Reformation
and Worship
The
God of the Bible is “the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9; Jeremiah
10:10). He is a God of majesty and greatness. The Westminster Shorter Catechism
succinctly explains the splendor of God in question #4, What is God? And the
answer is, “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being,
wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” What does this mean? It
means there is none like Him; He is the Majestic, Sovereign, the King of kings,
and the Lord of lords; and He alone is worthy of all praise and worship. The
Apostle John, in his vision on the worship of God in heaven, heard a voice from
heaven saying, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power:
for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were
created” (Revelation 4:11). The crucial question now is: How is this God to be
worshipped? Sadly, all through the history of the Christian church, both in the
Old and the New Testaments, people had misconceived ideas of worship. People
tended to worship God according to their whims and fancies. Thankfully, the
period of the 16th Century Protestant Reformation helped the church
to restore the true biblical and gospel-centered worship. The centerpiece of
medieval worship was the Eucharist, with much ritualistic practices around it.
The Reformers changed that system by bringing in the preaching of God’s Word as
the very center of worship, with rightful emphasis on singing of hymns and
psalms, and the celebration of the sacraments.
Biblical
Pattern of Worship
In
the Old Testament, the whole focus of worship was the holy and triune God. This
God was to be worshipped in an orderly and reverential manner, as commanded in
His holy Law. The Tabernacle and the Temple system of worship that the Lord
detailed to Israel through Moses, recorded in the Books of Exodus and
Leviticus, is an indication that God was seriously concerned about the manner
by which man needed to worship Him. There was no ambiguity in God’s
communication to man, detailing all His requirements of holy and reverential
worship. Man had to simply follow God’s instruction concerning this. He was not
allowed to come in with any innovation of his sinful flesh. Significantly, the
centrality of the Tabernacle and the Temple worship was the Ark of the Covenant
or Testimony, which contained the Law of God. The Lord said to Moses, “And thou
shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the
testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will
commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims
which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee
in commandment unto the children of Israel” (Exodus 25:21-22). Having given a
detailed description on worship, God raised the priests and prophets to work
around the system He established. They kept the Law of God close to their
hearts, and faithfully served the Lord.
When
God gave the Law to Israel through Moses, the Lord commanded in the first two
commandments saying, “I am the LORD thy God ... Thou shalt have no other gods
before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of
any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is
in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:2-4). God alone is the only proper
recipient of man’s worship. This God must not be worshipped by means of human
inventions. Later, God warned Israel through His prophet Isaiah, “I am the
LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my
praise to graven images” (Isaiah 42:8).
Man,
in the Old Testament, tried worshipping God with his own inventions, which God
considered as a serious violation of His law and punished him severely. To
begin with, Genesis 4:3-7 records Cain and Abel’s worship. God accepted Abel’s
worship and rejected Cain’s worship as it was not according to the will of God.
When Cain got angry at the rejection of his offering, this was God’s reply, “And
the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin
lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over
him” (Genesis 4:6-7).
Exodus
32 records the story of Aaron making for the people of Israel the golden calf
that would serve as a visible symbol of deity for them to worship. God
responded to their gross violation of His commandment, “They have turned aside
quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten
calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be
thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the
LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked
people: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and
that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation” (Exodus
32:8-10).
Moses
records another incident of man’s manipulation of God’s ordained worship in
Leviticus 10. This time it was Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, the High
Priest of Israel, “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them
his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange
fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from
the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD” (Leviticus 10:1-2).
This incident is a perpetual warning to everyone who presumes to worship God
without obeying His command on how He is to be worshipped. The Lord responded
through Moses to Aaron, saying, “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh
me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace”
(verse 3).
It
is significant to note that it was worship, centered on the Law of God, that
kept Israel close to God. When people neglected the Law of God there was no
true worship and spiritual revival in their midst, but alienation from God.
Without the Law of God, there was no truth in their midst, but only confusion,
and as a result, disobedience to God. The problem of Israel was, “Now for a
long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching
priest, and without law” (2 Chronicles 15:3). When the kingdom of Judah
experienced spiritual revival during the reigns of kings like Asa, Jehoshaphat,
Hezekiah, and Josiah, the secret was that the Law of the LORD was with them. Of
Jehoshaphat it was told that he “sought to the LORD God of his father, and
walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel” (2 Chronicles
17:4). For Hezekiah, “he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following
him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses” (2 Kings 18:6).
King Josiah, while repairing the erstwhile neglected Temple, discovered the
Book of the Law of the LORD, and responded by making a covenant before the
LORD, “Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and
Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of
Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and
all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the
book of the covenant that was found in the house of the LORD. And the king stood in his place, and made a
covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments,
and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his
soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book” (2
Chronicles 34:29-31).
