Don't let the post title fool you, I haven't changed from what I outlined as biblical principal of worship. This is mostly a follow up to that, I felt it was necessary to go further in depth on what is forbidden by Elohim in His Word for us to use as methods of worship.
See, many say that they follow the concept of 'not worshiping in a way that God says not to', they say that this then is them following the Normative Principle of Worship. But when put to the test, they refuse to see that many things they are still doing break their claim, even mainstream Christians can look around and admit that - you don't have to be Torah Observant. Because of this I find it difficult to identify to the NPW on it's own, and instead have begun to think of it as two parts, the Mainstream Normative Principle of Worship and the Messianic Normative Principle of Worship. This is important, it isn't an issue of 'what it means to me', and we can look to Y'shua's own words to know this. John 4:23-24 quotes Y'shua as saying, But the time is coming — indeed, it’s here now — when the true worshipers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshiping him. 24 God is spirit; and worshipers must worship him spiritually and truly. We must exercise not only our spirit in Worship, but also God's Truth which is not subjective and be lead by the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) who Exodus says will lead us in obedience to God's mitzvot (commandments).
Indeed, this is even the first of the restrictions given, albeit in slightly round-about way. We can see the use of Y'shua's words, 'true worshipers'. Essentially then, anyone not utilizing both the Spirit and Truth is not worshiping truthfully. We can come to Elohim with all the emotion we can possess, but if we aren't doing so with the truth, we aren't worshiping fully. I think this can even branch into what we see of the Orthodox Jewish and some other faiths; they can pour their souls in but without the Ruach and the fully Truth of Adonai it isn't Elohim they are worshiping at all. Just as easily can we believe we are worshiping the El of Abraham, Isaac and Yacob and fall flat. In Matthew 15:8-9 Y'shua quotes Isaiah 29:13 where Adonai says, Because these people approach me with empty words, and the honor they bestow on me is mere lip-service; while in fact they have distanced their hearts from me, and their ‘fear of me’ is just a mitzvah of human origin. Y'shua's statement in Matthew 15:9 is more direct, Their worship of me is useless, because they teach man-made rules as if they were doctrines. Ouch! We can claim to be worshiping Elohim, but without the Truth in our worship, we aren't! Our intent does very much matter, our own spirit must be involved or it is not worship, but it can not stand alone.
How then are we to know how to worship in the Ruach and Emet (Truth)? Hebrews 10:25 lays out plainly another restriction. It says, not neglecting our own congregational meetings, as some have made the practice of doing, but rather, encouraging each other. And let us do this all the more as you see the Day approaching. Additionally Acts 17:11 tells us to be like the people in Berea, Now the people here were of nobler character than the ones in Thessalonica; they eagerly welcomed the message, checking the Tanakh every day to see if the things Sha’ul was saying were true, comparing everything we hear and learn against the Word of God. Nothing will conflict between the Tanakh they were examining and the Brit Hadashah, If it could, then this would not have been the encouragement and would have changed Elohim's very mitzvot. An Impossibility. So, while we should be searching the scripture for ourselves we are also told to not forget the fellowship. Y'shua says in Matthew 23:2-3, The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim,” he said, “sit in the seat of Moshe. 3 So whatever they tell you, take care to do it. But don’t do what they do, because they talk but don’t act! The seat of Moshe being where one would sit only when one was reading the Torah, thus he was encouraging the listeners to be obedient to the Torah, but not to concern themselves with the hypocritical behavior of the Pharisees nor their additional regulations. As you read the chapter he lays this out quite plainly, and in verse 23 he says, Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! You pay your tithes of mint, dill and cumin; but you have neglected the weightier matters of the Torah — justice, mercy, trust. These are the things you should have attended to — without neglecting the others! Emphasizing that indeed, we are to learn all the commands of God, big and little, when we attend congregation. By this we gain Emet. Even Acts 15:21 shows that by going to congregation we are to continue to learn as it says, For from the earliest times, Moshe has had in every city those who proclaim him, with his words being read in the synagogues every Shabbat.
