O Come Let us Worship

Rev. Cory Griess, pastor of Calvary PRC, HUll, IA

The Standard Bearer, Volume 89, Number 4 (November 15, 2012)

Called into His Presence: The Opening Service (1)

"Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Psalm 124:8 

"To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:  Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 1:7 

Introduction

    We have studied three great biblical principles of worship so far.  The first is that public worship is a covenantal assembly gathered to meet with the living God.  From that principle we drew other principles:  public worship must be simple, centered on the Word, joyful, and reverent.  The second great principle of public worship is that this covenantal assembly is carried out as a dialogue between God and His people.  God speaks, and we respond in worship and praise.  The corporate worship service is the experience, therefore, of covenantal communion.  The third principle is that this meeting of the people of God with their God in a dialogue of the covenant is regulated by God Himself.  He tells us what elements should be in the worship of His name.  He tells us what the character of worship should be.  Worship must be after His heart.

    From now to the end of the series of articles on worship, we will go through the various aspects of biblical and Reformed worship.  We will focus mainly on the elements of worship as they are seen in Reformed worship generally, but carried out in a typical Protestant Reformed worship service specifically.

    In this article and the next, we cover what has sometimes been called “the opening service.”   It is the part of the worship service that includes the call to worship (if it is understood to be part of worship), the doxology, salutation, votum, and benediction.  This opening service is in a sense introductory.  It is not less important, but introductory.  All of it has God ushering us into His presence and we willingly coming as a body to gather before Him in covenantal love.

The Call to Worship

    The first aspect is the call to worship.  It is debated whether or not the call to worship—and silent prayer following it—are part of the actual worship service of the church.  Some would say that it is not.  I believe that it is.  In Protestant Reformed worship services that have a call to worship, and in the services of other churches that have a call to worship, there is nothing to indicate that it is separate from the actual worship service of the church.  If you asked anyone who was ignorant of the issue, I believe he would think that the service has begun with the call to worship.

    In addition, the concept of a call to worship is a right and biblical one.  In all of salvation God is the sovereign God who calls us to Himself.  It is not we who say first that we will come to Him, but He who first powerfully says, “Come to Me”(Matt. 11:28).  In the garden, after Adam and Eve fell into sin, it was not Adam who sought out God, but God who called out to Adam, “Where art thou?” (Gen. 3:9).  That is, “Come into my presence; appear before me.”  When Israel was led out of bondage in Egypt and unto the base of Mt. Sinai to worship, it was not the Israelites who took the initiative.  God did:  “Out of Egypt I have called my Son” (Hos. 11:1; Matt. 2:15).

    This is true also of the covenantal meeting that takes place between God and His people.

    God calls this meeting.  He irresistibly beckons us to gather before Him in public worship.  And so the Scriptures contain inspired calls to worship such as the verse that makes up the rubric of this series (Psalm 95:6), “O come, let us worship and bow down:  let us kneel before the Lord our maker.” 

    Such a call is necessary.  We must be called by God’s almighty voice to come to worship Him.  We are lost on our own.  Though worship is the chief end of man and man’s highest joy, we are so earthly minded that if not called to it we would not come.  It takes faith to see and love what is happening here in the service, and we are often weak.  Therefore we must be called to faith and called to come to assemble before our God in faith.  The call to worship that draws us into covenantal communion in the service testifies to the truth of all God’s sovereign work to draw us to Himself in the covenant of grace. 

    As God in His Word calls us, His call enlivens our faith to see and know what we are doing here before Him.  The congregation responds first in prayer.  The purpose of this silent prayer is for us personally to set our hearts aright to come into His presence.  Though we pray as individuals, silent prayer also prepares us to come as one body, spiritually united and spiritually prepared to come before God.  We are one body by the union we have with Jesus Christ, and silent prayer prepares us to come as one body conscious of that spiritual union.  We all as individuals set our hearts right to come before God, and by doing that as individuals, we come before God individually prepared all together.  Whatever we include in this prayer, therefore, part of it must be giving of thanks for God’s calling us into His presence, an expression of a need to be in His presence, a willingness to come humbly before Him, and an expression of the desire for Him to unite us together as one body before Him that we might together glorify His name. 

    We respond to His call secondly with praise to His glorious name in the opening doxology.

    Let us not sing those words without thinking, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below, praise Him above ye heavenly host, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”

    Called by God to worship, we respond in praise.  But as we are called, we realize it is not just we in this congregation who are called to worship.  Immediately we are aware that this assembly of our local congregation is an expression of the grand host gathered before God.  The doxology reminds us that we join the voices of all creation, all true people of God on this earth, and all the host in heaven (Heb. 12:23). in exalting our triune God.  We are part of the grand universal body gathered before Him in adoration and praise. 

