Read Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, by David Peterson, chapter two.

Worship as Homage or Grateful Submission

Certain biblical words talk about bowing or kneeling before someone. In secular use, this can refer to a respectful greeting or paying homage or respect. Even when the outward action is not in view, the words still indicate the inner attitude. When speaking of someone’s response to God, these words express awe, dependence and submission, often with gratitude, in reaction to some gracious act or revelation of God. This could be expressed individually, or by Israel when gathered as a people before God. Israel is warned never to bow down before the false gods of other nations. The prophets envision how one day all the world’s nations will come and bow down before God. In our culture today, we may have different ways of expressing respect and homage to other persons. The particular gesture or posture is not essential, but the inward attitude of faith, gratitude, and obedience are essential to true worship.

Worship as Service

A second set of words capture the idea of “service”. God is a great king who deserves faithfulness and commitment from his people. Thus religious duties and expressions are seen as service rendered to him. The ritual activity of priests and Levites was seen as a specialized version of that service on behalf of the people. But serving God is not limited to acts of adoration or ritual. Serving God involves a wholehearted allegiance and obedience to him. In fact, serving the Lord is a broad term to describe Israel’s entire relationship with God. As a result, Israel was constantly warned not to offer their service – in the form of acts of worship and adoration – to idols. Worship, then, involves specific acts of adoration and submission to God as well as a lifestyle of obedient service.

Worship as Reverence or Respect

A small group of words captures the idea of an appropriate reverence or awe toward God. In the Greek world, this amounted to keep one’s ritual obligations to the gods. But in Israel, reverence or respect for God is more about following his ways and keeping his commandments.

Read Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, by David Peterson, chapter three.

The New Testament gospels portray Jesus as the fulfillment of everything the temple stood for in the life of God’s people. How did the writers of the New Testament use and adapt Old Testament worship themes? The temple was the representation of God’s presence with Israel and a sign of his rule over them. In Jesus, these functions were fulfilled more fully than through the temple. God’s presence and God’s glory, so connected with the tabernacle and temple, are fully and finally experienced in Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate meeting point between God and humanity.

Matthew’s Perspective

Matthew begins with the perspective that all history has been moving toward Jesus Christ. Jesus is the son of David and the son of Abraham, embodying the fulfillment of God’s promises to ancient Israel. More than that, as one greater than David and Abraham, Jesus is God with us. He represents God’s royal presence and authority. As the disciples come to realize who Jesus is, they respond with increasing worship. In this role, Jesus spoke God’s judgment against the temple, and by extension, against Israel. Israel and the temple had not functioned according to God’s plan. Instead, Jesus was to become the center of salvation and blessing for Israel and the nations. Eventually, the temple would be abandoned because the relationship with God it symbolized was broken. The New Testament builds on these themes to declare that Jesus Christ, in union with his church, is the new temple – where God dwells among his people.

John’s Perspective

John’s gospel has even more to say about how Jesus replaces the Old Testament institutions of worship. God’s presence is no longer bound to the temple, because in the coming of Jesus Christ, God made his dwelling (literally, “pitched his tabernacle”) among his people. In Jesus, God’s people have seen the glory of God, once associated with Mount Sinai, the tabernacle, and the temple. At last the tension between God’s holiness and God’s presence is resolved in him. The temple stood for revelation and purification. It was the meeting-place between God and humans, as well as the place of sacrifice for atonement of sin. These two elements found their fulfillment in the incarnation and the sacrifice of Christ.

In John 4, Jesus taught that even though Jewish worship was truly based on divine revelation and thus honoring to God, it would be superseded (John 4:23-24). True worship can take place only through him. He not only initiates a totally different way of relating to God, but he is the means by which the Father obtains true worshippers. Thus Old Testament worship was not false, but it was only a shadow pointing forward to a greater reality. Jesus is now the “place” where God is met and honored.

Finally, John records Jesus’ actions and discourses during several of the Jewish festivals. In each case, the implication is that Jesus offers a replacement for them all.

Read Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, by David Peterson, chapter four.

