When the gospel shapes our worship .... (Can be audio-file to this talk here
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The church service design is hotly debated and controversial. It is not just that we see today various forms of worship events. The question of how the services should be celebrated, is also quite different answers - usually depending on religious background from which someone is coming.
it in some circles is a tough battle to the service design.
This fight is - and I would deliberately targeted towards our own address - unfortunately mainly determined by preferences. This means the two or more camps, the fight over the issue are mainly trying to impose their own view.
find the one that it is important and right that we address with our events, the public, we want to win. The others are: No, it must above all ourselves probably be there, as we have one, make two hours. And often, conservative Christians are just in the second camp. The 'conservative' style 'just satisfied their taste for the best. We do not sing as the 'poppy' songs today Church consumers have fallen, but we sing the old songs that we like.
So then is the struggle for the church design a struggle over matters of taste. Not anymore. This must not happen. If we only fight for our preferred view, we have lost the battle already. We are then actually similar to the Corinthians, where Paul wrote in regard to their worship (1 Cor 11:17): If I but the following prescriptive, I do not praise that its not for the better, but for the worse to come together.
The church at Corinth was a divided community. It was fought for personal preferences. That is precisely why they had sinful divisions and showed exactly why Paul they get along. It is in chapters 11-14 of 1 Corinthians to a considerable extent by the service organization. It is about the implementation of the Last Supper to wear during the service, the order of things, etc.
Paul writes this county but not easy: "Those who say this or that, are right, they are wrong," but he actually says: "You are all wrong, because you simply have the wrong attitude."
And this attitude we should look at ourselves in any case first, before we ask, "Who is the right model for the service have?" We should ask ourselves: "What we do at all with our worship?" or "What must do we want? What does God want us to do? Do we worship God, give him the honor - and postpone our own tastes, we deny ourselves - or do we simply use our - post modern or conservative - will cost "
If we have clarified our position may, indeed, we must ask again: "It is a form of worship that God meets will"
justifications for an orderly worship
One might object. We find in the Bible no template or no sample liturgy, according to the needs of Christian worship to be designed, the true. Is there then even a form of worship, God preferred? Yes, that is for sure!
God - after leading his people out of Egypt - determines how he wants to be adored by the people, as the service is to be made.
worship (according to God's prescribed pattern) was the intention of the liberation from Egypt.
Exo 3:12 I will be with you, you and this is the sign that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, will serve her to this mountain.
Exo 5:1,3 Then Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Let my people go, that they celebrate a feast to me in the desert. ... They said: The God of the Hebrews we met. Three days' journey, we want to go to the desert and the Lord our God, to sacrifice so that he does not hit us with pestilence or sword.
God had a clear idea of how this service should be designed. He would not be people that has such a strong inclination to idolatry left, how they want to worship him.
He showed Moses on the mountain exactly how all items must be made and how should they be needed. In his second bid, he said, as it must not happen: "You shall not make a copy of something heavenly to worship it."
God angry reaction to the party with the golden calf or Nadab and Abihu, the strange fire brought to the altar, or USA, touched the Ark after it had not been transported to the instruction of God - all this shows very clearly that it depends on God, done in what way the church service.
we look into the New Testament: Jesus, an evangelistic conversation leads to a Samaritan woman. The question is for the right to worship: Jn 4:19-24
The woman said to him: Lord, I see you are a prophet. Our fathers prayed on this mountain, and you say that Jerusalem is the place where you should pray. Jesus says to her: Believe me, woman Hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will pray to the Father. You pray to what you do not know, and we pray to what we know - for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and it is now there to be praying when the true worshipers in spirit and truth to the Father except the Father seeks those who pray in this way to him. God is spirit, and who pray to him must worship in spirit and truth.
something is overlooked in the discussion of this text many times, Jesus says not only that there is no specific building (temple) for worship needs more! He also says that there is a false and is a correct way of worship. The Samaritan is well meaning, but inadequate: "Do you worship what you do not know ... that salvation is of the Jews"
Jesus says here that the Jewish approach (by then) was the right one. They worshiped God according to the revelation that he gave them. This revelation came to Moses, the prophets and the writings (not only from the 5 books of Moses, as was the case with the Samaritans).
course, Jesus goes on. He says that he has started to the time that one should not worship more of the sacrificial system in the temple. Man must worship in spirit and in truth. What does this mean? It means that the revelation of the Spirit, the revealed truth of God must guide us in how we hold church services.
