(#4)Worship Begins with
GOD'S WORD
(Nehemiah
9:3)
Which Word Comes First?
Worship is a response to what God shows us and tells us of himself. How can we know how to worship God? Only because God himself has spoken. Thus, the Word of God is essential to the worship of God. We have been seeing this all along. The Worship of God begins with God's Call. God speaks first, and we respond. We come at God's Word of invitation and command. Further, God REVEALS himself by his Word. He tells us who he is, what he is like and what he has done. He speaks his "name" and reveals his glory.
Since God speaks first about himself, then about us, worshiping God "according to his Word" must start with what the Word says about God. It is only on this foundation that we move on to consider God's Word as his commands or instructions to us. The order must not be reversed.
Thus in the Exodus, God's redeems or "creates" a people to worship him, tells them and shows them who he is, then says to them, "I am the LORD, your God. I have redeemed you to be mine." Only then does he give them the Law, instructing them how to live AS the redeemed people of God. And so, the "introduction" to the Law--"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out.... "--is the very basis for the Law. Similarly, when God renews his covenant in Exodus 34, after the rebellion with the golden calf, he begins by declaring his name, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God."
The pattern of many of the New Testament epistles is similar. They begin with a declaration and celebration of what God has done for us, then spell out the "practical" implications, of how we should live as God's people (Ephesians 4:1). The other side of this is that the declaring of God's will--of how his people should live--is the natural outflow of who he is and who he has made them to be.
Hearing the Word in Worship Deut 31:10-13
The Law was given in the context of worship on Sinai. And worship of the God who calls us and redeems us to be his own is the natural context for our hearing and responding to God's commands. We listen to God's Word, and delight in it. Why is the Word such a delight? First, because the Word tells us of God, and we long to know him better. Second, it tells us of God's deeds for us--the good news of salvation for sinners and mercy for the broken, the promise of grace for today, and our great hope of seeing his glory. Third, by it we know how to respond to God, how to give glory to God, how to be like him as his children, and how to bring pleasure to the Father we love.
These all fit together. It is precisely because we know and delight in HIM who has made us his own, that we delight in knowing MORE about him, and how to respond to him. We want to know how to serve him and how to show him our love. This is why the Psalmists can take such delight in God's "Law" (Psalms 1, 119). His Word is LIFE to those who know and love him. Their heart's desire is to know him and his WAYS.
And so, we come to God because we want to meet with him, to "see his face." But seeking his face includes wanting to hear what he says--both his words of grace and promise, and his words of instruction and command. The goal of those who say "Come, let us go to the mountain of the LORD" is for him to "teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." (Isaiah 2:2-3). The heart's desire of the Lord's people is to sit at his feet and listen to what he says. (Luke 10:39-41)
God's Worship Instructions
The Word God speaks teaches us how to live for him, how to serve him. And so, in the sense that "all of life is worship, " God's Word teaches us how to worship him.
But beyond this God also provided very specific instructions to the people about the things they were to do or to avoid in their "focused" times of worship, particularly in worship assemblies. Yet these commands are not tacked on to the revelation about God. What makes certain activities appropriate to worship or not? It is whether they are appropriate to God's own nature--the truth he has revealed about himself. Worship, including its forms, is rooted in God himself.
The Law contains very explicit commands and prohibitions. Specific feasts are commanded, the manner of presenting sacrifices is described, the use of images are forbidden. And the O.T. is filled with stories of God's judgment against worship that does not "measure up"--the golden calf, unauthorized fire, unauthorized touching of the ark of the covenant.
This is not, however, all that is condemned. The prophets declare that the people defile the worship of God by lives that dishonor him (Isaiah 1:10-17, Jeremiah 7:2-11"). In fact, the story of the Golden Calf points out the bond between corrupt worship and wicked living, for the people's idolatrous worship results in a licentious feast (cf. Romans 1:25-32).
One specific set of commands about Israel's worship concerned the PLACE of worship. The people were to worship him in the place he designated, first the tabernacle, then the Temple in Jerusalem. Further they were to build the place of worship it according to his specifications., according to "the plan I will show you" (Exodus 25:9) In fact, we are told that they did "just as the LORD commanded Moses" (a refrain used fifteen times in Exodus 39- 40).
This command does involve restrictions: the people cannot just build it any way they choose. But it is also a provision. God has declared that they will be his people who will worship him. How is this possible? It is possible because God makes all the provisions. Where are these former slaves to obtain the appropriate materials? God had already provided for that by making the hearts of the Egyptians favorably dispose toward them so that they "plundered the Egyptians" (Exodus 12:35-36). How will they carry out the work? God puts his Spirit on individuals, providing the gifts for building (Exodus 35:30-36:1)And how can the people know WHAT is an appropriate structure for worship? God himself will provide the blueprint!
So, the commands themselves are part of God's gracious provision--so that he can indeed meet with them, and they with him. (The next article will consider how God provides this WAY for us to worship him.)
Putting it Into Practice
- How does our celebration of the good news prepare for us to hear the "law"?
- Do we hear the whole Word of God in worship? How much of Scripture is used in our worship in the course of a year?
- How familiar are people with the stories? How can we use these stories in our worship? Drama? Narrations? The structure of the whole service?
- How do the words of Scripture shape the leader's comments?
- What provisions has God made for our worship? What use do we make of them?
- (see Pathways Service #4)