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Scripture Reading: John 4:20-21, 23-24; Luke 2:37; Phil. 3:3; Eph. 4:12; 1 Cor. 14:26
I. Worship in the New Testament:
А. The Old Testament worship being a matter of a physical place — John 4:20.
B. The New Testament worship being a matter of the human spirit — vv. 21, 23-24.
C. Those in the Old Testament worshipping the God in the temple — Luke 2:37.
D. Those in the New Testament worshipping the God in Christ, who is the God-man — Phil. 3:3.
II. The way to worship in the New Testament:
А. Having no form of worship.
B. Having no outward set program or procedure.
C. Serving only by the Spirit of God — v. 3:
1. The small group meetings being mainly for the perfecting of the saints — Eph. 4:12.
2. Prophesying being mainly for the building up of the church — 1 Cor. 14:26.
We have seen that the Lord’s ordained way always matches the economy that He is after. We have also seen that God’s New Testament economy is to have every saved person be a priest. The New Testament priesthood is universal. There should not be only a group of people who are priests, yet the others are not. Instead, everyone should be a priest. It does not matter how young you are. As long as you are a saved person, having the Lord’s life, you are a member of the Body of Christ and therefore a priest. To the Lord you are His member. To God you are His priest. Also, a priest is one who is joined to God as one. God has entered into us and has brought us into Him. We mutually abide in each other. We and God and God and we have become one. By this we become a people who belong to God and who serve God.
A priest is one who serves God, and to serve God is to offer up sacrifices. The word priest carries the sense of one who is managing. A priest is one who manages the offerings. He is one with God and receives a commission from God. He is not only sent from God but is one who serves with God. His specific work is the managing of the offerings of God.
In the Old Testament the offerings were the bulls and goats. We know that the Old Testament priests and offerings were all types; they were not the reality. The reality had not yet come. Not until four thousand years after the creation of Adam did Christ come in the flesh. Only then was the time fulfilled. At that time the reality came. Hence, the angel announced to Mary that she would conceive a child, who was Christ. When Christ came, all the types in the Old Testament were fulfilled and realized. There is no more need for the types. Now Christ is everything.
Hebrews 10:7 says, “Behold, I have come...to do Your will, O God.” From the context we see that God’s will here is that Christ fulfill and replace all the Old Testament sacrifices. From now on there are no more sacrifices. There is only one true sacrifice left, which is Christ Himself.
Hence, the New Testament priests no longer offer bulls and goats for sacrifices. Rather, they offer the fallen sinners treasured and chosen by God before the foundation of the earth as sacrifices (Rom. 15:16). However, these sinners cannot in themselves become the sacrifices, for they have all sinned. We know that the sacrifices are for the dealing with, the removal of, and the redemption from sin. Thank God for His salvation! After He saved us, He put us into Christ so that we have a change in position. We are no longer in Adam; we are now in Christ. Once we are in Christ, God can justify and accept us. While we were yet sinners, we were not the sacrifices. But when we are in Christ, we are the sacrifices acceptable to God.
For this reason many times in Paul’s Epistles he mentions us being in Christ. For example, Colossians 1:28 says, “Admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ.” When we are in ourselves, we are not qualified to be offered up. But whenever we are in Christ, we can be offered up to God. We can even be presented full-grown.
Christ is the seed of woman bruising the serpent’s head. He is also the seed of Abraham accomplishing God’s redemption and bestowing the blessing of God’s redemption, the all-inclusive Spirit of the Triune God, on everyone who believes and is saved (Gal. 3:14). Furthermore, this Spirit, which is the all-inclusive Spirit, is the unique blessing in God’s redemption. It is typified by the land of Canaan. In this Spirit we enjoy Christ as everything and receive this blessing.
Praise the Lord that Christ has come and has accomplished everything! God desires not only that we the saved ones enjoy Him. He is also sending us out to save the sinners that they would believe into Christ and would be baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In this way they will also be able to enjoy this blessing. We the saved ones are no longer in Adam nor in ourselves. Rather, we are in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is our status.
We also have to see that we are destined by the Lord of all to be priests. We should preach the gospel to sinners, saving them into Christ and baptizing them into the Triune God. Whenever we baptize a person, we are offering up a treasure on the altar. One sinner is one treasure offered up. Ten sinners are ten treasures offered up. All the Christians know that the greatest joy is to preach the gospel and to save sinners. For a church to be living, enlivened, and revived, there is no other way except for it to be a gospel-preaching church.
