What would a worship service shaped by biblical theology, scriptural liturgy, and ordered by the gospel look like? Let’s follow a worship service designed around these things and see how God meets His people in the Word.
The Call to Worship
What happens when the time has come for God to redeem one of His elect? God the Holy Spirit effectually calls them. The Holy Spirit’s call so touches the heart of man as to turn it from stone to flesh and gives the one called to salvation the moral ability to repent, have faith, and believe the gospel.[1] This is God’s effectual call. Therefore, worship on the Lord’s Day should not begin with greetings, fellowship, or, “How y’all doin today?”, but with a Word from God to His people. This is not a meaningless form anymore than the Word of God is like other words. The Call to Worship is a not call from man to man but a call from God to His Church to come meet Him in worship through the Word. It should thrill the soul of the Christian to hear God say through His minister:
“The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”[2]
God is calling and it is a great beginning to worship.
A Psalm, Hymn or Spiritual Song of Adoration
God’s people are a singing people. Redeemed people have a song in their heart of praise to God. In light of God’s effectual calling to save us and His weekly call to worship in spirit and truth we sing unto the Lord. We sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs appropriate to the worship of holy God. The people of God lift their voices and with a loud voice sing something like:
“Come, Christians join to sing Alleluia! Amen! Loud praise to Christ our King; Alleluia! Amen! Let all, with heart and voice, before His throne rejoice; praise is His gracious choice. Alleluia! Amen!”[3]
Prayer of Invocation
The Church cannot meet God and not bow hearts in prayer. Here the pastor lifts his voice on behalf of the Church to acknowledge the presence of the Blessed Trinity, to give God glory for who He is, what He has made, and what He has done for us in Christ. God’s minister prays for the Holy Spirit to work among the congregation by watching over the Word to perform it. And then the pastor adds, “We pray now, as You taught us to pray, saying:”
“Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed by Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.”
Already God has called His people to worship, the Church has sung praises of adoration and has prayed together the model prayer of all prayers, and we’re not even 10 minutes into our meeting with Him. Praise be to God!
The Reading of The Law
Then we read the law. The reading of the law of God shows us the knowledge of our sin.[4] The law is our schoolmaster that leads us to Christ.[5] Without the law we would not know that God is saving us from His wrath, by His grace, for His glory. The worship of God must include both law and gospel. The law slays us in our sin. Grace brings us alive again through Jesus Christ. Before we hear “good news” we need to know the “bad news.” And so we hear:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”[6]
The “bad news” is that God demands perfect obedience. We are covenant breakers. What are we to do? The Law hems us in on every side. We have no escape from the searchlight of His Word. We find ourselves in desperate need of a Savior.
The Confession of Sin and Assurance of Pardon
What follows when we hear of the voice of God from Sinai and are found wanting? We repent! To be truly converted, sinners “chosen in God before the foundation of the world,” must repent of their sins before holy God. We cannot be converted without repentance. Even after conversion biblical Christians know they remain simply “sinners saved by grace.” Therefore, as Israel did in ages past the Body of Christ regularly repents of sin. God’s covenant people acknowledge their sinfulness through a “Confession of Sin” and receive forgiveness of their sins through an “Assurance of Pardon.” These two elements go hand in hand:
Let us confess our sins to God:
“Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O LORD! Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. . . . For your name's sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great. . . . Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.”[7]
Hear the assurance of pardon:[8]
“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”[9]
It’s a little like becoming a Christian all over again every Lord’s Day. Every seven days we are called by God to meet with Him in His Word. We hear the Law and are reminded of our sin and our need for a sacrifice and covenant Mediator. We repent of our sins against holy God only to have Him show us grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. We confess what the Bible says about God and we place our trust in Christ. Christians must never forget that their righteous standing with God through Christ is “imputed” to them and not “infused” in them. God’s people remain in desperate need of grace all their lives and each Sabbath they repent of their sins again and hear the words of forgiveness again and again and again. May God be praised!