When
Judah returned from the captivity of Babylon, Ezra and Nehemiah brought revival
to the returnees when they called the attention of the nation to the Law of
God. As people began rebuilding their lives, homes, and establishments, they
had to forsake their old ways of compromise with the pagan systems and
practices around them to be fully dedicated to the Lord and to His
commandments. Ezra first called for the confession of their sins with a fast
and repentance before God. This happened with the Law of God as he was himself
committed to God’s Law and determined to teach it to the people, “For Ezra had
prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in
Israel statutes and judgments” (Ezra 7:10). Chapter 8 in the book of Nehemiah explains
in detail the centrality of God’s Law in the revival brought to the returnees
by Ezra and Nehemiah. It was not a healing service or a blessing service (as we
hear of today) that brought true revival to the sin-stricken hearts of the
people, but the faithful reading and exposition of God’s Word, and the clear
understanding people received thereby, which resulted in people forsaking their
old ways, and committing their lives to follow the Lord. The following
description of the events that happened should be an eye opener for today’s
church that only goes after miracles and blessings, “And all the people
gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the
water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of
Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the
law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with
understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that
was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the
women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were
attentive unto the book of the law. And
Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the
purpose; . . . And Ezra opened the book
in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he
opened it, all the people stood up: And
Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen,
with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the
LORD with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah,
Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan,
Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the
people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly,
and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah,
which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that
taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD
your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the
words of the law. Then he said unto
them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto
them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither
be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength. So the Levites stilled
all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye
grieved. And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send
portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that
were declared unto them” (Nehemiah 8:1-12).
For
the worship in the New Testament, the Synagogue system of worship was simple
and straight forward. Synagogue services typically began with praises and
prayers. There were standard prayers and benedictions, some of them used every
week. The Scriptures were read, translated when necessary, and expounded in the
form of preaching. This was the system the Apostles followed when they took the
gospel movement forward, according to the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This pattern is seen in the book of Acts as
we read in Acts 2:41-42, “Then they that gladly received his word were
baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand
souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship,
and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
Further,
in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ in John 4 explains the how and what
of true worship. Christ, in His conversation with the Samaritan woman, tells
her, “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this
mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not
what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 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). The place of worship is not important, but the Person we worship
and the manner in which we worship Him are important. The Samaritans worshipped
what they did not know as they had created their own religion. On the contrary,
Jesus said, “we know what we worship.” The Jews had divine guidelines for
worship as God revealed Himself to them and His plan of salvation. Hence, God
needs to be worshipped with correct understanding of who He is and what He does.
In other words, worship is not mystical but intelligible. To this Jesus added,
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth.” This means the heart and mind must go hand in hand in the worship of
God. Our emotion in worship must be controlled by the right knowledge of the
truth of God. The truth is “the word of truth, the gospel” of our salvation
(Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:5). It is this gospel of truth that brought
salvation to our souls and it is this gospel that anchors our hearts to true
Christian worship. When we have the truth of God, we will have a real passion
for true worship. It is important to know that truth and only the truth of God
can properly influence the emotions in such a way that would bring glory and
honor to God.
Reformed
Worship
The
period of the Protestant Reformation witnessed great emphasis on true biblical
worship, according to the established Old and New Testament traditions. Pulpit
preaching became central during the worship services, along with rightful focus
on psalm/hymn singing, and the administration of the sacraments. Prior to the
Reformation, during the period of the medieval church, the church swayed away
from the established biblical tradition of worship. The focus of medieval
church worship was not on the preaching of the Word, but more on the
ritualistic, especially the celebration of the Eucharist. During this period,
worship was conceived as a meeting between God and His people. However, it was
a meeting where God had very little to say, but the officiating priest
dominated the service mainly with rituals. He, through the elements of bread
and wine, which the church believed miraculously transformed into the body and
blood of Christ, offered to God a propitiation, an appeasement, for the sins of
the people. This was a gross violation of the Lord Jesus Christ’s intention of
instituting the Lord’s Supper, which the church had to practice as a memorial
of the Lord’s propitiatory work on the Cross for the spiritual benefit of the
souls of His children.