If a church has been here for eight years and has not saved one person, but instead everyone sees the same old faces over and over again, surely there will be no joy. But if a church has a few new faces and especially if the new ones would stand up and say a few words, though the speaking may not be that good, everyone will feel very happy. Therefore, if we do not save sinners, it is difficult for us to have joy. Likewise, if a church does not preach the gospel to save sinners, it is difficult for her to have joy.
When we save the sinners and baptize them, humanly speaking we are putting them into the water. But according to God’s view, we are priests “priesting” these offerings to God. All who have done this know what joy it is when a person comes out of the water. Our joy is ecstatic. We feel as if we are being raptured. In reality this is because God is rejoicing there. In Luke 15 the Lord speaks to us in a parable: “Which man of you, who has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?” (v. 4). When the sheep is found, the angels in heaven rejoice over it (v. 7). This is what is described in Hymns, #1068: “While angels in His presence sang / Until the courts of heaven rang” (stanza 1). If a sinner is not a treasure, why do the angels rejoice when he is saved? The writer of this hymn knew the heart of God and wrote accurately.
We must see that this is a joyful and exuberant matter and a most glorious charge. We all have to go forth to bring the sinners to salvation so that they would become offerings in Christ to be offered up to God.
We have to realize that today’s Christianity is degraded. It has fallen away from God’s ordained way. For example, the gospel campaign meetings where one speaks and all listen have killed the gospel-preaching function in all the saints. Although the saints are still willing to participate in the gospel work, they cannot preach, nor do they have the opportunity to preach. Instead, they can only participate in some Levitical services, such as moving the chairs, cleaning the windows, vacuuming the carpets, and inviting people to come to love feasts. Eventually, no one can preach the gospel. Everything depends on one speaker. The rest just listen. This is indeed wrong.
The more the one speaker speaks, the less the saints are able to speak. After ten years everyone becomes a dumb person. If a person covers his eyes for five years, he will become a blind man. After a child is born, if he does not speak for ten years, his parents will consider him a dumb child. If we have been preaching in a place for ten years and have saved one or two hundred people but have not been able to perfect anyone to become priests of the gospel, we have killed the saints’ organic function.
God’s ordained way today matches the universal priesthood of the New Testament. If the former does not match the latter, the universal priesthood will never be realized; we will not have everyone preaching the gospel, and God’s New Testament economy will not be fulfilled. Christianity does worship the true God, but it has killed the worshipper. Although it is doing a right thing, it is doing it with a wrong method. This is the case with one man preaching the gospel while all listen. Many of the activities in Christianity can be summarized with the phrase right in goal but wrong in means. In the end a serious mistake is committed; all the organic functions of the saints are killed. Hence, we must desperately take this new way and recover everyone to preach the gospel and be priests of the gospel.
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, one day He intended to go from Jerusalem to Galilee. John 4:4 says that “He had to pass through Samaria.” I have studied the map and found out that from any point of view, there was no need for the Lord to pass through Samaria. There were many ways to get from Jerusalem to Galilee. But the Lord said that He “had to.” The reason for this is that He had the burden to visit that detested, immoral, yet God-chosen woman living in Samaria. She had had five husbands already. In this passage we see the wisdom of the Lord. He came to visit her in a different way than He visited Zaccheus in Jericho. There He stayed at the house of Zaccheus and saved him. But here the Lord Jesus did not do this. He came rather after midday and waited for the woman by the well where she drew water. This was the most suitable place. He could talk to the woman in the bright daylight. From this we see the full wisdom of our Lord Jesus.
About the sixth hour the Samaritan woman came to draw water. The Lord said to her, “Give Me something to drink” (v. 7). The Samaritan woman answered, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me?” (v. 9). After the Lord answered her, she asked some more questions. In the course of the conversation the woman knew that the Lord Jesus was different, that He had the living water with Him. She began to ask of the Lord, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not thirst” (v. 15). If we were to have answered that woman, we would have said, “Confess your sins, and then you can drink the living water.” But the Lord Jesus was not as foolish as we are. He answered in a wise way, “Go, call your husband and come here” (v. 16).