So we know that we need Spirit and Truth to worship, but then what is not within the boundaries of Spirit and Truth? Well, the first big thing of course is that it is even Adonai we are trying to worship! While this is a command found throughout scripture Exodus 20:3-6 really does lay it out quite nicely. You are to have no other gods before me. 4 You are not to make for yourselves a carved image or any kind of representation of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath or in the water below the shoreline. 5 You are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my mitzvot. Idolatry comes in many forms. It can be plain, like worshiping outright false gods in false religions. It can be subtle, like putting preference of time on television and not in prayer. It can be in how we subtly worship an athlete, or putting our self above all else. It can be bold like Beyance Mass! It can sneak by like singing a song of praise to a Christmas Tree. And this isn't something a Messianic is free from either, we must be especially careful on a specific day of the year - to not put to much weight on the Item of a written Torah and remember the symbology as we celebrate it on Simchat Torah, not placing it above the Word itself nor worshiping the scroll. Elohim must be above all in our lives, after all, Obedience is the best form of Worship there is.
Another which readily comes to mind is the sacrificial system. While there is little which says Do Not in regards to this there is a lot which states Do It This Way, and we have ready examples that other ways of doing it are not acceptable! Even from the first recorded offering in scripture, Kain and Havel, we can see that one way was accepted and another was not. Genesis 4:3-5 says, In the course of time Kayin brought an offering to Adonai from the produce of the soil; 4 and Hevel too brought from the firstborn of his sheep, including their fat. Adonai accepted Hevel and his offering 5 but did not accept Kayin and his offering. Kayin was very angry, and his face fell. And we can see another example of this within Leviticus 10:1-2, But Nadav and Avihu, sons of Aharon, each took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and offered unauthorized fire before Adonai, something he had not ordered them to do. 2 At this, fire came forth from the presence of Adonai and consumed them, so that they died in the presence of Adonai. Offerings and Sacrifices have many places within scripture, and many variations. But what is clear are that there are boundaries in How Elohim has commanded us to carry these out. While offerings can vary from an animal sacrifice, to incense, to giving money to the clergy or to further Adonai's Kingdom within a set order there are limits. First we must recognize that what was limited to the Levitical Order when it was put in place at Sinai remained limited to it. An example is the burnt offerings as Deuteronomy 12:13 says, Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings just anywhere you see, 14 but do it in the place Adonai will choose in one of your tribal territories; there is where you are to offer your burnt offerings and do everything I order you to do. One day this will change, it will shift to the Order of Melchizedek, but Y'shua made clear in Matthew 5:18 that this can not happen, until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah. Currently the Levitical Order can not function, so this removes many types of sacrifices and offerings from being able to be executed properly, and thus from being executed at all.
While most of us can not continue to follow the tithe mitzvot as they are laid out within Torah, not having fields to harvest that the poor can reap the corners and not having a proper Levitical order to sustain, we do see ways that we can carry this on into the modern day and age. The beginning of Matthew 6 shows Y'shus speaking of tzedikah, which covers monetarily helping others. Mark 12 and Luke 21 both speak to the widow who gave all she had toward the Temple. Acts gives a few examples that we are still to support the clergy, even though that is no longer the Levites. Acts 4:34-35 says, No one among them was poor, since those who owned lands or houses sold them and turned over the proceeds 35 to the emissaries to distribute to each according to his need. As just one example of giving to those spreading the Word. This likewise goes beyond money to Things. As the original mitzvot included things which supported the Levites, their lives and the Temple, so too should we be doing so in the modern era of Rabbi's, paying for their livelihood so they may focus on instructing, and the Synagogues. In this area of sacrifice and offerings, we see there is no restriction.
But in the incense and the animal sacrifices we can see that they were indeed restricted and kept the Levitical Cohen (priests). So their relevance today is only in memory, they can not be completed as we do not meet the requirements to do so without an active Levitical Priesthood (Which would have to recognize the Messiah or they are not doing it in Spirit and Truth) and a Temple. To avoid some flustering however I will elaborate upon these some more. First, there was a variety of these, from becoming clean and purifying to atonement to offerings. They were not cut and dried. And while we know we can not do this today, that is not to say we will not resume at least a portion of them in the future. Isaiah 56:7, I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Jeremiah 33:18, Nor will there ever be cut off from the cohanim who are L’vi’im a man before me to offer burnt offerings, burn grain offerings and offer sacrifices every day. And Ezekiel 43:18-46:24 all show that there will be some level of the sacrificial system in place during the millennial reign of Y'shua. Jeremiah even confirms that it will still be done by the Levites! The question then that remains for many is the issue of how Hebrews can be understood, as many take it to mean that saying that sacrifices may still be relevant is Heretical. But it doesn't stand alone in making a claim that can misinterpreted this way. Even Isaiah 1:11 says Why are all those sacrifices offered to me?” asks Adonai. “I’m fed up with burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened animals! I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls, lambs and goats! Yet no one would dare make the claim that Isaiah taught against the Torah and Levitical order! We don't even question much that Isaiah was showing us how the heart of the matter is more important than the action. The issue in Hebrews is not that the sacrificial system is done away with, but a reminder of what the sacrificial system is and what it isn't. It never was the atonement for anyone's sins, it was merely another symbolic representation of what Y'shua would do on the cross. Nobody was ever saved by the blood of a bull or a lamb, but by faith in the Divine Messiah.
