Worship that Change Lives - Assignment Example

Worship that Change Lives Old and New, Where we've been, where we are, where we can go 12/15/2009 Abstract Write a 10 page paper on the book worship old and new by Robert E. Webber (source #1). Summarize and reflect on the author’s insights and concepts. Use parts 1&2 the biblical foundations and biblical theology of worship only. The following are the guidelines that must be followed: What? Summarize the author's purpose and content Why? Analyze the author's insights and evaluate his theological viability, cultural practicality and ministerial plausibility. How? Integrate the author's point of view with different and similar views from other sources. Source # 2 Worship that Change Lives by Alex D. Abernathy Source # 3 A Primer on Christian Worship: Where we've been, where we are, where we can go by William A. Dyrness So what? Implement new ideas and insights into his/her thought process, life style and ministry opportunity In this book titled Worship old and new, the author is examining the foundations of worship in different aspects of the biblical community. Early in these first two chapters we are given instances of where biblical studies in history, interpretations, and even God’s initiatives throughout the bible have been researched and reflected on countless amounts of times over the years. Still in all this, there was little research in the nature of worship itself. According to Webbers reasoning’s, past ventures in learning about how to see the language of worship and also how to reveal the responses of worship had not yet become a popular fashion. Webber even mentions the fact that even while students were studying the very excellence of God himself who gave the perfectness of Christ as atonement for the sins of all human beings, that they were still giving no attentiveness to the aspect of worship that goes hand in hand with these astounding truths. His main argument would eventually point out that in hours of much studying, learning, and deliberations, many bible students graduated on to be recognized as official Pastors ready to preach and teach scripture but still had not learned to tune themselves to the vibes and divine powers of the holy spirit to lead worship and praise within the church. He then begins to discuss the new revelations of worship in the modern church. He stresses and iterates the fact that worship is now the very breath of the church. It is becoming more popular and is much needed. Pastors are worshiping while delivering the message and the people are worshiping while receiving the message. It is becoming an action that everyone is wanting learn about, wanting to teach and wanting to engage in. In reading further into Webbers writings, we find out that worship is a behavior that pleases our Father God in heaven and that his orders to mankind were to engage in particular rituals of worship on a regular bases in order to show him an essence of faith and obedience. He then suggests that the people would respond and pledge to do the bidding of the Almighty Lord God by actually doing. Webber brings proof of these statements by providing biblical evidence to these truths. “First they made a verbal confession: ‘Everything the Lord has said we will do.’ Then they offered a sacrifice, with the blood of an animal being sprinkled on the people. Finally, they ate a sacred meal in the presence of the lord.” (Ex. 24:3-11) Webber (1994). He then correlates the sequence of this Old Testament obedient form of worship together with the New Testament obedient form of worship and again shows the reader scripture to grant a perception of truth and comprehension in distinguishing the relevance between the new covenant through Jesus Christ and old covenant commanded by the Holy Father God Almighty. “‘When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, he specifically called it ‘the new covenant in my blood.’”(Luke 22:20).Webber (1994) According to Webber, the twofold sequence of word and sacrament historically seems to be connected to a similar style of worship called the synagogue style. He shows us how these two processes of worship produce the exact examples in showing the obedience of Gods people by their following of the scripture and then displaying their faith in actions of worship. Webber also ties in the rudimentary sequence of worship which is exampled many times throughout the New Testament in a contrast with the faithful prayers and worship of Justin in 150 AD. He makes room for us to see the worship within the synagogue which examples the twofold sequence of worship over and over again. He shows us that using prayer as a tool to communicate with the Almighty God not only serves as great worship but reveals to him our faith in him that he is able to handle any and all things. The foundation of worship did begin at the synagogue just as it will continue to take place at the church. However, Webber does lecture on the current arguments of a Mr. Paul Bradshaw who pushes the caution of modern Christians worshiping and partaking in some of the same rituals as the early Judeans. His primary complaint seemed to be with the partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Was this really an act to worship the Lord in obedience for the son or was this just a simple Jewish meal that took place on a regular basis? Webber’s illustration of the apostle Paul goes further to prove exactly why this argument might tend to seem valid. However, by using more biblical texts and scriptures, he is able to show that the meal was actually separated from the actual Lord’s Supper as observed by the Corinthians. Eventually the meal was all together removed from the holy sacrament session because of their corrupt human nature being given drunkenness and ludeness. Again Webber uses a bible scripture to back his intelligence with good fact. “‘If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.’” (1Cor.11:34).Webber (1994) This still today is a very important part of an intimate action of worship and obedience to believe upon Jesus Christ to be the son of God as the lord and savior who died for the sins of all men and women in the world past, present, and future. The more worship the better and in every type of worship you find a new or different experience that can bless the believer as well as draw in a non believer. This is the attitude that Webber is continuously producing in each section of his work. His notions of truth are well researched to move the reader to identify actions of worship and understand the difference it makes while participating the service of the Lord God. In leading us in this direction, Webber moves us into the ritual of baptism. As mentioned in his writings, baptism was the one ritual that brought people into fellowship. This was the initiation. This was the identifier. This was the expression of