"And
Worship Him"
by
Norval F. Pease
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CHAPTER I
The Bible and Worship
THE STARTING POINT in our quest for a philosophy of worship will be the Bible. Andrew W. Blackwood, in his
excellent book The Fine Art of Public Worship, has spoken well:
"In the study of public worship, the best book is the Bible. The teachings there are usually indirect. The
method is that of example rather than precept. The Scriptures are so saturated with the spirit of worship,
and so filled with examples of how to sing and pray to God, that some scholar should write a book on the
subject."—P. 31.
The purpose of this chapter will be to survey the Biblical backgrounds which may help us in forming a
theology of worship. I can only sketch the great wealth of material in this field, but I hope this
presentation will motivate a deeper study of what the Bible says about this subject.
The Book of Genesis opens by presenting the basic reason for worship—God is the Creator, and we are His
creatures. God apparently intended that this relationship should be memorialized, for He established the
Sabbath as a weekly reminder of His creatorship. In blessing and sanctifying a day, He recognized time as
a fundamental symbol of worship. The first worship symbol He gave to man was not a tree, a rock, a building,
an altar, or an animal, but twenty-four hours, recurring every seven days. Could anything be more basic,
more universal than time?
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This symbol could not be changed by geography, by culture, or by the passing of
the years. To man, time is basic.
But God gave man something more than a holy day. He gave him Himself. He was a companion of Adam and Eve
in the Garden. The relationship was close; the worship was highly personal. After the entrance of sin,
worship continued, but on somewhat different terms. New symbols typified ultimate redemption from his
fallen state. Thus the altar and the lamb came into the picture of worship. The experience of Cain,
whose offering was not acceptable to God, is an early lesson in the fact that worship has theological
significance. It is more than a mere spontaneous gesture, done by man in his own way. It has to be in
harmony with a body of revelation which God has given to man.
As the population increased, worship became more complex. "Then began men to call upon the name of the
Lord." Genesis 4:26. (This was at the time of Enos, the grandson of Adam.) Regarding this verse, the
Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary says:
"In his time a more formal worship was begun. Man had of course called upon the Lord before Enos' birth,
but as time went on a more pronounced distinction arose between those who worshiped the Lord and those
who defied Him. The expression `to call upon the name of the Lord' is used frequently in the OT to
indicate, as it does here, public worship (Psalms 79:6; 116:17; Jeremiah 10:25; Zephaniah 3:9)."—Vol. 1, p. 244.
After coming out of the ark, Noah is described as worshiping God. (Genesis 8:20-22.) This worship followed
God's revelation of Himself to Noah, and was followed by God's blessing on Noah.
The same pattern is evident in the Old Testament descriptions of Abraham's relationship to God. In Genesis
12:7 we read, "And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there
builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him." Genesis 13:14-18 describes God's repetition of
His promise to Abram, and ends with the familiar words, "Then Abram ... built there an altar unto the Lord.
"
When Abraham proved his faith on Mount Moriah,
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he responded to the welcome voice of the angel of God by
offering up the ram for a burnt offering. On another occasion Abraham worshiped his God by giving his tithes
to the priest of God. On yet another, he "planted a tamarisk tree," the Revised Standard Version says,
"in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God."
When Abraham's servant recognized how the providences of God had led him in finding a wife for Isaac, he
said, "And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham,
which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son." Genesis 24:48.
When Jacob met the Lord at Bethel, he responded by setting up a pillar, pouring oil on it, making a vow,
and calling the place Bethel, "God's house." (Genesis 28:18-22.) Years later, God directed Jacob to return
to this same spot and "make there an altar unto God." (Genesis 35:1.) God spoke to him again and renewed to
him the promise which had been given to his grandfather; "and Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he
talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel [the house of God]." (Verses 14,
15.)
These incidents teach us something about worship in pre-Mosaic times. It was characteristically a response
of a man to a personal encounter with God. Man worshiped, not to appease a God whom he feared but to
express
his gratitude and love to a God who had revealed Himself to him. The symbols were simple—an altar, a lamb,
a rock, a tree, a pillar, a bowed head, a place called "the house of God." Worship was very personal and
very real. God came very close to man, and man's response was worship.
