What Christian worship is could be described from either the perspective of the Christian assembly or from the perspective of God. In most descriptions of worship, one hears the Church's perspective, that is, the Church gathers to praise, give thanks, and glorify God because of faith that grasps hold of the gifts of God in Jesus Christ. Worship is an appropriate word to describe our response to God's gracious activity in Jesus Christ, for worship defines our perspective, what we do in view of what God has done. Worship, then, would describe our reverence and praise, our service and adoration.
However, this description of the Christian community's communal activity on Sunday goes against the grain of Lutheran confessional theology. Lutherans seldom begin theology from below, from man's perspective, but from above, from God's perspective. Martin Luther and the Reformation helped us to see that what is foremost in our worship is not our service and sacrifice to God but His service and sacrifice to us. The gifts of Jesus are hidden in the simple means of water and Word, bread and wine. We join a world outside ourselves by receiving gifts from heaven in the flesh of Jesus and submitting ourselves to the great mystery that heaven comes to earth through this bodily presence of our Savior. We sometimes think of heaven abstractly, as somewhere "up there," but heaven is wherever Jesus is. Because Jesus is present among us in the gifts of Word and Sacrament, then heaven itself is present among us. It is the world of "angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven."
This mystery of heaven on earth is a biblical theology of worship. God does not need our worship and praise and service. But we do need His service, His presence, and His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Whatever praise we give to God, whatever honor is due His name, is our response to God's service to us.
From Heaven on Earth: The Gifts of Christ in the Divine Service by Arthur A. Just Jr. Concordia Publishing House: 2008, pp. 16-17.
A great book! I taught a class on why we do what we do in the Divine Service using the historic liturgy using Dr. Just’s book to my high school class last year.