Worship


Preface: This offering is in no particular order. I hope you are challenged, refreshed, and enlightened by it. God bless you as you discuss this most important subject.

Worship is defined by Luther.

True, by any consideration of body or soul you should never say: I am Lutheran, or Papist. For neither of them died for you, or is your master. Christ alone died for you; he alone is your master, and you should confess yourself a Christian. But if you are convinced that Luther's teaching is in accord with the gospel and that the pope's is not, then you should not discard Luther so completely, lest with him you discard also his teaching, which you nevertheless recognize as Christ's teaching. You should rather say: Whether Luther is a rascal or a saint I do not care; his teaching is not his, but Christ's. (36/265)

Worship cannot be based on expectations.

Experience, all chronicles, and the Holy Scriptures as well, teach us this truth: the less law, the more justice; the fewer commandments, the more good works. No well-regulated community ever existed long, if at all, where there were many laws. Therefore, before the ancient law of Moses, the patriarchs of old had no prescribed law and order for the service of God other than the sacrifices, as we read of Adam, Abel, Noah, and others. Although the law leads and drives away from evil to good works, it is impossible for man to do them willingly and gladly, for he has always an aversion to the law and would rather be free. Now where there is unwillingness, there can never be a good work. For what is not done willingly is not good, but only seems to be good. Consequently all the laws cannot make one really righteous without the grace of God. Instead they inevitably produce Pharisees, hypocrites, pretenders, and haughty saints, such as have their reward here and never please God. Thus God says to the Jews in Malachi 1:10, "I have no pleasure in you; for who is there among you that would even as much as shut a door for me, willingly and out of love?" (35/79)

There is no worship when there is division.

Another result of many laws is that many sects and divisions in the congregations arise from them. One adopts this way, another that, and there grows up in each man a false, secret love for his own sect, and a hatred, or at least a contempt for and a disregard of the other sects. Thus brotherly, free, and mutual love perishes and selfish love prevails. So Jeremiah (2:28) and Hosea (8:11), indeed, all the prophets, lament that the people of Israel divided themselves into as many sects as there were cities in the land, each desiring to outdo the others. Out of this spirit there arose also the Sadducees and Pharisees in the Gospel. (35/80)

The Lord's Supper is our "law" of worship.

Christ, in order to prepare for himself an acceptable and beloved people, which should be bound together in unity through love, abolished the whole law of Moses. And that he might not give further occasion for divisions and sects, he appointed in return but one law or order for this entire people, and that was the holy mass. (For although baptism is also an external ordinance, yet it takes place but once, and is not a practice of the entire life, like the mass.) Henceforth, therefore, there is to be no other external order for the service of God except the mass. And where the mass is used, there is true worship; even though there be no other form, with singing, organ playing, bell ringing, vestments, ornaments, and gestures. For everything of this sort is an addition invented by men. When Christ himself first instituted this sacrament and held the first mass, there was no tonsure, no chasuble, no singing, no pageantry, but only thanksgiving to God and use of the sacrament. According to this same simplicity the apostles and all Christians for a long time held mass, until there arose the various forms and additions, by which the Romans held mass one way, the Greeks another. And now it has finally come to this: the chief thing in the mass has been forgotten, and nothing is remembered except the additions of men! Now the nearer our masses are to the first mass of Christ, the better they undoubtedly are; and the further from Christ's mass, the more dangerous. Indeed, the greatest and most useful art is to know what really and essentially belongs to the mass, and what is added and foreign to it. For where there is no clear distinction, the eyes and the heart are easily misled by such sham into a false impression and delusion. Then what men have contrived is considered the mass; and what the mass really is, is never experienced, to say nothing of deriving benefit from it. Thus alas! It is happening in our times. For I fear every day more than a thousand masses are said, of which perhaps not one is a real mass. O dear Christians, to have many masses is not to have the mass. There is more to it than that. (35/81)

Our senses are enemies of true worship.

If we desire to observe mass properly and to understand it, then we must surrender everything that the eyes behold and that the senses suggest—be it vestments, bells, songs, ornaments, prayers, processions, elevations, prostration's, or whatever happens in the mass—until we first grasp and thoroughly ponder the words of Christ, by which he performed and instituted the mass and commanded us to perform it. For therein lies the whole mass, its nature, work, profit, and benefit. Without the words nothing is derived from the mass. Now the words are these: Take and eat, this is my body, which is given for you. Take and drink of it, all of you, this is the cup of the new and eternal testament in my blood, which is poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. (35/82)

Worship proceeds from the Almighty.

If man is to deal with God and receive anything from him, it must happen in this manner, not that man begins and lays the first stone, but that God alone—without any entreaty or desire of man—must first come and give him a promise. This word of God is the beginning, the foundation, the rock, upon which afterward all works, words, and thoughts of man must build. This word man must gratefully accept. He must faithfully believe the divine promise and by no means doubt that it is and comes to pass just as God promises. This trust and faith is the beginning, middle, and end of all works and righteousness. For because man does God the honor of regarding and confessing him as true, he becomes to man a gracious God, who in turn honors man and regards and confesses him as true. Thus it is not possible that a man, of his own reason and strength, should by works ascend to heaven, anticipating God and moving him to be gracious. On the contrary, God must anticipate all of man's works and thoughts, and make a promise clearly expressed in words, which man then takes and keeps in a good, firm faith. Then there follows the Holy Spirit, who is given to man for the sake of this same faith. (35/82-3)

Worship lies behind and under the bread and wine.

In the New Testament Christ has affixed to the words a powerful and most precious seal and sign: his own true flesh and blood under the bread and wine. For we poor men, living as we do in our five senses, must always have along with the words at least one outward sign to which we may cling and around which we may gather—in such a way, however, that this sign may be a sacrament, that is, that it may be external and yet contain and signify something spiritual; in order that through the external we may be drawn into the spiritually, comprehending the external with the eyes of the body and the spiritual or inward with the eyes of the heart. (35/86)

Love is an outgrowth of worship—not its precipitator.

Now we see how many parts there are in this testament, or mass. There is, first, the testator who makes the testament, Christ. Second, the heirs to whom the testament is bequeathed, we Christians. Third, the testament itself, the words of Christ—when he says, "This is my body which is given for you. This is my blood which is poured out for you, a new eternal testament." Fourth, the seal or token is the sacrament, the bread and wine, under which are his true body and blood. For everything that is in this sacrament must be living. Therefore Christ did not put it in dead writing and seals, but in living words and signs which we use from day to day. Fifth, there is the bequeathed blessing which the words signify, namely, remission of sins and eternal life. Sixth, the duty, remembrance, or requiem, which we are to do for Christ; that is, that we should preach his love and grace, hear and meditate upon it, and by it be incited and preserved unto love and hope in him. As St. Paul explains it in I Corinthians 11:26, "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the death of Christ." And this is what an earthly testator does, who bequeaths something to his heirs, that he may leave behind him a good name, the good will of men, and a blessed memory, that he should not be forgotten.

Communion is our ship come in.

From all this it is easily seen what the mass is, how one should prepare himself for it, how observe and how use it, and how many are the abuses of it. For just as one would act if a million dollars were bequeathed to him by a good friend, so, and in even greater measure, we ought to conduct ourselves toward the mass. It is nothing else than an exceedingly rich and everlasting and good testament bequeathed to us by Christ himself, bequeathed in such a way that Christ would have no other reason to die except that he desired to make such a testament. So fervently desirous was he to pour out his eternal treasures, as he says, "With great desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I die" (Luke 22:15). This is also why it happens that in spite of so many masses we remain so blind and cold. For we do not know what the mass is, what we do in it, or what we get from it. (35/86-87)

Worship is for the working hungry.

The first and by far the best preparation for the mass is truly a hungry soul and a firm and joyful faith of the heart which accepts such a testament. Everything depends upon the words of this sacrament. These words of Christ. Truly we should set them in pure gold and precious stones, keeping nothing more diligently before the eyes of our heart, so that faith may thereby be exercised. Let someone else pray, fast, go to confession, prepare himself for mass and the sacrament as he chooses. You do the same, but remember that this is all pure foolishness and self-deception, if you do not set before you the words of the testament and arouse yourself to believe and desire them. You would have to spend a long time polishing your shoes, preening and primping to attain an inheritance, if you had no letter and seal with which you could prove your right to it. But if you have a letter and seal, and believe, desire, and seek it, it must be given to you, even though you were scaly, scabby, stinking, and most filthy. (35/88)

Worship WILL make you a better person.

If you would receive this sacrament and testament worthily, see to it that you give emphasis to these living words of Christ, rely on them with a strong faith, and desire what Christ has promised you in them; then it will be yours, then you will be worthy and well prepared. This faith and confidence must and will make you joyful and awaken a bold love for Christ, by means of which you will gladly begin to lead a really good life and with all your heart to flee from sin. (35/89)

It is our nature to transplant worship with our works.

