A Nice Thing to Do on Sunday Morning?

Worship on the Lord’s Day is the most important activity that we can do, not only because it shapes or defines us as the people of God, but because God calls us to obey His summons to the sacred assembly.

Psalm 95:1-7

1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD!

Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;

Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

3 For the LORD is the great God,

And the great King above all gods.

4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth;

The heights of the hills are His also.

5 The sea is His, for He made it;

And His hands formed the dry land.

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

7 For He is our God,

And we are the people of His pasture,

And the sheep of His hand.

This is not simply a suggestion for a nice thing to do on a Sunday morning! It is not just another addition to our weekly calendar...let’s see on Monday I go to the gym, Tuesday I have my hair done, Wednesday I’ll pick up the kids at school and go shopping, Thursday is catch up on email, Facebook, and the afternoon Soaps, Friday is family night out, and Saturday do all the yard-work, clean the house....oh yeah, if the weather is nice Sunday we’ll go to the beach...if it’s raining, we can sleep in...or maybe go to church. You know that Americans are pretty nonchalant about church attendance. After all it would be legalistic to require it. Of course that might be true if someone with no authority were commanding you to do something you didn’t want to do. Such is not the case with divine worship. It is Almighty God Who calls you and to stay away from worship on the Lord’s Day is disobedience. To ignore His command to worship is to show your Lord, your Creator, your Redeemer contempt. You cannot consider yourself a faithful Christian without worshiping the Lord in the assembly of the saints on the Lord’s Day! Praying at home is not covenant renewal worship, having father-led family devotions is not covenant renewal worship. This is why the Hebrews writer says that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some.

Brothers, sisters, and covenant children, worship of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the most important thing we do in life. And since it is so important, we should make sure we get it biblically right. If the goal is to honor Almighty God, then we need to know what He desires in worship.

Is Worship Supposed To Be Happy?

Many Christians are under the mistaken impression that worship is to be a happy time. Many churches seem to be preoccupied with the concern to keep things "positive and upbeat." Where does the Scripture ever tell us that this is to be the norm? One simply has to look at the Psalms to see that worship is not meant to be a time where we just slap a smiley face on everything. The Psalms teach us that in worship there will be times of remorse as we confess our sins. There will be times of overwhelming joy as we hear of the mercy and forgiveness we have in Christ. Every range of human emotion is there. The reality of the Christian life in the struggles of the believer against temptation, suffering, and persecution need to be taken into account in our worship. This is one reason why our church (along with the majority of God's people through history) makes use of the Psalms; and not just in reading, but in singing as well. The Psalms were written to be sung in worship and they capture the full range of human response to being in the presence of God. Mystery and awe, fear and trembling, confusion and questioning, exuberance and joy, stillness and contentment, remorse and sorrow, gratitude and dependence are just some of the human responses and emotions expressed by the inspired writers of the Psalms. And as the Psalms are inspired Scripture, we are called to make the experiences of the Psalmists our own. We are to do this corporately in song, prayer, and confession; not individualistically wrapping ourselves in an emotional cocoon.

The drive to keep everything upbeat is not only unbiblical, it also does real damage to God's people. Worship becomes artificial, contrived, and impoverished. In all honesty, no one will really take it seriously. It encourages the Christians present to think there is something wrong with them if they aren't happy and smiling all the time. Thoughtful unbelievers who are present will reject it as infantile; and many times, they are right.

After leading a worship service several years ago, one of the parishioners came up to me and complained that one of the hymns we sang sounded like a funeral dirge; "mournful and depressing" he called it. I admitted to him that the hymn did sound a bit like a dirge, it was mournful (although, it was not depressing). But, as I explained to him, there was a good reason for it -- we were singing about the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ! The type of music and the mournful tone of the worship at that time was appropriate for us who are united to Christ in His sufferings! The bitter and innocent suffering of Christ in enduring the cross for those He loves was expressed in a moving way by the very appropriate music and lyrics of the hymn we were using. When the church can no longer incorporate these elements into its worship, we have become shallow; we have forgotten the true human condition and the grace of the incarnation of Christ as He shares in the suffering of sinful humanity.

by Pastor Eric Sauder

Christ the King Church, Springfield, Missouri

Here is an example of what Pastor Sauder is talking about...beautifully done!

