I just read a really good sermon about worship by Bob Deffinbaugh at www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=438 In this message, he talks about words that define and describe what worship is. He says that worship includes humility, reverence and service. He notes that worship and service are often linked. It made me think about Cain and how God didn't accept his sacrifice and then also Ananias and Sapphira mentioned in Acts 5 who died because of their lack of reverence.
Then also the Lord's Prayer. When you look at it it means "Hallowed by Your Name." first and foremost before any requests or any thing is mentioned about men. In fact, the first half of the prayer is about God and His kingdom and not man at all. Jesus seemed to be preoccupied not with what we need in the prayer, though that is included, but about what is happening here becoming more like what is happening in the kingdom of God.
Rev.Deffinbaugh also mentioned that there is a response in worship. That it is a response is because God first revealed himself to us. We find out about who God is and what He is like. We can see what He has done in nature and read about His love for us in scripture. We can learn about heaven and what awaits the believer at the end of this life. So, then worship is a response, an adoration, a focus on something other than ourselves.
Worship defined by Rev. Deffinbaugh is "the humble response of regenerate men to the self-disclosure of the Most High God. It is based upon the work of God. It is achieved through the activity of God. It is directed to God. It is expressed by the lips of praise and the by the life in service."
Notice that it doesn't say that it is either loud or quiet, it doesn't say that it is contemporary or traditional. It doesn't say that it must include a drum set or loud preaching or speaking in tongues. It does seem to include as it did in the Old Testament the idea of sacrifice.
Romans 12:1 "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to the is world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
Hebrews 13:16 "And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifice God is pleased."