We should not be irreverent in our services to Elohim. All through scripture we can see that there was a reverence and respect around the Tabernacle, the Temple, places that were marked as Holy by contact with Adonai by someone. Hebrews 12:28 says, Therefore, since we have received an unshakeable Kingdom, let us have grace, through which we may offer service that will please God, with reverence and fear. Now, I admit I am using this a bit out of context, but I believe it does make the point plainly and apply. The service meant in this verse is not a church service, synagogue service or any other such formal thing, it is the service to Elohim in our lives. Yet, as any place meant to be special in coming to Elohim, such as these places of worship, should we not then be treating them in the same vein of Holy Ground as many other places of contact with Adonai are? Should we not then be treating them with the same reverence and not 'just as a building'? So while I enjoy a concert or show with worship music that makes your ears ring, I fail to see how this can be viewed as reverence and fear being used in our service at these places. Perhaps this is a branch more based upon conviction, but if Elohim can turn a patch of ground on a Mountain into Holy Ground by his presence just once as he stated in Exodus 3:5, He said, “Don’t come any closer! Take your sandals off your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. How much more are our regular places of worship holy ground?
Then there is Exodus 23:24, You are not to worship their gods, serve them or follow their practices; rather, you are to demolish them completely and smash their standing-stones to pieces. This isn't simply a command to not worship false deities, but to not follow the practices they use to do so. Even in the golden calf of Exodus 32 was meant to worship the God who freed them out of Egypt, but they were using a pagan method of idols in an effort to do so! Deuteronomy 12 goes in depth on how we are to destroy the methods of worship of other religions when we come be in control of a place, not to welcome it into our presence and let it make us unholy. That we are to formally worship as He laid out, and not with their ways. Jeremiah 10 goes into this as well, saying, Here is what Adonai says: “Don’t learn the way of the Goyim, don’t be frightened by astrological signs, even if the Goyim are afraid of them; It then goes on to speak of what many identify as a Christmas tree, but while there is similarity it is not the same thing being references. The principle, however is applicable. These things tell us to not use any method inherently created to worship another god in our worship to Elohim. Yet this is exactly what the majority of christendom has done! And not from dead religions either, but from ones that not only are still very much alive, but growing in strength again.
They have taken decorated trees with gifts underneath, wreaths, Santa and his eight reindeer, and even the elves from pagan religions and made them appear to be Christian in order to somehow 'redeem' them for Elohim - in direct disobedience to his mitzvot! And it goes beyond Christmas, even when we look to the change in date of Passover to Easter, the dying of the eggs, reducing the amount of days between the crucifixion and resurrection, all have their origin in the pagan religions, and the last heavily impacts the very sign of Y'shua being the Messiah that he told us himself! This doesn't restrict everything that is 'pagan' however, not inherently. Many forms of worship have been taken by other faiths and manipulated, such as song and dance. Those are still encouraged within scripture to worship Adonai! Even the verse in Jeremiah 10 I already referenced shows to this, that the astrological signs were made by Adonai for his glory, to tell his story and for signs and seasons and the abuse of them by the other religions does not remove their value to us as Believers. The issue is using pagan methods of worship to then worship Elohim, or doing ways designed to worship other gods and thinking it to be harmless. This is why my family does not do Valentine's day for example, it was a Roman pagan festival that like Christmas was claimed and renamed, told to have a new purpose in the veneration of a saint (So rather than using it to worship God they're not using it to worship a person as an idol). New Years Eve no longer retains any factor to the pagan origins of it when it began on the gregorian calendar and now simply remains a cultural entity for those which use the gregorian calendar, so it is one that my family does part take in.
