Greatest Hits

iTunes is wonderful – I have been able to convert all my sermon recordings to MP3.

2 Chronicles 13
Psalm 33
Mark 5:21-43 (NEW: Preached 30/1/07 in B.N.C. Chapel)
Romans 8:23
2 Timothy:8-13
2 Peter 3:11-18

Merciless Evangelism: An Exploration of Deuteronomy 7

I’m reading through Deuteronomy at the moment and I’ve been thinking about the injunction on Israel to devote to destruction the pagan nations and their idols in Deuteronomy 7 and the application to Christians today, because Christ came to fulfil not to abolish the law.

As Christian believers, we are recipients of the salvation that God has worked in his covenant mercy (Deuteronomy 7.8-9 and, e.g., Luke 1.71-72). The body of Christian believers is God’s elect, treasured possession, holy to the LORD, saved by grace alone (Deuteronomy 7.6-7 and e.g. 1 Peter 2.9).

The ultimate fulfilment of this will of course be when Christ returns: “To the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.” – Revelation 2.26-27.

And what about the present age? The nations and their idols are to be devoted to complete destruction, i.e. set apart at as offering to the LORD. Were not the people of Israel symbolically offered to the LORD, also, as the representative sacrifical animals were burned at the Tabernacle and, later, the Temple? Can we not apply the exhortation of Deuteronomy 7 to our evangelism? Christian believers are soldiers (Ephesians 6.10-17). When people are baptized, they “die” (Romans 6.3-11). Paul described his gospel ministry to the Gentiles as, “the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable.” (Romans 15.16.

There must be no mercy: unbelievers cannot be spared. They must not be allowed to continue in their rebellion against God, worshipping idols, the work of their own hands. Everyone must become a sacrifical offering to the LORD (cf. Romans 12.1). Nothing or no one must remain over which Christ is not Lord and which is not devoted to his service. Under God, the conquest of his people must be total. And the sobering message of the Bible is that it will. One day the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ. And those who do not “die” in this life and become an offering to the Lord in sacrifical living for him “will be tornmented with fire and sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” – Revelation 14.10

"God meets us at trysting places" – Sacrament

Having shown how God uses very physical means to minister his grace to us – in the reading, preaching and singing of the word, it should follow that God may use other physical, external means of grace. God likes matter: he made it. (I think that is attributed to C. S. Lewis.) He can work by material means. Is that not most clearly seen in the Incarnation, where the Second Person of the Trinity takes into union with himself a second, human, nature, “for us men and for our salvation.”

A considerable part of our problem with this is that Gnostism has pervaded our thinking, a separation and opposition of the physical and the spiritual. It can so often feature in our preaching. In evangelism, I have heard it said that the soul is “the real you”, which needs saving and which goes on into eternity. No – as human beings we are souls and bodies. I think Dr. Stott uses the phrase “psychosomatic unities”. Salvation applies as much to the body as to the soul. Our salvation is not complete until Christ returns and we are bodily resurrected. And the body with which we will be raised is a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15. 44).

I would like to suggest here, in the light of this, that the sacraments are physical, external means of grace by which God is pleased to work. One wise and godly presbyter remarked to me the other day that sacraments are a special means of grace, not a means of special grace. I think that’s right. God does not give us something through the sacraments that he does not give us through other means. Through his word by faith, we are united to Christ and feed on him, for example. But we mustn’t neglect the sacraments, for those are the means by which God continues to minister his grace to his people.

The Lord’s Supper

When the Lord Jesus instituted the Supper, he designated the bread “my body” and the cup “my blood”. Clearly the bread remained bread and the wine remained wine. Christ’s body and blood were there, standing in front of them. Nevertheless, he called them “my body” and “my blood”. He didn’t say, “This represents my body/blood.” He said, “This is my body and blood.” How can we make sense of this? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10.16 that the cup and bread are a participation in the blood and body of Christ, or a communion with the body and blood of Christ. When we take bread and wine, we participate in/have communion with Christ’s body and blood respectively. The bread and the wine are the means by which God feeds us with the body and the blood of his Son. Yes we have already fed on the Son when we believed in him through the preached word, and we are united with him so that we dwell in him and he in us. But at the Lord’s Table, by faith, we feed on him afresh and so our union and communion with him is strengthened. Rather than using the physical means of the human voice speaking to our minds and hearts via our ears, God uses the physical means of bread and wine to advertise to our senses – visual, tactile, olfactory and gustatory, as well as auditory – the truths of the gospel – Christ as the bread of life, the bread being his body given for the world, his body broken for us, his blood being poured out for us. And just as we receive the gospel promises proclaimed to us in the Word by faith through the Spirit, so we receive what is promised to us in the elements by faith through the Spirit.

