The assembly in light of the Story
We start in the Garden. The question is: How did Adam worship? Was there a bunch of rules and do’s and don’t’s? No, I think his worship is found in —
(Gen 3:8a ESV) And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day …
Which parallels—
(Lev 26:12 ESV) And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
Which parallels —
(Rev 21:3 ESV) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
Which leads to: how do we enjoy the comparable relationship today? How does God “dwell” among us today? Well, of course, through his Spirit —
(Rom 8:11 ESV) 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
(2Co 6:16-18 ESV) 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
(2Ti 1:14 ESV) 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
Let’s focus a bit on 2 Corinthians 6. We usually focus on the theme of separation from the world, which is Paul’s primary point. But his argument assumes that the promise of God to “walk among them” remains true today. It’s because God walks among us that we are to be separate. So how does he walk among us?
(Mat 28:19-20 ESV) 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
(Mat 18:20 ESV) “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.“
(John 14:16-19 ESV) 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”
In some sense, God remains among us today — through his Son and through his Spirit. God is not a being distant in heaven. Our prayers don’t have to reach that far, because God dwells within us. We walk with him in the cool of the morning — just as we will when heaven and earth are joined at the end of time.
What then is worship?
(Mic 6:8 ESV) 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
(Isa 57:15 ESV) 15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Worship is fellowship with God, which we enjoy as we try to imitate him. Like a toddler wearing daddy’s shoes, we make our Father proud and draw him closer when we try to be like him. And through the Helper, he helps us do exactly that.
Temples of the Spirit
Why is this worship? Well, why does God call us “temples”? Temples are where God is worshiped, and we are individually God’s temples and congregationally temples of God. Therefore, worship is both individual and corporate.
(1Co 3:16 ESV) 16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
(Eph 2:22 ESV) 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
When is God in us through the Spirit? Well, always. When are we temples for God? Always. When should we worship God?
Romans 12:1-2
(Rom 12:1-2 ESV) I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
* It’s obviously about worship. It says “worship” (latreia) and refers to sacrifice — very nearly the Old Testament definition of worship.
* Paul explains this in v. 2 as “be transformed” — passive voice — because it is the Spirit that transforms.
(2Co 3:18 ESV) And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Thus, there is a synergy. We offer ourselves as sacrifices, and the Spirit transforms us. This is how the sacrifice becomes acceptable.
And this is not referring particularly to the assembly. The whole process — offering, sacrifice, transformation, renewal of our minds — is a lifelong, daily walk with Jesus. This hardly excludes the assembly as a part of the process, but it does mean that the New Testament does not refer to the assembly as “worship” in contrast to the daily worship urged here.
The Roman view of worship
PBS reports regarding worship in ancient Rome,
Private and public
Roman religion was divided into two. Spirits watched over people, families and households, and the paterfamilias [head of the household] was in charge of the household worship that honored them.
Romans also had a set of public gods, such as Jupiter and Mars. State worship was much more formal: colleges of priests paid tribute to these gods on behalf of Rome itself.
Divine blessing
The objective of Roman worship was to gain the blessing of the gods and thereby gain prosperity for themselves, their families and communities. …
Cult worship
Unlike most religions today, the Roman gods did not demand strong moral behavior. Roman religion involved cult worship. Approval from the gods did not depend on a person’s behavior, but on perfectly accurate observance of religious rituals. Each god needed an image – usually a statue or relief in stone or bronze – and an altar or temple at which to offer the prayers and sacrifices.
Further, PBS states,
Requests and prayers were presented to gods as a trade: if the god did what was requested (the nuncupatio), then the worshipper promised to do a particular thing in return (the solutio). This trade was binding. To persuade the gods to favor the requests, a worshipper might make offerings of food or wine, or would carry out a ritual sacrifice of an animal before eating it.
The Romans believed that their gods or spirits were actively involved in their daily lives. As a result, sacred meals were held in their name during certain religious festivals. It was believed that the god actually took part in the meal: a place was set for him at the table, invitations were issued in his name, and a portion of the food served was set aside for him to enjoy.
In New Testament times, the Jews would consider “worship” to be specific to the Temple, but Gentile converts would consider worship a daily, constant activity. The gods had to be appeased and bargained with at all times. There might be periodical festivals for a god, but there was no weekly holy day comparable to Sunday or the Sabbath. Rather, worship was a lifestyle. (This is one reason food sacrificed to the gods was such a problem.)
Thus, when the New Testament refers to “worship” as it does, it contrasts dramatically with the Mosaic concept of worship at a specific place following a specific liturgy; but it also contrasts with the pagan sense of worship of multiple gods by bargaining. The Christian God acts unilaterally out of love, but he requires a very different kind of sacrifice — not wine, incense, or an animal — but the worshiper himself. The worshiper must submit to God’s requirements, not as a bargain but out of love and desire to know and be like his Son.
The Christian notion of sacrifice is tied very closely with union with God through his Spirit. The Christian is transformed by God to be more like the Son of God, not as a bargain to get something else, but because being transformed by God is a worthy goal in and of itself.
The sacrifice of a Christian ultimately isn’t a trade of any kind — but the goal itself. To become like the Son is to become a sacrifice. You don’t sacrifice to get wealth or even heaven. You sacrifice to submit to God’s transforming work to make you more and more like the Son — so you can be more and more like the Son, whom you love and who personifies what you were always meant to be. To be like the Son is to learn a new way of living, new way of being, and a new kind of joy. The sacrifice is, in the end, not a sacrifice at all, but the receipt of blessing by trading something useless — selfishness, worldliness, anger, hatred — for something far, far superior: faith, hope, love, peace, and joy in the Spirit.
