The Biblical and Theological foundation of Worship

Introduction: The word worship is so important in the Christian community that worshiping God is one of the important duties in the Christian life.

Definition of Christian Worship:

The word worship, like grace and love, is indefinable. It means to worship or treat a superior being. One should worship God.

"The overflowing of a grateful heart, under the sense of God's favor." - Psalm 23:5. Worship is the lifting up of the heart that has come to know the Father as the Giver, the Son as the Savior, and the Holy Spirit as the indwelling Spirit.

Worship is different from prayer and praise. "Lord, save my soul" is prayer; "Lord, I thank you for saving my soul" is praise; "God, thank you for who you are" is worship.

Our aim in looking at the different ways different Christian thinkers talk about Christian worship is not a comparative study, but to stimulate reflection. The best way to understand the meaning of any term is to observe it in use rather than to give a simple definition. So we look over the shoulders of Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic thinkers to see how they use the term.

Prof. Paul W. Hoon made a significant contribution to liturgical studies in his important book The Integrity of Worship, published in 1971. Hoon draws on the Methodist tradition by focusing on "serious religious and cultural differences." Throughout, he emphasizes the Christological place of worship, "which is Christological by definition and analysis of the meaning of worship should be the basis of Christological."

Christian worship is directly tied to the events of the history of salvation. Each event in this worship is directly tied to time and history, bridging them and bringing them into our present. “The heart of worship,” says Hoon, “is that God acts to give his life to man and to bring man to participate in that life.

Peter Brunner, a Lutheran theologian who taught for many years at the University of Heidelberg, echoes Hoon's thinking in many ways, but in his important book Worship in the Name of Jesus he expresses himself in quite different terms. Brunner has the distinct advantage of using the German word for worship, Gottesdienst, a word that combines both the service of God to men and the service of men to God. Brunner takes advantage of this ambiguity and speaks of the "duality" of worship. God's gift evokes devotion to God in man.

How it was in the beginning:

In the eternal past, before humans were created, before the earth was formed, there was worship. Nehemiah 9:6, referring to angels, says, “The host of heaven bows before you. This is their current activity and their activity was their creation. When Adam and Eve were created and brought into this world, they too worshiped God. They went and talked with God in the garden. They obeyed Him with unquestionable loyalty. Sin came because they abandoned pure worship by obeying Satan's counsel over God's clear commandment. Their unconditional obedience to God was broken. Once they honored Satan's counsel regarding God's clear commandment. Their unconditional obedience to God was broken. Once they honored Satan's word above God's, they stopped worshiping God and were cursed (Gen 3:1-6).

The first recorded division of Adam's descendants was between Cain and Abel, and the conflict was related to the way they worshipped. Cain offered God an unacceptable sacrifice and Abel offered an acceptable sacrifice. Cain was jealous of his brother's acceptance of God, so he killed him (Gen 4:3-8).

Worship in the Old Testament: The difference between pagan worship in the ancient world and the worship of God's people in the Old Testament lies in the fact that God appeared to a certain people and chose them for his service. According to Roland de Vaux, the worship of Israel differed from the Oriental cults as follows: (1) The God of Israel was the only God; (2) he was a personal God who intervened in history; (3) Israel had no image in their worship.

G. Ernest Wright also contrasts the worship of Israel with the worship of polytheistic religions: "In the faith of Israel the basis of worship lay in historical memory and in Although there is no definite limit, it is clear from the Old Testament stories that worship was an improvement in the life of the people of Israel. This means that a certain cult developed and worship practices changed throughout Israel's history. The ancient story always assumes that God desires man to communicate with his. In the garden of Eden, God asked Adam: "Adam, where are you?" (Genesis 3.9) Adam's sons, Cain and Abel, worshiped God. Cain was a tiller of the soil and Abel was a sheep herder. Cain brought as a sacrifice the fruits of the soil and Abel brought as a sacrifice the firstborn of the herds. The Lord accepted Abel's offer but rejected Cain's, apparently because of the motivation in their hearts (4:2-5).

