High Priest could draw near to God in the Most Holy Place, and he could only
do so one time a year (Leviticus 16). In the New Covenant, all worshippers are
invited “inside the veil” to meet with their God every Lord’s Day (Hebrews
10:19-25). Because of Christ’s death for us, we have access to the heavenly throne
room of God (Rev. 4). We ascend in a special to meet Him in His heavenly,
joining our worship to that of the other saints and angels.
What does God do for us once we have entered His presence? He renews His
covenant with us. He hears our prayers and accepts our gifts of worship. He
speaks words of comfort and instruction to us as the Scriptures are read and
preached. He invites us to the feast of the kingdom, the Lord’s Supper, in which
we commune with our Savior and celebrate what He has done for us. Finally, He
blesses us and sends us back into the world to act as salt and light. In short, God
calls us out of the world to worship Him in the heavenly sanctuary, then
commissions us to go back into the world to disciple the nations, to do unto
others as He has done unto us.
Notice two things about the way worship has been described here. First, the
emphasis is on God’s action, not ours. Through the liturgy, God molds us into
the image of Christ, individually and corporately. “Liturgy” means “service” or
“ministry.” The focus is not so much on our service to God (though this is by no
means excluded – see Romans 12:1-2 and Acts 13:2) but on His service to us. God
graciously takes the initiative and we respond in faithful obedience and praise.
Just as the gospel is about what God has done for us, rather than what we can do
for ourselves, or even what we can do with His help, so the liturgy is about God
doing for us what we cannot do on our own. Understanding this enables us to
see that the liturgy itself is a means of grace. The Bible’s liturgical pattern of
confession, cleansing, consecration, communion, and commissioning impresses
the gospel story upon us each Lord’s Day, crafting us into a humble, obedient,
service-oriented community. The church fathers had a slogan to encapsulate the
transforming power of such worship: “Lex orandi, lex credendi,” meaning, “As a
man worships, so he believes.” While we usually think it is our theology that
will shape our worship, the reverse is also true. A gospel-shaped liturgy shapes
us into a gospel-shaped people. Because God has forgiven us, we forgive others.
Because God has served us, we serve others. Because God has fed us His Son
and clothed us in His righteousness, we are compelled to feed and clothe others.
Because God has preached the gospel to us, we are led to preach it to others. A
whole way of life – a “spirituality,” or a “culture” – flows out of the liturgical
gathering.
Secondly, notice the corporate emphasis. We are gathered together as a family to
worship God. We are not passive spectators, but active participants, offering
ourselves to God in unison. Worship is an act of the whole church. We are not2 of 3
