Simplicity of Worship

 

It has pleased God to reveal himself in specific times by diverse manners. The primary revelation from God to man is the revealed will of God, intended for man's obedience. Throughout history, God has given His Church ordinances, or religious rites as a memorial or act of obedience, of worship by which He is to be approached. Thus, the solemn forms and actions invested with significance by God in worship are ordained by God and revealed to man. The conformity to these solemn forms and actions has been the eminent test for mankind of submission to God. However, in these times, God speaks not in diverse manners, but in one. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures, or the Word of God written, are given by God to mankind to be the only rule of faith and life, which necessarily includes the ordinances by which God is to be worshipped.

In the primeval church, the revealed ordinances of God to man were revealed in various ways, yet revealed to us through the Holy Scriptures. God revealed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to Adam. Abel obediently conformed to the ordinance of sacrifice, making his sacrifice by faith, while Cain did not. Enoch conformed to the ordinance of The Word Preached, for he preached righteousness and pleased God. Finally, Noah preached righteousness, and prepared an ark to the saving of his house, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

In the patriarchal church, the ordinances are more clearly revealed. Abraham was responsible for the sacrament of circumcision for all the males in his household. Furthermore, Abraham conformed to the ordinance of sacrifice, whereby all partakers of the Holy Scriptures are introduced to propitiatory and substitutional sacrifice. Moreover, the ordinance of prayer and thanksgiving is clearly demonstrated by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Finally, the passover - the covenantal meal - is given unto God's people before the Levitical priesthood is ordained.

In the Levitical church, the ordinances are revealed even more clearly, yet still serve as a picture of heavenly things. They include a priestly order, a sacrificial system, ritual purity, and temple services. However, worship in the earthly tabernacle or temple was a mere shadow of heavenly worship. For now, we have a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, pitched by the Lord, whose ministry has an efficacy which no previous ministry had ever known. The era of prefigurement in church history concluded with the planting of the New Testament Church by Jesus Christ.

In the New Testament church – which is under the Lord Jesus Christ as our Prophet in revealing to us, by his Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation, as our Priest in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God; and in making continual intercession for us, and as our King in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining all his enemies – there is a marked simplicity in our worship. The simplicity is not a diminution of glory, unless glory is measured by symbols rather than by the efficacy of Christ's priesthood. Instead, the simplicity is an absence of the vanity that Jesus had warned the disciples and his church about. Therefore, it is in the commandments of God alone that we are to seek direction for acceptable worship. The forms of worship which he has invested by his Word for the church are: 1) prayer, 2) the Word read, 3) the Word preached, 4) the Word sung, 5) the Lord's supper, and 6) baptism.