Covenant Renewal Worship: Why We Do What We Do On Sunday Mornings
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 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.
-Hebrews 10:19-25, ESV
Recently, we covered what it means to be Reformed: the five solas, Calvinistic soteriology, the importance of the historic Reformed confessions, and how covenant theology undergirds our practice. All of this is foundational to how we approach the Sunday worship service. Liturgies vary among Reformed churches, but everything we do on Sunday morning is purposeful and rooted in Scripture. This post will explain the liturgy used by my church, known as covenant renewal worship. Next time we will cover worship music within this context.
The Regulative Principle
Sola Scripture dictates that Scripture is our highest authority for our Sunday liturgy. Scripture prescribes singing, reading Scripture, praying, preaching, and the sacraments, but many of the specifics are not explicitly addressed. This leads to the question of whether things not explicitly stated in Scripture are acceptable in worship. One view would be that anything not prohibited in Scripture is allowed, which is the normative principle. The other view is that anything without Scriptural warrant is prohibited, which is the regulative principle.[1] The normative principle puts us in great danger of dishonoring God since it allows many forms of idolatry commonly practiced in American churches. God cares deeply how He is worshipped: “It has not been left to man to determine the manner in which he would serve God, for then he would stand above God….Rather, the Lord Himself establishes for and reveals to man the regulative principle, indicating what He requires man to do and in which manner He wishes this to be accomplished”.[2] Thus everything we do in our liturgy must be grounded in Scripture.[3] In other words, “the content and ritual of our Lord’s Day corporate worship must be informed and regulated by the Word of God. Nothing should be added to the Church’s worship without biblical warrant”.[4] The deaths of Nadab, Abihu, and Uzzah serve as a warning of how seriously we must approach this topic. So whatever our liturgy looks like—and there are many ways it can look and still conform to the regulative principle—it must be based on Scripture.
The Purpose of Sunday Morning
Every aspect of worship has a purpose, but many American churches have forgotten that purpose, focusing instead on evangelism. But evangelism and worship are completely different: evangelism is what we go out to do to reach unbelievers while worship is what we go in to do before God.[5] Another answer is so people can “experience God”, which usually focuses on emotions. Churches identify metrics like attendance numbers and altar call responses then tailor their services to boost those metrics to show immediate and tangible results much like a business, but modern business wisdom shows the folly of this approach. The point of Simon Sinek’s The Infinite Game is that short-term focus destroys organizations and their people in the long-term. W. Edwards Deming’s fifth deadly disease of management is to focus on measurable results while ignoring what is unknown and unknowable. Sinek’s Leaders Eat Last describes how the commission of both of these blunders by GE’s Jack Welch was ultimately destructive. Since his influence was a major factor to Boeing’s current woes, why would we try to emulate that in our churches? Others avoid these errors by answering that the purpose of Sunday morning is for us to give to God. But we must always remember that we can give nothing to God that He has not already given to us. Our worship service is really the service of the ascended Lord Jesus Christ to us.[6] This brings us to the real purpose of Sunday morning: “to receive by faith God’s gracious service in Christ and then to respond with thanksgiving in union with Christ praising the Living God”.[7] Specifically, in the worship service Christ strengthens, encourages, and exhorts us through His Word as it is read, spoken, confessed, sung, prayed, and exposited before spiritually nourishing us with Himself at the Table. Christ does all of this vicariously through His ministers.
Who Should Lead Worship?
This means that those who lead every aspect of the service are acting on behalf of Jesus Christ, representing Him to His Bride. This underscores the high calling of the pastor, which is not to be taken lightly or unilaterally: “And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was” (Hebrews 5:4). Therefore, the one who leads every aspect of the service should be an ordained minister and must be a man:
The congregation should be assured that when their minister reads, pronounces, preaches, prays, breaks, distributes, and blesses he does so speaking and acting for the Lord Himself….This is why we have ministers preside and lead the service: to give God’s people the assurance they need that the call to worship, the forgiveness of sins, the sermon, the bread and the wine, and the benediction are given to them by the Lord Himself….This is precisely why a woman is prohibited from serving as a pastor. She cannot represent the Husband to the Bride.
-Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord’s Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship, Moscow, ID: Canon Press: 2003: 270-271.
