Worship Old and New Part 2: Starting in Heaven https://youtube.com/watch?v=RL4K0vMu3yY&si=ZId27zZHqdDcDDH2

Practical Application (to be sung)

Therefore, with angels and archangels,
and with all the company of heaven,
we proclaim your great and glorious name,
for ever praising you and singing:

All
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might.
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.

Bible Readings

Hebrews 12:18-29; Revelation 4:1-5:14

JY asks several people to pray for illumination.

Background

At the beginning of 1994 an assorted group of Christians commenced a week of prayer in West Perth (6a.m. to 6 p.m. daily). This was oriented to the general theme of revival. The seventh day was extraordinarily difficult. Lots of people left the prayer gathering saying, “There’s nothing happening here.” One brother burst into the meeting and proclaimed boisterously that the leaders needed to repent of their “elitism”. As I joined others waiting on the Lord something extraordinary was happening to me. I could sense that the Spirit wanted to communicate a message (I’d had many prophetic insights that week) but at the same time a huge pressure came on me. This weight was so overwhelming that I needed to go face down on the carpet and cling to it for dear life because I knew Jesus wanted me to persevere to hear his message. Then he put Acts 3:19-21 in my mind. “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoration of all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” (Acts 3:19-21). In the midst of this agonising episode I had a picture of the likeness of Christ in his ascended position in heaven, and beneath him were all the spheres of society and culture i.e. government, law, education, arts, business… Jesus was restoring his order to them all. This would prove to be a turning point in my thinking about who Jesus is and his kingdom presence in our world.[1] This has progressively led me to take ever more seriously the reality in which we share in being united to the heavenly Lord[2].

We should not picture heaven as some far-off place where the glorified Christ has gone on extended holiday, instead as the world fell when Adam turned away from God and in on himself (cf. Rom 5:12ff.), [in doing the exact opposite] a new cosmos has been created around the Lamb of God. “Heaven” is the home of the victorious Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction[3] [] not spoken in sermon

Strange to us, but ancient forms of service are not designed to reach the lost, to educate people or to heal them[4], but through the proclamation of God’s mighty saving acts to stimulate deeper sharing in the life of Christ [which is already penetrating the life of the world.] This unique paradigm[5]  stems from the biblical revelation that [the final nature of] humanity has been lifted up to heaven in Christ. Paul teaches that we have been “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6) and exhorts, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col 3:1-3). More broadly, [with great geo-political significance, ] he testifies that, “the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.” (Gal 4:26 cf. Rev 21:2, 10). The writer to the Hebrews boldly declares, “you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (12:22-24). The ancient liturgies of the Early Church[6] understood that the earthly church ascends in the Spirit into the heavens as it prays offering thanks to God in communion with angels, archangels and all the host of heaven. Such language is symbolic, but real, for Jesus is already at the centre of all things in heaven and on earth (Heb 1:3). [Not to uphold consistently this prophetic conviction ultimately explains our spiritual immaturity today. the gross immaturity of the contemporary Church.]

The Mediation of Christ  

My framework for understanding the dynamics of worship was radically reoriented [some decades ago when I attended a seminar by Professor James Torrance[7]. He outlined two ways of understanding worship. The first and dominant approach to worship is that it is about what we do, it is our response to God. The second, far rarer understanding, is that worship is sharing in what Jesus is doing in his worship of the Father. Worship isn’t about us, it’s about Jesus. [True Christian worship doesn’t start with me, but in the perfect heart of love which the Son always had for the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.] Christ is the perfected worshipper.

