This article is the first of seven that were recently published in our church newsletter. I'll post the others over the next few day. I'd love to hear you feedback. I like to hear what you think about praise and worship.
Praise and
Worship, for the most part, are used interchangeably in reference to music
performed in a church service. There is much more to this than can be addressed
in a brief article, but my “thumbnail” definition is: Praise is when we sing
ABOUT God, Worship is when we sing TO God. There are times for both in the life
of the Christian, and in our corporate gatherings.
In both
Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 we are instructed to use “psalms, hymns, and
spiritual songs” to encourage, exhort, and edify “one another.” These are
certainly not songs sung TO God, but rather ABOUT God for the purpose of
blessing each other. The Hebrew word for this sort of thing is shabach, which means, “to boast about
our God.” As a grandfather I am obligated to show pictures of my beautiful
granddaughter whenever she is mentioned (and I usually mention her if no one else does). I love to boast about her because I
love her so much. We do the same thing with God. When He is such a large part
of our life we seek opportunities to boast about Him, to tell others what He
has done in our life. The result of this is others get encouraged. It builds
faith in them by hearing what God has done, and is doing, in others.
The other type
of music is Worship. This is directed TO God. When we as a group of
Christ-followers gather and begin to sing TO God it creates unity among us and
we, by default, are drawn closer together. It helps develop a sense of purpose
between us, and helps dissolve any issues that would try to keep us apart.
Another effect of Worship is that as we exalt the Lord, He becomes bigger in
our eyes and our problems or concerns become smaller. Our faith is increased,
and trusting Him becomes so much easier to do.
My desire is
that we do both when we gather as a body of Believers.
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