Worship—what is it?

Worship means “worth-ship;” it is paying homage or respect.
Calvin—believed that the goal of gathered worship was to bring people face to face with God. His aim was not 
that people would simply learn information about God, but that they would truly hear God speak and know 
His presence in the service.

Don Carson—“Worship is ascribing all honor and worth to…God precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so. We 
are therefore only truly worshipping when we are serving God with our entire beings, including our hearts, 
which must be ‘affected’ by God’s glory. The fullest definition of worship, then, is something like ‘obedient 
action motivated by the beauty of who God is in himself.’”

John Piper—“Worship is treasuring the preciousness of our God above all else.”

Lev 10:3—“Among those who approach Me I will show Myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.”
Heb 12:28-29—“Worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’”
1Pet 1:8—“Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and even though you do not see Him now, you believe 
in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”

In order to worship our God well, we need to ask the right questions.
1. There are wrong questions to ask in the worship of our God.
a) What did I get out of the worship?
b) How is the worship going to minister to me?
We need to learn, the essence of worship is not about “me,” but “Him.”

2. What are the right questions to ask in the worship of our God?
a) What does God think of the way we worship Him?
b) How can I worship Him with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength for His glory?

A summary of the flow of the worship, which we call, the ascent of worship.
1. Imagine a worship where you will enter it with a full sense of your worthlessness, but as the worship 
progresses, once again you taste His forgiveness, you taste His sanctifying power, you taste His communion 
with you, you taste His delight, and you leave that worship with a renewed, refreshed and committed heart to 
live for His glory.

2. In the ascent of worship, we begin at the bottom, seeing our worthlessness, but as the Lord invite us into His 
presence, we would see He has something far better in-store.

Zech 3:3-5—“Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those 
who were standing before him, ‘Take off his filthy clothes.’ Then he said to Joshua, ‘See, I have taken 
away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.’ Then I said, ‘Put a clean turban on his head.’ So they 
put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.”

Where does the power of worship come from?
• We know that the worship of our God must be in the power of the Holy Spirit, with all of our hearts, 
according to God’s truthful word.

Jn 16:13-14—“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His 
own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me  
by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you.”