This has a number of implications – it means we should attribute a greater importance to the Lord’s Supper. At the Lord’s Table is where we meet with God and where he really (i.e. in a real way) feeds and nourishes us and our faith and our union and communion with Christ is strengthened. It has implications for frequency of communion. The church at Corinth appeared to eat the Lord’s Supper (or rather they didn’t!) every week on Sunday when they came together (1 Corinthians 11.20 with 1 Corinthians 16.2).

Again, no wonder the early church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers…and day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God.” (Acts. 2.42, 46)

Surely we need to recover, if I may put it this way, a healthy devotion to the sacrament. Let us have weekly communion (at least!) in our churches!

Baptism

More briefly, because similar arguments apply, not because it is less important (there was quite a lot of water being poured out in the NT!), baptism is another physical means by which God is pleased to minister his grace to his people. When we read the word baptism in the NT, we often feel we have to put “Spirit” in brackets next to it, to guard against sacramentalism and sacerdotalism. The problem is, the New Testament, while it might teach that there is an outward element (affusion of water) and an inward spiritual grace (union with Christ), it doesn’t tend to distinguish them. So “all of us who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into his death” and “if we have been united with him in a death like his…” Romans 6.3, 6. “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism” (Colossians 2, 11-12). Baptism is clearly seen as a means by which one is united to Christ and spiritually circumcised. Don’t misunderstand me: I want to affirm that it is “by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2.8). But why does this have to be contradictory? Since faith is “not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2.8), and since God uses the physical means of the word being preached in the power of the Spirit to awaken faith in people, why can baptism not be a physical means by which God unites people to Christ, as again it presents gospel truths visibly to the senses, truths which should not go without explanation, by the power of the Holy Spirit, producing faith in the elect? The Westminster Confession of Faith reminds us that the efficacy of baptism is not tied to the moment it is administered, just as I guess, the efficacy of God’s word isn’t restricted to the time that the preacher is speaking.

"God meets us at trysting places" – Word

In these next two posts, in agreement with Martin Luther’s sentiments expressed in the title, I wish to affirm that God uses physical means to impart his grace and assert that the Holy Spirit binds himself to external means of grace, which is where our focus must be if we want to meet with God. “Seek the Lord while he may be found,” yes, but also “seek the Lord where he may be found.” I shall consider word and sacrament. My hope and prayer is that this will liberate us from individualism and mysticism and help us to value church more.

First, some preamble. It is in Jesus Christ that we see God. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” (Hebrews 1.3). Two thousand years ago, if you saw Jesus bodily and met him, you met God. When the apostle Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus replied “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14, 9). Jesus is now the risen and ascended Lord reigning at the right hand of the Father on the throne of the universe. Where can one now go to meet Jesus and thus to meet God? Where can Jesus’ body be found? Surely the answer is “the church” – 1 Corinthians 12. 27. Believers are now Christ’s hands and feet and tongue on earth. It is in the church that one can meet Jesus and thus meet God. Jesus promised (admittedly in the context of discipline but it seems to me that this reflects an underlying truth) that “where two or three are gathered in his name, there he is among them.” When Paul persecuted Christians, Jesus accused Paul of persecuting him (Acts 9.4). In the church, Christ’s voice is heard as absolution is pronounced, the Scriptures are read and expounded, and as believers sing Scripture to one another. At the Lord’s Table, believers have communion with the body and blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 10.16). In baptism, the individual is united with Christ and receives all the blessings thereof. I will need to explain what I do and do not mean by that!

The Word

God teaches and feeds his people by an external word proclaimed in the context of the covenant community. Post-Enlightenment individualism has for too long invaded our churches and obfuscated this truth. Jeffrey J. Meyer’s assessment of American Evangelicalism could apply equally well here:

“God’s service to us on the Lord’s Day is conveyed primarily by way of the Word as it is read, sung and preached. God’s service to us is found where His voice is heard. The voice of God comes from outside of us, as an externum verbum. We are called to “hear” the Word of God as it is read aloud, preached, prayed and sung in the service. This is how God himself addresses us – through the voice of another. The Protestant Church in America [we might well add, England] seems to have forgotten this basic biblical fact. We have a tendency to think of the means of grace in an individualistic framework. We seek the source of renewed spiritual life in private devotions or quiet times or individual reading of the Bible. For most in our culture, it’s “just me, God and the Bible.” We are taught to listen for some inner voice and expect the Spirit’s guidance through mystical promptings and feelings. This is not the Biblical way.”

The Lord’s Service, p. 287

The last sentence is certainly an error of the modern charismatic movement as we meet it.

Rather, Christ appoints ministers in his church who, when they speak faithfully, are the means by which Christ himself preaches (e.g. Ephesians 2.17). God’s people speak that word to one another as they read and sing to one another (Colossians 3.16; Ephesians 5. 19) And it is through the very physical means of the word preached and read and sung that God saves people, gives them new life and they mature “Faith comes from hearing” (Romans 10.17). “Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth (James 1, 18). “We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word fo God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers” (1 Thessalonians 2. 13).

