Worship as Praise

This morning we come to the last answer to the question of what worship is. Thus far, I’ve sought to answer this question by looking at the two Hebrew words for worship: “Abad” and “Saha”. We have seen that worship is the act of aligning the whole of our lives under the rule of Christ. Worship is also the act of communing with God through the presence of his Spirit. And, last week we saw that worship is the act of giving all of our lives to God as an offering of praise.

Today, I want you to understand that worship is the act of ascribing to God the glory due his name through our words and deeds. To see that, let’s look at the third use of the word “Saha” by reading Genesis 24:10-27 and 50-52. From the text this morning I want you to see two points: The Responses of Praise and The Reason for Praise.

First, let’s consider two responses of praise from our text. If you skip back up to verses 1 and 2, you will notice the fuller context of this story. Abraham has gotten really old now, and he brings in his most trusted servant: the one who has been with him the longest, and the one who has charge over all of his possessions. Technically, he had full control over everything of Abraham’s, including his son (because of his youth). Abraham brings him in and makes him swear that he will not allow Isaac to take a wife from among the Canaanites, but that he will go back to his hometown and to Abraham’s own tribe to find a suitable match for Isaac. Like Abraham, who was faithful to do as the Lord commanded when he went to sacrifice his son, so too this servant responds faithfully and goes out not knowing how he will fulfill this promise.

The servant comes to the city of Nahor, and before he enters the center of town, he devises a plan for how he will know the Lord’s will. He prays that the Lord will make his will known through a test in which the woman that God would have for Isaac will provide a drink for the servant and his camels. In verse 15 it says that “before he had finished speaking”, Rebekah walks up and carries out the very tasks that he had just proposed as a sign. He asks her who she is, and it turns out that she is the daughter of Bethuel, of the same tribe of Abraham.

At this, the text says in verse 26, he “bowed his head and worshiped the Lord”, and in that worship he blessed the Lord for the work he had just done through him. So, he goes on to Bethuel’s house, and there he retells the whole story and makes the proposal that Rebekah should be Isaac’s bride. At this proposal, Bethuel responds in verse 50 by saying that there is no way that he could contradict the Lord’s will. At this news - we find in verse 52 - the servant “bows himself to the earth before the Lord”.

In verses 26 and 52, when it says that the servant “worshiped” or “bowed” before the Lord, that is our Hebrew word, “Saha”. The ways that this faithful servant responds to the works of God help us in understanding what worship is.

First, notice that the servant responds with a posture of praise. In both verses 26 and 52, the first reaction that the servant has to the work of God is to bow in worship. A couple of sermons back, I talked about the fact that worship is the act of bowing in reverence to God, and we very clearly see that demonstrated here. The works of God demand a physical response. They demand a change in our posture. In Exodus 4:31, when the people of Israel heard from Moses that God had seen their affliction in Egypt, they bowed down in worship. In Psalm 22:27, the Psalmist says that all nations will eventually bow in worship before the Messiah.

Church, do not believe the spirit of our age which says that what you do in worship, the posture you take, and the methods and elements of our worship, don’t matter. It is so popular in our day to speak of worship as only an internal thing when the very word “worship” means to bow before the God of all glory! We must be careful about the posture we take in worship. We must be careful about what we bring into our worship and what we leave out. The posture we take and the things we do in our worship say something about what we believe.

Second, notice that the servant responds with a profession of praise. In verse 27 and 48, the servant worships God with his mouth by attributing his success to God’s work. The works of God, both gracious and terrible, demand our praise. In Job 1:20-21, after having everything taken from him, Job rips his clothes, bows to the earth, and says, “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” Psalm 29:2 calls us to “ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name”, and Psalm 66:4 tells us to “sing praises” as an act of worship.