During the Mosaic age worship continued to be personal, but new dimensions were added as God shaped Israel
into a nation. God confronted Moses at the burning bush, and Moses was directed to remove his shoes because
he was standing on holy ground. When Aaron told the nation of slaves that God was about to deliver them,
"they bowed their heads and worshipped." (Exodus 4:31.)
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When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, their plea
was that Israel should be freed to worship God.
When Israel was delivered, a service of worship was established—the Passover—and God told them, "And ye
shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever." Exodus 12:24. When Israel
passed safely through the Red Sea, Moses and the people sang a song of praise to their God. Once in the
desert, Israel was reminded by the miracle of the manna of their responsibility to a day of worship. When
God gave the law from Sinai, the first four commandments dealt with worship. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy deal largely with two subjects—worship and ethics.
Mosaic worship, as outlined in the Pentateuch, consisted of Sabbaths, special feast days, sacrifices, a Day
of Atonement, a priesthood, and a sanctuary. This system did not evolve—it was revealed. The worship of
Israel was based on theology—a theology including the transcendence of God, the sinfulness of man, the grace
of God, and the necessity of forgiveness.
A perversion of worship appeared in the case of Aaron's golden calf. This incident was serious because it
represented theologically unsound worship. This calf was not the God that brought them out of Egypt. Aaron's
sin was similar to Cain's—substitution of a manner of worship formulated by man for the manner revealed by
God.
The final public act of Moses was a song of worship (Deuteronomy 32) in which five times he characterized
God as a Rock. "He is the Rock," said Moses, "his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of
truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." Verse 4. This was worship of the highest order.
During
the Mosaic age, worship became more complex to fit developing theological concepts. Place became more
significant with the development of a nation. A priesthood became an integral part of the program. The
central theme was sacrifice, but the personal nature of worship was retained, because many of the
sacrifices were personal. Although the details were minutely prescribed, there was only one prescribed
prayer—the priestly benediction
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of Numbers 6:24-26. This system of worship had a special purpose as pointed out in Patriarchs and
Prophets, page 358: "Thus in the ministration of the tabernacle, and of the temple that afterward took its
place, the people were taught each day the great truths relative to Christ's death and ministration, and
once each year their minds were carried forward to the closing events of the great controversy between
Christ and Satan, the final purification of the universe from sin and sinners."
The history of Israel from their conquest of Canaan to the captivity was marked by a constant struggle
regarding worship. One problem was the attractive cult of Baal worship, a cult marked by ethical standards
as low as its liturgy was fascinating. This worship was a return to Aaron's golden calf and all that it
represented. The judges attacked this problem. Samuel established the schools of the prophets, one of the
purposes of which was to maintain the worship of God. Elijah fought this false worship manfully.
By the time of the eighth-century prophets, Israel's worship had degenerated into empty form, made
meaningless by low moral standards. Amos quoted the Lord as saying, "I hate, I despise your feast days,
and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings,
I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me
the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters,
and righteousness as a mighty stream. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness
forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the
star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity, . . .
saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts." Amos 5:21-27.
Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, and others repeated this refrain over and over again, but with little effect.—Prophets
and Kings states:
"The temple services were continued as in former years, and multitudes assembled to worship
the living God; but pride and formality gradually took the place of humility and
sincerity. "—Pp. 303, 304.
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The prophets did not attack the sacrificial system as such they resisted its abuses. Worship had become buried
in liturgy and form. Worshipers ignored their ethical responsibilities. Contemporary patterns of worship
supplanted revealed principles. And as a result of this departure from true worship, Israel went into exile.
Reformers such as Josiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel tried in vain to reverse the trend.
After the return from exile, the Temple and the priesthood were reestablished. Much emphasis was placed on
the law, but in place of the spiritual emphasis of the prophets a new variety of externalism which we speak
of as "Judaism" developed. This was the highly ritualistic and legalistic religion that Christ met in His day.
The ritual was maintained by an entrenched priesthood and the legalism by the scribes who worshiped the law.
