Comment on how each of the following passages contribute to a Biblical understanding of worship: John 4:16-26; Romans 12:1-2; Colossians 2:16-3:17.

Worship is by and large an initiative of God that through His Son’s dying on the Cross, made possible God’s people to respond to Him in faith through a life of worship. To Worship is to “engage with God on the term that He proposes and in the way that He makes possible”. Worship starts with a proper understanding of who God is and what He has done for us in Christ. The Bible thus has a great deal to say about worship, what it’s all about and how we are to worship God properly.

Jesus fulfilled the OT; therefore to worship God is to come to God through Christ, rather than meeting God at a particular place (i.e. the temple or the church building). Jesus’ respond to the Samaritan woman gives a whole new dimension of how God is to be worshipped, in spirit and in truth[1]. Since Jesus came to Earth, the significant of Jerusalem as a place where the Jews were to come to worship God has no bearing anymore in term of the particularity of a place where Christians are to worship God[2].

To worship God in spirit means to acknowledge Jesus as God and live accordingly. At the heart of true worship is the work of the Holy Spirit in transforming our hostile mind toward God into acknowledging the truth that Jesus is the only way to God and then submitting our life under Him. Worship needs to be in truth and Jesus is the truth as Jesus made God known to us.

Paul in Romans 12:1-2 sums worship as the offering of our whole life lives in remembrance on God’s mercy. Worship is a respond to God who has redeemed us in Christ by surrendering our mind and body in obedience to God in all aspects of life.

Worship involves our mind and is rational rather than merely an avenue of emotional high. A renewed mind is involved and it is no longer in accordance with the ways of the world. It also matters what we do with our bodies so that they are the instruments for God’s glory than self-gratification.

In Colossians 2:16-23, Paul emphasizes on the sufficiency of Christ over men-made regulations and observances. Worship is far from applying these seemingly wise human devised rules so as to diminish the sufficiency of Christ. Rather, it means focusing on God Himself who has raised us in Christ in putting off the old self[3] and putting on the new self[4]. This is only possible because our old self is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Jesus is who we are to copy as we hate the sinful acts and relates to others the way God treats us[5]. Worshipping God also puts God’s people into service toward one another as we speak His word when meeting together for edification[6]. As we worship, we ought to thank God through Christ in all that we do and say[7].

In conclusion, worship is to God only and is only made possible by Christ. God revealed how He is to be worshipped in His word. The Spirit enables us to worship God by working out God’s truth in our life and empowering us to live in it.

[1] John 4:23-24 [2] John 4:21 [3] Col. 3:5, 8-9 [4] Col. 3:10 [5] Col. 3:12-14 [6] Col. 3:16 [7] Col. 3:17

References:
Holy Bible, New International Version.
Roberts, Vaughan. 2002. True Worship. Authentic Lifestyle.