Using The Entire Service To Proclaim The Word Of God

One of the things I love about the Reformed tradition is its intense focus on and love for the Word of God. The Reformation came about as a result of multiple issues in the Catholic Church. One of those issues was that the people of God did not have an understanding of the Word of God. This had a lot to do with the fact that Mass was held in Latin. Also there were no Bibles available in the common language of the people, they were all Latin too. You had to be a scholar to be able to read it for yourself, and if you weren’t a scholar and you went to mass, chances are you didn’t understand much of the sermon either. Thank God that we have the Word in our own languages!

The Word of God is vital in the life of a Christian. The Word of God is the Gospel of Jesus Christ! The Reformed Tradition understands this, and as a result rightfully emphasizes the preaching and proclamation of the Word of God in Worship Services.

The negative result of this emphasis on the Sermon is that sometimes the other aspects of the worship service get de-emphasized and even misunderstood. We often think of every aspect of a service in relation to the sermon. Many people think the first portion of the service is meant to get the people excited and happy to worship God, guide them through an emotional experience which then in turn will prepare their hearts to hear the sermon. Many people see the singing time after the sermon as a time that is meant to allow the Sunday school teachers time to get to their classrooms and set up before their students come. (Just an aside for your information: Martin Luther did not think this way, neither did John Calvin… read chapters three and four of Christ Centered Worship by Bryan Chappell if you don’t believe me… and if you’re going to read those chapters you might as well read the whole thing.)

Let me come right out and say it. The music before the sermon is not meant to prepare you for the sermon. The music after the sermon is not meant to give you time to get out of the sanctuary before everyone else. The music  in the service (if used appropriately) is not secondary to the sermon. Music is not a tool meant to be used to prepare hearts for the sermon; it is meant to be a tool used for glorifying God and proclaiming the same Gospel that the sermon is meant to be proclaiming. (Note: The sermon is also a tool used to accomplish goal of proclaiming the Gospel.)

Our services are meant to be an engagement with God formed by what I like to call the Gospel Pattern. This is how Bryan Chappell, in his book Christ Centered Worship, describes this Gospel Pattern in the context of an individual’s interaction with the good news of Jesus Christ:

 “The gospel first affects the heart by enabling us to recognize who God is. When we truly understand the glory of his holiness, then we also recognize who we really are and confess our need of him. The gospel then assures us of the grace that he provides, and our hearts respond in both thanksgiving and humble petition for his aid so that we can give proper devotion to him. In response to our desire for his aid, God provides his Word. We heed his instruction, know that we are both charged to do so and have the promise of his blessing as we live for him (p 99).”

Our services should be formatted in such a way that every element proclaims some aspect of this Gospel Pattern. Thankfully we don’t have to come up with this format all by ourselves. We see it in scripture (check out my last post about the dialogue of worship) and we see it in many of the liturgies of the churches throughout history.

Bryan Chappell summarizes the consistent elements found within many Historic Liturgies (p 100):

                        Recognition of God’s Character (Adoration)

Acknowledgment of Our Character (Confession)

Affirmation of Grace (Assurance)

Expression of Devotion (Thanksgiving)

Desire for Aid in Living for God (Petition and Intercession)

Acquiring Knowledge for Pleasing God (Instruction from God’s Word)

Living unto God with His Blessing (Charge and Benediction)

This same Gospel Pattern should shape our worship. Not because it’s tradition. But because if we follow this pattern in worship, each element of our service will work with the next to proclaim the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ—this is of utmost importance.

So in the next service that you attend I’d encourage you to think about each element of the service individually and then think about them all as a whole unit. Think of them as different scenes in the drama that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Without one of the scenes the drama might make a little bit of sense. But when all scenes are put together there is no mistaking the drama for anything but the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here’s the point: the Word of God is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our entire worship services are meant to proclaim this Gospel, not just the sermon. If the Gospel Pattern is followed in our worship services, we have proclaimed the Gospel, participated in the Gospel, and personally and corporately experienced the Gospel. We leave the service having encountered the Triune God and His power to save. This is life changing!

The Dialogue of Worship

Dear Church family,

Recently I have felt God tugging at my heart to begin to share some Biblical concepts about worship with you. Since I have been put in the position of Worship Director, it is my responsibility to make sure those whom I am leading in worship understand what we are doing. In our culture of consumerist, experiential, and “my-way-or-the-highway” worship it is very easy for people to lose sight of the Bible’s teachings on the matter. There are actually right ways and wrong ways to worship! However, surprisingly to some, these correct and incorrect methods of worship have little and even nothing to do with the style of the music!