[The Incarnation testifies to the reality that the split between deity and humanity, body/soul, flesh/spirit, heaven/earth, sacred/secular, work/worship has been healed. The ascension of Jesus has taken our humanity into God (Athanasian Creed) pointing us to the unity of the new creation in him in complete reunification of God and humanity.] The Lord who effortlessly strolled through Eden (Gen 3:8) now just as really “walks among the seven golden lampstands” (Rev 2:1), [Jesus now resides amid the global Church.] this means the Church is perfectly placed to fulfil the task of unveiling Christ as the cosmic mystery of why everything now exists and its eternal destiny (cf. Eph 3:10). We are those graced to utter “mysteries in the Spirit” (1 Cor 14:2), and it was “in the Spirit [on the Lord’s Day]” (Rev 1:10) that the revelation of Jesus Christ was given to John. The story of Jesus continues today, tomorrow and forever (Heb 13:8). To put it all another way, we are now living in the times expounded by the book of Revelation[8].

Almost all the elements of later Christian liturgy can be found in Revelation: prayer, prophecy, exhortation, songs of praise and worship, reading of letters, incense, laments, proclamation of the gospel, the exposition of a scroll, doxology, benediction, intercession, silence, bowing down. The great hyms/doxologies of the book[9] (when did you last read it?) are praises for the redemption of the whole creation.   By picturing the space to which the glorified humanity of Jesus has gone, Revelation is [a unique worship book of God’s praise,] a liturgy to the future of the world in Christ. Hallelujah. Its apocalyptic vision unites in Christ all that is presently evangelical, charismatic and liturgical. The task of liturgy is to make visible on earth through Word, signs and sounds of worship the mysteries of God apocalyptically revealed from the heavenlies.

[Our participation in the ideal worship of the heavenly host if a real foretaste of eschatological hopes. Our relationship with the ascended Christ and his  glorious Father transcends all human analogies and finite concepts of oneness  (cf. John 17).[10]]

Worship: Ancient and Modern

From an apocalyptic worldview, public/common prayer emerges from our participation/sharing  in the heavenly assembly.   Worship prays God’s story. The power of Common Prayer is vastly underestimated. In the Great Petitions[/Litany] of the Church at prayer each person is called to lay aside her/his cares as only his/hers own concerns,  such Common Prayer is designed to overcome our egoism, it calls everything private to “die” in the liberating wholeness of the love of Christ (Schmemann in Webber Ancient- Modern 152-153) which will one Day integrate all things into itself[11]. In this way, Spirit-inspired liturgies preach radical uncompromising discipleship. [We become aware of such realities as we are liturgically immersed in the new cosmic order of things in Christ[12]*. We are submerged by prayers that focus us on the great historical events of salvation history (cf. Acts 2:11).]

New Time and Space

[Bible based liturgies accept that Christian existence as paradoxical, that we live in “the time between the times”, that is, between the First and the Second Comings of Christ.] In a manner that surpasses our individual devotions, liturgy conflates/pulls together past, present, and future as the revelation of the One who has revealed himself through Jesus as “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev 1:8; 21:6; 22:13.). There is something strange/paradoxical about being a Christian. In Reformation thinking it  means being at the same time a sinner and justified (Luther), fallen and “made perfect” (to quote Heb 10:14). Only the symbolic language of liturgy can convey such strange realities[13].  In Christ the “already” is real but the “not yet” is assuredly hoped for.

The implication of this is that “liturgical time” transcends ordinary time, [not because the leader of a liturgy is somehow in a special place, but because he/she is able through the indwelling Word made flesh (John 1:14), to] as we are led into the mystery of the Lord (Col 1:27; 1 Tim 3:16). Whereas the physical act of crucifixion occurred in ordinary past time, Jesus [heart decision, in unity with God the Father (John 10:30), expressed in his] Eucharistic promise “given for you”, is united with God’s eternal decision to save the world (1 Pet 1:20; Rev 13:8)*[14].  And so by the Lord’s command time is drawn into eternity, and [in re-enacting the Lord’s Supper ] we become in the Spirit [by God’s Word of promise] contemporary with the past events of salvation[15]*. The “once for all” of the cross (Heb 7:27; 9:12, 26; 10:10) is intimately enfolded [bound up] in the “everlasting” loving plan of God. By faith and promise we become contemporaries with the saving deeds that lie at the foundation of the liturgy. To put it most bluntly, we were there when they crucified our Lord[16]. We pass by faith in the Spirit from the transitory (2 Cor 4:18) into the presence and sight of God. This transition is not mythical [in the sense of strange/esoteric or unattached to the progress of the kingdom of God in this material world. It is] but grounded in everything made new in Christ. The vision of Christ shared by the writer of Hebrews is strategic in moving us out of a mindset limited to the present sensory existence.

