V.
Applications of the Fact that Reverence and Solemnity
Are
Essential Aspects of Biblical Worship
The fact
that reverence and solemnity are essential aspects of Biblical worship has
tremendous consequences for the practices of Christ’s earthly
congregations. First, it is evident that
“worship” that is not solemn and reverent, but is superficial, foolish,
thoughtless, vapid, flippant, trivial, and irreverent is in the highest degree
offensive to God. The Father seeks for
true worshippers, and “they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (Jn 4:23-24). Jehovah delights in His true children crying
“Hosanna to the Son of David” in His temple (Mt 21:15), but those who do not
worship Him in spirit and truth, but instead profane and defile His worship, He
destroys (1 Cor 3:17). False worship is
idolatry, and idolaters will be tormented with fire and brimstone forever and
ever (Rev 21:8). The Lord Jesus hated
false worship so much that at both the beginning and end of His earthly
ministry He violently drove out from the temple those that profaned the pure
worship of the Father (Jn 2:13-17; Mt 21:12-17; Mr 11:15-18), so that “his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of
thine house hath eaten me up” (Jn 2:17).
The Lord Jesus was so zealous for pure worship that He made a whip and
beat out of His Father’s house those that defiled it (Jn 2:15), In this
jealously for holy worship Christ was in full agreement with His Father, who
sent fire from heaven to burn up those that failed to worship properly (Lev
10:1-2) dealt in pitiless fury to slay utterly those that profaned His temple
(Eze 8), and eternally torments in hell those who offer Him false worship (1
Cor 6:9-11; Rev 14:9-11; 21:8).
The
facts above are most relevant for those who are members of true churches—the
kind the Lord Jesus started in the first century—historic Baptist churches.[1] Only such churches have the special presence
of the holy Trinity in their midst (cf. Mt 18:17, 20). What fearful judgment such churches should
expect from He whose eyes are as a flame of fire if they corrupt pure worship
(cf. Rev 2:5, 16, 20-23; 3:1-4, 14-18)! However,
other religious organizations in Christendom, from the liturgical and
hierarchical to the worldly megachurch, even if they do not possess the special
presence of Christ found in His true congregations, nevertheless will face the
judgment Christ will pour out on all idolaters.
Therefore let all the world take heed to the Biblical mandate for
reverent and solemn worship, and flee with horror from everything that deviates
in the least from such worship.
Second, note
that it is absolutely essential to have grace
if you are to worship or serve God acceptably.
Only through grace can you serve God acceptably with reverence and godly
fear—consequently, God commands you to have grace (Heb 12:28).[2] Your prayers and praise must be with grace in
your heart if they are to be acceptable (Col 3:16). The only way of true access
to the Father is through the Son and by the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:18; Col 3:17; 1
Tim 2:5; Jn 14:6), so if you are unconverted, you are utterly unable to worship
God and offer Him true service. Only
regenerate people will enter into the New Jerusalem to worship God forever and
ever, and only regenerate people are those true worshippers that can worship
the Father in spirit and truth now (Jn 4:23-24). They only have fellowship with the Father and
the Son through the Spirit (1 Jn 1:3; 2 Cor 13:14). If you are unconverted, you cannot please God
in any way, you have no Mediator to bring you into the Father’s presence, no
Spirit to assist you in your coming, and consequently you face the awful and
immeasurable wrath of God against you for your sin in Adam, your sin nature,
and your innumerable personal transgressions (cf. Rom 8:8-9; Tit 1:15-16). Ought you not immediately turn from your sin
and flee to Christ, that you might receive mercy through His blood, the
imputation of His own perfect and everlasting righteousness to your account so
that you can stand perfect before the legal tribunal of God, and the freedom
from the bondage of sin under which you so awfully lie (Mr 1:15; Jn 3:16; Rom
5:1)?
Are
you regenerate? Then sensibly recognize,
and all the more because your formerly blind eyes have been opened, and your
formerly insensible heart of adamant has been softened, how necessary grace is
for your to worship your Triune Redeemer acceptably! Do you not know by experience the truth of
Paul’s statement: “I find then a law,
that, when I would do good, evil is present with me” (Rom 7:21)? Do you not see your indwelling sin the more
awfully active the more you seek to approach the Lord in true reverence and
godly fear? Is it not especially active
when you engage in your especially holy duties?
How, then, can you worship the Lord in solemnity and reverence, when sin
clings to even your most zealous and holy thoughts and deeds, so that you
deserve nothing more than to be thrust into the depths of hell for the most
holy act of worship you have ever done in your life? “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O
Lord, who shall stand?” (Ps 130:3). What, then, is the answer? Grace—“But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.” (Ps
130:4). You have in the Lord Jesus a
perfect High Priest who bears the iniquity of your holy things, that you may be
accepted before Jehovah (Ex 28:38).[3] Then let grace
be of infinite sweetness to your soul, the rejoicing of your renewed heart, and
your constant dependence in all your acts of personal and corporate worship
before your Lord.
What
is more, you must not only be regenerate, but also have an upright heart, for
if you regard iniquity in your heart, the Lord will not hear your prayers or
accept your worship (Ps 66:18). As a
believer, you are individually the temple of God (1 Cor 6:19-20), even as the
corporate assembly is His temple also (1 Cor 3:15-20; 1 Tim 3:15). You must be a clean and holy temple if your
individual worship is to be acceptable.
You must individually be a clean and holy temple the whole week if your
part of corporate worship on the Lord’s Day is to be acceptable (Is
1:13-15). If you cannot lift up holy
hands (1 Tim 2:8) because your hands are stained with sin, or stained with the
blood of the unconverted to whom you refused to give the gospel (Ac 20:26-27;
Eze 33:8), do you think the Lord will be pleased with your worship? Can you pray reverently to the King of heaven
because you have a regenerate and upright heart?
This entire study can be accessed here.
[1]
See
“Bible Study #7: The Church of Jesus
Christ” at faithsaves.net/Bible-studies/, and also the resources at
faithsaves.net/ecclesiology/ for the identifying marks of true churches.
[2]
That
is, “let us have grace” is a hortatory subjective, which “is used to urge someone
to unite with the speaker in a course of action upon which he has already
decided” (pg. 464, Greek Grammar Beyond
the Basics, Wallace), and which consequently bears an imperatival
notion—for only through grace can men worship acceptably with reverence and
godly fear: e¶cwmen ca¿rin, di∆ h∞ß latreu/wmen
eujare÷stwß twˆ◊ Qewˆ◊ meta» ai˙douvß kai« eujlabei÷aß.
[3]
Cf.
“Christ our High Priest, Bearing the Iniquity of our Holy Things,” Horatius
Bonar (http://faithsaves.net/soteriology).