What is true worship? If you think about that question for long, you will find that there must be many answers to it because there are so many churches doing so many different things and calling it worship. If you were to sit in on a different service every Sunday morning, you would find that some churches are very different in style from other churches. You may find what is called the ‘high church’ style. There you will experience considerable formality and ritual. Sometimes choirs will march into the sanctuary in a great processional. The Ministers may wear long robes. The atmosphere is generally sombre. Things are always done exactly the same way without any deviation.
Then there is what some call the ‘low church’ style. Here there is often no printed order of worship, although they have their unwritten order. The atmosphere is very informal. Unexpected things happen and are not considered interruptions. The service is not sombre, but lively and can sometimes seem too lively.
Then, of course, there are a variety of styles in between those two. Which is right? Obviously, the one you personally prefer is the right one – at least in your eyes. The truth is that they could all be right or all be wrong, and whether they are or not, has little to do with the style but everything to do with the worshipper.
Many people feel that God is moving in His church in a fresh way today. They feel that a part of this fresh move of God is a restoration of true praise and worship. I think this is true. If it is true, then we ought to understand what God is emphasising. After all, praise and worship are His ideas. A careful reading of the Scriptures will reveal that God has created us to worship and exhorts us to worship Him. Just in Psalm 150, one of our shortest Psalms, we are exhorted 12 times to praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
God exhorts us to praise Him, and God is saying to His church today, as He has said so often in the past, that we are called to praise our Lord. When I began to understand the emphasis God places on praise, I also began to wonder why. Why does God place so much emphasis on praise directed toward Himself? It seemed strange. Personally, I may want people to praise me because I need my ego to be stroked. But God has no inferiority complex. He does not have an ego which needs to be massaged.
He doesn’t need praise so that He can feel better about Himself. Why then would God want us to praise Him? I believe the answer lies not in God, but in us. God doesn’t want us to praise Him because He needs our praise. God wants us to praise Him because we need what praise can do in our lives. God doesn’t need to be praised, but we need to praise Him, because praise and worship does something in us and for us! God exhorts us to worship because praise and worship is an imperative for every Christian. This means that it is absolutely essential for us to engage in praise and worship. It is essential because God created us to praise Him.
We must also remember that praise is not only about words or songs – it is a declaration of allegiance. In praising God, we are reminding ourselves and those around us of who truly reigns. In a world full of distractions and idols vying for our attention, intentional worship places God back at the centre. It’s an act of realignment. Every time we offer heartfelt praise, we are proclaiming: “God is King. He is worthy. He is good.” In this way, praise becomes a spiritual discipline that keeps our hearts anchored in truth. Worship renews our minds and shields us from the lies and values of the world around us. This is why Satan despises true worship – because it dethrones self, silences fear and exalts Christ alone.
We were created to praise and worship God. Wherever you find human beings, you find them worshiping something or someone. Whether in the darkest jungle or right here in civilised western society, people are worshiping. They may not be worshiping in some formal sense in a house of worship, but they are worshiping, nonetheless. In the jungle they may be worshiping a rock or a tree or their dead ancestors. In Australia they may be worshiping at some other altar. It seems that there is a need for human beings to reach out beyond themselves and give honour and adoration to something larger. Human beings will have a god, even if it is not the true God. Of course, God desires for us to become true worshipers who are worshiping the one true God.
John 4:23-24 “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
God has called us to be these true worshipers. He exhorts us to worship Him in spirit and truth. Indeed, the text indicates that God seeks those kind of worshipers. To worship God in spirit and truth means that we worship the true God. It means that our worship should come from a place of honesty and integrity. It means that our worship should be spiritual, full of passion, engaging the whole person, and supernatural in nature. This is the highest calling for every believer. In fact, Christians are compared with Old Testament priests. In the Old Testament, priests offered sacrifices to God. According to the New Testament, we are all priests who offer sacrifices as well. In the Old Testament the priests would offer animals as a burnt offering. As New Testament priests, we offer a different kind of sacrifice, but it is a sacrifice, nonetheless.
1 Peter 2:4-5, 9 “As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ … but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Here we are told that we are a royal priesthood, and that our job is to offer up spiritual sacrifices. What are these spiritual sacrifices? This priestly role means that worship is not just the responsibility of the song leader or the pastor – it belongs to every believer. Whether you are in the pew or at home, your voice matters.
The priesthood of all believers means that each of us can come boldly before God’s throne (Hebrews 4:16) and offer our worship. This is especially important in a culture that often reduces worship to performance or platform. True worship isn’t about a stage – it’s about surrender and God is not looking for polished presentations; He’s looking for hearts that adore Him. That’s why Paul urges us in Romans 12:1 to offer our bodies as “living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.” True worship is sacrificial – it involves giving God the best of who we are.
Hebrews 13:15 “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”
The spiritual sacrifices that we are to offer are sacrifices of praise. What is this praise? It is the fruit of our lips. In other words, it is verbal, vocal praise. The passage in Hebrews corresponds to another passage in Hosea.
