Our Worship | The View From 10,000 Feet
There is a deep hunger in the souls of God’s people to not only know in our minds, but to experience in our hearts the reality of the words captured by the psalmist so many centuries ago:
“For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” (Psalm 84:10)
To know, to experience, and to enjoy a right relationship with God is the supreme treasure of the universe, (Matt. 13:44-46). There is no higher joy, no deeper satisfaction, nor a greater gift that can be given than to be welcomed as redeemed sons and daughters into the presence of the Almighty God.
This perfect and unhindered fellowship with God is the hope that fills our hearts as we look toward eternity where we will know this gift in its fullest measure, (Rev. 21:3). And while the fullness of this joy is reserved solely for glory, we dare not forget that we have been given a deposit of this priceless treasure even now, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, (Eph. 1:13-14). It is the Spirit of God within us that stirs our hearts to yearn for God and to cry out to him, “Abba! Father!” (Rom. 8:15-17). And it is the Spirit of God who works within our hearts to draw us together in corporate worship where we collectively bless God’s name and rejoice in his works, as he continues to provide his perfect sovereign care for our souls, (I Cor. 1:9). There is something beautiful and profound about the public gathering of God’s people in worship that simply cannot be duplicated or superseded by any other means.
The Big Picture of Our Lord’s Day Worship
In this article, I want us to see the overall progression of our worship service as a unified whole. I thought it would be helpful as we dive into this series to explain how our worship services are structured from the view at 10,000 feet. In effect, the questions we are asking and answering are: Is there a big picture to our Lord’s Day worship? If so, what is it?
I am hopeful that taking this approach from the start of this series will help us better understand and appreciate the comprehensive ministry that God provides for his blood-bought children as they gather in his name on the Lord’s Day each week. While there are some minor variations or additions to our Order of Worship from time to time as is suitable to the occasion (i.e. particular prayers, public testimony, membership reception, baptism, etc.), the following is the general progression which we endeavor to abide by. If you have a recent bulletin from one our worship services, it may be helpful to pull it out so that you can observe the structure and flow that is described below.
The Structure & Flow of Our Lord’s Day Worship
1. We Are Called Into God’s Presence
This aspect of our worship service is captured by the Call To Worship
The Call To Worship marks the formal beginning of our worship service. This call is the voice of God speaking through the Scriptures to his beloved people, beckoning them into his glorious presence for worship. Through this call, we are implored to re-center our hearts, minds, and lives upon the God for whom we exist. Out of the busyness of life, the struggle of conflict, the anxiety of concern, the distraction of responsibilities, and the demands of deadlines we are called to set all things in their proper place; and this means that God is to be absolutely first in our hearts and that everything else must bend the knee to his supremacy. It is from the very midst of the challenges of living a life of faith in a fallen world that God calls his people every Lord’s Day to step out of the darkness of worldly concerns and into the light of his glorious presence.
2. We Respond To God’s Call Through Prayer
This aspect of our worship service is captured by the Prayer of Invocation.
Having been summoned to worship by God through his Word, we immediately respond to God’s call through prayer. The Prayer of Invocation is our corporate response of glad-obedience to God’s beckoning voice. Through this opening prayer, we humble our hearts before our great and mighty God, we acknowledge ourselves to be his chosen people who are gathered in his name to give him glory, and we request his special presence to abide with us as we endeavor to worship him in Spirit and truth.
3.We Marvel At God’s Majesty
This aspect of our worship service is captured by the Opening Doxology and Songs of Renewal.
As fallen creatures, we are prone to self-obsession. Yet, Christianity is not ultimately about the salvation of mankind, but rather the glory of God, (Rom. 9:22-23). Our salvation is a means through which God both reveals his indescribable majesty to the cosmos and invites us––his redeemed people––into the everlasting enjoyment of his own majestic self, (Jn. 17:3). For this reason, our worship service does not immediately turn to man or his need, but rather turns needful man to his God. From the dawn of our worship we endeavor to fix our eyes on the One “from whom and through whom and for whom all things exist,” declaring together, “To him be glory forever! Amen.” (Rom. 11:36). Our singing of the Opening Doxology and Songs of Renewal are intended to exalt the infinite perfections and incalculable glories of our holy, Triune God in our hearts and minds.
4. We Acknowledge & Repent of Our Sins
This aspect of our worship service is captured by our Confession of Sin.
It is only in the light of God’s holiness that we see the depth of our own need for forgiveness and mercy. Thus, having kept God at the center––and not ourselves––we now more soberly and humbly recognize our sin and guilt before him. Guilt is not a feeling, but a violation. Mankind is guilty before God because of his violation of God’s holy Law. This is why our Confession of Sin is always accompanied by a passage of holy Scripture. As a portion of the perfect Word of God is read and briefly applied to our lives, we are invited to see afresh the precious, yet somber truth that “all”—including ourselves—“have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” (Rom. 3:23).
