The Priority of Lord's Day Worship

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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October 15, 2014

00:00: Well, tonight begins the first week in a series which we are entitling Decently and in Order.
00:14: And the subtext of the title is Understanding Proper Lord's Day Worship.
00:22: Decently and in Order, Understanding Proper Lord's Day Worship.
00:26: Now, this is designed to be a ten-week series.
00:32: Some of the ladies, Pat and Sue, came with me to a two-day conference recently from Dr.
00:38: John Payne.
00:40: And during that conference, he taught on the subject of worship and I was able to get his book on the subject of worship.
00:48: And since the conference to today, I have read through his book and some of that material will be used for some of what we are doing.
00:58: But that's not the whole of what we're doing.
01:02: But if you are interested in getting a copy of his book as an accessory to our study, I'd be happy to seek to get those for you.
01:11: Just let me know and we'll work on getting that.
01:14: It's a very short book.
01:16: Like I said, I was able to read it in just a few sittings.
01:19: So it's a decent book.
01:21: It's called The Splendor of Holiness.
01:26: And really, it was that title which made me think that this series would be a good follow-up to the last study that we did.
01:33: You know, the last six weeks of Wednesday night services, we have been studying the holiness of God.
01:39: From Ligonier Ministries, Dr.
01:41: R.C.
01:41: Sproul, we went through his series on the holiness of God.
01:44: We read the book, or at least I hope some of us read the book.
01:47: I know we read at the book in our studies and we watched the video series.
01:52: And I said, you know what? When we think about God's holiness, when we think about his supremacy, when we think about his aseity, when we think about these attributes of God, it should drive us to a deeper and more profound sense of worship.
02:09: Now, when we approach the subject of worship, we're literally approaching a subject that we could study all of our lives.
02:19: So I felt the need to narrow the scope of this particular series.
02:25: Because if we just studied worship, we'd be at it forever.
02:30: So I have specifically defined this as understanding Lord's Day worship.
02:42: And you'll notice on your handouts, we are in week number one, the priority of Lord's Day worship.
02:52: Now, I'm going to give you eventually a handout that has all ten weeks and what we're going to be doing.
02:56: But I'm still working to make sure that I have those correct, that I have what I want in that ten week series.
03:03: So I didn't print them out for you tonight.
03:05: But eventually, I know what we're doing next week.
03:08: We're going from the priority of Lord's Day worship.
03:11: Next week, we're going to look at atrocities in modern worship.
03:15: And we're going to have some videos that go along with that.
03:17: And we're going to have a lot of good discussion next week.
03:19: Because we're going to compare what we talk about this week with what we see in modern expressions of quote unquote worship, Christian worship.
03:30: So that's sort of the way that we're going.
03:32: And then we're going to begin breaking down parts of the liturgy of the church and why they are important and function as they do in the church.
03:40: But to begin today, we're going to look at the priority of Lord's Day worship.
03:45: And I want to do so by reading some Scripture verses together.
03:49: Because when I say Lord's Day worship, one of the things...
03:54: Let me just ask real quick.
03:55: How many of you grew up...
03:57: Well, I know you all grew up, but I mean, how many of you...
04:00: When you were growing up, Sunday was a special day.
04:08: You didn't go to work on Sunday.
04:11: But also, you didn't go just about anywhere else on Sunday because other people didn't go to work on Sunday.
04:18: So there were no open restaurants on Sunday.
04:23: Up until the time I was young, there was not alcohol sold on Sunday.
04:28: I remember Playbill Liquor in Nassau County.
04:32: Because Nassau County allowed to buy alcohol on Sunday before Duval County did.
04:38: So there was a little liquor store that was right near our house.
04:41: And it was hopping on Sunday because that's where people would drive, cross the county line, buy their alcohol, and go back home.
04:50: So we all understand that there was a time, even in the history of our country, where there was one day in the week that was considered to be different, set apart, if you will, wholly, as opposed to the other days of the week.
05:04: And what's interesting is that it was not the Sabbath.
05:10: For those of you who are Bible students, the Sabbath is what day? The Sabbath is the seventh day.
05:19: And according to the calendar, the Sabbath is Saturday.
05:23: Because that is the last day or the seventh day of the week.
05:27: So if Saturday is not the Sabbath, I mean, if Saturday is the Sabbath, then Sunday is not the Sabbath.
05:36: What do we call Sunday? Lord's Day.
05:41: Some people call it Christian Sabbath.
05:44: They would say it's the Christian Sabbath.
05:46: Now, I want to make a distinction here.
05:48: Because while I do believe Sunday is the Lord's Day, and I'm about to make a case for that, I do not believe Sunday is a Sabbath.
05:56: For this very reason, when we talk about the Sabbath, the specific Sabbath, we are talking about an Old Testament ceremonial law.
06:09: The fourth commandment, that you shall keep the Sabbath day holy, is fulfilled, at least the way I understand the Scripture, in the work of Jesus Christ.
06:21: For He is, according to Hebrews 4, our rest.
06:24: We find our rest in Him.
06:27: So Christ is our Sabbath.
06:30: However, some of the principles of the Sabbath day, we have taken as application to the Lord's Day.
06:43: Now, what day is the Lord's Day? Sunday.
06:48: Sunday is the Lord's Day.
06:50: But here's the question.
06:52: Why? Why is Sunday taking the place, if you will, of the Old Covenant Sabbath? Well, let's look at a few Scripture verses.
