“These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.” (Col. 2:23, NKJV)
The spirit of perversity has found a home in our contemporary church practices. We are currently looking at the myths that have across the centuries become common coin in the church, but which actually have no Biblical foundation. The fourth myth we’re examining is: The myth of liturgy as the prescribed Biblical order in the church service.
Ferdinand Deist, in his A Concise Dictionary of Theological and Related Terms, defines the term ‘liturgy’ in theological terms: “The prescribed form and order of the acts to be performed at a public religious ceremony, eg the rituals for celebrating the Eucharist, and the sequence of Votum, song, prayer, sermon, etc constituting a church service.” (p. 145). The origin of the Greek word leitourgia refers to a public, civil appearance in the ancient city of Athens. This term was then appropriated for Christian use (J.D. Davies: The New Westminster Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship, p. 314).
Every denomination usually has its own set liturgy from which is almost never strayed. For the most part the following liturgical order is followed: A greeting from the pulpit (or votum); opening prayer; announcements of events (can also take place at the end); prepared song, led by a (semi)professional person; the offering (can also occur after the service, or both before and after the service); the preaching of the message; a prayer/prayers to conclude the message; some or other activity: baptism, communion, choir performance, an altar call or opportunity to be prayed for by the clergy (for instance for the sick, or newly converted); a song to conclude the event (often takes place in the background while the last activity and prayer are taking place); a prayer that speaks a blessing over the congregation. Week after week the same order is followed, and if anyone departs from it, it is frowned upon.
Let’s make it clear – in the entire Bible there is no indication of a liturgy in the gathering of believers; liturgy is a purely human tradition. The historical sources on the New Testament church, like Robert Banks’ Paul’s Idea of Community, Banks & Banks’ The Church Comes Home, Eduard Schweizer’s Church Order in the New Testament; and Wolfgang Simson’s Houses that changed the World, for instance, all agree that traditional liturgy has no Biblical basis.
The Protestant liturgy (and flowing from that the somewhat-adapted Pentecost and Charismatic liturgy) originated from the ornate Roman-Catholic liturgical tradition, specifically the communion celebrations from the Middle Ages (Paul F Bradshaw: The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship). In his extensive research on the matter Josef A Jungmann wrote two books The Early Liturgy and The Mass of the Roman Rite (vol.1), in which he notes that the Roman liturgy clearly has its roots in heathen practices. In Pagan Christianity, Viola and Barna refer to the Roman Catholic communion celebration, from which the liturgy we are familiar with today, originated as “a blending of pagan and Judaistic ritual sprinkled with Catholic theology and Christian vocabulary” (p. 51). Will Durant, in his controversial book Caesar and Christ, clearly points out how the origins of Christian liturgy is to be found in the dark underground of “pagan magical thinking” mixed with secular rituals of Greek drama principles! “The Greek mind, dying, came to a transmigrated life in the theology and liturgy of the church; the Greek language, having reigned for centuries over philosophy, became the vehicle of Christian literature and ritual; the Greek mysteries passed down into the impressive mystery of the Mass.” (p. 595).
Martin Luther’s establishing of Protestantism moved the focus from the Eucharist, or extensive communion celebrations as the core of the church service, to the preaching of the Word as central activity (James F White: Protestant Worship: Traditions in Transit, pp. 41-42). It was however the great Reformer, John Calvin, who completely shifted all attention to the preacher on his pulpit-cum-altar. The preacher became the complete focus of the congregation. John Mark Terry, in his book Evangelism: A Concise History, points out that the focus of the message preached also changed, from being directed to the communal nature of the whole congregation, to being more directed at the individual and his ministry. This led to the strong individualising of messages, at the cost of corporate functioning as a Body, in accordance with the balance that Paul suggests in Rom. 12:5 – “so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” and in 1 Cor. 12:27: “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually”.
Calvin, following the early church fathers (see Hugh Oliphant Old’s The Patristic Roots of Reformed Worship, pp. 141-155) also felt strongly that the congregation should come before the Eternal and Almighty God in silence, fear and piety (Horton Davies: Christian Worship: Its History and Meaning, p. 56), and to bring this about the Reformer Martin Bucer established the tradition to begin the service with the Ten Commandments (White, p. 74). The deadly silence that descends over the church when the Law (or a summary thereof) is read, is clearly a liturgical element that is in no way Biblical:
- “Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!” (Ps 66:1; 81:1; 95:1-2; 98:4 & 6; 100:1, and many others).
- “But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.” (2 Cor 3:15).