Salutation

    Having called His people to Himself, as they now are assembled as one in His presence in prayer and praise, God greets us in the words of the salutation.  The salutation is one phrase—it is easy not to pay attention to it—but it is a phrase essential to God’s people and their worship.  “Beloved congregation in the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Or, “Beloved of God, called to be saints.” 

    This is God greeting His people.  God speaks these words.  The minister says them on behalf of God, but it is God’s greeting to His church.^[1]  That is how we must hear the salutation too. Why would it matter if in the minister’s estimation you were beloved of God?  What matters is that in God’s estimation this is your position.  And what matters is that He is willing to tell you so. 

    In this greeting, God addresses the congregation as a whole, “Beloved congregation.”  The apostle Paul addresses the whole church at Rome with the inspired greeting of Romans 1:7:  “Beloved of God, called to be saints.”  He does that even though there may be unbelievers present.  There may be unbelievers who visit the service.  There may be a carnal element in the body.  Those unbelievers may be given attention in the service, attention as unbelievers at times.  Yet, worship is the meeting of the true covenantal assembly with God, and the congregation gathered is addressed as such.  A wheat field might have weeds in it, and you give those weeds in your field attention as weeds at times, but it is still a wheat field and is called a wheat field and treated as a wheat field. 

    Children are addressed as we bring them into worship with us.  The children of the church are part of the covenantal assembly.  They are not visitors; they are members.  They are not observers; they are participants.  God speaks to them as He speaks to the adults when He says, “Beloved congregation.”  Those who are weak are addressed along with the strong; those greatly gifted along with those less gifted.  The diverse congregation is greeted as one body, the congregation of the living God gathered before Him. 

    God calls them “beloved.”  The word “beloved” is used in the greeting because so often in the New Testament the people of God are addressed as God’s beloved.  Just read I John 3 or II Peter 2.^[2]  In addition, in the inspired greeting of Romans 1:7 “beloved” is the address. 

    What a wonderful word to hear from God upon entering His presence, “You are my beloved!”  We have sins that we carry with us into the house of God.  We come here to lay them down at the foot of the cross.  Yet we wonder, does God want us here?  Sometimes we see our sins so clearly we think, “Is it really His desire that we enter into His presence?” 

    In addition, we are often troubled by what is happening in our lives or in the world.  Things are not always easy for God’s people.  We come to the service with the distress of Psalm 124 upon us.  Verse 2:  “men have risen up against us”; verse 3:  “their wrath is kindled against us”; verses 4-5:  “Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:  then the proud waters had gone over our soul.”  The troubles that we face are sometimes that great.  It is as though the waters are about to flood over our souls and take us down.  And then we come to the house of God to meet Him, and He says to us from His Word, “Beloved!  You are the objects of my love.  Embraced.  Prized.  Valued.  Held close.”

    What is more, He does not wait to call us His beloved until after we read the law and confess our sins and pray.  But immediately when He meets with us, He greets us as His beloved, as though He can’t wait to tell us.  And He does not hold back, even though we come with sins in our hands, needing forgiveness and needing to experience reconciliation.^[3]

    He declares this publicly.  He is not ashamed to have the whole world hear that He addresses us as His beloved.  He speaks of us publicly with the same word He used to speak of His only begotten son Jesus Christ. Remember what He announced publicly to the world at Jesus’ baptism:  “This is my beloved Son!”

    Likewise here, He announces to the world that we are His beloved sons and daughters by adoption, dear to Him as His only begotten is dear to Him.

    Faith believes this. Faith hears this and knows Jehovah is saying this to me as part of the body.  And faith believes this because it knows we are Jehovah’s beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ.  If I wonder, “Can I believe Him when He says ‘beloved’ at the beginning of the service?” the undoubted assurance and proof that it is true is because we are in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Even though we come with sin and need to experience reconciliation, we are objectively reconciled in the Lord Jesus.  In Him we are beloved as He is beloved. 

Votum

    In response to God’s sovereign voice in the salutation, we respond with the words of the votum.

    The word votum means “vow.”  The words are a vow expressed by the congregation to God in both prayer and praise taken from Psalm 124:8:  “Our help is in the name of Jehovah, who made heaven and earth.”

    This vow is our response to the fact that Jehovah has called us “beloved!”  We have come with our troubles both physical and spiritual, concerning which Psalm 124 itself speaks.  And God has called us “beloved.”  Now we know we are safe and are accepted in His sight.  Thus, we speak with Psalm 124 not only about our troubles, but also about the fact that the Lord is on our side (v. 2); that He has not given us as prey to their teeth (v. 6).  Therefore, we can corporately take the last words of Psalm 124:8 upon our lips, “Our help is in the name of Jehovah, who made heaven and earth.”