One might even dare to say that too much of an emphasis on the Quiet Time misses this point and perpetuates this individualistic immediacy. Don’t get me wrong: blessed is the man who mediates on God’s law day and night (Psalm 1.1-2). But it is not the fundamental and most important way in which God speaks to his people and where his voice is heard. That is in the church as the word is read, explained and sung. That is where the Holy Spirit is primarily at work – through the physical and external means of the human voice speaking God’s word.

Doesn’t this make the church meeting vastly more significant? Does not this go some way to explain why “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship” (Acts 2.42)? It makes attendance at church meetings much more of a priority – on the Lord’s Day (twice, even!), midweek. It means preaching must be taken seriously – by the congregation and by the one who preaches. It means our services have to be thoroughly Biblical in content. Our song should be Scriptural. The reading of Scripture should be prominent. Indeed, there should be much more congregational reading and singing of Scripture itself, if a church is to be obedient to Colossians 3.16 (Anglican chant is a good way of doing the latter, by the way).

Psalm 33

Click below for the sermon I preached at Bethany Evangelical Church, Swinton, at 10.30 on Sunday 7th January 2007.

Psalm 33 (29:44; 3.4MB)

Mark 5.21-43

Here is an outline for a talk I’m going to be giving on Mark 5.21-43 in BNC Chapel at the end of the month. These are only brief notes. I know there’s more work to be done. Suggestions welcome.

Introduction

Read stanzas 1-3 of Death by George Herbert
Set up tension about prospect of death – money spent on it, people’s efforts to avoid it etc.
Answer to q. about how ‘hideous’ death can be conquered in passage
Mark confronts us with problem of death
1. A Father’s Plea
As story unfolds – resolution only in Jesus; he is the Christ, the Son of God, who is bringing in God’s kingdom which conquers even death
2. A Woman’s Faith
3. A Saviour’s Power

1. A Father’s Plea (vv. 21-24)

Retell story
Explore people’s experience of serious illness, death
=> Jairus’s crisis not alien, his desperation our desperation
We need to know the outcome, whether Jesus able to stop ‘hideous death’
Want resolution, but don’t get it
Focus shifts to woman in the crowd

2. A Woman’s Faith (vv. 24-34)

Under shadow of death herself
Inadequacy of human means
Recast in modern medical terms – GP, Prof. of Surgery, going to Harley Street
Human wisdom & power unable to halt or reverse relentless march & reign of death

Contrast with what happens next
Retell story
Jesus shown to be the one with power to conquer & defeat & reverse death

Continue retelling story
Makes it clear faith made her well

How does this fit in? Why is it here? See as story reaches climax

3. A Saviour’s Power (vv. 35-43)

Attention returns to Jairus
Imagine how feeling
People come to tell him daughter dead
Everything fallen apart, Jesus failed, Jairus & we the readers let down
Tragic, not meant to happen like this
But it is
Not just about healing disease; about Jesus’ conquest of death itself
Healing of woman anticipates healing of Jairus’ daughter
Jairus’s need for faith
Retell story
(re. sleep – child actually dead, but a death from which going to be restored)

If to grasp significance – need to see as part of a bigger story
Framework of promise and expectatio
Isaiah 25, 7-8
Mark wants us to see that it is in Jesus that long-awaited hope of deliverance from death becoming reality
The Christ, the Son of God, bringing in kingdom of God, which conquers even eath
Anticipation and pledge of future
Resurrection morning – dead in Christ raised
Revelation 21, 4

All possible because of the cross

Exhortation

Exhortation to faith

For believer – this passage comfort in sickness and death
Shows shape of future
Dying for Christian falling asleep – will arise, have resurrection bodies

Exhortation to share this good news with those around us for whom death is a terror

Conclusion

Read “Death”, stanzas 4-6

George Herbert – Death

Death, thou wast once an uncouth hideous thing,                            Nothing but bones,               The sad effect of sadder grones;Thy mouth was open, but thou couldst not sing.

 For we consider’d thee as at some six                            Or ten yeares hence,               After the losse of life and sense,Flesh being turn’t to dust, and bones to sticks.We lookt on this side of thee, shooting short;                            Where we did finde               The shells of fledge souls left behinde,Dry dust, which sheds no tears, but may extort.But since our Saviours death did put some bloud                            Into thy face;               Thou art grown fair and full of grace,Much in request, must sought for as a good.For we do now behold thee gay and glad,                            As at dooms-day;               When souls shall wear their new aray,And all thy bones with beautie shall be clad.Therefore we can go die as sleep, and trust                            Half that we have               Unto an honest faithfull grave;Making our pillows either down, or dust. 

Galatians 3, 13-14 and the place of justification

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” – so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (ESV)

Don’t get me wrong, the doctrine of justification by faith alone is of utmost importance and worth defending to the death. It is included in the blessing promised to Abraham. So Paul can apply Genesis 12, 3 to the doctrine of justification of all peoples by faith. But the blessing for the nations promised to the Abraham we also see here includes the gift of the Spirit – again by faith. We must understand the salvation that is found in Christ alone by faith alone within the framework of God’s overarching purposes in Scripture.