Therefore, every aspect of the service should be led by ordained elders or perhaps deacons. Most Reformed churches would agree with this except regarding singing. We will discuss that next time, but leading worship like everything else in the service is exercising authority over the congregation and acting on behalf of Christ, so Scripture dictates that it be done by those to whom Christ has given that responsibility and authority, which would be elders and deacons. Since some Reformed churches hold that women can be deacons, I must note that a female deacon exercising such authority would violate 2 Timothy 2:12, so every aspect of the service should be led by a male church officer. Finally, even though the whole Church is a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:5,9), we do not act as our own priests in corporate worship since Christ has appointed our ministers to act in that capacity just as He has appointed husbands to pastor their families. We must treat the service with life-and-death seriousness because in it God renews His covenant with us.
Covenant Renewal Worship
The model of worship we see in Scripture is the regular renewal of the covenant God has made with us, called “covenant renewal worship”: “During corporate “worship” the Lord renews His covenant with His people when He gathers them together and serves them”.[8] Throughout Scripture, covenants were not only made but reenacted through sacrifices: the animal was brought to the priest, the people’s sins were laid upon it, the smoke of its burning would ascend “to heaven”, and the people would feast before God. While Christ abolished animal sacrifice by sacrificing Himself, we must still come into God’s presence through sacrifice.[9] We were united with Christ in his once-for-all sacrifice, so now every Sunday we are united with Him in in a reminder of that sacrifice. Covenant renewal worship follows the pattern of the sacrifice, so we are spritually transported by God into His presence: “When the Church gathers on the Lord’s Day she enters into heaven (by faith) to worship God with all of the angelic host and departed saints”.[10] This spiritual journey happens through the liturgy of the call to worship and commencement, confession and pardon, consecration and sermon, communion, and commissioning.
The Liturgy of The Shepherd’s Church
Our covenant renewal service begins with the call to worship. The minister reads a passage calling us to worship then says a prayer of invocation followed by another passage that we call “God’s greeting” as a reminder that God gladly welcomes us. The time of pastoral prayer then begins with the minister naming a member family of the week and one of the churches in the presbytery for prayer. The minister then takes prayer requests from the congregation and prays for them. These requests are also recorded and sent to the members so they can pray for them throughout the week. The pastoral prayer is followed by two worship songs: a song of commencement and a song of praise.
Next comes the confession of sin. The minister reads a portion of the Law then preaches a law homily (short sermon) declaring how we have broken that law. Then we silently confess those sins to God before the minister prays a prayer of confession. The minister then reads a passage declaring God’s pardon of our sin in Christ. Any baptisms will be just before the pardon so that the recipients can be included in the covenant people of God who are pardoned. We then collectively recite an ancient creed and a question from the Westminster Shorter Catechism as a way to affirm what we believe. Over time, this instills robust doctrine in every person. This section then ends with a song celebrating our pardon.
In th next portion of the service, Jesus consecrates us for the Table with His Word just as He washed His disciples’ feet before instituting the Supper. This starts with an Old Testament responsive reading, normally from Psalms. An elder or deacon then reads a chapter from the New Testament. We then sing a song of preparation before the minister preaches the sermon. Since our Scripture readings are not the sermon text, the minister reads the sermon text as part of the sermon. After the sermon, we sing a song of response that also prepares us for the climax of the service.
In the climax of the Lord’s service, we dine with Him in communion. An elder or deacon prepares the elements before the service then places them prominently in front of the pulpit so that they are visible throughout the service. The minister reads a communion passage followed by a homily then breaks a single loaf. The cups all contain the same wine so that we are all eating and drinking the same elements. All baptized congregants come forward and take a piece of the bread and a small cup of wine. We have previously discussed how we should approach the Table, but it is worth reiterating that we come with joy not gloom since we already confessed our sins earlier in the service. Once everyone has been served, the elders serve each other, the minister prays, and we all partake together. The whole service has led up to this moment, so we partake weekly.
