For Christians today, we also follow typical Sunday program when we conduct Liturgies, Scripture readings and Singing Psalms Hymn, Spiritual Songs. These very involves a certain pattern or sequence of events which can be ritualistic by nature also. And of course as opposed to the Old Covenent, this is done out of gratitute and reverence of the Grace of God under the New Covenent, not to atone for Sins.
Unfortunately, there is a teaching that tells us that "Christianity is a relationship and not a Religion". Hence some modern Christian thinkers tend to be evasive of anything that involves tradition or religious practices. We all agree that Christianity is about having a Relationship with God, but is Christianity really NOT a religion at all? In fact, Revelations 5 is one of the many examples in the bible that involves sequence of Singing and Adoration; these too are "Ritualistic" or "Religious" by nature.
One of the popular text that some use to argue again Ritualistic Worship is Isaiah 66:1-2. Some people use these verses to justify that worship must come from a genuine heart of obedience and not merely an outward showing off of one's piety, which is definitely true. But some might go on to say that since worship is an internal attitude of adoration towards God, it must be conducted with bare minimum musical set ups, and some might suggest that it is not even necessarily important at all.
Is that true? Let's examine:
Isaiah 66:1-2
Thus says the Lord:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
2 All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.
In these verses, God has a message to the Post Exiles (who has yet to exist in Isaiah's time). Israel was filled with apostate Jews at that time, and they used the Levitical Sacrifices to outwardly show off their piety, when in reality they are void of true obedience and faith. This is consistent with Isaiah 1:11 when he begun the chapter saying that "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams" and in v14 he said "Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.".
So it is true, God does not desire mere sacrifices from men, thinking that these rituals alone will appease him and give us blessings in return (same concept as Pagan religions). In fact, God desires for his followers to be genuinely faithful and thereby be obedient to his word (Isaiah 1:16-20).
"As [bible scholar] Delitzsch well says, "God will have no temple at all if men think by temple-building itself to do him service." This is consistent attitude of all the prophets toward the whole Cultic enterprise. If cult is performed to curry favor with God, to satisfy God's supposed needs, and thereby get something for ourselves from him, we could shut the doors of the temple at once and abandon the whole thing. But if our attitude in worship is the opposite of such arrogance as to think we can do something for God, and is instead the humble recognition that we can do nothing either for or to him (afflicted), the awareness that we deserve nothing but destruction from him (broken in spirit), and the desire to do nothing other than what he commands (trembles at my word), then the expression of such a spirit through the medium of ritual and symbolic worship is entirely pleasing to God... this is the point of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, and it is not in fundamental contradiction with what is being said here."
- Page 667-338, John N Oswalt, Book of Isaiah Chapters 40-66, New International Commentary of the Old Testament.
In fact, the abomination of outward hypocritical worship is as good as sacrificing to pagan gods, which is simply idolatry:
Isaiah 66:3-4
“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;
he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck;
he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig's blood;
he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense,
So it is true, God does not desire mere sacrifices from men, thinking that these rituals alone will appease him and give us blessings in return (same concept as Pagan religions). In fact, God desires for his followers to be genuinely faithful and thereby be obedient to his word (Isaiah 1:16-20).
"As [bible scholar] Delitzsch well says, "God will have no temple at all if men think by temple-building itself to do him service." This is consistent attitude of all the prophets toward the whole Cultic enterprise. If cult is performed to curry favor with God, to satisfy God's supposed needs, and thereby get something for ourselves from him, we could shut the doors of the temple at once and abandon the whole thing. But if our attitude in worship is the opposite of such arrogance as to think we can do something for God, and is instead the humble recognition that we can do nothing either for or to him (afflicted), the awareness that we deserve nothing but destruction from him (broken in spirit), and the desire to do nothing other than what he commands (trembles at my word), then the expression of such a spirit through the medium of ritual and symbolic worship is entirely pleasing to God... this is the point of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, and it is not in fundamental contradiction with what is being said here."
- Page 667-338, John N Oswalt, Book of Isaiah Chapters 40-66, New International Commentary of the Old Testament.
In fact, the abomination of outward hypocritical worship is as good as sacrificing to pagan gods, which is simply idolatry:
Isaiah 66:3-4
“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;
he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck;
he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig's blood;
he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense,
like one who blesses an idol.
These have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their abominations;
I also will choose harsh treatment for them
and bring their fears upon them,
because when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke, they did not listen;
but they did what was evil in my eyes
and chose that in which I did not delight.”
So yes, if our Christian beliefs focuses ONLY on outward expressions of worship, we can sing out loud and raise our hands high, we can play our hearts out on the piano and drums, we can show forth signs and wonders or even do good deeds. If these external activities are done mainly for the purpose of showing off our religious piousness, to show others "how great a worshiper I AM", God calls it nothing but Idolatry (Matt 6:1).
But rather God expects true worshipers to be one who is "he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." (Isaiah 66:2). In other words, a true worshiper is broken in recognition of his Sinful state, thinks nothing of himself, exalts nothing of the flesh, but all he wants is to "tremble at His word", to glorify nothing else but the God most high.