07:04: I want to go to Acts chapter 20 and verse 7.
07:09: Turn in your Bible to Acts chapter 20 and verse 7.
07:32: In Acts chapter 20 and verse 7 it says, On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.
07:51: So we have in the Scripture, in Acts chapter 20 and verse 7, remember this is later in Paul's ministry, we see a reference to the first day of the week.
08:01: Now, let me ask you a question.
08:03: Why do you think they were gathering on the first day of the week? What makes the first day of the week special in the Christian's economy? Yes, absolutely.
08:18: The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in all of human history.
08:28: In fact, we divide human history by what we call B.C.
08:34: and A.D.
08:36: B.C.
08:38: means what? Before Christ.
08:40: And A.D.
08:42: is Anno Domini, which is Latin for In the Year of Our Lord.
08:50: And thus, time itself, from our perspective, was governed by the coming of Christ.
09:00: And it was His resurrection that justified our faith, according to the Apostle Paul.
09:07: It says He was raised for our justification.
09:10: Now, that confuses people, because He died on the cross for our justification of sins.
09:17: But He was raised for the justification of our faith.
09:20: In that, if He would have stayed dead, if Christ would have stayed in the tomb, we would have no reason for hope, because we would be serving a dead Savior.
09:31: He would be no different than any of the other Messiahs who came and died and stayed dead.
09:38: But when He rose from the dead, He justified our faith in Him.
09:44: He demonstrated the righteousness of Himself, and our faith is justified.
09:51: Make sense? And what day did He rise? He rose on the first day of the week.
09:58: Fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead.
10:04: I'm sorry, 49 days after Jesus rose from the dead, there was the day of Pentecost.
10:12: What happened on the day of Pentecost? Also a Sunday, also the first day of the week.
10:17: The Holy Spirit falls on the church.
10:20: The 120 who were in the upper room were praying.
10:24: They had been 10 days since Christ's ascension.
10:27: And He says, go and wait on the Holy Spirit.
10:29: They go and they wait, and the Holy Spirit fell, as it were, as tongues of fire on Pentecost, which would have been on a Sunday, the first day of the week.
10:38: So this day is the day Christ rose.
10:41: This day is the day the Holy Spirit fell.
10:43: This day became important within the early churches' expressions of worship.
10:52: They moved from the Sabbath day, wherein they would do their resting, to the first day of the week, wherein they would do their worshiping.
11:02: And Sunday became what is known as the Lord's Day.
11:06: Now, by the way, this is not an expression which we just made up.
11:13: This expression is found in the Bible.
11:16: I'm going to jump one Bible verse ahead.
11:18: Go with me to Revelation chapter 1 and verse 10.
11:30: Now, remember, depending on how we date Revelation, it's going to be later in the ministry of the apostles.
11:40: Some people date it before AD 70.
11:41: Some people date it after AD 70.
11:43: I'm not here tonight to debate the dating of Revelation.
11:46: But what I will say is this.
11:48: Either way, it's late in the ministry of the apostles.
11:52: The other apostles have probably been martyred.
11:56: John is the last apostle.
11:59: And what does it say in verse 10? I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day.
12:07: And I heard behind me a loud voice as a trumpet.
12:10: So what does John describe the first day of the week as? What had the vernacular of the church began to describe that day? The Lord's Day.
12:24: So this again, I was considering, you know, what is Sunday? It's the Lord's Day.
12:33: It's the day of the resurrection.
12:34: It's the day of the falling of the Holy Spirit on the people at any cost.
12:38: It is the day that John received these visions.
12:42: He was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day.
12:44: And he identified it as such, which means by that time in the history of the church, very early in the history of the church, after the apostles, it was already begun to be called the Lord's Day.
12:56: Now, one other place.
12:58: I just want to show you.
12:59: And I know that in your notes, I skipped one.
13:02: So I want you to go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 16.
13:06: Just to show you a practical application of this.
13:13: 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 2.
13:21: It says, on the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.
13:35: You see, Paul is doing these missionary journeys and he's expecting the churches to support the other Christians who are in need.
13:45: So when does he say do we bring our offerings together to store them up? On the first day.
13:52: Why? Because that's the day the church is gathering.
13:56: That's the day the worship is happening.
13:58: That's the day they're coming together.
14:00: That's the Lord's Day.
14:02: It was the first day of the week.
14:05: And that was the day that the giving was to occur.
14:11: So, having said all of that as an introduction, I just want to make the point that when we say Lord's Day, we are talking about the first day of the week.
14:25: We give God the first day as our offering unto Him.
14:32: And by the way, notice it doesn't say the Lord's morning.
14:38: The Lord's Day.
14:40: It's His day.
14:42: Not just His hour.
14:44: Or His 30 minutes.
14:46: Or His 15 minutes.
14:49: It's His day.
14:51: And I think that's important for us because we've gotten to the point, and I'm in no way trying to just smash on anyone, but I want us to think how easy it is for us to start thinking about Sunday worship as just the one hour, hour and 15 minutes that we're in church.
15:12: And the rest of the day, church is our stop on the way to the beach.
15:15: Church is our stop on the way to go to whatever.
15:20: Rather than the day being sanctified unto God.
15:26: You know? We just recently started doing evening services again, and I like the fact that that bookends a day that's supposed to be dedicated to God.