In his life and teachings, Jesus pointed to a new way of knowing God. By his death, he set up a new covenant with God beyond the Old Testament law. If the Old Testament temple has been replaced by the person and work of Jesus, this suggests an entirely new way to engage with God. Jesus’s ministry inaugurates a new covenant, which implies a profound change in God’s dealings with his people.

The Worship of Jesus

Jesus completely fulfilled all the requirements of Jewish worship. Yet his teaching and ministry opened up a new way to encounter God. Jesus exemplified ideal worship by prayer, fulfillment of ritual duties, and obedience to the Father. At the same time, he paved the way for a redefinition of ideal worship in terms of his own person and work. Even while acting as a faithful Jewish worshiper, Jesus sought to establish a new center for God’s people – not in the temple, the law, the synagogue, or the traditions of Israel – but in himself and the salvation he proclaimed.

Jesus and the Law of Moses

Jesus took the sacrificial system and associated cult as a given. Yet when he challenged the traditions of the Jews surrounding the law of Moses, his challenges raised serious questions about the continuing role of the law itself.

Jesus’s treatment of the Old Testament laws about ritual uncleanness pointed out that actions alone cannot truly purify the heart. Where this purification can be found remains to be seen, but the Old Testament regulations about defilement and purification are transcended by something new. This echoes the words of Jeremiah 31:31-34, which point to the need for a change of heart toward God resulting from a new covenant initiated graciously by God.

In answer to charges that he was a Sabbath-breaker, Jesus raised questions about his identity and the nature of his authority. In saying, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:) Jesus was indirectly claiming to be the one with authority to dictate what true Sabbath observance means.

The Gospels and Jesus’s Death

Jesus is revealed throughout the gospels as the source of salvation from sins. Most pointedly, Jesus claimed that his purpose was to serve people by giving his life “as a ransom” (Matthew 20:27-28). He viewed his death as a substitutionary payment for the sins of others. The salvation he offers is equivalent to the eternal life in God’s coming reign, but it can be experienced now, in anticipation, through forgiveness of sins.

The full redemptive significance of Jesus’s death, however, does not become evident until the Last Supper. Jesus’s final meal with his disciples before his death on the cross was a Passover meal. Jesus saw his own death as a fulfillment of the Passover. His approaching death – rather than the Exodus from Egypt – would accomplish God’s final deliverance of his people. The food of the Passover became a symbol of Jesus’s death and the salvation he would accomplish.

That night, Jesus told his followers that his death would inaugurate a new covenant with God (Matthew 26:28), which would ensure the forgiveness of sins. Jesus’s death not only served to replace the temple and its sacrificial system but also to re-establish God’s underlying covenant with Israel on a new basis. The implication is that the Old Testament sacrificial system has been fulfilled and replaced by his atoning death. Only those who take advantage of Jesus’s sacrifice for sins share in God’s kingdom.

Jesus told his followers to take the elements of a meal like Passover “in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). Yet he did not intend to create a new cult to replace the temple rituals. Meals stood for acceptance and participation in the Messianic community. While the meal elements have symbolic significance, nothing Jesus said suggests that this memorial meal should be tied to sacred times or places or be subject to the oversight of official priests. While no direction is given about the style or frequency of such memorial meals, the meaning is clear. God’s people look back with gratitude on his grace toward us and look forward with hope to the time we share fully with Christ in his coming kingdom.

Read Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, by David Peterson, chapter five.

As the message of Jesus Christ went forth to the Gentiles in the book of Acts, the focus remained on how to have a relationship with the true God through Jesus Christ. In Acts, the ascended Lord draws people from every nation and culture to himself.

The Earliest Disciples and the Temple

In Luke’s gospel, the temple is portrayed as a place of divine revelation. This view continues in the book of Acts. It also remained as a place of public prayer for Christians. Even though Jesus replaced the temple in God’s plan, the early Christians continued in the traditional temple practices, functioning as a faithful remnant and bearing witness to their peers. The resurrected Christ poured out the divine Spirit on the disciples in Jerusalem, and through their witness became the means by which the blessings of the end time are offered to all the nations. Christians were eventually expelled from Jerusalem because of their preaching of Christ, which raised questions about the ongoing relevance of Jewish institutions, including the temple. Now that the Messianic era had dawned, cultic and other barriers between Jews and Gentiles were being removed by God himself. Preaching about Christ remained at the heart of Christian worship.

