as of 2000 June 08	please select one The STUDY below

(Additional comments about
Viewpoint study #27, et al)

To: kalcofc@bbs.lethal.net   Subject: Re: OT/NT
Date sent: Sat, 9 Aug 1997   (responding to a note from
Dan which is printed in Viewpoint Study #27)

Dan, brother,

       Thanks for speaking up to point out correctly that early evangelists who taught Jews and sought converts spoke consistently to show FROM the O.T. scriptures that Jesus was the promised Messiah. The Old Testament was all the scriptures they had. But in preaching to the Gentiles, unfamiliar with the O.T. scriptures, they did not attempt first to teach them the O.T. Instead, they taught about Jesus, and spoke of His resurrection from the dead. I'm NOT convinced that the method of evangelism was to teach all about the Jewish celebrations, and the history of the Jewish nation(s) as part of preaching the gospel. Not then, and not now.

      A sinner who hears about JESUS can be saved by knowledge of Him alone. It is NOT necessary to memorize the kings of Judah, and the minor prophets, and understand about God calling Abraham out of Chaldea before a sinner can be baptized into Christ. Nor are O.T. facts essential for living a Christian life. When Jesus spoke of new wine in old wineskins, he was speaking of Christianity and making clear that it was NOT going to be just another Jewish sect. It wasn't. It isn't.

      No, the Gentile Christians didn't get their "worship patterns" from the Old Testament, as even a cursory reading of Paul's first letter to the Corinthian brethren should make clear. It's in chapters 11-14 of that letter that any picture is seen of what early Christian meetings were like. Most of the inspired writings are about daily life rather than our gatherings, as you also no doubt have noticed.

      Paul's chief opponents were ones who were trying to force him to pattern his ministry after the law of Moses -- trying to get him to combine O.T. and N.T. doctrines and practices. He didn't surrender to that insistent call. Nor should we. In Jesus Christ, we have something much better than Moses. We should listen to the Father who advises, "This is my beloved Son. HEAR HIM!"

      Jesus told the JEWS they should keep the law. No Christian ever received such advice. I see why you suggest we should go to the O.T. to find how to live as Christians. But NO, I do not think the early church did this, and I do not think the contemporary church does well to do so. The O.T. facts help us UNDERSTAND the New but do not instruct Christians in how to serve and honor Jesus Christ.

     Our doctrine and practice is taught in the N.T. and NOT in the O.T. Dan, if we read in the Psalms that Jews were to sing and clap their hands, and that they were to be happy while they traveled to Jerusalem for the annual feast days, are we to conclude that we also are to go to Jerusalem? On the Day of Tabernacles, or Passover, or Pentecost, or for the lesser feasts? How can we tell which O.T. practices we should pick to advise Christians they also should do? Do we adopt all which are not changed in the N.T.?

       I think the better way is to seek guidance in the N.T. as to how and why we are to conduct ourselves when we meet to honor Jesus. And we should read Acts 15 where the question is clearly asked and answered. I do NOT believe the O.T. is given to instruct us in living the Christian life or planning for worthwhile gatherings of N.T. Christians.

      Would you think Paul was WRONG in teaching that the primary purpose of Christian gatherings is to edify the Christians, to encourage, to "stir up" to good things? We'll have all eternity in which to praise the Father and the Son. Here (and possibly there as well) we have WORK to do for them. If we spend most of our time NOT doing the work we are called to do, will we be sure to hear one day, "Well done, good and FAITHFUL servant"?

      It's out in our homes and communities that we are to be salt and light. Where are any requirements at all that we're to spend several hours each week in communal worship? Like prayer, the worship Christians are to do is being done all through the week, or it's not likely being done at all. Worship is far more apt to happen when a Christian is alone or in a small group than when thousands are gathered in giant gatherings. And true worship seldom happens in groups. Why would it? How could it?

What IS Christian Worship?

From: Ray Downen <outreach@sofnet.com>
To: Viewpoint e-mail Discussion Group
Subject: What Worship Is (1)
Date sent: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 21:30:56 -0500

In the Christian Standard lately is an article by a brother who is a popular speaker and writer in Christ's church. This article is titled, "To the Ends of the Earth on the Wings of Worship." Knofel Staton urges us to worship God. He says this should be our ultimate goal in all that we do. And I believe the Word agrees, except that the worship is to be directed to the Lamb of God specifically while we're here on earth.

But what is worship? Some misunderstand Christian worship. They think we have to go some special place and engage in special acts in order to worship. Have you thought this? When do Christians worship? How do Christians worship? Where DO Christians worship?

Knofel writes, "The entire life of Jesus was a life of worship." That seems an odd way of describing the life of Jesus Christ, but it could be correct. What did Jesus do with His time? How did He live? Was it sitting in a "sanctuary" being "inspired" by a worship leader? Was it inside a "comfortable" home enjoying the luxuries of all the tools for favorite hobbies, and the entertainment centers into which so many in our day drift away from responsible participation in the life of our communities?

