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Public Worship and the Reformed Faith
by Rev. Barry Gritters
III. Characteristics of True Reformed Worship
Worship that is regulated by the Word of God not only will have only those elements taken from the Word of God, it will have certain basic characteristics.
Speaking to the woman at Samaria, Jesus lays down the first characteristic of true worship. It is worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Worship in spirit means that we worship God in and with our spirit which has been set free by the Spirit of Christ. The proper manner of worship is inward. We worship God in such a way that we consciously enter into His presence, enjoy fellowship and communion with Him, and worship Him with our hearts, minds, wills, and emotions.
The danger is that we make our worship only outward and formal. Then we drag ourselves to church because that is the thing to do, perhaps sleeping through the service. Or we come awake and let our minds wander, so that we do not give God true worship; we are there only outwardly. This is the worship that stank in the nostrils of God in the Old Testament. This is the sin against which the prophets warned so strongly. "Away with your feasts and your new moons, I cannot stomach it all. Bring me a sacrifice of a contrite spirit and a broken heart. That I will not despise." This brought glory to God. (See Isaiah 1:10-17; 57:15; and Psalm 51:15-17).
This, worship in spirit, and not all kinds of changes in the liturgy to arouse interest, is the cure for dead formalism in worship! Luther has an interesting comment about changes in the liturgy to liven the worship. Says Luther, "...I have been hesitant and fearful (to change the liturgy, BG) partly because of the weak in faith, who cannot suddenly exchange an old and accustomed order of worship for a new and unusual one, and more so because of the fickle and fastidious spirits who rush in like unclean swine without faith or reason, and who delight only in novelty and tire of it as quickly when it has worn off. Such people are a nuisance even in other affairs, but in spiritual matters, they are absolutely unbearable. Nonetheless, at the risk of bursting with anger, I must bear with them, unless I want to let the gospel itself be denied to the people" (Works, Volume 53, page 19).
The cure for dead formalism in worship is to worship in spirit - to come prepared to stand in the presence of the great God; to come with joy and gladness in our hearts at the call to prayer; to come with eagerness to hear the word preached and visit with the saints; to come as participants, not spectators.
But worship cannot be in spirit unless it is also in truth.
To worship God in truth means that our worship must always be a confession of the truth of God's Word. Our worship must not only be governed by the Word, but have the Word as its content. The truth that God is God, sovereign in the heavens; the truth that man is man, unable to save himself, worthy of eternal death; the truth that in His love, God sent into the world His only begotten Son Christ to die for those (and those only) whom God had chosen from before the world began; the truth that through the outpouring of that Spirit, Christ is applied to believers; the truth that Christ shall come again to judge the living and the dead and establish an everlasting kingdom in glory. That is the truth. In short, the whole counsel of God.
Indeed, here is where worship is badly distorted today. Relatively speaking, the additions of dances and pageantry and films are child's play compared with the violation of God's worship with the lie, with false doctrine. God loves all men? God is so weak that He cannot save a man unless that man first opens the door of his heart? God chooses men whom He foresees will choose Him? This - false doctrine - offends God more than any other violation in worship.
Does not this emphasize the preaching?
The preaching is at the heart and center of every Reformed worship service. The preaching of the whole counsel of God is what makes the service a true worship of God, bowing the knee before Him and His Word in Christ. The preaching gives glory to God, but also edification for the church. Why, the preaching alone can cause living stones to grow. The preaching alone can gather in dead stones and make them part of the living temple of God. But what is happening today? The sermons are getting shorter and shorter, for the most part. The preaching is left off completely sometimes, to be replaced by some gadget to get the young people to come to church again. Special talent is called in to attract people, and when it is all over, the poor preacher must get up and give the sermon, knowing all the while that he is playing second fiddle to the famous gospel-singer or band. The pulpit is pushed off to the side. The heart of the truly God-glorifying and church-edifying worship service is cut out.
Ah, the preaching! This was the Reformer's - Luther's and Calvin's - forte. Characteristically, Luther put it this way, "And this is the sum of the matter: let everything be done so that the Word may have free course instead of the prattling and rattling that has been the rule up to now. We can spare everything except the Word.... In Luke 10:42, Christ Himself says, 'One thing is needful,' that is, that Mary sit at the feet of Christ and hear his word daily. This is the best part to choose and it shall not be taken away forever. It is an eternal Word. Everything else must pass away, no matter how much care and trouble it may give Martha. God help us achieve this." (Works, Volume 53, page 14).
Some sixty years ago already, the editor of the Banner pointed this out when he said, "Ancient church history teaches us a warning in this regard. A thousand years or so ago, when the priests discontinued explaining the Word of God...slowly but surely the church edifices became scenes of all kinds of pageants, and dramas, and comedies. The result was the great darkness spiritually of the Middle Ages, ended...when the dawn of the reformation began to spread a new light." (The Banner, Jan.15, 1926). Will we lose that light by tossing the preaching out the window? What the church needs badly is preachers of the Word of God.
There is a relation between these two elements, spirit and truth. God has bound them together, so that when one falls the other does as well. If the preaching fails to bring the truth, there can be no true spiritual worship. If the preacher fails to prepare, or if the preacher brings the lie, or if the preacher has nothing but skim milk in his jug, there can be no true spiritual worship. The fault of ungodly worship must be laid at the door of the preachers and seminaries.
Surely much, if not most, of the blame must be placed there. But shall we lay all the blame there? God has bound these two together. Shall we blame the preachers for all the trouble in the church today? Is it not true, as every school boy is taught, that, pointing one finger at another, four remain pointed at himself? Could it not be that because the believer has not prepared for worship, because the congregation comes bleary-eyed to church, because the people have no joy in their hearts and desire to lift up God's name, God Himself has removed the truth from that church?