A Psalm, Hymn or Spiritual Song of Response
Now that we have repented of our sins and have had those sins covered by the blood of Christ, what should we sing? I suggest something more than a ditty or some trivial contemporary response in light of the great sin of man and the greater grace of God. Take as a good example this hymn by John Newton:
“Let us love and sing and wonder, let us praise the Savior’s name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder; he has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame.
He has washed us with his blood; he has brought us nigh to God.”
“Let us wonder grace and justice join and point to mercy’s store.
When through grace in Christ our trust is, justice smiles and asks no more.
He who washed us with his blood has secured our way to God.”[10]
That one will do just fine.
The Offering
Because we are thankful for God’s great provision we give tithes and offerings to Him. We thank God for the temporal blessings of family, food, clothing, shelter and work. And we thank Him for the rich spiritual blessings we have in Christ.
“Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”[11]
As we give we testify we do not worship what money can buy. We demonstrate we are not idolaters. We recognize the Source from whom all blessings flow. We worship by giving to the Lord cheerfully with a thankful heart.[12]
The Doxology
Then we sing again a prayer in response to God.
“Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.”
We sing these words of thanksgiving often to the tune of the Old Hundreth the oldest melody in English hymnody and remember the saints of all time giving the same praise to God for His bounty.
The Reading of Scripture
Biblical preaching is from a text. The Bible is not a jumping off point for existential leaps of faith into the spirit world, nor is it a guidebook for successful living; it is the living Word and voice of God and should be read carefully, deliberately, and with great respect to impress upon those who hear it that God is talking to them. The reading by the minister should end with a statement of faith, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.”[13]
The Prayer of Illumination
Whether one is lost and in need of the gospel or redeemed and in need of grace confirmed again, the Word of God proclaimed is the manna from heaven to feed our hungry souls. Before the Word is preached, the minister of the Word in total and complete reliance upon the Holy Spirit humbly asks God to speak His infallible Word through a fallible man. He prays for God to illumine the heart of the congregation to hear what the Spirit will say to the Church. He asks God to, “Teach us your ways, O LORD, that we may walk in your truth; unite our heart to fear your name. We give thanks to you, O Lord our God, with our whole hearts, and we will glorify your name forever.”[14] Having prayed for himself and the people, God’s minister opens the Book to read, explain, and apply God’s Word.
The Preaching of The Word
Preaching is primary to worship. Preaching, sacrament, and prayer are God’s ordinary means of converting and sanctifying His Church. Preaching is a monologue between Christ and His Church. The pastor speaks for God from the Word of God. His only authority comes from the written text. The pastor is a servant of the Word. Nothing is more important to the worship of God than the preaching of His Word. Therefore, every Sunday the expectation of the men, women, and children of Christ’s Church is that God will to speak to us and we can hardly wait!
“And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate
they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose . . . And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen,’ lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Also . . . the Levites helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.”[15]
God’s minister preaches the revelation of Scripture. He must “preach Christ” and not himself.[16] Preaching from the text God’s people should hear God’s Word through expositional preaching. “For it is by precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here at little there a little”[17] that God’s Voice is heard by God’s people.
A Prayer of Intercession
Having faithfully read, explained, and applied the Scriptures to the Church the pastor then prays for the redeemed to obey and the lost to believe. There are generally no further admonitions, altar calls or emotional appeals. They are not needed. Historical Christianity believes not only in the authority of Scripture but in the absolute sufficiency of the Bible to accomplish what God intends to do in the hearts of every person in the congregation.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”[18]
Confession of Faith
When the sinner, elect and chosen by God, is called to salvation and repents of his sin, that person must also confess his faith and trust in Christ in response to the preaching of the gospel. Therefore, God’s people, all sinners saved by grace, speak with one voice their “Confession of Faith” as an act of worship. Utilizing the Scriptures, biblical creeds and confessions the congregation testifies to who God is, what God has done and who He did it for. The pastor asks the question, “Christian, what do you believe?”
“I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, which was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried: He decended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.”[19]
Through biblical creeds and confessions the Church of the Firstborn confesses with one voice their corporate faith in the foundational doctrines of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself the Cornerstone, as they meet with God on the Lord’s Day.