Our meal with God now complete, we conclude with commissioning. This begins by everyone reciting the Lord’s Prayer then singing a song of thanksgiving and commissioning—normally the Doxology, Gloria Patri, or a battle song like “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”. The minister then ends the service with the benediction, commissioning the saints who have been strengthened, exhorted, and nourished to go out into the world and build God’s Kingdom. This is the covenant renewal service as practiced at The Shepherd’s Church. Note also what the service does not contain. Announcements are not part of the service so they come before the call to worship. We see no Scriptural warrant for a greeting time, instead emphasizing fellowship before and after the service. For offering, we have a giving box outside the sanctuary just as an offering box was located outside the Temple. Thus, our entire service has biblical warrant and is essential.
How We Should Come to Worship
Knowing this should impact how we approach Sunday morning. First, we must come in person. God renews His covenant with the saints gathered physically, not those who could physically attend but use live streaming as a substitute. When we have to be absent, we should feel that we are missing out on something necessary, so we should long to return. We should try to plan out travels so that we can attend a faithful local church wherever we are.
Second, we must come on time. Since God uses every part of the service for our benefit, we must treat every nanosecond as vital. Far too many people slide into the church long after the service has begun and then stop to get coffee before strolling into the sanctuary, communicating to everyone around them—and to themselves—that the service and their fellow believers are unimportant. Since God spiritually transports His gathered saints into His presence, we can consider it our weekly flight to heaven. Once the service begins, that flight has departed, and anyone not seated in the sanctuary at that point has missed it. If you consistently feel that you are not benefiting much from the service, perhaps it is because your tardiness has left you at the gate. Therefore, we should have the same zeal for getting to church on time as the traveler running through the airport to avoid missing a flight. And being on time means being seated and ready before the call to worship. Just like an earthly flight, this means we need set a schedule for Sunday morning that allows us to arrive on time even if we run into unexpected challenges like weather, traffic, or simply struggling to get going in the morning.
This leads to the third way we must come to the service: come prepared. We need to prepare physically and mentally so that when the call to worship is given, we can give our undivided attention to the service. We should prepare everything we need beforehand, get adequate sleep the night before, read the sermon text, familiarize ourselves with the worship songs, and pray for ourselves, the ministers, and the congregation as a whole. This is another reason to be seated before the service begins, allowing yourself time to prepare your heart for worship. When we fail to do this, we will be distracted by the cares of the world. This is not always possible, but we should strive to make that our standard. One of the best ways to do this is to observe the Sabbath by setting aside all of Sunday for worship by refraining from ordinary activities as much as possible.
Finally, we must come as families. I realize that it is easy for me as a single man to stress physical attendance, punctuality, preparation, and attentiveness in the worship service which families with young children would find difficult. But God’s covenant is with families not individuals, so every member of the family should be present in the service. It is certainly acceptable to take an inconsolable or overly disruptive child out of the sanctuary, but the little noises of children are to be expected in the service of our Lord who welcomes them. The service is just as much for them as us adults, so we have no right to insist that children be kept out of sight and sound for the sake of our experience. This does not mean that a nursery is inconsistent with Scripture, but every person should be able to participate in the entire service, which is impossible for those required to staff a nursery. It may be difficult to adjust to children being in the service, but we can adjust to it. They are the future, and it is vitally important to inundate them into the life of the church as early as possible. Train up a child in the way he should go—including in the worship service—and when he is older he will not turn away from the faith. And that is certainly worth a little disruption in the Lord’s service. So this coming Sunday—and every Sunday thereafter—come to church in person, on time, prepared, and as a family. Finally, come ready to sing, which will be our topic next time.
NOTES
[1] Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt, Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition, The IVP Pocket Reference Series, Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013: 101.
[2] Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, ed. Joel R. Beeke, trans. Bartel Elshout, vol. 1, Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books: 1992: 4.
[3] Richard D. Phillips, 2 Samuel, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Iain M. Duguid, Reformed Expository Commentary, Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing: 2018: 112–115.
[4] Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord’s Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship, Moscow, ID: Canon Press: 2003: 298.
[5] Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord’s Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship, Moscow, ID: Canon Press: 2003: 20-26.
[6] Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord’s Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship, Moscow, ID: Canon Press: 2003: 100.
[7] Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord’s Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship, Moscow, ID: Canon Press: 2003: 104.
[8] Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord’s Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship, Moscow, ID: Canon Press: 2003: 33.
[9] Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord’s Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship, Moscow, ID: Canon Press: 2003: 55-57.
[10] Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord’s Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship, Moscow, ID: Canon Press: 2003: 345.
