Worship

Worship is ascribing worth to God by serving him, praising him, obeying him. The following Biblical truths require us to think carefully about worship. God created us to worship (Isa 43:1). God saved us to worship him with his people (Exod 7:16; Ps 68:26). God desires our worship (John 4:23). God commands our worship (Deut 6:13). With this in mind, we desire to be a people that is intentional about pleasing God in our worship 

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Because all of life is to be lived for the glory of God, we can say that all of life is worship. In a particular way, God also wants his people to gather together to worship him in what Leviticus 23:3 calls a Holy Convocation, on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath. The following document lays out our core convictions about our corporate worship on the Lord’s Day. We explain why we do what we do, what we do, and how we do it. This document will also describe the logical flow of our worship services, and answer the following frequently asked questions: (1) What is the role of the Holy Spirit in worship? (2) Does God prefer spontaneous or scripted worship? (3) Who does what in worship, what does it mean to participate in worship? (4) How do we choose our songs?

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Our Core Principles

The following summarizes our core principles. We worship for the glory of God, according to the regulative principle, with the ordinary means of grace, in a gospel-shaped dialogue between the Triune God and his people, with joy, reverence, awe, and in an orderly manner under the oversight of the elders.

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1. The Glory of God: We do all things for the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31), so the goal of our worship is to glorify God. We must worship God in a way that pleases God rather than sinful Man.

2. The Regulative Principle of Worship: Worship is for God so above all we must set our preferences aside and offer worship that pleases God. We must worship God on his terms in the ways he wants us to worship him (Lev 10:1; Isa 29:13). This means that we worship God in accordance with Scripture. We have a biblical warrant for every element in the worship service (see “Elements” below). We want to read the Bible, pray the Bible, sing the Bible, preach the Bible, and see the Bible.i Not only does the Regulative Principle of Worship most glorify God, but according to Exodus 20:24, worship offered according to the regulative principle of worship also guarantees God’s blessing of his people. God promised, “In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you” (Exodus 20:24).

3. The Ordinary Means of Grace: The ordinary means of grace are both what God requires from his people in worship as he commands us in Scripture. These outward means of grace are also the places he promises to meet his people and bless them. These means are called outward means because they consist of external, physical, or sensory activities. They are called ordinary because they are the regular channels God uses to bless us. God can work as he pleases also using extraordinary means such as miracles, direct revelations, or special visions but these are not the normative standard for Christian growth. Ordinary means of grace worship commits to the ministry of the word, prayer, and the sacraments. These are the ordinary, outward, relational means, where the Triune God reveals himself to us, communes with us, blesses us, and causes us to grow spiritually.

4. Gospel-Shaped: The gospel is the good news of God’s redemption. Through the accomplished work of Christ on the cross, Christ gives eternal life to all those who trust in him. The Christian good news begins with a good creator God who created a good world and a good design of humanity. The good news includes our solution to our problem of sin and our liability to God’s eternal judgment for our sins. The presentation of the good news includes God’s character and his work, as well as our need to repent, trust, and love God. The gospel also includes God’s transformation of sinners by the work of the Holy Spirit, and the requirement of obedience as a response to God’s grace. The different elements of our worship services communicate this Christian good news. They do this individually as different elements reveal different aspects of the gospel presentation and together, the elements that make up our worship services work together so that our worship service as a whole presents the Christian good news.

5. Dialogue: A worship service is an encounter with the living God. In this encounter, the Triune God reveals himself and his people respond appropriately. God has the first word as he summons us and the last word sends us back out into the world with his blessing. God’s people respond corporately to what God reveals about Himself. Our response will be heartfelt, sincere, and meaningful. Worship is a response to God’s revelation and not the pursuit of an experience, yet worship can be quite moving.

6. Tone of worship: Scripture teaches that worship is to be joyful (Ps 100:2), done with gratitude, reverence, and awe (Heb 12:28), and with order (1 Cor 14:40).

7. Under the oversight of the Elders: Elements in the worship service that correspond to God’s speech in the dialogue are ministered by elders who have been trained, tested, and shown to have approved character and the ability to rightly divide the word of truth, to lead those elements. Other elements that represent God’s People’s response in the dialogue are done by the whole congregation or individual members who can offer a prayer or do a reading of Scripture.

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Logic of a worship service: As a Gospel-Shaped Dialogue between the Triune God and His people.

When the saints gather for worship on the Lord’s Day, we hear God’s invitation to worship him and approach God as unworthy sinners. We hear God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit convicts, comforts, instructs, guides, and gives us hope. We respond to God’s revelation of himself through His word with awe, praise, conviction, confession, thankfulness, and zeal. In response to God’s revelation of himself in the Gospel, we renew our commitment to living grace-based lives. We want our lives to be marked by the fruit of the Spirit, be quick to repent and quick to forgive, love God and love our neighbor as we rely on the Holy Spirit to live for the glory of God.