It is my prayer that the following articles will teach you something that you did not know about worship or maybe re-enforce something you already knew about worship. Ultimately I want to help you to grow in your relationship with the God who is most worthy of our worship. May He be glorified in all that we do!

The first concept I’d like to share with you is the one of the most important things that anyone can understand about worship (other than the fact that God is to be the only subject of our worship). This is the fact that our Worship must be shaped by Christ and the Gospel that he came to proclaim and fulfill! In worship we gather together to hear the gospel, participate in the gospel, and proclaim the gospel to one another.

One of the ways that we make sure that our services are just that is often referred to as “The Dialogue of Worship.” It has a lot to do with the order of our worship services and why we do what we do when we do it. To summarize it briefly, it is the way in which we engage with God in a conversation… some might even call it a dialogue! And as we all know (some of us better than others) a conversation is not one person talking at another person. A conversation is two or more parties engaging with each other, listening to what the other party says and responding appropriately. In worship the ‘parties’ that we engage with are God and the other people gathered.

The best Biblical example of this dialogue can be found in Isaiah 6:1-13. Before you continue reading I encourage you to open up your Bible or your internet search engine of choice and look up those verses. It’s an awesome example of heavenly worship and a wonderful display of the Gospel and how we are to respond to it!

Notice the first 4 verses we see God’s character revealed. The heavenly creatures are declaring that He is “Holy, holy, holy.” Let’s also take note that Isaiah did not get to see God because he went looking. He saw God because God showed himself to Isaiah. In worship we call this Adoration.

In verse 5 we see Isaiah responding to God in confession. “Woe is me…” It’s when we see God’s character that we realize our own character: unclean. The glory of God not only displays his holiness, it illumines our blemishes. Isaiah experiences this first hand and responds accordingly with a confession of his sinful character. In worship we call this Confession.

In verses 6-7 it’s God’s turn in the dialogue. He responds to Isaiah’s confession by the cleansing touch of a coal from the altar. He then says “See this coal has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your guilt atoned for.” Notice how not only does God make sure Isaiah’s sins have been forgiven, He also makes sure Isaiah understands the forgiveness that he has received. What wonderful grace! Not only does God forgive us once and for all, He constantly reminds us of that forgiveness! In worship we call this Assurance.

In verse 8 we see Isaiah’s response to this wonderful grace. When God ask’s “Who shall I send…” Isaiah without hesitation responds, “Here am I, send me!”. Paul encourages the same response from us in Romans 12:1. He says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of Gods mercy offer you bodies as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.” You see, when we experience God’s mercy there is only one logical response and that is worshiping God in all of our life. In worship we call this Thanksgiving.

Next, in verses 9-12, God gives Isaiah instructions. He tells him what to do and how to minister to the people of Israel. Basically, God gives Isaiah His Word. He tells Isaiah what to say to the people. In worship we call this Instruction.

Lastly, God assures Isaiah that He will uphold the covenant blessing that he promised Israel, in spite of the judgment that will occur. In verse 13 God says, “But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed (referring to the remnant of Israelites that will be left) will be the stump in the land.” God sends Isaiah out reminding him of His covenant blessing and assuring him that He will keep His promises. In worship we call this the Sending, or Blessing.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Wow AJ, this is great stuff, but I’m not sure if God meant for this passage to be a model for our worship services… Wasn't he just showing the calling of Isaiah?” Why, yes! Thank you for bringing that up! Here’s a quote from the book Christ Centered Worship by Bryan Chapell (the book I took the outline of this passage from).

My purpose for outlining this passage in this way is to point out that when faithful persons encounter God’s glory, there are common responses. Isaiah’s pattern of response also is not unique. Check out Jeremiah 1:4-19 or Ezekiel 1:26-3:15 (p. 103).

Bryan Chapell goes on to say that if this is a common pattern of what happens when people meet with God in the Bible, shouldn’t we expect similar patterns to be reflected in the worship of others who encounter the glory of God in the testimony of his Word (p. 103)?

Here’s the meat and potatoes of the matter: following this pattern in our worship services insures that the Gospel is proclaimed in the whole service, not just the sermon. If our goal is for our worship services to be focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and shaped by that same Gospel (which it is) this Dialogue of Worship is a valuable pattern to follow.

*If you’re interested in reading more about this Dialogue of Worship I’d encourage you to read the books: The Dialogue of Worship by Milburn Price, or Christ Centered Worship by Bryan Chapell.