Losing Worship in the Temple of God

After 2000 years of Church history, it seems appalling we found ourselves in a cul-de-sac ceremonial christianism. Rituals and intellectual preaching performance have taken precedence over commitment to the Word. Outburst of praise and worship songs seemed to be confined within the walls of the temple. We have lost the very purpose of worship within the temple. Indeed, modern christians are reluctant to transition their fixation to temple rituals and religious ceremonies to worship on the marketplaces. Yet, Jesus’ death and resurrection brought an official and definitive fulfillment to the sacrificial worship performance in the Temple.

The disciples’ first mission statement was not about the beauty of a formalized temple ballet performance in the midst of burning candles, solemn processions and spiraling smoke of incense. Their calling was not about a sacrificial priesthood club or a Levitical priesthood transplant performers in the temple of God. The temple is no longer rooted in a geographic location, but wherever Christ’s body is to be found, there we found worshippers. The Church born after Pentecost had been called for the purpose of worship: make people who walk God’s ways and obey his Word. Worship is for government. It is not a religious act or a devotional posture. When we fail to become worshippers, we end up in a religious imbroglio where worship turns out to be a counterfeit ritual performance. The purpose of worship is trading on the stock market of a heavenly government and making the standards and values of this government manifest here on earth. In the Kingdom age, the purpose of worship is all about implementing royal laws and decrees on the earth. The Church had lost worship within the temple because of lack of worshippers.

Bible Knowledge Matrix : The Word Affects System Function and Performance

Bible believers are new covenant peoples of a living God. When this exceptional relationship is misapprehended, theological and doctrinal disputes become a mental circus to entertain christianized spectators. Regrettably today, knowing the Bible has become an issue that elicits both doctrinal and intellectual acumen. However, in the early church, proficiency in Scriptures came about through hearing the communal reading as a typical Jewish community of believers do. Then, from hearing the written biblical account to keeping the teaching. And keeping by way of obedience, not by compiling biblical information. This triple bond process does not bank on intellectual prowess, but rather a life committed act. That’s when revelation comes on the scene. One becomes proficient with the Word of God, not by reducing it to a piece of literature like any other written text, but the written text becomes a revelatory living life experience through daily obedient practice. Indeed, even though most believers of the first century Church did not have the luxury of carrying a Bible, they had the knowledge and the demonstration of the power of the Word. They were able to move from the letter to the power of the Spirit. Here is the only way the early converts to Christ related to the Bible : (1) hear; (2) keep; (3) and obey.

One of the most common theological imbroglio consists on teaching believers to think the Bible inside their brain. We think the Bible inside our heart. We do not think with our brain but rather with our heart. Indeed, while Western culture reduces the process of thinking to a solitary cogito brain power, Middle eastern culture relates to thinking as a business of the heart. One is only able to move when the heart moves through meditation. Genuine knowledge comes when the heart knows it by way of an engaged knowledge and not by head and brain power knowledge. We become what we think in our heart, when we stop entertaining it in our brain. Proverbs 23: 7 gives us the clue: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he!”. Let’s borrow a metaphor for the communication systems to illustrate our point.

Being identified as a christian and walking as such, means to be reconfigured by the certificate template of the Word of God. In computer systems, a configuration stands for an arrangement of functional units based on the chiefs characteristics, nature, documentation, and number of a programme. To be configured means to be affected by system function and performance. How does the Bible make this process more than crystal clear? The book of Deuteronomy teaches us the three distinctive steps as a way to relate to the Word of God in order to be counted as righteous. First, hear/listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone (Deut 6: 4.). Second, keeping/fixing the Word in the undivided heart, soul, and strength (Deut 6: 4-9). Third, obey. “These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey” (Deut. 6: 1-3).

Knowing God is knowing His Word through commitment. Lifelong arguments over the Bible do not build a relationship with God but only entertains our mind. Only those who are committed to the Word of their God on a covenant relationship basis know Him. Those who know their God have His laws/Word written on their hearts and minds (Jeremiah 31:33, Heb 8:10). If you are not committed, you are simply out of relationship. Like in any legally binding contract, a breach of contract occurs when one of the parties in the agreement fails to fulfill or violate the terms or conditions of a written contract. To prevent any non-conforming performance, one ties the Word on the hand as a permanent reminder and wears it as a covering. Once you remove your legal covering contract to act contrary to the written terms, you inflict harm on your partner. Because of a fraud due to a dishonest behavior, the contract is cancelled. When Adam disobeyed the Word, he realized that he was naked. That means he had been exposed to the whole spiritual world as God’s contract fraudulent representative on the earth. Once you lose the Word, you are out of the covenant. The lives we live and the actions we take are a proclamation of a behavioral playbook rules we abide to.

