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| What
Jesus Christ Said About Worship |
| Dr.
Richard Leonard |
"The
kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the
good news!" This is the first preaching of Jesus
recorded in the gospels (Mark 1:15), and it
establishes the theme for his entire ministry.
All that Jesus did and said, from his first
teaching in Galilee through his resurrection
and ascension, focuses on the reality of God:
his rule and power in all aspects of our lives,
his fatherly concern for his people.
Jesus'
fellowship with the Father was such that he
could say, "I and the Father are one" (John
10:30), and Paul could later proclaim, "God
was reconciling the world to himself in Christ"
(2 Cor. 5:19). Jesus taught that love, or faithfulness,
to God is our highest calling. Asked which of
the Law's commandments was the greatest, he
quoted Moses: "Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all
your strength" (Deut. 6:5; Mark 12:30).
It
is no wonder, then, that Jesus was a consistent
worshiper, not only through his life of prayer
in the presence of the Father, but also through
his participation in the formal worship of his
Jewish community. He attended festivals in Jerusalem
(John 5:1; 7:37) and took his place regularly
in the Sabbath assembly of the synagogue (Luke
4:16). Public as well as private worship was
important to Jesus, and to his followers he
had some pointed and specific things to say
about it. And when, after his resurrection,
the young church began to assemble regularly,
his teaching and example gave shape to the worship
of the new community. We will look at what Jesus
said in these areas: his pattern for prayer,
his attitude toward the place of worship, his
institution of sacramental actions, and his
focus on genuine worship.
A
Pattern for Public Prayer
When
Jesus' disciples asked him how they should pray,
he told them, "This is how you should pray," and
taught them what we know as the "Lord's Prayer"
or "Our Father" (Matt. 6:9-13). Many churches
include this prayer as a regular part of worship.
Historically it has been used especially in association
with Holy Communion, perhaps because of the words
"Give us today our daily bread."
While
it is good to pray this prayer just as Jesus taught
it, he gave it as a model for us to follow in
all our praying. Following Jesus' pattern, our
prayers should include:
-
Praise
and adoration toward God
-
Submission
to his will
-
Expression
of our dependance on him for all our needs
-
Confession
of our sin and recognition of the conditions
necessary to receive God's forgiveness
-
Petition
to be protected from evil forces and from
severe testing
-
Ascription
of glory to God.
The
doxology which concludes the prayer is not
found in the oldest New Testament manuscripts,
and may have been added later from David's
prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:11. Nevertheless,
it is thoroughly in the spirit of Jesus' prayer
and an appropriate part of the pattern he
gave us.
Jesus'
retort to his adversaries on the matter of taking
oaths reveals his attitude toward the place of worship.
The Pharisees said that to swear by the temple was
not as binding as to swear by the gold of the temple,
and to swear by the altar had less validity than
to swear by the gift offered on it. Of course, Jesus
was not in favor of taking oaths; his view was that
we should speak a truthful "yes" or "no" at all
times (Matt. 5:37). Nevertheless, his response to
the Pharisees suggests how he felt about the temple:
"Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that
makes the gold sacred? . . . Which is greater, the
gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?"
(Matt. 23:17, 19).
Perhaps
we believe that our worship is more important than
the place where we worship. Is not a place of worship
only as good as the commitment people make there
-- the "offering" we place on the "altar"? Strangely,
this was not Jesus' view, but that of the Pharisees!
Jesus reminds us that our commitment is validated
by the context in which we make it.
Commitment
in itself, apart from a framework of meaning symbolized
by its setting in worship, is useless and even
dangerous. Our culture stresses personal sincerity
and dedication, but sometimes forgets that these
things can cause great harm when misdirected toward
trivial or evil causes. It is the altar which
sanctifies our offering, making it holy to God
and useful for his work, and not the other way
around. It seems Jesus would have us pay more
attention to the total worship setting of our
community, and rather less attention to statements
we are trying to make about ourselves through
our worship.
Jesus
stood in the biblical tradition which recognizes
that certain geographic spots have a sacred quality,
as places where God has made himself known in
a special way. When he spoke of Jerusalem as "the
city of the Great King" (Matt. 5:35) he was quoting
Psalm 48:2. This and other biblical passages celebrate
Jerusalem as the sanctuary which Moses had proclaimed
to Israel, "the place the Lord your God will choose
from among all your tribes to put his Name there
for a dwelling" (Deut. 12:5). The New Testament
reinterprets this picture of Jerusalem in a new
sense. Jerusalem is not simply a geographic spot,
but is a symbol of God's dwelling with his people
wherever they may be (Heb. 12:22-24; Rev. 3:12;
21:2-4). And God's temple is the body of his people
(1 Cor. 3:16-17). Nevertheless, these expressions
are anchored in Jesus' respect for one sacred
place -- the temple in Jerusalem. The purity of
the earthly place of worship was important to
him, or he would not have taken the drastic action
of cleansing the temple (Matt. 21:12-13; John
2:16-16). Quoting Isaiah, Jesus proclaimed the
word of the Lord: "My house will be called a house
of prayer for all nations" (Mark 11:17; Isa. 56:7).
The place of worship must not be an institution
that exploits people's desire to worship for other
purposes, but one which facilitates a free and
open approach to God.
Jesus
expressed his view of the sanctity of the altar
in his words about gifts and offerings (Matt.
5:23-24). When bringing a gift for the work of
God, we are to do so in reconciliation with our
"brother," a biblical term which refers not to
every human being but to those who are members
of our own spiritual community. Our offering,
whether of praise, service or substance, is not
an "offering in righteousness" (Mal. 3:3) if something
we have done has broken the covenant bond with
our fellow Christian. We are to leave our gift
at the altar, perhaps as a pledge of our reconciliation,
and return to offer it once we have straightened
matters out. In all of this, we see that for Jesus
the physical setting of our worship goes hand
in hand with our personal attitude. Both are important
in God's eyes.
