Worship in Spirit and in Truth. Jesus Christ is the Holy Spirit and He is the Truth.
We are worshiping inwardly all the time in every place we go. There is no special place a believer must go to worship, there are no special artifacts or receptacles needed to worship, and no gathering formulas for worship.
The modern apostate church has not been worshiping but rather practicing religion not engaged in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
When Christ said we are set free when we become born again, we have not enjoyed how fully set free we were from all traditions of men and incumbrances of outward practices to satisfy God.
Romans 6:22-23: "But now since you have been set free from sin and have become [willing] slaves to God, you have your benefit, resulting in sanctification [being made holy and set apart for God's purpose], and the outcome [of this] is eternal life".
Ephesians 1:7: "We have been set free because of what Christ has done. Because he bled and died our sins have been forgiven. We have been set free because God's grace is so rich".
We are no longer in bondage to human rituals of this age. We have no obligation to do funerals, memorials, weddings, holidays or any other outward activity to satisfy God. We do not find any commands or described rituals in God's Word that resemble what most Christians practice today, except in rare cases the Lord's Supper as He gave it, not the way the modern church system mandates.
Jesus Christ satisfied everything when He died and rose from the dead. All rituals except the ones He commanded in the Lord's Supper were done away with at the cross. This was the new covenant.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah".
Hebrews 8:13 "13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is [g]about to disappear."
There were rituals added by man after Christ rose from the dead, that are not in God's Word. There have also been those who attempted to add the Old Testament rituals to Christianity that were also done away with at the cross.
Mankind has a problem with adding to God's Word what best fits their desires for "doing something" in the flesh to make themselves feel as if they participated somehow. Mankind feels a need to "do something" but Christ taught "being something", that produced godly actions and entirely opposite mindset from the unsaved predicament. When we trust in Christ we choose it with our mind and then He changes the way we think, all our desires become His desires. The Holy Spirit moves into us and becomes our righteousness for us. He is our Sabbath rest, He is our teacher and guide for everything.
1 Corinthians 1:29-31 "…29so that no one may boast in His presence. 30 It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Romans 3:24
"and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to Me, all [a]who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find [b]rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”
Hebrews 4:9-11 "…9There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience."
Human traditions do not produce godly mindsets, but rather they produce greater degrees of pride and "feelings-oriented" responses to what they call worship.
When we rest entirely in Christ we have no need to practice outward rituals to feel close to God. He lives in born-again believers and He is all we need all the time.
Hallelujah!
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