15:37: We have the beginning of the day that we give to Him in time of study and worship, and we come together and then we eat, and then we come back at the end of the day and we bookend the day with another opportunity to hear His Word.
15:51: And we express the Lord's day as His.
15:57: So, all of this setting the stage for our study.
16:05: Tonight we're going to look at four propositions in regard to worship.
16:12: Four propositions in regard to worship.
16:16: The first proposition.
16:20: Worship is the highest priority of the Christian.
16:27: Now, if you'll start turning in your Bibles to Revelation 21, many of you probably know this passage.
16:36: At least you know you've heard it.
16:39: Because in Revelation 21, this is often what is read at funeral services for believers.
16:47: Revelation 21, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
16:59: And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband.
17:07: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
17:14: He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.
17:19: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.
17:28: You're all familiar with that passage, right? We've all, again, if you've been to a Christian funeral, you've heard.
17:33: There'll be no crying there.
17:35: There'll be no mourning there.
17:37: We sing these songs about there being this place of paradise, right? But what is the one thing that the Apostle John gives us in this passage that should be the most exciting? Is it the fact that we'll have no more crying? Well, that could be nice, that we won't have any more reason to suffer.
17:56: Is it that we'll have no more mourning? Well, that would be nice, that there's no more reason for grief.
18:01: But the part that should excite the heart is that God Himself will be with us without any separation.
18:14: God Himself will be with them as their God.
18:18: And like now, we have this divide between us and God.
18:22: Even believers don't see God face to face.
18:27: But then we shall.
18:30: We will see the beatific vision.
18:33: Remember, we talked about that in our history course.
18:36: The blessed vision of God.
18:38: We will see Him.
18:40: We will see Christ as He is, for we shall be as He is, 1 John tells us.
18:45: That's the blessed vision.
18:48: So your first answer on your sheet, it could be argued that our chiefest occupation in the new earth is worship.
18:59: It could be argued that it, meaning worship, will be our chiefest occupation in the new earth.
19:09: I used to get nervous when I was a kid because I remember somebody saying that heaven is going to be like a church service forever.
19:21: And honestly, as a ten year old kid, I didn't really want to go.
19:27: Because I thought what they meant was long, boring sermons and music that just droned on and on into infinity.
19:42: But that's not what they meant, I don't think.
19:46: And it's not really what I'm meaning when I say that worship is going to be our chief occupation.
19:53: What I mean is that when we are in heaven, we will experience the presence of God forever.
20:03: And thus, there will never be a time in the new earth wherein we will shrink back from the desire to praise Him.
20:15: I mean, we do that now all the time.
20:17: We get a stubbed toe.
20:18: Oh, I can't go to church today.
20:20: I'm hurting, you know.
20:21: Oh, I have my back, you know.
20:24: Oh, it's cold outside.
20:25: It just hit 69 in Florida.
20:27: I can't go because I don't have a thick enough coat, you know.
20:31: We find any reason we can.
20:36: I'm not necessarily talking about you all particularly, but you know what I mean.
20:39: People find any reason they can to avoid church or to not be in worship.
20:44: And yet, the thing that we are going to get to do in the new earth is to express praise unto God because we will be in His presence forever.
20:58: On the back of your sheet, I don't want you to read it now, but on the back of your sheet, I've given you an article for devotional study this week and it expresses how Lord's Day worship is preparing us for our eternal time of worship.
21:12: And it kind of compares those two.
21:14: So I encourage you, I gave you a little homework to do, so I encourage you to take that home and look at it.
21:21: But that's the key to this is why is Lord's Day worship a priority? Why is Lord's Day worship a priority? Because worship is, for all intents and purposes, our time on Sunday is preparing us for our eternal time.
21:36: Not just listening to sermons, not just hearing music or singing music, but praising God will be our occupation.
21:46: The next blank on your sheet, I'll go ahead and give you the answer.
21:49: The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question, What is the chief end of man? And the answer is what? Answer it for me, Presbyterian friends.
22:06: I'm just kidding, you guys are too used to go to Presbyterian.
22:07: To love God and enjoy Him forever.
22:12: To love God and to enjoy Him forever.
22:15: A catechism, I think most of you know, but for those of you who don't, it's one of the oldest teaching tools that has been used in the church.
22:26: And it's a question and answer.
22:29: It's made to memorize so that children and even adults can learn theology.
22:36: And one of the first questions on it is, What is our purpose? What were we made to do? What is our chief end? Our chief end is to love God and to enjoy Him forever.
22:51: John Piper says it like this, God is most glorified by us when we are most satisfied in Him.
23:05: God is most glorified by us when we are most satisfied in Him.
23:09: What does that mean? That means worship, true glory to God, is when we find our greatest joy in Him.
23:23: Are we really satisfied in God? Are we really joyous to be in God's presence? To be in God's house, if it were.
23:34: To be in the presence of God's people.
23:37: Does that bring us joy? Or does that cause us to say, Oh, I don't want to go.
23:46: You see what I'm saying? That's the heart of Piper's comment.
23:50: And I've always said Piper's comment is really just a re-expression of this question of the catechism.
23:56: Because the catechism says, What is the chief end of man? To love God and enjoy Him forever.
24:01: Piper says that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
24:05: When we're loving Him and enjoying Him and caring that we're in His presence and we're in the presence of His people.
24:12: We're participating in the ordinances.
