REFORMED WITNESS
Volume XII, January 2004, Number 1
The Church At Worship
The Idea of Worship
By Rev. G. Vanden Berg
From the December 15, 1963 issue of The Standard BearerAlso in this issue: The Congregational Prayer - by Rev. G. Vanden Berg
Worship is the highest of all the functions of man. There is nothing physical or mundane in it, although it can and frequently is performed through the use of many physical media derived from the present world. Worship in its essential character is a thoroughly spiritual function of the entire nature of man in which he transcends the temporal and earthly and is consciously overwhelmed by the eternal realities of God. The creature who has been created in the very image and likeness of God Himself is brought into experiential fellowship with the Creator for the duration of worship. He walks with God and talks with God; and this intercommunion of the Infinite with the finite, the Maker with the made, the Exalted One with the lowly, the Wise with the simple, constitutes worship. Seemingly there is an awesome paradox in the dwelling of Him Who alone has immortality with the mortal dust called man. If then we fail to comprehend the mystery of the intercommunion of life within the Divine Being itself, it is not particularly strange that we are unable fully to grasp and to express the idea of that clearly revealed and subjectively experienced reality of God sharing His own life with us... with man!
In this light it must be pointed out at least that worship is not an experience of man in general. Man, who was made to serve and glorify God in perpetual worship, fell away from God through disobedience; and he now walks in the sphere of darkness wherein with his whole nature he serves the lusts of his flesh, the lusts of his eyes, and the pride of his life. He is a stranger to the life of God. His communion is with the prince of darkness, the father of lies, who seduces him and with all subtlety captivates him within death's horrible portals. With such a creature God does not meet, cannot meet. He, the High and Lofty One, Who inhabits all eternity, is too pure of eyes to behold sin. He, the Light in Whom there is no darkness at all, cannot participate in the darkness that conflicts with His own infinitely perfect Being. He is GOD! To meet with Him in that state is only to encounter the fierceness of His holy wrath and to be consumed by the brightness of His radiant glory. Our God is a consuming fire! It is a terror to fall into His hands. Every pretense of man in that fallen state to worship Him is only an abomination and aggravation of His displeasure: for the Scriptures unmistakably declare that even the plowing of the wicked is sin and their prayers are only abomination. Let it be added that the believer's participation in that nature and his being in the body of sin all his life mars and leaves much to be desired in even the purest form of worship.
Worship is a fruit of grace. It presupposes regeneration in Christ Jesus and since this is the unconditional and sovereign work of the God of all grace, two things logically follow.
First, worship is the work of God in us and through us. Oh, it is true that we participate in it and enjoy its blessings; but also this is the fruit of grace. We are not coerced to serve God, and neither do we worship in a vain attempt to appease a little of the wrath of God, and so through the religious channel of life's experiences seek to bring a little sweetness into our sphere of morbid misery. Rather, God makes us new creatures in Christ Jesus. We are saved by His grace. We are His workmanship, created unto good works: He has ordained for us to walk in them. The reality of true worship comes forth out of this alone. We receive the mind of Christ. He makes us partakers of His own nature (II Peter 1:3). His life springs forth from the renewed heart, and the expressions and activities of that heart constitute the worship of God. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin!
Secondly, then it is a virtual truism that worship is and only can be the experience of the children of God. This is a truism that may be emphasized in an age in which stress is placed upon the lie of the alleged universal Fatherhood of God and universal brotherhood of man. Those alone whom God has predestinated to be His adopted children are worshippers of Him. To them He has given His Spirit; 'if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His; and they that are in the flesh cannot please God' (Romans 8). All this is not by man or the will of man, but is realized according to the good pleasure of God's will, which He purposed in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. "This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise" (Isaiah 43:21).
In characterizing this worship of God by His people, who in the midst of this world of sin have been chosen unto eternal life, separated, called, and made to participate in this loftiness, we must make an important distinction. We emphasize that it is only a distinction, and not a separation. The distinction is essential only for the purpose of this rubric in our Standard Bearer. We refer to the distinction of "public" and "private" worship.