Holidays aside, other actions we're told not to include such things as Yoga which was inherent;y created to be a worship method for Hindu deities. The pace, breathing, and motions all tying together to form what is proper yoga. Shavasana is a prime example to use. Within yoga it represents the death and rebirth of the soul. Yet there is nothing wrong with laying down on your back inherently! The poses alone then aren't the issue, many are wonderful stretches, many also are streamlined into things like pilates. Yoga itself, can not be redeemed, but it does not hold the sole claim to the physicality within it.
We're to be so careful not to take in the ways of pagan worship in our lives and worship for Adonai that Matthew 6:7 even carries into how we pray! It says, And when you pray, don’t babble on and on like the pagans, who think God will hear them better if they talk a lot. While many will seek to use this against any form or rewritten prayer it simply can't be interpreted that way consistently. Even Y'shua himself gave us a prayer to repeat in the Lord's Prayer. So it isn't an issue of using a siddur or using liturgy, but one of carrying on, putting on a show, repeating yourself for the purpose of making your prayer stronger or so 'God will hear you better'.
Among other restrictions for worship falls the ecclesiology of the synagogue, the structure in which it functions and it's leadership is chosen. While whole books go into this subject I hope to at least give a very brief summary. As with the Levitical Order, when things were given to specific places that prohibits their application outside of those standards. So we can see the consistency when the priesthood was limited only to the men Number 3:6-13 shows this, Summon the tribe of Levi, and assign them to Aharon the cohen, so that they can help him. 7 They are to carry out his duties and the duties of the whole community before the tent of meeting in performing the service of the tabernacle. 8 They are to be in charge of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting and to carry out all the duties of the people of Isra’el connected with the service of the tabernacle. 9 Assign the L’vi’im to Aharon and his sons; their one responsibility in regard to the people of Isra’el is to serve him. 10 You are to appoint Aharon and his sons to carry out the duties of cohanim; anyone else who involves himself is to be put to death.”11 Adonai said to Moshe, 12 “I have taken the L’vi’im from among the people of Isra’el in lieu of every firstborn male that is first from the womb among the people of Isra’el; the L’vi’im are to be mine. 13 All the firstborn males belong to me, because on the day that I killed all the firstborn males in the land of Egypt, I separated for myself all the firstborn males in Isra’el, both human and animal. They are mine; I am Adonai.” It is then carried into the Brit Hadashah repeatedly with such passages as 1 Timothy 2:12, but I do not permit a woman to teach a man or exercise authority over him; rather, she is to remain at peace. We also regulation placed upon positions within a synagogue within 1 Timothy 3, verses 1-13, Here is a statement you can trust: anyone aspiring to be a congregation leader is seeking worthwhile work. 2 A congregation leader must be above reproach, he must be faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, orderly, hospitable and able to teach. 3 He must not drink excessively or get into fights; rather, he must be kind and gentle. He must not be a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, having children who obey him with all proper respect; 5 for if a man can’t manage his own household, how will he be able to care for God’s Messianic Community? 6 He must not be a new believer, because he might become puffed up with pride and thus fall under the same judgment as did the Adversary. 7 Furthermore, he must be well regarded by outsiders, so that he won’t fall into disgrace and into the Adversary’s trap.
8 Likewise, the shammashim must be of good character, people whose word can be trusted. They must not give themselves to excessive drinking or be greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must possess the formerly hidden truth of the faith with a clean conscience. 10 And first, let them be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them be appointed shammashim. 11 Similarly, the wives must be of good character, not gossips, but temperate, faithful in everything. 12 Let the shammashim each be faithful to his wife, managing his children and household well. 13 For those who serve well as shammashim gain good standing for themselves and much boldness in the trust that comes through Yeshua the Messiah.
I hope I have been able to show you some of the borders that the Normative Principle of Worship does entail when scripture is placed first. That we worship in spirit and in truth, both our spirit and Elohim's, may we not violate His mitzvot in turning to idols be they physical or otherwise, that we not worship him with methods of worship devised by the false religions, may we not use those methods at all, may we follow ecclesiology as He has instructed and follow His direction in all or worship and our lives. May you be blessed as you go forward in obedience and worship.
Romans 12:1-2 I exhort you, therefore, brothers, in view of God’s mercies, to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, living and set apart for God. This will please him; it is the logical “Temple worship” for you. 2 In other words, do not let yourselves be conformed to the standards of the ‘olam hazeh. Instead, keep letting yourselves be transformed by the renewing of your minds; so that you will know what God wants and will agree that what he wants is good, satisfying and able to succeed.