24:15: We're singing to Him and we're hearing His word.
24:20: And we long for that.
24:24: Therein is God's glory.
24:29: And He's most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
24:36: Most in love with Him.
24:40: Now, all of the other things that we do as a church point to worship.
24:48: You all have your outline.
24:51: I want to show you how this works.
24:53: Everything that we do points to worship.
24:56: Evangelism.
24:57: We evangelize for one purpose.
25:00: To make worshipers.
25:04: We evangelize to make worshipers.
25:06: People say we evangelize to keep people out of hell.
25:09: Only secondarily.
25:12: We evangelize so that people would worship God because He deserves it.
25:17: We tell people about Jesus so that they will bow the knee unto Him because He deserves it.
25:24: I heard a pastor one time say this, and I don't remember who it was, but I believe it to be true.
25:31: God would deserve my worship even if He chose to send me to hell.
25:35: Because He'd still be God.
25:39: And if you can't wrap your head around that, that's okay.
25:42: Because He would still be God.
25:46: Even if I was in hell.
25:49: And He would still be worthy of my worship.
25:51: That's hard to put our heads around, but that's the truth.
25:53: His godliness, His kingliness, His worthiness of our worship is not dependent on whether or not He saves me.
26:01: He's worthy of worship before He saves me.
26:04: And the reason why He saves me is so I will worship Him.
26:08: So that I will understand how worthy He is of worship.
26:14: So when I go out and evangelize someone.
26:17: When I go out and seek to share the gospel with them.
26:19: Am I caring about their soul? Absolutely.
26:21: I don't want to see one soul in hell.
26:25: I don't want to see one person die apart from Christ.
26:28: And does my heart ache when somebody dies apart from Christ? You better believe it.
26:32: And if you've never shed a tear over someone who dies apart from Christ.
26:37: I would question your conversion.
26:39: It's like Charles Spurgeon said, if you have no desire for other men to know Christ, then you don't know Christ.
26:47: I mean, that's the truth.
26:48: If you don't care about the souls of men.
26:51: I mean, it's just like the Bible says.
26:54: How can we say we love God if we don't love each other? You know, that's the truth.
27:00: But I went a little off there.
27:02: Let me get back to my point.
27:03: My point is this.
27:04: When I go out and evangelize a soul.
27:07: When I'm seeking a person to come to Christ.
27:09: My goal for them is that they would worship God.
27:12: Because He deserves it.
27:16: And sometimes that's just how we express it to them.
27:20: God deserves your worship.
27:24: He created you.
27:25: He sustained you.
27:27: At any moment, your life could end.
27:30: And do you want to end this life? And go into eternity having never bowed the knee on this side of the line of your life? Having never bowed the knee to Christ? Because the Bible says at one point in the future, every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father.
27:52: It will either be on this side of eternity or on the other side of our death.
27:57: But no one will not bow the knee.
28:00: So our goal is to get people to bow the knee on this side.
28:04: And that's what evangelism is.
28:05: It's worship making.
28:08: Making worshipers.
28:10: Now the next thing.
28:12: What is discipleship? When we teach people.
28:16: You're what? Maturing.
28:18: Yeah, I'm keeping it with the M's.
28:21: Maturing worshipers.
28:25: First we want to make worshipers.
28:26: That's evangelism.
28:28: And then we want to mature worshipers.
28:31: My goal in...
28:33: You know why I preach the way I do? You know why we have lessons like this? Because I truly believe that the church in the world today, particularly the American westernized church, is a mile wide and an inch deep.
28:51: It has very little depth in what is taught or understood.
28:56: And as a result, people say things about God and about the Bible that are just absolutely wrong.
29:03: And they don't realize it.
29:05: And guess what? When we believe wrong, we worship wrong.
29:09: And that's why there are so many atrocities in worship.
29:13: So all that being said, the goal of discipleship is that we would know God better so that we would worship Him better.
29:20: That we would know God more so that we would worship Him more.
29:24: We want to mature.
29:25: Paul said we don't want to keep having baby food.
29:30: We want to move on to the meat.
29:34: We want to move on to the meat of the Word of God.
29:37: We want to go deeper and broader in our understanding of Him so that we would be better worshipers.
29:45: Alright, thirdly, fellowship.
29:48: I'm sticking with the M.
29:49: Anyone want to take a stab at what it would be? Mixing? I said motivating.
29:55: Motivating.
29:58: Fellowship is motivating worshipers.
30:02: We motivate one another through a process of edification, rebuke, encouragement.
30:14: You might say, how do you motivate somebody through a rebuke? Well, you motivate them to stop doing what they're doing.
30:19: But how do those things happen? Well, they happen when I preach.
30:24: I seek to edify, encourage, rebuke.
30:28: All those things when I'm preaching.
30:30: But it also happens when you have somebody else over to your house for a meal.
30:35: And you're fellowshipping.
30:38: And in the midst of that fellowship, you're sharing lives with one another.
30:44: And you're motivating one another to be a better worshipper.
30:50: Somebody sits down at a meal with you and says, brother or sister, I have a hard time with X, Y, or Z.
31:01: Fellowship is what gives us those opportunities to motivate us toward being better worshipers.
31:10: It also encourages us to encourage others to be here.
31:16: So fellowship is a motivating tool.
31:19: And we motivate one another.
31:21: So worship is the highest priority of the Christian.
31:24: It's going to be our occupation in the new earth.
