Vision Essentials: Worship

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Introduction

Last week we started through a series called Vision Essentials. It’s a little different than what we normally do during the preaching time in that instead of walking methodically thorough a book of the Bible from start to finish, I’m rolling out each of the parts of our Vision/Discipleship process moving forward as a church. As such, we’re going to be jumping between a few different scriptures to see the Biblical basis for our direction as a church.

Last week I gave an overview of the three parts of the vision, Worship, Grow, Go. This morning we are going to break down the first part of this, Worship. What is worship? Is it a service? Is it an attitude? Is it a lifestyle? What is worship? In our remaining time together we are going to focus in on what worship is, how we are to worship together, and why this is the first step in our vision and discipleship process.

John Piper has suggested that many of us who gather here on Sunday morning possibly grew up in churches with a very shallow view of the significance of what is happening right now in this hour and twenty minutes or so. When the people of God gather and He is there among them and we sing the wonderful truths of scripture to God and to one another and a man opens the Word of God and exposes the meaning of the text and shows us the truths of the Gospel therein and calls for us to respond with faith and to repent and believe!

I. What is worship?

John 4:21–24 CSB

21 Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”

Worship is understanding who God is and valuing God’s worth rightly.

The word Worship meant WORTH-ship. We are ascribing worth to the object or person being worshipped. IT is a treasuring of God above all things. Piper puts it: “know him truly and treasure him duly.” We are giving him what he deserves. What he is worth which is everything and so much more!

We worship through acts of the mouth - songs, confession of sin, praying, repenting

and through acts of love - these show God’s value to us, his supreme value, in that we are willing to sacrifice for others. Think: Acts church selling their possessions to provide for others.

Romans 12:1 CSB

1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.

Our whole life should display the worth of God.

Worship is the purpose of redemption

Many times in the book of Exodus chapters 3-10 corporate worship is pointed to as the purpose of redemption.

A. Corporate Worship

According to Scripture, the main purpose of the Lord’s Day gathering is not evangelism but edification. Ultimately, what we do here on Sunday mornings is primarily, that means firstly, is for the gathered children of God to glorify and honor His name being edified and built up. Now, we always do this with what the Bible calls, the outsider, in mind. You’ll hear this in my preaching. Sometimes I will speak to those in the seats who may not know Jesus or may not know what I’m talking about because of their background.

Sunday morning is the main feeding time. Worship is a response to revelation so this is where the meatiest expository meal is served.

As such, the main gathering should not be set up based on the preferences of unbelievers and what they will find attractive but instead should be set up and calibrated to the parameters given to us in scripture for the edification of believers.

The sermon, which we will get to in more detail later on, should be an exposition of scripture. But since all scripture is about Jesus, the preacher should expose the good news of the gospel and it’s implications in the passage. This kind of preaching will encourage others to bring their unbelieving friends to the service with them because they know they will hear the Gospel presented clearly in relation to whatever passage is being preached on a given Sunday.

B. Personal Worship

I once heard a pastor say that the reason worship often doesn’t happen on Sunday morning is because it isn’t happening on Monday. In other words, the reason that some of us don’t worship on Sunday is because we haven’t been practicing personal worship the rest of the week. If this is your only time with God all through the week, it’s not enough. We need to be worshipping individually spending time in prayer and the Word as we deepen our own personal discipleship.

II. The Regulative Principle vs the Normative Principle

The Regulative Principle states that everything we do in a corporate worship gathering must be clearly warranted by Scripture. Clear warrant can either take the form of an explicit biblical command, or a good and necessary implication of a biblical text.

- The Regulative Principle states that everything we do in a corporate worship gathering must be clearly warranted by Scripture. Clear warrant can either take the form of an explicit biblical command, or a good and necessary implication of a biblical text.

Dever, Mark. The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel . Crossway. Kindle Edition.

The Normative Principle says that as long as a practice is not biblically forbidden, a church is free to use it to order its corporate life and worship. In short, the Regulative Principle forbids anything not commanded by Scripture, whereas the Normative Principle allows anything not forbidden by Scripture.2

For our purposes today we are going to stick primarily with those things that are either directly commanded or implied by scripture. In other words, we’re going to ride on the regulative side.

Dever, Mark. The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel . Crossway. Kindle Edition.

- D. A. Carson notes that “theologically rich and serious services from both camps often have more common content than either side usually acknowledges.”3 Carson goes on to observe that “there is no single passage in the NT that establishes a paradigm for corporate worship.”

- I would agree with this but we also must note that when we lead people in corporate worship or when you come to corporate worship your consciences are in some sense bound to participate in each part of the service. The argument of those who ascribe to the Regulative Principle is that this binding of the conscience only works if the element of worship is warranted by scripture.

If, as I said earlier, corporate worship is the purpose of redemption then it just makes sense that God would reveal to His redeemed people how He desires that they worship Him when they gather for this purpose.

Dever, Mark. The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel . Crossway. Kindle Edition.

