"Why do we _____?" The Call to Worship

In this series of essays pastor Keith will seek to explain aspects of our ministry at Trinity Chapel. May the Lord use these to give you greater clarity about our work and encourage you to participate further in this gospel ministry!

What is the call to worship?

In many of life's events, something designates the starting point. The starting gun signals the runners to start running. A man getting down on one knee in front of his girlfriend indicates that a certain question is (probably!) coming. Corporate Christian worship also has a designated starting point, which comes in the call to worship.

Before the announcements on Sunday, I get up and welcome you to church; that isn't the beginning of the worship service. After the announcements a musician plays a brief piece of music; that isn't the beginning of worship. One of the men then rings a bell three times; this ALSO isn't the beginning of worship! These are all preliminary actions to worship. Worship begins when God speaks through His word and summons us to come into His presence with praise.

Why does the call to worship need to come first? Because God is the instigator of worship. He created us for worship and sought us in Christ to be worshipers. "True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." (John 4:23) The call to worship is the reminder to us that we are coming to God in response to Him. Worship isn't our idea, nor does it come out of our hearts until God plants the seed of His word in us. He invites us out on the dance floor; we take His hand in response.

This is also why the call to worship is always taken from the Bible. With confessions of sin, confessions of faith, certain prayers, and even songs, we may use words that are Bible-based, but not explicitly taken from Scripture. In the call to worship we hear the very voice of God, speaking through His ordained minister, summoning His redeemed people to praise. This should only be done through the words God gives us in the Bible. 

The call to worship also sets the tone for worship as a dialogue. Although it is the pastor's voice you hear, it is God who speaks to the worshiper. Throughout the service, God and His people speak, promise, praise, and bless one another. Worship is not a performance of the people, nor is it all an act of God. It is a relational interaction between the two: God initiates, His people respond. He calls; we reply. 

The call to worship also reminds us of our calling as we go into the world again. Just as God calls us to worship at the beginning of the service, He also sends us out into the world at the end of the service to call all those around us to come worship Him. Just as we have been called, so He sends us out to call others. "Sing to the LORD, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples." (Psalm 96:2-3) 

As we look forward to this coming Lord's day, let's settle in our souls now that, when we come to God's house together, we will come attentive, ready to hear the voice of our Savior as He calls us. 

Soul-Searching in the Face of Sickness

Trinity Chapel is currently going through a season of sickness. Many of our households over the last 1+ month have been hit by illness, of varying degrees and type. It has kept over half of us home sick at any given time, and away from the Lord's day assembly of God's people. I know I have been thankful for the livestream option in the last weeks, but I imagine that those of you who have been using it would agree: we want to be back together! 

In times like these, we are reminded of our own weakness. We are reminded of our drastic limitations, which we are often able to ignore with the use of many modern technologies. But the reality is, we get sick, and no matter how hard we close our eyes, repeat the mantras, or take medications, healing still takes time. 

A mistake we often make with sicknesses is to approach them like naturalists. Christians profess to be supernaturalists, meaning we believe in the power of God to work in the world, but we often live like God didn't do it. We do this with natural disasters, droughts, world conflicts (all of which are under the power and control of God), and we especially do it with sickness. The biblical reality is that no plague, disease, or sickness, ever comes apart from the allowance of God. While God doesn't always allow these things as a direct consequence of sins (e.g. John 9:1-3), Scripture does teach that He might. Consider some of David's words from Psalm 39:

 "And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of the foolish. I was mute, I did not open my mouth, because it was You who did it. Remove Your plague from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand. When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away like a moth; surely every man is vapor. Selah. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were. Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength, before I go away and am no more." (Psalm 39:7-13)

As a result of his personal sins David knows that the Lord has rebuked, or corrected, him with sickness ("Your plague"). David cries out to the Lord to forgive his sins and remove the chastening plague from him before it takes away his life. Many times in Scripture, God is said to send sickness and disease as a punishment and/or a wake up call to repentance (e.g. Rev 9:20; Amos 4:10; Psalm 106:29-30). 

I'm not going to sit here and write that the Lord has explicitly told me that our church's current struggles with sickness are the direct result of any one particular sin on our part, but I do think it is easily in the wheelhouse to say we ought to treat this time as a call to repentance, to prayer, to personal examination of our hearts, and confession and forsaking of sin. 

May we have spirits like Phinehas, who intervened with holy violence and removed the transgression of God's people, that God's plague might be stopped. Let us search our hearts with the spirit of Psalm 139, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." May we cry out like David, on behalf of ourselves and our brethren in Christ: "Deliver us from all our transgressions. Remove Your plague from us. Hear our prayer, O LORD, and give ear to our cry." 

