As the Lord Commanded: Recovering Faithful Worship in an Age of Novelty (DD - 1 July 25)
“In the high priest’s robes, Christ was typified in his dignity, holiness, and glory. These garments were not for Aaron’s honor alone, but for the people’s benefit: to remind them of the purity and mediation needed in their approach to God.” - Herman Witsius, The Economy of Covenants Between God and Man
Today’s Reading: Exodus 39
“They made the holy garments for Aaron, as the Lord had commanded Moses.”
Seven times in this chapter we read the words, “as the Lord had commanded Moses.” The priestly garments are made in accordance with God’s detailed instruction, from the vibrant, multi-colored ephod, to the elaborate breastpiece with its four rows of stones; emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, and more; to the embroidered robes and turbans made from the finest linen.
The work of making the tabernacle’s various instruments and the priestly attire is now complete:
“Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished, and the people of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses; so they did. And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the Lord had commanded, so had they done it.”
Churches rise and fall according to their willingness to submit to God’s will in every area of life. From worship, to missions, to everyday, communal life, there are only two options; God’s way, and man’s way.
The modern church age can largely be defined by its pursuit of novelty and relevance at all costs. Somewhere along the way, we became convinced that Christ’s church ought to be managed more like a business with a board of directors, key performance indicators, growth consultants, and leadership roles based on worldly qualifications, than a community of disciples eager to hold fast to God’s word in doctrine and practice.
This has been a disaster on many fronts. In many cases, unqualified men fill pulpits, preaching that which sounds good but which has no basis in Scripture or church history. It seems that young, untrained pastors with massive social media followings are increasingly finding “new” interpretations of popular Bible verses that, strangely, not a single person in the history of the church ever noticed, and which are not apparent in the plain reading of the text.
This is the problem with elevating novelty and relevance over plain, old, boring faithfulness to God’s word; you’re always having to find something new. There always needs to be a more clever sermon series, a more visually appealing banner on the side of the highway, more culturally relevant tie-ins from popular music, movies, or shows. In other words, the success of the church becomes less about God gathering and sustaining His people through the ordinary means of grace and more about implementing ten tips from Lifeway’s Church Growth consultants to bolster Q3 giving-metrics.
I’m using church growth (which can be a good thing) as just one example of something we mistakenly prioritize over ordinary obedience to God’s commands. God does not need our creativity in shaping worship to make it more appealing to the outside world. He has won the hearts of men for millennia, not by mirroring the cultural moment, but by maintaining a holy distinction. The second we begin to look like the world, much of this power is lost. Our obedience does, and must, make us different; some might even say “weird,” for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
There is a form of religion which excites the emotions of men and has an appearance of wisdom but is full of man-made inventions, powerless to save. Paul tells the Colossians:
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
In other words, it’s not difficult to appear holy and religious. This is the opposite ditch on the other side of novelty and never-ending re-invention. It is self-made religion, or superstition, which can make us feel like we're living very reverent, godly lives by abstaining from certain food and drink, or keeping ourselves from every indulgence which threatens to draw our allegiance away from God, in accordance with Old Testament laws which were meant to look forward to Christ, but not to bind forever. Of course, many of these things can be helpful for matters of practical living, but as a matter of law, they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
What Paul’s saying here is that these restrictions are not divine but human, for the food someone eats is of no significance to his spiritual life, despite the appearance of wisdom and piety that such rituals portray. Paul calls it “self-made religion,” the false belief that Christians have the freedom to choose how they are to best obey God. The severe fasting practices and other acts of self-mutilation which were common to the surrounding local cults in Colossae often appeared to be spiritual, but actually betrayed confidence in self rather than faith in Christ.
Most of us don’t mutilate ourselves “for God,” but I do think we are prone to the same types of sin; adding to, or subtracting from, God’s clear commands, believing that novel, external forms of piety and submission are more important than a submissive heart which longs to obey God and honor our Savior.
Simple, boring obedience is more difficult than grand displays of faith. I’ll give you one example, and I’m not throwing stones, because I lived much of my life this way. I probably still do this in some ways, which I need to reflect on and repent of.