By the latter is meant that the whole life of God's people is and must be essentially worship. We warn against the error that postulates worship as that exclusive exercise in which we religiously participate during a few hours of one day of each week. This is the morbid Christianity of today by which many are deceived and made to think that a place in heaven is secured for them because they do go to church. We are called as the people of God to live our whole life in consecration and dedication to the Lord our God. This we also desire to do if we have learned experientially only the first beginnings of worship. There must be worship in our homes, our schools, our business, our sphere of labor and pleasure, as well as in our church. We must walk with our God always and everywhere. Every sphere and every relationship of our living must reverberate with the consciousness that all things are naked and open before the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do. God is everywhere, and we are never without Him for even a moment in the world. How careful and how anxious we must then be that we do not walk in ways where He cannot tread, and practice things that He condemns: for at that moment His fellowship ceases with us, and our worship becomes its converse. Today the spirit of worldliness, materialism and kindred spirits have made deep inroads into the church, necessitating an accentuation of emphasis upon practical Christian living: for without this our worship fades into oblivion. If the dogmatics of the church are not transposed into a vibrant Christian living, it becomes dead confessionalism. The credo of the church is not a theoretic system but a dynamic power of life pulsating in every sphere of the believer's existence. If orthodoxy is not manifest in Christian living, it becomes dead confessionalism. The gospel of God is not a philosophy on humanitarianism; but it is the power of God unto salvation, transforming us in the renewing of our minds, that we should present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God, which is our reasonable service. Faith without works is dead. To beautify our worship let us then begin by laboring diligently to enter into the rest which God has prepared for His people. Let us give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we let them slip. Let us not labor six days for the things that perish, and live with those things in self-pleasure to promote the desires of our flesh; but rather let us heed the words of Jesus: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness." That must constitute our life: for without it we have not yet begun to worship God. Only in the way of that daily worship can we approach God to worship in His House in the proper disposition, in the beauty of His holiness, on the day which He has hallowed and sanctified.
It is to this worship that we refer when in the second part of the distinction made above we speak of "public worship."We are to be concerned with this worship in our present rubric, wherein we purpose to discuss the liturgical forms that the church employs to enhance this worship. Because this aspect of our worship centers about the means of grace which God has in Christ officially instituted in His church, it follows that from our public worship we derive the strength, guidance, comfort, admonitions, instruction and all the spiritual blessings we need to bring our daily worship into that pattern of good things that are pleasing to God. So there is an inseparable relation between these two, and we must not separate them. We are prone to do so. But we must not separate them even theoretically, and even more so must we refrain from doing this practically. Our doctrine is and must always be our living. In the church we hear it expounded, explained and preached in order that we may receive it and apply it unto our lives and so worship God acceptably and with godly fear.
Public worship then as to its idea is not essentially different from that worship in which we are called to participate continuously. It differs only in form; this is undoubtedly the thought of the Heidelberg Catechism, when expounding the fourth commandment of the law of God, it expresses: "that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works, and yield myself to the Lord, to work by His Holy Spirit in me: and thus begin in this life the eternal Sabbath" (Lord's Day 38). This is the meaning of keeping the Sabbath holy in concurrence with this: "That I, especially, on the sabbath, that is, on the day of rest, diligently frequent the church of God, to hear His Word, to use the sacraments, publicly to call upon the Lord, and contribute to the relief of the poor, as becomes a christian."
This worship, then, is also a meeting of God with His people. It is an intercommunion of fellowship. It is God imparting Himself to His people through means which He has instituted. In this worship there are properly two parts. First "a parte Dei," that is, a part in which God comes to His people to bless them, and secondly, "a pane ecclesiae," or that part in which the church responds in faith and approaches God to adore, praise and glorify Him in worship. It follows from this that the purpose of the gathering of the church in worship is not a missionary or evangelistic one, i.e., the saving of souls, although this may result from and be a fruit of that worship. The purpose of public worship must be firstly the public and united service and glorification of God with thanksgiving and joy in an orderly manner. Secondly it is in subordination to this the building up and edification of the saints (the church) and the strengthening and growth in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the means of public worship, and particularly through the means of the preaching of the Word and of prayer, the people of God are strengthened in their faith.