    When we say those words, we are saying to Him, “God, our help is not found in this world.  Whatever the trial we bear, we do not turn to the gods of this world for assistance.  We call upon Thee and turn to Thee for help, the maker of heaven and earth, the one who is in control of all.  We turn to the one who is Jehovah, the God of the covenant, who has just told us we are His beloved covenant children.  We know now that on our pilgrimage we will be safe with Thee.”  And when we say those words we are not just saying that our help is in Jehovah now—that is, for the time that we are in this service.  Rather, we are confessing and vowing that our help is always in His name.  All along life’s journey He is our strength, and He will lead us to glory.

    The congregation is speaking this to God.  This is true even though the minister is the one who says it.

    The minister functions in the worship service at times in such a way that He is used to speak God’s words to the people in this dialogue, and also at times the people’s words to God in this dialogue.  We do not always think about this with respect to the votum because it follows so quickly upon the salutation, and the minister speaks it.  Although it is acceptable that the minister speaks these words, it is my contention that it would be beneficial for the congregation to say the votum in unison rather than having the minister speak it.  It is not necessary that the minister speak this (as it is necessary for the minister to speak for the congregation in congregational prayer), and if the congregation did speak it, it would highlight the dialogue that is taking place.  One could also argue that it would do greater justice to the priesthood of all believers.^[4]  Regardless, the votum is the response of the congregation, trusting in and magnifying the sovereign love of Jehovah God.

Benediction

    Finally, Jehovah speaks in this opening service by pronouncing His benediction upon us.  Often the words from the benedictions of the apostle Paul in his epistles are used.  For example, Romans 1:7:  “Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Often the words, “through the operation of the Holy Spirit,” are added to that to make it explicitly trinitarian.  A benediction that is itself trinitarian and can be quoted directly from Scripture is the one given by the apostle John in Revelation 1:4-5, “Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.”

    There is another benediction or blessing at the end of the service.  This is often the benediction found in the last verse of II Corinthians, although there are others.  With this benediction God dismisses His people with His blessing as He has greeted them with His blessing.  This follows the example provided us in the inspired epistles of the apostles.  The apostles used benedictions as bookends at the beginning and ending of their epistles, and we follow that example in our worship service.  God blesses His people coming into His presence, and He blesses them as they leave His presence.  

    Again, in the benedictions God speaks.  Only now, God is not just speaking to His people, He is pronouncing a blessing upon His people.  This means God is not saying, “I hope you have grace and mercy and peace.”  Or, “This is my wish for you.”  Rather, He is setting grace and mercy and peace upon us in the benediction.  In the Old Testament, when Isaac gave Jacob the blessing that he intended to give to Esau, Esau cried out that Isaac should take back what he said to Jacob and give it to him.  Isaac responded, “I…have blessed him...and he shall be blessed” (Gen. 27:33).  Isaac could not take it back.  It could not be reversed; it was done.  So effectual was the blessing.  It was a pronouncement made upon Jacob that could not be reversed.  So too when God pronounces His blessing upon us, it is not as though God does that on a whim.  It is not just a nice wish.  This is His pronouncement for His people.  And it effects what it speaks.  We have His grace and mercy and peace with Him in Christ, and we know that because He pronounces it upon us.

    We come to the house of God needing this blessing.  We must know that God has created peace between us and Him.  Then everything in our life, even if it does not immediately make sense, can be seen through the lenses of our peace with Him and the truth that He works for our good.  Thus, we cannot help but respond with the first Psalter number in a song of praise and adoration to His name.

            In our next article we will examine the opening service as a whole, and see its function in the broader context of a Reformed order of worship. 

O Come Let Us Worship

Rev. Cory Griess, pastor of Calvary PRC, Hull, IA

The Standard Bearer, Volume 89, number 8 (January 15, 2013)

Called into His Presence: The Opening Service (2)

Introduction

    Last time we examined the various aspects of what has sometimes been called “the opening service.”  This section of the liturgy includes the call to worship, doxology, salutation, votum, and benediction.  In this article we take a step back and see the importance of this first part of the order of worship in context, especially as we remember that worship is a covenantal assembly with Jehovah.

The Purpose of the Opening Service

    You have perhaps noticed that these aspects of the opening service are not strictly the elements of worship that are demanded by the Regulative Principle.  The reason for this is that though these aspects of the opening service are part of the worship service, they do not represent the heart of the service.  They are biblical, and they go back in Reformed worship at least to the time of Calvin.^[1]  The use of the benediction in particular goes back to biblical times.^[2]  But these, what I will call “minor” elements, are the opening service, not the heart of the covenantal meeting.

    However, “minor elements” does not mean “unnecessary elements.”  This opening service is necessary.  It is necessary simply by virtue of what the public corporate worship service is—the covenantal assembly meeting with Jehovah God.  The purpose of the opening service is to usher us into God’s presence.