The
Reformation transformed such an erroneous system of worship by bringing into
focus Christ’s finished work of redemption. As a result, people were called to
come to God in worship with thankfulness and to offer themselves unto Him for
His holy service. In other words, the Reformers understood that Christian
worship services should not be an enactment of what Christ has already
accomplished for His people on Calvary, but a celebration of Calvary and an apt
response to Calvary. This means, the Reformers emphasized the point that there
was no need for Christians to do the work of justification for their sins. It
was because Christ, on behalf of them, as their vicar, took upon Himself the
punishment of their sins and paid the price for their sins through His atoning
death. This also means that the gospel promise, the good news of salvation,
promised by the Old Testament Law, was fulfilled on the Cross, and therefore
the Christian worship service should be a celebration of the gospel. This
means, the Reformation emphasized that what was paramount in Christian worship
services was the message of the gospel—the just shall live by faith, and faith
alone! This message of the gospel should be echoed each time when Christians
gather together for worship that they would be challenged unto good works,
which is their reasonable service unto God. Paul captured this idea of
Christian worship and explains in Romans 12 and Ephesians 2. Paul says in
Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” And in Ephesians 2:8-10 he adds, “For
by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them.”
The Regulative
Principle of Worship:
Having understood the biblical injunction for true worship, the Reformed
churches, as early as 16th and 17th centuries, formulated
and followed what is sometimes called the “Regulative Principle of Worship.” The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) explains the Regulative Principle
in the following way, “The acceptable way of worshiping the true God is
established by God himself. God’s revealed will so defines and outlines proper
worship that neither the imaginations and devices of men nor the suggestions of
Satan are to be followed. God is not to be worshiped under any visible
representation or in any other way than that prescribed in Holy Scripture.” It
prescribed, according to the biblical pattern, a simple and straightforward
system of worship without ornamentation, images, or even theatrical gestures.
Accordingly, the Reformed church pastors followed a fixed order of worship
service with the following constituents: invocation, confession of sins,
assurance of pardon, singing of psalms, prayer for illumination, lessons from
Scripture, sermon, collection of offerings, prayers of intercession, the
Apostles’ Creed, words of institution, instruction and exhortation, communion,
prayer of thanksgiving, and benediction.
Centrality of Preaching
the Word of God:
Like the medieval church, the Reformers too considered worship as a meeting
between God and His people. But they ascribed to God a more active and generous
role as they considered that God speaks to His people in worship. Reformers
acknowledged that worship is much more than service or giving to God; in
worship God speaks in words the people could understand. The pastors or the
ministers of the gospel are the mouthpiece of God, expounding the gospel truth,
the fulfillment of God’s salvation promise for His people. As the people understand
the truth of the gospel, which Paul calls the renewing of their mind, they are
transformed unto the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that they “may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). This
preaching is not a new revelation that the preacher adds unto the already
revealed will of God for the church, which is condemned in the Scripture
(Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Revelation 22:18) or not even foretelling the future. The
Reformers believed in the sufficiency of the Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17). On
the contrary, it is testifying the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24); it
is making the truth of the gospel understandable and relevant; it is declaring
all the counsel of God, revealed in God’s Word (Acts 21:27); and it is feeding
the church of God (Acts 21:28) that the saints of God may be perfected in the
wisdom of God, growing unto the fullness of Christ. The Apostle Paul explains
this ministry of the church, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets;
and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ: That we henceforth be no more
children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by
the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to
deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ: From
whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every
joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part,
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians
4:11-16).
The Eucharist: The Reformed churches
did not completely abandon the celebration of the Eucharist, but it was
significantly reconfigured. The Reformers denied the Catholic Church’s view of
(re)propitiation for sins, as the priest, representing the people, offered up
Christ’s body and blood to God the Father. They believed the Scriptural
teaching on the sufficiency and finality of Christ’s sacrifice for the sins of
His people on the Cross (Hebrews 10:14; cf. John 19:30). Although there were
differences among the Reformers regarding Christ’s presence at the Lord’s
Supper, they recognized the fact that through the celebration of the Supper,
the believers are spiritually nourished and strengthened. This understanding of
the Eucharist facilitated the Reformers to shuffle the church furniture. The
altar was rechristened as the communion table, and the priest was rechristened
as a minister. The priest, who used to walk around the altar during the
Eucharist as a representative of the people, now stood facing the people,
reminding them of the finished work of Christ on the Cross. Hence, the Lord’s
Supper became no more an enactment of propitiation for sin, but a celebration
of Christians’ deliverance from the burden of sin and the curse of death.
Psalms and Hymns
Singing:
It was King David, the great musician of Israel, who first introduced singing
in God’s Temple (1 Chronicles 6:31-48; 15:22; 25:1-3; 2 Chronicles 25:29).