Note we: This interview will take place at the transition from Old Testament to New Testament revelation. Jesus says the woman, eliminated the temple. Jesus himself is the new temple and his body, so the church of Christ, is the new Temple.
, what is not eliminated, the revelation of God in terms of how he wants to be adored - even in the worship of the gathered local authorities this county.
worship God, even through worship gatherings, must always be done according to the divine revelation.
We see this then in the back chapters of 1 Corinthians. Especially in 1 Corinthians 14 is Paul to this church to hold their meetings arranged. The priority these regulations is to persist the importance of the elements. Prophecies he ranks higher than language speech. And when talking about prophets, then the other will examine what is said. How can they prove it? Of course up here in the revealed word of God. This is a top priority.
"Everything done in peace and in order, because God is not a God of confusion but of peace," Paul makes on the sequence of the Assembly of God worship geoffenbartem character. Must worship God in accordance with revelation. His revelation of himself and his way of salvation.
What is the correct form?
If we ask ourselves: What is the correct form of worship, then we have already recognized for an approach. God has given both the Old and the New Testament instructions for worship. Content to let the service know what God has revealed about himself and his salvation.
This revelation is historically and continuously. God began the beginning of the Old Testament to the last prophet to reveal his salvation in Christ. In the Old Testament, he did it in the form of ceremonies and types of role models that point to the coming Christ. In the New Testament, the Old Testament revelation explains and illustrates concrete. The Christ has come. It is clear that he is the object of worship of God! He must be the center and the content of the whole service be.
The tabernacle, the temple, the victims, the objects, the priests wear, the holidays - all components of the disposed of worship God spoke of Christ. Now we have Christ himself, therefore, these pre overshadowing unnecessary. But Christ himself, his essence, his salvation, his devotion to us - this should not be left out, but must determine our worship.
Moses was on Mt. There was shown to him by God, how to make the components for the service. God said to him (2.Mose 26:30): "Personalize everything as it was shown you on the mountain!" Many centuries later, Moses was back on the mountain. There was shown him who he is, pointing to the all the things that were previously shown to him on the mountain.
When Jesus says, done our worship must be in spirit and in truth, it means just that, that we himself - the God revealed truth, which is the temple, he is the victim, who is the High Priest - by our to honor all worship and adore. We speak as those who call themselves Bible-believing Christians often assume that our preaching, our preaching, Christ-will be centered. But we also see that all our services are to have Christ as the center?
Our services should be an image of the heavenly. Are they sometimes just a "Sunday Club", because a number of Christians just sit together and either spend the kind of "edifying" time together, or perhaps simply because they are celebrating their orthodoxy? If man and his interests - be they postmodern or conservative - in the spotlight, then these "services" more of a Sunday Club.
If Christ, his person and his salvation in the center, then they are a reflection of the heavenly.
The historical model
If we compare the forms of worship through the history of the Church through it, we can see that the Church of Christ has never really changed their form of worship in a big way. Even result the Reformation, where the understanding of salvation in Christ was organized from scratch using the script, it was in the liturgy not as large formal changes.
The liturgy, order of service to the end, determine the order of the components of the service, was the scene since the old church in the first centuries of understanding of the Gospel. (Of course, in the Roman Church was the wrong concept to express what was then adapted by the reformers in their liturgy again).
first - likely to be influenced by enthusiastic and so-called revival movements in recent times - came up with the idea of the meetings should be less organized, be more spontaneous. The more spontaneous the more spiritual, I think, thought, and think. Behind this attitude is certainly a sincere desire for a true piety, which should not be ruined by the uninvolved rattling off of ceremonies and pre-formulated prayers.