The Dynamic of “Today”: Christ’s High Priestly Ministry

Hebrews refers in many verses to a “today” (1:5; 3:7, 13, 15; 4:7; 5:5; 13:8) that connects the rebellion of Israel in the desert, David in the wilderness, the Church of the author’s own day, and our time. All of these are united [in a single space time reality that embrace eternity,] under the sovereign Lordship of Jesus in whom “yesterday, today and forever” are joined (13:8 cf. Rev 1:4). Only the High Priesthood of Jesus which makes sense of the union of heavenly and earthly worship. The “today” of Jesus symbolises [signifies] the immediacy of his present saving kingdom (cf. Luke 4:21; 19:5; 23:43). [In finishing the great work of the Father (John 19:30), Jesus has entered into his Sabbath rest and bids us to join him there by faith[17].]

Whereas modern styles of worship with their noisiness, repetitiveness, smoke machines etc. strive to lift worshippers beyond ordinary space-time into some sort of transcendent state, the children of God (cf. Heb 2:12; 12:23) believe in the actual ongoing “present” transformation of [physical] existence through the Lamb of God. By unveiling in her worship the present and temporary gap between the corruptible world and the incorruptible eternal world in Christ[18] (Rom 8:21; 1 Cor 15:50-54; 2 Pet 1:4) the Church is motivated to ask for and and receive power in the Spirit (Luke 11:11-13) for her life and mission. This supernatural insight totally depends upon “worship in Spirit and truth” (John 4:24). [In seeing in the Spirit (cf. Rev 1:10) that the Ascension completes the humanity of Jesus, we sense his call to re-personalise a lost creation by making all things new in himself. ] This can only happen through “the powers of the age to come” (Heb 6:5). Only a truly Spirit-filled Charismatic Body can live out the fullness of God’s purposes in Christ for the planet.

Hebrews tells us that Jesus is “seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister in the sanctuary” (8:1-2). The word for “minister” (Greek leitourgos) means someone who [understands and] leads in the service/worship of God on behalf of others (Neh 10:39; Isa 61:6; Jer 33:21). Jesus is the “heavenly worship leader”. As such, the New Testament never calls any individual a “music pastor”, or “worship minister”[19]. We have turned such people into a new class of anointed priests[20] with access to God beyond the rest of us. This overlooks Jesus “one mediator between God and men” (1 Tim 2:5) and is dangerous[21].

[Sinful humans continually revert to traditional ways of doing things because they are manageable and predictable.] It is “safer” to have a church “service” controlled from up front than to allow the Holy Spirit to run the show. Rare is it to find a major Sunday church meeting where space is given to the Spirit to inspire God’s people in the way Paul describes, “When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or tan interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” (1 Cor 14:26). [Since the gifts of the Spirit are an expression of the Lordship of Christ (1 Cor 12:3) they belong in regular corporate worship. There is no excuse for the abandonment of such gifts[22].] n.b. week 6 on Charismatic worship

Most Christians,[ probably because of teaching about baptism,] grasp that we have been united with Jesus in his death and resurrection (Rom 6:1-4; Gal 2:20 etc.). But we fail to comprehend that we have been united with Jesus in all the aspects of his ascended and glorified life. As a real human Jesus is the true and complete worshipper of God the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. We can conform to Paul’s command, “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1), because Jesus has first “through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God” (Heb 9:14). Union with Jesus’ sinless offering makes our very flawed offerings [in praise and thanksgiving] acceptable to the Father. [Christ is the one non-rebellious human being who has offered himself totally to God in worship.] [This sacrifice is “good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:2);] “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Our worship is [not parallel to Christ’s worship, we are] united in the Spirit with Jesus’ eternal offering of himself to God in heaven.  Peter reflected this in saying, “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 2:5).[ This has powerful implications for every Christian person. Its implications embrace our total existence, including our family and work lives.]