Where faith and the word or promise of God decline or are neglected, that in their place there arise works and a false, presumptuous trust in them. For where there is no promise of God there is no faith. Where there is no faith, there everyone presumptuously undertakes to better himself and make himself well pleasing to God by means of works. Where this happens, false security and presumption arise, as though man were pleasing to God because of his own works. Where it does not happen, the conscience has no rest and knows not what to do in order to become well pleasing to God. So too, I fear that many have made the mass into a good work, whereby they have thought to do a great service to Almighty God. (35/92)

Christ is the sliver platter of worship on which we are placed as a sacrifice to God.

Our sacrifice of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, and of ourselves as well, we are not to present before God in our own person. But we are to lay it upon Christ and let him present it for us, as St. Paul teaches in Hebrews 13:15, "Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess him and praise him"; and all this "through Christ." From these words (Hebrews 8:34) we learn that we do not offer Christ as a sacrifice, but that Christ offers us. And in this way it is permissible, yes, profitable, to call the mass a sacrifice; not on its own account, but because we offer ourselves as a sacrifice along with Christ. That is, we lay ourselves on Christ by a firm faith in his testament and do not otherwise appear before God with our prayer, praise, and sacrifice except through Christ and his mediation. (35/99)

Worship is our victory over the world.

The chief reason for holding mass outwardly is the word of God, which no one can do without. It must be used and inculcated daily, not only because Christians are born, baptized, and trained every day, but because we live in the midst of the world, the flesh, and the devil, who do not cease to assail us and drive us into sin. The mass was instituted to preach and praise Christ, to glorify his sufferings and all his grace and goodness, so that we may be moved to love him, to hope and believe in him, and thus, in addition, to this word or sermon, to receive an outward sign, that is, the sacrament; to the end that our faith, provided with and confirmed by divine words and signs, may thereby become strong against all sin, suffering, death, and hell, and everything that is against us. And had there been no preaching, Christ would never have instituted the mass. He is more concerned about the word than about the sign. For the preaching ought to be nothing but an explanation of the words of Christ, when he instituted the mass and said, "This is my body, this is my blood." What is the whole gospel but an explanation of this testament? Christ has gathered up the whole gospel in a short summary with the words of this testament or sacrament. For the gospel is nothing but a proclamation of God's grace and of the forgiveness of all sins, granted us through the sufferings of Christ. (35/105-6)

The eye of a true worshipper sees only God's promise.

So you see with how very few laws and works Christ has weighted down his holy church and with how many promises he has lifted it up to faith. (35/111)

Most worship is will-worship.

It does not help our clergy at all to allege that in their churches and chapters they serve no idol, but only God, the true Lord. For here (Hosea 2:16-17) you learn that it is not enough to say or think, "I am doing it to God's glory; I have in mind the true God; I mean to be worshipping and serving the only God." All idolaters say and intend the very same thing. The thinking and intending is not what counts, otherwise those who martyred the apostles and the Christians would also have been God's servants. For they too thought that they were offering a service to God, as Christ says in John 16:2; and St. Paul in Romans 10:2 bears witness to the Jews that they have a zeal for God, and adds in Acts 26:7 that with their worship night and day they hope to attain to the promised salvation. On the contrary let everyone see to it that he is certain his worship and service of God has been instituted by God's word, and not invented by his own pious notions or good intentions. Whoever engages in a form of worship to which God has not borne witness ought to know that he is serving not the true God but an idol that he has concocted for himself. That is to say, he is serving his own notions and false ideas, and thereby the devil himself. (35/273)

Worship is preceded by rebuke.

Our most important matter—the rebuking of the people and the preaching of Christ—ought always to run concurrently, even though as occasion arises we may at times undertake to preach on other subjects, such as the Turk, the emperor, etc. (35/277)

False worship elicits the wrath of God.

We learn from Jeremiah among others that, as usual, the nearer the punishment, the worse the people become; and that the more one preaches to them, the more they despise his preaching. Thus we understand that when it is God's will to inflict punishment, he makes the people to become hardened so they may be destroyed without any mercy and not appease God's wrath with any repentance. (35/281)

Haggai denounces the people because they had given no thought to setting up the temple and the worship of God, but had feverishly grubbed and scraped only for their own property and houses. For this reason they were afflicted with famine and with loss of produce, wine, grain, and all sorts of crops. This was an example to all the godless, who pay no heed to God's word and worship and are always filling their own bags. It is to them alone that his text applies, when he says, "Their bag shall be full of holes." (1:6)

There is no worship where there are not others who submit themselves to the truth of Scripture as explained by Luther; who confess their total inability to offer anything to God other than praise; and who are not truly humbled to the point of tearful agony over their sin and sins.

One should not celebrate mass where there are no real and genuine Christians. (36/291)

Worship is "wherever."

The second kind of worship is true and spiritual. It is free in all external matters, so that it does not require the worshipper to use special places or to employ special gestures. For every man can engage in this kind of worship wherever he may be or go or stay, even in the field, or sick in bed, or captive in prison; and not only in the churches or chapels, before the altar, or on his knees. But I suppose there are in reality many people who do not know what is meant by the word "worship" and do not see any difference between praying and worshipping. Let us therefor first clarify this distinction; then it will be easier to instruct concerning true worship.

Worship is not a matter of the mouth, like praying, petitioning, and pleading. For to pray is really to repeat the words of a prayer such as the Psalms or the Lord's prayer. But to petition is to accompany such a spoken prayer with one's own special need and indicate it by name, just as the Lord's Prayer contains seven such petitions, and so forth. To plead is to go beyond the petition in one's prayer and to admonish God through something that He prizes very highly, such as his mercy, name, honor, truth, or through Christ, and so forth. In addition there is also intercession for others, and praise and thanksgiving. All of this is a work of the mouth.

Worship gives birth to humiliation, shame, and wretchedness—all the things this generation disdains.

Worship is nothing of the sort. It is not a function of the mouth but of the whole body. It is to bow the head, bend the body, fall on the knees, prostrate one's self, and so forth, and to do such things as a sign and acknowledgment of an authority and power; just as people bow in silence before secular princes and lords. Such outward adoration is what the Scriptures really mean by worship…From this understanding of outward worship you will also understand what Christ meant by true spiritual worship. It is the adoration or bowing of the heart, so that from the bottom of your heart you thereby show and confess yourself to be his subordinate creature. For from this you see that true worship can be nothing else than faith; it is faith's sublimest activity with respect to God. For no one is capable of such heartfelt confession, adoration, bending, and bowing before God in his heart, unless he unwaveringly holds God to be his Lord and Father, from whom he receives and will receive all good things, and through whom, without any merit on his part, he is redeemed and preserved from all sins and evil.

Worship has little to do with the mouth.

In a word, where there is none of this heartfelt trust and confidence that comes from a true and living faith, concerning which I have spoken so often, there can be no true worship, because there God is not recognized with the heartfelt confidence of faith. Therefore it is also impossible for him to be confessed, honored, and adored. For although people may with their mouths call him God and Father and outwardly adore him, nevertheless the heart is faithless and the result is lies and hypocrisy. But where worship is offered from the heart, there follows quite properly also that outward bowing, bending, kneeling, and adoration with the body. For this reason it is not possible to maintain a distinction in the New Testament between the worship of God and that of a man. For people bow, bend, and kneel before both alike; only with respect to God they lift their eyes and faces to heaven. But inwardly in the heart the difference is greater than that between heaven and earth; for the heart holds God to be God, but the prince it holds to be man. (36/292-93)

Belief is more important than faith and worship.

He who does not believe that Christ's body and blood are present does well not to worship either with his spirit or with his body…Moreover, we must honor and adore one another, as Paul teaches in Rom. 12:10, for the sake of Christ, who dwells in us spiritually through our faith. (36/294)

There is no worship without people who focus solely on God's work.

Human nature tends so easily to emphasize its own works and to neglect God's work, and the sacrament will not admit of that. For this sacrament and for every work of God there must be Christians. Where there are no Christians, it will be done wrong, whether they adore it not. (36/297)

Worship only thrives in the midst of death.

Every Christian must know these words, letter for letter: "Here my Lord has given me his body and blood in the bread and wine, in order that I should eat and drink. And they are to be my very own, so that I may be certain that my sins are forgiven, that I am to be free of death and hell, have eternal life, and be a child of God and an heir of heaven. Therefore I go to the sacrament to seek these things. I am a poor sinner with death before me, I must go through it; and the devil threatens me with all kinds of trouble and danger. Because I am in sin, a captive of death and the devil, because I feel that I am weak in faith, cold in love, wayward, impatient, envious, with sin clinging to me before and behind; therefore I come hither where I find and hear Christ's word that I shall receive the gift of forgiveness of sins." (36/350)

Free will is anathema to worship.

