Is Liturgy in the Church a Bad Thing?

No. It is an inescapable thing. If we mean by “liturgy” a form of public worship, then every church has one. If, however, we mean a precisely planned form, following patterns handed down over centuries, then some churches are non-liturgical. It’s important to know what definition we’re talking about, or else the dangers of what might be called “high liturgy” show up in “low liturgy.”

What dangers? The danger of ritualism, of going through the motions thoughtlessly, by rote. While I tend to be a fan of higher liturgy, I have to confess this problem can rear its ugly head. There’s a reason Jesus warned in the Sermon on the Mount against mindless repetitive prayers (Matt. 6: 7).

Low church liturgies, while putting a premium on spontaneity, often find that “spontaneity” needs to be manufactured through, well, planned liturgy. The praise team may not be chanting the Agnus Dei, but they are probably swaying sincerely while setting their gaze on the middle distance. That may be low-church but it is surely liturgy.

The value of high liturgy, despite its dangers, is its power to bridge the gap between our hearts and our minds. If we hurriedly mumble our way through the Apostles’ Creed we have fallen prey to ritualism. But we are not left with only two options, tossing the ancient creed or rote ritualism.

What if we actually considered what we are saying/singing? What if we considered the glorious truth that this creed is what defines us as a people, that for millenia all those bought by the blood of Christ have confessed this? What if we considered, because of this, that the faith didn’t begin with us, but that we have entered a stream that goes all the way back to Seth calling on the name of the Lord (Gen. 4: 26)?

Liturgy can be soul killing. Or it can be soul grounding. Inspiring. Emotive spontaneity may do well to engage our emotions. Sound doctrine may do well to engage our minds. High liturgy may do well to do both at the same time.

Remember also that God gave us liturgies. While we don’t repeat them because Christ died once for all, God gave detailed instructions for the worship of His people through the sacrifices. And remember what happened to Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu when their “spontaneity” led them to bring strange fire into the tabernacle (Lev. 10:1).

God commanded that His priests would pronounce over His people the Aaronic blessing (Numbers 6:22-27). Jesus taught His disciples to pray the Lord’s Prayer. High liturgy is all over the Bible. And yes, the dangers showed up. The prophet Jeremiah warned God’s people against it (7:4). What Jeremiah didn’t do was suggest the temple was itself a bad thing.

It is vitally important that we remember to focus on the temptations we face more than the temptations others face. Guarding the wrong flank is a strategy that will never succeed. Sincerity, spontaneity are wonderful things. And so are the gifts our fathers in the faith have handed down to us.

This is the forty-third installment of an ongoing series of pieces here on the nature and calling of the church. Stay tuned for more. Remember also that we at Sovereign Grace Fellowship meet this Sunday May 11 at 10:30 AM at our new location, our beautiful farm at 11281 Garman Road, Spencerville, IN. Please come join us. Also note that tonight we continue our Bible study on issues dividing the church, tonight considering creation, evolution and the age of the earth.

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Sunday’s Sermon: Genesis 13 Lot’s Folly, Abram’s Hope

If you weren’t able to join us live yesterday catch us online. We have been studying the book of Genesis. If you can make it person, we’d love you to join us:
Sovereign Grace Fellowship 11281 Garman Road Spencerville IN 46788
Sunday mornings 10:30 AM

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Growing Younger- Children of the Living God

Jesus calls us to seek first the kingdom of God. Over the past several decades, I have been encouraging us to set aside our petty amusements, to put behind us the distractions of vanity fair, to throw off the sloth that luxuriates in the status quo. Like some spiritual drill sergeant I have been trying to get us to wake up and smell the war and get to the front lines. We have a battle to win, a great enemy to destroy. We are called to an epic struggle that spans the epochs, from the garden of Eden to the Garden City of the New Jerusalem. We have a kingdom to build.