The Gloria Patri
The Church sings in response a prayer to God: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.” The People of God have sung the Gloria Patri for 1800 years giving witness to the Blessed Trinity throughout all generations. The Gloria Patri was a Trinitarian fight song against the Arian heresy that denied the deity of Christ. Joining with God’s people throughout the ages we lift our voices to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost eternally existing.
The Visible Word
God regularly administers His grace through Sacraments. We need God’s grace sealed to our hearts over and over again. How easily we forget God’s grace to our lives. Regular and frequent administration of the “visible words” of the gospel through Baptism and the Lord’s Supper brings grace to the Church again and again. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are “signs and seals” of the covenant of grace. The signs point us to Christ and the washing of the water of the Word and invite us to spiritually feed on the broken Body of Christ and the cup of the New Covenant by faith. This never gets old or unnecessary. In the preaching of the sermon we heard the Word of God, at Baptism we feel the cleansing of water, and at the Lord’s Table we “taste and see that the Lord is good.”[20]
A Psalm, Hymn or Spiritual Song of Response
We have heard God through reading, preaching and sacrament and have spoken to Him with singing, prayers and confessions. What should we sing in closing response to God? Certainly not something about “Wonderful Us” or some romantic tune, but a psalm, hymn, or spiritual song that speaks of the steadfast faithfulness of the Lord to keep His Word concerning His Church.
“Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father; there is no shadow of turning with thee; thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not; as thou hast been thou forever wilt be. Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see: all I have needed thy hand hath provided – Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”
The Benediction
A prayer of benediction and blessing upon God’s people is not simply an archaic form to end a service. In the benediction God blesses His people through His ministers in response to the congregation’s faithful worship and obedience to what they have heard, believed, prayed and confessed to God. These are not idle words but the blessing of the Lord upon the faithful:
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”[21]
[1] Ezekiel 36:26-27
[2] Revelation 22:17
[3] Trinity Hymnal #302, Christian H. Bateman, 1843
[4] Romans 3:20
[5] Galatians 3:24
[6] Matthew 22:37-40
[7] Psalm 25:6-8, 11
[8] John 20:23
[9] Psalm 32:1-2
[10] Trinity Hymnal #172, Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder, John Newton 1774
[11] Malachi 3:10
[12] II Corinthians 9:7
[13] Taken from Isaiah 40:8
[14] Psalm 86:11-12
[15] Nehemiah 8:1-8
[16] II Corinthians 4:5
[17] Isaiah 28:10
[18] Ephesians 3:20-21
[19] The Apostle’s Creed
[20] Psalm 34:8
[21] Numbers 6:24-26
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thoughts On The Church
Most people I know don’t love the Church. I’m speaking of people who love God and who love some people, but they don’t love the Church. Many feel this way because of past hurts, broken promises, and unfulfilled expectations. Frankly, this side of heaven we should learned to expect that people will fail God; that some people if I given the chance will walk all over our hearts again and again. Yet, we are called to love those who Jesus died for, we are called to fellowship with some people we may not even like, we are called to worship every Lord’s Day with the corporate Body of Christ, and we are called to do it all, faithfully, and with a right heart, because of Jesus!
I once heard a preacher say, “I love the Church. Its people I can’t stand.” Too bad! God didn’t gather to Himself the wise, the powerful and the noble. “God chose what is foolish . . . what is weak . . . what is low and despised . . . so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (I Cor. 1:27-31).
So, before I pick up a rock to throw it at anybody, I’m reminded of the words “The seed of every sin known to man is in my heart” Robert Murray McCheyne. I not only need a Savior, I need a church where I can hear the gospel preached, where the sacraments are administered, and where good and godly elders watch over my soul.
I once heard a preacher say, “I love the Church. Its people I can’t stand.” Too bad! God didn’t gather to Himself the wise, the powerful and the noble. “God chose what is foolish . . . what is weak . . . what is low and despised . . . so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (I Cor. 1:27-31).