Despite the failures of Israel, the Old Testament has left a great heritage in the field of worship. The
worship literature, including the Psalms, is unsurpassed. The basic concerns of Old Testament
worship—forgiveness of sins and joy in the Lord—were right, though badly abused. The prophetic emphasis on
ethical worship was unsurpassed. The very failures of the people of the Old Testament teach us valuable
lessons regarding worship. The Old Testament stands almost unique among the literary remains of antiquity
in teaching the worship of one God, without the use of idols, based on love rather than fear, with high
ethical standards.
The ritual of the Old Testament varied with time and place from the vow taken by Jacob over a lonely pile
of stones to the ornate worship of Solomon's Temple. Underlying all of these variations was a revelation
of a God of power, love, and purpose. Old Testament worship was theologically oriented; and when men became
uncertain about their theology, their worship lost its meaning. When prophets of God revived theological
truth, worship came alive again. The revelation of the Old Testament is not to be disregarded. Where, in
all the writings of men, could be found a finer song of praise to God than the 145th Psalm?
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"I will extol thee, my God and King,
and bless thy name for ever and ever.
Every day I will bless thee,
and praise thy name for ever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
"One generation shall laud thy works to another,
and shall declare thy mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of thy majesty,
and on thy wondrous works, I will meditate.
Men shall proclaim the might of thy terrible acts,
and I will declare thy greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of thy abundant goodness,
and shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
"The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and his compassion is over all that he has made.
"All thy works shall give thanks to thee, O Lord,
and all thy saints shall bless thee!
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom,
and tell of thy power,
to make known to the sons of men thy mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendor of thy kingdom.
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and thy dominion endures throughout all generations.
"The Lord is faithful in all his words,
and gracious in all his deeds.
The Lord upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to thee,
and thou givest them their food in due season.
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Thou openest thy hand,
thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is just in all his ways,
and kind in all his doings.
The Lord is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
He fulfils the desire of all who fear him,
he also hears their cry, and saves them.
The Lord preserves
all who love him;
but all the wicked he will destroy.
"My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever."
(R.S.V.)
And now we turn to the New Testament. I know of no better way of introducing the
topic of worship in the
New Testament than to read a quotation from The Desire of Ages:
"Christ saw that something must be done. Numerous ceremonies were enjoined upon the people without the proper
instruction as to their import. The worshipers offered their sacrifices with out understanding that they
were typical of the only perfect Sacrifice. And among them, unrecognized and unhonored, stood the One
symbolized by all their service. He had given directions in regard to the offerings. He understood their
symbolical value, and He saw that they were now perverted and misunderstood. Spiritual worship was fast
disappearing. No link bound the priests and rulers to their God. Christ's work was to establish an
altogether
different worship."—P. 157. (Italics supplied.)
The Temple of Christ's day was the one great link with the worship of Israel's past. Its services were
reminiscent of the tabernacle and Solomon's Temple. Jesus' acquaintance with this center of worship began
in childhood and continued throughout His life. Often He taught in its courts and attended its services.
He even paid the Temple tax.
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But it was this Temple that He cleansed with such rigor. He stated that this structure should be "the house
of prayer" rather than a place of merchandise. He even called it His Father's house. The religious teachers
seemed to feel apprehensive that Jesus was a threat to the Temple. At His trial His enemies charged that He
had threatened to destroy the Temple.
The real threat to the Temple and its system of worship was revealed in Jesus' conversation with the
Samaritan woman when He said, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain,
nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.... But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit: and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John 4:21-24.
This was the "altogether different worship" that The Desire of Ages refers to. Ellen White further
develops the meaning of this new worship by stating:
"Not by seeking a holy mountain or a sacred temple are men brought into communion with heaven. Religion is
not to be confined to external forms and ceremonies. The religion that comes from God is the only religion
that will lead to God. In order to serve Him aright, we must be born of the divine Spirit. This will purify
the heart and renew the mind, giving us a new capacity for knowing and loving God. It will give us a willing
obedience to all His requirements. This is true worship. It is the fruit of the working of the Holy
Spirit.
By the Spirit every sincere prayer is indited, and such prayer is acceptable to God. Wherever a soul reaches
out after God, there the Spirit's working is manifest, and God will reveal Himself to that soul. For such
worshipers He is seeking. He waits to receive them, and to make them His sons and
daughters."—P. 189.