A Formal Introduction

    We do not come into God’s presence presumptuously.  We do not come to the house of God and start speaking to Him as though we happened to bump into Him on the street.  There is a certain formality to this meeting.  He is the God of heaven and earth; we are dust creatures.  There must be a proper leading into the communion and fellowship of the meeting.^[3]

    This is similar to the way one would be called to come before a king in the Middle Ages.  You would not just waltz into the throne room as though you had a right to come before the king in yourself.  You would not start speaking as though the king were any common man.  There are the proper introductions that must take place.  The king has to beckon you into his presence in the proper fashion.  Even if you were the one who wanted the meeting, you would not come into the throne room until the king called you to come in.  When the king did call you in, you would respond with an expression of humility and praise for the king’s majesty.  Then the king would greet you perhaps.  You would in turn express that you are in need of his help, and there is nowhere else you would turn for that help. He would receive you with his blessing.  And only then, after you had been ushered into his presence in this proper way, would you get into the heart of what the meeting was about.

    This is what is happening in the opening service.  God is leading us into His presence, but in such a way that we know He is God and our sovereign, and we are His creatures.  He sovereignly calls us into His presence in the call to worship.  We respond in humility and praise for His majesty in the silent prayer and doxology.  He greets us with the salutation.  In the votum we express that we are in need of His help and depend on Him for what we need.  He receives us with His blessing, assuring us of His help in the benediction.  And only after this may the heart of the meeting between God and us take place. 

A Familiar Introduction

    But not only is there a certain formality to the way God ushers us into His presence, there is also a certain familiarity.  For not only is God our Sovereign, He is our Father and Friend.  If we go back to the illustration of coming before a king in the Middle Ages, but add another element to that illustration, this becomes clear.  Assume now that this person who seeks an audience with the king is not only the king’s subject, but also the king’s son.  In this case there would still be formality, for the son is still the king’s subject.  But the formalities would be infused with love, warmth, grace, and tenderness, for this subject is also the king’s son.

   This, too, we have in the opening service.  The formal structure is there to usher us into the presence of the sovereign God properly, but that structure is filled with language that breathes love and warmth and sonship.  We are being ushered into the presence of our Father!  He calls us His beloved as He greets us.  We are not merely citizens of His country, but citizens who are also sons!  He breathes not some vague, cold, strictly formal blessing upon us, but He pronounces the blessing of His heart upon His children whom He loves.  “Grace to you and peace, my children,” He says. And we sing not only because He is sovereign, but also because He is all love towards His children in His sovereignty.  We vow that He is our help, not simply because He is King and able, but because He is Father and willing. 

Formality and Familiarity in the Covenant

    It is this wonderful combination of formality and familiarity in the opening service that makes it so perfectly covenantal.  The covenant is the relationship between God the friend-sovereign and His people the friend-servants.  It is a structured fellowship.  There must be the recognition that He is God of heaven and earth, a consuming fire in His holiness, perfectly just, so far above us.  But at the same time there must be the recognition that this God is our Father and Friend who has redeemed us and cares for us and loves us and draws us close because He loves to have us close.  

    The opening service is a biblical and precise representation of this covenant relationship as we are ushered into the presence of God.  And having thus been brought in, we engage in the main elements of worship in reverence, and also in the sweetest, closest communion and love.  Ushered in to Him in this way, we are free to participate in the main reasons for the meeting with the same formality and familiarity.  God speaks to us His law as sovereign and Father.  He absolves our sins and speaks comfortably to us in His Word, as Holy, Just, and Merciful.  And we respond with a reverent and deep filial adoration in song and prayer and giving in the heart of the service. 

The Comfort in the Opening Service

    There are two voices in the world today speaking to us about life and purpose and meaning and joy.  There is the voice of man, and there is the voice of God.  The voice of man calls out and tells the church that life and purpose and meaning and joy are found in pursuing what is temporal.  It is a voice with no authority.  It recognizes no voice from above to lead and to guide.  Ultimately this voice is the voice of Satan himself.  And as in the Garden of Eden, Satan calls the church to come join him and fellowship with him.  He uses the world to call out with lies, “come to me, for at my side there are pleasures forever more.”  But this voice has no true ultimate authority to call us, and we are fools to respond.  Though it pretends to be fatherly and pretends to offer fatherly benefits, this voice is the voice of no father and friend.

    In the opening service of public worship, a different voice calls to us.  It is a voice that calls from above.  It is the voice of God our Creator and our Savior, the voice of true authority.  The voice comes from beyond this world and this life.  It is the voice that tells us who we are, why we are here, and where we are going.  It is the voice of true Fatherhood.  It is the voice that speaks to us of what true peace is in this life.  And this voice of God calls us in the opening service into fellowship.  It tells us that in His presence we will find true purpose, meaning, and joy.

