THESES ON WORSHIP

I. Worship is not an adiaphoron.

A. Worship is commanded by God.
...for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. (Exodus 34:14)

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)

And Jesus answered him, "It is written, You shall worship the Lord Your God, and him only shall you serve." (Luke 4:8)

B. The highest form of worship is faith.
Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." (John 6:29)

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. (Hebrews 9:9)

It is by faith that God wants to be worshiped, namely, that we receive from him what he promises and offers. (AP IV, 49)

The woman came, believing that she should seek the forgiveness of sins from Christ. This is the highest way of worshiping Christ. (AP IV, 154)

God wants us to believe him and to accept blessings from him; this he declares to be true worship. (AP IV, 228)

In short, the worship of the New Testament is spiritual; it is the righteousness of faith in the heart and the fruits of faith. (AP XXIV, 27-28)

See also: AC XXVI, 4; AC XXI, 3-4, AP IV, 59.

C. Worship is Trinitarian, and centered on Jesus Christ.
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, the LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. "So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them." (Numbers 6:22-27)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (II Corinthians 13:14)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith… (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”  Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”  (John 6:28-29)

but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and  that by believing you may have life in his name.  (John 20:31)

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual  worship.” “Spiritual worship” is a worship in which the spirit knows and takes hold of God,  as it does when it fears and trusts him. Therefore the contrast is not only with Levitical  worship, where cattle were slaughtered, but with any worship where men suppose they are offering God a work ex opere operato.  (AP XXIV, 26)

D. The means by which faith is created and nurtured are essential  to worship.
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.  (Romans 10:17)

having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.  (Colossians 2:12)

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  (I Corinthians 11:23-25)

To obtain such faith God instituted the office of the ministry, that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith, when and where he pleases, in those who hear the Gospel.  (AC V, 1-2)

It is taught among us that the sacraments were instituted not only to be signs by which people  might be identified outwardly as Christians, but that they are signs and testimonies of God's will toward us for the purpose of awakening and strengthening our faith.  (AC XIII, 1) 
     
This use of the sacrament, when faith gives life to terrified hearts, is the worship of the New Testament, because what matters in the New Testament is the spiritual motivation, dying and being made alive. For such use Christ instituted it, as he commanded (1 Cor. 11:24), “Do this in remembrance of me.”  (AP XXIV, 71) 

Part II