Enoch lives in constant communion with God. “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" (5:24). The Hebrew word "went" indicates an intimate fellowship between Enoch and God. The literal translation says they "walked back and forth together." Enoch not only worshiped God at the times mentioned, but lived in a continuous relationship with his creator.

Several generations later we find Noah ministering to him and representing him to the people. Noah obeyed God and built an ark of safety in which he took his family. After the flood, Noah, at God's command, left the ark and "built an altar to the Lord... and offered burnt offerings on the altar" (he was sealed between God and man with the rainbow of promises (9:11-12).

Patriarchal period - private and family altars:

The Pentateuch took the form of a "priestly edition of the sacred history of Israel". The atmosphere of worship permeates the entire work. Its design and religious symbolism, hallowed by centuries of worship, create a serious sense of the holiness and majesty of God. The Old Testament story begins with the idea of ​​a personal God who created man for the purpose of fellowship with himself. From the beginning, God claimed man and took the initiative in seeking him. Man's response to worship included the building of altars and the consecration of places and objects. These altars or "sanctuaries" were always established with reference to some manifestation of Yahweh in certain places.

God appeared to Abraham and called him to leave his country and go to the Promised Land. God promised to bless Abraham, make him a great nation and make his name great (Gn 12:1-30). Abraham responded by faith and obedience and built an altar to the Lord and worshiped Him (13:7). Later, Abraham worshiped God when he expressed his willingness to sacrifice his own son Isaac to the Lord (22:9-10).

Isaac learned to worship the God of his father Abraham. He built an altar and invoked the name of the Lord. Jacob's worship experiences were as numerous as they were glorious. It seemed to him that God appeared to him through angels descending and ascending a ladder that reached to heaven. In the morning he announced: "God is really here; I don't know... this place is so wonderful!," (28:16-17). He built a stone for an altar, which he dedicated to the Lord, and called it Bethel, "the house of God."

Thus, before the ritual law of Leviticus was issued, the Old Testament emphasizes the necessity of worship!

The Age of Moses - Covenant of Revelation and Response: Israel's worship consisted of celebrating and proclaiming the covenant established by God. God appeared to Israel as Jehovah, God's covenant. The covenant was given to Moses at Sinai as God's claim to Israel (Ex 20:1-18). He demanded sincere worship: "You shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Eternal, your God, am a jealous God," Jehovah, who issued the stone tablets, became the revealed Word of God to Israel. The matrix of the meaning and purpose of worship in the Old Testament is perhaps best summed up in Deuteronomy 6:4, "The Lord our God is one Lord."

Some form of public worship was certainly observed in the desert under the leadership of Moses. The primitive sanctuary or "tent of meeting" probably resembled an ordinary shepherd's tent with outer and inner compartments. The tent of meeting appears to have been erected outside the camp (Ex 3:7; Num 11:26).

Regarding the history of the tabernacle, James Strong said the following:

It appears (Ex. 33:7) that the name "Tabernacle of the Congregation" was originally applied to an ordinary tent, probably that officially inhabited by Moses himself; and that this was first set apart by the sign of the divine presence at its door as the regular place of public communication between Jehovah and the people. This was before the construction of what was later technically known as the Tabernacle, which of course replaced such a temporary arrangement.

Period of the Judges: As Israel continued to conquer Canaan, they encountered the worship of nature deities known as "Baalim". In this environment, God's people were influenced by tribes that worshiped false gods. As a result, the worship of Jehovah was not always maintained in its purest form. Some people have forsaken the God of their fathers. Many of them carried over to the worship of Jehovah the rituals and ceremonies of popular shrines where false gods were worshipped. Hannah's prayers were undoubtedly genuine (1 Sam 1), but the corrupt actions of the priests (1 Sam 2:12–27) and the fetish value placed on the ark (4:3) testify to false acts of worship. It must be emphasized, however, that the biblical traditions present us with a religion that was much more than Canaanite worship and quite different from it.

