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The word “liturgy” has become somewhat a dirty word in the American church.
It is associated with a rigid formalism that is often boring at best and inauthentic hypocrisy at worse.
However, the word “liturgy” simply refers to what we do in worship.
Therefore, every church has a liturgy, because every church “does” something in worship.
The question is not whether or not a church will have a liturgy, but whether or not a church has a biblical liturgy.
So the first point we need to remember is this:
Every Church Has a Liturgy, Not Every Church Has a Good Liturgy
Perhaps this may sound judgmental to you.
To say that some churches have a bad liturgy is not politically correct by the standards of today’s secular society.
However, we should not be living and judging by the standards of our secular society, but by the standards of the Word of God.
Even from the pages of the New Testament we can see that some churches did not have a good, biblical liturgy.
For example, the Corinthian church; turn with me to 1 Corinthians 14:26-40.
This passage is part of a larger segment in 1 Corinthians in which Paul is criticizing and correcting the worship practices of the Corinthians.
In other words, Paul is attempting to reform the Corinthian church’s liturgy so that it moves from being a bad liturgy, to becoming a good liturgy.
Let us begin our reading:
As I read this passage I am sure that what immediately caught your attention where the hotbed issues of charismatic gifts and the role of women in ministry.
These are very important topics, but focusing on them can blind us to the most important things Paul has to say in this passage, for in it he gives us the guidelines for a good liturgy.
The Guidelines for a Good Liturgy
I first want to draw your attention to verse 33.
This verse gives us the first guideline to help us judge good liturgy.
God is Not a God of Confusion, but of Peace
Once again we see that the character of God must be in the forefront of our minds when we think about worship.
We began this series by looking at Hebrews 12:28-29.
Our God is a God Like No Other!
He is the creator of heaven and earth.
Every other being (even the so called gods), are but mere creatures, totally dependent on God for their existence.
Therefore, God is not to be trifled with, he is a consuming fire, and must be worshiped with reverence and awe.
Now we learn in our passage today that God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.
Our emotional and inter-personal lives are often filled with conflict—not so with God.
Within the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—dwell in perfect harmony.
God’s emotions are not out of control, but correspond in perfect harmony with his character.
The worship at Corinth was anything but harmonious.
Men and women were in conflict and competition with one another.
Members were attempting to out do one another in the exercise of spiritual gifts.
The rich were insulting and overlooking the poor.
Paul reminds them that this should not be so.
One of the guiding principles of Reformed worship is what is know as The Dialogical Principle.
Reformed theologians have noted that in Scripture, God speaks and the people respond.
In biblical worship, God is always the “star of the show.”
In our worship service God speaks to his people through the reading or preaching of the Word.
If you will look carefully at our order of worship, you will note that everything is a response to God speaking to his people through his Word.
Moreover, the response is a corporate response.
As Paul concludes his letter to the Romans, he writes:
In worship, we must strive to reflect the unity of the Godhead.
In Reformed Worship, we attempt as much as possible to take attention away from individual people and place it on God.
Therefore, the human response is a corporate response: “with one voice” we glorify God.
To achieve this unity, there must be some type of order to our worship, therefore we find the second guideline in our morning Scripture text at verse 40.
All Things Should be Done Decently and in Order
Because God is not a God of confusion, God honoring worship must be done decently and orderly.
For the most part, American society values individual freedom above order.
We judge extemporaneous worship more authentic and planned worship, but our holy God deserves something better than worship that is thrown together on the fly.
For example, when a man really wants to honor his wife, he carefully plans a date night.
If a man puts little effort into the relationship, his wife will soon know that he doesn’t value her.
It is not without significance that the old marriage vows called for the husband to “worship” his wife.
Worshiping God in an unorganized, thoughtless manner dishonors Him.
Moreover, we would do well as Americans to remind ourselves that the world’s definition of freedom is not God’s.
True freedom is possible only when we are in right relationship with God.
Consequently, we are most free when we are bound to God and obey him.
Another characteristic of Godly freedom is that it is other-focused, rather than self-focused.
This focus on the good of others leads us to the final guideline we find in our passage:
All Things Should be Done for Building Up
This is found in verse 26 of our text.
If you have been following this series this should not surprise you.
As we have been learning the church is called to make disciples and this discipleship is to take place primarily in the assembly of the saints on the Lord’s Day.
When we ask ourselves the question, what should we be doing in our worship, part of the answer is found in what builds others up.
Some members of the Corinthian church were using corporate worship as a means of building themselves up.
They would exercise their spiritual gifts, not to build up other members of the congregation, but to build up their own egos.
Sadly this can still be a problem in churches.
People preach, play and sing all for the hope of getting praise.
This is why saying “Amen” is always a better response than applause in a Christian worship service.
We need to communicate to people that we appreciate their time and effort, but the time to do so in not during worship, because in worship we want God to receive all the attention and glory!
Let’s now see how these general principle apply to a liturgy or order of worship:
The Template of Reformed Worship
Our order of worship today follows the pattern of the most formal Reformed Worship.
The PCA’s Directory of Worship, found in our Book of Church Order, recognizes that there is no complete “order of worship” found in the pages of the New Testament.
Consequently congregations have the freedom to arrange the order of worship according to their unique needs and circumstances.
However, there is value in examining the most generic Reformed Liturgy.
Preparing to Worship
When God’s people gather together there is a unique opportunity do certain things that would be more difficult at other times of the week, for example, making verbal announcements.
Rather than interrupting worship most Reformed congregations place announcements either before or after the worship service.
Other things that can be done at this time are reports, such as the one we received today from Andy Warren or personal testimonies.
At first glance it would seem that a report of what God is doing is worship.
Certainly hearing such reports or testimonies can inspire us to praise and worship God.
For example after the release of Peter and John in Acts 4, they went back to the other believers and reported what had happened.
After they reported what had happened the people worshiped and praised God.
There worship was so powerful this is what happened:
This shows how important the preparation for worship is.
When done correctly, the ground shakes!
This is why our elders have been encouraging you as a congregation to use the Prelude to prepare you hearts for worship.
Christian fellowship is important and sweet, however, we need a prelude of focus our minds and hearts of the task of worship we are about to enter into.
Approaching God in Praise
This is perhaps the part of our liturgy that all other Christian churches share with us and this is to be expected.
Throughout Scripture and especially in the Psalms, we read time and time again that when God’s people come into the presence of God, they must come with praise on their lips.
For example:
It is here that we Invoke God’s blessing upon the service, recite the Lord’s Prayer and sing a Song of Praise.
It is also the place that Reformed believers traditionally recite a Confession or Creed.
This is done to remind us that we must worship God in unity and harmony.
Let me read from Romans 15 again.
The Gloria Patri is sung as a way for us to “with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The next part of the Reformed Liturgy is arguably the most important.
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