Acceptable Worship, Part 2

How do we determine what are appropriate expressions of worship to God? Anyone who reads the Scriptures honestly will know the importance of the question. God rejected Cain’s offering (Gen 4), He almost destroyed the Israelites for worshiping Him in the wrong form (Ex 32), He killed two of Aaron’s sons for offering unauthorized fire (Lev 10), and He derided His people for what He called “hateful” and “burdensome” sacrifices and ceremonies (Is 1:14). Apparently, it matters to God how we worship Him!

In the last column I noted the difference between what is carefully regulated in the Old Testament vs. the New. The OT obsesses over the articles and ceremonies associated with the sacrificial system; the NT obsesses over the gospel message. In the OT, if you mess with the sacrificial system, you were in deep trouble; in the NT, tampering with the gospel will get you cursed. Theologically speaking, they are the same, since the sacrificial system of the OT preached the gospel in symbols while the NT preaches it in verbal propositions.

This understanding furnishes us with a regulating principle for worship: whatever conforms to the gospel is most appropriate. In 1 Timothy 1:11, Paul describes certain behavior as “that [which] conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God”—in other words, behavior with a gospel-shape to it. Similarly, we want our worship services to have a gospel shape to them. Adoration of God, confession of our sins, proclamation of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and thanksgiving arising from faith and gratitude—do you see how these elements together have the shape of the gospel? Conversely, any element or style that is out of step with the gospel or obscures the message of Christ is inappropriate for worship.