The Inclusion of the Gentiles

In the Gentile world, different gods were seen as responsible for different spheres of life. The goal of Gentile religion was to secure the blessing of these gods by three primary means: prayers, sacrifices and divination. As the Christian message spread into the Gentile world, Paul saw the preaching of Jesus and his resurrection has the key to persuading those who practiced idolatry. Humans are responsible for the sin of idolatry even if practiced in ignorance, but Gentiles can find God by turning in repentance from idolatry and believing in the risen Jesus. This is the way for them to offer acceptable worship to the true God.

Homage and Service Under the New Covenant

Traditional worship terminology is not used much with reference to Christians in Luke and Acts. The heart of what it means to be a Christian is calling upon Jesus as Savior and Lord first as an initial response to the gospel and also as a lifestyle of dependence on him in prayer. At the heart of the earliest Christian preaching and worship was confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, Lord and Savior. Prayer was offered to Jesus. He was addressed as Lord. As Jesus’ unique place in God’s saving plan was recognized, he became an object of devotion in a way traditionally reserved among the Jews for God alone. The monotheistic tradition of Judaism was reshaped to include a second person worthy of worship, praise and obedience. As described in Paul’s encounters with his Jewish adversaries, Christian worship was a way of life with Jesus at the center. While the terminology of worship was applied to what Christians do when they meet together, this is understood within the broader framework of Christian life and ministry.

The Character and Function of Early Christian Gatherings

Acts 2:42 summarizes the activities of early Christians in Jerusalem. Central to their gatherings was the apostolic teaching. God’s word has always been at the heart of true engagement with God. Thus teaching God’s word is an essential aspect of congregational worship  – along with prayer, praise and obedience. The church also practiced a deeply shared life. This included sharing of material goods, meals and time together. One element of this shared life was common participation in the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper was most frequently shared as part of an actual everyday meal. These meals may have been associated with teaching, prayer, or praise. The church participated in the set times of prayer at the temple, but even their informal gatherings involved praising God and prayer. While worship and fellowship find expression when Christians gather to serve each other, pray and praise God, they are also expressed in many ways apart from the formal gatherings of the faith community.

Read Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, by David Peterson, chapter six.

The apostle Paul used common worship terminology, but in a transformed sense to describe a community of holy people in service to the Lord. While the apostle Paul does not present a developed theology of new covenant worship, it is possible to uncover the substructure of worship theology in his writings.

Worship as the Consecrated Lifestyle of the Converted

For ancient pagans, coming to faith in Christ involved a total reorientation of life involved in abandoning idolatry for the worship of the living God. This initiated a life of service to God as King – doing his will and living to please him. What set Christianity apart from the pagan cults was not rituals or secret practices, but the consecrated lifestyle of Christ’s followers, including mutual ministry among God’s people. An engagement with God through Christ is the only true way to offer God the worship that he deserves.

Acceptable Worship and the Sacrifice of Christ

Paul’s letter to the Romans begins with humanity’s essential problem: a refusal to glorify and serve God and therefore failure to worship him acceptably. In response to this, Paul draws attention to the sacrifice of Jesus, which makes it possible for all to engage God in worship that pleases him. The sacrifice of Jesus fulfills and replaces the sacrificial rites of the Old Testament cult. Christ’s self-offering is itself an act of perfect worship to God. Christians then enter into union with Christ in his self-surrender and obedience.

In Romans 12:1-2, Paul suggests a radically new understanding of worship in light of God blessings through Christ. God mercies constitute a call to worship that goes beyond ritual observance to include faith, repentance and obedience. Christian worship involves the presentation of ourselves to God in response to Jesus’s atoning death, so that we are transformed and renewed, no longer conformed to the lifestyle and values of this world.

This presentation is seen as a “living sacrifice” – the consecration of ourselves as a whole, initially made at conversion, but renewed on a regular basis. Rather than bringing material offerings in worship, we bring the totality of our existence to God in everyday life. This offering flows out of a continual reminder of the infinite mercies of God.