Of the promise of the Spirit, Isaiah writes:

“For the palace is forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens forever,
a joy of wild donkeys,
a pature of flocks;
until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quiet and trust forever.
My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.”

Isaiah 32, 14-18 (ESV)

Again, he says:

“Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit upon your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.”

Isaiah 54, 2-3 (ESV)

The pouring out of the Spirit is associated with the restoration of the earth and the security of God’s people. This is ultimately God’s work of new creation, the climax of God’s work to restore (in greater glory) the prelapsarian world of Genesis 1, 28-31 in which humanity is blessed by God and living in a very good world. That is what God was doing when he made promises to Abraham in Genesis 12; that is what is fulfilled in Christ, inaugurated at his first coming and consummated at his return. Because Jesus bore the curse that is ours by right as lawbreakers for those he came to save, through faith we can be justified, counted righteous in God’s sight. As Christian believers, we are the sons of Abraham (Galatians 3, 7) and so we are heirs of the promises (Galatians 3, 29). We have received the Spirit by faith in Christ Jesus, and so we will be part of the new creation – indeed if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5, 17). We will dwell in security and safety in a world of unending fruitfulness and righteousness and justice.

George Herbert – A Prayer after Sermon

A Priest to the Temple
A Prayer after Sermon

Blessed be God! and the Father of all mercy! who continueth to pour his benefits upon us. Thou hast elected us, thou hast called us, thou hast justified us, sanctified and glorified us. Thou wast born for us, and thou livedst and diedst for us. Thou hast given us the blessings of this life and of a better. O Lord! thy blessings hang in clusters, they come trooping upon us! they break forth like mighty waters on every side. And now Lord, thou hast fed us with the bread of life: so man did eat angels’ food: O Lord, bless it: O Lord, make it health and strength unto us; still striving and prospering so long with us until our obedience reach the measure of thy love, who hast done for us as much as may be. Grant this dear Father, for thy Son’s sake, our only Saviour: to whom with thee, and the Holy Ghost, three Persons, but one most glorious, incomprehensible God, be ascribed all Honour, and Glory, and Praise, ever. Amen!

George Herbert – Prayer before Sermon

A Priest to the Temple
Author’s Prayer before Sermon

O Almighty and ever-living Lord God! Majesty, and Power, and Brightness and Glory! How shall we dare to appear before thy face, who are contrary to thee in all we call thee? for we are darkness, and weakness, and filthiness and same. Misery and sin fill our days: yet thou art our Creator and we thy work. Thy hands both made us, and also made us lords of all thy creatures; giving us one world in ourselves, and another to serve us; then didst thou place us in Paradise, and wert proceeding still on in thy favours, until we interrupted thy counsels, disappointed thy purposes and sold our God, our glorious, our gracious God for an apple. O write it! O brand it in our foreheads forever: for an apple once we lost our God, and still lose him for no more; for money, for meat, for diet; but thou, Lord, art patience, and pity, and sweetness, and love; therefore we sons of men are not consumed. Thou hast exalted thy mercy above all things and hast made our salvation, not our punishment, thy glory: so that then where sin abounded, not death, but grace superabounded; accordingly, when we had sinned beyond any help in heaven or earth, then thou said, Lo, I come! then did the Lord of life, unable himself to die, contrive to do it. He took flesh, he wept, he died; for his enemies he died; even for those that derided him then, and still despise him. Blessed Saviour! many waters could not quench thy love! nor no pit overwhelm it. But though the streams of thy blood were current through darkness, grave and hell; yet by these thy conflicts, and seemingly hazards, didst thou arise triumphant, and therein mad’st us victorious.

Neither doth thy love yet stay here! for this word of thy rich peace and reconciliation thou hast committed not to thunder, or angels, but to silly and sinful men; even to me, pardoning my sins and bidding me go feed the people of thy love.

Blessed be the God of Heaven and Earth! who only doth wondrous things. Awake therefore, my lute, and my viol! Awake all my powers to glorify thee! We praise thee! We bless thee! We magnify thee for ever! And now, O Lord! in the power of thy victories, and in the ways of thy ordinances, and in the truth of thy love, lo, we stand here, beseeching thee to bless thy word, wherever spoken this day throughout the universal Church. O make it a word of power and peace, to convert those who are not yet thine, and to confirm those that are: particularly, bless it in this thy own kingdom, which thou hast made a land of light, a store-house of thy treasures and mercies: O let not our foolish and unworthy hearts rob us of the continuance of this thy sweet love: but pardon or sins and perfect what thou hast begun. Ride on Lord, because of the word of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Especially, bless this portion here assembled together, with thy unworthy servant speaking unto them: Lord Jesu! teach thou me, that I may teach them: sanctify, enable all my powers, that in their full strength they may deliver thy message reverently, readily, faithfully and fruitfully. O make thy word a swift word, passing from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the life and conversation: that has the rain returns not empty, so neither may thy word, but accomplish that for which it is given. O Lord hear, O Lord forgive! O Lord, harken, and do so for thy blessed Son’s sake, in whose sweet and pleasing words we say, ‘Our Father’, etc.