    In the opening service we come by faith, and our response to this voice is that we have no desire to be led by the voice of Satan.  God’s voice, as the voice of power and tender love, is the voice that has our attention.  And we will come to Him for fellowship and for worship.  We will come to Him, and we will leave the world behind.

            And in the opening service, being ushered into God’s presence, God tells us we are His.  He gives us to experience that in His presence is fullness of joy; at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16:11).

O Come Let Us Worship

Rev. Cory Griess, pastor of Calvary PRC, Hull IA

Standard Bearer, Volume 89, Number 11 (March 1, 2013)

Hear Ye Him!  The Reading and Preaching of Scripture in Worship (3)

And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:  So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.

Nehemiah 8:5, 8, 12 

Introduction

    We are engaged in a study of the elements of a Reformed worship service, as those elements are carried out according to the three great principles of Reformed worship.  Recall that last time we finished an exposition of the “opening service.”  We saw that God ushers us into His presence through these first aspects of the service, opening the way for the main elements of our covenantal assembly with Him.  In this article and the next we go straight to the heart of this meeting between God and His people.  We do that by examining the related elements of the reading and preaching of Scripture.  These elements of worship have God speaking most extensively and freely to us in this covenantal assembly. 

The Elements

    The reading and preaching of sacred Scripture are two separate elements of worship that normally go together in the service.  We see that in Nehemiah 8.  In verses 3-4 Ezra first reads the law.  And then Nehemiah 8:7-8 says that he and the Levites preached that word of God.  Since these elements go together they are often lumped together under one heading, as they are in the Heidelberg Catechism when Lord’s Day 38 calls them simply “the hearing of His Word.” 

    There is liberty in how often the Word is read in the service of course.  The Protestant Reformed Churches generally read the Word twice in the morning—in the reading of the law and in the reading of the Scripture that the sermon expounds.  We generally read God’s Word once in the evening in the passage the sermon expounds.  Some churches have an Old Testament and New Testament reading each service, and that is a good practice too.

    There is liberty also in length and form of the sermons, although justice must be done to the exposition and application of the text. And the clamor for shorter and simpler sermons is often indicative of spiritual weakness in the church.

Necessary Elements for Corporate Worship

    As for the elements themselves, there is no liberty.  Both the reading and preaching of Scripture must be part of public corporate worship.  The regulative principle demands the reading and preaching of Scripture in worship.  This is made explicit in II Timothy 4:1-2, where the apostle Paul commands Timothy and all preachers to preach:  “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”  And if the minister is called to preach the Word, then it is implied that that Word must be read as well.  Nonetheless, an explicit call to read Scripture in worship may be found in Colossians 4:16.  

    Besides these texts, the example of the church has always been a church that reads and preaches the Word of God in worship.  When the Christian church began to spread and establish itself, it took over the worship of the Jewish synagogue, only making some changes due to the fact that the Messiah had now come.  The apostle Paul’s mission method was to start working in the synagogue of whatever city he was in, and if the Jews believed in Christ, that synagogue would become a Christian church.  If that happened, the same basic elements of worship in that synagogue also rolled over into Christian worship, only now the content reflected the worship of the name of Jesus and His victory over the curse of the law.  If the Jewish synagogue did not wholly believe, then those who did believe would break off and start a Christian church that looked very much like the synagogue, again with basically the same elements of worship.  Therefore, in the main, the elements of worship in the synagogue were taken into the apostolic church.

    When the Reformation restored biblical worship to the church, the Reformers went back to the New Testament example and saw what the New Testament church did and what elements were used in their worship.  They then established the church’s worship essentially after that New Testament example.  As churches explicitly carrying on the Reformed tradition, we therefore have the same elements in our worship today that Acts 2:42 says were in the worship of the New Testament church.  In fact, the elements we have in Reformed worship are basically the same elements that have been in the worship services of God’s people since the time of the Babylonian captivity, when the Jewish synagogue arose.

    The chief element of synagogue worship, going all the way back to the start, was the reading and preaching of Scripture.  Indeed, one authority on the subject states that “the primary purpose of the synagogue was to enable men to hear the law read and expounded.”^[1]  The ministry of the Word was at the heart of the Jewish worship service, and this remained true in New Testament worship as well.  The reading and preaching of Scripture was the primary, central element of worship and the heart of the covenantal assembly. 

