This is going to be a fun project.
I guess I should let you in on what it is I'm about to begin. I am about to embark on a study of praise and worship. I've already begun to some extent, but now I'm going to hold myself accountable and work on it more steadily. And I'm going to share it with y'all. What do I mean by "a study of praise and worship"? Well, I'm going to look at what the Bible says about them. I've grown up knowing a little about them (though it's not something anyone ever went in-depth with me on to the extent I want to go in-depth), experiencing them, but not entirely knowing even how to define them. You find these verses saying things like, "God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth," and "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, for this is your spiritual act of worship." But other than a brief, occasional comment from someone who had looked into these things a little more, no one really teaches on this stuff in the church today, at least not to my knowledge. Now, if I'm going to do this, I don't want to halfway do it; I don't want to just do a preliminary overview when I have the option (though it will take longer) of digging deep. If I'm going to study, I want to really learn.
Part of what really spurred me on in this and got me to start studying praise and worship a while back was a conversation I had with someone who was of the opinion that praise and worship are two different things. I had never come across this notion, so I wanted to dig deeper and see if that's really what the Bible says. (In case you're wondering, even in my preliminary beginnings of study I quickly found that most of the time either "praise" or "worship" are found in the Bible, they are translated from many of the same Hebrew and Greek words.) I've had enough of people telling me what to believe, and that based not on their own study but what others have told them for years and years (sometimes generations). Let's read the Bible for ourselves, that we may truly know the Truth!
So, I'm about to start a blog series, I guess you'd call it. I'm not saying my blog will turn into only a study (though that certainly wouldn't be a bad thing). I'll very likely still have other posts about other things God is teaching and pressing me in. And, I'm not going to say exactly how regular I'll post about my praise and worship study. Sometimes it may take longer to process stuff and learn about it to the extent that I can share my findings. Sometimes, I may not be able to wait to share something. Also, I know my tendency of, when I have a schedule, feeling like it's a "stick or quit" deal in keeping it.
To start things off, I'd like to share a sort of tie-in to this study that I discovered quite "by accident" (though with God there are no coincidences). In Romans 12:9-21, Paul is describing the marks of a true Christian:
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.' To the contrary, 'if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (ESV)Now get this: in KJV, that phrase "be constant in prayer" is translated "continuing instant in prayer." This is part of why I love KJV, the way it words stuff. Well, when I saw that, I got out my concordance and looked up some words for an even deeper meaning. First off, you've got the word continuing, which gives the idea of perseverance and pressing on. But what is translated continuing instant (or, in ESV, be constant) is actually one word in the Greek: proskartereō. The word basically means "to have continual allegiance to, constant diligence in, single-minded alertness to, give yourself wholly to" (that would be my own description based on the definitions found in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and Blue Letter Bible). Cool, right? But here's the tie-in I mentioned earlier: the word translated in both versions as prayer turns out to mean much more than what we tend to define "prayer" as. The word is proseuchē, and it means "to pray (worship) earnestly." Is it just me, or is that pretty awesome? One of the marks (call them symptoms, even) of a true Christian, something Paul is here commanding us to do, is to continually pray--to constantly be in such communion with God that we are in constant fellowship with Him, being stirred every moment in fighting for His Kingdom to come to this earth and His will to be done, beholding His face and being moved to praise and to worship...our lives truly being poured out at His feet, and joyfully. This is the life we are called to!
So, will you step into an adventure with me--a journey which may very well take a year or more, if I'm going to study every word and mention of praise and worship in the entire Canon--to discover a deeper level of what that calling looks like?
For our King is worthy of all our praise and worship.