(Italics supplied.)
When Jesus hung on the cross, the Temple veil was torn from top to bottom. The service of the Temple had
served its purpose. The reality had come. From that time on every man could approach God directly, without
the ministration of a priest. This experience was not limited by geography, but could take place
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wherever
man approached God "in spirit and in truth." This tremendous truth had great implications for divine worship.
Temples, altars, animal sacrifices, priests, vestments—"God could do no more for man through these channels.
The whole system must be swept away."—Ibid., p. 36.
But it was not only the Temple service with which Jesus was displeased. Since the return from exile, the
synagogue had developed. This was the place of weekly worship—the church of Israel. It is reported that
Jerusalem itself contained over four hundred of these shortly before its destruction in A.D. 70.
Jesus attended the synagogue, even as He visited the Temple. In a synagogue He preached one of His early
sermons, but He was not happy with the worship He saw there. His most vitriolic condemnation was for
people who loved the chief seats in the synagogue. (Matthew 23.) He spoke of those who "love to pray
standing in the synagogues." (Matthew 6:5.) He criticized the "vain repetitions."
The historical records of Jesus' day reveal that the synagogue service contained many formal prayers,
repeated over and over again. The rabbis had developed strict rules governing the way these prayers were
to be offered. The Sabbath services, therefore, had become stereotyped and repetitious. To meet this
situation, Jesus said, "After this manner ... pray ye," and gave the Lord's Prayer; and to this day some
of His followers use it as a formal prayer to be repeated over and over from memory rather than as a sample
to suggest the form and content of free prayer. This is not to suggest that the Lord's Prayer should never
be repeated, but rather that free, spontaneous prayer fulfills the principle that the Lord's Prayer was
given to illustrate.
Although the synagogue of Jesus' day was the model in many respects for the later Christian church, its
liturgy was not Jesus' pattern for His church. He had come to establish something "altogether different."
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Jesus recognized, as did the Old Testament prophets, the importance of ethical worship. He taught it in a
most dramatic way. He said, "If thou bring thy gift to the altar [here is a picture of
the worshiper in the very act of worship as practiced in the Temple], and there rememberest that thy brother
hath ought against thee [here the worshiper recalls some problem in his interpersonal relations]; leave
there thy gift before the altar [don't wait until the gift is offered—leave
it], and go thy way; first be
reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Matthew 5:23, 24. This is part of the
"altogether different" nature of Christian worship. It becomes meaningless in the atmosphere of selfishness,
hatred, or impurity. The prophets had taught this centuries earlier. Jesus demanded it of His followers.
Jesus' attitude toward ceremonial washings is also illustrative of His attitude toward worship. He was
concerned about the inward life, not the outward forms. "It is the evil deed, the evil word, the evil
thought, the transgression of the law of God, not the neglect of external, man-made ceremonies, that
defiles a man." —The Desire of Ages, p. 397.
At the close of the Master's life, He employed three symbols which have been used by Christians in their
worship. The first two, the bread and the wine, are used by nearly every Christian communion. The third,
the towel, is used by only a few. These symbols are eloquent in their simplicity. Bread and wine speak to
us of nourishment, and the towel of cleansing. These are almost as fundamental as the original symbol of
time on which worship was founded at the dawn of creation. Truly Jesus set a new pattern for worship, a
pattern that departed from the Old Testament system which had served its purpose. While it resembled the
teaching of the prophets, it had a new content, for the Desire of Ages had come. This "altogether different"
factor was symbolized by the Lord's Supper, the continual reminder of the atonement.
How did this new approach to worship fare after Jesus left His followers? The first meeting of His immediate
followers after His ascension was marked by "prayer and supplication," and a business meeting to fill a
vacancy. The second meeting included the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, a sermon by Peter, who gave his
testimony regarding the risen Lord, and a mass baptism. The new fellowship continued, we are told, "in
breaking of breaking of bread, and in prayers." (Acts 2:42.)
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The believers also worshiped in the Temple
and in private homes, and their worship included a great deal of praise and personal testimony.
