Congregational Worship (Part 1 of 2)

Welcome to Truth Network. In fact, the constant activity of the church in heaven is worship. So how should this impact the way we prepare for and participate in worship now?

Alistair Begg explores the answer to that question today on Truth for Life. You who fear the LORD, praise him. All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel.

For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard when he cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation. My vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him shall praise the LORD.

May your hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship before him. Before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him. It shall be told of the LORD to the coming generation.

They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it. And then, in John chapter 4, in the context of the encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well, let me just read from verse 16. In the course of conversation, Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You're right in saying I have no husband, for you've had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.

What you have said is true. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.

Amen. I want to bring ourselves in a very topical way, really, to address not the vastness of worship in that the totality of our existence in Christ is the expression of worship. If we take Romans 12, 1 and 2 as a framework, I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is in the King James Version your reasonable service, which is your spiritual worship, or which is your reasonable service of spiritual worship. In other words, all day, every day, our lives offered up to God.

Paul there is using a picture from the Old Testament. The sacrifices of propitiatory sacrifices gave way to sacrifices of thanksgiving, and so he appeals on the strength of Christ's propitiatory sacrifice. I appeal to you therefore on the basis of the mercies of God to present your bodies as a sacrifice of thanksgiving and of celebration and of praise. So I'm taking it in this first session that we understand that, that we are committed to that, and that we're thinking far more directly and simply about what that really means by way of expression when the congregation gathers on the occasion of the Lord's Day and on other times to give voice to our praise and to our worship. The portion of Scripture that we've read, at least from John chapter 4, gives us from the Lord Jesus just a very timeless and definitive word of instruction concerning the nature of worship that is acceptable to God. And there really can be no more vital theme, I concur, with what has been said.

Here we are at the apex of things. There's no more vital thing for the people of God to consider than this, because of two things primarily. Number one, worship is the constant activity of the church in heaven. In Revelation 7, to which we have alluded in one of our songs this morning, John says, I looked—Revelation 7, 9—and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, To God who sits on the throne, salvation and to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing round the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever.

Amen. So there you have it, the great final denouement when all is gathered together. Those who have already been gathered to the nearer presence of Jesus have something of a foretaste of that. And so, when we sing, for example, in our Christmas carol, Sing, O ye citizens of heaven above! Many of us have occasion to think of those who have been taken to the Lord Jesus, and that when we join our songs, we join with angels round the throne. It is the constant activity of the church in heaven. Consequently, the prospect of heaven ought never to be brighter, and the reality of heaven never closer than when we as the children of God are involved in acceptable worship. Second reason is because not only is it the constant activity of the church in heaven, but it is also the chief business of the church on earth—the chief business of the church on earth.

"'You did not choose me, but I chose you and ordained you that you would go and bear fruit, fruit that will last,' Jesus said to his disciples." He explains to this lady here not only the nature of the living water that he has to offer to her, but he then instructs us that in and beyond and behind her deepest longings, there is the activity of God, who from all of eternity has been seeking worshipers. So that when we share the good news with men and women, as we have the privilege of doing, we do so in the awareness of the fact that God from all of eternity has planned to put together this vast company, and that it is the utterly undeserved privilege of everyone to be added, as it were, to that choir.

And so we prepare on earth—I think it was a quote from Martin Lloyd-Jones. It's a kind of rehearsal, he says. We're rehearsing our singing and our praise in order that in preparing down here, we may be ready for activity up there. That man, renewed by grace, has been created to praise. We were created to praise. Therefore, God is not indifferent about this matter. He is certainly not indifferent as to whither we worship. As to whither we worship. Worship, if you like, is a grace-filled obligation.

It is not an option. It's not an option for man in his nature, just by nature itself, to deny that God is to be praised. Hence, you have the psalmist saying, Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works towards the children of men. He's looking out, as it were, beyond the assembled congregation. He looks out, as it were, from beyond the perimeters of the gathered assembly on the Lord's day. And he looks out unto greater Dallas, and he sees them with the newspaper, and he sees them with the sports, and he sees them with all of these preoccupations.

And he doesn't respond in a spirit of condemnation, but his heart lifts up with him, and he says, Oh, oh, that the whole of Dallas would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works towards the children of men. Because man by his nature is created to worship God. That's why, essentially, sin in its essence is the reverse of that. It is the great exchange of Romans 1, that claiming to be wise they became fools.