Sacramental
Actions
In
a broad sense, a sacrament is a symbolic action
performed in worship, "an outward and visible
sign of an inward and spiritual grace." Christians
differ as to which actions are formally considered
sacraments. Some groups restrict their number
to those Jesus specifically commanded, and therefore
refer to them as ordinances of Christ. In the
Gospels, Jesus established at least three such
sacramental actions: baptism, the Lord's Supper
or Holy Communion, and foot washing.
Baptism.
John the Baptizer administered a baptism of repentance
from sin (Mark 1:4), and Jesus himself was baptized
by him. Jesus' baptism, however, was a unique
event which proclaimed him as the Son of God.
The baptism he ordained his followers to perform
was for a different purpose. Appearing to his
disciples after the resurrection, Jesus commanded
them, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19). From Jesus'
"Great Commission" we learn several things about
Christian baptism. First, it is a response to
the gospel of Christ, the good news of the kingdom
of God. Second, it is part of becoming a disciple
of Jesus Christ; it is a necessary, not optional,
symbol of our entrance into the community of faith.
Third, there is a solemnity to baptism, for it
is administered formally in the name of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is not a
casual matter.
The
Lord's Supper. On the night before his arrest,
Jesus celebrated a Passover meal with his disciples,
during which he performed a simple Jewish ceremony
of blessing. But on this occasion, Jesus filled
that ceremony with new meaning. After blessing
the Lord, he distributed the loaf to his followers,
and told them, "This is my body, which is for
you; do this in remembrance of me." And giving
thanks, he passed the cup to them, saying, "This
cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this,
whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me" (1
Cor. 11:24-25). Although Jesus' exact words differ
as recorded in the various New Testament sources,
several things are clear. First, Jesus commanded
his followers to "do this"; he expected them to
repeat this action, probably not infrequently
since it was a customary Jewish ceremony. Second,
in "doing this" his disciples would remember him.
But the New Testament word means more than mere
reminiscence; it has the force of "recalling"
so that Jesus becomes present to us in a special
way. Third, Jesus compared the symbols with his
own being: "this is my body," "this is my blood."
It is clear that the bread and wine have an important,
even indispensable, connection with Christ's presence
in his church, even if Christians interpret this
relationship in different ways. Fourth, the ceremony
is one of thanksgiving, not self-examination;
the focus is not on our unworthiness but on what
Jesus is about to accomplish through his death
on the cross. The breaking of the bread points
to the giving of his body "for you" (Luke 22:19),
the cup to the blood he will shed "for many for
forgiveness of sins" (Matt. 26:28).
Foot
Washing. For many Christians, foot washing
is the "forgotten sacrament." Yet when Jesus washed
the disciples' feet (John 13:2-17) he instructed
them to follow his example, just as he ordained
baptism and the Lord's Supper. This action is
a powerful symbol of commitment to one another
within the Christian community. Jesus followed
it with his "new commandment," saying, "As I have
loved you, so you must love one another" (John
13:34). Foot washing is a reminder of our covenant
loyalty to the Lord, a loyalty which extends to
all others who belong to his family and which
expresses itself in acts of humble service.
Worship
in Spirit and Truth
In
conversation with a woman of Samaria (John
4:21-24), Jesus characterizes both Jewish
worship of the time and the worship of the
half-Jewish Samaritan sect. The Samaritans,
he says, worship in ignorance, for they do
not know what they worship. As for the Jews,
Jesus says, "we worship what we know." Neither
type of worship is adequate, and Jesus implies
that worship will soon cease both in Jerusalem,
the Jewish sanctuary, and Mount Gerizim, sacred
to the Samaritan sect. Taking their place
will be a deeper worship "in spirit and truth,"
for the Father seeks genuine worshipers.
What does it mean to worship "in spirit and
truth?" Some Christians have taken Jesus'
expression to mean that real worship is invisible
and inward. Outward and visible forms of worship,
they believe, are of lesser importance. However,
it is hard to reconcile this idea with other
things Jesus says about worship. Perhaps the
problem is a faulty understanding of the biblical
meaning of "spirit" and "truth."
In
Scripture, the spiritual is not invisible
or intangible, as opposed to the tangible
and material. "Spirit" refers to the motivation
or driving force behind an action; in many
contexts, of course, it refers to the Holy
Spirit, the power of God at work in a particular
human situation. Worship "in spirit" is worship
motivated by the life of God in the worshiping
community, and his empowerment will manifest
itself through visible actions in which all
worshipers participate.
And
"truth," in the Bible, does not refer to abstract
ideas, but has a concrete meaning. It refers
to God's dealings with us, and to the way
of life he has set out for his people. Truth
means reliability, loyalty, integrity, effectiveness
-- qualities that apply not so much to ideas
as to personal relationships. Above all, according
to Jesus himself, "truth" is the word God
has spoken to his people (John 17:17). To
live in truth is to live by God's promises
and commandments, the covenant which binds
us in community with our Father.
Worship
"in spirit and in truth," then, means worship
motivated by the life of God, worship that
expresses and reinforces our mutual covenant
with God. It can be energetic, visible, using
a great variety of expressions which come
out of the tradition of the biblical community.
While it may have important connections with
our individual and inner life, it is an act
of the people of God, spirited worship in
conformity with scriptural principles.
Christian
worship celebrates Christ; in worship, God
speaks and acts to make real for us the new
life that is ours through his Son. But as
we worship together it is important to remember
that Jesus also gives us some specific directions
for worship, and helps us to think about worship
in ways that make it what God wants it to
be.
©
1997 Laudemont
Ministries. All rights reserved. Used
by permission.
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