The Lord has gone before us into the heavenly holy places (Heb 8:2; 9:24-25; 10:19) and done what [we needed to do but] were powerless to desire or achieve. He is the bridge to God who draws us into himself. In Christ we are incorporated into the great saving history by which the world moves toward the fulfilment of God being “all in all” (1 Cor 1:28; Eph 1:23). [This is the eschatological/last times dynamism of the liturgy.  Past, present, and future interpenetrate and touch upon eternity[23].] The curtain of the temple has been torn, heaven has been opened up by the completed union of the man Jesus with the living God on our behalf. This new openness of God is mediated by the signs of salvation he personally commanded, especially the gospel sacraments[24] of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  The Mysteries of God in the heavenly realm are expounded and made visible on earth through Word, signs and sounds of worship. Only in symbol can such transcendent realities be made known. [The theology of the liturgy is therefore “symbolic theology” which connects us to what is present but hidden.] The practical application of all this is an urgent need.

Power over Idols

Some years ago, I read an article about the Ethiopian Church in the 70’s under Marxism, a time young Christians started to write music with anti-Marxist/materialist lyrics. This probably doesn’t surprise us [because we are culturally alert to such political powers], but few seem to have noted the tendency of our politicians to refer to Australia as the “greatest place on earth to be living”[25], This is an attitude that not only grieves the Spirit of the Lord (cf. Acts 17:16) but points to a nation’s final destruction (Isa 47:8; Zeph 2:15; Rev 18:7-8) by the one and only God (Isa 45: etc. ). The contemporary Christian music scene needs to go through a spiritual reformation if it to empower believers to overcome the idols of this world. It’s no accident that the most musical book in the New Testament is Revelation. It is saturated with hymns [or fragments of songs] (Rev 4:8; 4:9–11; 5:9–10; 5:12; 5:13; 7:10; 7:11–12; 11:15; 11:16–18; 12:10–12; 15:2–4; 16:5–7; 19:1–4; 19:5; 19:6–8). This is a book written to a small, persecuted Church oppressed by a powerful evil empire and in danger of compromise with idolatry. We need this sort of literature today as part of “the testimony of Jesus”. This indicates that the key to seeing the revelation of eternal things is the willingness to suffer in union with Christ.

Submitted Suffering Actualises Heavenly Things

Modern liturgy leaves no room for lament[26], it presents as normal a “trouble-free lifestyle” [that seems to work for the pastor]. Such an escapist approach would be incomprehensible to most Christians across history and in the Third World today.  [This omission and confusion is because] we do not appreciate that not only the saving events of the past but the future are also present in what happens in liturgy[27].  Liturgical actions are deeply transforming [for Jesus’ related action in the liturgy takes into itself those whom the worship represents.] As Paul puts it on Romans 12:1, worship is a “rational service”/ a logikos latreis a “logicizing” of my existence. Through obedience to the Word of Christ my inner world becomes one with [contemporaneous with] the self-giving of Jesus. I[ am assimilated/united to the sacrifice of God in Christ.] This is why for the Early Church martyrdom was regarded as a perfect Eucharistic celebration[28], and it also explains why Holy Communion is so neglected today. Martyrdom is the most extreme expression [actualisation] of the Christian’s being a contemporary with Christ, a perfection of being united with the Lamb on his throne. Such a dynamic if fiercely resisted by the powers of evil in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12)

Conclusion

God-pleasing worship points to the culmination of history and teaches the Lord’s people to live Christ-shaped lives. Divine liturgy teaches us to reflect the coming kingdom of God as an eschatological/end times witness to the already completed Victory of Christ.  Authentic worship means authentic existence. In worship we see the future, we see God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the divine purposes for all creation. In worship we open ourselves up to Christ’s ongoing work of “hallowing his Father’s name” that “the nations may know” the holy ways of the Lord.[29]