Worship, Service,

And the Christian Assembly

Part I

by Cliff Ganus III

Worship is central to the life of the Christian; this is a fact accepted by all. Yet we often disagree on what we mean by worship, some saying that it is a way of life, involving all we do, and others saying it takes place only at the appointed meetings of the church. Some believe our "worship services" to be the core of Christian activity, while others consider them somewhat incidental to the Christian life. A clearer understanding of these matters can be achieved by an investigation of worship, service, and the assembly as seen through the pages of the New Testament.

Worship

The word most often translated "worship" in the books of the New Testament is the Greek proskuneo. Meaning literally to "kiss toward," the word implies the sort of humble adoration a subject might render a king. More than praise is involved; one might praise a lawyer for a particularly well-handled case, but that is not worship. True worship requires that the one worshipping be recognizably inferior to the object of worship and that he proclaim that inferiority along with adoration.

Worship, as the word is used in the New Testament, has no tangible beneficial by-products; it does not feed the hungry, clothe the poor, or take care of widows. Worship is between creature and Deity. In none of the sixty appearances of proskuneo does the word imply a way of life, benevolence, or conformance to religious ritual. It always denotes adoration, mixed with humility.

Worship was a natural part of the early Christians' lives, whether they were together or apart, manifesting itself primarily in three ways. The first was in the hymns, by definition "songs of praise." Every song which has been preserved for us from the first few centuries of the church is a song of praise. Our current emphasis on songs of encouragement, hope, sentiment, and fellowship, along with our tendency to emphasize the music of our songs rather than the texts, makes it difficult for us to appreciate the intensity with which the early Christians worshipped [emphasis mine-bc] as they sang hymns.

The second area of worship was in spoken acclamations of praise, which must have interspersed the vocabulary of believers. Paul's letters give us some insight into the sort of rhapsodic paeans which were threaded into his conversations and writings. The description of the early Christians is a description of a people who often directed their attention heavenward, not with a perfunctory "praise God," but in thoughtful worship, announcing the wonderful greatness of the Godhead.

Finally, they worshipped in prayer. Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 is one that he might have prayed on his knees before writing it.

Their prayers were not simple recitations of needs and acknowledgements of blessings; they were occasions to come before the throne of God, as individuals and as the assembled body of Christ, to describe and praise the attributes of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

Service

The relationship of servant to master is expressed in the Greek latreuo and its derivatives. Though sometimes translated "worship," it is more often rendered as "service" and is used to describe "the carrying out of religious duties." Worship and service are responses and responsibilities of the Christian, the first carrying a greater connotation of praise, the second of action. Jesus reminded us of this twofold accountability in Matthew 4:10: "Thou shalt worship (proskuneo) the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve (latreuo).

Latreuo carries the idea of a way of life, of activity. It sometimes refers to the religious rituals of the old covenant. Paul recognized that the latreuo of the Jew involved sacrifices, and he internalized the concept in Romans 12:1: "I beseech you . . . that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice . . . your logiken latreia. That is, we give ourselves to God as a mental act of service, a reasonable ritual. Christian service involves acts of obedience which result from a person's total dedication to God as a freewill offering. Obedience without mental assent is not a part of the new covenant.

In a similar manner, Jesus demands that Christian worship be mentally directed and not done simply as a matter of form. In speaking to the Samaritan woman He asserted that conditions of place and time which had formerly been considered necessary would soon be superseded by the mental attitude of the worshipper: "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship (proskuneo) the Father in spirit and truth." (John 4:23.) Under the new terms, form is less important than commitment. . . .

Assembly

When we consider the purpose of the Christian assembly, we do so with centuries of tradition influencing our thoughts. We have been conditioned to believe that we are to come together for a "worship service." We generally understand our primary function to be worship, and we assume that everything between the opening prayer and the closing prayer fits in that category.

The first-century Jewish Christians did not have this particular understanding. Their assembly was largely patterned after the Jewish synagogue, which was a place of worship, to be sure, but also of fellowship, learning, discussion, and education. The synagogue was something of a social center.

In New Testament accounts of the early church, we read of no time when disciples assembled just to worship. In the second chapter of Acts we find that they were together on a daily basis, sharing fellowship and food, praying, and discussing the teachings of the apostles. In I Corinthians 11-14, in a church with more Greek than Jewish members, we find the church celebrating a fellowship meal and engaging in mutual edification with the assistance of the Spirit. Worship was a part of the assembly, but it was not the totality.