This is the conclusion of the commandments: Because man is conceived and born in sin and is a child of wrath he can do nothing but sin and daily fall deeper and deeper into the wrath of God, until he finally hears and believes that Christ is his Savior and has died for him to redeem him from his sins. Through this hearing, the Spirit of God comes into his heart and he is permeated with God's grace and love, so that he loves God, praises and hallows his name, rests and keeps still and lets God accomplish His own work in him. Thus, no one can fulfil these three commandments without Christ. And yet they consider Christ unnecessary and superfluous, because they say that natural reason, without Christ's help, is able to avoid sin. They raise up and erect in Christ's stead the free will of man, and in God's stead an idol of their own hearts, a destructive heresy. Thus they deny Christ and the whole New Testament and do away with the first three commandments. (36/216)

Devotion for the Word cuts worship short.

Now when I say that you should fix the Word of God in your heart I do not mean merely that you should know it and meditate on it. That is nothing. I mean rather that you should regard and esteem it as it ought to be regarded and esteemed. That is, you should hold it to be a living, eternal, all-powerful Word that can make you alive, free from sin and death, and keep you so eternally; that brings with it everything of which it speaks, namely, Christ with his flesh and blood and everything that he is and has. For it is the kind of Word that can and does do all these things, and therefore it should be so regarded. That is its own proper honor. It is not satisfied with any other kind of honor. In short, the proper honor for the Word is nothing else than a genuine faith from the bottom of one's heart, a faith that holds the Word to be true, that trusts it and stakes its life upon it for eternity. (36/278)

Worship is for welfare Christians.

Whoever refuses to confess this or will not admit that he is a sinner, but still claims to have a free will so that there may be some good in him, blasphemes God and gives him the lie, and must be eternally damned, as is proper. For he wants to be in the right and not suffer God's judgment. Therefore the prophet says again (Ps. 51:4): Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment." As if he would say again to God: I will not wrangle with you, but will let your Word be right and will confess that I am wrong and that you are right. But those who accuse you want to have the light of reason and something through which they will receive grace; surely you will remain blameless rather than they. Now we must continue to make this confession as long as we live, always saying: "Lord, before thee I am a knave in the skin."

True worshippers receive rebuke humbly and with open arms.

But many say they are sinners, but when other people say it of them they will not hear of it. But if one says this to the godly, or if God punishes them for their sins, they say: "Yes, it is right." Those hypocrites can indeed humble themselves, but they cease doing so whenever they wish. They do not want to be accused, but honored by other people. It is the same with the priests and monks. They too say that they are sinners, but they will not hear it said by us. This is why God does not care about such confession. Genuine confession, now, is commanded and necessary and obligatory upon everybody. But no one makes it except the Christians… We also must confess to one another: "I am in debt to others, but there are those who are in debt to me; I shall remit to them, one and all, whatever they owe me, and then O Lord, I pray thee, forgive me also." Each one has a claim on every other one, and no one satisfies that claim; therefore each must pray the other to forgive him. Now no one but a Christian makes this confession. For unchristian people do not permit this to be reckoned as sin. They cite the canon law which says: "To each man belongs his own"; and they believe that the goods which they possess they have for their own sakes. Therefore they use all sorts of goods only for their own honor and pleasure, as Solomon says in Proverbs: "The gain of the wicked leads to sin" (Prov. 10:16), "but the righteous is generous ," (Prov. 37:21) (36/355-56)

Worship means we were wrong.

O how it hurts, to break the Adam and ask forgiveness of his neighbor for being wrong. O how it shames us to humble ourselves toward a poor human being whom one despises, and to admit that he is right and grant to him the highest honor and to one's self the greatest shame. A godless person will not humiliate himself so deeply as to shame himself. He does not see that to humble himself would be a great honor to him before God and before devout people. (36/358)

Worship is a thin cord hanging over hellfire.

Now anyone who thinks he has the proper hunger for the Supper should see to it that he does not deceive himself. He should make sure that it is no mere desire of the human flesh that prompts him. He should examine his faith and determine whether it is genuine, as St. Paul admonishes in I Cor. 11:28: "Let a man examine himself." This examination, however, covers your whole life. You must find with yourself a smiting conscience which is weighed down with a sense of sin and longs for the grace of God, a conscience that stands in dread of death or hell and longs for strength, a conscience that seeks and takes the sacrament, firmly relying on Christ's word, in order to receive such grace and strength and help. For as I have said, this sacrament requires a hungry, thirsty, oppressed, and anxious soul, that comes of its own accord, conscious of its own need and thirst, with utter confidence, and without regard to the pope's laws or lawlessness. That is the proof of faith; it is an inward matter.

Worship demands a rigorous examination of the worshipper.

Direct the examination also to your outward life and ask yourself whether you are showing love to your neighbor and are serving him. If you do not find these evidences of faith within yourself, if you are living the same as before, still packed full of unfaithfulness, hatred, envy, wrath, and unbelief, the, dear friend, by all means stay away from the sacrament until you have become a different person. Don't let yourself be driven to it by crowd or custom. (36/264)

If everyone loved the worship service, there was no worship.

It is a sign of true faith and doctrine on our part that Satan, through his lackeys, attacks us so bitterly and in so many different ways. If our doctrine were of the world then the world would praise it, as the world has praised the doctrines of the pope. Since it is not of the world, however, but has been given us by God, the world hates us (John 15:19; 17:14). (36/237)

Worship is the work of the Second Commandment.

Next to the work of the first commandment, faith, the second work is the work of the second commandment, that we shall honor God's name and not take it in vain. This, like all the other works, cannot be done without faith. However, if it is done without faith, it is simply sham and show. After faith we can do no greater work than to praise, preach, sing, and in every way laud and magnify God's glory, honor, and name. And though I have said above, and it is true, that where faith is and does the work there is no difference between one work and another, it must be understood as true only in regard to works in contradistinction to faith and its works. There is a difference between works when they are compared with one another, and one work is greater than another. It is just as in the body one member needs to be healthy just as much as any other member, yet the works of the members are different, and one is higher, nobler, more useful than the other. So it is in this instance, too…to praise God's glory and name is better than the works of the other commandments which follow. But I know well that this work is lightly regarded, and what is more, has become almost unknown. There is no work in which faith and confidence are so much experienced and felt as in honoring God's name. Further, honoring God's name helps very much to strengthen and increase faith. (44/39)

A man can find God by no work other than faith and trust; a man can lose God by no work other than unbelief and doubt. (44/40)

Worship is a fulltime experience.

But what else are God's blessings and adversities than a constant urging and stirring up to praise, honor, and bless God, and to call upon him and his name? If you had nothing else to do at all would you not have enough to do with this commandment alone, simply to bless, sing, praise, and honor God's name without ceasing? What work is there except that of this second commandment? (44/40)

If you notice it, it probably ain't worship.

The wonderful and righteous judgment of God is based on this, that at times in the privacy of his home a poor man, in whom nobody can see many great works, joyfully praises God when he fares well, or with entire confidence calls upon him when he is in adversity. It is always the case that the higher and better the works are, the less show they make. (44/41)

Worship requires a keen conscience that has been richly instructed in the Word.

Conscience is not the power to do works, but to judge them. The proper work of conscience (as Paul says in Romans 2:15), is to accuse or excuse, to make guilty or guiltless, uncertain or certain. Its purpose is not to do, but to pass judgment on what has been done and what should be done, and this judgment makes us stand accused or saved in God's sight. Christ has freed this conscience from works through the gospel and teaches this conscience not to trust in works, but to rely only on his mercy. And so, the conscience of a man of faith depends solely and entirely on the works of Christ. The conscience may be likened to the dove resting in safety in the clefts of the rock and in the secret places (Song 2:14). Such a soul knows with absolute certainty that it can have neither confidence nor peace except in Christ alone, and that in its own works nothing but guilt, fear, and condemnation can abide. It is in this way that conscience discerns and judges between Christ's works and its own. It embraces the works of Christ and speaks in this way: Through these works shall I be justified, through them be saved, through them set free from all sin and evil. Without these there is no salvation, no peace for by bones (Ps. 38:3), no satisfaction for sins. In fact, such a conscience sees that its own works are evil and condemns them. It is by the works of Christ that conscience is victorious and despises its own works, lest they destroy it.

True worship means only Christ is in the conscience.