So, before I pick up a rock to throw it at anybody, I’m reminded of the words “The seed of every sin known to man is in my heart” Robert Murray McCheyne. I not only need a Savior, I need a church where I can hear the gospel preached, where the sacraments are administered, and where good and godly elders watch over my soul.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Word, Sacrament and Prayer
No matter how much a pastor prepares, how much he prays, or how sincerely he loves God, without people it’s hard to have church. Mission developers in particular are obsessed with the thought of “How do we get people to come to church?” With all good intentions the mission pastor will attempt to figure out some common denominator between the church and the un-churched. This usually results in ministry programs that conforms the church to the demands of the marketplace.
The secret to drawing a crowd is easy – make it about them! Give them music that excites, talks that encourage, and principles for living a victorious life and they will come. On the contrary, give them hymns rich in the theology of the faith, Christ-centered sermons, and a cross driven life and you may have a small crowd. Yet, the ministry whereby Christ communicates His mediation to His people is through Word, sacrament and prayer. It is through these “ordinary means” that God enlightens, convicts and humbles sinners; “driving them out of themselves, and drawing them unto Christ . . . ” (WLC, Q. 155).
I’m aware of the pressures pastors feel to bend under the weight of cultural demands in ministry. I understand well the drawing power of programs that appear relevant to the “felt needs” of people. Drawing a crowd is easy. Doing ministry God’s way is hard. In fact, building a church is impossible apart from the miracle that happens when ministers are faithful in proclaiming the Word of God.
The secret to drawing a crowd is easy – make it about them! Give them music that excites, talks that encourage, and principles for living a victorious life and they will come. On the contrary, give them hymns rich in the theology of the faith, Christ-centered sermons, and a cross driven life and you may have a small crowd. Yet, the ministry whereby Christ communicates His mediation to His people is through Word, sacrament and prayer. It is through these “ordinary means” that God enlightens, convicts and humbles sinners; “driving them out of themselves, and drawing them unto Christ . . . ” (WLC, Q. 155).
I’m aware of the pressures pastors feel to bend under the weight of cultural demands in ministry. I understand well the drawing power of programs that appear relevant to the “felt needs” of people. Drawing a crowd is easy. Doing ministry God’s way is hard. In fact, building a church is impossible apart from the miracle that happens when ministers are faithful in proclaiming the Word of God.
Heresy as Orthodoxy
All people believe. They all believe in something or someone. People base their lives here and their lives hereafter on what they believe about God, gods, and themselves. Unfortunately, believing does not make it true! The problem is that most people, atheists and agnostics excluded, in some way believe in the Bible. Even heretics make their appeal to Scripture to justify departure from orthodoxy.
In our culture the subjective, experiential, and existential aspects of one’s personal spiritual journey is beyond question. The credo “I just believe that . . . .” is not to be judged, challenged or disputed. Someone might as well say, “What I believe is true for me and if it works for me who is anyone to say it’s wrong?” People become so psychologically invested in what they personally believe that they demand the right to believe and they insist everyone must respect that belief even if that belief makes no rational or biblical sense. The only requirement of belief is that it be sincere. Non-Christian writer, Curtis White described in Harper’s Weekly this type of subjective, narcissistic, belief this way, “Yahweh and Baal – my God and yours – stroll arm in arm, as if to do so were the model of virtue itself.”
In his article “Hot Air Gods”, White went on to say “Consequently, it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that our truest belief is the credo of heresy itself. It is heresy without an orthodoxy. It is heresy as orthodoxy. The entitlement to belief is the right of each to his own heresy. Religious freedom has come to this: where everyone is free to believe whatever she likes, there is no real shared conviction at all and hence no church and certainly no community.” Over 10 years ago in the publication Modern Reformation, Shane Rosenthal humorously described this contemporary spiritual anarchy with the question, “Was That Your Karma That Ran Over My Dogma?”
