“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).

According to Jesus, God will not accept anything we want to offer Him as worship. We must worship God the way He wants to be worshiped. This is true both of individual worship and collective worship offered by the local church.

Worship must be in spirit. We must have our hearts and minds engaged in our worship. God is not pleased with us just going through the motions. “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matt. 15:8). To be acceptable, this worship must be offered with reverence and godly fear (Heb. 12:28).

Worship must also be in truth. We must worship God the way He has set forth in His word. “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). God’s word reveals the acts of worship in which we are to engage.

The Lord’s Supper. The church observes this memorial of the Lord’s suffering and death (1 Cor. 11:23-26). In this simple memorial established by the Lord the unleavened bread is eaten in remembrance of the suffering He experienced in His body and the fruit of the vine is drunk in remembrance of His shed blood. This is to be done when the church assembles together (1 Cor. 11:33) on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7).

Collection. The local church needs funds to carry out its work. These funds are to be raised by the freewill offerings made by the members on the first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:1-2). This act of worship corresponds to the giving of sacrifices in the Old Testament. While tithing was commanded under the Law of Moses, Christians are not given a specific amount. Members of the Lord’s church are to give as they purpose in their hearts (2 Cor. 9:7). The offering in the plate is a reflection of the gratitude each member has for God and His blessings.

Singing. The church is to engage in the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (1 Cor. 14:15; Eph. 5:19). This is not done by talented members or a choir to entertain the members. The songs are offered to God by everyone present. The singing of these songs accomplishes two important things. They are offered to God as praise – “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Heb. 13:15), and they sung to one another as teaching – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:16).

While instruments were used in the worship of the Old Testament (2 Chron. 29:25-28), there is no mention of musical instruments being used in the worship of the Lord’s church in the New Testament. Instead, we read only of these Christians singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord (Eph. 5:19).

Prayers. The early church was a praying church. “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). Holy men are to lead the church in prayer (1 Tim. 2:1, 8). Everyone is to follow along with this prayer and make it their own (1 Cor. 14:14-16).

Preaching and Teaching. The public proclamation of God’s word is constantly seen as a collective function of the local church in the New Testament. The Scriptures must be taught in the assemblies of the Lord’s church (1 Cor. 14:26; Acts 11:26; 20:7). This instruction is essential “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12).

The New Testament includes specific instructions regarding the worship to be offered by the Lord’s church. The apostles delivered these instructions to every local church (1 Cor. 4:17). If a church worships in spirit and in truth, it will be involved in these five acts of worship.

We will have more to say about the worship of the church in a future bulletin.