What is the Essence of Genuine Worship?

It seems like a lot of energy is spent talking about the true essence of worship.  We talk about it in church circles, learn about it at conferences and deal with the complaints from people that don’t agree with our style.  Lots of scripture passages are used to support people’s different perspectives, and those are all helpful.  But what if we’re missing the obvious?  What if the essence of genuine worship is defined for us by a loving God who knows we have a propensity to complicate that which is simple.

One of the lessons taught to me by a great teacher was to pay close attention to the first time a particular word surfaces in scripture.  The context within which that word first appears can tell us a lot about its intended meaning.  You might be surprised to learn that the first time the word ‘worship’ appears in scripture is in Genesis, chapter 22, with Abraham and Isaac.  But before I share the actual verse, let me indulge in a little storytelling as I set it up.

God tells Abraham to do something outrageous – to take his one and only son, travel with him on a three-day journey, then sacrifice him as a burnt offering.  Can you imagine?  Here was the son that God had promised, the one for whom Abraham had waited so long, the boy he loved so much.  God had brought Abraham a child in his old age as a miraculous blessing and fulfillment of his promise.  But now God was telling Abraham to put him to death.  Can you imagine Abraham’s grief?

But scripture tells us that Abraham obeyed.  The next day he set out with Isaac and some servants.  The passage spares us the gory details of the agony that Abraham must have experienced during that three day journey, knowing what he was traveling towards.  Somewhere along the way it must have dawned on Abraham that God was commanding him to sacrifice his son because Abraham’s love for Isaac was competing with his love for God.  I imagine that Abraham must have experienced great remorse, even pleading with God.

We all know the climatic ending to the story.  Abraham puts the boy on the altar and raises his knife to slay him, when God intervenes and stays Abraham’s hand.  It was the exact moment of Abraham raising his knife where complete surrender to God took place.  That’s when Abraham’s devotion to God became complete and unrivaled. It is such a compelling vision of surrender.

But I have to back up a little.  On the third day of travel, when they got close to the destination God had indicated, Abraham said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” He knew exactly what he was about to do.  He was going to surrender everything he had to God right there, right then.

I believe that is the essence of genuine worship.