Where did Jesus worship? How did Jesus worship? If we find the correct answers to these questions, then we can decide whether or not it's true that all His life was a life of worship. Knofel says the early Christian church "bathed herself in worship" (Acts 2:42). In that verse what specific acts did Luke mention the early Christians made part of their lives? They continued stedfastly in "the apostles' doctrine, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayer."

That is, they learned all they could from the apostles about what Jesus said and did while He was on earth, and encouraged the apostles to tell them thoroughly about the events surrounding the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Some might suppose that worship is in some degree different from studying facts and learning details about things that have happened. If it's facts about Jesus, perhaps it might be said that in that case learning and studying is a form of worship. Perhaps.

Do we normally think of fellowship as being worship? Most churches nowadays have a "worship center" that's separate from their "fellowship hall." And they seldom consider that both are places for worship. Perhaps their definition of worship is not quite the same as that spoken of by Knofel Staton in this article.

Then the early Christians there in Jerusalem, the ones spoken of in Acts 2:42, ate together. That's what "breaking of bread" means, with the word "bread" really meaning various kinds of food and not just baked wheat or rice cakes. But some don't think that worship is eating or eating is worship. We really DO need to seek a definition of worship which might explain how Acts 2:42 is saying the early church was engaged in constant worship.

What Luke says they did was study the facts that now are available to us in the New Testament, enjoy the company of like-minded brothers and sisters, eat together and pray together. If they did a lot of singing together, Luke doesn't mention the fact. If what they did is worship, then we will see indeed that the early Christians did spend their time in worship!

And soon those early "worshippers" were scattered by persecution after which they went everywhere preaching the Word about the risen Lord. But what DO we do in our "worship services"? Is every Christian assembly a "worship service"? I've heard Christian teachers affirm that was the case. I think it is not.

Prayer is worship. Sometimes it is. And sometimes it's petition, which is somewhat different than the praise we most often think of as being worship. When farmers in desperate need of rain pray to God to send rain, is that worship or petition? Luke records that one of the prayer meetings they held was in particular to pray that God would help them to speak the Word with boldness. Was that worship? Or was it petition? Both, you say. Yes, I agree. But the reported MAIN purpose was not praise but petition.

So what did Jesus do while on the earth? What percentage of His ministry was spent in a "sanctuary" being led in "worship" as part of an audience? If we are to imitate Him and if we are to imitate Paul, which Paul said would be a good way for us to live, will most of OUR time be spent in singing praise choruses to one another "in church"?

I think Jesus DID worship. He did it by serving and living and dying. I think Paul DID worship. He did it by serving and witnessing and evangelizing and exhorting and writing about the Lord and how we can become like Him.

Paul worshipped while making tents, and while being whipped for preaching about Jesus, and while confined for his faith and testimony about the Lord Jesus. But was his purpose in life what we talk about when today we speak of us Christians assembling for "worship"?

Knofel suggests that Paul usually "evangelized first in places of worship." Did Paul go there to do what we do when we meet together for "worship"? No, he went there to evangelize non-Christians, not to enjoy the company of fellow Christians. Paul did not go there to lead or be led in "worship." He went there to tell about Jesus who calls men to SERVE rather than to meet in "worship" services. And as soon as hearers turned to Jesus as Lord, Paul encouraged and taught them how to also go out to serve by witnessing to others about Jesus, the risen Lord.

Neither Jesus nor Paul spent their lives away from the world and engaged in what many today think of as "worship." They were too busy working for God, which Paul says is also OUR reasonable "worship" or service. I believe we all should make our aim in life what Paul says in Romans 12 we should be doing. That is, when we put to use the gifts God has given us, by serving others, we are worshipping our Creator.

But at least in that passage, he's not urging us to spend lots of time in "sanctuaries" where we're separated from the world and spending our time "praising" God with words and no deeds. He calls us instead to LIVE in the world for God and in testimony to God's love for every man.

Do you see that Romans 12 is talking about our "spiritual service of worship"? Do you believe that Paul is talking there about "praise services" or "worship services" for Christians as appropriate avenues of Christian service? Do you suppose that what engaged the attention of the Jerusalem church as described in Acts 2:42 was what WE think of as "worship" today? What do YOU think?

I see no scriptural reason to believe we do well to spend most of our service time in the activities which are now made the purpose for Christian assemblies. We fill up our time doing things we like to do, and especially things we hope our unchurched neighbors will also like to do, and then have no time to do what Christians in the first century actually did do as worship and service of Jesus Christ.

I think we need to quit calling our assemblies "worship services." I think we need to have far fewer assemblies in the "church house" and spend far more time in actual "hands on" service for God where He wants us to be instead of sitting in church pews. Let's DO worship God and Jesus. But the worship is best done outside the "worship centers" where we can be a blessing by serving non-Christians who need encouragement and aid that WE as individual Christians are called to give them. ---

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          Brief Bible Study #51 from Ray Downen. To go back to
Viewpoint's first page, click < here.   Or here to go on to Viewpoint Study 52. For Ray's concluding remarks, click HERE.