For the Lord’s Pleasure – Abiding Principles from the Ceremonial Laws: The Forms and Elements of Worship (2)

For the Lord’s Pleasure

Abiding Principles from the Ceremonial Laws: The Forms and Elements of Worship (2)

The ceremonial laws were established to satisfy God’s demands for holiness.

“When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that it may be accepted.” Leviticus 29:5

Anyone who failed to bring his offering to the Lord in the way God had prescribed, so that his offering would be accepted by God, would have been guilty of profaning “what is holy to the LORD” (v. 8). Since worship in ancient Israel consisted largely in bringing offerings to the Lord, we can conclude from this warning that all our worship must be done with a view to pleasing God, first and foremost.

Worship is not, in the first instance, about us. We should not construct the forms of worship or employ elements in worship first of all because they do something for us. What is supposed to “do something for us” in worship is coming into the presence of the glory of God through the mediation and means He has provided: faith in Christ, worship in Spirit and in truth, as a dialog with and offering to the Lord, in a decent and orderly manner. Our worship will not bring us the blessing we seek (subjective) unless it is designed and pursued above all else to encounter and honor the living God (objective).

Thus we must come to the Lord and inquire of Him how He would be glorified—what forms, elements, patterns, and structure we should employ in coming before Him. We know that we must come with clean and grateful hearts, determined to go forth from worship to obey the Lord as the salt of His Covenant in the daily experiences of our lives (Ps. 50:14, 15). But we must also look to Him to discern from His Word the proper ways of approaching Him in worship. Our worship of God should follow a particular logic or pattern, and it should employ only such forms as are pleasing to the Lord and according to His Word.

Worship according to the ceremonial laws provides a template for worship as we find it in the rest of Scripture. We may say that worship is a Covenant assembly for the Lord’s pleasure, through our obedience in giving to Him what He requires, for our renewal in the promises of His Covenant, to the praise of the glory of His grace. God will be pleased with our worship, and we will be blessed in His pleasure, to the extent that we follow His guidelines in planning and engaging in worship of our Covenant God.

For a fuller study of the pattern of worship revealed in Scripture, order the book, The Highest Thing, by T. M. Moore, from our online store. These studies and brief essays will help you to see how the pattern of sound worship, which began in the Law of God, comes to complete expression in the rest of Scripture. Pastors, we’re getting ready to start the next season of The Pastors’ Fellowship. Write to me today at tmmoore@ailbe.org for information about how you join in these online discussions. Our theme for the coming series is “The Worldview of God’s Law.” There is no charge for participation, but you must reserve a place for these monthly gatherings. Subscribe to Crosfigell, the devotional newsletter of The Fellowship of Ailbe.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.