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There are different ways to think through the logic of a worship service biblically. Here, we look at Isaiah 6. Kevin DeYoung identifies the following four movements in Isaiah 6, “praise, renewal, proclamation, response.” Isaiah has a vision of God. He sees a creature praising God (Praise). In response to God’s holiness, Isaiah confesses his sin and seeks renewal (Renewal). God speaks his word to Isaiah (Proclamation). Isaiah responds by committing himself to serve the Lord (Response). This liturgy reflects the gospel pattern. We approach God in awe, we see our sin, we hear the good news, and we respond in faith and obedience.

 

The Isaiah 6 pattern gives our worship a gospel shape. The worship service points to the goodness of God; the depth of our sin; our need for a savior. It presents the kindness of God in Christ and the way of salvation for all who repent and believe. It promises God’s presence in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. It empowers Christians to live lives that please God and offers the hope of eternal life. Each worship service presents the gospel for the salvation of unbelievers. The gospel feeds and strengthens Christians in faith, knowledge, love, and holiness. Gospel-shaped worship glorifies God.

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Elements of Worship: Ordinary Means of Grace

Following our core principles of wanting to glorify God, according to the Regulative Principle of Worship, with a Gospel-Shaped Dialogue between the Triune God, the elements of our worship service are called, the Ordinary Means of Grace. These are the channels through which He promises to meet us, reveal himself to us, and bless us. These Ordinary Means of Grace are His word, Prayer, and the Sacraments.

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Our Worship services include the reading and preaching of God's word (1 Tim 4:13; 2 Tim 4:2), The sacraments are baptism (Matt 28:19; Acts 2:38-39) and the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:23-26; Acts 2:42). The sacraments are signs and seals of God’s New Covenant promises.ii As signs baptism and the Lord’s Supper present the gospel visibly with the washing with water, death, burial, resurrection with Christ, the broken body, and the shed blood of Christ that nourishes us spiritually. As seals, baptism and the Lord’s Supper confirm and guarantee what God promises through those signs to all who receive them in faith. God requires and delights in our prayers (1 Tim 2:8), which can be offered in the form of singing hymns (Eph 5:19, Col 3:16).

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Other elements of worship can include giving sacrificially (2 Cor 8-9; Rom 12:1-2), confessing what is true (1 Cor 15:3-4), confessing our sins (1 John 1:9), and oaths (Neh 10:28-29; 2 Chronicles 15:12–15) as we commit ourselves to rely on the Spirit to live for God (Rom 8:5-6, 11-14).

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An Order of Worship

There are many ways to order a worship service reflecting everything above. There is flexibility in worship. This is one of many ways of ordering a worship service:

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Preparation for Worship

This time of preparation is not part of the worship service. The worship service only begins when God summons us to worship him with the call to worship.

 

This time of preparation can include a time to sit quietly, pray, prepare our hearts, and clear our minds from distractions (Ecc 5:1-2). This time of preparation can include prelude music, a Gospel informed welcome (Rom 15:7), church announcements, and an introduction or brief explanation of what a Church Worship is and achieves.

 

Praise

• Call to worship (God)

  • God initiates the worship service with his invitation to worship Him (e.g., read a Psalm like Ps 66:1-4, it can be responsive reading).

• Response in Praise (the People) 

  • The congregation responds to God’s call with a hymn that focuses on the Person and Work of God.

• Response in Prayer (the People)

  • Prayer of Invocation – This prayer acknowledges the presence of God and asks for God’s guidance and blessing throughout the service.

  • The Lord’s Prayer: The Church prays the Lord’s Prayer as one

 

Renewal

• Confession of Sin (God, the People)

  • The worship of God reminds us of our unworthiness (Luke 5:8). As we marvel at God, we also confess our sins (Responsive reading, private prayer, or hymn)

• The Assurance of Pardon (God)

  • God responds to all who confess and repent from their sin with the assurance of pardon. This is the Gospel!

• Thanksgiving Song (the People)

  • After hearing the gospel, the people respond with thanksgiving. At this stage, the singing focuses on the forgiveness of sins, the accomplished work of Christ on the cross, and our assurance of pardon.

• Offering (God, the People)

  • The congregation responds to the hearing of the forgiveness of sins with joy, gratitude, and commitment to give freely to gospel ministries and others.

• Pastoral Prayer (the People)

  • Pastoral prayer is a longer prayer in which an elder prays for the church, the city, and the world. The elder prays for relevant things in the life of the congregation, and relevant current events.

 

Proclamation

• Reading of Scripture (God/People)

  • Both the Old and New Testaments will be read.

  • End the second reading with “This is God’s Word.” The people will respond with Isa 40:8.

• Prayer of Illumination (The People)

  • The prayer of illumination is a prayer for God’s Word that is preached to have its full effect among the people.

• Sermon (God)

  • A sermon explains and applies God’s word to God’s New Covenant people in their context. The gospel must be proclaimed for it to be a Christian sermon.

 

Response

• (Occasionally) Confession of our faith with the Apostles Creed (the People)

  • The congregation confesses the common, catholic (i.e., universal) faith of the church.