Now, eternal life is part of the deal, but we start with eternal life. That’s given to us at the beginning of our walk with God. After we are given eternity, God works in us to transform us into someone who will enjoy an eternity spent with God and Jesus worshiping. He gives us a foretaste of eternity in the joy of worship, of service, of sacrifice, of community with fellow believers, of becoming more and more like Jesus.
Jay thank you for sharing this and is what our preachers should be sharing with the saved in stead of trying to explain it away as the majority IMHO nearly ALWAYS have because of the "control" that a corporate "worship" allowed.
I see no sign of a corporate "worship" anywhere under the New Covenant. I see Inspired Apostles having an effect upon those assembled to hear from them as rare as that occurred to the average follower of the Christ.
Rather I see a casual and relaxed meeting of individuals daily with no emphases placed on any physical day, what so ever. Not that that may be wrong just I never see it taught or practiced.
Thank you for at least moving us closer to what I too see as the "pattern."
Hebrews 3
Jesus Greater Than Moses
1Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
A Rest for the People of God
7Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
"Today, if you hear his voice, 8do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
10Therefore I was provoked with that generation,and said, 'They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.'
11 As I swore in my wrath,
'They shall not enter my rest.'"
12Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
Grace and peace Clayton
The worship of God is not primarily our sacrifices or our daily walk. Look in Psalm 50:8-23 –
“I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice thank offerings to God, … He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.”
Look at David’s worship in the Psalms. David gives thanks and praises God. Look at worship in Revelation, the throngs are not offering sacrifices and activity, they are offering thanks and praise. This doesn’t mean that the Christian shouldn’t sacrifice and serve but that sacrifice by itself is not worship.
Praising and thanking God is the foundation for worship which will ultimately motivate us to sacrifice and activity.
Rom 8:29 ESV " For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."
Well said, Jay…God on several occasions rejected the worship "activities" because the "heart" wasn't involved.. Love the fact that you included the active role of the Holy Spirit in this sanctification process.. Without Him our efforts would be useless. Unfortunately, many believe He no longer is involved and we are left to our own ability to follow the rules and that God only lives in a book…Hope those folks are able to be awakened to a new and exciting life walking WITH God, not FOR Him….
Romans 12
A Living Sacrifice
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Gifts of Grace
3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Jay,
Does the NT anywhere use latreo and proskeneo *interchangeably*?
i think the fact that i take out the garbage, stay out of jail, and bring home my paycheck all fit under the category of loving my wife. But there are other items under that larger category that clearly are of a different kind–dancing with her to our song, buying her flowers, taking her out on a date. Again, it's not that one set is love and the other is not, but one set bears features that the other does not. And it would be short-sighted to say there's no distinction.
Even if there are actions i perform that could be categorized under "worship," that doesn't mean there's no distinction between latreo and proskeneo and the actions that belong to each one.
–guy
Guy,
Yes, there are places where the two words are used interchangeably —
(Exo 20:5 ESV) You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
(2Ch 7:19 ESV) "But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,
(Luk 4:8 ESV) And Jesus answered him, "It is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'"
There are other, similar verses. That doesn't make them exact synonyms, but it does make them very closely related. To proskuneo (through sacrifice or prostration) is what one who serves (latreuo) God does to show his devotion in the OT.
The point isn't that they are exact synonyms but that the apostles transform these words from the OT usage involving ritualized worship to a much broader concept in the NT, never associating these words particularly with the assembly.
Therefore, the assembly is not uniquely worship. We should not read the assembly passages through a worship lens. Rather, we should accept them at face value. They mean what they say.
The vocabulary of "acts of worship" that should be done on Sunday morning is a vocabulary and mode of thinking foreign to the NT. Indeed, the apostles say over and over, in many ways, that worship is no longer place or time specific.
Thus, we should carefully scrutinize all efforts to treat the assembly as a Christianized temple service (a very Catholic idea), with Leviticus-style instructions for how it must be done. When we find such concepts in the text, we should seriously ask ourselves whether we're reading the text aright.
The church assemblly is not merely an informal get-together of believers. That seems to be what Paul is teacing against in I Cor. But on the other hand, we also have teachings in Heb and other places that would suggest that strict formalism and ritual go against the overall idea of worship in the New Covenant. And certainly, the assemblly is not where we go to keep ourselves in God's grace by worshipping with enough regularity and correctness. Where the point of balance between formality and informality lies, I think God and the apostles left for us to figure out ourselves, if there is any exact point of balance.
We should be whole Bible Christians and not just N.T. Christians. The first century Christians did not initially have a Bible and led everyone to Jesus using only the O.T. and the witness of the Apostles. In my opinion, our definition of worship cannot come exclusively from the N.T. but must take into consideration the hundreds of O.T. scriptures on worship and the many new testament scriptures on worship as a whole. In Acts 13:2 Paul and company are having a corporate worship together and are then called to a mission. In Acts 24:11 Paul specifically went to the temple to worship. Other scriptures indicate a prevalence of worship in the early church such as I Cor 14:25; Hebrews 12:28; I Cor. 14:16; and Heb 13:15. A part of worship is to stand in awe of God and praise him either alone or with the company of other believers and this form of worship transcends the testaments and is found in abundance in the book of Revelation.
Why would our O.T. brethren worship God corporately through praise and thanksgiving and our brethren in heaven worship God corporately but our 1st century brethren did not do likewise?
Bow down and Serve does not make the two concepts synonymous. Actually in all scriptures cited above the two are separate and distinct. Bow down is one thing, serve is another. Yes they are related but they aren't the same. I worship God and my worship experience motivates me to serve.