All of which means that I have missed His context. When Jesus told His students to seek first the kingdom of God, He wasn’t dealing with the problem of complacency. He was not seeking to rouse a bunch of couch potatoes into action. Instead, Jesus was calling on those who were caught up in worry and fear, to set such things aside. Instead, Jesus is seeking to calm anxious hearts and minds, to remind those who are His that they are the children of their Father in heaven. It is our Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.

Jesus makes much the same point in the gospel of Mark. We are all too familiar with the story. Jesus was in Judea, and the multitudes gathered around Him as He taught them. Many among the crowd brought their little children to Jesus, but the disciples rebuked them. Jesus, seeing this, we are told, was greatly displeased. Then He uttered these potent words: “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14).

We’ve all seen pictures of this glorious event, children gazing up at the Lord with trusting eyes. We see Jesus’ joy and delight. We walk away, our hearts warmed by the tender love of Jesus toward the little children, and once again, completely miss the point. As touching as this scene is, as moved as we might be by the love of Jesus for the children that were there that day, and toward our own children, what we miss is the reason for all this. We miss the wisdom of Jesus who says, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (v. 15).

Jesus’ words present both a stern warning and a delightful invitation. The warning is clear enough. If we will not come as children, we will not come at all. There will be those in the end with their dignity intact, their maturity assured, and their eternity spent on weeping and teeth gnashing. Jesus does not say that if we do not come as children we will be least in the kingdom, that we’ll miss out on joy, that we’ll lose some degree of fellowship with our Father. He says we will not come at all. We will, by no means, enter into the kingdom.

But there is invitation here as well. We enter into the kingdom as helpless, as needy, as ignorant, as unproductive as babies. We enter into the kingdom with nothing in our hands, not even a pacifier. We have no contribution to make and no agenda to follow. We come trusting like a baby, resting like a baby, and laughing like a baby. We enter into the kingdom with eyes wide with wonder.

Jesus taught us to pray that our Father’s kingdom would come as His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. We will enter into heaven as His children. We bring heaven down to earth as we live our lives as children, by living now as we will then. In the upside-down economy of God’s kingdom the call to Christian maturity is the call to immaturity. As we age, acquiring wisdom, we learn more and more that we know less and less. When we are born, we begin the process of aging, growing closer to death. When we are born again, we begin the process of getting younger, growing closer to life.

God, our Father, has called on us to teach our children well. We are to raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded. We are to instruct them in the way that they should go, to speak with them of the things of God when they lie down and when they rise up. We do this, we serve them, the children, because they are our spiritual models. We teach them, because they are our teachers.

May God grant us the grace not merely to suffer the children to come, but suffer ourselves to come as children. For of such is the kingdom of God. The King, remember, entered into His kingdom as a babe. And no servant is greater than his master.

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Enemy of the State: Fighting Rivals to His Throne

It was a true reflection of my own convictions, and my calling as a teacher. I was about 17; my niece was 3. We were sitting together at our local church, listening to the sermon. I know she was listening because when the pastor said in passing something about “the government,” she tugged on my jacket for my attention, and whispered in my ear, “We hate the government, don’t we?” Whether I am reading a book, or watching a movie, I always see the bad guy as a metaphor for the state. Saruman, he’s the government. Moby Dick is too, and Apollo Creed, Mr. T., and Ivan Drago.

I’m not suggesting that when Bunyan told the story of Pilgrim and Apollyon that it was his intention to present Apollyon as anything other than the, broadly speaking, forces of evil. Though, given all that Bunyan suffered at the hands of the English state, I can’t be sure. This, however, I am sure of- any state that does not kiss the Son is an enemy of the Son. And any enemy of the Son is and is to be an enemy of mine.

The state that does not recognize and honor the Lordship of Christ will always, in one way or another, be at war with the Bride of Christ. Refusal to surrender is rebellion. When the Roman empire fell, this principle abided. And it crosses borders as well. It is as true in the west as it is in North Korea or China. The only difference is the nature of the warfare. Whether the state is using us as entertainment down at the coliseum, or whether it is assaulting the souls of our children at their places of education/worship, the war is on.