George Herbert on Preaching

A Priest to the Temple
Chapter 7: The Parson Preaching

The country parson preacheth constantly; the pulpit is his joy and his throne: if he at any time intermit, it is either for want of health, or against some great festival, that he may the better celebrate it, or for the variety of the hearers, that he may be heard at his return more attentively. When he intermits, he is ever very well supplied by some able man who treads in his steps and will not throw down what he hath built, whom also he entreats to press some point that he himself hath often urged with no great success, that so in the mouth of two or three witnesses the truth may be more established. When he preacheth, he procures attention by all possible art, both by earnestness of speech, it being natural to men to think that where is much earnestness there is somewhat worth hearing; and by a diligent and busy cast of his eye on his auditors, with letting them know that he observes who marks and who not, and with particularising of his speech now to the younger sort, then to the elder, now to the poor, and now to the rich. This is for you, and this is for you; for particulars ever touch and awake more than generals. Herein also he serves himself of the judgements of God, as of those of ancient times, so especially of the late ones; and those most which are nearest to his parish; for people are very attentive at such discourses and think it behoves them to be so when God is so near them, and even over their heads. Sometimes he tells them stories and sayings of others, according as his text invites him; for them also men heed and remember better than exhortations, which, though earnest, yet often die with the sermon, especially with country people which are thick and heavy, and hard to raise to a point of zeal and fervency, and need a mountain of fire to kindle them; but stories and saying they will well remember. He often tells them that sermons are dangerous things, that none goes out of church as he came in, but either better or worse, that none is careless before his judge, and that the word of God shall judge us. By these and other means the parson procures attention, but the character of his sermon is holiness; he is not witty, or learned, or eloquent, but holy. But it is gained, first, by choosing texts of devotion, not controversy*, moving and ravishing texts whereof the Scriptures are full. Secondly, by dipping and seasoning all our words and sentences in our hearts before they come into our mouths, truly affecting and cordially expressing all that we say, so that the auditors may plainly perceive that every word is heart-deep. Thirdly, by turning often and making many apostrophes to God, as, O Lord, bless my people, and teach them this point; or, Oh my Master, on whose errand I come, let me hold my peace, and do thou speak thyself; for thou art Love, and when thou teachest, all are scholars. Some such irradiations scatteringly in the sermon carry great holiness in them. The Prophets are admirable in this. So Isaiah 64, ‘Oh that thou wouldst rent the Heavens, that thou wouldst come down…’ And Jeremy, Chapter 10, after he had complained of the desolation of Israel, turns to God suddenly, ‘Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself…’ Fourthly, by frequent wishes of the people’s good and joying therein, though he himself were with Saint Paul even sacrificed upon the service of their faith. For there is no greater sign of holiness than the procuring, and rejoicing in, another’s good. And herein St Paul excelled in all his Epistles. How did he put the Romans in all his prayers! Romans 1:9. And ceased not to give thanks for the Ephesians, Ephesians 1:16. And for the Corinthians, Chapter 1:4. And for the Philippians made request with joy, Chapter 1:4. And is in contention for them whether to live or die, be with them or Christ, verse 23, which, setting aside his care of his flock, were a madness to doubt of. What an admirable Epistles is the second to the Corinthians! how full of affections! he joys, and he is sorry, he grieves, and he glories; never was there of such care of a flock expressed, save in the great shepherd of the fold who first shed tears over Jerusalem, and afterwards blood. Therefore this care may be learned there and woven into sermons, which will make them appear exceeding reverend and holy. Lastly, by an often urging of the presence and majesty of God, by these, or such like speeches: Oh let us all take heed of what we do, God sees us, he sees whether I speak as I ought, or you hear as you ought, he sees hearts, as we see faces: he is among us; for if we be here, he must be here, since we are here by him, and without him could not be here. Then turning the discourse to his Majesty: And he is a great God, and terrible, as great in mercy, so great in judgement: there are but two devouring elements, fire and water, he hath both in him; ‘His voice is as the sound of many waters,’ Revelations 1. And he himself ‘is a consuming fire,’ Hebrews 12. Such discourses show very holy. The parson’s method in handling of a text consists of two parts: first a plain and evident declaration of the meaning of the text; and secondly, some choice observations drawn out of the whole text as it lies entire and unbroken in the Scripture itself. This he thinks natural, and sweet and grave. Whereas the other way of crumbling a text into small parts, as, the persons speaking or spoken to, the subject and object, and the like, has neither in it sweetness, nor gravity, nor variety since the words apart are not Scripture but a dictionary, and may be considered alike in all the Scripture. The parson exceeds not an hour in preaching, because all ages have thought that a competency, and he that profits not in that time will less afterwards, the same affection which made him not profit before making him then weary, and so he grows from not relishing to loathing.