In the history books, the king appears several times as a leader of worship because he was a holy person, sanctified by his anointing and accepted by Yahweh. David built the first altar to the Lord in Jerusalem (2Sam 24:25) and also devised plans to build a temple. In Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, Old Testament worship reached its peak. The Temple was the grandest and most elaborate of Israel's holy places dedicated to the worship of God. It was erected in Jerusalem, where God had previously appeared (24:16-25). Thus it became the central sanctuary of Israel. King David had it in his heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the Lord's covenant and for God's footstool (1 Chronicles 28:2).

There was also silence in Israel's worship. Habakkuk said: "The Lord dwells in his holy temple; let the whole world dwell in him" (2:20). The psalmist said to God: "Be humble and know that I am God" (46:10).

Elaborate rituals and ceremonies with feasts and offerings were developed to remind people of their sinfulness as well as God's mercy and love. The entire Book of Leviticus is devoted to sacrifice and the priesthood. Sacrifice was understood as a necessary condition for effective worship.

Psalm Prophets - Personal and Ethical Religion: Several prophets called for a general reform of worship. For example, Jeremiah insisted on a personal or experiential element in worship. Jehovah is personal and wants his people to worship him sincerely. " My people ... abandoned me, the rivers of life, and gave themselves rivers, incontinuous rivers" (2:13). Blessings and judgments are associated with their worship. "Blessed is the man who has trusted in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord" (17:7).

Ezekiel, the priest and prophet, also called for reform: "Because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your abominations...therefore I will cut you off" (5:11). He calls Israel to return to true worship through the vision that God revealed to them. This grand vision of God's immeasurable temple included a detailed account of a meaningful cult—chambers for washing sacrifices, tables for slaying sacrifices, chambers for priests, preparations, and the most holy place.

Many of the psalms are "songs of ascent" sung by pilgrims on their way to the temple of worship on Mount Zion. "I will lift up my eyes to the hills."

Terrien says that the secret of the vitality of the Psalms can be explained by the following facts: (1) the sense of worship which animated their poets; (2) the poets' boldness and honesty in prayer; (3) their theological certainty about God's final victory; (4) their sense of historical and social responsibility; (5) and their elegant literary and aesthetic form. The poetry of the Psalms as a means of spiritual intuition and devotion is related to the entire history of our worship.

 

Worship in the New Testament:

According to the New Testament story, Christian worship is rooted in Jewish practices. The earliest Christians were mainly Jews who were faithful in worshiping in the temple and in their synagogues. Jesus himself followed the practices of his people in worship. The early Christians followed the Hebrew way of worship to some extent, as they were used to in the temple and in the synagogue.

 

 

Temple - traditional place of worship:

There are many associations of New Testament activities in the temple. There, Zechariah had a vision that assured him that he would not die childless (Luke 1:11). At his presentation to Mary, the baby Jesus was welcomed by Simeon and Anna (2:27). Jesus cleansed the temple of the traffickers who had desecrated his Father's house of prayer (Mark 11:15-17).

Luke notes that the Christians were constantly in the temple blessing God (Luke 24:53). After Pentecost, they were found day after day in the temple praying persistently (Acts 2:46). Jesus predicted. “There will come a time when you will not worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. " (John 4:21). Christians no longer needed the temple in Jerusalem, because Christ himself became their temple, their place to meet God in worship. Paul saw the church as a "holy temple" in the Lord (Eph 2:14,21).

Mark of the Believer:

Philippians 3:3 contains what may be the best definition of a Christian anywhere in the Bible: "For we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."

In fact, the true mark of a true Christian is that he worships God in spirit. All other virtues, including the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), begin with worship. Spiritual worship and truth are not the true mark of the Christian, but the true mark of the Christian. It is also the cornerstone of all other virtues.

Synagogue - service in transition:

The fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon's temple, the long period of exile outside the central place of worship, the decline of the prophetic ministry, and the accelerated emphasis on Scripture gave rise to new models of worship. New centers of worship known as synagogues began to emerge. Although there is no mention of a synagogue in the Old Testament, it was probably founded in the third century BC. The Greek word for "synagogue" meant "place of assembly" (Luke 7:5). According to the Gospels, Jesus, a good Jew, used synagogues to teach and worship (Luke 4:16-21). Paul and other disciples were also accustomed to go to the synagogue for services (Acts 14:1).