Now that we’ve seen the responses of praise, let’s consider the reason for praise that we find in this story. In verses 27 and 48, we find that God’s faithfulness to his promises is a reason for praise. The servant praises God by saying that he “has not forsaken his steadfast love and faithfulness towards my master.” This servant had seen all of the struggles of Abraham, and all along he had seen God remaining faithful to his promise. And now, God is going to continue that promise by continuing Abraham’s line through Isaac and his new bride, Rebekah. The servant also notes that God has been faithful to show him the right way. God answered this servant’s prayer, even before it had gotten completely out of his mouth! Brothers and sisters, there are so many times when we have seen the faithfulness of God. There are times when God has answered our prayers by healing a family member of cancer. There are times when God has been faithful to give us the strength and words we need to witness. There are times when God has given us just what we needed when we thought we couldn’t make it another day. All of those and more are reasons to praise God with our posture and our profession.

Yet, more often than not, our posture and our profession are not directed at God. Often, the posture that we take is one of defiance, not reverence. Many times, the profession we make is a profession of our own pride, not of the mighty works of God. We are not alone in this sin, though. Even though the Israelites bowed in worship to God when he delivered them from Egypt, we also find them bowing and serving other gods. God would say of his chosen people, in Isaiah 9:13, “you honor me with your lips but your hearts are far from me.” Even when the very Son of God, Jesus Christ, came to them, they refused to profess him or bow down. He worked miracles that evidenced him to be the true Messiah, and instead of worshipping, they plotted to kill him. Even his own disciples, when faced with the threats of death, denied him and ran.

But, Jesus would not deny his Father. In his greatest hour of dread, he bowed before his Father in the garden and prayed, “Not my will but yours be done.” On the cross of Calvary, Jesus took the posture of a servant, bowing under the weight of his Father’s wrath so that he might redeem us from our idolatry, pride, and false professions. And, in his resurrection Jesus was exalted above every power. So, when the disciples see the resurrected Christ in Matt. 28:9, all they can do is fall at his feet and worship. And, at the end of the age, Rev. 15:4 says that every nation, tribe, and tongue will worship the Lamb who was slain.

Friend, God has been faithful to you, even though you fail to profess him. He has been faithful to you by sending his only son to live, die, and rise again that you might have eternal life. Your right response to this faithful God is to profess him before men. Jesus says if you will profess him before men then he will profess you before his Father who is in heaven. Won’t you make that profession today?

Brothers and sisters, what we say and do in worship matters. In spite of what our popular Christian culture says, we are not just free to do whatever we want, however we want, and whenever we want in worship. The faithful works of God call us to a posture and profession of praise. But our posture and profession are not just matters for Sunday morning. As we’ve established already, worship is a lifelong, every-day act. Our every-day deeds can either distract from the glory of God or magnify it. James 2:9 warns against showing partiality in church because it contradicts the Gospel that we profess. But, 1 Pet. 2:12 reminds us, “Keep your conduct…honorable, so that…[unbelievers] may see your good deeds and glorify God…”

Our speech can also either distract from or magnify the glory of God. James 3:9 warns that the tongue is a “deadly poison” that we can use to bless the Lord or curse people who are made in the image of God. James concludes, “my brothers, these things ought not to be so.” But, Col. 4:5-6 tells us to “walk in wisdom towards outsiders… Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” I find this to be the greatest temptation for Christians in our current cultural moment. Our culture loves the “hot take”, the sarcastic response, the personal attack. Christians should have seasoned, measured, wise speech. We should not be so quick to dishonor a politician just because he isn’t of our party. We should not be so eager to join in on the latest cancellation of someone on social media. We should, instead, speak with grace and love.

We bring glory to God in the way that we act and the deeds that we carry out as we live in this world. God uses our deeds make others into true worshippers. And, we bring glory to God in the way that we speak, both in the kindness with which we speak, and the fact that we speak the Gospel to those we know. God uses our willingness to glorify him with our words as a means of creating new worshippers through the Gospel. May we leave this place ready to worship God by bringing glory to him through our deeds and words.