Hosea 14:1-2 “Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.”
This is a high calling. Entering into true praise and worship should not be optional for any of us. It is a part of our very fabric as human beings made in the image of God. It is imperative that we come to understand and practice true biblical praise and worship. But what are the consequences of practicing true praise and worship? We have already mentioned that we engage in praise and worship, not for God’s benefit as much as for our benefit. So we might ask what praise and worship does for us. Why do we need to praise and worship God? Let’s look briefly at five reasons we need to do so.
God made us to worship: Worship is built into the very design of our being. Just as lungs are made to breathe and hearts are made to beat, our souls are made to worship. When we don’t worship God, we don’t cease being worshipers – we simply redirect that worship elsewhere. That “elsewhere” might be wealth, success, relationships, or even ourselves. Romans 1:25 describes this spiritual misdirection: “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.” We are always worshiping something, which is why God’s call to worship Him is both gracious and protective. He knows that our souls will wither when they worship what is unworthy. But when we worship the One Who made us and redeemed us, our spirits flourish. Worship is not just a Sunday activity – it is the very rhythm of the redeemed life.
God is worthy of our worship: In Revelation 4:11 we read, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” God is worthy of our praise because He is our Creator and our Lord. Throughout the book of Revelation we catch a glimpse of heavenly worship. John’s vision transports us into heaven itself and there we see that a chief activity is praise.
Revelation 5:11-12 “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!”
Revelation 7:11-12 “All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honour and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”
We had better get used to praise and worship on this earth because we will be doing a lot of it in heaven! But we should do it here because our God is worthy of our worship.
Worship brings us into God’s presence: Praise and worship is the path leading to God. We are told in Psalm 100:4 to, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.” As we praise and worship God, we shift our focus from ourselves and our situation to Him. This makes us aware of His presence. This brings us into communion with Him. We become aware of His glory and greatness, of His majesty and power. We turn our attention from lesser things and focus on that which is the ultimate, our Lord and God. Praise and worship transport us into the very presence of the living God. It places us in a position where we can hear from Him and receive His ministry.
The Bible gives us many different examples of how worship can usher people into divine encounters. In 2 Chronicles 20, when King Jehoshaphat faced a vast army, he appointed singers to go before the army, praising the Lord. As they worshiped, God set ambushes against their enemies, and the battle was won without a single sword being lifted. Worship shifted the atmosphere from fear to faith, from defeat to deliverance. When we enter God’s presence through praise, we also enter His power. Anxiety, despair, and confusion often melt in the presence of the Almighty. That’s why Isaiah 61:3 speaks of God giving His people “a garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness (despair).” Praise is not just a celebration after the breakthrough – it is often the catalyst for the breakthrough.
Worship gives us His perspective on our situation: Because we are transported, as it were, into His presence, we now behold His greatness and become aware of His ability to deal with our situation. When we had our eyes on our situation or problem, it all looked pretty large. When we shift our attention, however, from ourselves to the God Who created this universe, then our whole life and the circumstances which surround us are seen in their proper perspective. Some issue or problem may have appeared huge to us while we were focusing only on it, but when we began to behold the glory, majesty, might and power of God, suddenly the problem didn’t look as big anymore. Looking at the problem in light of the majesty and ability of God makes the problem look solvable. Praise and worship give us God’s perspective on our situation, which is what we all need.
Worship changes us: Praise and worship changes our attitudes and thinking. It is impossible to become one who truly praises and worships God and still be sour and cynical. Praise and worship will transform our very character. It will make us people of hope, people of faith. Through praise and worship, God will do a mighty work in us. That alone is sufficient reason to become one who places great emphasis on praise and worship. If you are sad and sorry and cynical and negative and see all the things that are wrong with your life and your world … then you need to get your eyes off the rubbish dump and onto the sunrise. You need to find yourself lost in praise and adoration and worship of a God Who has promised to never leave you or forsake you. You will be amazed at how quickly your perspective on life changes.
One of the profound transformations worship brings is a softening of the heart. When we consistently draw near to God in worship, He begins to shape our affections, desires, and character. We begin to love what He loves and hate what He hates. Psalm 115 warns that those who make idols “will be like them.” In contrast, when we worship the living God, we become more like Him. We reflect His mercy, humility, and truth. Worship reorients our identity – it reminds us we are children of the King, not slaves to the world. That’s why spending time in God’s presence isn’t a duty, but a source of spiritual vitality. It’s not just about singing songs – it’s about being reshaped by glory.
You and I have been called to lift up our voices in praise and worship. We are New Testament priests, commanded to offer up the sacrifice of praise to God continually. Sometimes it is more of a sacrifice than at other times. But at all times we ought to be people of praise, because our God is worthy of our praise, and because we receive so much through praise. If true worship becomes our first priority, we will be amazed at how easy it is to truly seize the day!