Thanks to all who left some good commentary on the first Facedown post. I want to address a specific point that was brought up. The overall idea expressed was that yes body language is important, but the condition of the heart is what really matters to God. Absolutely, especially since so many people today and throughout history have gone through religious motions without truly giving their hearts and lives to God. A great passage that teaches us about worship and the heart is found in Psalm 51:16-17, "You do not delight in sacrifice or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. O God, you will not despise."
So no matter how great your acts of worship and good deeds appear, God doesn't receive them as a right response to Him if your heart is not humbled and set apart before Him. Verse 19 continues saying, "Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to delight you..." David goes back to saying that once the heart is in the right place, then the outward expressions of our faith will delight God, so you should still bring those to Him.
To revisit Facedown, note what Matt says later in chapter one. "Facedown worship always begins as a posture of the heart... When a soul is so captivated by the Almighty, to bend low in true and total surrender seems the only appropriate response." Not facedown because man causes them to be, but because their hearts are open to the Father and His revelation of Himself in their lives brings them to that place. So you commentators out there are just so sharp that you made this point before I got to share it from the book.
For those of you that still aren't sure that facedown worship is as significant or relevant as its being made out to be, take a look at Revelation 7:11, Ezekiel 1:28 , and Matthew 17:5-6. These are a few examples of people who who hear from God, see Him in some way, or are literally before his throne. Now if through Christ we are able to worship in spirit and truth and approach the throne of grace, wouldn't it make sense that at least sometimes our response to Him would be similar? If not, what keeps us from responding to Him in this way? Why would we sing songs about kneeling and bowing in worship if weren't actually going to worship like that in reality?
5 comments:
"Worship" is an English word that is used to translate a number of Hebrew and Greek words. Two of those words, the Greek word proskyneo and its Hebrew equivalent shachac refer to a posture of submission and thus an acknowledgment of God's sovereignty. Obeisance requires an attitude of reverential fear. This is evident in the behaviors of bending the knee and bowing down which are associated with worship.
However, Worship includes much more than these two terms. "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." (Rom 12:1) Worship here can actually be translated 'service', and the life given over to the service of Christ is the highest form of worship.
It is true that those seen worshiping God in the scriptures do bow down or fall on their faces, primarily seen in the old testament and in prophetic visions (such as Ezekiel and Revelation). But that is not universally the case.
"Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent." Exodus 33:9-11
"So they sang praises with gladness and bowed their heads and worshiped." 2 Chronicles 29:29-31
I would agree that reverence is due to God in all things, and especially in addressing Him. However, I don't believe that being 'face down' is any less appropriate than other postures, so long as the attitude with which you worship is one of reverence and fear.
First of all, on pt. 1 - Daryl, I think that "The Godly Curmudgeon" would be the perfect name for a blog. You need to jump into the blogosphere with that title.
On the posts and comments, thank you to all for the thought provocation. I, too, have always believed that worship posture was a matter of the heart more so than the physical body. But, the dialogue here has prompted some wonder in me as to how much my thoughts on physical posture in worship are swayed by my own self-conscience.
I completely agree with Darin, sometimes we are so self conscience about how we look at church that we forget the real reason we're there. I love watching people worship in other countries; something about the way people dance, shout out, cry, and physically demonstrate their love for Christ is motivating and encouraging.
To bow facedown before Christ, in my opinion, is one of the most humble and loving ways we can show Christ our love. It shows our vulnerability also, which prevents people from doing it.
Great post...
yes for me Worship is about coming to God in spirit and truth, laying everytthing down.
yea i agree with Darin in that we need more of God (Spiritual) and less of myself (physical). For Jesus said we are in this world but not of this world. My biggest enemy in life is not satan but rather myself...
I need to sacrifce myself daily and allow God to take control of my life. I believe this is all part of daily Worship, and worship is about what is in my heart.
Some times I find myself worshiping in my kitchen floor when I can't find
the " Ideal place to worship ". A call to worship ,? I think worship calls us,... broken
in our darkest moment or in happiest of days.No matter the season of our life we
are in ,we are called to worship.God knows our heart and the condition of it ,we
can't lye to him in our worship. Worshiping goes hand in hand with our relationship
with our Lord.If there is no relationship with him, what is worship?
How we worship can be expressed as an individual thing or as group,
but either way we worship as a Body because that's what we are.
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