BEHIND THE BOOK Connecting to the Bible (Observation) A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF CORPORATE WORSHIP VARIOUS TEXTS NOVEMBER 8 TH, 2017 Introduction: Last week we learned that true worshippers of God worship in spirit and truth. Christian worship is spiritual in nature and can only be engaged by those who have been born again by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. The physical realm no longer determines God s worship but the heart. God is spirit and thus those who worship Him must worship in spirit and do so according to the truth of His Word. Christian worship is Trinitarian in that the Spirit of God awakens us to the spiritual realm, and the Son of God makes the way for us to worship the Father through His death, burial, and resurrection. But now we must answer the question of how all this manifests itself in our lives as Christians. This evening we will look at how Christian worship came to be, as we know it today. As we attempt to study worship biblically, we need to remember that there does not exist a passage of Scripture that gives us an order of worship. The task of confining Christian worship to the parameters laid out in the Bible is no easy task. It involves some hard work, but it is absolutely imperative that we do the work and let God s Word be our authority and guide as we seek to pay honor to Him who is worthy. Why? Because God is the object of our worship so He is the one who should decide on how He is honored. How? Corporate worship must be developed through a biblical theology. Speaking to the question regarding the differences between biblical and systematic theologies, Monergism.com states, Biblical theology and systematic theology are two different manners of arranging the teaching of the scriptures. Biblical theology seeks to understand the progressive unfolding of God's special revelation throughout history, whereas systematic theology seeks to present the entire scriptural teaching on certain specific truths, or doctrines, one at a time. Biblical theology is thus historical and chronological in its design; and in 1
fact, a close synonym for biblical theology, at least in its wide-angle task of accounting for all of special revelation, is the term redemptive history. 1. Corporate Worship Under the Old Covenant The storyline of Scripture begins in the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect fellowship with each other and with God. That fellowship was broken when Adam and Eve fell to temptation and ushered in the Fall and the curse of sin. The rest of the Bible reveals the story of how God is working to restore fellowship between Him and mankind. The very purpose of this work is to glorify Himself through the worship of His people. When the Israelites were taken into Egyptian captivity, God rescued them not only to be free from oppression, but also so that they could be free to worship Him (Ex. 3:12;18). God rescued them in order to gather them and bring them back to Himself. The Song of Moses says, You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode (Ex. 15:13). At that time, God s holy abode was the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was an elaborate tent where God s presence dwelled and priests could make sacrifices on behalf of the people for their sins. Listen to Exodus 29:43-46 43 There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. 45 I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. God gathered His people so that He could dwell among them and they could worship Him in the Tabernacle and through the priesthood. After gathering His people God made a covenant with them in order to make their relationship legitimate and official like a marriage. We call this covenant the Mosaic Covenant. Here are God s own words regarding that covenant. 4 You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel. Ex. 19:4-6 The Mosaic Covenant consisted of moral, civil, and ceremonial laws and regulations, all of which were binding to the Israelites under this covenant. The ceremonial laws regulated and confined the worship of God under that particular covenant. Leviticus 10 tells the story of Nadab and Abihu and how they were struck dead simply because they went beyond the prescription of God for worship and lit a strange or unauthorized fire. Their judgment was due to their unwillingness to do only what God had prescribed. 2
The nature for Tabernacle worship was mostly individual, but the corporate worship of the Old Testament happened a handful of times every year when the Israelites would gather at the Tabernacle for the Passover, The Feast of Firstfruits, The Feasts of Weeks, The Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths (Lev. 23). For the Israelites, corporate worship was a special occasion that occurred only a few times each year. Deuteronomy 6:13-15 states that the individual Israelite s worship was to be 24-7. But for intimate access to God s presence they had to attend the special corporate gatherings. The people, place, time, elements, and method all mattered in Old Covenant worship. Also note that God s presence dwelled among His people, but only the priests could enter under strict circumstances. The average Joe was not able to enter and live. Eventually the Tabernacle became the Temple in Jerusalem, but the covenant remained with its rules and regulations. Until the Lord Jesus arrived to fulfill it. 2. Fulfillment in Christ The advent of Christ was a major turning point in the story of redemption. Jesus came to fulfill the Mosaic Law and all of God s promises. Jesus said, Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (Mt. 5:17). And 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. Jesus fulfilled all types and shadows of the Old Covenant including the Tabernacle and Temple, the priesthood, the kingship, etc It is his fulfillment of the Tabernacle, and later Temple, and the ceremonial aspects of the Mosaic Law that concerns our study of worship. Last week we studied where Jesus told the Samaritan woman