    Where did the Jews learn to have the reading and preaching of Scripture primary in their synagogue worship?  Besides the fact that it was logical to do so (their whole history revolved around their response to the revelation of God), the answer is, in Nehemiah chapter 8.  Nehemiah records the history of God’s people shortly after the Babylonian captivity, when synagogue worship had recently begun.  In Nehemiah 8 the people of God held a worship service in which the entire law was read and expounded.  Ezra stood up upon a wooden pulpit (8:4) and proclaimed the Word of the Lord to the people.  This, of course, is very similar to the way we preach our modern sermons.  This practice in which Ezra read and preached to the people was carried on in the Jewish synagogue after this.  Thus, we here in 2013 can trace our element of the preaching and its primary place in worship at least all the way back to Nehemiah 8, the day Ezra got into his pulpit in the re-settled city of Jerusalem.^[2] 

The Importance of These Elements

    The reading and preaching of Scripture are the heartbeat of the church.  Without them there is no church and there is no worship.  If there is to be any commitment to God and understanding of His will, there must be the ministry of the Word amongst His people.  All throughout the Old Testament one sees the truth of this. 

    Whenever there was spiritual decline in Israel, it was because people refused to have the Word of God.  Whenever there was reformation in Israel’s history, it was because the Word was brought back to its place of central importance in the people’s life and worship.  The reformation at the time of King Josiah, for example, was a reformation produced by the Word.  After years of the temple being boarded up under a time of great apostasy, Josiah tells the high priest Hilkiah to open the temple to get things ready for repair.  When he did that, the high priest found the book of Deuteronomy in the temple and had it read to the king. When the king heard the Word of the Lord, he realized how Judah had forsaken God, and he brought God’s people back to the worship of God prescribed in the Word.  He put the Word back into its central place, and that caused reformation in Judah. 

    No surprise, then, that the Reformation of the sixteenth century was a reformation produced by this element of worship.  In the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church had removed the Word from its central place.  In place of the exposition of God’s Word, the Roman Catholic Church put the altar and the mass, with the result that the darkness of ignorance and evil crept over the entire continent of Europe.  The Word was brought back to its central place in the sixteenth century, and over all of Europe the church was reformed according to that Word.  The work of Luther and Calvin and the reformers was to push the altar out of the center of the church, and to replace it with the pulpit.  It was the ministry of the Word that turned the world upside down.

    The Reformed carry that conviction on, by God’s grace, in their worship of God.  The reading and preaching of Scripture is the heart of the service.  That is seen even in the way we order the furniture in the church.  The pulpit stands in the center, indicating that the essence of the covenantal meeting with Jehovah is God speaking to us in His Word.  We must have Him speak His will to us, for we are His people.

    We have said that the worship service is the covenantal meeting between God and His people, and that that meeting is carried out as a dialogue between God and us.  There are other parts of the service where God speaks—the salutation, benedictions, etc.  But it is here at this point in the service where God speaks to us fully and freely as the God of the covenant.  In the opening service God ushers us into this meeting, but He does so for this purpose, that He might speak to us intimately and substantially in His Word.

    Who would not want this to be the central and primary part of worship?  It is sad when one sees the pulpit in churches today moved off to the side to make room for the band or the choir.  That often is a sign of what is happening to the reading and preaching of Scripture.  The ministry of the Word is being pushed to the side.  It is losing its chief place, and God’s voice is not favored in worship.  This is why we come week to week, to meet with God, to hear Him apply His gospel to our souls and to give us marching orders for the week that lies ahead, and to praise Him and worship Him in response.

            Here we receive the life of God.  Here the Spirit works through the Word to fill our weary souls.  In the preaching, as in the opening service, God speaks to us as our Friend-Sovereign.  Here there is both the formality and familiarity of the covenant of grace.  There is authority and there is love.  With His Word He convicts us, He corrects us, He charges us.  With His Word He also frees us in Christ, protects us, delights in us.  He speaks as a king and a father speaks to his subjects and sons.

O Come Let Us Worship

Rev. Cory Griess, pastor of Calvary PRC, Hull IA

Standard Bearer, Volume 89, Number 16 (May 15, 2013)

Hear Ye Him!  The Reading and Preaching of Scripture in Worship (4)

And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.  And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power:  for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Revelation 4:2, 9-11

Introduction

    In our series on Reformed worship, we have moved beyond principle to an examination of the elements of corporate worship as they are carried out according to the principles of God’s Word.  We first examined the aspects of the “opening service,” where God ushers us into His presence.  Currently, we are studying the heart of the covenantal meeting between God and His people, the reading and preaching of Scripture.  The ministry of the Word is the heart of the worship service.  Here, God speaks to us as our King and Father in the covenant of grace.  We discussed last time the necessity and importance of this aspect of the worship service.  Now we examine the carrying out of the reading and preaching of Scripture and the relationship of these elements to all worship.