- “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” (Gal 5:4).
Over the course of church history various contributions from various avenues added to the branding that different denominations have adopted for themselves. The eighteenth century English Methodists, for instance, brought an emotional dimension to the church, a clear precursor of the Pentecostal movement. From America the Reformation movement gained great momentum. There the focus was largely on salvation, and salvation alone, which we especially see in the case of the father of American revival services, George Whitefield (Ynge Brilioth: A Brief History of Preaching, p. 165). The focus during this time was largely on new converts and the gospel of salvation. These experiences were set to music and with time eventually became the rudimentary first attempts at gospel music, aided by the strong influence of Charles Wesley (see R Alan Street’s book with the absolutely descriptive title – The Effective Invitation, p. 190). This origin still largely feeds today’s televangelists and gospel concerts – the focus lies on salvation and healing.
The call to conversion and praying for the sick to be healed, which strongly functions in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement, only started happening around the eighteenth century (Stuart Murray: Revival and Revivalism, pp. 185-190), in especially Charles Finney’s work (pp. 226-277). From this flowed a certain sense of religious pragmatism (“if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”), and quickly led to formulas and winning practices. Needless to say, this often brought about a loss of the Holy Spirit, as the spiritual tricks and guaranteed (soul) reactions were responsible for the synergy of the spiritual gathering, not God. In his book Protestant Worship and Church Architecture, John F White points out how this approach led to a fine consumer science, and uncritically became part of many denominations (p. 7). [An excellent source on the non-spiritual pragmatism in contemporary churches that clearly quenched the Spirit of God (1 Thess. 5:19) is Ronald Rolheiser’s book The Shattered Lantern: Rediscovering God’s Presence in Everyday Life.] It also led to the deterioration of the ekklesia, that they could not “come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”, as Eph 4:13 suggests. The manifestation and building up of the corporate Christ deteriorated.
DL Moody, the mighty evangelist and preacher, provided synergy to these church practices. His focus on individual conversion, the advertising of ministries, the gospel song, the sinner’s prayer, the instructions for following up on new converts, standing up in the pew (“right where you are – everyone’s eyes are closed”) all originated from Moody’s style, and found its way into many church communities (Streett: Effective Invitation). Tied to John Nelson Darby’s new teaching about the end-times, and especially the rapture, a certain frenzy enveloped for as many people as possible to get converted as soon as possible. The urgency of the message was not tested, and was driven by a futuristic perspective of curbing the amount of people that will land up in the hands of the Antichrist. Read Dave MacPherson’s excellent The Incredible Cover-Up to understand this myth’s demonic marketing and influence.
There are various other aspects of the liturgy, for instance: when people should sit or stand during the service (and in the case of Charismatics even when they should lie down, in the case of so-called “soaking meetings”), or kneel (the Old Apostles); why they pray with their eyes closed (the prescription is found nowhere in the Bible; it is rather stated that men should lift up their hands when praying – 1 Tim. 2:8); the order of the praise and worship in Charismatic churches: three quick rhythmic numbers, then three pondering numbers, then two worship songs, often with endless repetition, resulting in a freestyle worship towards the end where believers can sing in tongues. Almost all these liturgical traditions are aimed at creating a spiritual atmosphere. This only points to the soothing of the soul dimension, to the satisfaction of the flesh.
The most important problem with these liturgical traditions is that they are often driven and controlled by the clergy, and that churchgoers passively submit to what is asked of them, a certain conditioning of spiritual behaviour. The New Testament ideal, of placing the Body under the Headship of Jesus, gets rid of this liturgy completely: “How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” (1 Cor. 14:26).
The gatherings of the Acts church were characterised by the fact that all members spontaneously functioned under the guidance of the Spirit – “If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (2 Cor. 3:17). The gatherings were free, with open ministry throughout. It was fluid, not a static playing-out of rituals, often unpredictable, yet in “good order” (Col. 2:5).
To conclude: the two general principles that should throughout be found in church activities, are absolute extremes that are to be kept in balance. Firstly – the mark of the born-again person – who forms the community of the Body – is John 3:8: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.” But secondly: “Let all things be done decently and in order.” (1 Cor. 14:40, ASV). This clearly stands in opposition to The myth of liturgy as prescribed Biblical order in the church service. Selah.
- Selah: Do you function in a church with a set liturgy?
- Read: 1 Sam. 4-14
- Memorise: 1 Sam. 10:6
- For a more in-depth understanding: Read any of the books mentioned above.