Worship in synagogues was quite different from worship in the temple. The following differences were pointed out: (1) the synagogue service was less formal; (2) the didactic or teaching component came first in the synagogue; (3) priestly functions were not so prominent; (4) the teacher was a central figure in the synagogue; and (5) lay participation was more pronounced.

New Testament: Although early Christian worship grew out of the Jewish practices of the temple and synagogue, it cannot be interpreted that there was nothing special about Christian worship. Phifer pointed out numerous differences in the materials used in worship.

1. Christians used the writings of their own leaders, such as Paul's epistles and the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus, and perhaps verbal recollections of them. These writings soon replaced the Torah and the Prophets.

2. Although psalms were used to express praise in Christian worship, Christian writers added new hymns such as those found in Paul's letters. Paul encourages Christians to speak to each other "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord" (Eph 5:18-19).

3. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are significant additions to Christian worship. How big a place the Lord's Supper played in the early church services cannot be known for certain, but it is certain that it was a vital experience of Christian worship.

4. In Christian worship, a spirit of zeal was produced by the knowledge that the Holy Spirit had come to rule Christ among them. Worship became primarily a celebration of the works of God manifested in Jesus Christ. Paul put it this way: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:17).

Although the first Christians first worshiped in the temple and in the synagogues, the place of encounter with God was no longer limited to the central sanctuary. The living Christ was present wherever two or three gathered in his name (Mt 18:20).

Elements of New Testament Worship:

Although there is no prescribed order for worship in the New Testament, there is evidence of some kind of order and planning. When Paul warns against the excesses expressed in ecstatic utterances and speaking in tongues, he concludes with an exhortation regarding worship: "Let all things be done decently and in order" (1 Corinthians 14:40).

1. Music was central to Christians' expressions of praise. They sang psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and sounded out in their hearts to the Lord (Eph. 5:18-21; 1 Corinthians 14:15). Among the earliest Christian hymns were the Magnificent of Luke 1:46, the Nunc Dimittis of Simeon in Luke 2:29-32.

2. Scripture reading was definitely a part of early Christian worship. We are told that Jesus stood up in the synagogue to read the Scriptures (Luke 4:16). Paul's letters were written to be read in churches.

3. Prayers of thanksgiving, supplications, intercessions and blessings were said. Examples of these can be seen in Philippians 4:6; Colossians 2:7; 2 Timothy 2:1-2. One of the oldest liturgical prayers is the Aramaic Maranatha, "Come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).

4. Preaching or expounding the Scriptures seems to have been an important part of early Christian worship. On the day of Pentecost, Simon Peter stood up and preached the good news to the people. (Acts 2:40). Paul exhorted Timothy to be faithful in preaching the Word (2 Tim 4:1-4).

5. Open confession seems to have been the practice of Christians in the early church. There was a public confession of sin before witnesses (1 Tim 6:12). Paul says that professing faith in Jesus Christ with one's lips is part of the process of salvation (Romans 10:9).

Theological basis of worship:

What does it mean to study Christian worship? How to do it? And more importantly: Where do we begin? In many ways, starting to study something new is not unlike starting to build a house, and just like building houses, the first task is to lay the foundation so that whatever is added on top is strong and well supported. . So we begin by determining on what foundations the study of Christian worship is based.

Worship as an Aspect of Christian Theology: Learning how to worship God is part of learning how to be a Christian. The important question to ask is: "Where does worship fit into the larger model of Christian life and thought?” Or, to put it another way, “What is our theology of worship?” Christians have answered this question over the centuries. in different ways and used different models, different theological approaches, to help them understand what was going on in worship.