Only one here has probably paid the baby with the bath. One can certainly argue with some justification: "rigid forms can destroy lives." But we must also recognize that it can persist without much of a life form. The practice also shows that where you want to give only a minor form of worship, with time as if by magic itself forms one.
For example, there are many free communities that do not consciously pray "Our Father", because it's been said 'is always the same. However, it is observed in these communities very well that the 'free' prayers of their members are mostly repeated as uniform and above all very much meaningless than the Our Father, which is, after all, from God's inspired word. The gospel must
a raster "for worship services
Our Christ-centered, or Gospel-centered. A worship that pleases God, who according to his will, is a religion, not only proclaimed in the sermon, but as the whole event, the Gospel, he depicts.
safe: our whole life is a religious service, a copy of the Gospel. But our Sunday services will also be a (compact) image of what is the worship of our lives during the week.
real terms this means: If we do not accept a form of historical liturgies, they must nevertheless certain elements that appear in these liturgies, to be there. The service as a public
the event will always reflect what we believe about God and his actions! The Sunday service is a reflection of what we believe otherwise during the week. It would be good for us if this is the gospel!
The Gospel speaks of how we can come into the presence of God.
If the Gospel shapes the worship service, it will be run in approximately similar to the story of a man who comes to God through the gospel. The following 'elements' should thus, in a liturgy (worship sequence) be present and dominate the Assembly:
recognize God's holiness
Who approach God wants to meet him, will first be overwhelmed by its size and holiness. He will realize how big God is and how small he is wrong.
The beginning of the service would have to represent that fact somehow.
So you can not, in my opinion in the room , Walk backwards and sit comfortably in a chair sipping a 'latte' and pure pull some pop songs, when one is aware that this is a privileged moment of encounter with the holy God.
recognize sin
knowledge of God results in self-knowledge. Those who recognize themselves in the light of God, is aware of his sin. He seeks forgiveness. God's means to raise awareness of sin is the law. The reading of legal texts (from the Old and New Testament) at this point in worship is therefore useful.
forgiveness / encouragement same
Where sin is pointed out and recognized, as we realize our need for redemption. Where in the Old Testament
Mass victims were taken, we can and should now point to the once for all sacrifice of Christ.
The declaration of forgiveness to the penitent at this point evokes the joy of the redeemed. The awareness of what it means to come before God and to be able to exist in its presence, can because Christ has sought this for us, shapes the community of worship.
Thanks to / worship
The encouragement and the joy of forgiveness in gratitude to God, to Christ being heard. With this will come in various types of expression, worship in verbal (spoken prayers or songs) or in the celebration of the Eucharist. Another form of thanks can be giving. It is therefore appropriate to include in the liturgy is also an occasion for giving.
teaching / instructions / order
If a man has recognized God's holiness and their sinfulness, repented and received forgiveness granted, he will want to thank God not only verbally but also with his whole life. A life that God has given up in obedience is the proper way to thank him for his salvation. For such a life, we need guidance in the form of instruction, exhortation and instruction. This is done through the preaching of the word.
blessing / broadcast
The blessing at the end of the service should not only his act, which marks the end of the event. Rather, it should be a moment when the participants are aware of / be that they are mandated to implement what they have learned now and that they are not on our own power in the situation. You need God's blessing and its accompanying power and leadership. This should be also attributed to them.
Whether these elements mentioned in the form of a fixed (predetermined) liturgy genordnet or not, in any case should be that to which we base our daily worship - the Gospel - even in our worship gatherings, which indeed a formal (descriptive) character have to determine what happened. The service
as Sunday's event will always reflect what we believe about the daily worship. We should think about when planning the order of our worship.
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