I. God’s Presence in Worship
In the Old Covenant, worship was located in the temple, but the location was significant only because God was there. We worship where God is present. Although it is true that God is everywhere, He is yet pleased to meet with His people in a special covenantal and personal way as we draw near to Him in worship. He says in Exodus 20:24 I will come to you. In Exodus 23:15 He calls Israel to appear before Me. In worship, we come face to face with God. Psalm 27:8 When Thou didst say, “Seek My face,” my heart said to Thee, “Thy face, O Lord, I shall seek.” God’s worship was never intended to be an external, heartless ritual, but a genuine enjoyment of God Himself.
In the New Covenant more light is shed upon the special covenantal presence of God. Jesus promises where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst. (Matthew 18:20) 1 Corinthians 3:16 tells us that today the church is the New Covenant temple of God. The gathered church is the place where God’s special covenantal presence is localized among His worshippers. In John 4:21-24 Jesus tells us that God’s worship is not tied to a geographical location, but is found wherever believers gather to worship in spirit and truth: for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers.Our gathering in the name of Christ is a holy convocation because of the special covenantal presence of our God who meets with us as we draw near to Him by faith.
Many go to church to get something. Whatever they get, they should get something in church that they can get in no other place: exposure to the special covenantal presence of God. 1 Corinthians 14:24,25 says that those who visit the church should be impressed with the presence of God. We need to prevent worship from becoming more man-centered than God-centered. God is present! His presence is what makes worship possible. Without God being present, men simply perform religious rituals for themselves, not for the glory of God.
II. God’s Provision for Worship
Worship cannot originate in us because of our sin. Apart from God’s provision, our worship would be idolatry. Without God’s provision, we would worship the wrong god or worship God wrongly. What is God’s provision for worship?
When the first man Adam fell through sin into death, he severed man’s communion with God (Genesis 3). Sin must be dealt with if we are to worship God. Our first parents tried to deal with sin by covering themselves with fig leaves. God replaced their fig leaves with animal skins. God enacted the death penalty (which sin deserves) upon a sacrificial substitute which shed its blood instead of sinful man. By this act, God teaches that men must worship as confessed sinners, worthy of death, whose only hope is in God’s grace. Sinful man can come into God’s presence only on the basis of the sacrifice provided by God. Blood sacrifice is God’s provision for acceptable worship.
Believers have worshiped God with sacrifice since the Fall. When the Lord established the nation of Israel, He institutionalized His worship. He regulated how sacrifices were to be offered by His chosen priests. The sacrificial system provided the means by which the holy God could yet dwell among sinful men. With sacrifice as the basis of worship, God’s holiness is honored, His justice is satisfied, and His grace is demonstrated as sin is vicariously punished. With the death penalty satisfied in the death of the substitutionary sacrifice, the sinner can now be brought near to God and offer acceptable worship.
The Old Covenant sacrificial system pointed to the cross of Jesus Christ. In the New Covenant we still worship on the basis of sacrifice: the sacrifice of Jesus. True worship is sacrificial worship. We worship trusting in the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, the one sacrifice for sins for all time. (Hebrews 10:10-14). The blood of Jesus was shed as our atoning sacrifice and is God’s provision for New Covenant worship.
We cannot concoct acceptable worship. We are sinners. God alone provides us with the basis upon which we can approach Him. He has done just that by sending His Only Begotten Son to die as our sacrifice. We know that His sacrifice was accepted because God raised Him from dead and He now sits as the New Covenant Priest- King upon God’s throne. Through Him we have our access in one Spirit to the Father (Ephesians 2:18).
III. God’s Principle for Worship
God is concerned about how He is worshipped. In Exodus 32:8, God sees the golden calf as disobedience to His commands for worship. Nadab and Abihu gave strange (unauthorized) worship and were slain (Leviticus 10:1-3). Korah(Numbers 16), Uzzah (I Chronicles 13:6-14 and 15:12-15), even King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:16-23) all intruded upon God’s prerogative to regulate His own worship and were all severely punished.
God asks: when you come to appear before Me, who has required this of your hand (Isaiah 1:12)? What do we offer to God as worship? Is that what God wants? Who says that what we do as worship actually is worship?
Historically, Christians have regulated worship by one of two principles. “The Normative Principle” says, “If God has not explicitly prohibited a practice, then that practice can be incorporated into worship.” But “The Regulative Principle” is more Biblical. “The Regulative Principle” is seen in Deuteronomy 12:29-31 where Israel is warned not to incorporate pagan worship practices into God’s worship. Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it (v.32). Worship is to entail only what God commands: nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. God accepts that worship which is based on the sacrifice of Jesus and is obedient to His commands.
Colossians 2:23 likewise warns the church not to be influenced by paganism. False worship, rooted in pride, is ritualistic, legalistic, and spiritually dead. It is self-made religion, man-invented, man-centered. Self-made religion has the appearance of wisdom, but is actually of no value. It is ineffective and will not nurture genuine spiritual life. Is there not a lot of self-made religion in the “Great Religions of the World”? Does God look at so much religion and say, In vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men (Matthew 15:9)?
What regulates worship today? The answer seems to be pragmatism. If it draws a crowd and pleases people, then it “works” and is welcomed. Today’s worship is often man-centered and amounts to nothing more than religious entertainment. Who is the focus of our worship? Who regulates our worship? When we worship, are we doing the things God commands, or filling up our time with man-made rituals designed to gratify self rather than to glorify God?
IV. Our Practice of Worship: Drawing Near to God
We are not left to our imagination as to how to worship. We cannot rely upon our sincerity. We are liable to sin and can be sincerely wrong. Yet worship must be sincere. It must express true heart-love to God, but it must be performed in obedience to the truth of God’s Word. We are to worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24).
In spirit: the heart of the worshipper is the heart of worship. We care about the external acts of worship, but the primary activity of worship is that of a believing heart. We engage not merely our emotions, but all our rational faculties (Romans 12:1,2). We also worship in truth. God’s Word regulates our worship. We are to obey God’s Word as we worship in His presence for the glory of His Name.
Worship is a two-way dynamic: Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). In worship we do things by which we draw near to God, and we do things by which God draws near to us. Old Covenant worship was performed in the temple by priests who offered sacrifice. The New Covenant church is now
God’s temple, and Christians are a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5). How do New Covenant priests draw near to God to offer these spiritual sacrifices?
First, when the church gathers to worship, we draw near to God in prayer. Thanksgiving and praise are sacrifices pleasing to God. (Hebrews 13:15,16) We are to approach God with humility and confession of sin: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit (Psalm 51:17). Our prayers are to envelop others in intercession. My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations (Mark 11:17; cf. 1 Timothy 2:1,2,8).
Secondly, we draw near by congregational singing. In the Old Covenant, music was offered to God by the Levitical priestly choir in unison… the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the Lord (2 Chronicles 5:12,13). Today the church is the New Covenant priestly choir united in worship that with one accord (we) may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 15:6). The church praises God with a unified voice of adoration. Colossians 3:16b envisions us with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thanksgiving in (our) hearts to God. Musical praise is not directed to men, but to God.