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded from Art Dunham on Vimeo.

On Certain Forms of Contemporary Worship…

There is a familiarity, an ease, almost a glibness toward God in this worship that communicates to no one that he is a consuming fire, or that he is angry with the wicked every day, or that his eyes are too pure to behold iniquity, or that he will by no means clear the guilty, or that he dwells in unapproachable light, surrounded by a glory that no man has seen or can see. In this man-centered worship, in this worship that partakes of the atmosphere of a sales convention, the divine grace and love inevitably become mere niceness, almost politeness, not the astonishing stoop down to the unworthy and hell-deserving sinners that the Bible reveals us to be. And in that worship the cross absolutely must become considerably less than the torture and terror and the humiliation and the disgrace and the abasement of the Son of God that was absolutely required to pay the price of our sin and guilt and so satisfy the demands of God’s holiness in order that we might be saved. The cross must be lightened up. You can’t have anything that grim in a meeting whose spirit and atmosphere are so blithe and cheerful, in many ways so secular.–

Dr. Robert S. Rayburn ~ Faith Presbyterian Church

(HT ~ Pastor Uri Brito)

Children in the Worship Service

In many evangelical churches youth ministries are a big-budget item...with so little to show for it. Maybe, just maybe, Pastor Garrett Craw is on to something here....

Here are some thoughts on children in the worship service. At the church I pastor, we have a whole bunch of kids. Kids are kids. Sometimes they do silly things and sometimes they need to be corrected. But as we treat them like believers (little believers, of course) a funny thing happens; they love coming to church and they worship vigorously. They also feel they are part of The Church with all of its responsibilities and privileges (we don’t have “children’s church” and the kids are full participants). It has also been my pleasure to serve a congregation where the kids are much more respectful to adults, officers of the church, and to

the church as a cultus.

Sadly, most of my Christian experience has been in congregations where the kids are a confusing appendage that everyone wished would somehow transform into ideal adult Christians via photosynthesis. Unfortunately, most of these kids leave the church when they reach adulthood.

So, let’s stop putting stumbling blocks in their way and as King Jesus says, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:14)

Keeping with the Theme of Worship

Dr. Monte E. Wilson
Evangelical worship is becoming an oxymoron. Our songs are either belted out in the same mindless intensity with which we sing our football team’s fight song, or we are crooning romantic ditties that would be more at home in an old 1930s B movie. Irreverence has become so rampant in our worship services that one would not be shocked to hear of deacons walking up and down the aisles yelling, “Popcorn, peanuts, sacraments!”

There are many reasons for the denigration of worship in modern evangelical churchville. There’s the dumbing-down effect of public education, 150 years of revivalism that—armed with songs geared to working up the masses—approaches church solely as an evangelistic crusade, and the drive to compete with MTV and be “relevant” (i.e., more like the world), thereby pleasing the tastes of the congregation. Each of these dynamics perverts our ability to appreciate any music that is not simplistic and emotionally intense. All of this together erects almost insurmountable barriers we must overcome if we are to truly worship the Lord.

WORSHIP: ACT OR EXPERIENCE?

For the modern evangelical, worship is defined exclusively in terms of the individual’s experience. Worship, then, is not about adoring God but about being nourished with religious feelings, so much so that the worshiper has become the object of worship.1 When we study the ancient approach to worship, however, we see that the church did not overly concern itself with feelings of devotion, but rather with heartfelt and biblically informed obedience. Moreover believers had a firm grasp on the fact that when they gathered “as a church” (1 Cor. 11:18), their worship was to be a corporate expression. Church worship was not a gathering of individuals but of the body of Christ.