The Elements Carried Out

    If the ministry of the Word is going to be God Himself speaking to us, it must be a faithful reading and faithful exposition of that Word.  Only when the Word has its say does the ministry of the Word come with the authority of God Himself to His people.  Then it is not the minister who makes exhortations; it is not the minister’s doctrine being taught; it is not the minister giving encouragement, it is God in Christ who speaks these things.

    In Nehemiah 8, Ezra and the people understood this.  That is why the message Ezra and the Levites brought to the people was not their own message, but an exposition of Scripture—the words of God.  We have in Nehemiah 8 an example of expository preaching in a public worship service.  All the people of Israel are gathered in Jerusalem; a massive crowd is there to worship the Lord. Ezra stands up and reads the law in verses 3-4.  And then, in verses 7-8, the Levites and 13 priests “caused the people to understand the law.  So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.”  Ezra read a portion, and then the other men, whom you can be sure were trained by Ezra, went around through the crowds and expounded that portion of the Word.  They “gave the sense,” or explained what it meant and applied it to the people.  Then Ezra read more, and they explained that portion to the people, so that they caused the people to understand.

    This is what true preaching is and must be.  It must take a portion of God’s Word and give the sense, that is, expound it and apply it.  Therefore, the preaching must not be the minister’s own agenda, but the Word of God Himself faithfully expounded.  The minister is an exegete of Scripture.  The word “exegete” means “to lead out of.”  This is what the minister must do.  The content of the sermon is what he has led out of the Word, so that it is God in His Word speaking to the people.  At the end of the sermon the people ought to be able to say, “I now know what that passage of Scripture means and how it applies to my life.  I know what God has to say to me in that passage.”  The people ought also to understand that the preaching they heard, if it was faithful, was God’s Word coming to them, not the minister’s.

    If the ministry of the Word is to be authoritative, the sermon must come from someone who is trained and has the gifts to understand and expound the Word of God.  He must be someone who has been taught the Word of God and its principles of interpretation, as were the Levites who preached in Nehemiah 8.  He must be someone whom the church recognizes as having these abilities, and therefore someone the church calls to expound the Word.  It must be this way because the congregation needs to hear God’s voice in His Word.  The church therefore does not put someone upon the pulpit who cannot give the sense of the Word of God.

    At Jesus’ transfiguration God declared publicly, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”  When the preaching of the Word is faithful to the Word of God, God says the same thing:  “Christ is speaking, hear Him.”  That does not mean the minister turns into Jesus.  It means that the Word of God proclaimed is Christ’s Word.  The authority is not merely in the minister himself (although the man in the office should be respected for his office), it is primarily in the Word of God.  If the preaching is not faithful to the Word, God’s people not only may, but also must protest it (with a willingness to see that they might be wrong themselves and a willingness to submit to a multitude of counselors).  But when the preaching is faithful to that Word, then God says, “You are hearing Christ My Son in those words.  Hear Him, listen to Him.”

    Do you listen to Him?  Do you give Him your undivided attention?  It really comes down to a matter of trust.  Do you trust Him?  If you do not trust a person speaking to you, he can talk all he wants but you will not listen.  However, if you do trust the one speaking, but you do not listen, then you are a fool.  Who is more trustworthy to interpret your life than Christ?  Hear Him!  God in Christ is speaking to us in His Word.  Do not harden your heart against His words, but come prepared to hear Christ Himself speak to you—to receive comfort for the soul from Him, to receive correction from Him, to hear Him tell you that you are His.  Why would we sleep or daydream, when we could be hearing the words of Christ to us?  We must be actively involved in the sermon, giving our full attention to what is being said, following the argument carefully.

    In addition, as we receive the Word with our heads, we must receive it also with our hearts.  As our hearts receive the Word, we must praise God for it.  There ought to be worship happening in the hearts of the people of God as they are under the ministry of the Word.  In this way, there is a mini dialogue within the grand dialogue.  As God speaks, our minds and hearts are attentive, and we respond in our souls as we receive the Word.

The Word Produces Worship

    In God’s people the Word read and proclaimed produces worship.  Really all of worship depends upon the reading and preaching of Scripture.  First of all, all the other elements of worship depend upon the reading and preaching of Scripture being at the center of our life and worship.  How can we sing and pray to a God we do not know?  He must reveal Himself to us in His Word.  What motivation would we have to give to the Lord in the offering if He did not speak to us in His Word and declare His gospel of forgiving grace to us?  What help is the law read to us in the service, if we do not know the God who gives it?  If there is no gospel proclaimed to justify us, why would we worship at all, for the guilt of our sin would remain upon us?  Even the call to worship, the salutation, and the benediction would be meaningless were it not for the reading and proclamation of Scripture.  Who cares if we are being called to worship if we do not know the God who is calling us?  We must know Him as His Word reveals Him. 