That is why one has to repeat the Word to himself and to his children again and again. At home, on the road, in bedtime and when we are getting up, the Word must prevail. Also, bind the Word on your forehead as reminders and write it on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. In Revelation 14:1, the seal of God is put on the forehead. What do we have behind our forehead? Our mind. The seal of God has to do with his laws. God writes his laws, status and Word on our right hand and forehead. To be with the Lamb, our actions must reflect his Name while our thoughts reflect the content of his Word or laws.

Obedience and Worship As Battlefield Frontiers
The whole purpose of studying and meditating the Word is to make sure we conclusively reach to applied obedience (Joshua 1:7-8). Only through obedience, can we know whose textbook for applied behavior and rules of conduct is normative in our life. Obedience is the highest form of worship. Jesus in Matthew 26:39 offered his obedience to God as the ultimate act of worship by embracing the cross: “not my will, but your will be done!”. When we love God, we must prove it by obeying his Word: “If you love me, obey my commandments.” (John 14:15). We worship the Father when we submit to his divine purpose on earth by doing his will.

Worship is a pledge of allegiance to the constitution of the heavenly kingdom. We transfer credit to God who can never deny his own Word. His Word is built upon a foundation stone that cannot be shaken, a firm and tested stone, Jesus Christ. True worshippers are measured up by their authenticity to the Word - Jesus Christ. “I will test you with the measuring line of justice and the plumb line of righteousness.” (Is. 28:17). The measure of someone’s worship stand in proportion to his standing in right alignment with justice and righteousness the Word.

At the same time, worship is a war declaration and a battlefield frontier. In Revelation we see clearly depicted the future map of the final judgment along a battlefield frontier. Obedience to God is a double sign of allegiance and a war declaration against satan. Disobedience, as an expression of revolt, is a form of switching allegiance to a rival partner or kingdom. As such, disobedience to God is a treasonous act because one turns into a defector to the benefit of satan. Adam was defeated through a treacherous disobedience to God’s Word and switched allegiance to satan by following the devil’s suggestion. Adam has to bow down to satan and become God’s enemy. By failing God’s Word, Adam failed to represent the character of God on earth. When Jesus was exposed to satan’s ploys in the wilderness, the whole purpose of the battle plan was to turn him into disobedience to the Word to secure a switch of allegiance. Fully aware of the Word, satan was plotting to unseat Jesus on the ground of God’s Word. Enmity with God does not start by being affiliated to a religion or by attending a church denominational ritual. Rather, enmity with God begins by opposition to his Word and character. Relationship with God is not about a religious performance but all about obedience to his Word.

Rightfully so, satan’s war declaration against mankind is strictly targeted-group based. The dragon is only waging war against God’s holy people or the redeemed. This group refers to “all who keep God’s commandments and maintain the testimony for Jesus.” (Rev. 12:17). One does not become satan’s enemy by becoming a church goer or a fervent convert to a religion, but by obeying the Word. Consequently, the demarcating line for the coming final battle and judgment will turn around worship and obedience. Satan is building an army of God defying people through a system of counterfeit worship. This counterfeit worship is building itself around a system of one world imposed religion in order to sway the hearts and minds of humanity. The beast is imposing death penalty to anyone who refuses to worship and bear its marks on the foreheads (Rev. 13:15). This God defying counterfeit worshippers are the army that stands for a government called to rule and run the world. Counterfeit worship is a deceptive fig tree without the fruits of righteousness, justice and truth. “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by farce.” (Is. 29:13).

Standing in exact contrast to the coercive and counterfeit worship, Revelation 14:1-5 depicts for us the distinctive features of true worshippers. Genuine worshippers are those redeemed by the Lamb, found to be walking in God’s ways, and having a longing for justice. They are God-fearing and Word-obedient peoples called to govern the earth as God’s representatives. As it is in heaven, so it is on earth. The redeemed have the name of Christ and his Father written on their foreheads and have kept themselves pure, blameless and have told no lies. Psalm 15 carefully offers us what to expect from true worshippers. Those who are called to worship on the holy mountain of the Lord and stand in his presence are “ Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Those who refuse to gossip”. In Isaiah 33:14-15, we meet again the same lifestyle quality standards. To stand in the Lord’s presence, only are allowed “those who are honest and fair, who refuse to profit by fraud, who stay far away from bribes, who refuse to listen to those who plot murder, who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong.”

