Bible Pattern of Worship

by John F. Heidenreich

True worship is a deeply satisfying experience. Some years ago I went hiking in the Catskill Mountains with some young people to pick huckle. On this mountain there was a spring near the berry patch, so we didn’t carry any water with us. When we arrived at the spot, we found lots of big berries, but we couldn’t find the spring. After a while our thirst became almost unbearable. We quickly picked our pails full and made the long descent down the mountainside. Near the place where we had parked our car there was a crystal-clear spring of cold water. We stretched out on the grass and drank. I will never forget the intensity of my thirst and how deeply satisfying it was to drink from that spring. Worship can be like this to the true believer in Christ. The Savior told a woman in Samaria who had come to a well to draw water, “… whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” (John 4:14.)

Sacrament Meeting

The sacrament meeting is the place God has especially appointed for our worship. (D&C 59:9–12.) Some people say they can worship better out in nature on the golf course than in a stuffy chapel. The question is, do they? In the sacrament meeting where our thoughts are with God and his Son, we are more likely to give our devotion to the Lord and consider his laws than if we are elsewhere, no matter how beautiful the surroundings.

Isaiah’s Pattern of Worship

In every genuine experience of Christian worship there is an invariable pattern. A classic example of this pattern of worship is found in the vision and call of the prophet Isaiah. (Isa. 6:1–9.) It consists of an awareness of God, a spirit of repentance, and a rededication to the service of others.

“… I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. …” (Isa. 6:1.)

All worship begins with an awareness of God or it does not begin. The first step in worship is to perceive him whom we worship. A lady once said to Joseph Turner, the great master painter of sunsets, “Sir, I have never seen in any sunset in nature the vivid colors you put into your painting of Sunset in Venice.” Turner’s reply was simple: “But don’t you wish you could?” It takes more than the natural eyes of a man to see into the head of nature. Turner saw, with the eyes of the soul, a glory that natural eyes could not see. The same is true of worship. The soul must be awakened by the Spirit to see the glory of God.

When we experience this divine awareness of God, we are ready for the second step in worship, and we cry out with Isaiah: “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King. …” (Isa. 6:5.)

When we truly see the Lord, we become painfully aware that we are far from what we ought to be and what God expects us to be. We are sorry for our disobedience. We repent and are forgiven. The great miracle is wrought; we are reborn and become new creatures in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:17.) With forgiveness comes renewal of life and victory over sin and death.

“Then said I [Isaiah], Here am I; send me.” (Isa. 6:8.)

The third step in worship is dedication and service. Worship and service are inseparable; that is why we sometimes call the sacrament meeting a “service of worship.” The sacrament meeting ends with a closing prayer, but true worship never ends until the worshiper goes on to serve his fellowman.

True worship can be likened to the gasoline motor. The intake and the exhaust valves perform their separate functions, completing a cycle that delivers power to the wheels. We take in God’s grace in the act of redemption and forgiveness, after which we must exhaust ourselves in service to complete the cycle that delivers the power by which we live.

Worship is vastly more than sitting quietly in church. The true worship of God influences all aspects of life.

Worship in a Congregation

Many of us have been attending church meetings since we were infants and yet have not learned to worship together very well. We cannot achieve meaningful worship without learning its spiritual disciplines. The word discipline may sound harsh, but let’s think of it as another word from the same root—the word disciple. When we become disciples of the Savior, we accept his disciplines; otherwise our religion is just a good idea that has lost its way.

Disciplines of Worship

What are some of the disciplines of true worship? Let’s examine four: giving attention, getting involved, being reverent, and practicing the order of the spiritual life.

Giving Attention

Jesus spoke much about the importance of paying attention. He is frequently quoted as saying, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Luke 8:8; Luke 14:35; Mark 4:9, 23; Matt. 13:9, 43.) Attentiveness is one of the laws of learning, and it is not automatic. It takes effort and concentration to hear well even when our ears are normal. I know a student who doesn’t learn well although he is capable. One of his teachers describes him as being scattered. We seem to have many inattentive, scattered worshipers who are getting very little from their worship experience.

Getting Involved

Criminal courts are finding it more and more difficult to get convictions, because people won’t testify to crimes they have witnessed. Many would rather live in a lawless community than get involved in making it law-abiding. This selfish detachment seems to be the mood of our times.

Many people also shrink from involvement in public worship. Fear of making blunders restrains many. Others wish to escape responsibility. Some even stay away for fear of being asked to take part.

This is sad, because participation can open the door to our spiritual growth, enlarge our testimonies, increase our interest in things of the Spirit, and provide a school of leadership development.

In the Mormon Church we can all take part in public worship. If we are wise enough to participate and follow God’s plan for worship, we can enrich our lives with blessings beyond measure.

Being Reverent

The noticeable lack of reverence in the wards of the Church gives our leaders great concern. Reverence is not a gift from heaven. Reverence is like arithmetic in that it has to be learned and before we can teach it, we have to know it. Reverence is not merely quietness. We can be quiet and at the same time be empty-headed and empty-hearted. We can force people to be quiet, but we can’t force them to be reverent. Reverence is an awareness of what is taking place in the sacrament meeting, an awareness that God is reaching down to touch us with his forgiving love. Reverence is reflected in our behavior, but it is not an ornament in itself: it is an inward quality; it is the gold medal that God pins on the inside of a man.

