The Difference Between Service And Worship
WORSHIP ARTICLE
William J. Stewart | Kingston, Ontario
There is a growing movement in the religious world to broaden what is commonly identified as worship. Rather than it being limited to specific activities, many are embracing the idea that worship is a lifestyle; that every moment of our existence is to be an occasion of worship. It is certainly true that we are to always be in service to God, but service and worship are not synonymous. There is an important distinction to be made.
Worship As A Lifestyle?
The desire to worship the Lord is most commendable. Karl Barth, a twentieth century Protestant theologian wrote, “Christian worship is the most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can taken place in human life.”1 For the Christian, worship is a primary concern and activity of life. However, those who are of the “lifestyle worship” persuasion affirm that worship is not confined by time, place, or practice, but can be and is in all that we do.
One writer has stated, “Worship is a lifestyle not an event.”2 Again, we read that worship “…is not what we do, but who we are and what we are about, it is (or should be) our life … Worship is the day to day relationship that we have with Christ.”3 Singer and song writer, Michael W. Smith says of worship, “Do it unto the Lord in everything you do … your job, your friends, the guy at the Quick Stop, the guy at the little market you go to, whatever and wherever. It is the way you treat people. All of that is worship to me. Experiencing God’s creation.”4
Defining Worship
When people use words without really knowing what they mean, problems will come. The word baptism is an example of this. Most people in the religious world would agree with Collins Dictionary, which says baptism involves “…immersing the individual in water or by pouring or sprinkling water on the individual…”5 Our English word comes from the Greek root bapto, which is defined as “to whelm, i.e. cover wholly with fluid…”6 Sprinkling a bit of water over someone’s head is no more baptism than water dripping from a faucet constitutes washing the dishes.
The Urban Dictionary, which is useful to see how people are using words today, gives the following as the top definition for worship: “Surrendering to God. Humbling yourself for Him, so that He can change you and bring you closer to him.”7 Absolutely, we must surrender to God and humble ourselves, we need to be changed and come closer to Him. But, here’s the problem – none of that is worship. This describes important aspects of the Christian life, but it is not a good description of worship.
The most common word for worship in the New Testament is the Greek proskuneo. Thayer defines it as “…kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication.”8 A careful consideration of occurrences of the word in the New Testament will reveal it as a specific event (whether public or private) with specific actions (prayer, singing, praise), and coming from a specific posture (bowing, whether literally or figuratively). The idea of worship as a lifestyle is foreign to the New Testament.
The Bible Distinguishes Between Service and Worship
All robins are birds, but not all birds are robins. All canoes are boats, but not all boats are canoes. All sandals are shoes, but not all shoes are sandals. The same is true about worship and service. All worship is service to God, but not all service to God is worship. The Bible makes a recognizable distinction.
In John 4, the Samaritan woman was not asking Jesus whether one should live on Mount Gerizim or in Jerusalem. Her inquiry was about where one ought to go to worship God. Under the Old Covenant, there was an appointed place for God’s people to go to worship – Jerusalem; but that did not mean they had to live there. They could live wherever they pleased, but for the appointed feasts, they were to go to Jerusalem to worship God. That’s exactly what the Ethiopian eunuch did, then he went home again to Ethiopia (Acts 8:27-28).
Consider Daniel and his friends. They served Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (Daniel 1:3-7, 19), but they would not worship him nor his gods (Daniel 3:12-18). Nebuchadnezzar was not satisfied with their faithful service, he wanted them to worship, but they would not. Daniel and his friends understood the difference between service and worship; serving the pagan king was acceptable, worshiping him or his gods was not. Service and worship are not synonymous. They could serve Nebuchadnezzar, but they would not worship him.
I suspect part of the confusion about the biblical distinction between service and worship lies with some of the translations people are using. Consider Romans 12:1 from some of the most popular versions:
- “…present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (NASB)
- “…present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (ESV)
- “…offering your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship” (NIV)
These translations make it sound as though living a holy and righteous life is worship. It is not. This text doesn’t have proskuneo, which we mentioned already as the most common Greek word translated as worship in the New Testament. The word here is latreia, which appears just 5 times in the New Testament, and is rendered “service” every time in the ASV, KJV, and NKJV. Thus, the NKJV reads, “…present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Before going to the cross, Jesus warned the apostles, “…the time is coming that whoever kills you will think he offers God service” (John 16:2). Jesus used the same Greek word as appears in Romans 12:1. Surely the Jewish leaders didn’t consider putting men to death a form of worship, but rather believed they were serving God in dong so (Deuteronomy 13:1-11; Acts 6:13-14; 7:57-58). They would certainly have differentiated this “service” from their worship.
A centurion described to Jesus the manner of service which he received from those who were under his command. He stated, “I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it” (Matthew 8:9). So is the nature of our service to the Lord. As the Lord speaks, so we do (Matthew 7:21; Luke 6:46). This faithful obedience is not worship, but is our “reasonable service” to God of heaven.
What’s The Big Deal?
So, why does this matter? First, it is important for us to understand what God’s word says. We need to understand the message of Scripture. We need to be able to distinguish between truth and error. If we are going to serve God faithfully, we cannot be moved by the doctrines and innovations of man.
One of the inevitable side effects of the “lifestyle worship” opinion is the significance of worship assemblies is diminished. If everything you do is worship to God, then does it really matter whether you assemble for worship with other Christians or not? If you are there, you’ll be worshiping God, but if not, that’s OK, you’ll still be worshiping. If day to day life is worship, then the assembly is irrelevant. Service is not worship. The church (Greek, ekklesia, a.k.a. assembly) is essential. Corporate worship is exemplified and commanded throughout the Bible. We need to live a life that glorifies God, but we must also be gathering together with God’s people for worship.
I will close with a word about private worship. We need to be careful not to limit our worship to 3 or 4 hours of assembly time with the Lord’s people each week. We ought to habitually set time aside to worship the Lord privately (Matthew 6:6). Recall, Jesus made it a habit to worship the Lord individually in the mountains (Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46; Luke 6:12; John 6:15). May we take advantage of every opportunity, public or private, to worship the Lord.
References
1. Barth, Karl., Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes.
2. Woolley, C. calvary.com
3. Nadeau Jr., A.J., experiencingworship.com
4. Worshipping Beyond the Sanctuary Interview by Michael Herman, christianitytoday.com
5. collinsdictionary.com
6. Strong’s Greek Dictionary, Power BibleCD 4.0a
7. urbandictionary.com
8. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
* All passages quoted from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.
17.10.03 | GROW magazine