Our Confession of Sin is a simultaneous acknowledgement that we are supremely unworthy of God’s blessing in our sins, and yet, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the sinner-saving God is nevertheless supremely willing and able to save the unworthy who come to him through Christ, (Heb. 7:25). Through prayer, we admit our guilt and turn from our sins unto God. We confess and repent of all known sins which we have committed with our head, heart, or hands. Acknowledging the truth of the gospel afresh, we refuse to prop ourselves up with the false illusions that our own merits could ever be the basis of salvation. By faith, we turn away from ourselves and wholly rely on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ who willingly offered himself in our place as the only sufficient saving-substitute.
5. We Receive God’s Mercy As Offered In Christ
This aspect of our worship service is captured by our Assurance of God’s Forgiveness.
The God against whom we have all sinned and from whom we are owed nothing but righteous judgment, has freely and abundantly granted us what we could never earn, which is his saving grace in Christ. We are reminded through the trustworthy testimony of Holy Scripture that God has accomplished all that is necessary to ransom, forgive, cleanse, justify, sanctify, and glorify the guilty people whom he has chosen unto himself forevermore, (I Cor. 1:30). Through the authoritative and judicial declaration of his Word, our God reminds us that we who stood guilty and condemned now stand righteous and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, (Jn. 1:29).
6. We Rest & Rejoice In God’s Grace
This aspect of our worship service is captured by our Song of Redemption.
Having humbly confessed our sin and received the unchangeable testimony of Holy Scripture concerning our forgiveness, we respond in reverent praise to the God of our salvation, (Ps. 96:2). In this Song of Redemption, we always have a crystal clear gospel-focus. This is because we are praising the name of our great Deliverer, even while we are also reminding our own hearts of the depths of love which he has given to us in our deliverance.
An Unspoken Transition of Emphasis:
At this point in our worship service, at least three things should be very clear to all who are gathered:
We believe that our Almighty Creator God is worthy of all honor, praise, dominion, majesty, power, devotion, and sacrifice.
We believe that all have sinned and fallen short of his glory and are justly deserving of his judgment and wrath for their sin.
And we believe that only those who come to God by faith in his Son, Jesus Christ, are saved from the penalty of their sins and receive the gift of eternal life.
Having re-established this firm foundation upon which our holy faith is built—the gospel!—we now transition to receiving the grace of God’s sanctifying discipleship of our hearts and minds, as well as his Lordship over every aspect of our lives.
7. We Joyfully Submit To God’s Holy Will
This aspect of our worship service is captured by our Confession of Faith or Reading of Holy Scripture as well as our Receiving of Tithes & Offerings.
As God’s beloved children, we gladly submit our hearts to our Father’s Lordship and most willingly receive his Word as truth, (Jn. 17:17). This is an outward sign of our justification and adoption into the household of God by grace, (Eph. 5:1). We demonstrate our joyful submission to God’s revealed will by confessing our faith and/or reading portions of God’s holy Word. Each of these are biblically-based practices that are associated with the Christian’s devotion to God, (I Tim. 1:15; 3:16; 4:13). Likewise, they are also ways that we humbly recognize that our “foolish hearts were” formerly “darkened” in sin, and must now continue to be “renewed” by the Spirit of Truth as we learn to live the Christian life, (Rom. 1:21; 12:1-2). Regardless of what passage is read, or what truths are confessed from the historic Creeds and Reformed Confessions of our faith, as God’s children we gladly receive our Father’s will as the governing mandate for our lives.
An additional aspect of our trusting-submission to our heavenly Father is the obedience of tithing. You will notice that we do not receive an offering in our service until after the foundational truths of the gospel have been carefully relaid. This is very intentional. Our relationship with God is not based on anything we offer to him, but rather what he has freely offered to us in Christ. Yet, as Christians, we learn more and more to live all of life by faith, walking in trusting-obedience to our Father. Giving God at least ten percent of all that he graciously provides to us is a beautiful act of obedience and worship in which God’s children show their thanksgiving for God’s generous provision as well as their trust in the Father’s unfailing faithfulness.
8. We Prepare Our Hearts To Receive God’s Wisdom
This aspect of our worship service is captured by our Song of Reflection.