Christopher J. Cocksworth notes that the two underlying elements of the evangelical consciousness are existential and theological. In other words, there is a wedding between piety and theology; an apprehension of the Gospel and a communication of that Gospel.2 Tragically, much of evangelical worship today has chosen to divorce what must remain married if there is to be God-glorifying worship. Some have abandoned any quest for piety, preferring a pharisaical doctrinal purity. Their “worship” services may be correct in every fashion, but they are void of any sense of true devotion or of the life of the Holy Spirit. Others—probably the majority in modern American evangelicalism—have utterly neglected any commitment to the content of the Word and have ended with narcissistic “worship” services where everyone drowns in a sea of subjectivism and calls it “being bathed in the presence of the Holy Spirit.” These people come to church exclusively to “feel” God.

I am not discounting the worth of the conscious presence of the Holy Spirit. I am saying that although the apostolic and primitive church emphasized worship as an act of obedience, we see it solely as an experience. Why? Because “church is for me. Sunday worship is to be centered on my needs and desires. Never mind what the Father desires and commands. I am at the center. My needs are paramount. Meet them or I’ll go to church elsewhere.” The ego reigns supreme.

Where did we go wrong? Historically, as I have noted, evangelicals have been defined by engaging and experiencing the truth of the Gospel. Now, however we are defined solely by experiences, the validity of which is “proven” by the word of the believer. Subjectivism and existentialism are redefining biblical worship. When did we evangelicals trade our rich inheritance for the poverty of revivalistic or MTV-style worship? ~ read the rest...

The controversial Jim Jordan

Jim Jordan opinionated?  How about you?  What do you think of his statements below?  Is this the right direction for Reformation in the Church?


The Calvinistic churches are little more than extensions of the academy. The black robe is the robe of the scholar, not the angelic white robe of a worship leader. The heart of the meeting is the long lecture-sermon. Candles? No! Colored paraments on table and pulpit? No! Flowers? Maybe. The darkest part of the room is the center where the dark wood table and the dark wood massive pulpit and the black-robed preacher are. It’s like looking into hell itself.


Music is pathetically dull and dead, what little there is of it. Sometimes there is no musical instrument, let alone the cymbals, trumpets, and massed strings of Biblical worship. The most pious kind of singing is without instruments, and slowly to be sure. The Supper is not a festival, is done rarely, with precious little to eat and only grape juice to drink.  
Read the whole article here....

Worship Wisdom

Joint Statement on Liturgical Freedom and Glory

(Christ Church & Trinity Reformed Church, Moscow, ID)

Preamble:

In our churches, as we have been rediscovering the richness of liturgical worship, we have been also rediscovering some of the pitfalls that come with rediscovering anything. There are at least four temptations that can hinder faithful liturgical reformation: (1) traditionalists may hold to their immediate tradition too tightly because they are afraid any change represents slippery-slope liberalism; (2) reformers may “overshoot” by thinking that anything new is automatically an improvement and thus confuse reform with radicalism; (3) moderates who try to make everyone happy by including even contradictory ideas or practices just to keep a form of peace between opposing camps; and (4) those who have good, conservative, reforming or moderating instincts, but are uncharitable to those who disagree with their position (to a devoted traditionalist, everyone else can look like a radical leftist; to a committed reformer, every else can look like a traditionalist; to a moderate everyone else can look like an extremist). Because we want to be scriptural Christians, we want to make sure that the center of our endeavors is a sincere effort to discover what the Bible actually teaches, and to obey that, while also observing what the Bible teaches about honoring our fathers in the work of liturgical reformation. In our desire to help churches that are working with the same issues, we have drafted the following statement.

