Welcome to Bible Insights with Wayne Conrad.

God's word is a lamp to our feet and a light on our path. Today's topic, the Reformation of worship at the time of the Protestant Reformation. God is very concerned about his worship. This is a truth of both the old covenant, the scriptures, of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament scriptures, the apostolic writings and the apostolic witness writer's writings. God is very concerned for his worship, that he be the exclusive object of our worship, of our heart's adoration, and that his worship be kept pure. They did not be mixed with idolatry and they did not be mixed with human selfishness and human agendas. God desires, yea, God demands purity in his worship.

This is the truth that the Protestant reformers came to see afresh as God worked in their hearts in regeneration and as God opened their eyes to the teaching of the scriptures of the New Testament. One of the first issues that they come across and must address is the access of the people to the word of God in the language of the people. It's very important in the worship of God that his worshipers be able to use their own language, enable to speak to him their heart's desire, their mental thoughts, so that they can receive God's word in their language, and so they can give to God the worship that's due his name.

It was the common practice in the medieval Catholic church for all of the worship of God to be in the language of Latin, This was considered the language of the church. It was considered like a holy language. Now, there are some other groups that have this same kind of concept. For instance, in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, they use a particular language. It's not the language that the people use every day. It's the language of the worship, which is a form of Ethiopian, but it is not the common language of the various people of Ethiopia. It's the same idea that you have a language that's wholly spoken by the priest to God on behalf of the people, but it's not the language that the people can understand. They may learn to respond in these languages, but they do not understand and cannot follow along with true meaning what is being said in the liturgy of the worship or in the reading of the text if it happens to be in this language.

So, one of the first principles that the reformers came to was to restore the Bible in the language of the people. And this involved the translation of the Bible into their languages. So Luther devoted himself to translating the Greek New Testament directly into German for the people. He did this when he was at the castle being hidden by Frederick from the tyranny of the Roman court seeking to take his life. And then he worked on the Old Testament subsequent to that. The same is true in France with Calvin. in the French translation of the scripture and in England with the language being put in English. And so God's word being restored to the language of the common people, common language of the people of God so that they can hear the reading of God's word and the teaching of God's word and can offer prayers to God in the language that they understand. and so that the word of God can not only be read and taught in that language but interpreted in that language as well.

Some of the reformers were put to death for translating the scriptures into the language of the people. The prime example of that is William Tyndale, who was murdered by order of the King of England for translating the Bible into English. He translated from the Greek and Hebrew into English. In his dying moments, Tyndale prayed that God would open the eyes of the King of England, and later, when King James I ascended the throne, he ordered a Bible to be translated into the language of the people, and 85% of that translation known as the King James Version was based on Tyndale's translation as well as Coverdell's edition of the same.

The Bible must be restored to its proper place in the worship of God, to be read, to be taught, to be preached in the language of the people. Now this principle is found written in the New Testament itself in Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Now he's dealing with the issue of the speaking in languages not ordinarily known by the people in the worship services, speaking in tongues and also in prophecy. He's dealing with these spiritual gifts But he indicates, not only indicates, he specifically states that a tongue should not be spoken in the assembly unless it is interpreted so that the people understand what is being prayed. It's obvious from reading in the context of 1 Corinthians that the language is the language of prayer and that the people are praying, but the people don't understand your prayer. They can't say an amen to it unless they understand it in their language. So, he forbids the speaking in tongues without interpretation in the assembly. Now that then gives us the principle that God's word and prayer, the teaching, praying, exhortation, all things should be done in the worship service, the public worship service, so that it's understandable to the people in the language of the people. That was a central emphasis of the Reformation. That's certainly not the only emphasis. There are many other emphases that they come to bear from the reformers on the worship of God.

Let's look at one or two of those. I use some scriptures for us to look at and understand. John chapter four and verse 24. We have the incident of Jesus meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well. And he talks to her about his gift of eternal life in the image of water, the water of life. But as they are having conversation and Jesus asked her to go and fetch her husband, she takes this opportunity to ask him the burning question in her community. And that is, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

So, Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father. You worship what you do not know, we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people who worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth."