The scene with Apollyon, however, sticks with me not because this demon is the state, but because of the response of Pilgrim. I love the sheer practicality of both Pilgrim, and the King. Facing this monster that makes Goliath look like a schoolgirl, Pilgrim takes stock of his situation. As I would be, he is tempted to run. The trouble is, while he is equipped for battle, he is not equipped for retreat. His front is in armor, his back exposed. There is, therefore, only way to go, forward.

As Paul enjoins the Ephesians to put on the full armor of God, and then goes on to describe that armor, you will notice that for we too there is no reverse in our tank. We can only move forward. But surely Paul isn’t talking about the state is he? I know we do not war against flesh and blood, “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12). With talk like this, Paul could lose his 501C-3 status.

The point of spiritual weaponry is not that it cannot work against “real” weapons, but rather that “real” weapons can’t work against it. Because I am equipped with the truth, I am buckled about my waist, I am able to gird up my loins like a man, prepared for battle. A view that the unsubmissive state is only in a vague and fuzzy way the enemy of the King will not prepare me for battle. In like manner I cannot have a brave heart, nor can I protect my heart, unless I am dressed in His righteousness. The state cannot condemn me, and thereby destroy me, because I’m plucked from the fire.

My calling is not merely to not retreat, not merely to stand firm. I am to advance, to go through Apollyon. For this I need “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” Isn’t that odd, the gospel of peace equips us for war? We war confident of the promise of peace. The shield of faith extinguishes the fiery darts of the enemy. Because I know every knee will bow, and every tongue confess, because I know the Son will “break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:9), I move forward in battle.

With the helmet of salvation, with the sword of the Spirit we will vanquish all the forces of evil, wherever they might be. His very Word is sufficient to cut down Goliath, to smite Apollyon, to topple Leviathan. There is the power because His Word is power. By His Word He made the light. By His Word He stretched forth the firmament. If we are equipped with His Word, then we are indeed strong in the Lord, and in His mighty power.

The bumper sticker is only half-right. It tells us, “I love my country; I fear my government.” It is a good thing to love one’s country. And it is a great thing to distinguish between one’s government and one’s country. But there is a problem. We can and should recognize them as an enemy. We can revile them for their failure to bow before the King. We can prophecy against them for their rebellion, warning them of the wrath to come. But what we must never do is to fear them. Fear is reserved for our King.

The truth is that Apollyon is a kitten before the Lion of Judah. Because we are in union with Him, Apollyon is a kitten before us. All the might and power of the world’s only superpower is, we must remember, dependent and derived. What Jesus told Pilate is still true today, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above” (John 9:11). Do not fear the beast; let the beast fear you.

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Prayer; Shedeur; A Little Dab; Our Warrior God

This week’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

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Kingdom Now, Here- Jesus Changes Everything

For some years now I’ve been publishing blog pieces three times a week under the heading of “Kingdom Notes.” I also publish a weekly column under the heading of “Ask RC.” Feel free to send any questions you’d like me to take a crack at, either in the comments here or via email at hellorcjr@gmail.com. Also I publish a weekly podcast, under the headline “Jesus Changes Everything.”

Why? Because I believe Christians have at best a shallow, thin, emaciated view of the kingdom of God and at worst have no view at all. Rightly remembering that Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom is not of this world, we have wrongly concluded that it lives in the invisible realm of our hearts. We divide our lives between the sacred and the secular, the sacred staying within the bounds of the ethereal and amorphous, the secular taking up the whole of the natural realm.

No Bounds

No. When Jesus told Pilate His kingdom is not of this world He told him as well, how His kingdom was not of this world- “or else My servants would fight” (John 18:36). The difference between the kingdom of Jesus and the kingdoms of this world isn’t found in geography but in weaponry.

His kingdom is here and now, as He has been, since His ascension, about the business of bringing all things under subjection (I Corinthians 15:27). He is breaking the knees of every earthly leader that will not acknowledge Him (Psalm 2). He is tearing down strongholds and every lofty thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (II Corinthians 10:5). Jesus, in short, changes everything. (See our recent study on politics and the church here.)