31:26: It is our chief end to love God, enjoy Him forever.
31:31: And everything we do in the church points to it.
31:39: Now, number two, we've said worship is the highest priority of the Christian.
31:45: Number two, worship is regulated in Scripture.
31:49: Worship is regulated in Scripture.
31:51: We are called to worship in two ways.
31:54: Individually and corporately.
31:55: And now you can write those down.
31:56: We are called to worship individually and corporately.
32:13: Obviously we're called to worship God individually.
32:16: We're supposed to never stop worshiping.
32:18: The Bible says pray without ceasing.
32:20: We're to be in a state of worship all the time.
32:22: We're to be seeking God's presence.
32:24: We wake up in the morning and we pray to God.
32:26: We open His word and we read His word as food for the day.
32:30: We go throughout our day.
32:31: When we sit down to eat a meal, we stop and we bow our heads and we say, Father in heaven, please bless this food to nourish our bodies.
32:38: Help us to be thankful to You.
32:40: You are the one from whom our blessings flow.
32:43: And all of the bread that we have comes from You.
32:46: So we worship throughout the day.
32:48: We worship individually.
32:49: We worship as families.
32:50: You could even add that in as a middle point.
32:54: We worship individually.
32:56: We worship as families.
32:57: But then we also worship corporately.
33:00: And this is the part that I think so many people leave out.
33:05: It's the corporate worship.
33:08: Because they'll say things like this.
33:10: Well, I can watch the TV and I can hear a much better preacher than that guy y'all got at your church.
33:20: So I'll just stay home and I'll watch the TV and I'll hear some pastor or preacher and I'll call that church.
33:30: Beloved, that is not church.
33:35: The word church comes from the Greek word ekklesia.
33:38: Ekklesia means assembly or ones who have been called out to be together.
33:44: It's the ekklesia.
33:46: It's the called out ones.
33:48: Church is not an individual.
33:50: One person does not constitute a church.
33:52: The Bible knows nothing of a lone wolf Christian.
33:56: In fact, one of the things we're going to talk about later in the series is the idea of replacing Lord's Day worship.
34:07: Because it's been replaced in the life of many people.
34:09: Some churches even, they don't even have church on Sunday anymore.
34:12: They move it to a different day so people can have their Sundays free.
34:15: You know the idea, they just replace it.
34:21: The worship on the Lord's Day, the corporate worship cannot and must not be replaced.
34:25: I'll show you two places.
34:27: Hebrews 10 and 25.
34:28: Most of you know this one, but I'll read it to you anyway.
34:33: Hebrews 10 and 25.
34:37: The sentence begins in verse 24 in the ESV.
34:40: It says, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
34:54: So the person writing Hebrews there, who we don't know who it is, but the person writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit here, writes for us not to neglect meeting together.
35:08: Because when we meet together, we stir one another up to good works.
35:11: We stir one another up to do what is right.
35:14: We meet together so as to grow together.
35:20: And then, of course, in Romans chapter 12, if you want to turn there very briefly.
35:30: Romans chapter 12 and verse 15.
35:32: I'm sorry, verse 5.
35:37: Romans 12 is so powerful.
35:38: It begins with the verse, I appeal to you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
35:48: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
35:51: That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
35:56: For by the grace of God given to me, I say to everyone among you, to not think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
36:08: For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another.
36:19: Beloved, it is impossible to fulfill that outline if it's an individual thing.
36:26: You can't say we're individually members of one body if you're an individual who never comes to be part of a body.
36:35: The Apostle Paul says the church is like a body.
36:39: He says the hand can't say to the foot, I have no need of you.
36:41: The eye can't say to the mouth, I have no need of you.
36:44: No part of the body is any more important than any other part of the body in the body of Christ.
36:50: But if a person stays home and doesn't participate in the body of Christ, doesn't participate in the Lord's Day, doesn't come and become part of the local body, then they have robbed the church of whatever member they are to be filling in the body.
37:14: Maybe they're a hand, maybe they're an eye, maybe they're a mouth, like me.
37:23: But they're robbing the body of that gift.
37:28: Because God has given the believer a gift to be used in the corporate body of Christ.
37:37: And when we are not active in that body, we are robbing that body of a gift.
37:43: All right, now, I've got to kick it into gear because we ain't halfway through.
37:51: So you have the blanks there, individual and corporately, right? Let's look at the next.
37:56: There is to be order in the Lord's Day worship.
38:00: There is to be order in Lord's Day worship.
38:06: Now here's where it's going to start getting very tense.
38:13: Because a lot of churches nowadays are in disorder.
38:17: But I want to share with you a verse of Scripture, and you don't necessarily have to turn there.
38:24: I'll tell you what it says, because it says it at the top of your sheet.
38:27: 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 40 says, But all things are to be done decently and in order.
38:36: That's what it says.
38:37: In regard to two things that were going on in the early church.
38:43: Tongue speaking and prophecy.
38:46: Which were two gifts that were given to the early church.
38:49: 1 Corinthians 14, the context.
38:51: The Apostle Paul is challenging the early church, the Corinthian church, which is a very carnal minded church.
38:59: He was challenging them about their misbehavior.
39:02: And he's challenging them about the misuse of tongues and prophecy.
39:06: And at the very end, the very last verse of chapter 14, he says, But all things are to be done decently and in order.
39:21: Now, turn to Hebrews 12.