* No.

The Regulative Principle of Worship

So, what should control the content of our liturgy, what goes on when we come together as a church? I cannot agree with, subscribe to or uphold the Anglican position, which gives the Church authority to decree, ordain and enforces practices of worship beyond what is given in Scripture. It isn’t merely a case of “what isn’t forbidden is allowed”: rather, it “what isn’t forbidden may be commanded”.

Article XX: Of the Authority of the Church

The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith: And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree any thing that is against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce and thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation.

Article XXXIV: Of the Traditions of the Church

It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one, or utterly like; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed according to the diversities of countries, times, and men’s manners, so that nothing be ordained against God Word. Whosoever through his private judgement, willingly and purposely, doth openly break the traditions and ceremonies of the Church, which be not repugnant to the Word of God, and be ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly…

This binds the consciences of men and women in ways that Scripture does not and historically has led to considerable suffering for, and hindrance to the ministry of, godly Christian men.

Much more Biblical is the Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW). Consider the Westminster Standards, for example:

Westminster Confession of Faith 21.1

The acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture.

Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 109: What are the sins forbidden in the second commandment?

A. The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising, counselling, commanding, using and anywise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself…corrupting the worship of God, adding to it or taking from it, whether invented and taken up of ourselves, or received by tradition from others, though under the title of antiquity, custom, devotion, good intent, or any other pretence whatsoever…

A. A. Hodge writes that the above section of the WCF teaches:

“That God in His Word has prescribed for us how we may worship Him acceptably; and that it is an offence to Him and a sin to us either to neglect to worship and serve Him in the way prescribed, or to attempt to serve Him in any way not prescribed.”

Quoted in The Lord’s Service, p. 314

The Strasbourg Reformer Martin Bucer’s expresses it well:

“Nothing should be introduced or performed in the churches of Christ for which no probable reason can be given from the Word of God.”

Quoted in The Lord’s Service, p. 303

There is ample Scriptural evidence for the RPW. For example, Deuteronomy 12, 32, in the context of a discussion on how Israel is to serve YHWH in their corporate gatherings, says, “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” In Jeremiah 19, 5, judgement is coming upon Judah because the people offered their sons to Baal, and the Lord explains why this is wrong: “I did not command or decree [it], nor did it come into my mind.” Nadab and Abihu were consumed by fire coming out from the YHWH. What they did was offer “unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them.” Leviticus 10, 1-2. The true worship of God must be on his terms, not ours (John 4, 24).

Is, or is Scripture not, “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work?” (2 Timothy 3, 16-17)

Liturgy (2)

Some Thoughts on Posture

In the Bible, the adoption of particular bodily postures in corporate worship is important, e.g Psalm 95, 6 – “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.” It certainly is important in heavenly worship (Revelation 4, 10; 5, 14 etc)

Body posture expresses and to some extent helps establish the attitude of our hearts. Jeff Meyers quotes from Robert S. Rayburn:

“The position of the body is itself an act of worship. When you kneel or stand because you are in the presence of the Almighty and are to speak to him, you are honouring him with your entire self, with your soul and body together expressing reverence. In Holy Scripture, whenever men or women came face to face with God, they always immediately and instinctively assumed postures which were appropriate for a creature and a sinner before the living God… If we are really worshipping God as his children, then we are to worship him not with half ourselves but with a whole selves and or bodies ought to be as involved as our souls… This was the feeling of the church in the days of the Reformation. A failure to take proper positions of body in the church was regarded as an act of irreverence.”

Robert S. Rayburn then quotes from The Book of Discipline of the French Reformed Church (1559):

“That great irreverence which is found in divers persons, who at public and private prayers do neither uncover their heads nor bow their knees shall be reformed; which is a matter repugnant unto piety, and giveth suspicion of pride, and scandalizes them that fear God. Wherefore all pastors shall be adviced, as also elders and heads of families, carefully to oversee, tat in time of prayer all persons, without exception do evidence by these exterior signs the inward humility of their hearts and homage which they yield to God, unless anyone be hindered from doing so by sickness or otherwise.”

Both quotations from The Lord’s Service, p. 138

In the Book of Common Prayer, for example, the congregation would kneel to confess their sins and pray and stand to give glory to God the Holy Trinity, chant Psalms and declare their faith.

Three cheers for Oak Hill – again! I understand they are big on posture in their chapel services.

We still bow to secular dignitaries. As I was told by the Pro-Vice Chancellor at my graduation, it is how we show respect in the University. How much more should this be the case when we gather in the presence of the King of the Universe! Is our reluctance to kneel an indication of our pride? Are we failing to recognize the majesty of the One to whom we are praying? Perhaps the hassocks should not only be used for the toddlers’ groups, but also on our Sunday gatherings. In that case, a little more leg room between the chairs would also be useful!