God Himself has taken away good preaching because He has bound together spirit and truth in worship, and will not be mocked by a cold, lifeless worshiper?
Oh, the Word cuts both ways.
But if this characteristic of worship (in spirit and truth) is present, all else will fall into place.
The Reformed worship is characterized by Congregational Participation. Every act of worship is an act in which the believer participates. The congregation is not a group of spectators who come together to watch some professional priest or theologian do his thing. They are not observers, but worshipers. This was the great deliverance God gave His people at the Reformation.
In 1948, Dr. P.Y. De Jong wrote this: "The church in the middle ages reduced believers to a state of bondage. Instead of being active at the time of public worship, they were present in the church largely, if not exclusively, as silent spectators. A dead and dread silence hung over the cowed worshipers on the eve of the Protestant Reformation. One of the outstanding contributions of this new arrival was the restoration of the congregational singing to its rightful place in the house of God" (The Banner, 1948).
In this direction many churches are heading today, if they have not arrived there already. This is why, historically, Reformed churches have never allowed choirs and special numbers to come into public worship. The entire congregation is called to participate in every act of worship in the church. There is sometimes an objection raised at this point. In Old Testament worship there were Levites specially trained to perform the singing for the people of God in their worship at the temple. They sang for the people. The conclusion pressed for at this point is that if there was special singing in the Old Testament, why can there not be today? The answer is quite simple. In the Old Testament the believers depended exclusively on the priests and Levites to do the worshipping for them. But in the New Testament, we are all prophets, priests, and kings. We believe the fundamental reformational principle of the priesthood of all believers. To let choirs supplant any of the congregational singing is to detract from that great biblical truth that every believer is a priest.
But mainly, to promote choir singing in the church is to take away from the God-glorifying nature of congregational worship.
Our worship should be characterized by Reverence.
Worship is coming to God, bowing down before Him, praising and adoring Him, the King of creation, the Sovereign of the universe. Psalm 89:7 says it well: "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him." If the angels, without sin, cover their faces in the presence of God and cry out, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory" how can we worshipers, who remain sinners our entire life, do anything less than come into His courts with reverential awe? Again, departure from Psalm singing has detracted from our reverence of God. The Psalms bring us into that frame of mind: God is great, and greatly to be praised, His greatness is unsearchable.
Understanding this principle, the Reformed believer will not come to worship God dressed casually, but in his best. Understanding this, the Reformed pastor will not promote a casualness and carelessness in worship. Understanding this, the Reformed believer will pray for grace to come into God's presence with a reverent fear. Understanding this, the Reformed organist or pianist will play songs that bring to mind the greatness and glory of God. They are going to meet their King!
The Reformed worship service is a Simple service.
We do not have all kinds of clutter in the Reformed worship building. This is in keeping with the Reformed view. Nor do we (most, anyway) have symbols of Jesus' cross and the Holy Spirit, because Christ is present, not with His cross, but when He is evidently set forth before you in the WORD. The Spirit is present, not in some symbol of a dove, but in the power of the preaching of the gospel.
This is not to say that Reformed worship is not Active, Joyful and Thankful
There are some who think that worshipers must all be long-faced. Everyone ought to dress in black; all ought to refrain from smiling; and the entire mood of the worship must be as though it were a funeral. If Reformed worship services are guilty of that, that is not because of the faith or the worship, but because of misunderstanding in the preacher and the people. True worship in spirit and in truth will be joyful worship. How can it be otherwise? The gospel is preached!!! The gospel of our misery is preached, and we are brought low by the Spirit of Christ working in us the guilt of sin. Sometimes we come to church burdened with trouble in our life, with the guilt of sin pressing hard on us. But Jesus Christ is preached, the glorious truth that the blood of the lamb was shed, that redemption is accomplished and applied to believers, that salvation is "Yea and Amen," that God is the rock of our salvation, that we lay our trust in Him! Oh, then worship is a joyful, active, and thankful activity by the Reformed believer. That man that comes to worship his great God, knowing his sins, and hearing the gospel of forgiveness, must necessarily be the happiest man alive.
Conclusion
There is legitimate concern expressed in some circles that worship services are dead, dry, stale, colorless formalities. Then people search high and low, far and near, to be moved, to find something impressive in worship.
They climb the liturgical ladder to the heavens (or are chased up by preachers), crying out, "Is the moving worship service here?" Then there are testimonials to jerk tears, altar calls to spur on the emotions, a nationally known quartet, or a weekly change in worship because novelty excites.
But it is not there.
So they descend the liturgical ladder down to the depths; and try drama and dance and even rock bands. Or it is an outdoor service on the front lawn, or a puppet show or film.
And, as praiseworthy as their motives might be, it is not there either.
The solution is nigh thee, in thy heart, in the Word of faith preached soundly! (see Romans 10:8).
What is impressive in a worship service? God's people are impressed in the worship service by a powerful sermon expounding the truths of the sovereign grace of God for helpless sinners. God's people are impressed by a worship service in which the congregation sings lustily the God-glorifying songs of Zion because they were moved by the Spirit in the preaching of the gospel of grace. God's people are impressed when the children, at the elbows of their parents, sing along because they have been taught the Psalms at home and school. God's people are impressed when the offering plate is passed and God's people quietly give their widow's mite for the kingdom cause, because the Scripture says so.
Let us not pour artificial stimulants into our worship, burning strange fire on the altar. Let us have preachers who pore over the Word of God so they can bring a rock solid, Reformed message of the gospel to the congregation. Let us have worshipers who come prepared, reverently calling upon the God of their salvation, eager to do what worship really is: Declaring the worth of their great God.
Then we will be impressed. Then the Spirit will move. Then God's church will be saved.
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