God cared how people worshipped in the OT.

Exodus 20:4 CSB

4 Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

God doesn’t just care that His people worship Him but He cares how they do it. God forbids certain kinds of worship even if it’s directed at Him.

God cares how people worship in the NT.

John 4:19–24 CSB

19 “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”

John Piper said, “ For Jesus, worship amounts to zero if there is no heart behind it.”

Sincerity is essential but it is not enough.

gives parameters.

A. The Elements of Worship

So, if we want to apply the Regulative Principle we have to look at what the scripture specifically warrants to be done in the worship service. This gives us a good place to start in our understanding.

1. Read the Bible

The Bible was regularly read aloud in gatherings in Bible times. It is powerful. The Bible is powerful. It is the Word of God. It is powerful even when the person reading it doesn’t try to explain it.

1 Timothy 4:13 CSB

13 Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching.

I Timothy

Jeremiah 23:29 CSB

29 “Is not my word like fire”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and like a hammer that pulverizes rock?

Jeremiah 23:2

2 Timothy 3:16 CSB

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

2 Timothy

Hebrews 4:12 CSB

12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

When we make time in our service for the reading of Scripture without any comments every week, we make a statement about the high value we place on God’s Word.

Are we eager and excited to hear the Word? Do we desire the Word? It admits that the power of God’s Word is what our lives and the life of our church and our growth are dependent on.

acknowledges our weakness

says we are ready to listen

willing to sit under it and let it evaluate us

says we are willing to agree with the way it presents reality and submit to it’s verdict and judgement of us without any qualification on our part. No caveats.

One author asks, If we are saying all of this through our public reading of scripture then what are we saying if we neglect the public reading of Scripture?

2. Preach the Bible

2 Timothy 4:2 CSB

2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.

Preaching is the method that God has ordained whereby the Gospel is communicated to sinners.

Romans 10:14–17 CSB

14 How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. 16 But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? 17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

Acts 8:4 CSB

4 So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word.

1 Timothy 4:13–16 CSB

13 Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching. 14 Don’t neglect the gift that is in you; it was given to you through prophecy, with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. 15 Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. 16 Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.

I Timothy

Romans 1:16 CSB

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

It is my belief that the regular preaching diet of a local church should be expository preaching through books of the Bible. The preaching should give the point of the passage being covered.(exposed) It should also connect to what Mark Dever calls, it’s Gospel moorings so we can see how it interacts and intersects with the Gospel as the full council of God. Our church needs a regular diet of preaching that presents the gospel and all of its implications as natural to understanding a passage of scripture.

1 Corinthians 2:1–5 CSB

1 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. 2 I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.

I Corinthians

People need the meat and solid food of deep scriptural exposition to help them grow in their sanctification.

The Bible is all about Jesus, ultimately.

Luke 24:27 CSB

27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.

Luke 24:

Gospel colored classes

Preach the Gospel as we preach the point of the passage

Address both believers and unbelievers with the truth, power, and implications of the Gospel.

3. Pray the Bible

1 Timothy 2:1 CSB

1 First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,

Matthew 21:13 CSB

13 He said to them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves!”

Matthew 21:

Pastors are commanded to lead their congregations in public prayer.

Scripture teaches us how to pray.

Praying in the gathering tells God that we want to approach Him on His terms, the way He wants, not on our own or the way our preferences fall.

acknowledges our need before God… that we can not do any of this without Him. That we need His power.

4. Sing the Bible

Ephesians 5:19 CSB

19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord,

Worship is edifying

Jesus uses His Word to build the church so it makes sense for us to only sing songs that use His Word accurately as well as generously.

Using songs that are confusing or unclear is not preferred.

Songs edify the church when they contain accurately applied scriptural theology, because the Word builds the church.

Not just being led into an emotional experience

The best songs that direct our attention away from ourselves and focus it squarely on Jesus and the Gospel.

5. See the Bible

Mark Dever points out: The ordinances - baptism and the Lord’s Supper are dramatic presentations of the Gospel. It’s like a moving picture physically representing the spiritual realities of the Gospel.

Luke 22:19 CSB

19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

The Lord’s Supper, a visual reminder of the cross-work of Jesus

Baptism - death to life picture of

Romans 6:3–4 CSB

3 Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:

Taking great care to be faithful with the administration of the ordinances will help protect the church.

Helps prevent false conversions or unregenerate membership.

III. Why is this the first part of our discipleship process/vision?

Sunday AM

Private Worship

This is the first step because before we can grow or go, we must become a worshipper of Jesus. God’s children worship Him. It will affect the other elements.

### Desired Outcomes

For all church members to increasingly value and prioritize gathering to worship together on the Lord’s Day.

For all church members to increasingly be valuing and practicing times of personal worship during the week at home.

For our worship times to be God honoring, genuine, and theologically accurate.

For church members to understand that we rely on the power of God, His Word, and prayer for the building of His church and not our own ideas and strength.

Pray and Sing