Our English word worship may come from the Saxon word, weorthscipe: meaning to honor and value. 

In a general way, we often think of worship as various forms of homage which express the faith of an individual. Christians worship God as the Trinity, that is: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Many non-Christians, like Jewish or Islamic folks, worship God as a single, omnipotent, personality ... we should also note that there are certainly countless other avenues of faith in which folks worship God from many varied and discrete conceptualizations of God's being and nature. We feel that we, as Christians, share a common tradition of worship with the revelation of God to the Hebrew people. The same worship models of the Old Testament apply to the New Testament though changed through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We note four basic models of worship in our study of the Old Testament:

1. Prayer ... this may be individual, family, group or national prayer

2. Tabernacle + Temple ... formalized "ritual" or if you prefer "liturgy" for "meeting with God"

3. Synagogue ... study of God's word to man with study and interpretation by the faithful - e.g. bible study

4. Sabbath, Holidays and Festivals related to our faith ... opportunities to remember the great goodness of God

These models become mixed in many ways: formal, informal, joyous, somber, ritualized, open/free, praise, learning, seeking God's will, people may be alone or in groups, people may be quiet or singing or dancing, people may be reading the Word of God or contemplative ... We often frame our study of worship with reference to the events of John 4, that is, we as Christians should worship God in "spirit and truth" ... 

We try not to forget that the Church is central to the nature of worship for a Christian ... prayer, the study of God's word and the celebrations of the Sabbath/holidays/festivals are very similar in form to the model we find in the Old Testament. However, in the New Testament the model of the Tabernacle and Temple becomes the dynamic relationship of Christians, through the Holy Spirit, within the local church:

1 Pet 2:5
you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Eph 2:20-22
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Rev 21:2-3
now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

The spiritual relationship with God which Christians seek through Jesus Christ is an ongoing construction, dependent upon cooperative effort, which varies from church group to church group. This process is very dependent upon the spiritual development goals and spiritual tools which a local group of Christians is able to possess through faith and use for positive spiritual outcomes. This image repeats at multiple levels of Christian fellowship until it embraces the entire Christian church. The building block is the faith of the individual Christian as he/she participates in the activities of the local church. Note this thread of revelation from Exodus which is related to the commandment of God to Moses to build the Tabernacle:

Ex 35; 5 ... Take from among you an offering to the Lord, whoever is of a generous heart let him bring an offering to the Lord.

In the context of the Old Testament tabernacle, these gifts were our equivalent of money, goods (gold, silver, etc.), time and skills ... consider now the model of the New Testament tabernacle ... to extend the image a bit ... a New Testament - Tent of Meeting ... not a physical structure but a spiritual construction ... this is not to negate the call of a church for money or member's time or skills ... however, think what else applies spiritually? How each local group of Christians address this issue has a lot to do with .... (each of us must complete that phrase for ourselves).

Take a look now at the same thread of revelation a little bit farther along in Exodus. Remember that, through revelation from God, they had a clear plan and knew what needed to be done.

Ex 36; 5 - 7 ... "The people bring much more than enough for doing the work which the Lord has commanded us to do." So Moses ... proclaimed ... "Let neither man nor woman do anything more for the offering for the sanctuary" So the people were restrained from bringing for the stuff they had was sufficient to all the work and more.

Note in Ex. 35; 5 the reference to a "generous heart" ... the offering for God's tabernacle was not to be from everyone, rather from those with a "generous heart". Sanctification is about closeness to God, you can conceptualize moving closer to God however we believe that it is He who wishes to move "closer" to us. Moses and the people of Israel may have built the tabernacle but it was God who chose to make it a habitation for His "Name". In James 4; v8 we are told: "draw near to God and He will draw near to you"

In the process of worship we change first as individuals and then as a group within the context of the local church.

• Ezekiel 36; v26               "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you
• Jeremiah 32; v37-38        "they shall be my people ... I shall be their God ... I will give them one heart ... one way"
• Isaiah 35; v8-9                "a highway will be there ... a way ... it will be called the way of holiness ... the redeemed will walk there"