by Pastor Tom Wenger, Jr.
Since the means of grace feature so largely into our understanding of what the church is, it is crucial that we have a clear grasp of what the worship service is so that we are properly fed with Christ and so that God is properly honored.
Though all of life ought to be carried out in a manner that is glorifying to God, what takes place in the worship service on the Lord’s Day is of a different nature and focuses on hearing from God and then responding to His grace.
PCA Directory for Public Worship: 47-7. Public worship differs from private worship in that in public worship God is served by His saints unitedly as His covenant people, the Body of Christ. For this reason the covenant children should be present so far as possible as well as adults. For the same reason no favoritism may be shown to any who attend. Nor may any member of the church presume to exalt himself above others as though he were more spiritual, but each shall esteem others better than himself.
One of the things that we see often throughout Scripture is God gathering His people together for a renewal of His covenant promises to them, and then in turn for His people to respond to the reminder of these promises. This, it seems is the best biblical model for us to understand what is happening in our worship services.
Covenant Renewal Ceremony
In these ceremonies, typically the history of what God had done for his people was reenacted or rehearsed to remind the people of why they needed their covenant relationship with God in the first place, and also to remind them of how powerful His salvation is.
In our day and age, in which everyone is so obsessed with how to fit God comfortably within their own life story, this model is especially helpful because it takes the focus off of us and instead places us deep within God’s story.
Though Christians were more conscious of it in the past, the typical elements that comprise a Protestant liturgy or order of service stem from this idea of putting on a drama where God reenacts the salvation of his people.
The essential elements of worship are the things that Scripture commands us to do:
PCA Directory for Public Worship: 47-9. The Bible teaches that the following are proper elements of worship service: reading of Holy Scripture, singing of psalms and hymns, the offering of prayer, the preaching of the Word, the presentation of offerings, confessing the faith and observing the Sacraments, and on special occasions taking oaths.
In a covenant renewal ceremony, the order of these elements often looks like this:1
The Call to Worship
This is basically a summons from the King to His people calling them into His throne room to meet with them. By it we are put in the proper mindset for worship because these calls are passages of Scripture read aloud that state how glorious our God is and why it is a privilege for us to meet with Him.
The Invocation
This stems from the biblical promises that remind God’s people “anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This phrase was found in many ancient near-eastern texts because it was a common way that Kings reminded their people that being their subjects had benefits. In this we remind ourselves that this great and awesome King is also one who has made it safe to meet with us because of His gracious promises to protect us through Christ. So it is a response of prayer to His call to worship Him.
God’s Call to Holiness (sometimes referred to as the Reading of the Law)
This serves to remind the people what they owe to their King. It can be done through the reading of the Word or through singing it. But the point is to clarify God’s holiness which is supposed to initially expose our lack thereof.
The term “law” can mean several different things in Scripture; however, in this instance we are defining:
So why do these things reveal our sinfulness? Because the Bible claims that the way that we are made aware of our sin is through the law (Rom 3:20), and so all of these things are what the Scripture uses to reveal to us the beauty of who God is, to make us long to reflect such beauty, and to remind us how and in what ways we currently fall short of it.
However, the point of God’s law here is NOT to destroy us but to bring us to confession of our sin and to a greater reliance upon and appreciation for His grace through Christ.
Confession of Sin
The law exposes our sin, and God’s intent is that we confess and receive grace. Doing this corporately is a very crucial thing. First of all we have biblical precedent that God often called Israel to confess as a nation together before Him. But, second, there is great humility promoted in God’s people when we all admit together that we fall far short of what God requires of us.
John Calvin (1509-1564)
Besides the fact that ordinary confession has been commended by the Lord’s mouth, no one of sound mind, who weighs its usefulness, can dare disapprove it. For since in every sacred assembly we stand before the sight of God and the angels, what other beginning of our action will there be than the recognition of our own unworthiness? But that, you say, is done through every prayer; for whenever we pray for pardon, we confess our sin. Granted. But if you consider how great is our complacency, our drowsiness, or our sluggishness, you will agree with me that it would be a salutary regulation if the Christian people were to practice humbling themselves through some public rite of confession.2
Additionally, it is comforting seeing that we are not alone in these struggles as Satan would like us to believe.
Calvin
For this reason, the Lord ordained of old among the people of Israel that, after the priest recited the words, the people should confess their iniquities publicly in the temple [Leviticus 16:21]. For he foresaw that this help was necessary for them in order that each one might better be led to a just estimation of himself. And it is fitting that, by the confession of our own wretchedness, we show forth the goodness and mercy of our God, among ourselves and before the whole world.3
Declaration of Forgiveness (sometimes referred to as Assurance of Pardon or Absolution)
This is such a crucial point in the service! Recalling that the service is to a degree reenacting our salvation, this is a crucial moment because it reflects the transition from judgment to grace.
The declaration of forgiveness is too often neglected today in protestant churches and that is to our serious detriment. Throughout the Bible we see the great longing of humanity to know that their sins are forgiven and it is also something that is hard for us to believe is possible.
Calvin
But if there is anything in the whole of religion that we should most certainly know, we ought most closely to grasp by what reason, with what law, under what condition, with what ease or difficulty, forgiveness of sins may be obtained! Unless this knowledge remains clear and sure, the conscience can have no rest at all, no peace with God, no assurance or security; but it continuously trembles, wavers, tosses, is tormented and vexed, shakes, hates, and flees the sight of God.4
Rather than a verse being read that merely hints at God’s being gracious, we need to hear the announcement that Christ has done the unthinkable: he has paid our astronomical debt and we are free.