The works of Christ are more powerful to save us and to give us peace than are our works to capture and terrify. If only you could believe this! Of course, conscience lays hold of its own good works too, but declares these works are to be done freely and only for the good of one's neighbor, and to give the body something to do, but in no case to acquire righteousness and peace and the satisfaction and remission of sins. For conscience seeks these things only in the works of Christ and finds them in a firm faith, just as it sees that Christ did all his works freely for our good and submitted his life to the will of God. It is this knowledge of freedom and this health of conscience that is assailed by every device of human and ungodly doctrines. It is here that the craftiness of the serpent seeks to corrupt the simplicity which is in Christ. (44/298-99)

Character builders need not apply for worship status.

Most believe that virtue is acquired by works, saying, "By doing good we become good." The Christian conscience curses this statement as bilge water of hell and says, "By believing in a Christ who is good, I, even I, am made good: his goodness is mine also, for it is a gift from him and is not my work." (44/300)

Worship in not in all walks.

Now there are four kinds of men. The first need no law, of whom St. Paul says in I Timothy 1:9, "For the righteous man (that is, the believing man) no law is laid down." Such men do willingly what they know and can, because they alone are distinguished for their firm confidence that God's favor and grace rests upon them in all things. The second class of men wants to abuse this freedom, put false confidence in it, and grow lazy. St. Peter says in I Peter 2:16 of these, "You should live as freemen, but not use this freedom as a cover for sin." St. Paul says the same thing in Galations 5:13, "See to it that you let not this liberty be an occasion for the life of the flesh." Such men must be urged by laws and safeguarded by teaching and warning. The third class of wicked men, who are always ready to sin. They must be restrained like wild horses and dogs by spiritual and temporal laws, and where this does not help, they must be put to death by the temporal sword. The fourth class are those who are still lusty and childish in their understanding of such faith and the spiritual life, and they must be coaxed like young children, enticed with external, definite concomitant adornment, with reading, praying, fasting, singing, churches, decorations, organs, and all those things commanded and observed in monasteries and churches, until such time as they too learn to know the teachings of faith. But still there is great danger here when the rulers busy themselves with these same ceremonies and external works, insist on them as if they were the true works, and neglect faith. They ought always to teach faith along with these works, just as a mother gives her child other food besides milk, until the child can eat solid food by itself. (44/35)

Tribulation produces worship.

It is God's way and method to help when help is needed and to appear exactly at the proper time, as Habakkuk's song sings: "He remembers mercy when tribulation is present." This agrees with the saying: "The rope breaks when it holds you most tightly." We, too, must sustain Christians for the Last Day with the Word of God, Even though it seems that Christ is tarrying very long and will not come, He will come, as He Himself says, when this is least expected, when people engage in building, in planting, in buying, selling, eating, drinking, in marrying and in being given in marriage, etc. If not all, at least a few can thus be preserved in faith. For as we perceive so clearly every day, this calls for faith and for preaching. (19/155)

Excitement, thrill, and laser show-type services are not worship.

To think to worship God with many words and a great noise is to count Him either deaf or ignorant, and to suppose we must waken or instruct Him. Such an opinion of God tends to His shame and dishonor rather than to His worship. But when one ponders well His divine works in the depths of his heart and regards them with wonder and gratitude so that one breaks out from very ardor into sighs and groanings rather than into speech; when the words, not nicely chosen or prescribed, flow forth in such a way that the spirit comes seething with them, and the words live and have hands and feet, in fact, the whole body and life with all its members strives and strains for utterance—that is indeed a worship of God in spirit and truth, and such words are all fire, light, and life. As David says in Psalm 119:140: "Lord, Thy statements are completely fiery"; and again (Ps. 119:171); "My lips will pour forth praise," even as boiling water overflows and seethes, unable to contain itself for the great heat within the pot. (21/326)

Worship says: "Everything that is born and lives on earth is useless, it is rotten and corrupt before God."

When the Word shines into a man's heart so that he can depend on it and lay uncontested claim to the title "God's salt," then let anyone who refuses to laugh be as angry and cruel as he pleases. With His single word I can be more defiant and boastful than they with all their power, swords, and guns. Now this salting process is easy to understand. One must get up and say: "Everything that is born and lives on earth is useless, it is rotten and corrupt before God." He says bluntly and plainly: "They shall be a salt of the earth," that is, a salt to everything that the world is. From this it must follow that everything in the world bearing the name "flesh" or "man" must be denounced and thoroughly salted. Thus we condemn the sanctity, wisdom, and worship which the whole world has thought up for itself, apart from the Word of God and without holding to Christ alone, as the devil's invention, which belongs in the abyss of hell. This is a harsh proclamation. It makes us disagreeable to the world, and it earns for us the enmity of men and a punch in the teeth. The world could tolerate it if we proclaimed Christ and all the articles of faith correctly. But if we want to seize it and salt it by showing that its wisdom and sanctity are worthless, indeed, blind and damned, this it cannot and will not tolerate. It accuses the preachers of doing nothing but criticizing and biting, of causing revolutions and discord, and of maligning the clergy and good works. But what can we do? Salting has to bite. Although they criticize us as biter, we know that this is how it has to be and that Christ has commanded the salt to be sharp and continually caustic, as we shall hear. St. Paul is always rebuking the whole world and criticizing everything it praises and does without faith in Christ. And Christ says (John 16:8): "When the Holy Spirit comes, He will convince the world." That is to say: "He will attack everything He finds in the world, without exception or discrimination. He will throw everything on one pile, one with another—great, small, pious, wise, holy, or whatever—in short, everything that is not Christ." There is no need for the Holy Spirit to come and to send preachers into the world, to uncover and to punish, not the outwardly gross sins like adultery and murder, which the world can know and punish by itself, but the things it regards as the most precious and its highest asset, the claim to piety, holiness, and the service to God.

Worship demands a minister's constant vigilance and hatred for the garment spotted by the flesh.

So it is a mistake when some wiseacres maintain now that it is enough for a preacher to tell everyone what is right and simply to preach the Gospel, but not to touch the pope, the bishops, the princes, and other stations and persons, since this causes unrest and discord. But what He means is this: "If you want to preach the Gospel and help people, you must be sharp and rub salt into their wounds, showing the reverse side and denouncing what is not right, like the Masses, monkery, indulgences, and all their works and ways, so that these scandals are eliminated and no longer deceive people." Therefore we must keep up this salting, be on our guard, and leave no room for such things to come back or to sneak in secretly. This is just what will happen if the ministry of salting is neglected, as it used to be in Christendom, when the rotten doctrine of men was in complete charge and ruined everything; this would not have happened if the salt had remained.

Worship happens when ministers PRESS their people hard for repentance.

That is what Christ is exhorting and warning the disciples so diligently here, to be sure that this salting is never neglected. He says: "If the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored?" "Salt that has lost its taste" means salt that has lost its teeth and its sharpness, salt that no longer seasons or bites. This happens when the ministry is neglected in Christendom. Preachers no longer rebuke the people or show them their misery and incapacity or press for repentance and self-knowledge. They permit them to go along as if they were pious and all right. Thus they let their self-made sanctity and self-chosen worship take root so deeply that the true doctrine of faith is destroyed, Christ is lost, and everything is ruined, utterly and hopelessly.

Ministers have ruined worship.

He saw this and predicted the future danger, the injury and decay of Christendom with the neglect of this ministry of salting or denouncing. Instead of it, a swarm of factions and sects would arise, each one insisting that his favorite toy is the true teaching and worship of God, even though it is altogether worldly and carnal and the product of our own brain and reason. We use it to tickle ourselves, and so we actually decay in it, like wild, stinking, rotten meat, on which salting and denouncing would be wasted.

False worship is a sweet poison.

From this you see how important this is, and why Christ has good reason for discussing it here before everything else and commanding it so zealously. Without it, Christendom cannot stand, and proper understanding and life are no longer possible. Thus there is no greater injury or decay in Christendom than when the salt, which should season and salt everything else, has itself lost its taste. Yet this can happen so easily. For it is a poison that tastes sweet and appeals to the old Adam. He does not like to live dangerously, risking life and limb or suffering persecution, shame, and slander. This makes our bishops and clergy the smartest people on earth. Nevertheless, they are not good enough even to be called salt that has lost its taste, but they are the very devil himself. They do not pay attention to their bishoprics; they are the worst kind of persecutors themselves. They preach in a manner calculated to keep them out of trouble and to gain for them money and property, honor and power.

Most worship is nothing more than cowardly ministers leading their tickled-ear people to hell.

Anyone who is supposed to criticize the whole world—emperors, kings, princes, wise men, learned men—and say that their way of life is damned before God, has to stick his neck out. But if I am hypocritical and say that everything is all right with them, I get off scot free and keep their favor and acceptance. In the meantime I flatter myself that I intend to preach the Gospel, too. Still I have become salt that has lost its taste; for I am letting the people stick in the old delusion of their own flesh, till finally they go to the devil, with me in the lead.