There were musicians specially set apart from the Levites, appointed for
leading singing and playing instruments in the Temple worship. Ever since then,
singing was a part of Temple worship. Singing was very much a practice in the
New Testament worship as well (Matthew 26:30; Romans 15:9; 1 Corinthians 14:15;
Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 2:12; 13:15; James 5:13). Psalms,
hymns, and spiritual songs were used for singing in the worship of God. During
the medieval period, since Eucharist was the central focus of worship in the
Catholic system, congregational involvement was very minimal, and their role in
worship was largely observing rather than participating. The Reformers then
introduced the practice of congregational singing in worship. The Reformed
churches, especially from the Calvinistic tradition, practiced exclusive
psalmody (Psalm singing). However, later with the arrival of great hymn writers
like Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, and others, hymnody (hymn singing) became a
practice as well in many Reformed churches.
Today
the Church in Peril, and the Solution
The
church is in peril today, and the reason is that the church has abandoned the
true biblical, God-honoring worship, and has gone after man’s innovative ways
of worship which are neither biblical nor God-honoring, but carnal, and individualistic.
R C Sproul, one of the present-day great Reformed theologians, notes three most
critical perils the church faces today: 1. the loss of biblical truth. He says,
“when the truth of the gospel is compromised or negotiated, the church ceases
to be evangelical;” 2. the loss of any sense of discipline in the church; and
3. the loss of faithful worship. He says, “there are different styles of
worship that can be pleasing to God. However, all worship that is pleasing to
God is worship grounded in Spirit and in truth.” How sad it is today that the
church has abandoned the truth of the gospel, and along with it, gone is the
true biblical worship. This is where we see the relevance of Reformed worship.
R C Sproul continues, “Historic Protestants have forgotten what they were
protesting in the sixteenth century. The central protest of the Reformation
church was the protest against the eclipse of the gospel that had taken place
in the medieval church.”
Today,
in many Christian churches, the scenario is that they have either been
overtaken by mere dead traditionalism, practicing all the traditions of the forefathers,
minus the truth of the gospel, or they have been deceived by the devil in the
name of the so-called “spirit-filled, anointed, worship” where mere emotions
and sound take center stage, minus the Word of God. This way, Christianity has
become merely a religion of convenience for name sake, without any conviction
of the truth of God for its faith and practice.
Where
is the preaching of the gospel in the churches today? People seem tired of
hearing the Word today. Lesser the preaching, the more popular the church; this
has become the church growth formula today. Music and other gimmicks of man
take the center stage in church worship services, and people call it “the
anointing of the Holy Spirit.” Preaching has been shortened to 10-15 minutes,
whereas for “praise and worship” one hour or more is devoted. Contemporary
songs sung with mere repetition of words and popular tunes and highly spirited
instrumental rhythm and sound along with swaying of hands in the air and making
of funny noises and gestures and creating ruckus on the ground are considered
“the anointing of the Spirit” and spiritual worship. Special healing and
blessing services are held by self-proclaimed and self-anointed “prophets and
apostles” who do not know how to faithfully expound the Scripture from the
context and faithfully preach the gospel to the congregation. Their practices
on the stage, in the name of “the anointing of the Holy Spirit,” surpass all
biblical standards and parameters. These so-called “prophets and apostles” do
not even believe in the infallibility, inerrancy, sufficiency, and authority of
the Scripture, the Word of God.
The
only solution for the peril of the church today is the truth of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The need of the hour are biblical churches where God’s
Word is honored, the gospel is faithfully preached week after week, sin of the
people is not covered, but exposed, and people are called to repentance and
holy living, and in that way, truly worshipping God in spirit and in truth. For
this, the church requires biblically and theologically trained preachers and
teachers of the Word of God, who are led by the Spirit of God to live a holy
life, and with all humility, trusting in God, faithfully dividing the Word of
truth to the congregation, and helping them to grow spiritually and to live a
holy life. This was the call of the 16th Century Reformation, and
today the church needs to heed the same call.
Conclusion
True
biblical worship is truth-centered and spirit-filled. The truth that guides
worship is the truth of the gospel that reminds a sinner that there is nothing
good in him to come to God, but God in His mercy, has reached out to him by
sending His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and through His righteous
life and completed atoning work on the Cross, his sins are forgiven, and he has
been counted righteous before God. Therefore, the saved sinner has the
responsibility to respond to God by consecrating his life unto God. He needs to
be constantly reminded of his unworthiness before God and God’s mercy toward
him, and all that God has expected of Him. He needs to be constantly
transformed by the understanding of what the Lord has done for him and what the
Lord will do for Him. The Spirit of God would work with his spirit in this
process of transformation. This is the true worship that the Lord expects of
every saint of God, worshipping God in spirit and in truth. This was the
Apostle Paul’s expectation when he wrote to the Christians in Rome, “I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). May the Lord help us!
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