• Communion (God, the People)

  • The Lord’s Supper displays the promises of the gospel. The bread and wine symbolize Christ’s body and blood. Feeding on them teaches us that we are the benefactors of Christ’s death. Our sins are forgiven, and the life we now live, we live in communion with Christ. Christ was raised from the dead, so he now empowers us through the Spirit for Christian ministry.

• Hymn of response (the People)

  • We respond to the sermon with a song that focuses on our commitment to love God and our neighbor, the Great Commission, faith, and good works.

• Benediction (God)

  • We are sent out into the world with the task to be ambassadors of Christ and his gospel. The final word of the service is one of blessing. God reminds us through his word that he is with us, and we are under His divine favor.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Song Choice: How do the Elders of Hope decide what songs we sing in our Worship Service?

For our music style and song choice, we are considerate of our church values, our worship strategy, lyrics, and melody.

 

Music style: We welcome different musical styles and the use of various instruments. Our highest priority is to enhance congregational singing. As we worship in song, the voice of the redeemed is the most important sound. The music must be appropriate for a multi-generational international community.

Song themes: We order our songs based on their themes to fit in the gospel shape of our worship service.

 

Repertoire: We desire to have a defined set of songs to help the congregation build familiarity and appreciation for what we sing. We will add new songs provided they do not become a distraction.

 

Catholicity/Universality: We celebrate our rich Christian heritage by singing songs the church has sung for decades and centuries! We find that this will also favor the transient nature of Brussels. Newcomers are more likely to know traditional hymns than newer worship songs that come and go so quickly. We welcome new hymns if we expect them to be sung for generations to come. We also want to sing hymns written in our congregation.

 

Theologically Rich: We desire to sing about a broad range of core biblical topics. These topics include the Word of God, the attributes of God, His work of creation and salvation, the new creation, humanity, sin, repentance, the incarnation, the works of Christ, the person of Christ, his death, burial, resurrection, the order of salvation, the Holy Spirit, the Church, Christian character, the fruit of the Spirit, and the end times. We desire to sing hymns that articulate the gospel clearly.

 

Emotionally Engaging: Human beings feel a vast array of emotions. Emotionally engaging worship songs voice the emotions we feel. They teach us how God meets us in our despair, lament, sadness, grief, doubt, confusion, and anxiety. They stir up joy, hope, and peace.

 

Accessible melody: The tunes must be simple so that most can sing them. They need to be in a good musical key, and the range of the song should not be too large. We prefer tunes with a predictable melody.

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The Role of the Holy Spirit: What is the role of the Holy Spirit at Hope?

The assumption behind this question is that relying on the Spirit is spontaneity in a worship service, as if what is scripted is the work of Man and what is Spirit led, is “decided in the moment.” We believe that the Holy Spirit is with us at all times and helps us in the preparation of the worship service, in the structuring of the worship service and the preparation and scripting of the different elements of the worship service.

 

The ways we honor the Holy Spirit and expect his work are the following ways. First, we do not welcome the Spirit in our worship services because we believe that when we gather we are in his dwelling place. Second, because the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible, the way we most want to honor the Holy Spirit and be filled with the Holy Spirit, be in step with the Spirit in Sunday Worship is by saturating the worship service with the Scriptures that are his word. This is how the Holy Spirit takes center stage in our worship services, through his work in our hearts and minds through his word, to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of God's children, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

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Participation in Worship: Why do the elders do so much in a worship service, why can’t more people participate?

It is our Hope that the way our worship service is structured, it is first and foremost God who leads the worship service through his word, and that participating in worship is responding appropriately in worship as a congregation. We all participate in worship by: responding to the Call to Worship with Praise, Praying the Lord’s Prayer, confessing our sins, believing the Christian Gospel and the assurance of pardon, and committing our lives again to live for God by hearing his Word, receiving his Spiritual sustenance in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, more singing, and receiving God’s Benediction as we go back out into the world.

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It is true that because God is invisible, human vessels are used for God’s part in our Gospel-Shaped Dialogue that we call our worship service. When Paul speaks to Timothy about his role as an elder of God’s Church, Paul includes the following: “15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” In our church system, elders are those who have been approved through a training and examination process for their ability to rightly handle the word of truth. It is proper that God’s part of the dialogue be done by ordained elders.

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i The sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper are, to use Augustine’s phrase, “visible words.” In baptism and the Lord’s Supper we see, smell, touch, and taste the Word. Christian churches should celebrate baptism and the Lord’s Supper during their gathered public services (1 Cor. 11:17-34). What does the New Testament say that churches should do when they gather?: 9Marks; Ligon Duncan, “Foundations for Biblically Directed Worship” in Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship, ed. Philip Graham Ryken, Derek W.H. Thomas, and J. Ligon Duncan, III [Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing Co., 2003], p. 65-68.

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ii “Signs and seals” expression comes from Rom 4:11 in reference to circumcision.