Freedom and Glory:

The life of Christian worship is nothing less than a participation in the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the model of perfect freedom and overflowing glory, a freedom and glory that mutually establish one another. Freedom with no glory is ungrounded; it is really no freedom at all. It is “carried about with various and strange doctrines.” It is not sufficiently aware of what worship is or the grace being given. Freedom needs the weight of glory. On the other hand, glory with no freedom is turgid and lifeless. Glory is heavy, and the glory of God is our shield. But glory with no freedom is like David in Saul’s armor. It is awkward and cumbersome, and doesn’t fit. Glory with no freedom will eventually reduce to stifling traditionalism, and will cease to be glorious. Freedom with no glory will reduce to whimsical worship, and will soon cease to be free. And when freedom and glory are divorced from one another, one sign this has happened is an erratic swinging back and forth from one to the other. This has the result that worship is treated like a smorgasbord, a liturgical talent show with a little bit of everything for everyone. And the end result in both cases is neither freedom nor glory. Liturgical freedom is not anarchy; liturgical glory is not hidebound. In order to keep a balance between the two, we must make and maintain the following distinctions.

Three Categories:

There are three categories under which to consider possible liturgical practices: first are practices that we must do (things commanded), second, practices that we may not do (things prohibited), and third, practices that may or may not be fitting, helpful, or edifying depending on circumstances, needs, or gifts. While this third category is generally referred to as adiaphora (things indifferent, i.e. things neither commanded nor forbidden), we would insist that this does not mean that the decisions made in this category do not matter. Rather, depending on many particulars, different decisions may be lawfully and wisely made. And just because something is adiaphora does not mean there is an automatic protection against a lack of wisdom. Such decisions can matter greatly, but their nature is such that completely opposite decisions may both be correct, given the different circumstances. And the nature of time and history must be given sufficient weight in such considerations. The bronze serpent was a symbol of Israel’s salvation and a powerful reminder of grace, but later became a great stumbling block. Hezekiah was right to tear it down (Num. 21, 2 Kgs. 18:4). In the realms of liturgical practice, specific examples of this same kind of thing would include certain bodily postures, sermon length, specific instruments/music, vestments, sanctuary adornment, the selection of particular prayers and creeds, as well as less important decisions like meeting times and seating arrangements, etc.

The Glory of Tradition:

While the Scriptures are critical of certain kinds of tradition (e.g. Col. 2:8), the Scriptures also require us to keep and honor other kinds of tradition (e.g. 1 Cor. 11:2, 2 Thess. 2:15, 3:6). The fifth commandment requires that we honor our fathers and mothers (Ex. 20:12), following them unless they have been rebellious (Ps. 78:7-8), and this command to honor them does not cease to apply after they have died. Removing the ancient landmark was a temptation for Israel as much as it is a temptation for us (e.g. Prov. 22:28). This means that, in addition to our earthly parents, within the one family of God, we are required to honor the fathers and mothers of our own particular “tribe.” In God’s providence, Christians are sometimes orphaned, neglected, or abused and they must seek out and find new families. But we are more fortunate and our call is to cultivate thankfulness for what God has given to us. In our particular context, we recognize the Reformed tradition broadly as our branch of the family, while gladly embracing the western, catholic tradition more broadly as our family tree. All of God’s people throughout Christendom are our people, but the Reformation branch is our place in Christendom, and the great Reformed confessions, catechisms, and liturgies tell the story of our faith well. In saying this, we do not mean to imply that doctrinal issues can be reduced to mere geographical placement. There are truth claims involved, and this means that over time, the entire tree will necessarily grow up into a greater unity and like-mindedness.

The Freedom of Sola Scriptura:

At the same time, constrained by Scripture, we also confess the sins of our fathers and cling to the promises of Scripture that call us to work for and expect more glory, new glory. Reformation is not to be understood as merely a onetime event, but rather as our marching orders. Sanctification is not just for individuals, but also for the Church as a whole. With the 16th century reformers we affirm the supremacy of Scripture and rejoice in the freedom of the Spirit to lead the Church into all truth. Grounded in the Scripture, we trust the Lord to grow us up into all maturity (Eph. 4:13; 5:27). While we stand with the fathers of our tradition, we confess with faithful fathers like Athanasius and Luther and many others that our fundamental allegiance is to stand faithful to the Word of God. This is necessary despite the fact that many may oppose us even from within the Church of Jesus. We trust the Holy Spirit to work out all truth in His timing through history, and we are happy to trust Him to lead us in this. We are therefore not dismayed by popes, councils, individual pastors or factional movements, or political pressures when they differ with the Scriptures.

