The Worship of the Church

The Worship of the Church THE WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH
John H. Banister

It is axiomatic that man is a worshipping being. Throughout history man, regardless of his moral or spiritual condition, has always paid homage to some power or being supposedly greater than himself. Man must worship for he has needs which only worship can satisfy. Man has an inherent desire for worship. He longs for a higher power before whom to bow and he instinctively recognizes his need of, and desire for, worship. Man will worship. If left to himself, he will find his own object of worship, but worship he will! Since, therefore, man needs to worship, has a desire for worship, and will, in spite of all hindrances ;thrown in his way, worship some higher power it is obvious that he must be taught concerning worship. Man must Jearn the true object of worship and the scriptural method of worship.

Jesus taught that some worship in vain (Matthew 15:9). Since this is true, man must learn just how to worship. Man cannot learn to worship acceptably through his own unaided experience. Both history and experience show that man, when left to himself in worship, always ends in idolatry. If man is to learn how to worship acceptably, he must have a divine revelation. In the New Testament, God has told man, in great detail, just how to worship. To it he must turn, then, if he would worship aright. The New Testament reveals that the worship of the Apostolic church was one of its strongest characteristics. Worship was so precious and meaningful to the early Christians that, when outlawed by persecution, they met in secret places to engage in it. To them worship was a deeply moving and spiritually enriching experience. Worship must be the same to us today. Though we in this Twentieth Century have succeeded in restoring the correct outward form of. Apostolic worship, we have not completely Succeeded in restoring its true spirit and meaning!

What, we might ask, is the purpose of worship? Is it just a “going to church” because of habit-or custom? Is it nothing more than the recitation of certain rites and ceremonies? Surely worship is more than this. One of the main purposes of worship is to draw nigh to God. In worship, we are to commune with God, and meditate upon the majesty, glory, power, and mercy of God. We are to thank him for his blessings; we are to praise, adore, honor, exalt, magnify, and eulogize him. “Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name” (Psalms 103:1). In worship we draw nigh to God that we might receive his blessings. We need help and strength, we need forgiveness, we need divine peace! All these blessings come to those who truly worship God. This worship is more than the perfunctory performance of rituals, it is the conscious, active drawing high of the soul into the very presence of him who fills us with his own fuhiess and gives strength and courage to face life’s difficulties. If religion is personal fellowship with God, then worship is personal communion with God.

Another purpose of worship is that we might become like God. It is axiomatic that man tends to become like that which he worships. If man worships the god of sensuality, he will become morally degraded. If he worships the god of mammon, he will become covetous. If he worships the God of pleasure, he will become worldly. But if he worships the God of holiness, beauty, and truth, he will become holy, beautiful and true! To worship such a God as Jehovah elevates man morally, ethically, intellectually, socially, and spiritually! In the very nature of things, man cannot worship God without striving to become pure and loving like him! “But we all, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Christian living makes us like God, it is true; but it also takes Christian worship to make us God -like.

What is the scriptural method of worship? To be acceptable, | worship must have the correct outward form of expression and the true inward spirit of devotion. In Matthew 15:8-9, Jesus indicted the Jews for vain worship on two counts. First, it was not in the right spirit; it was from the lips and mouth, but not the heart. Second, it was based on unscriptural teaching, the doctrines and commandments of men. A failure in one, or both, of these, essential items will render worship unacceptable to God! The worship of the Apostolic church consisted of five distinct acts, or items, of worship on the Lord’s day. First, they observed the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7); second, they sang psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19) ; third, they prayed (Acts 2:42) ; fourth, they preached and taught (Acts 2:42) ; and, fifth, they gave of their money as they had been prospered (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). To be scriptural our Lord’s day worship must contain all of these five required items. No specific order of them is given. We can just as scripturally open the worship with prayer, as with a song. We can have the Lord’s Supper either before or after the sermon. We can have the contribution at the beginning, the middle, or the end of the service! These details are unimportant. The essential thing is that, when we worship, we engage in all these scriptural acts! To have less than these required five is to render the worship vain! To have more than these, is to corrupt the worship! Some brethren who could not conscientously miss the communion will miss the song and prayer service and often refuse to contribute of their means! We cannot consistently criticize sectarians who corrupt the worship with instrumental music, incense, candle burning, etc., when we neglect some of the required items of worship. That denomination that leaves off the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper is not a greater sinner in God’s sight than those brethren who leave off the singing or giving or who, perchance, are so indifferent to worship that they come so late as to miss them! To deviate from these scriptural items of worship, either by omitting some of them or corrupting others of them is to vitiate and corrupt the worship. When this is done, history shows that apostasy always results! But we may observe these items of worship with exactness and still fail to worship. The Pharisees had the correct outward form but they left out the spirit of worship. Herein lies one of our greatest dangers today. We need to restore the apostolic spirit as well as the apostolic form of worship. Jesus taught that worship, to be acceptable, must be in the spirit as well as in truth (John 4:23-24). It is not enough to sing, we must also make melody in our hearts unto God (Ephesians 5:19). God does not listen primarily to the sound of the voice; he listens to the melody of the heart, and the beauty of the voice fails to impress him in the absence of the heart melody! We may “say” beautiful prayers that greatly “impress” the audience, but unless they come from sincere hearts, they are an abomination unto God! We may eat the bread and drink the wine but there is no intrinsic merit in mere eating and drinking. We must have a heart communion with Christ crucified, and such eating and drinking are vain in God’s sight if we fail to “discern” the Lord’s body! (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). Since, then, worship is an inward spiritual act, as well as outward observance of correct forms, we must be certain that we approach worship in the right spirit. We should never go to worship without first engaging in prayer. We should always arrive at the house of worship several minutes ahead of time, then go immediately into the auditorium and spend a few minutes m quiet meditation and silent prayer.

