The Essence of Worship: Worship Service Primacy?

　　Recently, many public gatherings have been cancelled due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Numbers of churches also adjourned gatherings such as fellowship gatherings, Sunday school classes and talks. However, some insisted that “Sunday worship service is the only thing that cannot be suspended,” and that even though congregations may not gather in person, they are strongly advised to attend worship services online. The reason given was that worship service is a sacred time during which believers worship God and it is the core activity of a church. Increasingly, Hong Kong Chinese churches are giving more attention to worship, with more and more teachings and discussions focusing on worship. Since the singspiration style of worship which became prevalent years ago, hymn-leading has practically become mandatory ministry training for the younger generation within churches. While some ministers and leaders criticize the deficient content of modern hymns, there are signs that traditional hymns and orders of worship are regaining traction within the Christian community. Many scholars who are concerned with these trends in worship services share their thoughts from various perspectives in music, liturgy, theology and pastoral ministry. They all strive to construct a more feasible foundation and try to discern the right direction for public worship. However, what is the true meaning of worship throughout history? I want to point out that the understanding of public worship in modern churches to a certain extent deviates from the historical traditions of the Old Testament, New Testament and the Church.

Worship and Service

　　In the Bible, “worship” is mainly a translation from two words in Hebrew, עָבַד and שָׁחָה, as well as two other words in Greek, προσκυνέω and λατρεύω; they all share the meaning of “service.” As the New Bible Dictionary notes, “the vocabulary of worship in the Bible is very extensive, but the essential concept in Scripture is ‘service.’” ¹ Moses warned the Israelites before his death that “if you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.” (Dt 8:19 NIV; italics added for emphasis here and hereafter) Also, in response to the temptation in the wildness, Jesus said, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (Mt 4:10). Obviously, worship and service are parallel and carry the same meaning. The true almighty God is the only subject of worship and service for the people of God. When the Israelites served other gods, they were punished (2 Kgs 17:7); similarly, Christians cannot serve two gods (Mt 6:24).

　　If worship means service, service can never be confined to a worship service that happens only once a week. The Israelites in the Old Testament put much emphasis on serving YHWH, namely that they should worship God through their lives, and recognize Him as the only Lord worthy of honor and their submission. Its most clear outward expression is their obedience to His Word, and their observation of the Lord’s commandants announced through Moses (Dt 10:12; 13:4; Jo 22:5). The requirement for living a life of worship and service is even more evident in the New Testament: we are asked to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. The NIV translation of Romans 12:1 is: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship [λατρεία].” This means believers have to do the will of God from their hearts and serve the Lord wholeheartedly (Eph 6:6-7).

Worship and Meeting

　　Worship is not a specific kind of meeting but a kind of living that honors God as the Lord. Probably because of this, both testaments never focus their attention on any worship service. As mentioned, God’s major request to Israel’s service in the Old Testament era was to obey His commandments. The laws in the Five Books of Moses consist of offering guidelines, food restrictions, and behavioral codes. These laws relate to the maintenance or retrieval of the Holy People’s identity; they should concentrate on living out a life that belongs to God, rather than participating in meetings. There was a time when the Israelites wrongfully thought they could please God through frequent religious activities, such as regular offerings and feasts, despite the fact that they neglected social justice and oppressed the poor. God thus proclaimed through a prophet: “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. …But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Am 5:21-22, 24) Evidently, daily life and behavior as worship and service to God are far more important than any religious activities (including worship services). When the era of New Testament came, our Lord Jesus proclaimed the gospel of the Heavenly Kingdom, urging everyone to confess their sins and believe in God; He explained the truth, taught His disciples to pray by faith, to love God and neighbors, and set an example for all through His own lifestyle and being obedient to death. Even though our Lord’s teaching is profound and immense, He taught nothing about worship service. He proclaimed the new commandment of loving each other, the great commission of making the Lord’s disciples, and asked His believers to be the light and salt of the world. These teachings all require practice in daily life, which is the true worship and service to God.

　　Someone may ask: are not the Israelites required to observe Sabbath and feasts prescribed by the Old Testament? Also, is not the believers’ community forbidden to stop meeting in the New Testament? According to the two testaments, the aim of these communal activities is for teaching, mutual exhortation and reminding so as to help God’s people act out their faith in life, rather than regarding such meetings as sacred times of worship. Except for the Day of Atonement which bears the connotation of national purification, all feasts (including feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles) prescribed by the laws aim to help the Israelites to remember God’s grace in the past and presence lest they may forget and forsake YHWH. Reading the laws of Moses is essential in Jewish synagogue service on Sabbath; especially in the ancient time when literacy levels were relatively low; public reading played a crucial role in teaching people the truth. Christian communities continue this tradition of reading scriptures during their meetings. Paul, for example, assertively told local churches to read his letter in turn (Col 4:16). As a result, when the New Testament calls believers to “not [give] up meeting together,” the reason given is to “encourage one another” (Heb 10:25). When Paul deals with the chaos of church meetings, he asked everything—hymn singing, teaching, speaking of tongues, revelation and prophecy—be done in order separately, emphasizing that “everything must be done so that the church may be built up” (1 Cor 14:26) and “so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged” (1 Cor 14:31).