So then, back to the question, since such ritualistic worship can be so dangerously pagan, should we then scrape all external expression of worship? Must worship and liturgies in churches be made artificially simple in order to avoid such pitfalls? Hardly so.
Isaiah 56:1-2 says, "Thus says the Lord:“Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”". While God despises hypocritical worship that exalts man and not Himself, he is certainly does not despise the act of Ritualistic worship itself. In fact, Isaiah is saying that a righteous Godly man WILL keep the Sabbath, which is a symbol of Ritualistic worship.
Some may argue that the Sabbath and Ritual Laws no longer applies to the New Covenant. But another way to look at this is, Isaiah only records worship as relevant to what he knows at his time; while we don't sacrifice bulls and burnt offering today, we still remember God through our singing, preaching and communion. That is why in the following verses, he further affirmed blessings for those who will worship him through his rituals, not out of a "I am holier than thou" attitude, but out of a contrite spirit according to Isaiah 66:2.
Isaiah 56:3-8
3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,
5 I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered.”
So what is the conclusion here?
1. Worship or any other works of the Christian faith for that matter, must be expressed out of a broken spirit, that we acknowledge our sinfulness, our inadequacy and lowliness in the presence of a mighty God. It must never be done out of boasting or to show forth our abilities, or even to get something out of God (that is what Magic is used for). God sees that as good as idolatry, which as deeds of unrepentant unbelievers that are doomed for destruction.
2. However, we should also not adopt a false sense of humility to artificially simplify or even abolish musical instruments just for the sake of outward humility. Worship is an expression for righteous believers in Christ as reverence to our God. Just as we can see in numerous examples in the Old Testament, God honors the offerings and sacrifices of the righteous, which translates to our sincere adoration in today's context. While the act of worship neither saves nor justifies, a true genuine believer (who obeys out of conviction of the gospel) WILL desire to express their love for our Savior.
Hence just as God commands Israel to keep his Sabbaths, to take time and effort to prepare for the burnt offerings, to give him reverence through his ritualistic worship, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the usage of good liturgy arrangement, music preparation and usage of multimedia as an outlet of expression to our God, as long as the 1st point is not violated.
These have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their abominations;
I also will choose harsh treatment for them
and bring their fears upon them,
because when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke, they did not listen;
but they did what was evil in my eyes
and chose that in which I did not delight.”
So yes, if our Christian beliefs focuses ONLY on outward expressions of worship, we can sing out loud and raise our hands high, we can play our hearts out on the piano and drums, we can show forth signs and wonders or even do good deeds. If these external activities are done mainly for the purpose of showing off our religious piousness, to show others "how great a worshiper I AM", God calls it nothing but Idolatry (Matt 6:1).
But rather God expects true worshipers to be one who is "he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." (Isaiah 66:2). In other words, a true worshiper is broken in recognition of his Sinful state, thinks nothing of himself, exalts nothing of the flesh, but all he wants is to "tremble at His word", to glorify nothing else but the God most high.
So then, back to the question, since such ritualistic worship can be so dangerously pagan, should we then scrape all external expression of worship? Must worship and liturgies in churches be made artificially simple in order to avoid such pitfalls? Hardly so.
Isaiah 56:1-2 says, "Thus says the Lord:“Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”". While God despises hypocritical worship that exalts man and not Himself, he is certainly does not despise the act of Ritualistic worship itself. In fact, Isaiah is saying that a righteous Godly man WILL keep the Sabbath, which is a symbol of Ritualistic worship.
Some may argue that the Sabbath and Ritual Laws no longer applies to the New Covenant. But another way to look at this is, Isaiah only records worship as relevant to what he knows at his time; while we don't sacrifice bulls and burnt offering today, we still remember God through our singing, preaching and communion. That is why in the following verses, he further affirmed blessings for those who will worship him through his rituals, not out of a "I am holier than thou" attitude, but out of a contrite spirit according to Isaiah 66:2.
Isaiah 56:3-8
3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,
5 I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered.”
So what is the conclusion here?
1. Worship or any other works of the Christian faith for that matter, must be expressed out of a broken spirit, that we acknowledge our sinfulness, our inadequacy and lowliness in the presence of a mighty God. It must never be done out of boasting or to show forth our abilities, or even to get something out of God (that is what Magic is used for). God sees that as good as idolatry, which as deeds of unrepentant unbelievers that are doomed for destruction.
2. However, we should also not adopt a false sense of humility to artificially simplify or even abolish musical instruments just for the sake of outward humility. Worship is an expression for righteous believers in Christ as reverence to our God. Just as we can see in numerous examples in the Old Testament, God honors the offerings and sacrifices of the righteous, which translates to our sincere adoration in today's context. While the act of worship neither saves nor justifies, a true genuine believer (who obeys out of conviction of the gospel) WILL desire to express their love for our Savior.
Hence just as God commands Israel to keep his Sabbaths, to take time and effort to prepare for the burnt offerings, to give him reverence through his ritualistic worship, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the usage of good liturgy arrangement, music preparation and usage of multimedia as an outlet of expression to our God, as long as the 1st point is not violated.
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