Far from being a Roman Catholic practice, the Reformed were adamant from the very beginning that the declaration of forgiveness be a clear, firm, and powerful statement to the Christian to strengthen his or her faith. For instance, the 1539 Strasbourg Liturgy of Martin Bucer had everyone recite 1 Tim 1:15 which states: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners– of whom I am the worst.” Then it instructed the pastor to proclaim:
Let everyone, with St. Paul, truly acknowledge this is his heart and believe in Christ. Thus, in His name I proclaim unto you the forgiveness of all your sins, and declare you to be loosed of them on earth, that you may be loosed of them in heaven, in eternity. Amen.5
Thus, God’s representative in the pulpit needs to remind the people of His promise that all who trust in Christ are covered by His life and death so that God can never be angry at them again, and that he loves them as much as he loves Christ.
Confession of Faith
God tells us in scripture that we should not only read and preach his Word, but also teach it, and pass on those teachings to future generations. (2 Thes 2:15, 1 Cor 11:2, Jude 1:3, 1 Tim 6:20, 2 Tim 1:13-14) That’s what our confessions do: teach us the truths of Scripture.
We confess ancient Christian creeds, Reformation Confessions, and Reformation catechisms to remind us what we believe. Confessing these things when we gather together helps to ground more of our faith in the truths of Scripture so that we lean on it more and more, turning away from putting our hope in earthly things.
The Pastoral Prayer
In celebration of what Christ has done, the Pastoral Prayer functions as a clear statement of our freedom to approach the throne of grace boldly. In this prayer, the Pastor/Elder intercedes for the people, thanking God for His grace and bringing their welfare, salvation and the mission of the Kingdom before the Lord. As Paul exhorts Timothy:
1 Timothy 2:1-2
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone– 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
The Preaching of the Word
This is the chief means of grace, or, the primary way that God feeds His people.
Westminster Larger Catechism 155
Q. How is the word made effectual to salvation?
A. The spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching of the word an effectual means of enlightening, convincing, and humbling sinners; of driving them out of themselves, and drawing them unto Christ; of conforming them to his image, and subduing them to his will; of strengthening them against temptations and corruptions; of building them up in grace, and establishing their hearts in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation.
True preaching must proclaim Christ or it fails to qualify as Christian preaching. Doctrinal lectures, moral instruction, or self-help “biblical” advice fall short of what God’s people need. They need to hear how God reveals Himself to us in His word, what Christ has done as a result of that revelation, and then how we, through the Spirit, who unites us to Christ’s saving work, must respond.
Calvin
As often as we come to the sermon we are taught of the free promises of God, to show us that it is simply in His goodness and mercy that we must trust, that we must not be founded upon our merits nor on anything that we can bring from our side, but God must stretch forth His hand to begin and accomplish all. And that (as Scripture shows us) is applied to us by our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we must seek Him entirely… All that is daily declared to us.6
The Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper functions in a confirming and strengthening role because it re-declares to us the same work of Christ that the sermon declared. However, through the Supper, God stoops down to our weak faith to reach us with visible, tangible and edible signs that communicate powerfully that Christ was broken in our place and His innocent blood has covered over our sins once for all. As food nourishes our bodies, these truths are designed to nourish our souls.
We do this every Sunday for numerous reasons. First, we see this as the practice of the first Christians in the New Testament. Acts 20:7 says “And on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached to them.” And this reference to breaking bread refers to the Lord’s Supper.7
But in addition to this, the Lord’s Supper provides for us the comfort that we need in our struggle against sin. Paul says that the Lord’s Supper “proclaims the Lord’s death,” and celebrates “His body and blood” given for us (1 Cor 11:26-27). This means the Supper functions like sermons do: it proclaims the Word of God to us.
And since the Supper takes place through things we can touch, see and taste, we see that through them, God has stooped down to our weakness and given us signs to do all that the Word does for us. But since He has tailored this to our state of weakness, we see this functioning like Christ’s willingness to let doubting Thomas touch the holes in his hands to strengthen his weak faith.
Thanksgiving
This takes two forms: singing and tithes/offerings.
Listing this element of worship here is not intended to limit it to this place in the worship service because it is appropriate at multiple points to sing to God in response to His holiness and grace. But it is also crucial that after the powerful means of grace we respond with deep gratitude and jubilant praise.
Tithes and/or offerings are also an important way of responding to God’s indescribable gift by giving of our own resources. Many Reformed churches in the past reserved the offering for the end of the service so that it could be seen as a response to the preaching of the Word.
Benediction
Far too many pastors confuse a benediction with a doxology. A doxology in Scripture often starts, “and now to Him…” This means that it is ascribing praise to God.
But this is NOT a benediction! The purpose of a benediction is God blessing His people and not the other way around.
We see numerous examples of this in Scripture and it is clear that God wants His people to be blessed by His words to them:
Num. 6:22-27
22 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, 24 The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. 27 “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” (ESV)
So a benediction essentially ought to proclaim “blessings to you from God.” It is the last act in God’s play reminding us that because of Christ we can go in peace and full confidence that God, the King of the Universe is for us, with us, and will never leave us nor forsake us. This is a parting note that we NEED to hear!
Footnotes
- For the entire following section, Horton’s A Better Way, 145-162 is a must read! ↩︎
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, (1559) in The Library of Christian Classics, Vols. XX-XXI, ed. J.T. McNeill, trans. F.L. Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975), 3.4.11. ↩︎
- Calvin, Institutes, 3.4.10. ↩︎
- Calvin, Institutes, 3.4.2. ↩︎
- Quoted in Horton, 154. ↩︎
- John Calvin, quoted in T.H.L. Parker, The Oracles of God: An Introduction to the Preaching of John Calvin (London: Lutterworth Press, 1947), 81 (emphasis mine). ↩︎
- John Calvin, Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 235–236; F. F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts,: New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 384. ↩︎
