Models of worship

Churches have been warring over worship styles forever.  The first murder in the Bible was over worship.  When we want to figure out what biblical worship is, we typically go to the Old Testament because there is not a lot written about service style in the New Testament.  I'm not sure why we do this.  Don't get me wrong, there is great music and poetry recorded there by people like David, Asaph and others. Moses could write a nice song too. But we are talking about worship practice here and I'm not sure why we think that those Worship Leaders had any better idea how to do this than modern day Worship Pastors who are submitted to Christ in their ministries.  The fact is, that you can support whatever kind of worship you happen to enjoy by quoting scripture.  

Some examples:

Reverent Worship:

“King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed their heads and worshiped.” 2 Chronicles 29:30

Raised Hands (Followed by Face down):

“Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen! Amen!’ Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.” Nehemiah 8:6

With instrumental accompaniment (Including guitar-like instruments and loud percussion):

“David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing  joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals.”
1 Chronicles 15:16 

Here's the horn section:

“Heman and Jeduthun were responsible for the sounding of the trumpets and cymbals and for the playing of the other instruments for sacred song."    1 Chronicles 16:42

Sometimes they liked their worship loud:

“Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the LORD with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose” 1 Chronicles 23:5

Sometimes REALLY loud:

"The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: ‘He is good; his love endures forever.’ Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud…” 2 Chronicles 5:13 

The point here is you can justify a style of worship if you want to but God tells us through the prophets that worship is a matter of the heart and is about pleasing God. Not as an act of worship but a lifestyle of worship.

“The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.’”   Psalm 100:2 

I would hate to be caught up in a "rules taught by men" debate over worship.  It seems to me that the folks in the OT were making it up as they went along from the outpouring of their hearts and when they got caught in a worship rut ("but we've always done it that way") believing that there is only one right way to do it, God responds with Psalm 100. 

If we want to know how to find intimacy with God, why don't we look before the fall instead of after the fall? 

Tomorrow: Worship before the fall...