Hey Church!

Hughes Oliphant Old (1933-2016) was a pastor and theologian in the States who wrote some excellent books about (what he calls) “Reformed worship.” In his book Worship: Reformed According to the Scriptures, he says that we, as worshiping Christians, should study the Reformers in the same way the Reformers studied the early church fathers. Both the Fathers and the Reformers were “passionately concerned to worship God truly, and they searched the Scriptures to learn how.”1 

Before I share what he concludes about the convictions of the Reformers, let me first acknowledge that, if asked, the average churchgoer would likely struggle to answer why God wants us to do what we do on Sunday mornings. The songs lift my spirit and the sermon teaches me important life lessons… and that’s it, right? 

Those are not wrong sentiments; I hope it is true that each one of you feels your spirit lifted and that you are growing in the knowledge and wisdom of God’s Word whenever we gather. But there is more to consider than what we get out of it. Some forget to ask, “What does God think of my worship?” Old says that if it is to be pleasing to God, worship must be done in accord with the scriptures. He begins his book with three basic principles:

1. Worship that is pleasing to God is “according to the Scripture.” 
2. Worship that is pleasing to God is in the name of Jesus Christ.
3. Worship that is pleasing to God is more than a human work; it is the work of the Holy Spirit.

According to the Scripture. “[The Reformers] had in mind that Christian worship should be in obedience to God’s Word as it is revealed in Holy Scripture.”2 For example, the leading reformer of Strasbourg, France, Martin Bucer (1491-1551), taught that only the worship God has asked for truly serves Him. Above all, our worship services should proclaim the Word, receive and distribute alms, celebrate communion, and be about the ministry of prayer (both spoken and sung prayers). Another reformer, John Oecolampadius,* expressed the Reformed approach well when he said that whatever service elements are not explicitly prescribed in Scripture ought to be governed by the essential biblical principles of Christian love. The Westminister Confession of Faith calls them “circumstances” of worship that “are to be ordered by the light of nature, and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word.”3 

In the name of Jesus Christ. In John 4, Jesus says that those who worship the Father must worship Him “in spirit and truth.” In other words, in the name of Jesus Christ (Col. 3:17). “To do something in someone’s name is to do it as the agent of someone else. It is to do something in the service of someone else.” As members of Christ’s spiritual Body, the first Christians “understood their worship to be part of the worship that the ascended Christ performed in the heavenly sanctuary to the glory of the Father (Heb. 7:23-25; 9:25; 10:19-22; 13:15).”4 We who bear His name are to offer worship that represents Him well.

Worship is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit “testifies within us” and cries out to the Father on our behalf when we pray (Rom. 8:15-27). The Spirit also prays within our hearts (Rom. 8:15), sings through the hymns we sing (Acts 4:15; Eph. 5:19), gives utterance in our testimony (Mark 13:11), and proliferates, implants, and waters His Word to take root in the soil of our hearts, that we might produce His fruit (Matt. 13; 1 Cor. 12:8; Gal. 5:22-23). “Christian worship is inspired by the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, directed by the Spirit, purified by the Spirit, and bears the fruit of the Spirit. Christian worship is [by definition] Spirit-filled.”5

One final thought from Old’s opening chapter on basic principles is that holiness is not a prerequisite of worship but, instead, its inevitable consequence. As James argues, works alone cannot produce a saving faith. And yet it is also true that a faith without works is dead. “For the Christian, holiness of life and sincerity of worship must go together; they must be of one piece.”6

Amen!