Some Thoughts on Historic Liturgies

In Spirit-filled church, Christian believers submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5, 21). It strikes me as being appropriate to apply this to submission to Christian believers who have gone before us in the faith and whose minds we may consult in the work they have left behind – commentaries, systematic theologies, liturgies etc.

Historic liturgies such as the Book of Common Prayer offer us patterns for prayer that are deeply Biblical and Trinitarian in a shape that is foreign to much of our contemporary worship. While there is no excuse for living in the past (Paul’s desire that the Corinthians speak in a language that could be understood for the upbuilding of the whole church surely applies as much to excessively archaic language as to other earthly foreign languages which were in Paul’s mind in 1 Corinthians 12-14) the retention of historic liturgies is beneficial in a number of ways. It safeguards the worship of the church from being blown around by contemporary fashions that will come and go. It reminds us that we are not the first generation of Christians who have ever lived. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.

Some Objections Briefly Considered

It has been objected to me that we shouldn’t be using pre-composed prayers because we have the Holy Spirit to help us pray and the mere reading of prayers has the form of prayer but not the spirit. But this is to attack the Book of Psalms, prayers and songs composed for the corporate worship of God’s people. We can no longer sing hymns either – they’re pre-composed prayers aren’t they? This is absurd.

It has also been objected to me that excessive repetition, having the same prayers and responses week after week, can become formulaic and meaningless for the congregation member. The problem there isn’t with the liturgy and the use thereof – the problem is with us. Getting rid of weekly repetition doesn’t solve the real problem. We’re treating symptoms, not the underlying cause. We need to be trained not to allow liturgy to become formulaic for us and say what we say with gusto, meditating and delighting afresh in the truths we are reciting and owning the prayers for ourselves. If our daily Bible reading and prayer becomes formulaic, is the solution not doing it? Of course not.

The other very common objection is that a more traditionally-shaped service is inaccessible – inaccessible to unbelievers and unattractive to the next generation of Christian believers. Corporate recitation of Scripture and prayer and kneeling down are alien to non-Christians and younger Christians alike. To have a more liturgical service is off-putting. This stems from a problem highlighted in an earlier post – we think that our services should be seeker friendly. The aim in our services is primarily evangelism. Or we adopt the consumer-oriented approach of the world and we adjust our services to the demands of our punters, whether they are unbelievers or younger Christians. But of course unbelievers are going to find Christian worship alien. Acceptable worship of God does not come naturally to us as fallen, sinful human beings who have little or no knowledge of Scripture or experience of Christian worship. Similarly for believers, Scripture must set the agenda. What is the Biblical pattern for what happens when we gather together? We need to be trained and taught how to approach God and have our priorities challenged and changed. Is this not sanctification? In worship as much as anything else, we must allow ourselves to be moulded by Scripture, not allow our own redeemed yet unperfected desires and the agenda of the world to mould us. It’s not as if liturgical worship is unintelligible. It’s just unfamiliar.

Jeff Meyers recounts a touching story of a lady visiting his church who was looking for somewhere to settle:

“During my visitation she told me that she was having a difficult time with our liturgy. She had attended our worship service twice. “It takes a lot of work to know where we are and why we are doing what we are doing,” she confided. I was about to “apologize” for our worship and encourage her when she made a remarkable confession. She said, “You know, Pastor, I realize that I am a very new Christian. I know that I don’t know my Bible. I don’t know very many of the hymns that you sing. The music is not familiar to me, since I didn’t grow up in a church. But that doesn’t bother me, because I also know that I have a lot to learn. I shouldn’t expect to know how to worship God after two weeks of church, should I? I look at all the children in your church and I weep. They know the hymns. They know where to turn in their Bibles. I want to learn all of that, too. I wasn’t raised that way. I need to learn how to worship God. Will you be patient with me and help me? It’s hard.” Now, that’s only a summary of what she said. It almost made me weep right there on the spot. Tears did come to my eyes in the car driving home. It was not so much that the service was “unintelligible” to her; it was just unfamiliar. She simply had to learn how to worship God.” The Lord’s Service, pp. 324-325

Meyers continues by speaking of the problems he has faced with evangelical Christians visiting with their preconceived notions about their own preferences for worship. One couple who had been to another evangelical Presbyterian church snickered and jeered throughout the service at the printed prayers and despite the warm greeting they received never came back.

Liturgy (1)

Jeff Meyers recalls the frequent reminders of one of his seminary professors, Dr. Robert G. Rayburn that every church has a liturgy. “Not every church uses the word liturgy, but every church orders its service according to some rationale. It is impossible not to have an order of service. Even if the order is not well thought out or is insufficiently prepared beforehand by the pastor, some order of worship will prevail during the Sunday morning worship hour.” (The Lord’s Service, p. 151)

Meyers also writes:

“No church can avoid prayer rituals altogether. You either have good prayer rituals or bad ones, helpful or dangerous ones, but it is impossible to be free from all forms in a church’s corporate prayer life.” (The Lord’s Service, p. 148)

I repent of the anti-liturgical comments I may have advanced on this weblog in the past. I would like to advance some arguments in favour of a regular, established order of service with set congregational prayers and corporate reading of Scripture, and suggest what such a liturgy might contain. Matthew Mason wrote an excellent post on this last year and many of the points are the same. For this I make no apology. It is worth bringing this to the forefront of our thinking again, and to encourage consideration of the subject by a different (if potentially overlapping!) group of people.