Worship is not for men-pleasers.

Thus there are many temptations and hindrances for this ministry on both the right and the left side, the temptation of keeping quiet either to escape harm and persecution or to gain popularity, property, or pleasure. Besides, we are weak, lazy, and listless. Therefore we let ourselves be distracted, and we get tired when we see that things do not progress as we would like, when it all seems useless and the people despise our rebukes and even become the worse on account of them.

There is no worship without faithful ministers.

We must be well armed against this, therefore, and look at nothing but the commandment of Christ. He entrusts this ministry to us and wants us to open our mouths vigorously, to denounce what must be denounced, heedless of our own danger, inconvenience, advantage, or pleasure, and of other people's malice and contempt. Our consolation is in the fact that He makes us His salt and will sustain us in our salting. He commands us to do that salting with good cheer, regardless of whether the world refuses to tolerate it and persecute us. Nor should we despair, even though it seems to us that we are getting nowhere. Our pleasure and satisfaction should be whatever He commands us to do. Let Him determine what and how much He wants to accomplish through us. If people refuse to hear or accept it, we are salt nonetheless and have discharged our responsibility. Then we can stand before the judgment seat of God honorable and cheerfully. We can testify that we have spoken out faithfully to every man and have hidden nothing under the bench, leaving them without the excuse that they did not know any better or had not been told.

Worship takes place when ministers harshly judge their people.

But those who let themselves be scared off and muzzled for the sake of favor, popularity, or possessions will have to hear it said of them: "This was our preacher, and he never said anything about it." And He will not let them off if they say: "But Lord, they refused to listen." To this Christ will rejoin: "Do you not know that I commanded you to salt, that I warned you earnestly to do so? Should you not have feared My Word more than them?" This should really put the fear of the Lord into us. Listen to the sentence He pronounces on all the salt that has lost its taste, when He says: It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.

Worship is based on a singular, exclusive, true exposition of Scripture.

He pronounces the sentence upon it that we should let it be "thrown out and trodden underfoot by men." The real salt is the true exposition of Scripture, which denounces the whole world and lets nothing stand but the simple faith in Christ. When this is gone, then it is all over, and all the rest of our teaching and rebuking is worthless. For God has already rejected and condemned both the doctrine and the life, both the teacher and the pupil. In short, without this article of faith, that we are justified and saved only through Christ and that apart from Him everything is damned, there is no defense or restraint, no boundary or limit for every heresy and error, every sect and faction, with everyone thinking up and broadcasting some peculiar idea of his own. This was the situation under the pope. No monk could have a dream without dragging it into the pulpit and making it into a special act of worship.

Worship proceeds straightway and only from the article of justification by faith alone.

If we do not keep watch and take care to retain this article, we, too, shall eventually retain no article properly and purely. We shall not stop erring and splitting into sects till it is all over, till preaching and teaching become completely useless and we are nothing but swine and cattle. Alas, that is how it is already among the great crowd, as a result of our contempt and ingratitude for the Gospel. (21/55-61)

Worship is for God's eyes only.

God has so ordained it, as Scripture says (Is. 26:10), that no wicked person shall see the majesty of God, that is, everything that God says and does. As Is. 6:10 says: "Harden the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their open eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and are converted." You see, the whole of the Christian life has to be hidden and remain hidden this way. It cannot achieve great fame or put on much of a display or show before the world. So let it go at that. Do not worry about the way it is hidden, covered up, and buried, and the way no one sees it or notices it. Be content with the fact that your Father up there in heaven sees it. He has sharp eyes and can see a very long distance, even though it may be concealed by big, dark clouds and buried deep in the earth. Consequently the life of all Christians is intended for the eyes of God alone, and that is how it all comes out. Let the world go or let it come, It has no sense, the world is dumb. (21/163)

Many would be better off not to worship.

"Who is there among you who would shut, etc." (Malachi 1:10). That is, "Would that there were one among you who would shut the doors of the temple, and would that you did not offer such vain sacrifices." Thus Is. 1:12, "When you come to appear before Me, who requires this of you, etc." It would be preferable to abstain from prayer than to pray in an evil manner. It is a bad thing merely to take on the appearance of worshipping. In the presence of divine majesty everything should be done seriously. (18/396)

Worship battles against the holy.

This is the nature of the Word, that it battles against the powerful, the wise, and the holy. That is an eternal battle, as all Scripture indicates. We see the same thing here. The prophet had stubborn hearers, who were infected with false beliefs and who kept laughing at the prophet…To have a "monkey see, monkey do" approach to life is an indication of great levity and of inconsistent minds. (18/327)

False worship presupposes punishment and a famine of the Word.

"I shall send a famine on the land." (Amos 8:11) This is the last blow, It is the worst, the most wretched, of all. All the rest of the blows would be bearable, but this is absolutely horrible. He is threatening to take away the genuine prophets and the true Word of God, so that there is no one to preach, even if men were most eager to wish to hear the Word and would run here and there to hear it. This happened to the Jews in the Assyrian captivity and in that last one. We must watch and pray lest that same famine be sent on us, too. Now we are by the grace of God overwhelmed with a manifold abundance of God's Word. But we must watch and pray that it may not be taken away again and that palpable darkness and the foulest errors may not be sent upon us, so that even if we wanted to hear the Word, there would be no one to preach it, as happened to the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, who once abounded in the Word of God. For when the Word has been taken away, what else remains but the most terrible darkness of human reason which wants to be our mistress and which can teach nothing else than the doctrines of the demons? (18/183)

False worship looks reallll gooood.

People imagine that God is pleased with worship that consists exclusively of external works, even though there is no true knowledge, no fear, faith, invocation, love, and obedience toward God within their hearts. Indeed, though their hearts are truly without God, they pay court to Him with all sorts of external works. For example, they do much sacrificing, praying, and fasting; and they live strict and ascetic lives. On top of this they presume to reconcile God's wrath, to expiate and pay for sin through such works. But the most shameful aspect of the matter is the fact that their worship consists merely of those works which they have invented and chosen themselves without regard to God's Word, and which the Scriptures everywhere reject as utterly pagan worship and genuine idolatry. The world has always been full of this. (13/292)

Worship celebrates the wrath of God.

The many threats which Moses employs, therefore, apply strictly to those whom Paul calls sensual (Eph. 4/19). They are the people who, like rough and ready soldiers, deliberately ban from their minds thoughts of death and God's wrath. These people cannot be restored to a God-pleasing way of life if one does not make clear to them at great length God's wrath. For it is necessary in this way to cut off "the root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit" (Deut. 2:18). (13/86)

A one sentence commentary on Today. This is why no one will whole-heartedly submit to the writings of Luther.

To have no God means to believe neither this nor that but to be free from all teaching and preaching that is done in God's name. (13/191)

Why worship if there is so little sin?

Yes, the world has now become so godly and so holy that it is impossible to find anyone who deserves to be called the enemy of the Gospel or of Christ, or who deserves to be reproved by God's Word! (13/275)

Are you sure of your worship?

I know well that God's Word must first become a great lie, even in myself, before it can become truth. I also know that the devil's word must first become the delicate truth of God before it can become a lie. I must grant the devil his hour of godliness and ascribe devilhood to our God. But this is not the whole story. The last word is: "His faithfulness and truth endure forever." (14/32)

Our worship leaders and the rah-rah team should be most in tune with their deceptive nature.

"In whose spirit there is no deceit." Psalm 32:2 That is, his own heart does not betray him, so that outwardly he seems to be righteous and considers himself altogether pious and a lover of God, while inwardly this notion is false, and he serves God and is pious, not for God's sake but for his own sake. This evil, false, and deceitful guile seduces, above all, the outstanding, conspicuous, and spiritual people, who, because of their pious life and many good deeds, stand up boldly and do not recognize their inner, spiritual attitude. Nor will they take to heart the fact that this deceptive and harmful trickery spares no one but is the basic spirit of all man and can be driven out only by the grace of God. Therefore he calls it deceit of the spirit, not a deception which a person commits or deliberately devises against himself or against another, but one which he bears and with which he is born. This can be covered and adorned with a good life, so that man begins to think he is pure and free, while beneath lies the wicked filth which theologians call "self-love." Thus a man is pious out of fear of hell or hope of heaven, not because of God. But this is difficult to recognize and still more difficult to overcome. Indeed, it is impossible except through the grace of the Holy Spirit. (14/148)

Only stupid people think worship is a snap.