Betraying Our King

When, however, we miss this, when we are blind to the battle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, we move through this world as if it were somehow neutral territory, spiritual Switzerland. Which all too often makes of us unknowing soldiers on the wrong side of the battle. We fail to press the crown rights of King Jesus, betraying Him, betraying our own double-mindedness. We become worldly ourselves, our salt losing its savor. When we hide our light under a bushel we do not protect the flame, but protect the darkness.

Bruised Toes

I write not to scold, but to document my ongoing battle, my own journey out. These weaknesses, this refusal to live in light of the antithesis, is part of the worldliness in me that I am, by His grace, seeking to put to death. That may mean, from time to time, stepping on toes. When I do so, rest assured my own toes are bruised as well. Joshua, after the conquest of Canaan, asked God’s people to choose this day whom they would serve. So we all choose, every day. Let’s choose together.

Forever

The King reigns. The King is victorious. The King commands us to rejoice, knowing that He has already overcome the world. The King demands our absolute and total fealty. The King is semper fi, ever faithful. And His kingdom is forever.

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Last Night’s Issues Dividing the Church Study- Politics

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Study Tonight: Issues Dividing the Church- Politics

We continue exploring issues dividing the church. Tonight we consider politics. All are welcome at 6:15 for dinner, and for the study at 7:00. We live-stream on Facebook Live, RC-Lisa Sproul. We hope you’ll join us.

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Last Week’s Study- Sexual Morality in the Church

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Whatever Happened to Prayer in the Church?

We have witnessed, if not pulled off, a revolution over the past forty years in how the church gathers together to worship. Most of this has been driven by a radical shift in understanding the purpose of the Lord’s Day gathering. Once this meeting became more about attracting and winning the lost we grew increasingly attuned to the mindset of those outside the kingdom. What we soon discovered, however, was that these changes attracted more of the found than the lost. The great bulk of worshippers in mega-churches across the country came not from the world but from older, smaller churches. In short, their services are designed for unbelievers but attract believers.

Public prayer, I suspect, is profoundly uncomfortable for the so called “seeker.” They can participate in every other aspect of a worship service. They can sing along, or at least listen to the music. They can hear the sermon. They can greet those around them. But prayer is actually that time in the worship service where we draw near to the living God. We are all at our most vulnerable. It is one thing to sway to the music with eyes focussed on a distant horizon to blend in with everyone else. It is another altogether to try to fool the living God.

What an irony that worship services designed to look spontaneous, informal, unplanned, sincere have minimized those times in the service when we are exactly that. We want the feeling of intense emotion, without the scariness of actual intense emotion.

Prayer is also that time in the service when we are tightly bound together. I once had a congregant ask me over lunch, “Why don’t you trust us to pray?” My brow furrowed, and I confessed, “I don’t know what you mean.” He explained, “You know, how we have prayers written out in the order of worship, that we read together, because you don’t trust us.” I smiled and explained, “It has nothing to do with trust. We read those prayers together (and we had plenty of prayer time without read prayers) so that we can pray together. It is all of us, coming before the throne together. It’s no different than when we sing the Apostle’s Creed together.”

The short answer is far simpler. We don’t spend much time together in prayer during our worship services because we don’t value prayer. It’s the same reason we are weak in praying alone. We find prayer impractical, tiresome, expendable. Whereas Jesus, and the church through history has found it practical, invigorating and invaluable. Our failure to devote time to prayer is just one more sign of our failure to value the One to whom we pray. We may speak and sing about Him. But we rarely speak and sing to Him.

I don’t have a solution to this problem. Except for the one solution to every problem. What we need to do is repent and believe the gospel.

This is the forty-second installment of an ongoing series of pieces here on the nature and calling of the church. Stay tuned for more. Remember also that we at Sovereign Grace Fellowship meet this Sunday April 27 at 10:30 AM at our new location, our beautiful farm at 11281 Garman Road, Spencerville, IN. Please come join us. Also note that tonight we continue our Bible study on issues dividing the church, tonight considering politics.

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