    But when Christ speaks to us in His Word week after week, then we can respond with song and prayer from the heart.  This is what we see from Revelation 4.  In this passage, John sees a vision of heaven after the church is redeemed.  The saints are all together without sin, worshiping before the throne of God.  In this vision, John sees God upon His throne. He is glorious.  He is like a red sardius stone—a picture of His terrible wrath and justice.  He is also like a jasper stone—a picture of His righteousness and purity.  He has lightnings and thunderings and voices coming out of the throne, something that makes one think of God giving the law on Sinai—a picture again of His power and majesty and wisdom.

    John sees the 24 elders gathered about this throne.  Those 24 elders represent the whole church—the Old Testament 12 tribes of Israel, and the New Testament 12 apostles.  Every elect believer is gathered there, and all the purified creation is there too.  There are four beasts that represent all the different parts of God’s creation.  They have eyes all around their heads, and with all of them they are looking at God upon His throne.  Together they cry out, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come!”  The church, represented by the 24 elders, worships Him as well.  Verses 10-11:  “They fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power.”

    What is recorded here is the very definition of worship.  First, the elders fall down before Him.  That indicates absolute humility before God.  When the wise men came to worship the baby Jesus, they fell down before Him.  Falling down is saying that I am nothing, and Thou art everything.  Second, the elders express their humble devotion, “Thou art worthy, O Lord.”  That is worship, recognizing the worth of God and praising Him for it.  Third, the elders lay down their crowns, saying in effect, “Thou art worthy, and we are not, and we place whatever worth we have before Thee at Thy throne.”

    But the question is, why do they fall down, and why do they lay their crowns at His feet, and why do they cry out that God is worthy?  The answer is, because they saw Him.  They saw Him in His majesty and glory, and seeing Him they knew they were nothing and He was everything.

    This is what happens in the proper preaching of God’s Word, we see God upon His throne.  In the Word, God communicates Himself to us, “This is who I am, the glorious, sovereign God.”  He declares His worth to our minds and hearts.  And in the preaching of the Word He tells us who we are, nothing before Him, yet those whom He has loved and redeemed.  O, how we need this!  How quickly we lose sight of His glory and majesty! And how quickly we lose sight of our own unworthiness!  We are self-deceivers.  We need God to tell us who we are, specks of dust in this universe.  We need God in His Word to tell us that apart from Him we are damn-worthy rebels.  But we need God in His Word to tell us that we are damn-worthy rebels who are never apart from Him.  We need to hear Him say we are a people cared for by the God of the universe, redeemed in the cross of Jesus Christ, and in Him elevated to a position of honor before God’s throne.

    It is this that makes us fall down before God and cry out, “Thou art worthy, O Lord!”  Without regular preaching in our lives, we do not want to come to church for the purpose of worship.  Without God’s Word proclaimed regularly, we do not come to church with the desire in our hearts to fall down and exalt His worth.  When we do not know Him and His plan of redemption in His Word, we come to church instead for the purpose of having it out with God.  And when we do not know ourselves properly, we come to church with “why’s” in our hearts instead of worship in our hearts.^[1]  “God is going to meet with his people?  Good, because I have some questions for Him.  Why is this happening in my life?  Who does He think He is?  What is He doing with all this trouble and suffering in this world?”

    It is only when we know Him as He is in His Word, and it is only when, from His Word, we know ourselves as nothing in His sight yet redeemed by grace, that we come ready to fall down and worship.  Then the “whys” go away.  And even though we do not know all the answers, we can trust Him and simply worship, for He is God, and we are not.  We can sing to Him of His sovereignty.  We can sing to Him of appreciation for His love.  We can pray to Him, thankful that this majestic One is our Father.  And we can turn all of our questions into the statement of the elders in verse 11:  “Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” 

The Believer’s Attitude

            Knowing this, what then ought to be our attitude toward the reading and preaching of the Word in the covenantal assembly?  It ought to be the attitude of the Israelites in Nehemiah 8.  First, we ought to be as attentive to it as they were.  Nehemiah 8:4:  “and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.”  Second, we ought to have a deep reverence for the Word and know the privilege it is to hear it.  Verse 5:  “And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people…and when he opened it all the people stood up.”  Standing was the Old Testament saints’ way of honoring the Word of Jehovah God.  They stood as one would stand when a dignitary walks into the room.  Third, we ought to desire it with all that is in us.  Notice verse 1 of Nehemiah 8.  The people gathered as one man, “and they spake to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses.”  They did not wait for Ezra to bring God’s Word out.  They wanted to hear what God had to say to them, so they went to Ezra and said, “Go up to that pulpit and declare to us the Word of the Lord!”  Fourth, we ought to take great joy when the Spirit works in us to hear and understand that Word with minds and hearts.  Verse 12:  “And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.”