Deep spirituality should fill our hearts and pervade the place of worship. Noises, talking, “back-slapping” and other distractions are travesties on true worship. We do not go to church to see and be seen, or to talk of the ordinary af-fairs of the day! Rather we go to meet God and to adore him in prayer, praise, study, and communion! How humble, reverent, and solemn we should be! We worship as we live. If during the week, we live in a state of indifference, our worship will be indifferent and desultory. If we live close to Christ during the wnek, it will be easy to worship him on the Lord’s day! Many Christians do not enjoy worship, nor derive any positive benefits therefrom, all because they have not yet learned to enjoy living with Christ in daily communion! Let us be certain that we, in worship, neglect neither the scriptural form nor the reverent spirit of worship. They who corrupt the worship with unscriptural innovations sin no greater than those brethren who (while holding strenuously to the correct form of worship) go through the worship without any real and vital communion with God! Let us today restore the spirit of quietness and reverence that characterized the worship of the Apostolic church.

Let us restore the true meaning of worship. Let us restore the Lord’s Supper to its place of prime importance. Today, the sermon has become all-important and the Lord’s Supper secondary in too many places. The disciples did not come to hear Paul preach and take the Lord’s Supper incidentally (Acts 20:7). They came “to break bread” and the preaching was secondary! Christ, not the preacher, is the center, and chief attraction, in worship. It is the opinion of this writer that our worship would be more meaningful if we gave more prominence to the communion and less to the sermon. Let us impress Christians with the fact that they have come to commune with Christ, and not to hear their favorite preacher! The •reason some brethren absent themselves from the worship when the preacher is away, is because they have come to think of worship as revolving around the preacher rather than centering in Jesus Christ! Let us restore this emphasis to our worship. Let us restore the beauty and holiness of Apostolic worship. Let us make the worship service so spiritual, so reverent, so prayerful, so rich and up-lifting, that no one will want to miss it! When worship is thus conducted and engaged in, it brings untold blessings to all participants! In worship we find peace and joy. There we obtain forgiveness as we confess our sins. There we find help for our needs, strength for our weakness, assurance for our doubts, courage for our fears, and comfort for all the sorrows of our hearts! In such worship as this we see our own insignificance, and God’s greatness! We feel our own weakness, and realize God’s great power! We see our own sins, and God’s redeeming grace. We see our own spiritual poverty, and God’s great storehouse of spiritual blessings. We see our own shortcomings, and God’s perfection. We leave the place of worship humbled and chastened by a realization of our own unworthiness; yet, strengthened and encouraged by a realization of what God can do for us and with us. We then are determined to love God more, serve the Christ better, and be holier m thought, word, and deed! If this is our attitude in worship, we will never miss such an enriching experience. No** will we approach it carelessly or listlessly. The Lord’s day will be the climax of our own wreek’s activities and we shall look forward, with joyous anticipation, to the hour of worship '‘as we see the day approaching” for this will be the holiest and most sacred hour of the week!