The
Worship of the Church #1
The Doctrine of the
Church - Lesson # 9
I. Some basic assumptions and definitions
A. Worship defined
1. Broadly
- as all of life, thus, everything a Christian does should be done in humility,
reverence, and obedience - Rom. 12:1-2
2. Narrowly
- praise and adoration given to God as deity
B. Not everything the church does in the
assembly is worship in the narrow sense of the word. We encourage one another,
have fellowship, teach one another and, for example, make announcements.
C. In the narrower sense of the word
"worship," the church engages in worship at times other than the
assembly.
D. Theological presuppositions for
worship
1. God
exists and want us to worship him. How does the nature of God place defining
parameters upon worship? - Jn. 4:24; Heb. 12:28-29; 1 Jn. 1:5
2. Mankind
is God's creation and we, as creatures, need to worship - Acts 17:27
3. Christ's
atonement makes us able to approach God in worship - Heb. 10:19-22.
4. We
have the obligation to purify ourselves by right living before we approach God
in worship - Ps. 15:1-5.
5. Since
Christian worship is the worship of a community, we need to be right with our
fellow man before we attempt to approach God in worship - Mt. 5:23-24.
6. The
church is the temple where God dwells, so the place or the building is not
significant for Christian worship - Jn. 4:21-24; Acts 7:48; 17:24-25.
II. Worship and priesthood
A. "Priest" is one of those
terms which Christians share with Christ.
B. Christ is our high priest. Each
Christian is a priest also.
C. As priests, what kind of sacrifices do
we offer to God in worship? - Rom. 12:1-2; Heb. 13:15-16; Phil. 2:17; 4:18; 1
Pet. 2:1-5
III. Some misunderstandings of worship in
relation to the assembly (from Everett Ferguson, The Church of Christ, 227-29)
A. The external or mechanical
interpretation. "Worship may be understood as formal religious
exercises. Many think of worship as items to be performed in order to fulfill a
duty....By doing certain things people improve their heavenly credit
rating....The concern here is with the reason behind these things, why we do
them. What is the attitude toward their doing? Is it the mere fulfilling of an
obligation, the rote performance of certain acts, or is it the response to a
gracious God?" (Ibid., 227).
B. The individualistic interpretation.
Here worship is viewed as a private matter of one's own devotional meditation.
The father of a friend of mine used to tell his son that he could worship God
just as good in his fishing boat in the middle of a lake as he could in the
assembly on Sunday. While we can worship God individually, Christian worship is
not limited to this. It is the united worship of a community, a family of believers,
acting together. "The Lord's Supper is to be compared not to eating alone
in a restaurant full of people but to a community or family meal, where the
being together is as important as the eating (1 Cor. 10:17; 11:33)"
(Ibid., 228).
C. The emotional uplift interpretation.
Those who follow this line of thought look for what makes them feel good.
Instead of worship being something offered by us to God, humans are the
recipient and focus of worship, thus worship is secularized. Such a worshiper
might say: "I didn't get anything out of church today, so I am not coming
back, or maybe I will go elsewhere."
D. The performance interpretation.
This view makes most of the congregation into observers and the worship leaders
(preacher, song leader, prayer leaders) into the performers. The period of
worship becomes either a time to show off one's talents or the time to watch
and rate another's performance.
E. "These misunderstandings, like
most misunderstandings, have an element of truth in them and grow out of aspects
in the assembly: the members should be present, they should meditate, they will
be blessed spiritually by being present, and everything should be done as well
as the participants are capable. The fuller truth is that the assembly is to be
spiritual, corporate, instructive, and directed toward God. It should be an
occasion that raises the consciousness of God and focuses attention on
others" (Ibid., 229).
F. Another misunderstanding of worship in
relation to the assembly is that it is primarily to be a time for evangelism.
The practice of "offering the invitation" in the assembly is less
than two centuries old. It sprang out of revivalism on the American frontier.
In the New Testament church evangelism was more an occasional by-product of the
assembly, not its purpose and function toward which the constituent parts
needed to be directed (1 Cor. 14:24-25). When the assembly is continually
focused on evangelism, the direction of one's mind is going to be horizontal
(directed toward people) and not vertical (directed toward God). The result
will be that, to the extent that this is true, worship will be eliminated from
our assemblies.
IV. Proper attitudes
A. Jn. 4:24; Heb. 10:22; 12:28
B. List some proper attitudes on the part
of one who wants to worship God.
V. Conclusion
A. What can we do in our assemblies in
order to better worship God?
B. Memory verse - Jn. 4:24