This doctrine permits no sects to arise, because without fail the Holy Spirit is there; He lets no sectarianism take root, but gives and maintains harmony. Particularly when you hear an immature and unripe saint trumpet that he knows very well that we must be saved through the grace of God, without our own works, and then pretend that this is s snap for him, well, then have no doubt that he has no idea of what he is talking about and probably will never find out. For this is not an art that can be completely learned or of which anyone could boast that he is a master. It is an art that will always have us as pupils while it remains the master. And all those who do understand and practice it do not boast that they can do everything. On the contrary, they sense it like a wonderful taste or odor that they greatly desire and pursue; and they are amazed that they cannot grasp it or comprehend it as they would like. They hunger, thirst, and yearn for it more and more; and they never tire of hearing about it or dealing with it, just as St. Paul himself confesses that he has not yet obtained it (Phil. 3:12). And in Matt. 5:6 Christ calls those blessed who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Whoever is interested may learn a lesson from my example, which I shall now confess. A few times—when I did not bear this principal teaching in mind—the devil caught up with me and plagued me with Scripture passages until heaven and earth became too small for me. Then all the works and laws of man were right, and not an error was to be found in the whole papacy. In short, the only one who had ever erred was Luther. All my best works, teaching, sermons, and books had to be condemned. The abominable Mohammed almost became my prophet, and both Turks and Jews were on the way to pure sainthood. Therefore, dear brother, be not proud or smug, and certain that you know Christ well. You hear what I confess to you, admitting what the devil was able to do against Luther, who is supposed to be a doctor in this art, who has preached, composed, written, said, sung, and read so much in these matters but must still remain a student and sometimes may not be either master or student. So take my advice, and do not celebrate too soon. Are you still standing? Then see that your skill does not desert you! Be concerned, be humble, and pray that you may grow in this art and be protected against the crafty devil, who is called "Smart Aleck" and "Quick First," who can do anything and learn anything very quickly. (14/37)

Worship demands hostility.

When faith and the Word of God are at stake, it is not right to love or to be patient but only to be angry, zealous, and reproving. That is how all the prophets behaved; in matters of faith they manifested no patience or kindness. (14/245)

If you are not being persecuted, you are not worshipping!

"Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit." (Psalm 143:8) God's delay in granting grace and help causes the soul to fear that it is forsaken and condemned. But it is put on the rack to make it desire greater and more profound grace and thus receive more perfect grace. Now he is a truly Christ-formed man who is inwardly disconsolate and of a contrite spirit and has a constant longing for God's grace and help. Yet when he tries to tell others of this cross and wants to teach them, he not only fails to find sympathy and a following but also is repaid with ungratefulness and hatred. Thus he is inwardly and outwardly crucified with Christ. For the proud in heart stand boldly in their presumption that they are like those who are going to heaven. They do not have any fear of hell and thirst for grace. (14/201)

Worship is the highest expression of faith and is blind.

Faith sees nothing, and the way is dark. Of this Ps. 18:9 says: "Thick darkness was under his feet."

Worship demands a willingness to have your opinions shaped by Luther.

"You heard the sound of words, but saw no form." (Duet. 4:12) This passage condemns not only outward representations of God, which He wanted to be forbidden to a simple and childish people, but especially inner ones, which are opinions and speculations about God constructed out of ourselves without the voice of God. Therefore it is impossible for men to think properly about God, speak about Him, or worship Him, without the Word of God. (9/58)

Worship means you look forward to your nice sanctuary burning down.

"You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him alone." (Duet. 6:13) That is, worship/fear and stand in awe of Him. Be afraid to trust in mammon, that is, in the abundance of things. "Although men are wont to behave in a carefree manner and to despise God and serve their own lusts, fear me, and be the master of your goods. Serve Me, and do not allow yourself to be torn away by your goods after your lusts." (9/71)

Feelings lead us away and astray from true worship.

All this he commands in order that in the worship of God the people may not be carried away by its own feeling, however holy and good, but may be governed by the Word; for if man does not live without the Word even with respect to the belly, how much less does he live without the Word in the work of God and in the spirit! God wants our conscience to be certain and sure that it is pleasing to Him. This cannot be done if the conscience is led by its own feeling, but only if it relies on the Word of God. (9/123)

Baptists are the best worshippers.

The new prophets proceed thus: First they lay hold on mortification. This they divide into many steps or weights, which they call by various names. And to no person do they ascribe righteousness until he has advanced by these steps to perfect mortification. Then they are filled with the Holy Spirit, so that they can do everything, know everything, and desire everything. For the Spirit comes to them, not from the hearing of the Word, which they proudly despise, but from mortification. (9/185)

Ceremonies are an aid, not the end, to worship.

Outward ceremonies are merely exercises for the unlearned by means of which they are accustomed to the far loftier duties of godliness, just as infants are first nourished with milk and softer foods. But we who govern and teach others should learn that the true worship of God does not consist in sacrificing cattle, etc., but in holding fast to His promise and believing that it is true and unfailing. (4/323)

In the midst of persecution, worshippers believe God is absolutely on their side and say, "What can man do to me!"

The examples of the fathers teach us what the true forms of worship are, namely, genuine faith, perfect hope, and unwavering love. These virtues lead us to the realization that God is present and beneficent, no matter how He seems to be against us. (4/327)

False worshippers are given everything immediately. True worshippers have to wait until they have been torn apart by God.

Those men, who were so saintly and were trained by various trials, were accustomed by long experience to wait for the hand of the Lord. They have been presented to us by God as an example of the true worship of God, which consists mainly and really, not in outward sacrifices or works but in faith, hope, and love of God. The examples of the fathers show that the foremost and best worship is to wait for God. And this is the real benefit and the most appropriate exercise of faith. For faith first carries us away into things that are invisible when it points out that things that are not apparent to the eye must be accepted. This we can somehow bear and put up with. The heart, however, is not only led into what is invisible; but it is also kept in suspense and is put off for a long time, just as Abraham waited for 25 years before a son was born to him, and Isaac is without offspring for 20 years. But the third and by far the most serious thing is experience when delay and postponement are followed by a disposition to the opposite effect. It is then that he who is able to endure and wait, to hope for the things that are being delayed, and to be pleased with what is contrary, will eventually learn from experience that God is truthful and keeps His promises. (4/321)

Luther is the miracle cure for worship.

God makes both: a seeing eye, that is, a real teacher, bishop, or magistrate; and a hearing ear, that is, obedient subjects and listeners. Today we have the seeing eye, that is, the pure doctrine of the Word; but we do not find a hearing ear, because our doctrine is held in contempt, yes, is horribly cursed. Where both are to be found, however, God has surely brought this about, and it is a divine miracle, in which God and the angels in heaven take pleasure. (4/211)

Worship says, "Whatever."

True repentance looks at God's wrath on account of sin and says: "Provided that God were willing to be gracious to me, I would gladly bear any harm and evil whatever." (5/152)

Worship, at times, means physical separation.

The church cannot prevent hypocrites, that is, false brethren, from being in their gathering, provided that they do not attack the doctrine and condemn us. Indeed, let them be slaves of mammom and have their own opinions, provided that they remain quiet and keep faith and the public peace. If they are true enemies, they will burst forth, with the result that either they will no longer be willing to endure us or we will not be able to live with them. But we cannot guard against those hypocrites. And there is some hope that they can be improved. In regard to him who is greedy or given to other vices, feels his sin and does not defend it, we will have hope that he can be corrected. A kind of foolishness or weakness is characteristic of this life and of human nature, and we cannot be perfect in all respects; for according to the flesh we cannot do what the spirit wants. For this reason we pray: "Forgive us our debts." We do not defend sins. We do not sow errors and false opinions instead of true doctrine. But every Christian is harassed by the devil and the flesh, and he acknowledges the wickedness and corruption of his nature, as Paul complains about himself in Rom. 7:19: "The evil I do not want is what I do." (5/208)

Worship only takes place under a true ministry, in a true church, and in accordance with the true Word as briefly explained in the confessions, and more fully elaborated upon in the writings of Martin Luther.

Where the ministry of the Word is, there the church is. Conversely, where the true church is, there the Word is. (5/209)

True worshippers are deathly afraid of their zeal.

It is human nature to climb to God with one's own zeal. (22/367)

Worship embraces wretchedness.