The Lord wanted her to get her husband before He would give to her the living water. The woman was most afraid of being asked concerning this matter. Immediately, she said, “I do not have a husband” (v. 17). This is to lie by telling the truth. The Lord Jesus did not deny her words. He only said, “You have well said, I do not have a husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly” (vv. 17-18). The woman did not confess her sins. But the Lord Jesus pointed out in detail all her sins. The woman was very surprised. She was also very clever. Immediately, she turned the subject from the drinking of living water to religious worship. She said, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, yet you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men must worship” (vv. 19-20). She was very clever. She turned from the five husbands to the matter of the worship of God, from being a sinner to being a religionist. This shows that many zealous worshippers of God are also sinners and evildoers behind the scenes. The Lord Jesus then opened her heart and said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father” (v. 21). The Lord wanted to show her that the age had changed. The Old Testament was over, and the New Testament had come.
The Lord Jesus continued speaking to her, “An hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truthfulness, for the Father also seeks such to worship Him” (v. 23). The Old Testament worship depended upon a physical place. But the New Testament worship does not depend upon anything physical. Neither does it depend upon any place. Rather, it depends upon the human spirit.
If we worship God only according to a place, there is still the possibility of committing sins. But if we worship God according to our spirit, we cannot sin. This is because the major part of the spirit is the conscience, and the conscience will not allow us to sin. For example, a thief may have stolen from the bank last night. Yet today, on Sunday, he may still go to attend church services in the morning. This is because his concept is that of a physical place. He is worshipping God in a chapel. But if he turns to his spirit to worship God, he cannot rob the bank anymore, for his conscience will not allow him to do this. This is also why we have to change from the old way to the new. It is not merely a matter of method but a story of inward nature.
In the Old Testament, people worshipped God in one place. As long as the place was right, there could be worship. But in the New Testament it is not a question of place but a question of the human spirit. The spirit is the true part and the central part of a person. This organ has to be right. Furthermore, our spirit lies within our heart. If our spirit is right, our heart will be right. Today, in the new way, our preaching of the gospel, our meeting in the homes and in the small groups, and even our prophesying in the district meetings are not changes in outward methods. Rather, the need for outward changes comes because of the change in inward nature. If our meetings and gospel preaching are all by one man speaking while all listen, we are not according to God’s New Testament economy, and not all the saints will be able to be priests of the gospel. If we do not change the old way and take the new way, our meetings and service will all be outward. They will not be in the spirit. Everything will be a matter of method. Nothing will be in reality. Hence, everything of the new way is not a matter of place, form, method, or procedure but a matter of reality in the spirit.
In the Old Testament, man worshipped the God in the temple. In the Old Testament age, when a man wanted to worship God, he had to go to the temple. But the New Testament worship is not in the temple. Rather, it is in Christ because God is in Christ.
Today, although our God is the same as the one whom the Jews worshipped, there is a difference in age, and there is also a difference in form. The God whom the Jews worshipped then was only God; He was not man. He had only divinity; there was no humanity. But in the New Testament the God whom we Christians worship is both God and man. He is a God-man. When we worship God today, we are worshipping such a One. All who are not worshipping this God-man are not worshipping God. Today, God is an incarnated God, a God who is mingled with man. When we worship Him, we are enjoying not only God; we are enjoying man as well. This is marvelous.
During the three and a half years when the Lord Jesus was fulfilling His ministry on earth, sometimes He was in Galilee, far away from Jerusalem. But sometimes He went to Jerusalem and was even found near the temple there. In the temple there were rows and rows of priests serving God properly and according to the regulations of the Old Testament. But Jesus was not there. Perhaps He was in a little cottage beside the temple. There we see a group of Galileans, some sitting and some standing. There were even some tax collectors and harlots. All these were lowly Galileans. At this time, was God being worshipped in the temple, or was Jesus being worshipped? Do we go up to the temple, or do we go to a little cottage to worship God?
We can see clearly that at that time God was in that little house. This is because Jesus was there, and God was inside Jesus Christ. The most difficult point we encounter when we preach the gospel to the Jews is that they still think that God is in the temple. They do not believe that God is in Jesus Christ. We have to tell the Jews that God left the temple two thousand years ago. Today you cannot find God outside of Christ. You must go to Christ. When you are in Christ, you will find God.
In the same principle, today when we worship God, we should not be attracted by beautiful cathedrals. We are seeking Christ, and we are worshipping Christ. We go to the place where Christ is. This is the New Testament worship. Originally, we were meeting in big meeting halls with pianos and dignified sermons. Later, we were led to have home meetings and small group meetings. Four or five families now meet together in homes. Some homes look all right. But other homes are quite uncomely; the chairs are broken, the benches are crooked, and there is no separation between the kitchen and the dining room. As a result, some brothers and sisters find such meetings impossible to take. They are not willing to come to this kind of meeting.
