Covenant Worship

Heritage Celebration

August 14, 2010

Dr. James Bordwine

Introduction

The theme adopted for this year’s celebration is The Sufficiency of Scripture. This is a topic with tremendous implications. In fact, the nature of Scripture is one of the most important doctrines in Reformed theology. We maintain that everything—every doctrine and every requirement—grows out of the fact that the Bible is applicable to all questions and issues in life. This conviction is based on the truth that the Bible is the Word of God.

For my topic, I’ve chosen Covenant Worship. Tomorrow morning, Lord willing, I will be speaking about how our worship of God is a matter of revelation. We worship God properly when we approach Him according to what He has made known about Himself. This morning, I want to illustrate how our approach to worship, which is determined by what God has revealed to us, reflects our experience as His redeemed people. My point is that worship done according to God’s direction will be informative and encouraging and, of course, God-honoring.

I’m going to use our typical Sunday morning liturgy for this presentation. As we go through our elements of worship, I will emphasize how each one of those elements or each part of our service speaks to our redemption. From the Greeting to the Benediction, every step is determined by what God has done in delivering us from condemnation. The worship of God is, in essence, a rehearsal of redemption—not just the initial part of redemption, such as our call and regeneration, but also our lives as redeemed people.

Prelude

Traditionally a time for reflection and preparation. Ideally, members of the congregation remain relatively quiet during this period. We should have a reverent perspective recognizing that we are going to appear before the Lord Himself.

The prelude signals one of the significant aspects of our worship. This time of preparation is a corporate activity. This reminds us that we are bound together in this act of praising God. From the very beginning, worship manifests our unity as a redeemed people.

Apostolic Greeting

The significance of the apostolic greeting becomes obvious when we consider the last thing that happened to Adam after the fall and after God spoke to all the parties involved. A banishment took place.

God clothed them and then sent them out of the Garden of Eden to cultivate the land. The text says that God drove them out and stationed angelic guards to make sure the man and woman were not able to reenter Eden. Clearly, therefore, sin immediately separated Adam and Eve from their creator. As long as the guilt remained, there could be no communion with God.

Now consider what happens with the apostolic greeting. An encouraging declaration of peace is made with reference to God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. The atonement makes possible a return to communion with God. This great truth is illustrated when the minister speaks the apostolic greeting at the beginning of our worship.

Once again, it is the corporate body that receives this good news in this invitation; all who are present, all who are about to worship God, received this privilege in the same Savior, by the same atonement, according to the same gospel. Once again therefore we have the unity of the covenant community emphasized.

It should be apparent already that the unity of the Church of Christ is emphasized in Biblical worship. Each step we take points to what God did for all of us—there is no partiality. This calls for a shared response of humility and adoration from all who are present.

Call to Worship

At this point, particular reasons are announced to support the idea that God should be worshiped by His people. This is a simplistic explanation regarding the call to worship, but it does, nevertheless, clarify the matter.

As the minister reads a portion of Scripture in which the attributes of God are recorded, His people are drawn to express praise for His greatness and thanksgiving for His mercy. In a sense, this is a time of preparation, as well, as our thoughts are filled with truths about God’s nature and works.

I want to call attention to two things here. First, the call to worship makes it abundantly clear that God is the reason for our gathering. All focus is now fixed on Him. Second, this is where the antiphonal element of our worship is made plain. Antiphonal refers to the back and forth exchanges between God and the people. God speaks and we respond.

This is a picture of our existence. In life, God speaks, God commands, God admonishes and we respond accordingly. The antiphonal element in our worship reinforces the all-important notion that God has a place of authority and we have the place of obedience.

And, as mentioned already, the entire congregation is involved in this exchange. We make no distinction between us, but recognize that we all have the same responsibility of responding to our heavenly Father.

Gloria Patri

Having listened and responded to God, we include a short declaration of our intention to glorify the Trinity. Once again our attention is clearly turned to God.

Prayer of Invocation

As the words suggest, this prayer is designed to request the presence of God with us, as it were. Typically, the prayer acknowledges the greatness of God and seeks His favor during the worship time. This prayer emphasizes a central truth of our faith, namely, that in the matter of coming before God in a friendly manner, so speak, wse must have His help. We are redeemed by His grace and our worship of Him will be acceptable only if He graciously provides understanding of the task.

The prayer, of course, is made on behalf of the whole congregation. This illustrates the corporate nature of our gathering. Together we have come into God’s presence, together we have rehearsed His attributes, together we have sung of His glory, and together we are seeking His favor.

I will pause here to say that we are limited in our time this morning; therefore, I will be picking up the pace and highlighting the most significant matters from this point forward.

Hymn

Singing, of course, has been a fundamental element in the worship of God from the beginning. Through King David, God introduced this element of singing and He was quite specific about how it was to be done and who was to do it.

And once again we are considering an activity in which the whole congregation participates. The importance of corporate worship, that is worship in which man is not the focus, is the reason for our corporate singing in the church. In our tradition, we generally do not make use of individuals singing by themselves. That is not to say this could never be done in a way that preserves our desire to keep our focus on God, but it is an activity that needs to be handled carefully. Once again, it is the people who are gathered and we are together a single body. We want to preserve that perspective as much as possible.