May a merciful God preserve me from a Christian Church in which everyone is a saint! I want to be and remain in the church and little flock of the faint-hearted, the feeble, and the ailing, who feel and recognize the wretchedness of their sins, who sigh and cry to God incessantly for comfort and help, who believe in the forgiveness of sin, and who suffer persecution for the sake of the Word, which they confess and teach purely and without adulteration. Satan is a cunning rogue. Through his fanatics he wants to trick the simple-minded into the belief that the preaching of the Gospel is useless. "Greater effort" is necessary, they say. "We must lead a holy life, bear the cross, and endure persecution." And by such a semblance of self-styled holiness, which runs counter to the Word of God, many a person is misled. But our righteousness and holiness is Christ. In Him, not in ourselves, we have perfection (Col. 2:10). And I find comfort in, and cling to, the words of St. Paul spoken in I Cor. 1:30: "God made Christ our Wisdom, our Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption." Thus there is no other means of attaining faith than by hearing, learning, and pondering the Gospel. (22/55)

There is no worship where unrebuked, known sinners are given the Supper. Furthermore, ignorance of sin in a parishioner's life is no excuse. A faithful minister is zealous in looking after his flock.

The true Christian Church is one body with Christ through faith, the bride of Christ, and His very own possession; He is her Bridegroom and Head. And it is the wish of the Groom that through faith in Him the bride partake of all His goods, as, for instance, eternal righteousness, holiness, and blessedness. To make her great and resplendent before God, He adorned and decked her with heavenly wisdom and strength. Wherever the Christian Church is, where God's Word is preached in its purity and the Sacraments are faithfully administered in accordance with the Word of God, where this Word is heard and accepted with a believing hear, and where the articles of our Christian faith are observed unadulterated-there heaven is wide open, never to be closed again. (22/202)

True worship does not focus primarily and exclusively on the love of God.

The common man does not realize that if I, as a preacher, keep silence and neglect to censure sin, all the sins of this city are charged to my account. You observe how everyone in the world scrapes and scratches, covets and practices usury; and if one remonstrates with them, they grow angry and almost burst with indignation. Do you consider it a good evangelical sermon if I keep silence and let you do as you please? Why should you encumber me with your sins? I will not permit them to oppress me. Bear them yourself! You will say: "Yes, but why do you not hush up my sins?" Don't you understand that because of my office I will not and dare not keep my peace? How can you compensate me for being damned on your account, for partaking of the guilt of your sin? Such is the esteem and the thanks the dear Gospel receives from the world: it prefers the darkness to the light. The Gospel of Christ is a precious and sweet message, but it is received with shameful ingratitude. It is a comforting message with a charming sound when one says: "Christ wants to sacrifice His life and His soul for you." But when we take a man to task properly and reprimand him for his sins, it's the devil, and he refuses to tolerate it. One must proceed thus: First teach man that he is saved by Christ alone. Then also, hold the prospect of judgment before the ungodly. Tell them that man cannot endure the light which shows him how he is saved, but that he wants to persist in his usury and in other sins. (22/373)

Praise God! Our ministers will be punished for leading us in false worship!

Pastors should not keep silence in the presence of sin: nor should they themselves sin. For if I see adultery or other sins in people and neglect to take the sinners to task, God will visit their sins on me. We members of the secular and ecclesiastical realm have been ordered to punish wrongdoing. But no one does so. What is going to become of you, great kings and teachers in the church, who hear and see so much crime and sin but hush it up and do not punish it? Thus many people go to hell for the sins of others. (22/372)

Worship lies beyond, and out of the grasp of, thought and reason.

My fasting is a work which has its source in me. Waking is also a work of my head and my eyes. Likewise the giving of alms, toiling, and whatever man is able to do with his body, his life, and his soul—all this is our work, emanating from us and not from without. But where is Christ to be found in this? Christ is not our mouth, head, belly, eyes, hands, body, or soul; nor is He any other part of man. He is a Being entirely different from us, just as the sun is not my eye, my tongue, or my belly, but an altogether different being. My eyes can wake; but, for all that, I do not feel or perceive Christ. He does not want to be grasped by our thoughts and reason. Thus faith is not our work; for I am drawn to Christ, whom I neither feel nor see. We are confronted with a problem that lies outside the range of our senses. We are carried far away from ourselves and our heart, and are led to Christ, whom we do not see, feel, or hear. We are asked to cleave to the Son and to believe in Him. Whatever else I may do in my body, I can feel and see, so that I can say: "There it lies; there it is." But Christ is not in me. I do not perceive Him with my physical senses as I do my fist and my mouth. He is sealed at the right hand of God, His heavenly Father. And here the text states: "Whoever believes in Him serves Me." Our hearts must cling to Him and turn from fasting, praying, and almsgiving, all of which is in us, and serve Christ alone, aside and apart from our work, so that we may be justified. Thus Christian righteousness and the genuine service of God lie outside our strength, our work, and our merit, in Christ alone. In this manner God wants to be our Father and our God, that we believe in Him who is not in us but is enthroned at the right hand of God. Therefore we should study this text closely. If you want to do a work that is really God's work, He does not say: "Slaughter Me an ox or a few turtledoves; or fast thrice a week; or observe this or that holiday." (23/23)

Luther is right; you are wrong.

Luther: "The Gospel is mine, in contradistinction to the teaching of all other preachers, who do not have my doctrine. Therefore I declare: This is my doctrine, that is, Luther's doctrine. Still I also say that it is not my doctrine; it is not my product but God's gift. For, dear God, it did not spring from my imagination; it did not grow in my garden; it did not flow from my fountain; it was not born from me. No, it is the gift of God and not a human invention. Thus both are true: It is mine, and yet it is not mine; for it is God's, the Heavenly Father's. But at the same time it is I who proclaim and espouse such doctrine. All others also claim that they are proclaiming God's Word. No devil, heretic, or schismatic spirit will step forth and declare: "I devil, or I heretic, am preaching my own doctrine." No, they all claim: "It is not my teaching; it is God's Word. The pope and the sects all belong in this category. (23/224)

We have so little comfort because we have lost Christ—the center of true worship.

We, too, are headed in that direction with our great ingratitude and our contempt for God's Word. When the small number which now pines for, takes pleasure in, and loves the Gospel is dead, when the kernel has been removed from the shell, then preachers will appear who will not be able to preserve, teach, and comfort even one soul. These are fearful words of Christ: "I go away." For when He goes away, then the knowledge of God and the proper understanding of Baptism and of the Lord's Supper take their leave with Him. Than we will now know what God is, or what life, righteousness, and salvation are, or how to be redeemed from sin and death. Everything is gone with Christ, and conditions deteriorate or remain as bad as they ever were. (23.355)

Worship has to do with getting rid of sin.

If we blunder, and fail to appropriate this chief doctrine—how to be rid of sin—He will also disperse us so thoroughly that we will not know whether there will be any other Christians anywhere. At one place a schismatic spirit will arise, at another a sect; and every nook and cranny will crawl with fanatics, heretics, and fluttering spirits. Then our adversaries will exclaim: "Oh, such are the fruits of the Gospel! May the devil lay about among them! Why do they not believe?" The Jews reproached Paul and the other apostles similarly; they said: "What good has come from preaching of the Gospel?" But it serves them right; it is your own fault. If you do not want to be pious and free from sin, you will not remain in the house; but you will be evicted. And if you then wander hither and yon and have as many pastors as you have beliefs you are only getting your just due. That is what happens when God begins to disperse the people; then gross confusion ensues, and many factions and sects arise. (23/408)

Our current situation proves we have very little true worship among us.

Ungodliness and smugness follow when the Word of God is despised and is not made use of. People become atheists, Epicureans, and bereft of reason. The examples of even very excellent people prove this. David was a very saintly man and most ardent in his worship of God. But how quickly he is driven to adultery, murder, and blasphemy! For to be asleep with regard to the Word of God is to open the window to the devil. Therefore we have been commanded to be watchful, as is written in I Peter 5:8: "Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." And Eph. 5:15 says: "Look carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time." Sluggishness and indifference in sacred matters have often resulted in the greatest lapses and in horrible sins. (4.391)

The true worship of God is to kiss the Son, that is, to adore Him in such a way that you see nothing in heaven and earth aside from Him and believe in nothing else than Him. (12.87)

Worship looks forward to the next evil and calamity.

Let us give thanks to God in various forms of praise even in all afflictions, for if we have been set free from one evil, we arrive at another one. This is the exercise of the godly and the worship of the New Testament. (16/198)

Our desire for novelty stands in judgment on our worship.

One can never learn enough. Paul says in Col. 3:16: "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly"; that is one must ponder it constantly, and always some new fire to arouse the heart will be found. The sectarians constantly think up one novelty after another. Christians never read the same teaching enough. For the Gospel does not concern itself with knowledge; it concerns itself with feeling. We slip every day. The flesh, sin, death, and the world assail us. Not for even one moment are we safe from spiritual adultery. There is no rest, and therefore Christianity is most truly a hearing or pondering of the Word, in order that Christ may speak to us at all times. Therefore when anyone has trials that torture him in body or in soul, it is a sign that Christ is not at home, that is, is not in that person's heart. But he who wants to be set free should place Christ before him—Christ who says in Matt. 11:28: "Come to Me, all who labor," and in John 11:25: "I am the resurrection and the life." When Christ speaks he is set free and is not afraid. But when Christ is absent, the trial returns. Then the slaughter and the misfortunes of men begin, and those thoughts terrify the heart. (16/31)

There is no worship without condemnation.