Worship and Hymn-Singing

　　As for hymn-singing, the Bible certainly provides us with an early tradition of presenting thankfulness and praise to God through music and dance. The best examples are the songs that Moses and Miriam led the Israelites to sing after their successful escape from the Egyptian armies (Ex 5:1-18, 20-21). However, these praises are the natural response of God’s people to His grace and mightiness revealed in their lives; these are not worship rituals in the regular meetings. Without a doubt, it is King David who first made sacred music a regular element in the Israelites’ religious meetings. He arranged twenty-four rotations of officers responsible for singing and playing music in the temple all year round (1 Chr 25:1-31). The scripture text, nevertheless, does not further explain David’s intentions regarding this arrangement. However, the New Testament has clear advice on the function of sacred music. When we are discussing hymns, Ephesians 5:19-21 and its close parallel Colossians 3:16-17 are probably the most cited verses. What is the purpose of Paul here asking believers to use “psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit”? Through careful study of the text, it is not difficult to see Paul’s emphasis: to “let the message of Christ dwell among you richly … with all wisdom.” In other words, hymns are a way to help believers learn, deepen, and remember the truth. Thus, the texts repeated the importance of “speaking to one another,” “submit[ting] to one another,” “teach[ing] and admonish[ing] one another,” in order to “sing and make music from your heart to the Lord” and “[sing] to God with gratitude in your hearts.” It is worth noting that the instructions for Christian households follow the above two texts; this arrangement implies Paul expects a concrete practice in daily life after one receives of the Lord’s message through hymns, so that one can live out the disciple witness of loving one another. Some modern churches believe that they have to praise God through incredible music, and some even think that they need to enhance their musical techniques to please God; none of these, unfortunately, is the stance of the early church.

Holistic Worship

　　All early church fathers who succeeded the apostles affirm holistic worship. Clement of Alexandria states: “We are commanded to reverence and to honor [Christ] … not on special days, as some others, but doing this continually in our whole life, and in every way.” ² Origen further explains that Christians need to worship by “an upright course of life,” highlighting that “the worshipper of God is he whose life is regulated by the principles and precepts of the divine word.” ³ Early Christians did not call their meeting on Sunday “worship,” but a meeting in memory of the Lord’s resurrection. The meeting’s main content was for the attendants to hear the Word and to receive the communion; believers were thus expected to learn about the truth, remember the grace of the Lord and to have their lives transformed. In addition, their worship and service to God did not finish at the end of the meeting. On the contrary, after the meeting, believers went out giving alms to those in need, and put the message of the Lord into practice; besides, deacons also sent out the remaining bread and wine to their sick members, as a sign of showing the unity of the community.

　　Undoubtedly, it is challenging for common Christians to remember that we have to worship and serve God through our lives. Thus, the medieval church tried hard to integrate the worship of God into the believers’ life cycle. These measures covered the various significant phases of life, including infant baptism upon one’s birth and confirmation in one’s adulthood, marriage when two join together as husband and wife, and anointing of the sick on one’s deathbed. Moreover, the Liturgical Calendar was widely used: from the Season of Christmas to the Season of Epiphany, followed by the Season of Lent, Easter, the Season after Pentecost, the Season of Advent, and back to Christmas. There were also regular weekly meetings. Apart from the Mass every Sunday, cathedrals held Mass every morning and evening; even small rural chapels often held a few meetings during weekdays, reminding their Christians about the salvation of the Lord. The monastic communities even have Canonical Hours, a divine service consisting of seven separate hours a day which included Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. The practice of fixed-hour prayers, from one’s waking up in the early morning to late night when one went to bed, was to remind monks and nuns to live a life of worship and service to God with awe and thankful hearts.

　　During the early Reformation period, famous reformers continued this medieval tradition to a certain extent. Both the Lutheran and the Reformed churches adopted the Liturgical Calendar and held many meetings on weekdays. Martin Luther preached three times every Sunday, taught on catechisms every Monday and Tuesday morning, studied the Gospel of Matthew on Wednesday morning, taught about the letters of the apostles or other books of New Testament on Thursday and Friday mornings, and gave sermon on the Gospel of John on Saturday nights. John Calvin also demanded that pastors preach three times every Sunday, and organize early morning preaching events every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Furthermore, all reformers maintained that Christians need to worship God through their life practices. Just as Luther said, “God does not want hearers and repeaters of words, but doers and followers who exercise the faith that works by love.” ⁴ Indeed, the sixteenth-century reformers changed the name of the Sunday meeting from “Mass” to “Worship.” We must examine their reasoning behind the change. As Luther criticized, the Roman Catholics at that time turned the liturgy into a means for earning God’s grace and salvation, which resulted in the loss of faith. ⁵ Therefore, the Church must use a language understood by the common people for preaching, so they may learn the true Word. The Word and the Sacraments should be the focus of church worship services, in order to train and build up believers, enabling them to grow in the true Word. ⁶ In Luther’s eyes, the function of public worship is not to praise God through participating in the meeting, but to build up the lives of believers, so that they can have faith and serve the Lord in everyday life.

　　From the above review, we can conclude that the idea of focusing our worship to the Triune God during one single meeting is not biblical, nor in accordance with the Church’s traditions; it is a misunderstanding that arose later in the history. The true worship of Christians to God is to offer themselves as living sacrifices and to serve the Lord with their living witnesses that demonstrates the truth. It is something more than singing and listening to sermons in meetings. The essence of a worship service in church is to help believers understand, reflect, and deepen their Christian faith so that they can live out a life of worship and service to God in everyday life.

^* This essay is a modified version of my article “Worship vs. Life,” Soulcare (Issue 42), May 2019, 5-7.

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¹ J. G. S. S. Thomson, “Worship,” in New Bible Dictionary, 2nd ed., ed. J. D. Douglas (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1982), 1262.
² Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 7.7.
³ Origen, Contra Celsum 8.10.
⁴ Martin Luther, The Eight Wittenberg Sermons (LW 2:392).
⁵ Martin Luther, Concerning the Order of Public Worship (LW 53:11).
⁶ Martin Luther, The German Mass and Order of Service 1526 (LW 53:60, 80, 89).