Public Confession and Words of Assurance

In light of the emphasis that has been placed on the nature and works of God, a confession of our sin is completely in order. We have been declaring wonderful truths about God and, at this time, we need to acknowledge our natures. Therefore, we confess our sins as one body. We are confessing not only our individual failings, but also the transgressions of the body. I think this aspect is often missed.

We are redeemed people who make up a redeemed body. We are, in fact, the body of Christ. The corporate nature of our confession acknowledges our continuing struggles with temptation and the flesh. But this confession is not made in despair, but with confidence and in hope. We now know that we have a Deliverer who has rescued us from the condemnation imposed on us due to our sin.

Our confession is genuine and should cause us to reflect upon our violations of the Word, but the fact that we are able to make a confession should also bring us joy and encouragement. We know that our confession will be heard, but we will not be condemned all over again for our sins. We know that we have One who has taken our place.

That is where the Words of Assurance come into play. We are told by the Word of God that He receives us and will keep us. The only basis for this has to be the fact that our debt has been satisfied. While we have certainly touched on the work of our Savior before this point in our service, this confession and assurance emphasize His indispensable role in our salvation.

He is the Savior of the Body, the Scriptures tell us. His blood covered us all; the surrender of His life was sufficient to pay for the sins of us all. Every element in our worship speaks, in some manner, to our unity in the body.

Response

This element was added to our liturgy a number of years back. As I thought more about this portion of our worship, it seemed that some kind of reply should be made when we are told that God forgives us and keeps us following our confession of sin. The most appropriate type of response appeared to be a short musical selection. We confess our sins, God announces our forgiveness and security, and we praise Him.

Collection of the Tithe and Offerings (and Doxology)

Early in the history of our race, we learn that it is natural for the creature to acknowledge the Creator in various ways. One of those ways was first illustrated by Cain and Abel. Each man brought a portion of his increase and presented it to the Creator as a tribute.

During the time of Israel, this practice was formalized and highly regulated. The reasoning behind the giving of a portion of our increase, however, has always been the same. God is responsible for the circumstances in which we are able to prosper. It is appropriate, therefore, that He be acknowledged. And the best way to do this is to present to him a representative portion of our increase, whatever that happens to be.

This obligation is always applicable to every human being. Believers have a particular duty in that we are returning some of our increase not only to our creator, but also to our Savior. This practice also helps people to learn that everything we have ultimately belongs to God and it trains us to honor Him by setting aside some of what we have. In this case, it is normally the financial increase that is under consideration.

We conclude with singing in which we acknowledge that “all blessings” come from God. In that response, all are called on to make this acknowledgement (“all creatures here below”).

Declaring Our Faith

This element is included primarily for the edification of the congregation. In this statement, we acknowledge that what we believe is what God has revealed to us.

Pastoral Prayer

One of the wonderful privileges we have been given is that of taking our petitions to God through our Savior. Given that our worship is a corporate activity, as I’ve been emphasizing, the petitions we bring to God will be primarily those concerned with the whole congregation. We pray for the good of this body and we pray for the character of this body. Normally, during the week, we are not with the whole body for prayer; our prayers tend to be more individually focused as a result. On behalf of the congregation, therefore, the minister offers a prayer.

Responsive Reading

Another antiphonal element designed to edify the congregation by using the Word.

Hymn, Reading of the Word, and Prayer

Following the singing of another hymn, we have a public reading of the Word (as commanded by Paul in 1 Tim. 4:13). This emphasizes the authority of the Word. There is a benefit to having the Word speak, as it were, simply by itself. This activity has been common in Reformed churches since the time of the Reformation.

Sermon

The sermon has always been a dominant part of Reformed worship. The Word is preached to all who are part of the one body; there is equal obligation for all to hear the Word and obey it. Of all of the elements in worship, the sermon most reflects God speaking to His assembled people. All the covenant people are present—adults and children; all generations are represented. This portion of the service resembles the many assemblies of Israel during the early portion of that nation’s history.

Hymn and the Lord’s Supper

The hymn after the sermon serves two purposes—it is a response to the sermon and an opportunity to contemplate the sacrament.

The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper serves as a sign and seal, as our Standards say. The sacrament is a sign in that it points back to the work of Christ when He secured our redemption by taking upon Himself our offenses; and the sacrament points forward to the coming consummation when Christ and His Church will be revealed for the glory of God. In the meantime, the sacrament implies perseverance for us.

The sacrament also functions as a seal or that which authenticates. The idea is that all who are at the Lord’s Table are eternally secure. The places at the Table are for God’s people only, so participation here and now implies that you are among the redeemed.

Because it serves these functions, the sacrament is a fitting conclusion to our worship. It testifies to the truth of what has been declared about God and His work of salvation, thereby encouraging us and giving us confidence.

Hymn, Benediction, Threefold Amen

A final hymn is followed by the Benediction in which the minister supplies an official dismissal marking the conclusion much as the Apostolic Greeting marked the beginning.

Just as the entire congregation received the same welcome and blessing of peace when the service began, so the whole congregation pronounces a solemn agreement with all the truths stated or illustrated during the time of worship by singing the Threefold Amen. All present entered before God, all participated in the elements of worship, all were given a seat at the Table of the Savior, and now all present consent to the conclusion.