Worship is one of the most debated subjects in Christian circles. Today it is not uncommon to come across sections in Christian book stores dedicated to worship or to hear sermons or lectures about this long debated subject.

Worship is a subject almost everyone has an opinion about, Biblically based or not. Most of the church-going population think worship is simply singing hymns or choruses but that is not entirely what it is about. It is a good idea to know about worship, and the best place to find about worship is from the Bible.

Angles refused worship, as did the Apostle Paul when the people said he was Zeus. We are clearly not to worship creation, people, or anything but the creator. The first and second of the ten commandments direct us to worship God, and God alone. When people decide that singing is more important than the people, they are taking the focus away from God and God is what worship is all about. "It is not so much that we are told to worship, but how to direct our worship." We are to direct out worship towards God (Col. 3:17).

People worship. It is simply in the nature of man to worship. (Genesis) It is the way man were created. Worship happens all the time. That is to say, people worship all the time, what they worship is the question. The worshiper should focus on God and on the other Christians around. They should have an attitude of sacrifice, love, joy, peace, humility, respect, among other things. We must be careful not to worship worship, but to worship God. Our motive should be pure and humble worship towards God.

The Bible is full of examples and commands to worship God. Both the New and the Old Testaments agree that worship is important, but they differ in many ways. In both, attitude and motive are an underlying factor. In I Kings 11:10, attitude and motive are stressed. In Matthew 5:6-7, Jesus affirms our attitude and motive are essential for proper Biblical worship.

In the New Testament, service is a part of worship as seen in Romans 12:1-2. It is interesting that service was also part of worship in the Old Testament. People were to help and serve for God.

In the New Testament, worship is not redistricted to location, as in John 4:24, when Jesus speaks to the woman at the well. It is clear that Jesus was making a change in the way things had been in the past. After his death and resurrection, people worship all the time and the prophesies from the Old Testament had been fulfilled.

Psalms is the book in the Bible that has the most worship. The book shows people worshiping God, which whatever they have. David was a musician, so he sang, dances, played for God. Other places you see people worshiping in many other ways.

In the Old Testament, the central worship was a group activity focused around a yearly event, which was the Day of Atonement. On that day, the high priest would sacrifice an unblemished sheep and other animals to God for the people's sins. He would never sit down on that day because he would never be done his work. An animal cannot truly cleanse for the sins done by man.

The temple, the place of worship, was truly a place where all your senses could worship. Aromatic incense filled the air, feasts were held , incredible tapestries and painting telling the stories of God's work ,let their eyes shine in praise to God. The Psalmist was right when he commanded, "Let everything that have breath praise the Lord."

In the New Testament, our worship is not centered a yearly event. As in the Old Testament, there is sacrifice, but it was by Jesus who gave himself and rose again. We sacrifice ourselves to him (metaphorically speaking) every day. In doing that, we worship all the time individually (Heb. 10:25).

Worship can be anything, it can be song, but it can be literature, poetry, painting, helping others, it can even be math, science or rock climbing. But, is all worship supposed to be alone or not? If we are to worship God individually at all times, why do we gather together. In Acts 2:4, we notice that the gathering of believers is commanded (or at least, highly suggested). When we meet together, we are to do several things that cannot be done alone, such as teaching, communion, giving, encouraging, and fellowship. All of these things hold the church together and make worshiping God brighter and stronger.

In the Old Testament, it is interesting to note that people had a specific location in which to worship. They did know God was omnipresent, as seen in the book of Psalms, but they still had a location, a main place, to worship, which was the temple.

In the New Testament, Jesus told the crowd waving palm branches on Palm Sunday "If you do not worship me the rocks themselves would bow down." In the New Testament, there is no specific place to worship. Jesus told the woman at the well there will be a time when people worship everywhere. This is how we worship now. Place does not matter, only attitude and motive.

In Ephesians 5:19, we are to make melodies in our heart. Melody implied music of some sort. Singing has always been a favorite when it comes to worship. David sang praise to God in Psalms, but we can see how we can do this from Psalms 96:1, which says, "sing to the Lord a new song."

Worship in the Bible is more than singing hymns or courses, it is more than prayer, sacrifice, dance or song. It is people praising God. I think worship is more than song, teaching, and all the other traditional things.

Biblically, worship is anything done that is meant to praise God. Everything I do, wether read a book, listen to music, draw, or just take a breath, if I am praising God with through that, I am worshiping.

I never realized that people worship all the time. To me that is a new and interesting idea. In the Old Testament, people tried to worship all the time, to always obey the commandments, do so right in the eyes of god, but often they would worship other gods instead. In the New Testament, people also worship all the time, but is is different from the old. In the Old Testament, God said he would give replace the people's heart of stone, he would give the people a new heart. That is referring to motivation and attitude. After the Holy Spirit came, people were fulfilled with Him, and therefore, their hearts were changed, from not motivated to worship God, to wanting to worship God at all times.