Biblical Patterns

Worship in heaven is liturgical. The angels, elders and living beings all engaged in repeated ritual actions and responses (Revelation 4, 9-11). There is alternation of responses (Revelation 5, 11-14? 11, 15-18). There is the singing of hymns in unison (Revelation 5, 9; 15, 3-4). Presumably the liturgical actions of falling down together and joint recitations of prayers and songs of praise and thanksgiving must have been prearranged and memorized. Surely it is appropriate for this to be the model for the gathered church, an outpost of heaven on earth, the visible expression of those who “have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly/church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven” (Hebrews 12, 22-23). And after all, heaven was to be the pattern for the tabernacle (Exodus 25, 9; 40; Hebrews 8, 5) and the Lord Jesus taught us to pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” which must surely apply to church and its gathering as much as anywhere else.

Moreover, the Old Testament is replete with examples of the use of set, repeated forms of prayer to confess and praise God by God’s people, e.g. Deuteronomy 26 and the Psalter, with its titles, contents and structures testifying to the fact that they were to be used in corporate worship, for specific occasions (Psalm 92), for praise (Psalm 95, 145-50), confession (78, 105, 106, 135)

Reformation Principles

One of the great aims of the Reformers was to restore congregational participation in worship. In late mediaeval times, the service was in an unintelligible tongue and the congregation merely watched what the “priest” was doing at the “altar”. It is worth remembering that they hardly ever participated in the Communion elements. There was no congregation praying, singing or recitation of the creeds. One of the great doctrines rediscovered at the Reformation was the “priesthood of all believers”. In Christ, all of us have access to Father. All of us in Christ are able to offer worship, however you want to define it. This is most clearly manifested when the congregation of God’s people prays and praises. Consequently, the Reformers reintroduced the recitation of the creeds, the singing of Psalms and hymns. They also sought to reintroduce frequent (weekly) communion. It was not their fault that the people would not come! They revived preaching and teaching so that the whole congregation would be instructed from God’s word. They all wrote liturgies, Calvin included.

By having services in which there is, apart from some song-singing, little congregational participation – one or two people read Scripture, one person leads an extended prayer and then someone preaches while everyone listens – are we in danger of returning to a Roman idea of worship, a liturgical practice which will inevitably shape what we think, lex orandi lex credendi? For a change, non-conformist Evangelicals are substantially at fault here. At least the Anglican Evangelicals have corporate confession and sometimes a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and a creed, and sometimes a responsorial reading of a Psalm or congregational reading of a portion of Scripture. But often those components are occasional and vary from week to week. Let’s have weekly confession, congregational prayer, responsorial reading and recitations of the creed.

Three cheers for Oak Hill! I understand from a former apprentice of St. Ebbe’s that they were learning to chant Psalms in chapel a couple of weeks ago.

Benefits for the Congregation

We need to be taught to pray properly. This is not something we know naturally and when we are reborn as Christians, we need to grow from babies to mature adults in this area as much as anything else. And the Bible has a lot to say about prayer and plenty to teach us about what our priorities and approach should be. Good, Biblical, pre-composed prayers that are prayed congregationally can train God’s church to pray Biblically – confessing sin, praising God for creation and providence, thanking him for his work of redemption, praying for the defence and extension of his kingdom, even praying for the overthrow of his enemies.

Set prayers and forms of service can also benefit our children, those who are becoming senile with age and those who are mentally handicapped who may not be able to grasp our sermons which can so often be pitched to a high intellectual level. Children will be trained to pray, they will learn what Christians believe, and in their dotage such prayers, responses, creeds and confessions will be engrained on their minds through constant weekly repetition and so they remain, even as their intellectual faculties wane. This is not only beneficial for the growth and ongoing Christian life of our congregation members, but ensures they are still active participants in the Sunday gatherings.

One of the problems with one person leading an extended prayer is that the minds of the congregation members so often wander. I know mine does. While the congregation is praying with the pray-er, or at least should be, the recitation of corporate prayers surely enables them to own the prayers oneself in a more sincere way than simply listening to someone. One’s attention is also far less likely to wander.

Familiarity with the prayers and forms of worship mean that we don’t have to keep checking to find out what happens next, and concentrating on the right words at the right time. Habitual use liberates us to participate and truly focus on the meaning of prayers and creeds and Scriptures we recite, rather than merely their form. Our attention is more acutely focused on God (and one another) than on the act of reciting.