"In the Psalms you hear a…call to worship. They answer that famous question put to us by the Presbyterians: "What is the chief end of man?" The answer to that question is what I want to talk about now, and say to you that we were created, and after the Fall redeemed, that we might be worshipers of the Most High God." (Worship: The Missing Jewel, A. W. Tozer)

"Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Eph. 5:19)

One of the Greek words for "worship" is latreuo (LA-TRUE-OH), "The work of the people". True worship requires thoughtful, disciplined effort. People who want to meet God in spirit and truth will reject so-called worship in which they are encouraged to be passive or entertained.

"In worship, we assemble in order to hear and to discuss God’s Word, and then to praise God, to sing, and to pray." The true heart-worshiper will welcome God’s full Word of truth and will seek to respond to it fully in praise and prayer, and also in a changed life.

"The principal work of the Spirit is faith…The principal exercise of faith is prayer." Jesus called the Jerusalem temple His Father’s "house of prayer," and in one historic worship tradition, services are known as Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer. True worshipers do not "say" prayers or "hear" prayers. Even when they read prayers in the worship order, they pray, through Jesus Christ as enabled by God’s Spirit. Further, mature faith will produce full, mature prayer, beginning with confession, and balancing petition with praise and thanksgiving.

"Worship is a verb." Worship is something we do not something that is done for us (by ministers and musicians). Again, the mental and physical "doing" must be acts that express the love and commitment of our total selves. For instance, true worshipers do not give money in the offering primarily to support the work of the church. They do so as an act of worship, a token that all they are and have belongs to God, One-In-Three.

"They who sing pray twice, that is, they pray with the mind (through the words) and with the emotions (through the music). This means more than understanding the words and feeling the emotions associated with them and with all aspects of the music. Worshipers in spirit and truth are saying a spiritual "AMEN" to the words, sensing God’s presence as reality, and joyfully making melody to the Lord in their hearts. This is worshiping God in both cognitive and emotive truth.

1. Psalms of ascents such as Psalm 122. Praise is the "awe and wonder that we have when we enter the presence of God."
2. As pilgrims approached the temple, there were psalms of praise during the opening of the gates…such as Psalm 15 and Psalm 24. After a confession of sin, the prophet Jeremiah would intercede and bestow a benediction of pardon on the people. Jer. 14:7 "Although our sins testify against us, O Lord, do something for the sake of your name. For our backsliding is great; we have sinned against you."

• During the burning of the sacrifice in the temple

1. Praise and confession go hand in hand…we approach God with praise and confession. Isaiah 6:3-5

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. "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."

2. During the actual immolation (burning of the sacrifice), the singing of psalms played primary role as the Levites sang and walked around the altar. The smoke ascended to heaven, giving a visual representation of the people’s praise ascending…
3. Stories of God’s faithfulness & deliverance were recounted…both historical and personal accounts.

Paul also instructs to the Ephesians and Colossians "the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs."

Summary:

Psalms were historical, highly developed, biblical expressions of prayer directed to God the Father.

Hymns (at the time they were written) seem to have been extra-canonical "Jesus songs" intended to express and to teach the basic doctrines of the new faith.

Spiritual Songs appear to have been highly emotional, spontaneous jubilation that occurred in the overwhelming consciousness of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

1. Psalms

• Psalms formed the beginning practice of praise for the New Testament church. In the early church, the examples of the Jews' psalms were all they had as an example of praising God.
• Paul instructs in 1 Cor. 14:26 "What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church."
• Christian psalms were also created, i.e. the Song of Mary, or Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), the song of Zechariah, or Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79), and the song of Simeon (Luke 2:29-32).
• Greek poetry features of later developed psalms reflect the hymnody of the Greek speaking congregations such as Philippians 2:5-11 and Colossians 1:15-20.

2. Hymns

The first century hymns were newer religious expressions that communicated the teaching of Christ. They taught New Testament doctrines that were applied to the Christian’s daily life and faith. Philippians 2:5-11 and Colossians 1:15-20 are examples of possible early hymns that were written to teach and re-affirm the truths of God and Jesus Christ to new believers.