However, we have to see that to worship God in the New Testament, we have to find where Christ is. Do not despise a place that appears ragged, for Jesus may be dwelling there. Today, His name is not yet the glorified Christ. His name today is called Jesus of Nazareth. Hence, we all have to see why we must change this old way. The old way suits our natural human concept. But in the Bible God’s ordained way matches His economy. For this reason we must return to the New Testament and worship and serve according to the New Testament. Only then will we satisfy God’s desire.
Worship in the New Testament has no form. If there is a form, it will easily become a worship service. However, until today, after we lead people to salvation, they still have the natural concept of attending worship services. On Sunday they will look for chapels nearby in order that they might attend services. The beginning of a program is usually hymn singing. Then the preacher offers his prayer. After that the pastor delivers his sermon and expounds the Bible. When the service is near its end, there is another hymn with prayer and benediction following. We have to see that it is not wrong to worship God. But it is absolutely wrong if we take the above way. A set program and procedure will fully kill the spirit within the saints. We must never bring this way of worship service into the home meeting, small group meeting, or Lord’s Day morning meeting. Its result is terrible. We have to change our concept completely so that we can have the New Testament worship.
The way to worship in the New Testament is for all of us to use our spirit. Before we attend a meeting, we are a worshipper of God already. Every morning we have a revival, and every day in our daily living we are constantly renewed and overcoming and are in constant touch and fellowship with the Lord. In addition, our lives are filled with hymns. Hymns, #501 and #1068, or a more simple one such as #1024, are hymns that I like to sing. They are all very good songs. We can learn to sing them often in our daily lives.
If we have made an appointment with the brothers and sisters to have a home meeting at 7:30 tonight, then by 6:30 we should be ready. We should begin singing. We do not begin the meeting at the meeting place. Rather, we begin it before we leave our house. Perhaps while we walk, we sing, “Since Jesus came into my heart!” (Hymns, #309). We do not have to wait until we knock on the door before we sing. We can sing one stanza for each floor that we ascend. When we reach the saint’s home and while we are ringing the bell, we can still sing, “Since Jesus came into my heart!” Those inside the door who hear the singing may respond by singing also, “Since Jesus came into my heart! / Floods of joy o’er my soul like the sea billows roll, / Since Jesus came into my heart!” The children in the house may then echo the singing. How living that would be!
We have to know that when we meet together, we must exercise our spirit. God is Spirit, and no one can touch Him without exercising his spirit. Paul says in Philippians 3:3 that the true worshippers are those who are in Christ, who serve by the Spirit of God. The content of our meetings should be filled with much singing, praying, and speaking. We should also have our meetings by the Spirit. To be “by the Spirit” means that I am a person who starts off the morning in a revived way. I am living, and I am daily renewed and daily overcoming. I maintain my spirit in a high position, and I am in fellowship with the Lord. Even before the meeting starts, to me the meeting has started in my home. Because I am so living, I do not have to say much when I come to the home meeting. All I have to do is to sing a few hymns, and the spirits of others are enlivened. This is to serve God in the New Testament by the Spirit of God.
In the small group meeting it may be that I would not come until the set time arrives. After I come, I am an observer waiting for others while they in turn wait for me. I may call a hymn after ten minutes, and another brother may say, “The church has decided that we read Truth Lessons. Let us all read in turn.” After the reading with some fellowship and prayer, the meeting is dismissed. This is what Christianity considers as a worship service. There are the programs, the procedures, and the proper order. But there is no Spirit, and there is no supply. The meeting is dead, and the church suffers. We cannot take this way.
When we attend a meeting in the new way, we must first be a man filled with the Spirit and with singing. On our way to the small group meeting, we should sing, “Since Jesus came into my heart!” while we walk. Those brothers and sisters who hear us, respond by singing, “What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought...” Perhaps another one would sing, “Oh, what a life! Oh, what a peace! / The Christ who’s all within me lives” (Hymns, #499). This kind of singing back and forth, each with his own song, will enliven our spirit. There is no need to say too much. We will touch one another’s spirit.
In the meeting there should be singing and praying. After the singing someone should pray. There need not be any definite person to pray. We can all say, “Lord, we do praise and thank You. This is such joy, that You are with us.” We do not necessarily have to close our eyes either or to tell everyone to bow their heads. When the Lord Jesus prayed, He lifted up His eyes to heaven (John 17:1). None of the above forms are found in the Bible. They are merely old ordinances of the worship service. What we need to do is to follow the Spirit.
