The Battle For “True Worship” Part II

This is the second part of “The Battle For True Worship”. You can read the first part here.

Some Christians say that during our days Christian worship has become more worldly because of the use in church of new forms and styles and tools that the world also uses. They say that some genres and styles are more “ecclesiastically acceptable” and that there are others that are “culturally acceptable”, and associated with the “worldly culture” that surrounds us, and therefore, these must be avoided by the Church. They argue that Christians are to be “counter-cultural” and differentiate themselves from the world. So they think that the Church must never use styles and forms that the world also uses. The more I inquire, I realize this view of worship and Christian life is very rooted in Old Covenant theology. I think there is a misunderstanding of the essence of the whole Bible here - the Gospel; what Jesus came to accomplish though His perfect life and atoning sacrifice.

The first problem I see with this view, is that it completely ignores the fact that everything we use in Church today, even things that today are “ecclesiastically acceptable” were part of some culture at some point in history. Man changes, culture changes, forms change, styles change, times change, the Churches change, but the Word of God never changes (Malachi 3:6; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33; James 1:17); and that is why we do not determine what we do or what we don’t do by what is “culturally acceptable”, nor by what is “ecclesiastically acceptable”, but by what the whole Revelation of God teaches as good and acceptable.

Second, some say that if we do what the culture does, then we make of the culture our standard and what governs the Church. That is absolutely right, the culture does not determine what we believe and practice. But I would also say this problem goes either way. If we don’t do what the culture does, just because the culture does it, just for the sake of being counter-cultural, then we are also making of the culture our standard and what determines our decisions. So, this does not solve the issue, it’s just a shortcut to the same place. Christians don’t try to be different from our culture just for the sake of being counter-cultural or revolutionists; that is no different than being political rebels. We are different because Christ makes us different, because He transforms our lives and conforms our minds, our hearts, and actions according to His Word. So the standard is what the Bible says, not what the world does or does not do.

Third, as I said before, we have misunderstood the Gospel if we try to live Christianity today and to do Church today as if we were Old Covenant-people. We are Gospel-people, New Covenant-people. We must never forget that we live on this side of the cross. The Messiah that was coming, the One in whom the people of the Old Testament hoped for hundreds of years, the One to whom all the prescriptions of the law appointed to, and in whom all prescriptions were fulfilled (Matthew 5:17), already came to us. Nothing is more important for us today, than understanding and living the Gospel. And for this it is important that we correctly understand the essential transition from the Old Covenant (The Law) to the New Covenant (Grace).

Some Christians seem to cling to practices and prescriptions that God gave to Israel to perform when they worshiped in the Old Covenant. They say these are to be performed by us today in a spiritual sense in order to worship God in a worthy manner. Things like: the washing of their garments (Exodus 19:10), the Priests washing themselves to be consecrated to the Lord (Exodus 29:4), washing the ram that was presented as a offering to the Lord (Exodus 29:27), the Priests washing their hands and feet before offering a sacrifice to the Lord, so that they would not die (Exodus 30:19-20), the Priest had to have holy garments, for glory and for beauty, to consecrate them for the Lord’s priesthood (Exodus 28:1-3), etc; this seems to be their focus in worship. These brothers say we must be different than the world, and therefore cleanse ourselves from the “worldliness” that surrounds us, just like the people of Israel. And they say we do this, by using different kinds of clothes, haircuts, styles of music, and forms, in order to be a holy and distinct people of God.

These practices are biblical, they are in the Bible, specifically in the Old Testament. But I may ask, is this the way we ought to see these practices as New Covenant-people? Is this view consistent with the whole Revelation of God? Well, I think this view is not consistent with “the whole” of the Bible, and that actually contradicts some things that God has revealed in it.
We see God in the Old Testament several times commanding Israel to even look different from the other nations, to not imitate their customs and their practices (Leviticus 18:3). God gave them a different culture, language, food, dress code, etc (Exodus 12:9, 15, 20, 43, 48; Leviticus 19:19). He wanted to make very clear that they were different from the world, because they belonged to Yahweh. They were not just another nation, they were His people, and therefore they would be different. But the problem with viewing worship and Christian life today this way, is that it misses the whole point of the purpose of the Old Covenant prescriptions. It focuses on the wrong things, and gives little importance to the things that are actually essential.

The rituals performed by Israel in their worship, such as the washing of the hands and feet, washing themselves to enter the presence of a Holy God, sacrificing rams for the Lord, using holy garments; these things pointed to something greater, to the greatest sacrifice, to Jesus, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Christ came to completely fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17) and He accomplished what He came to do. And when He said “It is finished” (John 19:30), it was all done. We don’t need to wash ourselves anymore, we don’t need to wash our hands and feet in order to worship God, nor to wear a different kind of garment for worship. Jesus is our cleansing, He washed us already. We are completely clean before God (Hebrews 10:4) because of what He has done for us. He is our holy garment, He is our sacrifice. He provided the righteousness and holiness we need to stand forgiven and clean before the Father, and there is nothing we can do in order to add to His great work of grace (Ephesians 2:9). These practices were not meant to be there forever. God has made His people different by doing something a thousand times greater than those things, He sent His own Son to do that for us, and has put His Holy Spirit within us. To be cleansed by Christ and to have His Spirit dwelling within me, is way better than my pathetic and insufficient effort to be good on my own. Praise God for all He’s done for us in Christ Jesus.

This is the message we learn from Christ Himself in the Gospels. It’s what we learn from Paul in all his letters to the Church. The law pointed to a greater reality, it pointed to Christ; its purpose was to bring us to the Jesus (Galatians 3:24), not that we would continue in it forever. The apostle Paul rebuked believers that had known this grace (the New Covenant) through Christ Jesus, and now wanted to live again according to the works of the law (the Old Covenant) (Romans 2:25-29; 3:28-30, Galatians 2:11-21, Galatians 3, and Colossians 2); they didn’t get it well, they were missing the Gospel, the essence of the Bible, the essence of Christianity, and we could be missing it too.

What does the New Testament say about the way in which we must be different from the world? I think the Bible is pretty clear about that. In Galatians 5:1-6, Paul writes about the freedom from the law that we have in Christ Jesus. Paul says:
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love”.

Immediately after this, Paul gives us a list of virtues and values that are completely contrary to this world’s ways of thinking and lifestyle, and that all of us Christians should practice; these things must be the distinctive difference between disciples of Jesus and disciples of this world. Paul writes:
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:16-25)