• Reformation brought about new music for the people to sing in their own languages with Martin Luther. Also, the 1542 Genevan Psalter was created by Calvin and the French poet Clement Marot, using a variety of meters and rhythmic structures for musicians to create melodies for the psalms. Calvin’s preference was the exclusive use of psalmody!
• In the 18^th Century, Isaac Watts began a revival of writing praise music, both paraphrasing psalms and spiritual songs that were like meditations on psalm material. See the comparisons to Psalm90=Our God Our Help In Ages Past, Psalm98=Joy To The World, I Sing The Mighty Power Of God is like an imitation of a psalm, and When I Survey The Wondrous Cross is a meditation on Christ’s passion. In Watts, there is a balance between psalmody and hymnody, in which hymns spring forth from the psalms.

3. Spiritual Songs … usually create the most controversy among churches.

• The words we translate "spiritual songs" are rooted in the concept of an "ode to a breath." It is something that spontaneously explodes out of one’s spirit. Same root as the word pneumonia…
• New Testament worship services were much less formal than today, where someone might stand up right in the middle of the service and sing a solo, and then another might pop up and begin to pray…corporate worship was probably far more diverse than what we have today.
• New melodies might be created, with truths sung to popular tunes…spiritual songs are like the forerunners of the beautiful worship choruses and praise music that is "exploding out of the spirit of the church today."
• These songs don’t often have a long life; they seem to appeal to their generation and then are replaced by newer styles of music. That’s why some old gospel tunes were set to a waltz tempo and why others are sanctified versions of barroom tunes. Each generation has its own music as an avenue to glorify God in heaven.

The Christian devotional tradition swings pendulum-like from one extreme to another as we rely on psalms alone, then possibly to hymns and/or spiritual songs composed by the current generation.

It is no accident the relationship of Christ and the church is illustrated in the New Testament as that of a husband and wife. Just as in a marriage you give your body to your partner, when you make a commitment to Christ you offer Him your body. God created man with both Body and Soul, and He wants His children—the church—to reflect their love for Him through their bodies.

1. Kneeling

• Kneeling is very biblical and proper.
• The word "worship" originally meant to "bow down," so it shouldn’t be a surprise that God expect us to kneel.
• Paul said in Ephesians 3:14, "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." The act of bowing, or kneeling, or prostrating oneself before God is designed to be an "outward expression of an inward grace."
• Some evangelicals have moved away from this concept, but there is coming a day when "every knee should bow…and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." We should not throw out the baby with the bath water.

2. Clapping

• The sign for praise in sign language is clapping.
• The Old Testament people often clapped unto the Lord. Many times in the Psalms…even Isaiah wrote, "You shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." (Isaiah 55:12)
• I don’t find any scriptural evidence that reveals people clapped to show their appreciation for a performance of worship music, but there is much evidence where people clapped to express joy and appreciation to God.
• In some instances during a worship service, clapping is used as an instrument of praise in response to God and all that He has done.

3. Raising Hands

• This is a real struggle for many Christians, yet there is significant support for it in scripture.
• The bible scholar, William Hendrickson, analyzed all the occasions in the Old Testament when bodily praise was used. If the frequency of these movements is related to the importance, then our current worship practice is exactly the opposite of what Scripture says is important…

1. We provide a symbol of our surrender to God…the international sign for "surrender" is to lift both hands.
2. Babies are born with their fists clenched, which is appropriate for the sinful state of man. It conveys, "I want my way"…whereas open hands are a way of saying, "Lord, have Your way with me."
3. Businessmen have learned that your body language expresses what you are thinking. Arms folded and a scowl on my face tells you I’m not excited about your proposal. When we come to the Lord with open hands, we are expressing trust in Him.
4. Open hands can be a sign that we are seeking God…with hands cupped, waiting to RECEIVE God… "Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary."(Psalm 28:2) …Like a beggar holding his hand out for a morsel of food.
5. The last picture the apostles had of Jesus Christ was with His hands raised. "…He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven"(Luke 24:50-51)

Nearly all of us remember times of being overwhelmed by the nearness of God and responding in praise and awe. It might happen alone in prayer, around a campfire with friends, or at a church service with lots of people. Frequently, the experience comes unplanned and takes us by surprise. Something happens that we can’t explain fully, something that transports us into the presence of God and fills us with reverence and joy. I believe the "true worshiper" lives by faith that this experience is always possible, and even though a "mountain top" experience is not realized, by faith, the "true worshiper" continues to bow down, knowing that God is there.

"Believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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." (John 4:21-24)