Worship as service to God: Many Christian communities understand public worship as service to God, a duty that human children of God perform in grateful obedience to Him who is the source of their life and their salvation. In Christian traditions, they pray that God will accept their worship as a "sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving," and this language of sacrifice is another way of talking about worship as service to God. The Torah testifies to the belief that God instituted a system of sacrifices (sacrifices of animals, birds, and harvest fruits) that would be an effective sign of Israel's devotion and obedience and a way to maintain the covenantal relationship between God the Provider and humanity. But this theology of worship raises a number of questions. Why does God need anything from creatures made in God's image? Isn't it the ultimate audacity to claim that we fragile human beings have anything to offer God at all? But for the Wesleys, and for many of their spiritual descendants, the answer was simple. We have nothing to offer God except what God gave us first: our lives, our talents, our ability to know and praise God. And it is this overflow of God's blessing that allows us to return to God in worshiping what God has already given us.

Worship as a mirror of heaven: For many Christians, the worship that takes place in the church is an attempt to repeat, to recapitulate, the worship of God that takes place eternally in heaven. Although this liturgical theology is particularly associated with the Orthodox and Eastern Rite traditions, it can also be seen in many other groups, especially among Christians suffering under oppression. This model of Christian worship rests on the idea that it is the activity for which human beings were created, and that by giving ourselves to worship here on earth we are preparing for our eternal calling. Many critics of this theology of worship argue that since there is no concept at all of what heavenly worship entails, trying to dramatize it on earth is at best a futile exercise; at worst he is presumptuous and proud. But the real sense in this liturgical theology is that by looking to God's future we can gain a vision that can move us to holiness. If worship can give us a vision of the world as God intends it, it can sustain and sustain us in the human struggle and work for justice and peace on earth.

Worship as Confirmation: Many Christians believe that the primary purpose of Christianity is to confirm, inspire, and support believers in their Christian calling. It pits Christians against 'the world, the flesh and the devil' and places them in situations of constant risk. Like the Jesus they follow, they may be misunderstood, insulted, betrayed, or even murdered for their faith in God. Worship in this model is primarily for the 'initiated', those committed Christians who feel strongly the attacks of the world as they attempt to live out various forms of Christian discipleship.

Critics of this view of Christian worship say that while affirmation is a necessary part of Christian worship. Human beings, even faithful Christian believers, have many things in them that need to be questioned and set right. Those who speak of worship as primarily an experience of affirmation say that it is only by receiving from God, only when we understand our worship as a time of humble, patient and expectant waiting for God's healing and life-giving power that we can act in the world with any sense of conviction and power.

Worship as Community: Many Christians believe that when they worship together, they make their relationship with God and with the Christian community a visible, audible, and tangible reality. In this theology, worship is a way of forming and maintaining essential relationships (both divine and human), and for this reason the word "fellowship" is often used to describe what happens in Christian worship. Both fellowship with God and fellowship with other Christians are essential parts of Christian worship.

Critics of this liturgical theology say that while we are indeed called into fellowship with God, this fellowship is entirely dependent on God's initiative, and argue that there is a danger of implying equality between the partners in the divine-human relationship. God does not want our slavish obedience, but wants us to use our God-given freedom to become full partners in the creation of the world.

Proclamation: In many directions of Christian thought, the true Christian vocation is to proclaim the good news about God in Christ, to proclaim the gospel about God's action in the world and for the world. As the First Epistle of Peter says: 'You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people of God, that you may proclaim the mighty deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light' (1 Peter 2:9). Christians 'declare the mighty acts of God' in their worship in various ways. Christian people, express your Christian faith fully and firmly for the world to believe. Critics say that if Christian worship is seen primarily as preaching, it simply means 'preaching to the converted'. Those who need to hear the healing and reconciling word of God preached are not in our churches, but in the streets, office buildings and schools, and that is where preaching belongs. But those who adhere to the proclamation model of worship claim the power of remembering what God has done and retelling it in a gathered community.

Worship as an Arena of Transcendence: Many Christians think that entering into the presence of the Living God in worship is a highly dangerous enterprise in which the holiness, majesty, and power of God are awesome. 'Do not come near,' says God to Moses (Ex 3:5), 'Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground'.