by Wyatt Pruitt
INTRODUCTION
A lot of Evangelicals today think that rote, pre-written prayer is unbiblical and is counter intuitive to the movement of the Spirit in the Christian life. This is sad because it is the farthest from the truth. Both the Old and New Testament require Christians to gather together to recite common prayers together. In the Old Testament, God prescribed the people of Israel to offer sacrifices to the Lord, to pray with common prayers (the psalms) and to gather together on certain days of the year. This did not negate the individual Israelites personal faith. In fact, God says that all of these liturgical acts are worthless if not done in the Spirit. We must worship in Spirit and Truth.
Old Covenant to New Covenant
In the Old Testament, God instructs Israel to offer him sacrifice. There are many kinds of Sacrifices but the three kinds we will focus on here are the Atonement, Praise & Thanksgiving, and Memorial. In the Old Testament, the Israelites were instructed to offer Atonement Sacrifices for their sins (Lev 16), Praise & Thanksgiving Sacrifices (Psalm 116:17), and the Memorial Offering (Leviticus 2). Malachi prophesies that in the New Covenant, Christians will offer a sacrifice (Malachi 1:11). The question to answer is what kind of sacrifice do we offer? Christ fulfilled the Atonement Sacrifice. We no longer need to offer a sacrifice for the covering of sins. There are two sacrifices left in the New Covenant: The Memorial and the Thanksgiving. Jesus Christ commands us to make a memorial sacrifice in the Lord’s supper. The bread and wine is offered to God as a memorial of Christ’s life and thanksgiving for what he has done. This liturgy was given to the Apostles and summarized in the Gospels. The earliest Christians still met in the Temple and said pre-written prayers (Acts 2:42). Paul commands us to keep the Tradition of these liturgies that was passed down from the Twelve Apostles, “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.”
History of the Liturgy
There are 13 different liturgical rites that were passed down from each Apostle (including Paul). The Liturgy of ROR is from the lines of Peter and Paul. This means that the essence of the liturgy we are saying is from Peter and Paul, and the communities that they established in Rome, Antioch, England, Spain and many more Western Countries. During the Reformation, non-biblical practices crept into the liturgies. Examples of these additions include making the Lord’s Supper an Atonement sacrifice, taking the Wine away from the people, getting rid of the Sermon, having the liturgy only in Latin, etc. So the Reformers took these additions out and reformed the Liturgies by the bible. They didn’t reject what was passed down, they just made sure it was all biblical.
Liturgy Parts
Traditionally the Liturgy is broken into two parts, “The Liturgy of the Word” which comes from the Synagogue, and the “Liturgy of the Altar” which comes from the Hebrew Temple. The Roots of Revival Liturgy is the Liturgy of the word, where we make the sacrifice of Praise and thanksgiving, with elements from the Liturgy of the Altar. Traditionally, Christians have gathered together, Morning and Evening, in common prayer, to offer up their day “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1).
Conclusion
So as you go about your day, think about how you can offer up your body as a living sacrifice, and then when you come to the corporate body of believers, offer up your day as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for what Christ has done for you. Worship then is sacrifice, and not just praise. Jesus Christ gave us liturgy in order to do this, and I pray that you see the biblical and historical importance of doing so in our spiritual battle against Satan. The Liturgy is not against emotions and the Spirit, but is a gift given to us, to help guide our emotions into conforming with the Spirit and the Truth. This way we are not, “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph. 4:14).
Leave a comment