The Conversation of Worship - Response through the Ordinances

Just as the ordinances are part of God speaking to us, so they are part of us responding to God. Through the ordinance of baptism, the new believer publicly confesses Christ as Lord along with his desire to unite with other believers in the local church in following Christ. Through the ordinance of communion, believers privately respond in confession, thankfulness, and praise to God for the sacrifice of Christ in our place. In so doing, we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26).

While baptism is a one-time response, communion is an on-going response that is a necessary part of the believer’s Christian walk. The church must stress the importance of the corporate observance of a remembrance of Christ’s death. The frequency or manner in which communion is observed may vary from church to church. A church may choose to observe communion in a special service, or as a part of the regular services. They may choose to observe it as open communion or closed communion. However, the obedience to the command to observe should not vary.

The Conversation of Worship - Response through the Message

When the word of God is communicated whether through preaching, teaching, reading, or singing, worship is bound up in the appropriate response—the response of the spirit to the truth of God’s word. This response should not be separated from worship; it is a part of worship. When the word calls us to do something, we must respond in obedience.

The worship of preaching must make clear what the biblical response is to the truth that has been presented. It is not enough for the preacher to simply tell what God has said. He must also tell what God expects the hearer to do with what has been said. 1 Timothy 1:5 gives an example of what we might call Paul’s philosophy of preaching: “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” Here, we see that Paul’s preaching is for the purpose of drawing forth love from inner change. In other words, Paul’s preaching was intent on changing lives from the inside out. The goal of preaching is not first to effect outer change. It must address the heart, the conscience, and the faith of the listener.

When such a call has been made, the unbeliever who may be present in worship can be exhorted to complete his first act of worship—confessing Christ as Lord and receiving the salvation that is found only in him. It is true that unbelievers cannot worship in the music. However, they can worship God in the preaching by listening and responding to the call of God to salvation.

While evangelism is not a necessary part of the corporate worship, neither should it be regarded as an unbiblical part of corporate worship. When the church proclaims the truth of God in music and preaching, it is with a view of calling all men to a next right step from whatever place in life they are at. For the unbeliever, the next right step, indeed the only proper response, is calling on Christ for salvation. For the believer, the next right step may vary based on spiritual maturity and life context. The preaching of the Word must call people to take this step based on the message of the text.

Time should be given for this response, whether through time of silence, the selection of appropriate songs, or a public invitation to seek counsel and prayer with someone. The call for public response through “walking the aisle” is a matter which an individual church and pastor must decide. Such a public invitation is not a mandate of Scripture, and churches that do not have one are not disobedient. The practice may even vary from week to week. It would be wise for the preacher to announce the availability of an “inquiry room” or mature believers who are able to take time to talk with individuals about their personal questions or struggles with their faith or the claims of Christ on their life.

On Preaching Narrative

Unfortunately, though, preaching from Old Testament narratives resembles playing the saxophone: it is easy to do poorly.

Stephen D. Mathewson, “Guidelines for Understanding and Proclaiming Old Testament Narratives,” BSac (154:410). He says, “This analogy comes from Haddon W. Robinson, who originally applied it to expounding parables” (Biblical Sermons [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1989], 168).

I am currrently reading David Larsen's book Telling the Old Old Story: The Art of Narrative Preaching. This article is a good, though brief, companion to the book.

While I am on the topic, if almost half the Bible is narrative (think most of Genesis-Esther, Matthew-Acts), why aren't narrative texts more prominent in our preaching?

The Conversation of Worship - We Respond to God Through Giving

We respond to God through giving.

An equally important part of the worship service is the time of corporate offering. The offering is giving back to God from what he has given to us. Its roots are found in the Old Testament worship of God as well as in the New Testament life of the church. 1 Chronicles 16:29 is an example of the Scriptures that show giving as a part of worship:

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name;

Bring an offering, and come before Him;

Worship the LORD in holy array.

2 Corinthians 9:5-14 lays out some of the New Testament teaching on giving. While the offering described in 2 Corinthians 9 was a specific offering the needs of others saints, the general principles of giving can be derived from this passage. In this passage, Paul encourages the believers to give generously (vv. 2-6, 10-14), according to their personal pledge (v. 7), depending on God (v. 8), and from the heart because God loves a cheerful giver (v. 7). This giving then results in the needs of the saints being met and thanksgiving and glory to God (vv. 12-13). These principles, and others found in the New Testament, guide our worship of giving.