Their minds were darkened, says Paul. They began to worship the creature rather than the Creator. And as a result of that, God gave them up. So God is not indifferent as to whether we worship, nor is God indifferent as to the object of our worship—the object of our worship. God says in the giving of the commandments, he says, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before me. I am you shall. Because of the Godness of God, you see.

Because of who I am, I am able to issue this to you. Therefore there to be no substitute gods. Hence when his people in the Old Testament begun to wander, begun to stray, when Aaron comes up with a calf and so on, immediately you see the temptation of man to begin to move away from the true and obvious and desired object of worship—God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And of course, when Jesus is addressing these matters in his earthly pilgrimage—for example, in John 5, in the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda, the reaction of the Pharisees to the statements of Jesus and the activity of Jesus is characteristically negative. They tried him because he has been doing this healing on the Sabbath, as they say.

He deserves to die. Jesus says, My Father is working, and I too am working. And then they're even more infuriated. And Jesus goes on to say, Listen, you need to understand this, that it is incumbent that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son in his personhood, coequal, coeternal with the Father and with the Spirit, he who does not honor the Son as revealed does not honor the Father who sent him. So when people say, Well, I'd just like to worship God in my own way, or I have a concept of God that is my own, what are we to say? And we say, Well, that's very nice. I'm delighted to hear that.

What are we going to say? Well, you know, when you look at what the Bible has to say, Jesus stands, you know, right in the middle of that notion and challenges it. When you've lived a little while, you see all these things come and go. And when you think about the challenges to the true object of God's worship—I was just thinking this morning about Sung Young Moon for some reason. He was dominant for a little while. He had some followers. I don't know if there's any left.

Certainly not in Cleveland. It's too cold up there. But the Moonies, people were all churned up about the Moonies. And somebody somewhat artistically, and maybe a little unkindly, wrote a song that I had made a note of. It goes like this, It won't be old Buddha—remember this?—who's sitting on the throne. And it won't be old Muhammad who's calling us home. And it won't be Hare Krishna who's playing the trumpet tune, and I'm gonna see the Son, not Reverend Moon.

Now, that's not just sort of unkindness. That's actually biblical truth. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father. Our worship has to be triune worship. It is God the Father who plans our salvation. It is God the Son who procures our salvation.

It is God the Spirit who applies our salvation. And when we gather to worship, there should be a Trinitarian dimension to the totality of it. Otherwise, people will be able to ascribe to all kinds of people and all kinds of ideas the very songs that we're singing, unless we sing in accordance with the object of our worship. So he's not indifferent as to whether we worship. He's not indifferent as to the object of our worship. Nor is he indifferent concerning the manner of our worship. The manner of our worship. Now, I'm thinking manner primarily.

I'm not here to address the question of mode. There are all kinds of ways in which we worship, and depending on where we are in the world, by nature of culture and background and so on, things may be very, very different from the way in which we as a church family have decided to do them. The unifying factors will be, of course, that we are worshiping God as he is to be worshiped, that we're doing so in this way. But let's think in terms of the manner of our worship. We've already said that proper worship is tied directly to an adequate and to an accurate knowledge of God—God as he has revealed himself in creation, in his Word, in the person of his Son, savingly in the person of his Son. Therefore, these things are to be the underpinnings.

So we can say three things. First of all, that in terms of manner, true worship is biblical in that it is grounded in the truth of Scripture. It is grounded in the truth of Scripture. This dictates the lyrics of our songs. It should at least dictate the lyrics of our songs so that we're able to say—that, incidentally, is the great safeguard of only singing the psalms, because all you're singing is Scripture.

Therefore, you can't go wrong. As soon as you go beyond that, then, of course, we're dealing with the abilities and gifts of man. But that's why we want to pour all of those songs through the grid, if you like, of Scripture—just in the same way as when we pray, and we want to pray in a way and worship God in a way that is biblical. If you listen to people pray, it's amazing how un-theological a lot of prayer really is—people ascribing to the Father, that which is only true of the Son, referring to the Holy Spirit in terms of who Jesus is, and so on. And that's okay, you know, for a little while, while there may be Christians. But if they'd been listening at all, we would hope that somehow or another they would begin to get this trinity sorted out, and that there would be that which was biblical that framed their adoration of God. You know, that's an aside. Calvin along the same line says, All our so-called good intentions are struck by this thunderbolt, which tells us that men can do nothing but err when they are guided by their own opinion without the word and command of God.

