There are three general types of worship the Christian should practice.  First, the follower of Christ should develop the habit of personal worship.  The Bible tells us that Christians are the temple of God and the very Spirit of God dwells in them (1 Corinthians 3:16).  This union of creature and Creator is beyond our understanding.  Yet the fact remains that the Divine One desires to commune with us mortals.  And through that communion, we are strengthened by the very presence of God (Ephesians 3:16).  So what is this communion, or personal worship, that we’re talking about?  Personal worship is that time you set aside to be in God’s presence…alone.  You do not have to be alone, but you are not intentionally worshiping with others.  Personal worship includes praying to, meditating on, thinking about, singing to and listening to God.  It’s reading your Bible on the porch swing.  It’s praying in the privacy of your bedroom.  It’s meditating (to pray, think and listen) on God in the backyard garden.  It’s all of these and more.

A wonderful by-product of personal worship is penned by the Apostle Paul: “that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19).  The thought that mere mortals can have both knowledge of, and experience with, the Living God is unfathomable, but true!

Second, Christians should practice corporate worship.  The Apostle Peter speaks of Christ-followers in terms like “people,” “priesthood,” and “nation.”  Why?  Peter continues, “That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).  Worship is not only a personal experience.  It is a group endeavor as well.  Some may question the need for the corporate gathering, in lieu of the practice of personal worship, but both are important, and both are Biblical.  Jesus said, “For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them” (Matt 18:20).

It is not that Christ manifests himself differently to the gathering than He does to the individual, for He does not change.  It is “we” who change; “me” has become “we.”  In corporate worship, gathered Christians reflect the very nature of the Triune God, simultaneously singular and plural, and experience God corporately through both the presence of The Holy Spirit, and through one another.  There is also a dual audience in corporate worship, reflected in Paul’s writings to the Ephesians: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-20).  We sing to God and to one another.

I can’t tell you how many times I have been led into worship by observing someone else worshiping.  There is encouragement found in seeing others worship God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30).

Think of it as a beach bonfire with each piece of wood in that bonfire symbolizing a Christ-follower.  When together, the flame burns brightly and with intensity, but take one of those logs out of the fire and put it off by itself, what happens?  The flame quickly diminishes.  Now, take that same piece of wood and put it back into the fire… Worshiping together is very important to our being Christ-followers.

Finally, the Disciple of Christ should engage in a lifestyle of worship.  A lifestyle of worship means that Christ-followers demonstrate their love, and thereby their worship, through their obedience to God.  Jesus said, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me” (John 14:21).  Robert Webber was once asked, “How do you know if you’ve worshiped?”  He immediately responded, “The degree to which you obey God.”  This is why, when tempted by Satan to trade gods, Jesus replied, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only” (Matthew 4:10).  The Apostle Paul’s teaching on worship urged Christians to consider the mercies they had received, and to worship by offering themselves as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1).  Scripture does not demand perfection; we all know that living sacrifices tend to crawl off the altar.  The daily life of a worshiper, however, is fueled by God’s mercies to live a life that is pleasing to God.

Micah 6:8 gives us the perfect description of lifestyle worship: “He has shown you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  When you do those things, you live a life of worship.

[many thanks to Dr. Jim Altizer for being a great mentor on this topic]