Gospel Ministry as a Specific Expression of Christian Worship

In Romans, Paul saw his apostolic ministry as an expression of worship. His proclamation of the gospel was a particular form of the sacrifice all Christian make (Romans 12:1), comparable to the praise offered with the sacrificial ritual at the temple. His ministry to the Gentiles had a “priestly” aspect, by which he enables converted Gentiles to offer themselves to God as an acceptable sacrifice. This ministry was radically different from the priestly ministry of the Old Testament cult because it was offered out in the world rather than in some sacred place. Likewise, evangelism today can be seen as an expression of Christian worship or service to God, calling on people to respond in grateful obedience to God’s mercies in Christ.

Sacrifice, Faith, and the Spirit

Paul also uses the terminology of worship to describe his ministry to the Philippians. Their monetary assistance is compared to an Old Testament sacrifice, the aroma of which gave delight to God. His own efforts are seen in terms of the drink offering of oil poured out over and alongside a burnt offering at the temple. By this, he may have been thinking about his own death.

Read Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, by David Peterson, Chapter 7.

Paul emphasized worship as a consecrated manner of life in response to God’s merciful saving work. But he does not limit worship to merely ethics. Paul also addresses the nature and purpose of Christian gatherings and in what sense we worship God in the assembly of his people.

Meeting God when the church gathers

An unbeliever may encounter God with a response of surrender (1 Corinthians 14:24-25), but evangelism is not the primary purpose of the Christian gathering in the New Testament. Paul places more emphasis on the edification of God’s people. This happens through the gift of prophecy, and in fact, through a whole range of verbal ministries when the congregation gathers. Christians engage with God when the Bible is formally expounded and when believers informally exhort each other. In short, we meet God when we meet each other.

The church as the temple of the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 3:16 marks out the church as the new temple. God’s dwelling on earth is not some special sanctuary, but the people of God themselves, particularly when they gather in Jesus’ name. This identity calls for the church to zealously preserve the unity they share in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:17). Andit calls for the church to maintain its holiness in relation to the surrounding world (2 Corinthians 6:16-18). In Ephesians 2:19-22, the church is seen as the temple of God, but this includes a heavenly, rather than just a local assembly. , encompassing Jews and Gentiles from all ages. In light of this, every Christian gathering is an expression of the heavenly church, and the reality of God may be encountered in the midst of his people.

Edification and the gathering of the church

Paul regularly uses the language of “edification” to explain the purpose of Christian gatherings. The word means to build something up, and Paul mainly uses it to refer not to individual growth, but to the numerical and spiritual establishing of God’s people. It encompasses evangelism and church planting, as well as a process of teaching and encouragement afterwards.

The concept of edification blends in with the idea of the church as the body of Christ. This metaphor stresses two things: the relationships of Christians to one another in fellowship and mutual ministry; and the relationship of the whole church to Christ as head. In Ephesians 4:12-16, the church is built up when the members serve each other in word and deed surrounding the presence and supremacy of Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 14, such edification takes place when people share truth with one another in love. Edification is ultimately the work of Christ, through Christians who utilize his gifts toward one another when they gather.

The Lord’s Supper at Corinth

1 Corinthians 10-11 offers an example of issues related to edification. Paul addressess problems with the church’s practice of the Lord’s Supper. This is a communal meal Christians shared in remembrance of and participation in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross – a real meal and not just a symbolic ritual. Christ’s sacrifice created a new people, but the Corinthians were eating the meal in a way that divided rich from poor, thus denying the unity of God’s people in Christ. The Lord’s Supper was clearly meant to focus on relationships as well as on the past sacrifice and coming return of Christ.

Worship in church and in the world

In the New Testament, it is no longer relevant to think of worship in terms of any holy place, person, or season that creates a distance from everyday life. So worship is not just what takes place in a church building or service. In fact, when the church gathers, Paul’s focus is on participating in the edification of the church. This includes prayer and praise, but also ministry to one another by proclaiming and applying the truths of the gospel. Christ dwells in and with his church. This experience is most fully realized as God’s people are gathered to express our devotion to him and service to each other.

