So far we have talked about worship being inherently about God’s worth. Then we talked about more than seven different words translated as worship in our English Bibles. (There are actually more than twenty words , but I won’t cover all of them here.) This week is our last translation lesson as we will talk about doxa, which is most often translated as glory and sometimes as worship.
The word doxa occurs over 155 times in the New Testament, mostly as glory, this is the root of doxology, a song of praise to God. Over the years many songs and liturgies have been written as doxology. Probably the most famous is:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
When you say doxology this is usually what western Christians think of. It has been translated into numerous languages and is sung all over the world.
Doxology in worship is when God is given glory — distinct from praise — that recognizes God’s actions in the world and in our lives. Glory recognizes God for who he is: Almighty God, Eternal Father, King of Glory (Doxa), Creator, Healer, Provider, and numerous other titles which give him glory. These acts of worship are to declare who he is--not just telling him that we know who he is, but raising our level of appreciation, hope, and expectation. To glorify God in worship gives perspective. It helps us remember who we are, so we do not begin treating him as less or assuming we know everything about him and his ways. It helps us avoid treating him like a genie who grants our wishes. All of the ancient hymns focused on this form of worship. Today many of our modern hymns focus on praise for what he has done or intimacy with God, which is all valid and good, but these themes also need the proper place in our worship.
Many great modern songs have been written on themes of praise and intimacy, and I love when we sing them, but how else can we incorporate doxa in our worship beyond songs? We can begin our prayers each day with a time of remembering just who we are addressing. We can extol the greatness of his name so our faith might be enlarged and his name glorified.
Now that we have expanded our vocabulary with elements of worship I will spend a few weeks talking about the how and why of worship. So this next week we will begin looking at how we enter into worship so that we encounter God and experience his presence.
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