39:23: Because Hebrews 12 also expresses...
39:25: By the way, this is a Bible study, so we're going to be Bible searching tonight.
39:30: We want to see that what we're saying is correct.
39:32: We're not just making these things up.
39:34: Hebrews chapter 12 and verses 28 and 29.
39:51: Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
39:55: And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe.
40:00: For our God is a consuming fire.
40:04: Now, I just want to put three words on the board.
40:07: The first word is decent.
40:12: Decently.
40:14: Order.
40:16: Let's say in order.
40:19: I would say orderly.
40:20: We'll make orderly.
40:22: Decently, orderly, and accessible.
40:28: Alright? Decently and orderly are found in 1 Corinthians 14, 40.
40:35: And you'll notice in Hebrews 12 here, it says...
40:40: Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
40:42: And thus let us offer to God...
40:44: What kind of worship? Acceptable worship.
40:50: Acceptable worship.
40:52: So what this tells us...
40:55: By virtue of the necessary negative.
40:58: That there is such a thing as indecent worship.
41:04: There is such a thing as disorderly worship.
41:10: There is such a thing as unacceptable worship.
41:17: For it would make no sense to say, do things decently, orderly, and acceptably.
41:22: If there were not an opposing position.
41:27: But here's the problem in the modern church.
41:30: It's become all things go.
41:34: It's become a virtual circus.
41:38: Next week I will prove my words.
41:40: So if you think I'm exaggerating a bit.
41:43: We're going to look at the Holy Spirit, hokey pokey, and everything else you've ever imagined.
41:48: Which is going on all around the world under the guise of Christian worship.
41:53: And it's nothing of the sort.
41:55: It's indecent.
41:57: It's disorderly.
41:58: It's unacceptable.
42:01: And yet it is done.
42:05: So I want to use a word here that some of you probably...
42:12: I'm actually teaching right off the same notes you have.
42:15: The only thing I have is to fill in the blank.
42:16: I don't have any extra special notes.
42:19: Because there's so much meat here.
42:21: I'm just saying, I'm not reading off a list.
42:25: But you notice where it says explain liturgy? That was for me.
42:29: I wrote that in the notes for me.
42:31: Liturgy.
42:31: How many of you know what liturgy is? What now? Order of worship.
42:37: Order of worship.
42:38: Very good.
42:38: That's actually the best definition.
42:41: When you think of liturgy though, does it have anything that comes into your head? Catholic Mass.
42:46: Catholic Mass.
42:46: What are you going to say? I was going to say literature.
42:49: Literature.
42:50: Okay.
42:50: Well it sounds kind of like that.
42:52: Liturgy is exactly what Rob said.
42:55: It is an order of worship.
42:57: Most people when they think liturgy or liturgical think of the Catholic Mass.
43:04: The other day I went to a Catholic funeral.
43:08: Stand up.
43:09: Say this.
43:09: Sit down.
43:10: Say this.
43:11: Stand up.
43:12: Do this.
43:12: Sit down.
43:13: Do this.
43:14: And up.
43:14: And down.
43:15: And left.
43:15: And right.
43:16: And up.
43:16: And down.
43:16: And everything was very regimented.
43:19: And kneel.
43:21: And make the sign of the cross.
43:22: And all of those various activities which are very regimented in Catholic services.
43:31: Now here's the problem.
43:35: Because Protestants, modern Protestants, see that in the Roman Catholic Church.
43:41: There's often a, we talk about the pendulum which swings.
43:45: It goes from this high liturgical service to buck wild crazy.
43:54: Because we don't want any structure at all.
43:56: And beloved that ain't right either.
43:59: But that's what happens.
44:00: It takes a mighty swing.
44:03: So I want to based on the idea of what Rob said.
44:06: The order of worship.
44:06: That's what a liturgy is.
44:08: Every church has a liturgy.
44:10: Even the crazy buck wild church has a liturgy.
44:14: We're going to sing a bunch of songs.
44:16: We're going to preach.
44:18: That's a two part liturgy.
44:20: But it's still a liturgy.
44:22: It still is.
44:24: By the very definition, it is the most loose or the loosest liturgy.
44:29: But it is still a liturgy.
44:31: So the reason why I'm saying all this about liturgy is because having a liturgy is not wrong.
44:37: Having a liturgy is by necessity going to happen.
44:42: Everyone's going to have one in some way.
44:44: The question is, is our liturgy biblical? Now, the reformers taught something called the regulative principle.
44:58: The regulative principle of worship.
45:10: The regulative principle of worship is defined as this.
45:15: That which is to be done in corporate worship needs to be given to us or regulated to us by Scripture.
45:26: OK.
45:29: Basically, the Scripture regulates worship.
45:33: That's the regulative principle.
45:35: The opposite of this, and I didn't give you a blank for this, but if you want to write it, the opposite position is the normative principle.
45:42: The normative principle says this.
45:46: As long as the Scripture doesn't deny, you can do what you want.
45:55: I saw your face.
45:55: You're kind of like, whoa.
45:57: You see, that's what a lot of churches say.
46:01: Well, the Scripture doesn't say I can't ride a four-wheeler onto the chancel.
46:06: The Scripture doesn't say I can't shoot off fireworks out of the communion table.
46:11: The Scripture doesn't say I can't bring an orangutan up on the chancel with me or throw a football out into the sanctuary.