Discussion Questions:

1. Watch the video together or invite someone to summarize the topic.
2. What is your initial reaction to this video? Do you disagree with any of it? What jumped out at you?
3. “We meet God when we meet each other.” Do you agree or disagree, and why?
4. What is the role that words play when God’s people engage each other corporately?
5. If the church is now God’s temple, how does this suggest that Christians need to act?
6. Explain “edification.” How does it occur in the church?
7. What does the “body” metaphor suggest about Christians’ relationship with each other? With Christ?
8. Think about the assembly described in 1 Corinthians 14. In what ways are our contemporary assemblies like or unlike that model? In what ways should they be like or unlike that model?
9. What does 1 Corinthians 10-11 suggest about the meaning and practice of the Lord’s Supper?
10. What practical applications can you draw from this chapter about how we practice worship when the church gathers?
11. Write a personal action step based on this conversation.

Read Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, by David Peterson, chapter eight.

Hebrews contains the fullest theology of worship in the New Testament. It makes crystal clear what other books point toward: that by introducing a new covenant, Jesus fulfills and replaces the whole pattern of approaching God established in the Old Testament. The work of Jesus Christ is not only an offering of perfect worship to God, but it is also the only basis on which we can know God and offer him acceptable worship.

The Definitive Worship of Jesus

Jesus is portrayed as both the perfect high priest and the perfect sacrifice. This brings to an end the role of both priests and sacrifices since both have been fulfilled in Jesus. He priesthood is superior to the priesthood inaugurated under Moses, just as the covenant Jesus mediates is superior to the Mosaic covenant. Instead of serving in an earthly temple, the work of Jesus is accomplished in heaven itself. In terms of worship, the Old Testament cult enabled Israel to draw near to God in only a limited sense, and in fact, obscured the worshiper’s free approach to God. The old covenant rituals provided outward or ceremonial purification, but Jesus’s sacrifice has the power to secure once-for-all atonement for sin, cleanse the worshiper’s conscience, and provide direct access to God. Because the shed blood of Jesus provides this cleansing and consecration to the service of God, Jesus’ sacrifice is foundational to Christian worship.

Worship as Homage to God’s Son

Jesus is certainly worthy of homage as the Son of God. This is best offered to him, not in cultic activity, but through a life of faith and obedience. Yet more significantly, Jesus is seen not only as the object of worship but the means by which persons can approach God in true worship.

The Participation of Believers in the Worship of Jesus

In Hebrews, the way believers are to respond to the person and work of Christ is to “draw near” – which means having a relationship with him by faith. We can now draw near without the aid of a human priesthood because of the priestly work of Jesus. Hebrews encourages us to draw near to God on a continual basis, appropriating the benefits of salvation in confident dependence on him in times of trial and failure. The opposite of this is to fall away into apostacy.

Another response to Jesus’ saving work is gratitude that expresses itself in words and actions of service, balanced with a reverence and awe that is due to a holy God. The certainty of God’s grace should not obscure the judgment of God on the apostate.

In practical terms, the activities of worship include both service to others and the confession of Jesus to the outside world. Such worship is acceptable to God when it is offered through Christ, by God’s own enabling power.

The Congregational Gathering in Hebrews

When Hebrews speaks to the gathering of believers together, the focus is on mutual ministry, through words of warning and encouragement. Corporate gatherings are an occasion to express care for one another, to encourage one another to stand firm against sin and apostasy, and to spur one another on to godly living. All this is done with an awareness of the coming kingdom and the future promises of God. Yet there is also a vertical dimension suggested in the gatherings of God’s people. When Hebrews 10:22 invites us to draw near to God, so that our initial encounter with God through Jesus Christ is regularly renewed and expressed. But Hebrews 10 suggests that this happens in the context of the gathering, not just individually. We are pilgrims together journeying toward a heavenly Jerusalem, and our gatherings anticipate that ultimate reality as we encourage each other to stay the course.

Maintaining the Hope We Profess

Christians are called to hold unswervingly to the hope we profess (Hebrews 10:23). This profession could take place in a gathered worship setting or in everyday life situations. If believers regularly affirm their confidence in God when they gather, it may be that this equips them to make the same profession before unbelievers.