CREC Memorial on Worship:

We affirm the CREC Memorial on Worship which helpfully describes positively what faithful Christian worship seeks to embody and grow in, and in addition to that statement, we find it necessary, in our particular circumstances, to address several specific areas where liturgical questions usually arise.

Freedom and Glory in the Details:

We warn our people and our children against religious pageantry. While worship is a dramatic event, the sinful heart of man naturally inclines to hide behind theatrical forms. And any sort of service can be turned into a theatrical facade. Both High Church rituals and Low Church “anti-ritual” rituals can be opportunities for confusion, undue offense, and provide a stumbling block for those who prefer empty form and ritual to honest communion with the triune God (Is. 1:12; Jer. 7:4; Hos. 6:6; Ps. 40:6; 1 Sam. 15:22; Rom. 2:29).

Against traditions that say otherwise, the Scriptures teach that the action of bowing is reserved for God and His living image bearers. God’s people are not to bow before man-made objects, the elements of communion, or any other relic or icon (Ex. 20:4-6). While human beings may not be worshiped as God (e.g. Acts 10:25-26, Rev. 22:8-9), because they are living icons of the true God (Gen. 1:27), the kind that only He can make, they are to be venerated or honored as appropriate (e.g. Ex. 20:12, 1 Kgs. 1:2, 1 Pet. 2:17) and may be honored with the holy kiss (Rom. 16:16, 1 Cor. 16:20, 2 Cor. 13:12, 1 Th. 5:26).

Likewise, kneeling is a posture which is not suitable for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and may suggest a sort of veneration that is not fitting for this festive memorial meal. Sitting or reclining was the posture used by those who celebrated it first at the Last Supper (Mk. 14:18, Jn. 13:23), and we believe it continues to be the most beneficial. Other postures like hand-raising, clapping, prostration, and even standing or sitting are not neutral, and anything we do like this should be carefully compared with Scripture. Even prudent applications of biblical postures can become occasions for pride and idolatry and as such should be reformed as need arises.

We stand with the Reformed tradition wanting to see the Word of God honored, and therefore those ministers who declare it ought to be dressed as befits the dignity and responsibility of that office. While it is not required, it is legitimate for ministers to be vested for the worship service. But because this, when done, is “for glory and beauty” (Ex. 28:2), it is important that it not be overdone. We therefore warn against undue pageantry, and commit ourselves to pursuing a glorious simplicity even and especially here. We also warn against those who believe that the status quo (whether high or low) is somehow safer or more orthodox just because we’re used to it. High and Low Church traditions can each be turned into their own kinds of will-worship or pageantry.

We recognize that there will be others who may find places to hide in traditional Reformed elements, seeking refuge behind the words of catechisms, confessions of faith, and a certain regulated simplicity. And still others will soothe their guilt in ancient prayers, liturgy, and ritual. And therefore, wherever the sinful heart seeks to hide from God in our worship, we pray for God’s wisdom to be upon us and our children and that the Holy Spirit might lead us to expose all darkness to the light of the gospel that God’s mercy may be upon us and our congregations to a thousand generations.

A Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving:

Finally, we confess that ingratitude and bitterness is at the heart of all sin. But at the heart of faithfulness and love is thankfulness and praise. We want to receive all the elements of our worship with thankfulness, as the grace of God to us, and we want to embrace them and rejoice in them as gifts of grace. The format of our liturgies therefore needs to be received as grace, the words of our prayers and confessions need to be received as grace, the instruments and music and words of our psalms and hymns need to be received as grace, the weekly observance of the Supper needs to be received as grace, the Scripture readings, congregational responses, and the benediction need to all be received as grace. And we commit ourselves and charge our descendants to continue the reformational work necessary to be steadfast in this spirit of thanksgiving, in the glory and freedom of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.