G.v.d.B.
The Church At Worship
The Congregational Prayer
By Rev. G. Vanden Berg
From the March 1, 1964 issue of The Standard BearerIn our typical worship today the congregation is led by the minister of the Word, before the preaching of the sermon, in a rather comprehensive prayer that contains various elements. Then immediately after the sermon the minister leads in another prayer that is usually very brief. This order was not always followed in Reformed Churches. From the collection of Christian Prayers handed down in our Dutch liturgy and translated into the English, we learn that some centuries ago prayers were used and designated for use after the preaching of the sermon. First of all, there is the Prayer for the Needs of All Christendom which, although considerably abridged in our English translations, is still rather long. Then there is the Brief Form of Prayer after the Sermon, the contents of which are also of a rather general nature. There is also found a Prayer After the Explanation of the Catechism. In the light of these three we will be able to understand what our fathers considered to be the purpose of this part of the worship.
Our fathers desired to place the chief prayer of the service after the sermon. This, we have seen, is the opposite of today's custom, and yet a little reflection on the matter will prove that they had many good arguments in their favor. In order to be truly thankful, we must first know the way of salvation, which is explained in the sermon. Our coming to God should be the response to his seeking us in the way of grace. Thus having been instructed and comforted, we are the better able to order our petitions before Him aright.
Then let us also remember that one of the purposes of true worship is the rededication of ourselves to God. Prayer is the offering up of our desires to him, the surrender of our lives to His perfect will. It is the most fitting response to the preaching of the gospel, especially when, as in the first prayer mentioned above, the needs of all Christendom are remembered. This element of consecration truly comes to its own.
One other thing is apparent if we look at the prayers used of old. The prayer after the sermon was not a summary of the message. Never should the congregation be led to confuse the prophetic and priestly functions. When called upon to preach, let us preach. When we must lead in prayer, let the prayer breath the spirit of devotion and communion with God. All summaries should be part of the sermon alone, and should not be appended to the sermon in the form of a prayer.
There is no reason perhaps for changing our practice and returning to that of the fathers, even though liturgically it has much to commend itself to us. However, if we retain the congregational prayer before the sermon, let us remember that the closing prayer must also be handled most reverently. To both prayers there must be specific purpose, and they must be carefully designed to realize that purpose.
The congregational prayer may include various elements. It must first of all be concerned with the needs of the congregation for the particular hour of worship and for the congregational life and conduct as the church of Christ in the present world. The practical aim of the present worship must be that through it the church is prepared to glorify God by living in the midst of the world in accord with His Word, and so show forth the praise of the Name of the Lord as His peculiar and distinct people. To receive the necessary blessing unto the attainment of that end, the church approaches God in prayer.
In addition to this, various other elements may be added to this prayer. The needs of the church in general may be included, and in this category such things as the following may be mentioned: the needs of the ministry of the Word, the instruction given in the church, the home, and the school, the society life of the communion of the saints, the care of the sick and afflicted, the needs of the office bearers, the families and individuals, as parents, children, young people, aged of days, etc. From here the prayer may properly broaden out to include the needs of the entire Catholic Church of Christ, of which the local congregation is but a part. The particular denominational needs may also be mentioned. Remembering that this is not all-inclusive, we soon detect the need of condensing this prayer, so that certain things are included in one prayer and other things in another. It is not possible to include everything in every prayer and neither is this necessary.
In the past we had certain formulated liturgical prayers, which we referred to before. These have not been preserved in our Psalters but we do find them in the Christian Reformed Psalter Hymnal. They are specially designed prayers for special occasions, e.g., the time of fasting, time of confession, before meals, prayer for the sick, morning and evening prayers, opening and closing of ecclesiastical assemblies, etc. Then in addition to these we have specially designed prayers that are commended for our use as they are part of our liturgy and ought to be highly regarded. These prayers are specifically designated for particular occasions; and this need they also fulfill as, for example the time of baptism, Lord's Supper, Installations, etc. You find these in the respective forms in the back of our Psalters.