The offering should not be regarded as simply a time to raise the money needed to run the church, nor should it should become a time of brow-beating and manipulation. It is a time of worship during which the church body responds to God by giving to the body of Christ. The offering is taken, not with great fanfare, but with a sense of humble and thankful worship.

Many churches today have stopped taking a public offering, choosing instead to place offering boxes in various locations around the place where the church meets.[1] This has the potential of robbing the people of God of the corporate worship of giving in unison. A church would be wise to consider ways in which they can make it clear that the offering is not for visitors, but for the people of the church, while stressing that participation in the offering is an act of grateful and obedient worship.

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[1] Some have done this in order to not offend visitors who believe that “Churches just want your money.” Others have done this to maintain secrecy in giving, claiming Matthews 6:3-4 as a basis. Neither of these reasons seem convincing to this author.

The Conversation of Worship - We Speak to God Through Prayer

Prayer is an obvious part of our conversation with God. But often, to the person in the pew, it is an undervalued part. It is perhaps even something to be endured rather than participated in. Prayer should be the time of the service where we bind our hearts together corporately to implore God for his blessing and help on our behalf. Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple goes on for 29 verses in 1 Chronicles 6. Many of the Psalms are prayers set to music. The early church was devoted to prayer as seen both in the book of Acts and the epistles.[1] Prayer is a necessary part of corporate worship.

It would be wise to consider times of both corporate, or public prayer, as well as times of private prayer in the service. Giving time for silence of heart and imploring people to call on God privately to use the light of his truth proclaimed to change to their own lives and the lives of others is a vital part in leading the church in prayer and in teaching the church to pray. It would be wise for the worship leader not to be afraid of silence in corporate worship, but rather to encourage directed silence—silence of personal prayer directed towards a specific request of God for the service.

Pastoral prayers are important in not only calling on God for his mercy and truth, but in teaching others to pray. Pastors might do well to consider resisting the urge to extemporize their entire prayer choosing rather to plan their prayers according to a general outline.[2] The use of Scripture in prayer can also help to form our thoughts and direct our requests.

Prayer, like music, should be intelligible. The “catch phrases” of church life may be confusing to a church of newer believers, and may be blasé or trite to a church of mature believers. Thanking God for the “finished cross work of Christ” is an appropriate prayer, but may prove confusing to those who do not know what it means. While are prayers are not directed to people, but to God, our prayers are for people and thus should be intelligible to them so that they know what we are praying for and so that they can participate along with the person leading in prayer. Our wording should also be varied, so as to prevent vain repetition and to engage thoughtful participation.

Public prayer should be characterized by both reverence and boldness, rather than presumption, and should likely take a different nature than private prayer. The heart immersed in constant prayer throughout the day may breathe a sentence or two of “colloquial prayer” during a moment of thought. A corporate prayer should be less colloquial and personal, and in keeping with the corporate gathering of the church.

We may speak boldly with God, but still He is in heaven and we are upon earth, and we are to avoid presumption. In supplication we are peculiarly before the throne of the Infinite, and as the courtier in the king’s palace puts on another mien and another manner than that which he exhibits to his fellows courtiers, so should it be with us.[3]

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[1] E.g., Acts 1:14, 24; 2:42, 4:24-31; 6:4; 6:6; 8:14; 12:5-12; 13:3; 14:23; 21:5; Rom 12:12; 15:30; 2 Cor 9:14; Eph 1:16; 6:18-20; Phil 1:4, 9, 19; 4:6; Col 4:2; 1 Thess 3:10; 5:17; 2 Thess 1:11; 3:1; 1 Tim 2:1; 8; 1 Tim 5:5; Jam 5:13-18; 1 Peter 4:7; Jude 1:20.

[2] See Derek Prime and Alistair Begg, On Being a Pastor (Chicago: Moody Press, 2004), pp. 211-216. On p. 214, Prime presents his own approach to outlining prayers.

[3] Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 55