What are we to learn from this contrast in worship? It is imperative that worshippers of the Holy One be truth tellers, righteous standing people, and justice seekers, lest they fall in rebellion to the Word and the character of the one they pretend to worship and represent, coming into collusion with counterfeit worship. Thus, in the Kingdom age, only worshippers are needed, not religious ceremonial performers !

Worship Belongs to the Judicial Branch of Government

Genuine worship at its core is governmental in nature and has nothing to do with a religious act. Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord! Going up to the mountain to worship the Lord indicates that rulership begins at the top of the mountain. The mountain, as a place of worship, is a place of authority and a governmental seat. “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2: 4). Mount Zion was established by King David as a place of perpetual worship. Zion is not about worship performance. It is all about the purpose of worship. King David commissioned worship in Zion to host the presence of the Lord in order for him to be able to govern the nation in righteousness and truth 24 hour round the clock business. Out of worship flows out the governmental authority of God to bring about his vision to the nation. Correspondingly, the Church is the governmental, legislative and judicial body that makes decisions and judgments until society reflects a Kingdom culture. The Church is called to judge the people. Zechariah 3:7 tells us: “If you walk in my ways, keep my laws, I will grant you to judge my house, juge my court, and I’ll give you a place to those who stand by here.” It is where the spiritual realm enters the earthly realm.

Self tellingly, worship is part of the proceedings of the heavenly court. Around the heavenly throne, worship procedure ushers in the court in full session. Judgment is executed out of the legal framework of worship by true worshippers who have been tested by the criteria of righteousness and justice. In Rev 5: 8-14, worship starts around the throne and moves from sphere to sphere until all of creation is worshipping. As worship goes around the throne, worshippers on earth pronounce judgment by reversing unlawful and unjust judgment on earth and writing just laws or decrees in prayers. For the Father, the Righteous one, is seeking true worshippers. Genuine worship is founded on truth and coming from the Spirit to the visible realm. Those who worship God must worship in Spirit and truth (John 4: 23-24). It is crucially important here to highlight an important nuance. Beware, the Father is not seeking or in any need of worship, but looking for worshippers! God is looking for true representatives of who He is on earth to bring about justice and truth, not deceitful and delinquent business partners. When we worship in Spirit and in truth, we qualify to function as God’s governmental people.

In the protocol of worship, the Lord is our judge, our lawgiver, and our king (Isaiah 33:22). Though the Lord lives in heaven, He wants to make the earth through Jerusalem, his home of justice and righteousness (Is. 33: 5). The world is called to become God’s Home Depot of justice and righteousness. Therefore, worship is all about bringing justice and righteousness on the earth, not about religious ceremonies performance. Taking the posture of a worshipper is incongruous with a person that tramples down righteousness, truth, and justice. It’s like daring to blend water and oil. To decry once for all the risk of blending worship with lies and injustice, the Lord himself vetoed the infamous misconduct. “When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting - they are all sinful and false. Though you offer prayer, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims.” (Isaiah 1:10-15).

Equalling paramount to fulfilling the Temple ceremonial worship, the Kingdom age signals the era of worshippers. It is self explanatory that when Jesus appeared on earth, his mission was all about bringing back worship by recruiting honest princes for the job. “Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him.” (Is. 32:1). As a matter of fact, the first disciples Jesus called were not a sacrificial priesthood club or a Levitical priesthood transplants performing in the Temple. They have been called out for the purpose of worship, which means, to implement royal laws and decrees on the earth. Jesus’ death and resurrection brought an official closure to the Temple cult. The disciples’ mission statement was not about the beauty of a formalized Temple ballet dancing. With no liturgical garment, they were called to wear the robe of righteousness and go to the marketplaces and highways to undo satanic laws and move satanic mountains so that the blinds could see, the lames walk, and the sick recover. Unlike any other religious organization, the Church of Christ is all about establishing a kingdom of righteous princes to govern through righteous laws and decrees. The entire creation has been waiting for the manifestation worshippers, the sons and daughters of righteousness, justice, and truth. The kingdom age is time for worshippers, not time for masters of ceremonial performers.

Narcisse Jean Alcide Nana
Evangelist.