It is of course a very good custom that the minister leads the congregation in a prayer at the conclusion of the sermon. This prayer should be brief. Generally, we would expect that thanks is offered for the blessings received during the sermon and that the Holy Spirit will so apply the Word that it will be instrumental in the day by day sanctification of the church. Without this gift the means of grace will profit us but little. Through this blessing our lives will reflect true gratitude, a manifestation of the spiritual fruits of the service in which we have participated.
THE SERMON
Of central importance in the Reformed worship is the sermon! This statement is not intended to minimize the importance of the prayers, songs, offerings and other activities in which the church participates in her worship; but we want to single out that the worship of the church must center in the preaching of the Word. The pulpit, the official ministry, God speaking to His people through the office, gives meaning to the hour of worship. Take this away and all that is done falls flat. Where the preaching is effective, it becomes the source of support for all the other elements of worship.
Our attention then must briefly be focused on the sermon. We will not engage now in a lengthy homiletical discourse on the subject of sermons and sermon-making. We will simply note that the word "sermon" is derived from the Latin term for talk or discourse. Thus, one of the leading dictionaries defines it on this wise: "Talk or discourse; also, a discourse for the purpose of religious instruction or exhortation, especially one based on a text of Scripture and delivered from a pulpit; hence, any similar serious discourse; a serious exhortation." This quite well covers the ground and will suffice for our purpose.
Let us remember; however, that the sermon is not simply a discourse on some religious theme. Many seem to think this is so, and seem to be satisfied with no more than this. But that is only evidence of the fact that, although in the beginning of their history Protestant Churches have generally held the sermon in high repute, Protestants today have quite universally obscured its position and purpose. Neither is a sermon the opportunity for some learned scholar to parade the accumulation of his intellectual store and unburden his mind and heart of the fruits of his thought. Still less is it an attempt to serve gospel truths in the form of sugar-coated pills, so that people can hardly recognize and much less taste what they are fed.
Because it is undoubtedly true that a majority of people no longer are able to recognize a sermon and readily accept the counterfeits that are so generally offered, we would reiterate the principles set forth by Hyperius, a man of God who lived in Calvin's time, and who first formulated the rules for Reformed preaching. We quote and paraphrase:
1. First of all, so Hyperius claimed, the sermon must be thought of as the popular exposition of the Bible. The source material is Scripture alone. All topical preaching, attractive as it may be to some, is contraband. The exposition must be based on a text and explained so that all, both learned and unlearned, may derive a blessing therefrom by the operation of the Spirit.
2. Moreover, in preaching the minister must be regarded as God's servant, more particularly as the representative of Christ who is the Head of the Church. This immediately binds the heart and mind of the preacher, since he may bring nothing which is at variance with the plain teaching of the Word. But it likewise binds the hearts and minds of the congregation, since all must accept the teaching of Christ. The value of a sermon, therefore, must not be judged by external appeal and technical perfection but rather by whether it has reflected God's truth.
3. Closely connected with this was a third principle. In the days of Hyperius oratory flourished, and many people expected the sermons to be masterpieces of this art. The author recognized that the minister must be trained as a public speaker. Yet he insisted that the people remember that preaching because of its official character had an altogether different aim.
4. Finally, the Biblical sermon produced, so he said, certain psychological results such as joy or sorrow, contrition or fear, depending on the spiritual condition of the hearers. The congregation should never be satisfied with an abstract theological dissertation. It existed not for the benefit of the minister and a few learned members but for the sake of all. Both sheep and lambs, all in their own way, must hear and recognize the voice of the Great Shepherd of the sheep.
These principles were enunciated some four centuries ago. Since that time many have elaborated on them. Yet they are still valid and will remain valid until the end of time. Therefore, all ministers, consistories and congregations who seek to worship God aright do well to be diligent that they are practiced in purity. Only when the sermon is proper can our entire liturgical service be spiritually effective.
G.v.d.B.
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