After this, another might open his mouth and say, “Brothers and sisters, how wonderful! This morning I read Romans 12:1. There Paul exhorts us through the compassions of God to present our bodies. Previously, when I read these verses, they were not as sweet as they were this morning. That is why I was never able to present myself. But this morning I consecrated myself thoroughly to the Lord.” When the brothers and sisters hear this, immediately they will praise the Lord for this. The speaking does not stop with this one. Two or three follow the first one, and the place is filled with praises and thanksgivings!
Then a newly saved brother may ask, “How can we the saved persons present our bodies?” When a question is raised, we can let every brother and sister take turns speaking. We do not have to leave the answering to one man. Perhaps a young sister would begin, “Brother, let me tell you. Previously, we were all busy for ourselves. Our time and our bodies were fully occupied. Now that we are saved and have come to love the Lord, Paul is exhorting us to present our bodies. According to my experience, to present our bodies is to present our time, because our bodies are confined to our time.” She speaks only a few sentences. The whole thing takes less than a minute. Everyone hears it and is touched by it.
Perhaps among those in the meeting, I have been in the Lord longer and have had more experience. Yet, I will not assume my seniority and speak for a long time. What I speak is just what the first sister spoke. I may say, “She was absolutely right. To present our bodies is to present our time. If we do not present our time, our bodies cannot come.” That is all I say. I do not tell any story, nor do I give a long sermon. Everyone speaks a few simple sentences. The whole speaking takes only a few minutes.
Perhaps another sister would ask again, “How then do I present my body? Does that mean that I don’t work and don’t teach but instead stay home and offer my body to the Lord?” This is a very practical question. However, I should still not take the lead to speak. I let the newly saved ones speak more. Perhaps after a while, one who has been saved for only half a year says, “When I read Romans 12, not only do I see the presenting of the body; I see the transformation and renewing of the mind as well. Therefore, first there is the presenting of the body, and then there is the renewing and transforming of the mind.” Another one may not understand this too well. He may ask, “How then can the mind be renewed?” A third one may say, “According to my experience, to be transformed in the mind, we have to read the Lord’s Word. When we receive the Lord’s word into us, the word itself will change our concepts. This is the transformation of the mind.” This is a very good answer.
Some brothers and sisters may then ask, “After the body is presented and the mind is transformed, what happens next?” I remember that I have read this passage before. And so I answer, saying, “In Romans 12 first you have the presenting of the body, and then you have the transformation of the mind. Last, in verse 11, there is the burning in spirit to serve the Lord.” When we speak in this way, everybody will understand and will be enlightened.
This kind of small group meeting in which everyone speaks, everyone asks, everyone answers, everyone learns, and everyone teaches is surely living, fresh, rich, and simple. As a result, the number will surely increase. The reason for this is that there is no formality in worship, and there is no set program or procedure. Everyone acts according to the Spirit, moves according to the Spirit, and serves according to the Spirit of God. All the brothers and sisters who attend this kind of meeting will be perfected. Every week throughout the fifty-two weeks of the year, we should set aside an evening for this kind of meeting. After a new one meets in this way for a year, he will be perfected. He will grow in life, and he will be able to serve by the Spirit of God.
Not only do we bring the new ones to the small group meeting, but also, on the Lord’s Day, we bring them to the church meeting. After the breaking of the bread, they may see that so many brothers and sisters are prophesying, that is, speaking for the Lord and speaking forth the Lord. Some may prophesy for three minutes, some for two. After watching this for a few weeks, the new ones will feel attracted to it and may desire to prophesy also. We will then help them along, first to prophesy in the small group meeting and then to prophesy in the Lord’s Day morning meeting. In the end everyone in the whole church will be able to prophesy. Both young and old will be able to speak for the Lord, and the riches of the Lord will be manifested. All will be supplied, edified, and nourished, and the church as the Body of Christ will be built up through the prophesying by the saints. This is what the Lord is after today.
Therefore, our way of meeting must be changed. Our former way of meeting afforded no benefit to the Lord’s economy and did not match the nature of God’s economy. Now we have found out God’s ordained way according to the Bible. Every point of His ordained way matches the nature of God’s New Testament economy and meets the need of God’s economy. In the end God’s economy will be realized among us. I hope that we will practice this together. May the Lord bless all of you.