As we renew ourselves to seek the Lord and His righteousness, may we find Him a refuge in our time of need, and experience the blessings of Psalm 91:9-11,

"Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

The Peace Table

 "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1)

How many times have we heard something like, "All I'm looking for is some peace of mind?" Or how joyful is a war-torn nation when the announcement of "Peace!" is finally made. Peace is a reality that often seems to elude us. We seek it. We think if we had a different set of circumstances, we would have more peace. But there is a greater peace that every single human soul needs: peace with God. In our sins, we are out of fellowship with our Creator. We are antagonists, acting against Him, rebels and traitors warring against His righteous rule of all things. What hope for peace could cantankerous usurpers like us possibly have with God?

That's part of what makes Romans 5:1 such an amazing verse. We not only have the hope of peace, it isn't just a possibility; it's a reality! We aren't waiting to see if it comes, we have it! We have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. God is no longer angry with you, Christian. If you have been justified by faith; declared innocent through the blood of Christ and clothed in His perfect righteousness: God is not mad at you. He has no more wrath against you. He has no condemnation awaiting you for all your sins, for Christ was already condemned for them. In the absence of conflict, which Christ has taken away, and in the presence of love, which Christ has provided; you are left with nothing but peace. 

Peace with God through Jesus Christ. If you have Him, you have everything required for peace with God. And not just the peace of a ceasefire! Not just an armistice. The perfect peace of God that surpasses understanding is yours in Christ Jesus. The peace that pervades a loving household. The peace of love. The peace of satisfaction. The peace of enjoyment of the other. Christ has given you that sort of peace with God, Christian.

It is that peace that we celebrate and picture as we come to the Lord's table. The meal we eat as we are served by the Lord Jesus is the feast of a loving family. God has not only received us in Christ, but He assures us of our reception through a meal shared with Him. We eat with Him at His table as brothers and sisters, received and beloved by God. 

As we taste the bread and drink the cup, may that be the word that most fills our souls: peace! Peace with God and peace with one another, through Christ our Lord.

In Preparation for Communion

Have you ever had someone show up and randomly start telling you how to do your job? It’s frustrating! Especially if you are forced to put up with that person because of their status. In my case, I was the college-educated boss’s kid on the construction job, working with guys that had been doing this work for years. I knew that my best bet was to keep my lips sealed, my head down, and work hard at whatever task was put in front of me.

There’s an interesting story about Jesus, only recorded in Luke 5, where Jesus shows up and starts telling some blue-collar guys how to do their job. Luke writes: Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” (Luke 5:3-5)

Jesus, who is not a fisherman, tells Simon the fisherman how to fish. And the day has already been unproductive. Simon tells Jesus, “Master, we’ve already been at it all night and haven’t caught a thing!” But Simon also has respect for Jesus as a spiritual teacher, so he indulges his Master a little. You can almost hear Simon and the other fishermen muttering beneath their breath! “We’re going to get these boats ready and out there again and Jesus will see it’s exactly like we said: there’s no fish! Stick to the preaching, Jesus. Leave the fishing to us.”

But what happens? “And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.” (Luke 5:6-7) Not only do these experienced fishermen haul in an astounding catch, they take in so much that it becomes dangerous! What happened?

What happened is summed up in Peter’s words, which he probably wasn’t even thinking about, “At Your word I will let down the net.” It is not the skill of these fishermen that makes the difference; it isn’t the wisdom of men who’ve probably spent their whole lives on these waters, hauling in fish. It is the word, the commandment, of Jesus that makes the difference and turns this fishing venture from a bad catch to an overwhelming abundance.

There’s another place in Scripture where Jesus commanded something that sounds strange to us: when He instituted the Lord’s supper at His last supper with His disciples. There He broke the Passover bread and He told them: “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28)

If we were doing things with man’s wisdom, we could probably come up with a much more impressive sacrament than the Lord’s supper. In fact, the communion table is astoundingly unimpressive to the flesh: a little bread, a small taste from the cup. And yet, because Christ Himself instituted this meal with His own words, His own commandment, the table becomes for us the very place where we taste by faith the body and blood of our Savior. Through the Spirit’s power and blessing that little bread and little cup become for us spiritual nourishment and encouragement for our souls. And as we eat the meal together we have the curtain peeled back and get a brief glimpse of eternal life, where we will eat the everlasting meal at the Lamb’s wedding table. As we come to the Lord’s table this week, let us come in obedience to the very words of Jesus, believing that His word transforms scarcity into abundance, death into life, and the cross into eternal victory. God bless you all until we gather at the table once again.