I have been receiving your letters/articles for about two months now and have always appreciated them. I was never really compelled to respond in the affirmative or negative regarding any of the messages. And this reply follows in that spirit--it is neither an affirmation nor a rebuke--it is merely an observation of my own.
WORTHY worship--what a grand theological debate. This debate has, without a doubt, characterized and defined religion and religious acts for centuries and, sadly, has been the source of much unnecessary division. I say unnecessary because the defining factor among all worship finally boils down to intent--for whom and for what reason is the worship being given?
From our waking moment til’ we pillow our heads at night, all our lives are worship to God. In every way, shape, and form, our lives are being lived constantly in the ever-present view of our God who knows our every thought and every motive. We become preoccupied with the irrelevant (should we, MAY we raise our hands in praise, clap in our songs and after performances, fall on our faces in humility towards God, etc...), and we miss the one most important and most relevant aspect of all--motive.
What does it matter if we raise our hands in praise, what does it matter if we clap our hands in song if we do not consider the motivation behind it? If I raise my hands in praise to be seen by other people, with the intent of conveying such piety and “worshipfulness” to other people, have I not gained my reward as did those who stood on the street corners to be seen of men, who fasted with such wretched physical stature that those who saw them could not help but be moved by such apparent selflessness towards God?
On the other hand, if my gestures are out of a heart-felt desire to somehow express my love and desire for the Father, would He be pleased as He looked in my heart and saw a soul longing only for His acceptance?
We must seem pitiful to God at times, scurrying to and fro with such fretful hearts wondering if this is pleasing or if that is pleasing. We become bogged down in appropriateness and eventually confine ourselves to do little or nothing for fear that we will only disturb others, displease God, or both. I suspect it has always and will always come to this determination unless we come to realize that God only wants our praise--our honest, sincere praise and worship. [NOTE -- Ray observes that while there is little said about a need for us to spend many hours per week in “worship,” it is made clear that there’s lots of WORK to do for the Lord in every week-- work aimed at helping and winning and serving, rather than at feeling and thrilling and introverting].
And to think that we come to such grief, and wrestle with such fear for the benefit of a few hours of one day of the week! Isn’t worship done every waking hour of every day? Am I to fear clapping and raising my hands in the privacy of my own home, if I so choose to express my love to God in such a manner? Of course not, so why should I fear the same expression in the corporate worship? My only fear would be if my intent was to put on a religious show for those congregated with me. [NOTE -- If what I do draws attention to ME rather than to God, if it distracts my neighbors from thoughts of Almighty God while wondering what on earth I’m up to, have I been “orderly” and thoughtful for others, or have I been self-centered and selfish?].
I am always compelled to look at the motivation and intent of my worship for one simple but defining reason--God knows whether I am being genuine or false. I am reminded of the words given to us in Amos 5:21-24. We would do well to commit the words of those verses to our memory, since they can guide us and answer so many of our questions about what is pleasing and appropriate before God.
AMOS WRITES, “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the NOISE of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let JUSTICE roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” Amos 5:21-24 New International Version.
If our motive, if our intent, and if our heart of worship
is not genuine and sincere before God, we will never be pleasing to God in
the worship and sacrifice which ultimately becomes and is our life.
-- Steve Payne To TOP
From: "Douglas G Willis" <cefoundation@email.msn.com>
To: Ray Downen <outreach@sofnet.com>
Subject: Re: Viewpoint Study #34
Date sent: Mon, 23 Feb 1998
RAY, You ask for comments but I have no idea what you do with the comments, or have done with the comments I have already made in the past.
I agree with all brother Payne says about motive and every-hour worship and private worship in one’s home ~ Study #34.
I feel he misses the point when he transfers what he does in his room with closed door to the gathered meeting of the church. On such public occasions I am governed by another principle ~ love and consideration for other brethren. If my actions interrupt, offend or cause others to be distracted, and thereby NOT edified, I must restrict my emotions and outward actions. Is this not the royal law of love? -- Doug
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What do YOU think?
And, an article by R. L. Kilpatrick (Pat), editor of ENSIGN monthly magazine, which is no longer being published. He titles the study, Ritualism. In Ensign for December 1993, he writes about our church assemblies to say --
Whenever a set of “acts” is performed over and over by the same performers, in time, by the mere fact of repetition, it will develop into a ritual. “Ritual worship” is not worship from the heart. In fact, it may not be worship at all. It may belong in the same category as counting beads (an “aid” to prayer) and saying “Hail Mary’s.” He who thinks that God is pleased with a methodical Sunday performance (if it lacks heart and spirit) does not understand Jehovah God, or worship, or the purpose for which men worship.
Worship must come from our hearts and must be a genuine expression of the heart. When a set of particular religious “acts” is acted out week after week, year after year, it may lose what may have been felt in the person’s heart at one time. At which time there’s no merit in acts which may once have been genuine worship of God. Worship is individual. Merely being present in a service of worship does not mean that any person has in fact worshipped.
The Lord’s Day assembly was not intended to give God a spiritual boost. It's not correctly identified as a “worship” service, in fact.
God doesn’t need a boost each week. His CHILDREN are the ones who need the uplift, and for whose sake the assembly is called. Whatever takes place within a Christian assembly was designed to exhort and edify the worshippers, not our God. We are not called to come together TO WORSHIP. Worshippers are called to come together for mutual edification and to join together in happy praise of God. Together we do thank Him for His grace and mercy. We rejoice that our God is good. We show our love and devotion to Him in various ways, by song and shared prayer, by partaking of the Lord’s Supper in memory of our Lord Jesus, and by recognizing our common faith.
But God never intended that our acts be legalized, formulated, and ritualized. The search for a “Biblical pattern” for Christian worship will never be found, for there’s no such thing in the Word of God.
Really now, how can anyone draw up a list of pious acts to express the heart feelings of all others present at any service? How can a father draw up a list of acts for his son to show honor to him? If the reverence is not voluntary and heart-felt, then there is no reverence shown even if following a set of rules which some suppose may indicate otherwise.
It seems that there are those who, since they can’t find a set of instructions in the New Testament on how to conduct a public “Christian worship service” will contend vigorously that God set forth His intent in a (nebulous, unstated) “pattern.” I have always believed that God knew and does know how to express Himself clearly when it comes to outlining specific details. He did so in the Old Testament. He would have done so in the New Testament if that had been His desire and intention. Since God didn’t, we shouldn’t.
Men may like worship rituals. Some surely do. We hear of people leaving the freedom of undenominational congregations in order to go back to the formality of ritual worship in Episcopalian or Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic services. But the attraction of such ritualism is not based on any instruction from God’s Word. -- R. L. Kilpatrick
Brief Bible Study #34 from Ray Downen. To TOP .