Sermons were preached in strange places—before the Sanhedrin, prior to a public stoning, in synagogues,
in houses, in chariots, in jails—wherever the need of the moment demanded. The emphasis was on bearing
testimony to the resurrected Christ. The Lord's Supper was observed—sometimes in an improper manner.
There were Scripture readings, singing, offerings, prayers, ecstatic utterances, baptisms, and church
trials. Regarding apostolic worship, Ilion T. Jones says:
"Granted that the pattern of the synagogue worship was followed in general outline, Christian worship was
something else. It was not synagogue worship to which was added another formal feature called the Lord's
Supper; it contained a new ingredient of a different quality and force. For want of a better
term let us
call this new ingredient `spontaneity.' It was this that put `life' into New Testament worship, that made
it dynamic, enthusiastic, intimate, heartfelt, and that distinguished it from other types of worship."—
A Historical Approach to Evangelical Worship, p. 85.
Gaines S. Dobbins, of the Golden Gate Seminary, in his book The Church at Worship makes an excellent
statement regarding New Testament worship and its meaning:
"First-century Christians assembled in order to keep in touch with reality. Life had to be lived, often
under hard circumstances. The Christian witness had to be borne in spite of temptations to evasion and
compromise. Christian service to others had to be rendered notwithstanding their own need. Dissensions
and heresies within the church had to be dealt with, even though it would have been easier to ignore the
problems and difficulties. Worship had to be kept restrained and understandable without chilling the ardor
of those whose enthusiasm led them to ecstatic `speaking with tongues.' Baptism and the Lord's Supper had
to be guarded lest these two simple rites become perverted into saving acts. Salvation by God's grace in
Christ through repentance and faith alone had to be maintained in the face of the contention of the
Judaizers.
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"When the church assembled, it was not just to listen to a sermon and join in songs of
praise—the coming
together of the baptized believers was for serious business in which all members had both the privilege
and the responsibility to participate. Such participation was the essence of worship. Divine guidance was
sought and found that the life of the church might be made relevant to the affairs of men.
"First-century Christians met for edification. It was recognized that Christians need to be `built up.'
Jesus said, `I will build my church,' and in doing so he `went about all the cities and villages, teaching
in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity'
(Matt. 9:35). "How are Christians edified? According to the practice of Jesus, by engaging in teaching,
preaching, and healing. Following Jesus' example, Christians are to `go about' carrying on this threefold
activity. In order to teach, they must be taught; in order to preach, they must listen to preaching; in
order to heal, they must themselves be healed. Are we not here at the heart of the purpose of church-going?
A church with power is made up of members who come together in the spirit of worship to be so taught and
inspired that they will go out to share with others what they have received."—Pp. 19, 20.
I believe Dobbins has caught the genius of New Testament worship. References to the Christian worship of
that day convince us that these services were extremely varied in type. They may have partaken of the nature
of a revival meeting, an evangelistic service, a business meeting, a testimony service, a prayer meeting,
or a missionary service. The people who attended were faced by two immediate problems: survival and testimony.
As a hated minority they were trying to promote their message in an indifferent or unfriendly world. They
didn't come to church to be anesthetized but to be energized. They recognized they had a mission, and their
worship was centered in Christ, who had laid upon them their mission. Dobbins declares, "Worship in the New
Testament is inseparably related to service."—P. 33. I believe he is right. This was one of the "altogether
different" factors that Jesus introduced.
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We must not introduce a philosophy of worship completely divorced from the realities of Christian activity.
I believe that New Testament worship—which should be our pattern—was characterized by devotion to the
spreading of a message. We must not seek a brand of worship that is purely aesthetic. I believe worship must
be orderly and beautiful, but I believe it should have the functional beauty of a jet airplane rather than
the embellishment of a nineteenth-century railway coach.
Many authors have defined worship. Brenner declares, "Worship is what happens when a good man becomes fully
aware of the presence and purpose of God." Jones says, "Worship . . . is what a thinking man does as he
approaches another thinking being called God." In a sermon given in his church in London during the summer
of 1965, John R. W. Stott defined worship as "the adoring response to God of sinners saved by grace."
These definitions attempt to describe the reality of the worship experience. They endeavor to put in a few
words the Bible picture of man responding to God's love and grace with thoughtful adoration and reverence.
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