Reformed Worship (What is “Reformed” Anyway? Part 4)

INTRODUCTION

The 16th Century Reformation was a reformation of worship. Worship is at the center of human life, and therefore, we believe it is the most important thing we do as Christians. How we think about worship and offer our worship flows into all of life.

In the beginning, God placed Adam in the Garden Sanctuary where Adam had direct communion with God, and from that Garden a river flowed out to the four corners of the world. In Ezekiel’s vision, a river flows out from under the altar growing deeper until it reaches the sea, bringing healing to the nations. What we do in worship impacts us and the whole world.

The Text: “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words…” (Heb. 12:18-29).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Having warned about bitterness, fornication, and rejecting God’s blessing (Heb. 12:15-17), Hebrews says that Christians have not come to the earthly Mount Sinai that thundered and burned with fire (Heb. 12:18-21), but rather, we have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, where all the saints and angels are, to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 12:22-24). This New Covenant worship is more sobering since Christ speaks directly from heaven and shakes heaven and earth until only God’s Kingdom which cannot be shaken remains (Heb. 12:25-27, cf. Rev. 21:2). Therefore, we must have His grace to worship acceptably with reverence and fear, since He is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28-29).

ACCORDING TO GOD'S WORD

The uniform testimony of Scripture is that God is a jealous God, and He is particularly jealous for His worship. Where He meets with His people is holy ground (Ex. 3:5), and the fierce holiness of Sinai was only a faint glimmer of His heavenly glory (Ex. 19, Heb. 12:18-21). When Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded, fire devoured them (Lev. 10:1-2). When David was bringing the Ark of God back to Jerusalem and the ox cart stumbled and Uzzah put out his hand to support it, God struck him dead (2 Sam. 6:6-7). These were various innovations that God had not commanded, but God’s fierce anger also burned against Israel when they went through the motions of what God had commanded, while harboring sin in their lives (Is. 2:10-20). When Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, they died (Acts 5), and when the Corinthians were getting drunk and breaking into factions at the Lord’s Supper, some of them became sick and died (1 Cor. 11). And when Israel turned to blatant idolatries, sacrificing their own children to Baals, God says these evils were not commanded, not even contemplated (Jer. 19:5).

At the same time, David rightly introduced singing and musical instruments into the worship of God (1 Chron. 6, 25-26), and Israel established the feasts of Purim and Hannukah, with God’s apparent blessing (cf. Esther 9, John 10:22). Putting these things together, the Reformers taught that worship must be according to God’s Word. Our central duty is to come before Him to do those things which He has explicitly commanded or which may be clearly inferred from His Word, and yet in that place of deep humility, we are to offer ourselves fully to Him and in that offering will be unique treasures that are pleasing to Him (Rev. 21:24-26).

COVENANT RENEWAL WORSHIP

The Reformers drew from covenant theology as they reformed worship. The fact that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are covenant ceremonies commanded by Christ helped explain Christian worship as “covenantal.” We are called to worship in Jesus’ name, as those who bear God’s covenantal name in our baptism, and Jesus said that we must celebrate the Lord’s Supper as a “memorial” of His death, the new covenant in His blood (1 Cor. 11). The language of memorial is covenantal: the rainbow was a memorial of God’s covenant promise to never flood the earth again (Gen. 9). The Feast of Passover was a memorial of God’s salvation from Egypt (Ex. 12). And the sacrifices and other feasts were constant memorials reminding God and His people of the covenant (e.g. Lev. 2, Num. 10).

It has been pointed out that the covenant renewal at Sinai was a lot like a wedding, with Moses playing the part of the minister giving the vows, with the whole thing sealed with a feast (Ex. 19-24). In fact, the broad structure of that covenant ceremony are reflected in our worship: A Call to worship (Ex. 19:1-9), Confession/cleansing (Ex. 19:10-25), Word declared and explained (Ex. 20-23), followed by a feast, and a blessing (Ex. 24). Others have pointed out that when the three major sacrifices are offered together, they are always offered in the order of Sin Offering, Ascension Offering, and Peace Offering which also corresponds to our order of worship (Confession, Consecration, Communion). “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice” (Ps. 50:5), and we offer our bodies and praises as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1, Heb. 13:15). And we renew our covenant on the weekly anniversary of our Lord’s resurrection (Ex. 20:8, Rev. 1:10).

APPLICATIONS

Family Worship: In the Old Covenant, God had commanded a morning and evening sacrifice, and this is what the New Testament is alluding to with “pray without ceasing” (Num. 28, 1 Thess. 5:17). While there is a greater freedom in the New Covenant, we should generally be aiming for daily Bible reading, prayer, and singing in our homes. And this is a great way to practice for Sunday morning worship.

BIBLICAL FAITH & GLORY

The Church is the bride of Christ, and we are therefore required to be subject to Christ in everything, particularly in our renewal of His covenant (Eph. 5:24). While some Reformed folks draw a very narrow circle around what is acceptable, they are more faithful than those who simply want to make it up as they go along, whether with rock concerts or circus shows or medieval pageantry. We want to grow up into true Christian glory (2 Cor. 3:18), as we worship in Spirit and in Truth (Jn. 4:24), and at the center of that is a humble, evangelical faith.