How, Then Shall We Worship?

If worship does not change us it has not been worship.

John F. MacArthur

First Commands

Exodus 20:3–8 KJV 1900

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

When God established His covenant with Israel, he gave them a series of strict laws that must be followed. These requirements were instituted by God so that His chosen people would be set apart from the people of the other nations, and so they would be sanctified in their daily life and especially when in intentional acts of worship. This covenant, while often characterized by the hundreds of laws that were required to be obeyed, was summed up in what we commonly know as the 10 Commandments.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain

Remember the Sabbath

Honor thy father and mother

Thou shalt not kill

Thou shalt not commit adultery

Thou shalt not steal

Thou shalt not bear false witness

Thou shalt not covet

Do you notice something unique about the first 4 commandments? All of them deal with our attitude of worship towards the Lord.

When we worship the Lord, it stands to reason we cannot worship any other gods. We also cannot create an image of God, specifically by carving or fashioning one from material, but it stands to reason we should also have no false assumptions or assertions about Him. Thirdly, we should not take His name in vain. We should not blaspheme His name surely, but we also must be extremely sure not to bear His name falsely or bring ill reproach to the name of God. Finally, we are to remember the Sabbath and do what? Keep it holy! (the doctrine of sabbatarianism is hotly debated and not one we can dive into today, but the principle of setting aside a day of remembrance to the Lord is predicated in this command). We set aside as holy and special the first day of the week, and we call it The Lord’s Day because the Scripture does, and because it is the day the LORD resurrected. The apostles and disciples met every Lord’s Day and worshipped in fasting, prayer, singing, teaching, and breaking bread.

no other partner but my wife

do not describe (or imagine) her falsely

do not drag her name through the mud

do not forget her birthday/anniversary

If I fail in even one of these areas, my wife would be justified in questioning my affections. Let alone if I fail in all four areas. But to make this illustration more applicable, we as the church are the bride in the scenario and God is the groom, but instead of Him being the one at risk of dropping the ball, we are, and sorely so!

What did Jesus say?

Jesus said ALL of the law (and the prophets) hang on just two commandments. Matthew 22:37-39

Matthew 22:37–39 ESV

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

So if you think of the entire Law and Prophets as a structure (i.e. temple), and the 10 Commandments as the foundation, the two commandments that Jesus highlights in this Matthew passage are the beams that hold up the foundation. And what is the central focus of both of these commandments? Love. Love for the Lord, and love for your neighbor.

Jesus said more about this when He said “If you love me, keep my commandments.” In short, God is not concerned with us keeping His commandments if we are not in covenant with Him and we do not love Him. He desires that we obey Him and worship Him because we love Him. That is the heart of worship!

How, then, shall we worship?

In spirit and in truth

But what is next? How are we to worship? What are the nuts and bolts of it? What is the nitty gritty, the ins and outs, and the practical answers to this question?

Thankfully, we do not have to be left wondering the answer to this question. The church that Jesus established and then left in the care of the apostles is the place where we need to start. Each of the things we will look at today are part of worship and how our worship should be exemplified.

Fasting

The practice of abstaining from food (and probably drink). This could be done as an expression of remorse for wrongdoing, as an expression of mourning for a loss, or as a spiritual discipline meant to help one focus on spiritual matters.

The first instance of this noted in the new covenant period is in Acts 13:3 “3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”

again in Acts 14:23 “23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

In both of these cases, the churches practiced fasting together. This was done so they could all be in one accord in both their suffering and it was underlined by their prayer. Note: fasting and prayer always are part and parcel together because fasting is done to help one practice discipline in seeking the Lord’s wisdom, guidance, and blessing

This was not a weekly occurrence, but it could be. Like Communion, there is no prescription for how often it is to be practiced. Just that it was done.