The Christian assembly is a time for the Christian family to conduct family business. It is a time to do with and for each other the things which we cannot do while we are separate. It is a time for worship, because when we praise together, we are all blessed. It is a time to teach each other about spiritual matters. It is a time to share needs and blessings; a time when the church leaders fulfill their responsibility of preparing Christians to be servants (Ephesians 4:12); a time to unite in petitioning and praising the Father; a time for each of us to incite others toward love and good works (Hebrews 10:24).

CONCLUSIONS

Would it be possible and helpful for us to change some of our terminology? When we use the term "worship service," we throw the momentum of centuries of Catholic and Protestant tradition into action. The term implies that the meeting is, in itself, the work and service of the church. It implies that anything which is too mundane to be called "worship" is inappropriate (we're even embarrassed to have too many announcements about events taking place among members of the body). We envision, perhaps involuntarily, an ecclesiastical setting where all is quiet and reverent, where no one talks to his neighbor, where no questions are raised, where nothing unexpected intrudes upon the regular order of events, and where those attending are told to "put all thoughts of the world from your minds."

It's no wonder that many folks consider such meetings to be irrelevant to their lives. Paul might very well have felt the same way. The meetings of his time were not cloistered withdrawals from everyday life; rather, they provided occasions for remembering the problems and persecutions of the world, and learning to deal with them; for sharing insights and difficulties; for celebrating together the glories of the new life; for enjoying families, and the growth and achievements of children. They were times when the Christians did together what they had been doing separately the rest of the week. Christians did not change their identity when they met; they assembled to confirm their identity.

Some of our difficulty in deciding what is appropriate and effective in our meetings comes because of our doctrinal heritage. The Church of Christ has inherited a theology which emphasizes five "acts of worship." According to this belief, when we sing, pray, give, preach, and eat the Lord's supper in the course of our assemblies, we are worshipping; and we worship only when we do these five things.

Viewed in the light of New Testament teachings about worship, this understanding appears fallacious. If worship is proskuneo, bowing in praise and adoration, then we engage in it only when we sing, pray, and acclaim the greatness of the Godhead; and even in our songs and prayers we are often more concerned with petition than praise, with exhortation rather than adoration. True worship occupies only a small fraction of our time together, and we are missing blessings because of our failure to praise.

If we use the term "worship" to refer to latreuo, or "service," then we can certainly include giving, eating the Lord's supper, and preaching in the classification. But a fellowship meal could also be included, justified by teaching and example; and other activities involving instruction, information, benevolence, and encouragement would be appropriate. We were not called to be Christians in order to support the church meeting; rather we are to assemble in order to fulfill our own needs.

As we change the way we think about ourselves and our assemblies, we may be forced to admit that a change in the form of our meetings may be in order. It is a fact that a church member can attend every meeting for years, and consequently be considered a remarkably faithful member, while never speaking to a brother or sister a single word of spiritual substance. If we desire to follow the Biblical example of mutual edification, with individual members being trained for the work of service (serving each other in addition to serving the world), we should make allowances for a greater amount of individual participation in our meetings. This might be accomplished by encouraging greater discussion in our Bible classes, by meeting in small groups on Wednesday and/or Sunday nights (or at other times), or by setting aside certain times when the men of the congregation are invited to share appropriate comments in a more informal manner. Our customary combination of "Bible class" and "worship service" serves a purpose, but there are many other possible arrangements which might offer greater possibilities for praise, mutual edification, education, and fellowship.

We claim the desire to restore New Testament Christianity, but our actions and teachings sometimes belie that claim. Perhaps we have failed to take a fresh look at the sort of body that actually existed while the apostles were actively teaching, whose activities and assemblies are described in the writings of the New Testament. We might just find that breaking away from the traditions of Christendom and returning to the examples of the early believers would help us to produce an assembly of Christians that is vital, relevant, active, and blessed by the Father.

NOTES:

Proskuneo appears fifty-nine times in the New Testament, and the King James translators rendered it as "worship" in every instance. It always carries the sense of adoration and homage. The word sebomai, meaning "to venerate" or "to hold in reverence," occurs six times and is likewise translated "worship."

Latreuo is translated "worship" in Acts 7:42, Acts 24:14, Philippians 3:3, and Hebrews 10:2 in KJV and NIV; in NAS it is so translated only in the last two of these passages. In each of these references, as well as in those in which it is translated "service," it means a way of life rather than an act of homage.

Paul indicates in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 that as we sing praises to God we are at the same time teaching and admonishing each other.

-Reprinted with permission from Clifton L. Ganus III

Principally Proskuneo: Home Page

Principally Proskuneo: Current Issue