Reformed Worship

Description:

A Reformed view of worship is shaped by God’s Word and has the gospel as its context: God desires to meet with his people, and that meeting comes only in and through Christ, by the Holy Spirit. Writing with winsome enthusiasm, Jonty Rhodes celebrates the simplicity and freedom of Reformed worship and shows readers the joys of meeting with God in the means and manner he promises to bless.

Notes:

Forward by Kevin DeYoung

• “The Spirit or ardor is also the Spirit of order” – David Garland p.10

Introduction: Welcome In

• Jesus was sent to rescue us so that we might worship. (John 4:23) p.15
• Calvin to Emperor Charles V: “the mode in which God is duly worshipped” takes the “principal place” in the “whole substance of Christianity” with the source from which salvation to be obtained" coming second. p.16

1. The Promise of Worship

• “This understanding of the covenant-formed people of God meeting at his invitation, summoned by his Word, on the day for his choosing, in order to praise and worship him, is central to the whole Bible” p.25
• God sets the time & the terms
• “It is Jesus the prophet who speaks to us when his Word is faithfully preached. It is Jesus the king who determines what the people are and aren’t to do as we gather together. And it is Jesus the priest who leads the congregation in worship.” p.33
• Not primarily evangelistic or for those outside the church.

2. The Purpose of Worship

• “our ability to come to worship is an act of grace on God’s part” p.45
• “it’s as if we are walking…into the halls of heaven” p.48
• goal = an encounter with God
• the “experience” flows from that encounter

3. The Principle of Worship

• No strange fire
• No images
• “worship is to be directed by his Word, not our will” p.59
• WCF 21.1 “the acceptable way of worshipping…” p.63
• He comes to us through means of grace “word, sacrament, prayer” (WSC 88) p.65
• no right to bind the consciences of people if God hasn’t required (Belgic 32) p.68

4. The Power and Pillars of Worship

Power

• “Holy Spirit is building us together to be a dwelling place for God.” p.74
• “main tools Christ uses to bless his people are necessarily corporate” p.75
• “main theater of the Spirit’s work is in the gathered church at worship” p.75
• It is Christ’s Spirit to “make the reading and preaching of God’s Word effectual” p.81

Pillars

• Elements: the “what” of worship
• Circumstances: the “how” of worship
  • RPW - guided by common sense, wisdom, and the light of nature
• “The preacher’s job is to preach faithfully, and the congregation’s job is to put themselves under the preached Word. After that, the results lie in the hands of Christ and his Spirit.” p.88

5. The Pattern of Worship

• “Structures tell stories” – Bryan Chappell Christ-Centered Worship
• resurrection appearances on Sundays & NT gathered church on the first day of the week. p.94
• OT worship is structured to tell the story of the gospel p.98
• God speaks, we respond as beggars receiving with empty hands. p.100

God Speaks: Call to Worship

God’s People Respond: Prayer of Invocation & Adoration

• hymns often focus on God’s character

God Speaks: Reading of the Law, Invitation to Confession of Sin

• the gospel that gets us out of hiding, the only safe thing is confession p.102

God’s People Respond: Corporate Confession of Sin

God Speaks: Assurance of Pardon

God’s People Respond: Prayers of Intercession

God Speaks: The Reading and Preaching of the Word

• Christ does the proclaiming (Acts 26:23)
• “The preaching of the word of God is the word of God” Second Helvetic Confession
• WLC 155
• “Jesus gets up to preach” – Jonathan Landry Cruse What Happens When We Worship

God’s People Respond: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs

• “But God’s people regularly weep, and the Psalms help to give mourning saints voice.” p.108

God Speaks: The Lord’s Supper

• bread and wine are “visible words” p.109
• “Holy Spirit takes ordinary loaf and ordinary cup and uses them to strengthen our communion with Christ.” p.109

God’s People Respond: Tithes and Offerings

God Speaks: To Bless and Send Out His People

• final reminder of the peace you enjoy: the favor of God that rest upon you p.112

Summary:

“He calls us, he convicts us, he comforts us, he receives our prayers, he addresses us in the reading and the sermon, he invites us to his table and feeds us there, he blesses us and sends us out into his world.” p.113

Questions and Answers on Reformed Worship

• sacraments given to the church, not to individuals or the family p.120
• children aren’t “the future of the church”; they are the church, just as much as their parents p.126
• Word and sacrament central, “God’s means of meeting people from every tribe, tongue, and nation in the context of their own culture” p.132
• We gather with not just the visible saints of a particular church, but angels, the first-born in heaven, to God, to the spirits of the righteous, and to Jesus. (Hebrews 12:22-24)
• “Psalms function as a way of learning the full range of biblical emotions and how to express them.” p.140
• “We need to not sit in judgement over sermons and worship, spending more energy assessing the ministry (and minister) than seeking Christ’s grace for ourselves” p.141-142

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