Order of the Spiritual Life

To watch the great time clock of the starry heavens is in itself an experience of worship. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” (Ps. 19:1.) Order is an attribute of God and is in all that he has made. Man is the loftiest of all God’s creations and is designed for eternal purposes. The Bible says that “the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” (Ps. 37:23.) Order in worship is not the arrangement of the worship program. It is an arrangement God has made for man’s spiritual growth.

Examples of Some New Testament Concepts of Worship

Now let’s see what Jesus and his disciples said about worship.

The Nativity

The gospels of Matthew and Luke opened by proclaiming God’s glory and condescension to men in the birth of his son. There is no greater call to worship in all the scriptures than the nativity of the Savior, whose coming to this earth is the greatest event in human history. We fall on our knees when Gabriel comes from the throne of God to announce to Mary she will be the mother of the Savior. We join the shepherds in wonder at the heavenly choir that sings, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men of goodwill.” We go with the shepherds to Bethlehem to find the babe in a manger. We follow the star with the wise men and kneel before the Christ child to offer him the gift of our lives.

Worshiping the “Creature More Than the Creator”

In Christ’s confrontation with Satan, he is offered all the kingdoms of this world if he will fall down and worship the Prince of Darkness. This offer was founded on a lie. The world is not Satan’s to give. The scripture says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Jesus knew the lie and answered, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve.”

There has always been the temptation to worship “the creature more than the Creator.” (Rom. 1:25.) We worship what we give our hearts to. Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Luke 12:34.) If we love the things of this world more than we love God, we will worship the devil and receive his rewards. If we reject Satan as Christ did and worship only God, we will receive God’s blessings upon us and our family.

Prayer in Worship

During the Savior’s ministry, his nearness to the Father deeply touched the twelve. They seemed to be especially impressed with his prayers. On one occasion they said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1.) He then gave them a pattern for prayer we refer to as the Lord’s Prayer. Although for centuries this prayer has been used as part of a ritual in public worship, the gospels of Matthew and Mark make it clear that it was given for instruction and not for ceremonial purposes. The prayer begins with a statement of reverence for the name of God. The name of God means the character of God, the kind of God he is. Then it asks that God’s will be obeyed on earth as in heaven. It asks God to sustain us, to forgive us, and to keep us from the evils of this life. The prayer is intensely personal, and should teach us to communicate more clearly with God regarding our personal needs.

Worship in Spirit and in Truth

Jesus made his most significant statement on worship when a Samaritan woman asked him about the proper place to worship. Jesus explained that the important thing was whom we worship and how we worship. He said that “the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23.) To worship in spirit is to worship in the spirit of humility, eager to learn repentance, love, and forgiveness.

To worship in truth is to worship with full knowledge of God and his son and the Holy Ghost. To worship in truth is to know the plan of salvation and to act upon our knowledge. True worship requires action in serving others as well as contemplation of the ideal. The ideal must become the idea we act upon.

A Worship Experience of Enlightenment

Toward the end of the Lord’s earthly ministry there were days of dark discouragement for the twelve. John records that many of the Lord’s followers “went back, and walked no more with him.” (John 6:66.) The gospel required too much of them, so they turned back. Jesus’ loss of popularity must have weighed heavily upon the twelve and especially upon their leaders, Peter, James, and John.

The time had come for the presidency to raise its sights. All of the synoptic gospels tell us that Jesus “bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light. And … there appeared … Moses and Elijah talking with him.” Out of the brightness that surrounded the transfigured Lord and the other heavenly personages came God’s voice: “This is my beloved Son; hear ye him.”

Peter, James, and John fell upon their faces. The vision had pierced the veil and given them a much larger perspective of the Savior’s ministry. Jesus was not sent to be a popular itinerant preacher in Palestine but to fulfill the intent of the law and the prophecies of past dispensations.

We are not told what Christ, Moses, and Elijah talked about, but no subject could have been of greater consequence than the immediate journey to the cross that Jesus faced. Luke tells us that they “kept it close, and told no man.” (Luke 9:36.) After the resurrection they no doubt shared this revealing experience with the other apostles and believers. We can only imagine how much it strengthened their testimony and confirmed their faith.

Worship in the Sacrament

The worship experience recorded in the New Testament reached its sublime climax in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Here we see worship at its best. It expresses in sacred drama what the Savior has done for us. We should understand what we are doing when we take the sacrament; to take it unworthily is to take damnation to our souls. To take it reverently and humbly is to find peace and joy and strength for our daily lives. No other part of the sacrament meeting, no matter how interesting or dramatic, can overshadow the central place the sacrament has in our worship. Expressed in one act of worship, the sacrament is the crucifixion of the Savior for the sins of the world; it is his glorious resurrection and the promise of our own resurrection; it is God’s supreme overture of love to his children.

Illustrated by Richard Hull