October 02, 2006

Why still Temple theology??

Where did the church develop its Temple theology from? In the Old Testament worship was centred around the Temple, as that is where all the sacrifices and such happened, and where the glory of God dwelt. But as revealed in the New Testament, Jesus taught that the Temple was ready to be destroyed and he is the new Temple, as sacrifices are no longer needed, he being the final atoning sacrifice. Thus making it possible for us the commune directly with God and worship him without the necessity of priests and such. Jesus also taught that people no longer needed to go to a specific place to worship, as what was important was the heart of our worship, not the location or rituals.

Now I am not saying that traditions and places of worship are bad. I believe that the Scriptures also exhorts believers to meet together for prayer, worship, support and encouragement.

What I am saying is that we have fallen back into pre-Christ worship patterns, making the going to church the crux of worship, rather than the crux being the spirit and truth of worship, as displayed in generosity, love, compassion, charity, mercy, justice, brotherly kindness, etc. We have made the Sunday morning/night attendance at a building the mark of our Christianity, rather than making our everyday actions and attitudes the mark of our Christianity.

DC Talk once said:

The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians - who honour Jesus with their lips, walk out of the door, and dishonour him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jen,

As a 'worship' leader (who hates the title and the name given to 'worship' services) I totally agree. Worship is about our acknowledging that our life is not our own, and that everything we do is (should) be in honour to God.

That said, I do think that Sundays present for us a unique opportunity to help people learn about the 'discipline' of worship, and hopefully to inspire people to engage in worship every moment of their lives. Kind of strange that the church meeting place where many misperceptions exist can be used to re-balance the value of church and worship, but I think it's still true.

Interestingly, I wrote a post on my site from the worship leaders perspective, using the example of temple imagery.

http://www.roddjefferson.com/2006/10/02/leading-others-to-draw-near-pt-1/

The picture of the temple process still helps us understand what we do when we worship God. Not the practise itself, but the process of forgetting about ourselves and focussing wholey on God (That is worship).

Jen Waddell said...

Hi Rodd,

So glad you visited my little space, and dropped a line.

I read you article. It is very good. As a worship leader myself, I completely understand your process of helping people move from distraction to being immersed in the presence of God.

When I worship lead, I use a similar process. The songs/ prayers/ mediation/ instalations/ etc move in this process:
1. About God
2. Praising God
3. Confession to God
4. Seeking God/ letting him know our stresses and joys
5. Asking God for help in transformation

I too believe that church and other such gatherings have their place, and being guided in the worship process is very important, for worship leaders to experience too. It's people's reliance on this alone as their only source and place of intimacy with God that makes me grumble...

:) Jen