The preaching of God’s Word is the most prominent means by which God has ordained his kingdom to go forth in our hearts and in this world. For this reason, we take time to prayerfully quiet our hearts before the time of the sermon, asking that––despite the deficiencies and weaknesses of both the human listeners and preacher––God the Holy Spirit will work in great power to encourage the souls of the saints as the Word is preached, (I Cor. 2:10). Like all of the songs of praise that we sing, this song is based on the truths of God’s Word. However, this song is typically more reflective in nature. We do this intentionally with the hope that our praises will be mingled with humble prayers, as we ask God to grant us soft and receptive hearts before his holy Word.
9. We Are Spiritually Nourished By God’s Word Verbally Proclaimed
This aspect of our worship service is captured by the Preaching of God’s Word.
The one who preaches God’s Word is a fellow sinner saved by grace alone with no special merit or power of his own (II Pet. 1:1). It is not the unique talents of any person, but rather the promised work of the Holy Spirit that makes the public proclamation of God’s Word a highly effective, soul-fortifying ministry for the people of God, (I Cor. 3:7). Through this most-important ministry of the church, God provides a spiritual feast of rich fare for the spiritually hungry; he causes his beloved people to be nourished and built up to greater maturity in their faith, (Deut. 8:3). As we humbly receive God’s Word each and every Lord’s Day, we receive the spiritual equipping that we need to walk faithfully before God throughout our everyday lives, (Eph. 4:12). The chief means by which God provides for the spiritual needs of his beloved people is through the faithful proclamation of his holy Word, (Isa. 55:10-11).
10. We Are Spiritually Nourished By God’s Word Visually Proclaimed
This aspect of our worship service is captured by the Administration of the Sacraments.
Likewise, the sacraments of the New Covenant are blessed sermons in themselves. Through the distinct visible elements which God has assigned to each, Christ and his glorious work are proclaimed visibly and powerfully for the people of God to receive by faith. It is a sad reality that the sacraments of the New Covenant are often treated as a mere memorial; a powerless picture which is nice enough in itself, but not really effectual for the believer. Such a view is wholly contrary to the teaching of God’s Word, (I Cor. 10:16; Rom. 6:3-4). Just as the Spirit works mightily through the verbal proclamation of the Word of God from the pulpit, so too the Spirit works mightily through the visual proclamation of Christ which is shown forth wherever the sacraments are rightly administered. The souls of the saints are no less built up by participating in the Lord’s Supper than by hearing a faithful sermon. God the Spirit has been pleased to promise to accomplish his gracious and edifying work through each.
11. We Respond In Faith To God’s Truth
This aspect of our worship service is captured by our Song of Response.
Having received the teaching of God’s Word, as well as all of God’s other gracious ministries to us throughout the worship service as a whole, we respond to God in submissive-faith. With voices of praise, we rest in all that has been accomplished for us and offered to us in Christ, and we happily receive all that God requires of us as his beloved children. We do so knowing that “his commandments are not burdensome,” but rather for our good and for his own glory, (I Jn. 5:3).
Our closing song generally has the quality of a rallying cry. We aim for the lyrics to capture the dual truths of God’s promises to his people as well as God’s calling for his people. Our intention is that the closing song that we sing as a unified body in Christ will remind us that the Christian life is only lived by complete and total dependence upon our Savior, (Jn. 15:4). In essence, as we close our service we sing unto God that by faith and through his grace alone, we will endeavor to live as becomes the children of God, (I Jn. 3:3).
12. We Are Re-Commissioned With God’s Blessing
This aspect of our worship service is captured by the Benediction.
Our worship service begins with a Call To Worship, summoning us out of our worldly cares and concerns and into God’s presence. It closes, however, with God’s Benediction––which means his blessing. This blessing from our Father in heaven is meant to encourage and strengthen us as we are re-commissioned to live as his ambassadors and missionaries throughout this world, (II Cor. 5:20-21). As both precious children and faithful servants of God, our Father sends us forth in his power and with his truth, to gather a rich spiritual harvest among every neighborhood and every nation of his world, (Matt. 28:18-20). This blessing of God’s is far more than kind words which make for a tidy conclusion to our gatherings. Much more, they are spiritual words of truth concerning God’s promises to be present with his people as they walk by faith and not by sight as his witnesses in this world, (II Cor. 4:16-18; Matt. 28:20).
God’s Rich Blessings For His Beloved People
From the Call To Worship to the Benediction, our God is ministering to and richly blessing his beloved people who have assembled to worship him by faith. He knows our needs, and he provides abundantly for all of them as we focus not on ourselves, but on the glory of his name, (Ps. 37:4). Let us rejoice in the privilege of public worship; let us not forsake it; and let us come with all eagerness into the presence of our matchless King where “fullness of joy” and “pleasures forevermore” are found, (Ps. 16:11).