Singing

twice in the apostolic writings we are exhorted to sing to the Lord in worship

Ephesians 5:19 “19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,”

Colossians 3:16 “16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Singing is undoubtedly the most commonly-practiced act of worship in the assembling of Christians, and understandably so

when we sing, our hearts open in emotion

this is part of the reason why doctrinally-pure music is vitally important. While this is especially true in the context of Lord’s Day worship, our standard of music should be maintained throughout our life

the music we listen to influences our spirit

our spirit influences our worship

singing to the Lord is an integral part of our worship in church and should not be taken lightly or flippantly

Psalms

literally singing from the Book of Psalms

there is no way to ever veer into false doctrine or empty words when singing the psalms

Hymns

an anthem

a song of praise

a hymn may not necessarily be taken directly from Scripture (as in quoting it directly as the psalms do), but it’s theme is biblical praise and glory to the One to whom it is sung

not all hymns are old-fashioned

Getty Music writes a lot of music that meets this description

of course there are others as well

A hymn is a song in praise of a deity. In addition to being used for worship, early Christian hymns likely were used to teach doctrine to new converts through antiphonal singing.

these are often written and intended to be sung corporately

Not the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”

Spiritual songs

this category of singing captures all other forms of singing

what we sometimes call “specials” such as soloists or choirs singing

other corporate singing that may not necessarily be psalms or hymns

of course this is not only for corporate worship, but as this verse in Ephesians says “making melody in your heart to the Lord”

Singing is such an important part of worship because we learn it in our head, it comes from the heart, and is outward and public worship of the Lord

Teaching

the teaching, or preaching, of the Word of God is not only an act of worship for the one delivering the teaching, but it is just as much or more so an act of worship for the hearer

because the Word of God has the power to cut deep into our spirit, past all of the callouses and scars of our self-centeredness, pride, pain, and prejudice, we can never have too much exposure to the Word

God ordained the method of preaching the Word to be a primary tool and vehicle for our worship and instruction

1 Corinthians 1:21 KJV 1900

21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

Furthermore, our faith is made possible because of the preaching of the Word

Romans 10:17 ESV

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Ordinances

Baptism

Lord’s Supper

Offerings

From Jesus’ standing in the temple observing the widow giving her two mites (which He acknowledged was an act of worship) to the offerings of the first group of post-ascension disciples, to the churches of the Gentiles giving of their own poverty to help the church in Jerusalem, we see worshippers of God giving financially to the work of God

And God loves those who give cheerfully, not out of compulsion but out of love

2 Corinthians 9:7 “7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Reading Scripture

1 Timothy 4:13 ESV

13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

This is one reason why we read Scripture aloud together

and we should make no apology nor find it tedious or begrudging

Regulative Principle of Worship

All of these things come directly from Scripture, but they are gathered under the umbrella of something called the RPW, or Regulative Principle of Worship (Church)

This means that Scripture regulates how we are to worship the Lord in a corporate church setting. Much like how we believe in sola scriptura for doctrine and our beliefs, so we must apply that to our mode of worship in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s day. We are not free to turn the Lord’s house into a circus show any more than we are a “den of thieves.” Furthermore, it is not a place nor is it the time to glorify anything other than the Heavenly Father, the Saviour Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

The Second London Baptist Confession says

The acceptable way of worshiping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshiped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.

We are not free to showboat, soapbox, or speechify. All of our focus should be on the Lord! The opposite view of the RPW is the Normative Principle of Worship which posits that anything not expressly forbidden in Scripture is permitted. I might could be persuaded, except I’ve seen it in practice, and this is how we end up with rock bands and rattlesnakes in church.

This does not mean we must be stiff and liturgical, with no emotion or joy. Far from that! We are free to worship openly and joyfully, even with loud voices and shouts of triumph! Psalm 47:1

Psalm 47:1 KJV 1900

1 O clap your hands, all ye people; Shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

We conclude that all of worship shall be in SPIRIT and in TRUTH, just as Jesus said in John 4. In Spirit means we are connected to him in joy, harmony, and yes, even emotion. In Truth means we are in obedience, regulated, and appropriate. With these two principles, we will worship Him as He commands and desires

While God wants us to worship Him we cannot worship Him just any way we will. The One who made us to worship Him has decreed how we shall worship Him. He accepts only the worship which He Himself has decreed.16

A. W. Tozer