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Mar 10
Miscellaneous, Wednesday morning worship No Comments
The discussion this morning started with the question, “Is worship a subset of obedience or is obedience a subset of worship?” Jeff, Ryan, and I looked for verses in support of either side of the equation. One one side, there are numerous verses where God commands us to worship him (see Neh. 12:45, Deut. 6:13, Matt. 4:10), implying that worship is a subset of obedience. However, Scripture also indicates that we are created to worship (Isa. 43:7), that worship is not simply an outward act (John 4:24), and that obedience to God’s laws must also be accompanied with the appropriate heart attitude (Isa. 29:13, Matt. 15:7-9), all of which carry some implication that worship may be necessary for obedience to happen.
At the end of it all, I would conclude that, as Ryan said, the above question is not the right question to ask. Obedience to God’s commands and our inward love and heart attitude toward God are inextricably linked. Obedience that is simply outward is not pleasing to God. Worship (aka heartfelt love) of God is not pleasing to God if it does not lead to some form of obedience to His commands (Amos 5:21-24, Isa. 1:10-17). Obedience is worship AND worship is obedience.
The second half of our discussion then turned back to our definition (once again). Should we then just include obedience in our definition so it would read, “giving preeminence to someone/something through obedience, adoration, sacrifice, and reverence”?
This is where Webster’s Dictionary really helped us out. What does it actually mean to “define” something? According to Webster, define is defined as
to determine or identify the essential qualities or meaning of.
What does “essential” or “essence” mean?
The permanent as contrasted with the accidental element of being OR the individual, real, or ultimate nature of a thing especially as opposed to its existence.
So, when you try to define something, you need to, as much as possible, boil it down to its most basic, ultimate nature. In the second half of our definition of worship, we believe we have mistakenly included things that are not basic and ultimate. The idea of “giving preeminence” is basic and ultimate; how we do this (i.e. through obedience, adoration, sacrifice, reverence, or whatever) is what Webster would call “accidental” or in relation to worship’s “existence.” These things are how worship exists, how it is carried out, elements of worship, but are not necessary in every case for worship to occur.
So, at this point, we are again honing our definition to just say,
Worship is giving preeminence to someone/something.
If you have thoughts or suggestions about this, please let me know. This is all still in process!
The discussion this morning started with the question, “Is worship a subset of obedience or is obedience a subset of worship?” Jeff, Ryan, and I looked for verses in support of either side of the equation. One one side, there are numerous verses where God commands us to worship him (see Neh. 12:45, Deut. 6:13, Matt. 4:10), implying that worship is a subset of obedience. However, Scripture also indicates that we are created to worship (Isa. 43:7), that worship is not simply an outward act (John 4:24), and that obedience to God’s laws must also be accompanied with the appropriate heart attitude (Isa. 29:13, Matt. 15:7-9), all of which carry some implication that worship may be necessary for obedience to happen.
At the end of it all, I would conclude that, as Ryan said, the above question is not the right question to ask. Obedience to God’s commands and our inward love and heart attitude toward God are inextricably linked. Obedience that is simply outward is not pleasing to God. Worship (aka heartfelt love) of God is not pleasing to God if it does not lead to some form of obedience to His commands (Amos 5:21-24, Isa. 1:10-17). Obedience is worship AND worship is obedience.
The second half of our discussion then turned back to our definition (once again). Should we then just include obedience in our definition so it would read, “giving preeminence to someone/something through obedience, adoration, sacrifice, and reverence”?
This is where Webster’s Dictionary really helped us out. What does it actually mean to “define” something? According to Webster, define is defined as “to determine or identify the essential qualities or meaning of.” What does “essential” or “essence” mean? “The permanent as contrasted with the accidental element of being” or “the individual, real, or ultimate nature of a thing especially as opposed to its existence.”
So, when you try to define something, you need to, as much as possible, boil it down to its most basic, ultimate nature. In the second half of our definition of worship, we believe we have mistakenly included things that are not basic and ultimate. The idea of “giving preeminence” is basic and ultimate; how we do this (i.e. through obedience, adoration, sacrifice, reverence, or whatever) is what Webster would call “accidental” or in relation to worship’s “existence.” These things are how worship exists, how it is carried out, elements of worship, but are not necessary in every case for worship to occur.
So, at this point, we are again honing our definition to just say, “Worship is giving preeminence to someone/something.”
If you have thoughts or suggestions about this, please let me know. This is all still in process!
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