46:21: The Scripture doesn't say I can't.
46:23: Right? And that's the normative principle.
46:26: Now, am I exaggerating a little? No.
46:28: Not at all.
46:29: Because all of those things I just mentioned, aside from maybe the orangutan, I have seen.
46:35: I haven't seen an orangutan yet, but I wouldn't put it past them.
46:38: But the idea is that the regulative principle is the Reformed view.
46:45: If you want to say, what's the Reformed view? What was the view of the Reformers, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli? What is the tradition that was given in the Protestant church? It was that that which is done in worship should be regulated by Scripture.
46:58: And what story do you think, from the Old Testament, caused them to believe that was so? Nadab and Abihu.
47:11: For they offered up strange fire unto God, which he had not commanded them.
47:19: That's the regulative principle.
47:22: They didn't do what wasn't commanded.
47:26: I'm sorry, they did do what wasn't commanded, and that wasn't acceptable.
47:30: When they didn't do what was commanded, but did something that wasn't commanded, it was unacceptable to God.
47:38: It was indecent, and it was worthy of their personal executions.
47:44: That's serious business.
47:48: So, Mark Dever says this in his book, The Deliberate Church.
47:53: Corporate worship is too central to God's purpose and redemption for Him to leave the specifics of it to the likes of us.
48:03: It's too important for it to be left up to the whims of men and women.
48:11: It must be regulated by a higher standard than us.
48:15: It must be regulated by God.
48:17: That's Mark's point, and I believe it's true.
48:20: It's too important.
48:23: Worship is too precious to simply be the whims of people.
48:31: Alright, let's move on, and we'll go to number three.
48:36: We said, number one, worship is the highest priority of the Christian.
48:39: Number two, worship is regulated in Scripture.
48:42: Number three, worship is not about us.
48:47: Now, you might say, that's obvious, Pastor.
48:51: It's not about us, it's about worshiping God.
48:54: Well, modern worship, and this is your blank, so I'll give it to you.
48:59: Modern worship has been consumed with entertainment and experience.
49:07: Modern worship has been consumed with entertainment and experience.
49:13: How do we know that? People come out and say, well, I didn't get anything out of that today.
49:18: Isn't that what they say when they come out of church? Well, I didn't like that.
49:22: Well, what do you mean you didn't like that? Unless that guy was preaching heresy, what are you talking about? Unless it was a person in the pulpit who shouldn't be there by virtue of the fact that they are unqualified to be in the pulpit, what do you mean? It's not about you, it's not about me, it's about God.
49:43: This is your next blank.
49:44: Because worship is regulated by God, our attitude should never be, what do I want? It should never, ever be, what do I want? But isn't that what the modern consumer age does? We go from this church, to this church, to this church, to this church, seeking what I want.
50:11: Well, they have a band, and they don't have a choir, or they have a preacher who wears a robe, and this one doesn't have a preacher, whereas this guy wears Hawaiian t-shirts, and this guy wore sandals in the pulpit.
50:22: And that's what I want.
50:24: I want a down-home country gal to ride a four-wheeler onto the chancel.
50:28: I want this, I want that, it's all about me.
50:32: And beloved, Sunday has never been about you.
50:35: If you are 70 years old or older, 10 years of your life have been spent on Sunday, and not one of them was about you.
50:51: I know you're all doing the math, it's right.
50:54: If you're 70 years old, one in seven, you've spent 10 years on Sunday, and not one of them was about you.
51:03: But how many of them have we made about us? Finally, number four.
51:12: Worship, and this could be a lesson all in of itself, but there's so many other areas I want to...
51:18: Is that making noise? Oh, that's in there.
51:22: Worship is an activity of believers.
51:24: As I said, this could be a lesson all to itself.
51:27: I could spend a whole hour on this, but I won't, because I think you all understand what I'm going to say.
51:33: There is a methodology out there.
51:35: It is called seeker-sensitive.
51:38: Write that down.
51:39: Seeker-sensitive.
51:44: And I'm just straight up saying, the methodology of seeker-sensitive is unbiblical.
51:52: We are not supposed to...
51:54: And hear me loud, hear me now.
51:57: We are not supposed to design our worship service around how unbelievers will enjoy our worship service.
52:05: It is not about making a carnal man more carnal.
52:11: It is not about making a fleshly person more comfortable.
52:16: And the problem with the modern church is that's what we have convinced ourselves.
52:20: We've got to make the church Starbucks.
52:24: We've got to make the church McDonald's and a Playland.
52:28: And that's not what the church is.
52:30: The church is the place where the gathered saints of God come together.
52:34: They are challenged by the word of God to go out into the world and preach the gospel and make worshipers so that those people would come back and be prepared to worship God among the corporate saints of God.
52:47: I'm a little excited.
52:50: But that's what we do.
52:54: Remember what Dr.
52:55: Payne said? He said, could you imagine the Apostle Paul going out into the streets of Ephesus and taking a survey? What would make you come to church this week? If we had a coffee shop? If we handed out free fish? Would you come to church? If we had a clown car up on the chimney? Do you think Paul would have done that? No, but you know what he did do that a lot of times we don't do? He went out there and won souls.
53:20: That's something that we need to consider.
53:22: He brought people into the church by way of conversion, not way of coercion.
53:31: He preached the gospel.
53:34: Here's the last blank and I'll give it to you.
53:37: While unbelievers who come should be welcomed.