that a time is coming and is now here when God will not be worshipped in Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim, but only in spirit and truth. Jesus spoke of the Temple in Jerusalem being destroyed when he said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up (Jn. 2:19). Jesus is now the place where we meet God to worship Him. John said that Jesus eskenosen, tabernacle among us (Jn. 1:14). Not only do we encounter the presence of God in Jesus for the purpose of worshipping Him, but we also confront our sin in Jesus as well. Jesus fulfilled the entire sacrificial system of the Old Covenant in His death on the cross. Hebrews tells us, He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself (Heb. 7:27). The sacrifices of the Old Covenant could only purify the flesh. They could never purify the soul from sin. Hebrews 10:1-4 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any 3
consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Jesus sacrifice atoned for all our sin for all time past, present and future. We go daily to Jesus to purify the flesh by confessing our sin and receiving His daily grace and pardon (1 Jn. 1:9). His blood secured our eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12). This discussion could go on and on because Jesus fulfilled every little detail of the Old Covenant and the implications are immense. But for the sake our study we will move on to discuss how we as Christians should understand worship under the New Covenant. 3. Corporate Worship Under the New Covenant Jesus did not abolish the Old Covenant and leave it at that. He inaugurated a New Covenant. A covenant that is sealed by His blood and does not come with the same stipulations as the Old. The Old Covenant was an agreement between two parties, the Israelites and God, and its promises hinged upon the Israelite s faithfulness to keep it. They failed (Jer. 31:32; Heb. 8:8-9). The New Covenant is a promise made between God the Father and God the Son. This covenant is a covenant of grace. It is based upon God s faithfulness and not ours. However, the question remains. How should we worship if Jesus fulfilled all the instructions that we have in the Old Testament? The answer is found in the New Testament. But we need to be careful as we look for them. The New Covenant instructions for worship are very different from the Old Covenant. Since New Covenant worship is spiritual and according to truth, the physical forms do not matter nearly as much as they did under the Old Covenant. The thing that matters most is the heart behind the actions and the truths upon which they are built and executed. Motive is another word for heart. What should our motive be when we gather for worship? The Bible answers that question by telling us what the purpose for corporate worship should be, the glory of God and the building up of the saints. The glory of God should be our aim in all of life (1 Cor. 10:13) and our corporate worship gathering should be an extension of that process. The thing that makes corporate worship different than daily individual worship is the second part of that aim, to build up the body of Christ. Paul says that all things when the church gathers should be done for building up (1 Cor. 14:26). There is a lot of concern about what we are doing and when we are doing it and how we are doing it, but not nearly enough on why we are doing the things that we do. Everything we do in corporate worship should stand the simple test of Does it glorify God and does it build the body up? Conclusion: This coming Sunday we will summarize this lesson and move on to discussing the elements of worship and how they glorify God and build up the body. While the sermon will be 4
as biblical as it can be, we will be discussing some preferential and philosophical things. There will be some things that we will disagree on, and that is okay. However, we can disagree with charity and love so long as we all agree with the things we have learned from God s Word thus far. Join with me in praying for Sunday s sermon. Pray that God will open all our eyes to see the glory of Christ, in whom we live and breathe and find life. He is reason for every season. He is the One who died and rose again to give us access into the Father s presence that we may offer up our feeble and frail offerings of praise. And, it is on His behalf that the Father accepts them and is pleased by them. May the Lord bless the remainder of our week until we meet again! 5
Discussion Questions 1. What is the central message of the Old Covenant? What were the types and shadows pointing toward? 2. How would you describe the relationship between the Old and New Covenants? 3. How has Jesus changed worship and how we approach God from the Old Covenant? 4. How do we glorify God in how we worship corporately? 5. What does it mean to build up the body of Christ? Behind the Book is only one aspect of Heritage s teaching ministry which seeks to employ our church s mission statement: Connecting to God, Growing with Others and Impacting the world. 6
On Wednesday evenings we connect to Sunday morning s Bible passage and discover what it says through in-depth Bible study. Sunday morning in corporate worship (9:30am) we grow from the passage by learning what it means for our daily living. In Community Groups (10:45am) we practically apply the text, being impacted by it and learning to impact the world with it. CGI provides a balanced approach to life and Bible study; an upward look (Connect), an inward look (Grow) and an outward look (Impact) ensuring that our mission fulfils our vision to be a God-centered, Great Commission congregation. It s a well-known and beneficial way to approach the Bible Connect/Observation, Grow/Interpretation, Impact/Application. It s also a Trinitarian approach to Scripture: Connecting to the Father, Growing in Christ and Impacting the world by the Spirit, so that the way we study the Bible daily reminds us about who our God is and how he is unique among all religions of the world. 7