In other words, there's this temptation to deviate from course. Now, it's interesting to me, and I hope it is to you, I hope that when you read your Bible you say, I wonder what is interesting about this passage this morning, or I wonder what I can learn from this passage this morning that I've never seen before. Some of us have read the Bible so much that we think we know everything about everything, and it really is not so good. You need to come to your reading of the Bible with a spirit of agnosticism, a spirit of discovery, you know. Well, let me see, Lord Jesus, I'm going to read John 4 again. Oh, you mean that passage about worship him in spirit and in truth? We know that one. We did that one.

Of course we did. Now, that verse, which is really the verse that underpins all that I'm about to say to you—God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth—is set within a context. And the context, of course, is this conversation with the woman at the well. And Jesus is making clear that worship in spirit and in truth is actually the outcome of his person insofar as he is the final revelation of God. And so that when he says what he says concerning the time and the hour, so what does he refer? The time is coming and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

Well, what is he saying? He's saying that there is going to come a time when all that we've read of in Revelation 7 will come to fruition. That is going to take place as a result of Jesus' death and his resurrection and his exaltation.

But of course, that has not yet taken place in his conversation with the woman. So it is, to use a big word, proleptically present in Jesus right now. The time is coming and has now come. In what sense has it now come? Because I who speak to you am he.

I am here. In John chapter 1, we've already learned that there is the final sacrifice, behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. In John chapter 2, Jesus has explained that this temple will be destroyed, and it will be rebuilt, coming to fruition in AD 66, AD 70.

The people are trying to figure out what he's saying. He said there is a final sacrifice, and there is a new temple that provides the basis and that constitutes the grounds for this true worship. Now, as Jesus says this, he's not saying it at the Essentials Conference. He is not giving this information within the context of a seminary graduation or even a local church Bible study or a Sunday morning service. Now, what is quite staggering about this is that this most vital and succinct instruction concerning the nature of worship comes, if you like, in the most unlikely of contexts. In John chapter 3, he's had an encounter under darkness with a religious professional by the name of Nicodemus, whom he has explained, You need to be born again, or you'll never see the kingdom of God.

Into John chapter 4, he has another encounter, this time not under darkness but in the blazing sun of the midday. And this lady is a no-name lady. This lady is about as far on the other side of the social spectrum as could possibly be in comparison to Nicodemus. It all begins with a simple question, May I have a drink?

Could I have a drink of water? In the interchange that follows, as he intrigues her, she responds by saying, Well, I would really like to have this water that you're talking about in verse 15 so that I won't be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. But the point is that it is in that context where a woman is thinking about thirst, where she is now drawn along this line, that he finally says to her, putting his finger gently on the real issue in her life, Hey, why don't you call your husband and come back? And she says, I don't have a husband. Which was technically true, but it wasn't the whole story. And Jesus knew it wasn't the whole story. And he says to her, You know, you're right to say that, because you've had five husbands, and you presently have a live-in lover. Now, it is at that point, if you read the commentaries, that from the first time I ever read anything in that book How to Give Away Your Faith by Paul Little—I love that book, I still like it—but he says, clear as a bell, at this point, the woman issues a red herring.

Right? Why does this have to be a red herring? It may actually be the first stumbling move on her part towards the answer that Jesus knows she desperately needs.

I suppose we could say in passing that we need to be alert to these things when we're engaging with people in conversation, not to necessarily assume that they are simply sideswiping our advances. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. We'll wrap up our series on true worship next week. As we heard today, we are created to praise God, and congregational worship is supposed to be like a rehearsal for the singing and praise we will enjoy in heaven. There are some for whom the experience of local church has been disappointing, maybe even hurtful. If that's been your experience, I want to recommend to you a book we are currently featuring that's called Sighing on Sunday, 40 Meditations for When Church Hurts. Maybe you've felt neglected or rejected or betrayed by other believers.

Maybe you've felt like you've been led astray by a pastor or a leader you trusted. Sighing on Sunday offers 40 scripture-centered readings that explore why hurt happens and how God calls us to respond. If you're struggling to find encouragement and healing, ask for your copy of Sighing on Sunday today when you donate to support the ministry of Truth for Life.

Go to truthforlife.org slash donate. Thanks for joining us this week. Hope you have a great weekend and are able to practice what you've been learning about corporate worship in your local church this weekend. Join us Monday when we'll learn why it's so important to be mentally engaged when God's Word is being preached. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.