True Bowing

The English word "worship" is too plastic to be meaningful; we should try to avoid it.

In a recent article posted on Facebook, "worship" is used in both John 4:24 and in Matt 15:9, as if they are the same word, meaning the same thing, in the underlying Greek. They are not. The first is "bow submissively" (much as the article defines it via Vine - "as in the New Testament, kneeling or prostration, to do homage or make obeisance"), and the second one is "reverence or esteem". The first one is a physical display; the second a "feeling".

We can't do a good job discussing the issue if we continue using a word that can shift meaning mid-sentence, depending on who is speaking or hearing and what they're thinking in that moment. We need to be more precise with our language.

What Jesus taught about bowing is that it is no longer a matter of going "over yonder" anymore, to that temple on that mountain or this church building on this hill. Yet when we use the unBiblical phrase "worship service", that's exactly what we're referring to - "going over yonder into that there church building". According to Jesus, that's no longer "worship". Stop referring to it as such.

"Worship", or more accurately "bowing", as in the second commandment - "you shall not bow to idols, nor serve them" - is done in the spirit, truthfully. It's not about doing the correct rituals - sing two songs, have a prayer, then the Lord's Supper at breakfast time, etc". It's about bowing in your spirit before God, truthfully.

God no longer lives in a temple made with hands, where you must go X times in a year in order to bow before him in true nose-to-the-ground fashion for Y amount of time; your body is now his temple, full-time, and it is in your spirit that you must bow before him, truthfully, full-time.

Jesus spoke about what's happening on the inside, not on the outside. The outside can be a great looking mausoleum, but inside be full of dead men's bones. The outside of the cup is not what's important to be clean; it's the inside. It's not what you do in bed that is adultery; it's what you do in your heart before you get to the bedroom. Circumcision is no longer a matter of the outer flesh, but of the inner spirit. "Worship" (bowing) is not about what actions you do in a "worship service" three hours a week; it's about what your spirit is truly doing before God throughout your life. God wants your spirit, not your liturgy (another word that is sometimes regretfully rendered as "worship", adding to the confusion about the issue). Jesus was not telling the woman at the well, "Your worship service is all wrong." He was telling her that God is not concerned about where you bow your body on holy days; he's concerned about your spirit being in submission.