The Dynamics of

WORSHIP:A Frequently Misunderstood

Topic

WHAT IS

Your definition of

WORSHIP?

WHAT IS WORSHIP?

Warren Wiersbe:

Worship is the believer's response of all that he is -- mind, emotions, will, and body -- to all that God is and says and does.

Ronald Allen and Gordon Borror:

What then is worship? It is paying attention to God's revelation (both special, the Bible, and general) and responding to it... Worship is revelation and response.

Daniel Block:

"True worship involves reverential human acts of submission and homage before the divine Sovereign in response to the gracious revelation of Himself and in accordance with His will."

Evelyn Underhill:

Worship is "the total adoring response of man to the one Eternal God self-revealed in time."

Craig Cabaniss:

“Christian ‘worship’ must be understood as a response to God’s

revelation of himself (his word).”

Bob Kauflin:

“The Bible implies that worship is basically this: all I know of me rightly responding to all God has shown me of Himself. So, in the broadest sense, worship involves all of life, reflected in the things we say, do, think, and desire. In the narrow sense, worship is made up of our individual and corporate expressions that reflect the infinite worth of God.”

Ralph Martin:

“The distinctive genius of corporate worship is the

two-beat rhythm of revelation and response.”

The Two Parts of Worship

Worship occurs when we…

See God’s Glory & Give God Glory

REVELATION RESPONSE

Definition

Worship is a glorifying response to God

that results from

a good look at God’s glory.

SO… Take A Good Look At God

Make A Glorifying Response To God

One man’s worship experience...

MOSESParaphrase of Exodus 34

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.'

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

ISAIAH 6:1-8

`Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.'

Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, `See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.'

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,`Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?'

And I said, `Here am I. Send me!'"

ISAIAH 6:1-8 continued

Revela

tion

Revela

tion

Resp

onse

Resp

onse

Revela

tion

Revela

tion

But if… you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deut

4:29)

The Pursuit of the Psalmist

“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. 8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek. ” (Psalm 27:4, 8)

Revela

tion

Revela

tion

Resp

onse

Resp

onse

Revel

atio

n

Revel

atio

n Response

Response