the death and resurrection of the King and savior Jesus Christ. Webber teaches here making a valid point on how the participation of baptism opens door for the believer or former non believer to join the celebration. This type of worship welcomes you to the church becoming one with the body of the church, but most importantly with the body of Christ himself. Again the author uses the scripture here to produce fact of his research and explanations. “‘For we are all baptized by one spirit into one body. ’” (1 Cor. 12:13) Webber (1994) Though baptism was a strong section of worship in the early churches, the second century church all the way up until this present date still cycle the belief. Even though it may sometimes be done on a more symbolic level, this method of worship is still often embraced by the church. Webber uses the biblical character Justin to give the reader even more insight to understand the importance that baptism held within the early churches. “We can be confident that this teaching focused on the meaning of dying to sin and being raised to new way of life in Jesus Christ” Webber (1994). The information that the reader gathers from Webber in these pages and passages is that the biblical foundations of worship examines many biblical themes in and during worship that gives us great insight into how worship was conducted in the early Christian communities, old and new. Now we enter into the realm of spiritual worship. Christ as the Lamb of God was born, did miracles on earth, and died to be resurrected into the Kingdom of God. It is here where Webber begins to explain to us about heavenly worship. The ordeal in which Christ has accomplished our redemption from sin and evil bringing us into ever lasting life gives us the authority to give thanks and praise in heavenly worship. Webber shows how having adoration for the Father God almighty for the works of the son is considered to be praise and worship on a heavenly level. He breaks down the need for earthly worship to be replicable or be in comparison to the upper ranks of heavenly worship. Here the reader is given example of how angels, archangels, apostles, martyrs, material saints, and immaterial saints all offer unceasing praises to the Almighty God on a constant basis all duly given on behalf of his holy son of righteousness Jesus Christ. This is truly what heavenly praise is all about. Webber once again finds influenceable examples in bible and uses them to back up his teachings. The books of Revelations and Romans are used to activate detail to which the reader can fit into purpose and understanding. The worship is the key to unlocking divine history which maintains the proclamation of the reality that receiving new life after this life as we know it here on earth is obtainable through it. All praises that go up to the father God Almighty in the name of Jesus is the basis of good Christian worship. The believer will become almost always spiritually blessed, and in a lot of cases physically blessed as well while engaging themselves in heavenly worship on a level of consistency. Just as Webber had mentioned earlier, this is why the early Christian churches believed it was important to pattern earthly worship after the heavenly. The theological role of the gathering all people together into a holy place of worship, to preach and teach the word of God, makes the theory of divine actuality become a reality. In this section, Webber aligns the holy worship in the physical with the holy worship in the spiritual. This places together a multitude of people that represent the body of Christ. It is here that the reader can understand how being touched by the presence of God called the Holy Spirit can have an impact on each individual in a different way all in one particular moment of praise and worship. This is a very descriptive area of the book where Webber examples how worship actualizes the church. We are shown that the praises that flow in numbers open the spiritual realm that actually pours the heart of Christ upon the congregation as a whole. It is then that the victory in Jesus is apparent and the anticipation of his return instantly increases the worship to a level of heavenly inspiration…. inspiration to work, inspiration to minister, and also inspiration to be baptized and to partake in the Lord’s Supper. More theological examples can be derivated from the bible itself. Webber uses the scriptures out of Matthew, Corinthians, and Revelations taken from Holy Word of God to present documented text that explains his motivation to show the reader how preaching and prophesizing is one the most high levels of worship to engage in. These examples seem to show the reader how hope is produced through the preaching of Gods word. The relevance of Christ’s return becomes an effective tool in theology and evangelism granting believers the power to praise and giving non believers the power to obey God and come to Christ. It is now that within worship certain sacraments are produced. The giving of tithes and offerings that expresses the kind of faith that tells God he worthy to praised as God above all other gods. The getting baptized that symbolizes the washing away of the old sinful flesh to become a new creature in Christ. The partaking of the Lord’s supper which explains to God from the heart that Jesus is definitely the Lord and savior being champion over sin and death. Webber puts all this information together to show us “how the church experiences worship as the Gospel in motion.” Webber (1994) Webbers biblical and theological view of worship within the pages and paragraphs of this book are used to examine how the gospel story reaches its believers when praise is enacted through Christ. The worship and praise is the central liturgy to Christian worship and it will grow to higher levels as the congregation offers itself as one body and as believers that the King Jesus Christ will return for his saints and to establish the kingdom of God defeating all evil and abolishing sin from the world. “‘I appeal to you therefore, brother and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.’” (Romans 12:1-2) Abernethy (2008) In comparison to Webbers version in the theology of worship, Alexis D. Abernathey’s book tells us that the gathering for worship is very visible and this is what makes a church or religious organization stand out from another. He then asks the question why do people gather together to come to church? His answers of course seemed to immediately point toward the scriptures as did Webber in his explanations of worship. The answer came simple. In the book titled: Worship That Changes Lives, the author listed several answers but the primary course of action was simply to praise God. It was interesting to read a quote that a man named John Calvin had written in another source but was used in this particular book by the