Where the Law is not truly preached, unrecognized sins cannot be reproved. Because of the force of the Law, sins are of necessity disregarded, and whatever is thorns and hides sins is of necessity overlooked; thus the cure cannot be applied, and grace cannot be preached. If one preaches man's own merits, when will he preach repentance and grace? What is not evil does not need the Gospel and therefore neither the revealing of sin nor the revealing of the cure. (16/61)

True worship exhausts the flesh, but invigorates the spirit—not the emotions.

The spirit of our worship is not to become exhausted, but peace, joy, and a happy conscience even in the midst of afflictions. (17/111)

When we worship, we are sinless.

"All we like sheep have gone astray." This is the supreme and chief article of faith, that our sins, placed on Christ, are not ours; again, that the peace is not Christ's but ours. Once this foundation is established, all will be well with the superstructure. If we do not bump against this rock, other teachings will not harm us. This article alone Satan cannot but attack by means of tyrants and sects. The whole world can put up with every sectarian teaching and even support it in peace. But it cannot bear this faith and the rejection of all works and merits. Because self-glory is brought to naught and the world likes to hear its own glory, it is not willing to reject its own. Summary: The head of self-righteousness must be lopped off. I grant that the works of the godly are good and right, but they do not justify. This Satan cannot bear, and because of this we are persecuted and we suffer to the present day, since we have taught all things in peace, tranquillity, patience, and purity, more than he, certainly. By this text we have cast down every foreign righteousness and hypocrisy, Therefore write this text on the foundation in golden letters or in your own blood. That is why he says "all we", and no one is excepted. (17/225)

Worship is in the Word; and not our opinions of the Word.

The worship of God lies especially in preaching of the Word, because by teaching the Gospel one worships God, gives thanks, fulfills all the Old Testament sacrifices and all reverence for the Old Testament. (28/369)

Exertion is the bitch of false worship.

It is the nature of all hypocrites and false prophets to create a conscience where there is none, and to cause conscience to disappear where it does exist. The erring conscience is seared. That is, it is seared by cauterization. Just as men or sheep are branded, so those consciences are branded by a false idea of doctrine. He does not say that the conscience has been cut off but that it has been branded to testify of the efficacy and power of that doctrine, as if he were saying: "Fire is burning the flesh." Thus these men should have a righteousness of faith with greater enthusiasm, concern, diligence, and ardor, as if it were branded on them. He wants to say, then, that the martyrs of the devil suffer more than those of God. That conscience endures because of great exertion. At the same time he indicates that the erring conscience is born of great exertion; much trouble and toil is involved, so that people must burn themselves over it, as it were. They are drawn away from faith to works, which pull them in different directions day and night. This agrees with the sense of Scripture: "They fear where there is nothing to fear." (28/311)

Worship is not for the spoiled.

Self-will of every kind has reached a point among all that when one speaks against it, they become so much the worse and do all the more, just for spite. For they see and know how things go, and that they go unpunished. Certainly now is the time of which the prophet Amos says (Amos 5:13): "It is an evil time, when even a wise man must keep silent." For if anyone speaks against it, they act as though he were merely showing them a way to make things worse. But how could it be worse, when neither silence nor speech helps? If we are silent, they become worse day by day; if we speak they become still worse. Then the poor and wretched must suffer and be unsuccored. This is all the fault of the leaders, who have let these things go so far that they cannot prevent them, even though they might wish to do so. But one will come who will put a stop to the tickling of our self-will and scratch its itch right well. It has gone too far; we are doing too much; the bag must tear; the string will break. God help his own! Amen. (13/61)

A general confession does NOT prepare us for worship.

If anyone has sinned he should learn to confess his sin in the name of the Lord, and it will not only be forgiven, but all men will feel sorry for him and lament his fall. But there is no one who would be willing to do this except only in a general way. Yet to acknowledge blame and guilt individually is not characteristic of this corrupt nature, no matter if it confesses that it is guilty before God. (7/273)

Worship is the pure water of God bubbling up through the cesspool of our nature.

Ignorance of sin necessarily brings with it ignorance of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit and all things. For no one should think that he will become a theologian or a reader of or hearer of Holy Scripture if he minimizes that original evil or does not correctly understand it. Indeed, no man can sufficiently ponder or comprehend its power. For we should not regard it as trivial matter when it was the reason for which God sent His Son to become a Sacrifice for our redemption. (7/279)

Worship is for those poor souls who want to be impure.

God cannot be pure or righteous unless we are unrighteous and impure; that is, God is not acknowledged as righteous unless we acknowledge our impurity. Not that now at last I must become unrighteous, for I am impure before this. But the question is whether I want to become impure in spirit, that is, to acknowledge and confess sin…For just as original sin wanted to be covered and praised at the beginning, so also actual sins follow, just as a child follows its mother and father and holds fast to what is commonly said, namely, "If you did it, deny it." For he who denies or conceals his sin before men has already been justified. But it is really the devil transforming himself into an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). Everything wants to be pure, and what God does must be impure. In the end, however, this statement must be established: "Thou, Lord God, art righteous; but I am unrighteous. I am impure." And one must say with David: "Against Thee only have I sinner, so that Thou art justified in Thy sentence." (Ps. 51:4). (7/279)

The crux of the Gospel of worship:

Let us learn to use evils and sins for our good, in order that we may experience how merciful and kind the Lord is. (7/274)

We condemn the Baptists, but we won't look into Luther for examples that accuse us.

It is very troublesome that my wisdom is only passive and that I am ordered to mortify and kill it. Indeed, on this account many have fallen horrible, since they could not bear this mortification. Thus the Sacramentarians teach God most prettily: "How could Christ's body be in the bread and wine when Christ has ascended into heaven?" For they think as follows: "Because I cannot comprehend the presence of the body and blood in the Lord's Supper, I shall prescribe to God some way in which He can be present." In this way they bring God down to their own order and teaching. They want to assign Him a place in heaven, and they do not know what or where heaven is. Why do you not rather close your eyes and ears and listen to the Word? (7/104)

Worship is an enlightened stinch.

God afflicts us with various disasters, not to punish us, although this really is a punishment. But He takes no pleasure in it. God is just using powerful and bitter remedies to show us the deformity and foulness of our depraved nature…Therefore let us learn to cling to the consolation that although guilt gnaws at our conscience and the goad of the Law and death torments us, yet this is not being done for our destruction but rather for our instruction and cleansing, in order that we may come to a knowledge of ourselves and our corruption. Therefore let us endure the hand of God, who cleanses us, that is, laughs and plays with us; for those who refuse to endure His hand argue about satisfaction and, when this cannot be enough, are forced to despair. Although God cleanses even hypocrites and godless men, they, like glass, are broken before the cleansing is accomplished. Saul and Judas are tried, vexed, and purged, but only by the feeling of contrition. Therefore they are broken, because there only the office of the Law holds sway. The devil also has contrition and shudders, as James says (2:19); but this is not a repentance to salvation. In addition, there must be what the Lord speaks of in Ezekiel: "Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?" (18:23) In every tribulation and terror there must be fixed in our hearts that tiny spark of God's mercy by which a contrite heart is buoyed up. These matters must be carefully meditated on in order that we may be able to understand the cause of our afflictions. Not only do the dregs of lust, pride, hatred, wrath, and other desires cling to us, but also inner evils and hidden stains, doubts about God, unbelief, impatience, and murmuring, which do not come out into the open until the conscience is troubled by the Law and by the terrors of sin. Although we pay no attention to these things and o not sob because of such a disgraceful fall, yet God sees them. Therefore He tries to purge our impure nature. This is what He thinks: "You have been enlightened and baptized; but you still stink, and your flesh is full of many great vices. Therefore I must cleanse it, for that which is unclean and polluted shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. (7/229)

The greater the sin, the more profound the worship.

Great saints must make great mistakes in order that God may testify that He wants all men to be humiliated and contained in the catalog of sinners, and that when they have acknowledged and confessed this, they may find grace and mercy. (7/44)

Worship rides the crest of the Spirit, falling neither to the left or the right. It rather watches, painfully and with sobs, a thousand fall to the right and 10,000 fall to the left.

The sinner should not abandon his confidence in mercy. A righteous man should not be proud. In this way, then, the saints are humbled and celebrated together with their lapses, in order that they may instruct us by their examples and show us the royal road between despair and pride. (7/44)

Timothy Vance
August, 2000