, we who worship/serve (latreuein) by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh…”
[In the example above, we could easily substitute the word “live” for “worship.” In other words, true worshipers are those who have received the Holy Spirit by believing in the gospel of grace and now live in light of that gift.]
2 Timothy 1:3, “I thank God whom I serve/worship (latreuein), as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day.”
Paul also refers to worshiping through our finances and generosity:
Romans 15:27, “If the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it them to share/serve/worship (leitourgein) with them in their material blessings.”
2 Corinthians 9:12, “The ministry of this service/worship (leitourgia) is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.”
So, don’t stop singing songs to the Lord while driving, if that is what you enjoy. Just keep your eyes on the road and hands on the wheel, please. But don’t ever be misled into thinking that special “churchy” activities are the 
principle ways to worship. Far from it. That way of thinking is very, very wrong.
You worship when you talk to your friends about the way Jesus is working in your life and then share the gospel with them.
You worship when you make a change of some sort in your lifestyle because you know the Lord wants you to do it.
You worship when your discipleship creates difficulty or hardship, but you move forward anyway because you want to obey Jesus more than you wish for a comfortable life.
You worship when you share your stuff with the poor – especially when you don’t worry about receipts.
You worship when you make yourself “one of the least of these” and sit at the lowest end of the table, without expecting any recognition or reward, in order to serve hurting people in need.
In other words, you worship spontaneously as you surrender the shape of 
your life to the radical remolding of God’s kingdom revealed in the ethical teaching of Jesus Christ.
After all, that’s how Jesus worshiped his heavenly Father every moment of every day. He came to be our model.
He still is.
