What Is Worship? Why Do We Worship?

We Are The Pursued

If you ask anyone who is attending church on a Sunday morning, “Why do we worship?” you’ll probably get a variety of answers.

In the Vineyard movement, we believe the answer to this question is found in one short passage in 1 John 4:19. Though it is translated in a few different ways, the NKJV says this:

“We love Him, because He first loved us.”

In those eight words we find not only the answer to why we worship, but also what it means to be God’s child.

We express our love to God in worship not because we started this love relationship – but because God did! From Genesis to Revelation, God reveals Himself to be the Pursuer of your heart and mine. It is He who first loved us and pursued us, and it is we who are the objects of His undying affection. [bctt tweet=”Worship is a simple response to God’s unconditional love. ” quote=”Worship is a simple response to God’s unconditional love. “]We can complicate worship in a thousand ways, but we will always come back to this truth.

When we truly understand this reality, that God is the one who initiates the loving communion that is worship, it changes us. Rather than trying to gain God’s approval by fulfilling religious obligations and doing the “right things” in worship, we can rest in knowing that God loves us before we even do one thing!  Worship creates an environment where we can let go of our striving, and fall into the loving arms of the Father.

Like a child being hugged by a parent, we hear the words, “I love you, not because of what you do, but because of who you are!” When the Samaritan woman asked Jesus to tell her exactly how to worship in a way that would please God (John 4:19-24), Jesus responds by telling her what kind of person God is seeking as a worshipper.

Like this woman, many today think about worship in relation to the externals – the musical styles and religious habits that we think please or displease God. But God is always looking at the heart, as it is in the heart that worship begins and ends.

When we are responding to God’s love, we are putting God in His rightful place as the Subject of our worship. We then, as God reveals His love to us by His Spirit, respond to Him with love!This cycle goes on forever.

Ways We Express Our Love

For this reason, worship in the Vineyard is always interactive, as it has to do with both God and the people gathered. It is not personality-driven, by a superstar who takes up all the attention in the room. Rather, our worship leaders seek to cultivate humility and transparency even as they seek to lead effectively and with quality in the music.

This is why, in a Vineyard worship setting, you will see people actively demonstrating their love for God by lifting their hands (like we’re receiving a gift), singing passionately (like someone expressing their love to another), or kneeling in thanks (like a person bowing to honor a King). God is our focus in worship.

These expressions above, and more, are ways we can biblically respond to God’s love. As the Psalmist said, “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord” (Ps. 134:2); and “Shout to the Lord…” (Ps. 98:4-6). Musical instruments and more are involved in worship as they are all tools that can help us respond to God’s love.

Vineyard Songs Around The World

As an overflow of our response to God’s love, the worship music of the Vineyard has circled the globe for four decades. Born in intimate communion with God in our local churches, songs like
Come, Now Is The Time To Worship, Hungry, Breathe, Dwell, and Holy And Anointed One (and thousands of others) have given the Body of Christ songs that say what we need to say to God.

Today, new Vineyard songs continue to pour out from our churches around the world.