See the book Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, by David Peterson.

Glimpses of heavenly beings paying homage to God, coupled with the faithful perseverance of God’s people on earth, paint a picture of authentic worship.

The book of Revelation has much to teach us about worship, from visions of heavenly beings paying homage to the living God, to the faithful perseverance of God’s people in serving him in spite of persecution and conflicting demands on their loyalty.

The Seductive Power of False Religion

The backdrop of Revelation is the conflict between man-made religion and the worship of the true God. This takes shape in the opposition between the imperial cult of Rome versus Christian loyalty to Jesus Christ. Failure to give honor to the emperor was a punishable offense. Yet to engage in the cult was to indulge in idolatry – to give allegiance to “the dragon” and “the beast.” This is true not only in ancient Rome but whenever human power demands ultimate allegiance. Acceptable worship involves accepting God’s claim for exclusive devotion and loyalty by rejecting every alternative.

The Call to Worship the True God

The first angel in Revelation 14 summons people from the entire earth to fear God, give him glory, and worship him. This invitation is to give submission and undivided allegiance to the creator. Those who respond to this divine call become a kingdom of priests to serve God. 1 Peter 2 also highlights the priestly role of Christ’s people, who offer “spiritual sacrifices” to God through Jesus Christ and who publicly sound the praises of God. Beyond this priestly calling, Christian worship – in contrast to worship of the beast – involves trusting in God’s promises worked out in the obedience and perseverance of daily life, giving proper allegiance to God in every circumstance of life.

Worship in the Heavenly Realm

The visions of heavenly worship are recorded in Revelation to encourage Christians on earth to remain faithful to Jesus, in anticipation of serving God in the new Jerusalem. At key points, the heavenly beings fall down before God and Christ in homage, while verbally ascribing certain traits and mighty acts to them. First, they acknowledge the sovereignty of God over creation.  God’s kingship is elevated far above the claims of earthly emperors. The same heavenly assembly falls before Jesus, praising him for his redemptive work. Later, the heavenly creatures extol God for exercising his powerful rule over rebellious humanity, and for accomplishing the final salvation long anticipated in the Old Testament.

The Link Between Heaven and Earth

These acclamations of praise have found their way into many Christian liturgies and songs over the ages. These materials affirm the victory already accomplished by Jesus through his death, resurrection, and exaltation. They provide encouragement for Christians to stay true to Jesus and resist apostasy. Singing praises to God and Christ is a way of affirming basic gospel truths together and of recognizing God’s powerful rule over nature and history. It can strengthen Christians to maintain their confidence in God and his purposes.

Read Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, by David Peterson, chapter ten and Summary.

Chapter 10 is a summary of the principles discovered in the book’s analysis of worship throughout the Bible. The Epilogue suggests how these principles might be applied in an imaginary church’s gatherings.

Old Testament Worship

Worship starts with God, not with us. God takes the initiative by revealing himself to us, and by acting to redeem us. Revelation and redemption form the basis of worship.

The Old Testament cult (ritual) was developed as a way for a holy God to be present among sinful people. It provided a way to maintain the holiness of God’s people and to facilitate their service to God.

New Testament Worship

All the Old Testament ritual, along with the eschatological hopes voiced in the Old Testament, are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. God fully and finally manifested himself in Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate meeting point between heaven and earth. He initiates a new covenant between God and humanity, taking on the role of both the priest and the sacrifice.

In the New Testament, worship means believing this good news (the gospel), and responding to the person and work of God’s Son with one’s whole life and being. There is no longer any divinely ordained ritual for approaching God, nor is there any divinely ordained place to do so.

The Worship Gathering

The primary purpose of Christian gatherings is the edification or building up of the body of Christ – the church. All those who gather participate in this. Songs and prayers contribute to this purpose. The gathering is also an anticipation of the heavenly assembly of God’s people.

Evangelism is the act of inviting people to become worshipers, that is, to respond to God, through Jesus and his saving work, with the allegiance of their entire lives.

In the end, the gospel is the key to worship. Worship must be centered on Jesus and rooted in his redemptive work.