author. It stated that worship should be a divine injunction that intercedes to help man fulfill the will of God. This to me brings merit to a statement made by Webber in his book that worship is the most basic way for communicating the life and spirit of God. Here we see the same notion but written in different formalities to show that Gods divine power is strengthened on earth through worship. Abernaethy tells the reader that worship is what draws us closer to God. Reading further into this section of book the author tell us that continuous worship helps believers to get to know the lord better through his word and that it also makes us to become empowered by the holy spirit for faithful living. Again this will correlate back to an area in Webbers book where he was telling the reader about the third aspect of recapitulation which is how worshiping God on a consistent basis will make certain that what happens in heaven and earth happens in the heart as well. These two statements can be merged together to form one unit of holy information as to what worshiping is and what it can do in a persons life. A passage wrote in Abernaethy’s book reads that engaging in worship through Christ along with the preaching of Gods holy word, helps believers to become more like him. Webber again matches this idea by showing us what happens when becoming more like Christ. A new character of Christian worship is formed and they become compelled to praise god for his goodness and thank him their salvation. This is usually what preludes to baptism, leading us to the Lords’ Supper in communion with the Lord God in remembrance of Jesus. There is a section that I ran across in Abernaethy’s book that states that worship should be full of active and conscience participation. The author states that in order to for a worship service to achieve the full presence of Gods pleasure that the entire congregation must be of one body and sprit being focused on Christ and ready to receive the Holy sprit as it flows. Abernaethy’s stresses the participation of communion or the Lord’s Supper that shows from the heart that Jesus is the true redeemer and that we believe in him to fulfill Gods promises to us. This was the extreme similarity between the two books that covers what theology in worship is all about. Webber had been suggesting this all throughout his work and there was a particular passage that sums this up nicely. “The experience of worship as a recapitulation of the Christ event brings heaven, earth, and the believer together in a single whole. The church joins the great chorus of voices to offer praise to the Father through the Son by the Spirit, and in these actions the church is actualized.” Webber (1994) However there are several differences in the literature itself. Abernaethy’s book deals more with how the encounters with God through worship will help to mold and shape a faithful Christian to become a better person and learn how to live right in a sinful world. Webber’s book on the other hand, tells it readers what worship actually is and who the basis of human worship is really centered around. Webber pretty much gives the all glory to Jesus Christ himself rather than giving divine tips on coaching the flesh to be more Christ like. All in all each writers’ book gives plenty of reference to worship and how it will affect the church as a whole and in each individual member. Through it all we are taught to trust that God is able and that Jesus Christ is the King and savior to take sin and demolish it from the flesh forever. In the book titled A Primer on Christian Worship: Where we've been, where we are, where we can go by, the author Willam A. Dyrness also uses a similar approach close to Webber’s writings in order to help the reader learn about worship. He takes us all the back in time to bring us the histories and stats of the ancient churches and their models and rituals of worship. Although Webber did this too, his timeline was limited to the times of the Old and New Testaments of the bible. Dyrness however, took the liberty of writing about every Christian formation in the history of man, listing each group century after century. This was good and very well done to actually be quite informative plus a bit entertaining, but I thought it took away from my main focus which was to learn about worship. The title does seem to imply that we should be moving from one end of history to the other in dealing with the orientation and changes in worship but I was overwhelmed in the amount of detailed information. It seemed to flow better how Webber got straight to the meat and began to drill the reader on the way we worship and how the old worship traits in the bible still play a major role in how the function of worship is supposed to be carried out in order to effectively reach the call of the gospel being able reach a level of worship that spreads the Holy Sprit in praise through Christ. The Dyrness pages here in this book, tends to sometimes move religion out of the field of play and stray into different areas of life, but does not ever forget to put God the Father into the each new equation. I did seem to pick up a lot of relevant information on the structure and system of Christian religions in close connections with many other religions that prove that Judaism is the foundation for just about all the religious organizations that know God to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Although a bit different form Webber on information, the ideas of explaining the histories and theological objectives in worship are quite similar. There were also similarities when comparing Dyress and Webbers work when speaking on the practices of worship. Although Webber is more direct in his way of showing the reader that God controls the power in which our worship works to bless us, Dyrness makes certain to give as many break downs and specific details as possible. The information as a whole is the same but the dynamics of the two writers were seemingly going in opposite directions only to meet up again to show God in control over all aspects of even our very own worship and that Christ is the way for us to not only reach out to God but also for God to pull us in to mold us, making us acceptable in his sight. I thought that each book was great and complemented each other in many ways. It was helpful to be able to have a question or problem understanding an area in one book and being able to go to the other book for clarification. Sources Webber, R. E. (1994). Worship old and new. Michigan, Grand Rapids: International Bible Society. Abernethy, A. (2008). Worship that Changes Lives. Michigan, Grand Rapids: Backer Academic. Dyrness, W. A. (2009). A Primer on Christian Worship: Where we've been, where we are, where we can go by. United Kingdom, Cambridge: WM.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Read More