worship

Worship is a common term used among Christians today. When I hear the word worship, the first thoughts that come to my mind include singing hymns, praying, and reading the Bible. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines worship as “the act of showing respect and love for a god especially by praying with other people who believe in the same god.” In the diverse world we live in, “worship” can have various connotations and meanings. Even though I have my own concepts about what worship is and should consist of, I am thankful that the Bible reveals to us the worship that God is seeking.

Two Ways of Worship

As early on as Genesis 4, the Bible distinguishes between two ways of worship, one which God accepts and one which He rejects. Adam and Eve’s first two sons, Cain and Abel, differed in how they worshiped God. While Cain “brought an offering to Jehovah from the fruit of the ground,” Abel “brought an offering from the firstlings of his flock” (Gen. 4:3-4).

At first blush, the contrast here doesn’t seem that drastic, but Cain’s offering indicates that he worship God with the fruit of his own labor. Cain’s way of worship came out of his own religious concept of what God wanted—that man should work to please God and worship God with the produce of his own effort. God rejected this offering because it was presumptuous and blatantly ignored God’s way of redemption, which He initiated in Genesis chapter 3. The way of redemption God set up, through which we worship Him, was the shedding of lamb’s blood and the covering of lamb’s skins. This points to a future reality in Christ as the lamb of God, whose blood washes away our sins and whose very person is our covering righteousness. God wants us to worship Him with this Christ, not with the produce of fleshly effort. Paul tells us that the flesh, no matter how good it is, cannot please God (Rom. 8:8).

Abel didn’t follow the way of Cain. He took another way and offered a sacrifice to God out of faith based on God’s revelation. In typology, Abel offered Christ to God, with Christ’s redemption to cover his sins. The firstling of the flock is a type of Christ, and the shed blood included in this offering represents the future redemption accomplished by Christ’s death on the cross.

Worship in Spirit and Truthfulness

In the present age, worship is still a vital part of the Christian life. It helps us have fellowship with God and enjoy Him in the most wonderful way. This account of worship in Genesis 4 specifically shows us that how we worship matters to God; it indicates that there are constraints on what God considers true worship. When Jesus began His ministry on the earth, He was very direct with His followers about how to worship. He says,

But an hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truthfulness, for the Father also seeks such to worship Him. (John 4:23)

In this verse, Jesus gives us the two components God requires for genuine worship—spirit and truthfulness.

Man is tripartite. We have a body, a soul, and a spirit. God requires us to use the deepest part of our being, our human spirit, to worship Him. Merely doing things with our body or experiencing things with our soul does not satisfy God’s desire for worship. We must use our spirit to worship because God is Spirit and He is one with our human spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). The word truthfulness denotes the divine reality of Christ, which should be the center and focus of our worship. Putting it in other words, the where of worship is our spirit; the what of worship is Christ. Thus, God requires that we worship Him in our spirit and with Christ. In Jesus’ view, these are ‘musts’.

Today, the world offers us many different options regarding worship. In the midst of this, it is important to reflect on the Lord’s revelation in the Bible concerning worship. He is seeking genuine love centered on Christ that originates in our spirit rather than the produce of self-effort that originates in our flesh and man-made religious concepts.

Mikaela Cannizzo
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