53:40: And hear me, church, when an unbeliever comes in, I don't kick them out and say, you're not a Christian, get on out of here.
53:45: No, we don't do that.
53:46: We welcome the unbeliever.
53:48: We want them to hear the gospel taught, but we must not tailor the service around their perception of what they want.
53:57: The goal must be to glorify God or worship God to glorify Him.
54:02: That must be the goal.
54:05: We can't tailor it around what the unbeliever wants, because here's the secret.
54:08: The unbeliever does not want to worship God.
54:12: Seeker sensitive is a lie.
54:15: According to the Apostle Paul, Romans chapter 3, there is none who seeketh after God.
54:23: The only true seeker is God.
54:26: He is the one who seeks and saves the one who is lost.
54:28: So if we're going to be a true seeker sensitive church, maybe we should be sensitive to Him, because He's the one seeking, not them.
54:39: So all that being said, I have some discussion questions.
54:43: I'm going to ask you for one minute more while I explain the questions, and then we'll close with prayer.
54:49: And then if you want to sit and talk about it, you're welcome to, but I know some of you got to go and some of you live a good distance away and we're already a few minutes over.
54:56: So here's the three questions and then we'll pray.
54:59: Number one, I want you to think about what are some of the elements of our liturgy.
55:05: And we can go through them real quick.
55:07: We start with a call to worship.
55:08: I stand up and read the Scripture to God's people in preparation.
55:13: Let's worship together.
55:14: Let's open the Word of God together.
55:15: We bookend the service by beginning with the Word of God.
55:19: And then what do we do? We sing.
55:22: And boy, when we come to the week of singing, when we come in a few weeks and talk about singing as an act of worship, I hope you come with your ears on.
55:31: That's going to be an important lesson.
55:33: This whole thing is important, but that's important.
55:35: What else do we do? What's part of our liturgy at Sovereign Grace? Pastoral prayer.
55:41: But that's not the only prayer, if you think about it.
55:42: We pray over communion.
55:44: We pray over the offering.
55:45: We pray for the sick.
55:47: And we pray at the end of the service a prayer of benediction, a blessing to bookend the service at the end.
55:54: So there are multiple prayers that happen.
55:56: But prayer is part of the liturgy.
55:58: What else? The Lord's Table.
56:01: We take the Lord's Table every Sunday as part of our liturgy.
56:06: What else? Relatively recently we added something.
56:11: We responsive read.
56:12: Do you know why we responsive read? Because it's teaching doctrine.
56:18: Acts 2.42.
56:20: The church came together to learn the Apostles Doctrine for the fellowship, for the breaking of bread and the prayers.
56:27: Part of what we do in church is we learn doctrine.
56:29: So we have these responsive readings.
56:31: I'm sorry.
56:33: We have these responsive readings for doctrinal purposes, to teach and to learn.
56:38: And then we do, somebody said giving, right Ms.
56:40: Sue? That is an act of worship.
56:42: When we take our wallets out and we open them up and we place that money into that plate as it is passed, that is an act of sacrificial giving.
56:50: It's worship.
56:51: And then the highlight, and I'm not saying that because I do it.
56:54: I'm saying that because preaching is the warping wolf.
57:00: I don't know if I'm saying that right.
57:01: It's why we come together to hear God speak from His Word.
57:08: You know, there's one part of my sermon that's always infallible when I'm reading that Word.
57:12: Not when I'm explaining it, because my explanation could be fallible.
57:18: I pray it's not.
57:19: But when I read that Word, God speaks to His people through His Word.
57:24: And as John MacArthur said, the understanding of Scripture is the Scripture.
57:26: So part of what I do is giving God's Word, because I'm helping you understand what it's saying.
57:31: That's the precious moment, because that's God speaking to His people and bringing conviction and conversion in the house of God.
57:37: That's an important part of that.
57:39: So all that being said, that's our liturgy.
57:43: Now, the second question, what elements are often missing in the seeker-sensitive services? Well, responsive reading, very much.
57:52: I'll tell you this, strong praying.
57:55: A lot of times the prayers are very short, very simple, very rote, or very, not rote, but, what's the word I'm looking for? Repetitive, but there's a...
58:07: Cliched.
58:08: That's the word I was looking for.
58:09: Very cliched.
58:11: And the sermon is usually, what do they say, a sermonette for Christianettes? It's 15 minutes of stories and maybe one Bible verse.
58:20: So that's part of it too, the seeker-sensitive service.
58:23: The entire, what's missing from the liturgy is often everything in the depth that we should have it.
58:30: And finally, I want you to think about this this week.
58:33: What elements are necessary? Are there things we're not doing that we should? Are there things we are doing that we shouldn't be? I would hope not, but that's what this is about.
58:45: It's a challenge to us to search the Scriptures.
58:49: The Scripture regulates worship, not us.
58:53: We need to know that when we come on the Lord's day to worship as the church, that we're worshiping as God would have us worship, and not simply to satisfy ourselves.
59:04: Let's pray.
59:05: Father, thank You for this time in Your Word, and this time of discussion and study.
59:11: And I pray that it has been edifying to Your people.
59:16: And Father, that it would lead us all into a better understanding of what we come to do when we come together as the corporate body of Christ on Sunday.
59:27: We thank You, we praise You, we give You all glory and honor.
59:30: In Jesus' name and for His sake, Amen.