When I was in college in Colorado, a few of my friends volunteered to go overseas for the summer to help a large, well-known Christian ministry in Africa. Now, like people in Boulder often do, we acted like this would be a huge sacrifice, despite the fact that all of the kids going were from insanely wealthy families (most were paying out of state tuition for CU-Boulder, and were now funding a three month overseas stay while possessing almost zero hard skills aside from being able to play soccer and sing Sunday School songs).
One of the guys going had been in my small group for years. He was one of my best friends, but had come to the faith later in life, and was still a relatively young believer. The problem was that he had no time to grow roots in the faith, to become like a firmly planted tree that could withstand the coming wind and rain. He was still a sapling who, though he generally liked the idea of God and Jesus and being a nice, Christian, person, was running on novelty, smoke machine worship, and moments of intense emotion and passion devoid of any real discipleship. This grand spectacle of a massive “send-off” the week prior to their departure was filled with tearful goodbyes in a sanctuary crammed full of family and friends. It was impressive, and extremely moving.
Of the four or five people who went on this summer program, I still know two of them very well. Out of those two, neither attends church. Neither really proclaims any sort of faith, from what I can tell (one is rather close to me through family/friends, the other just an acquaintance).
How does this happen? How, in a matter of years, does someone go from supposedly taking the name of Christ to the nations, sacrificing their very lives (that’s dramatic, I think they stayed in a nice hotel) to do the work of God abroad, and giving everything for the sake of the Great Commission, only to fizzle out and be done with “organized religion” altogether?
This is the risk of trying to do it our own way, making large spectacles of our works while neglecting the common obedience and “boring” spiritual disciplines which God prescribes for our good.
I’m convinced that it’s far easier to sell all of your possessions, drop $2,000 at REI, and move to South America as a “missionary,” than it is to simply read your Bible, pray, give to and serve the local church, and lead and love your family well for decades on end. Don’t hear me disparaging missions; I’m not. But we must be careful that the “announcement culture” which we live in, where every engagement, gender reveal, career change, and medical diagnosis requires the dopamine dump of a widespread “announcement,” does not begin to influence our faith.
I’ve personally experienced this through the various platforms God has given me online. It’s hard to explain the instant, biochemical reward of posting or sharing something, and having hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of people interact with it. It can be intoxicating.
But if I’m not careful, the performative aspect of my spiritual life begins to take precedence over my actual faith. Prayer and meditation fall by the wayside, and my mind races to find the next piece of content that will go “viral,” craving the feedback of approval from the faceless internet masses. This is obviously why social media is so addictive; but I write about it all the time, so I should know better, right? You would think. I think most drug addicts probably know they’re addicted, and yet they still use drugs.
In closing, the point here is that God’s way is best. As we’ve discussed previously, Calvin says man’s heart is an idol factory; rather than live in simple obedience to God, we are always fashioning our own ways of worship which we think will make us extra-religious, extra-sanctified, extra-worthy. We would rather be loved by the world for our sacrifice, piety, and asceticism, than to simply obey God’s commands for the way He is to be worshipped.
This is something I believe we can all work on, for it is not just the easy targets, the large, doctrinally shallow megachurches that struggle with what the Bible calls “will worship,” or the religious inventions of men; even the most theologically conservative churches are always prone to tack on additional requirements, ceremonies, and rules to their own worship and service, and to act as if they come from God.
But in divine simplicity and adherence to God’s Word, there is great significance, just as every piece of the priestly garments was meant to signify true faith in the great High Priest who was to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. When we deviate from His guidance, we actually miss out on those things which would greatly benefit us.
Like Moses, let it be said of us that we lived, worshipped, and served not according to our own inclinations, but “as the Lord had commanded,” and that our religion consisted not of a few grand spectacles of faith, but of ordinary, everyday obedience.
Brilliance in the basics.
"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" - Micah 6:8
Prayer: “Heavenly Father, thank You for who You are and what You’ve done to save sinners! You are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and everything I have comes from You alone. Remind me that my life is a vapor, and that in the blink of an eye, I will be with You forever, and never cease to worship. Please remove from me all desire and need for human approval and applause, and make me zealous to live and worship in accordance with Your commands in Your word. Strengthen me to live a humble life of ordinary obedience, and to shine Your light before a world that desperately needs You. In Christ’s name I pray, Amen.”
May God bless you!
T