Fighting liberalism was easy. Liberals outright denied the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. We don’t need to go any further in recognizing that liberal Christianity is not Christianity at all. Machen settled that argument. New Age mysticism with its “the divine within us all” mantra discovered through serious “naval” contemplation is both irrational and blasphemous. And I’m not sure that outside of California, Public Broadcasting, and the Ivy League anyone really cares.
But what happens when everything sounds Christian, the terms are right, yet the practice of the faith smacks of “another gospel”? The great threat to evangelical Christianity in our day is not that which is evidently false but that which tickles our ears and seems right but isn’t; where subjective spiritual experiences and a undefined personal relationship with Jesus (or whoever) stand above and authoritatively over the clear doctrines of Scripture. This results in the God of Scripture being reinterpreted to reflect a god we can live with. As Dorothy Sayers, the British playwright of the last century said, “We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him ‘meek and mild,’ and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.”
To put this in an historical perspective, during the Reformation the formal principle was whether the Church was over the Bible or the Bible over the Church. In our day I think the issue is whether the Individual will be shaped by the Scripture and thereby be conformed to Christ or whether the Individual will look into the mirror of the Bible and only see god in his own image.
“We are thus the congregation of the Church of the Infinitely Fractured, splendidly alone together.” Curtis White, Harper’s Weekly, December 2007
In our culture the subjective, experiential, and existential aspects of one’s personal spiritual journey is beyond question. The credo “I just believe that . . . .” is not to be judged, challenged or disputed. Someone might as well say, “What I believe is true for me and if it works for me who is anyone to say it’s wrong?” People become so psychologically invested in what they personally believe that they demand the right to believe and they insist everyone must respect that belief even if that belief makes no rational or biblical sense. The only requirement of belief is that it be sincere. Non-Christian writer, Curtis White described in Harper’s Weekly this type of subjective, narcissistic, belief this way, “Yahweh and Baal – my God and yours – stroll arm in arm, as if to do so were the model of virtue itself.”
In his article “Hot Air Gods”, White went on to say “Consequently, it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that our truest belief is the credo of heresy itself. It is heresy without an orthodoxy. It is heresy as orthodoxy. The entitlement to belief is the right of each to his own heresy. Religious freedom has come to this: where everyone is free to believe whatever she likes, there is no real shared conviction at all and hence no church and certainly no community.” Over 10 years ago in the publication Modern Reformation, Shane Rosenthal humorously described this contemporary spiritual anarchy with the question, “Was That Your Karma That Ran Over My Dogma?”
Fighting liberalism was easy. Liberals outright denied the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. We don’t need to go any further in recognizing that liberal Christianity is not Christianity at all. Machen settled that argument. New Age mysticism with its “the divine within us all” mantra discovered through serious “naval” contemplation is both irrational and blasphemous. And I’m not sure that outside of California, Public Broadcasting, and the Ivy League anyone really cares.
But what happens when everything sounds Christian, the terms are right, yet the practice of the faith smacks of “another gospel”? The great threat to evangelical Christianity in our day is not that which is evidently false but that which tickles our ears and seems right but isn’t; where subjective spiritual experiences and a undefined personal relationship with Jesus (or whoever) stand above and authoritatively over the clear doctrines of Scripture. This results in the God of Scripture being reinterpreted to reflect a god we can live with. As Dorothy Sayers, the British playwright of the last century said, “We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him ‘meek and mild,’ and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.”
To put this in an historical perspective, during the Reformation the formal principle was whether the Church was over the Bible or the Bible over the Church. In our day I think the issue is whether the Individual will be shaped by the Scripture and thereby be conformed to Christ or whether the Individual will look into the mirror of the Bible and only see god in his own image.
“We are thus the congregation of the Church of the Infinitely Fractured, splendidly alone together.” Curtis White, Harper’s Weekly, December 2007
Friday, March 28, 2008
Why The Reformed Faith?
Please come and invite your friends to join us at Covenant of Grace Presbyterian Church on Sundays at 6:00 pm for a series entitled "Why The Reformed Faith?" I will be teaching this series and we will study the distinctives of Reformed Theology and why we believe it is the clearest and most systematic expression of what the Word of God teaches.
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