Selected Scriptures

January 24, 2021

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

The sermon starts around 17:15 in the audio file.

Or, The DNA of Corporate Liturgy

Series: Our Worship #4

Introduction

It’s possible to confess Jesus Christ as Lord, to gather with the church for worship on Sundays, and to miss, or at least to misunderstand, the goal of the gospel. I say that it’s possible because of my own testimony as a Christian, including years of my sanctification and in my understanding of preaching and pastoral ministry.

Last Lord’s Day we considered the pattern of sacrifices in the Old Testament, sacrifices that pointed toward the Christ, sacrifices for which Jesus took on a body and spent that body to fulfill. God forgives our sin, God separates us from sin for lives devoted to Him, and God communicates His peace to us. The sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering, as represented in our liturgy by confession, consecration, and communion, are a recognizable pattern in which God draws His people near.

Not everyone has the same understanding of what happens when you draw near. When you draw near to the judge’s bench in the courtroom, there is a sense of nervous anticipation; being closer to the judge may increase your stress rather than relieve it. When you draw near to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, there is a sense of gravity and appreciation, but not really personal affection. When you draw near to your dad, it depends. If your dad is regularly angry, there is a sense of fear, panic, wondering what he might be mad about this time.

When we draw near to God in corporate worship, what does He want from us? I believe that there is one answer to that question, even if there are a variety of things that are necessary to enable that one thing. When we draw near to God we are humbled, by our unworthiness and by His glory and holiness and greatness (see James 4:10). When we draw near to God we are better informed; we hear His Word and we behold His image and things become clearer, things about His character and His commands (see 1 Peter 3:18).

But it is possible to be humble from a distance. It is possible to be learned without any connection. I think many Christians feel bad about themselves and know a lot about Scripture, or at least they are willing to be taught more, and can even be in a room with a lot of other professing Christians in the same condition, and still not get that what God wants with them is fellowship. They still don’t believe or expect that God is present and that God is generous and that God is glad with them.

Self-exaltation prohibits a man from fellowship with God, as a branch off by itself branding itself as fruit-maker. Ignorance likewise leads to no communion, but rather to fantasy; intimacy depends on knowledge even if knowledge doesn’t always deepen intimacy. But when the branch abides, the sweet sap of His life flows into our lives. We not only don’t wither, He shares His joy in us that our joy may be full (John 15:11). When we grasp truth, our minds can love the Lord and own His love for us (Matthew 22:37; Ephesians 3:17-19).

Consider the following six truths, and take delight in their connection; may they stir up your sincere mind by way of reminder (per 2 Peter 3:1). They do not map onto the five Cs, they they do inform some of the Cs more than others.

The Trinity as Reality

This may be the perfect example of a Scriptural truth mis-applied, because the doctrine of the Trinity is often received as having no application. Most Christians, myself included, accept the teaching of “one God in three Persons” so that we won’t be idolators. This is who God is, we don’t get to make up some other god.

It didn’t dawn in my dim mind that God’s love between the Persons, that the relationship of Father and Son and Spirit, was more than a chapter in a systematic theology book until I was teaching through Genesis 1 and [...]