And with this conversation, the woman comes to realize that She is speaking to a prophet who may very well be the Messiah. She says to him, “I know that Messiah is coming. He who is called Christ, when he comes, he will tell us all things. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. He reveals to this woman at the well that he is the Messiah. And as a Messiah, he is here to restore the true worship of God. and the true worship of God is to offer to God true, sincere worship of the heart. and of the Holy Spirit moving in the life of the person, giving them a new heart and a new mind. We are to offer unto God spiritual worship.

Now, Paul carries this further in his remarks in Philippians chapter three in verses three and four, where he also picks up again on the idea of the theme of worship. Here's what he says. Finally, my brothers, Be rejoiced in the Lord, to write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. So rejoice in the Lord. And then he gives them this warning, look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the real circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

And then he goes through a listing of things that he could, for instance, say, well, if you want to give this kind of basis, look, I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. I'm of the house of Israel. I am a Pharisee, et cetera. God is not interested in our pedigrees or our degrees. He is looking at our heart. We must have a circumcised heart, a heart that has been cut away from the flesh. cut away from that which insulates us from God and God's message and sensitivity through the Holy Spirit. We must have true hearts that have been regenerated by the Spirit of God. This is the real circumcision, spiritual circumcision. We are to worship God in this respect. So, Philippians chapter 3, verses 3 and 4.

Now, if we turn to 1 Timothy chapter two, we have instructions concerning prayer in the church. And what I'm doing is I'm reading you the scriptures that the reformers would look at. And when they look at these scriptures, they then wrote out prescriptions, either in their liturgies or in their teachings, about implementing these things in the worship of God. These are the things that need to be in the worship of God. First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings, all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior. And then he goes on to declare, for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. So, public prayer in the language, again, of the people.

If we turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2, again, we're dealing with Timothy here. Timothy was one who had been trained by Paul. He had been converted, trained by Paul to be a minister, and he writes to Timothy pastoral instructions. He writes to him in 2 Timothy 2, verses 1 and 8. You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that's in Christ Jesus and what you have heard from me and the presence of many witnesses. Entrust the faithful man who'll be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. He goes on to exhort him that you must be devoted to preaching the word of God. That is our task. He charges him in 2 Timothy chapter four. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom to preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. This is the task of the minister. He is to minister the word of God to the people of God in the language of the people. He is to expound to them the teachings of scripture. That means the doctrine of scripture, not simply exhortations about holy living.

And then we have Acts chapter 20 and verse seven, which says specifically that the church came together on the first day of the week in order to break bread. and that reference to breaking bread is a reference to the Lord's Supper. And we go back to Acts chapter 2 and verse 42, which gives us the primary activity of the church in worship. They met together to devote themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the breaking of bread to the prayers and to fellowship. These are the activities ordained by the Word of God for the worship of God's people.

Now, also, the scriptures give us the command to utilize music or singing in worship, and we find instructions for that in Colossians and in Ephesians, that we're to speak to one another in the congregation by means of what we sing. That means congregational participation in singing, not singing as performance on the stage, and not singers being the worshipers that we are worshiping God through them, but us joining in with this worship through singing a song and psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Making yes melody at our hearts to the Lord and with our mouths speaking praise to God.

Calvin restored psalms in the reading and in the singing in the worship of God, Luther composed many hymns for the singing of the people of God. Regretfully, at first, the Baptists did not, but they did catch up, praise the Lord. At any rate, these are the things that the New Testament lays down should be the heart of the worship of God and the assemblies of God's people. This should mark our worship services, nothing else. There should not be other things, not the use of idols or excessive ceremonies, anything that sort of takes away from purity, simplicity, and beauty of the worship of God by means of the word of God and prayer offered to God in the language of the people.

Well, there's much that can be said I haven't even touched the idea of the sacraments or the gospel ordinances that are heartened at the heart of the worship of God, except that the Lord's Supper was evidently something done every Lord's Day. Perhaps we should look again at the principles of worship in the New Testament and seek to imitate them in our local churches. And there has been concern that in many ways the Protestant church may be sometimes in some quarters sort of going away from some of these principles. We need to be sure that they're front and center.

Here is the call to confessing evangelicals for a modern reformation that was published around the year 2000. We are calling the church amidst our dying culture to repent of its worldliness, to recover and confess the truth of God's word, as did the reformers, and to see that truth imbibed in doctrine, worship, and life.