God is worthy of worship because of who he is and what he does. He is our Creator and Re-Creator, that is, our Savior. So worship belongs to him and to him alone. There is no other God nor anyone else who deserves our reverent service. Worship is first about him, not us.

Worship is filled with God talking and us listening and responding. Worship is all about God. We say that it is theocentric or God-centered. So, he should be the subject of our praises and the focus of our thoughts.

Worship is about the true God, the Three-in-One. So we don’t just worship Jesus here. We worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And we overtly try to be Trinitarian in our
opening prayers, hymns, preaching, and some of our benedictions.

Worship is for the church as well. But it is only for them as it first serves the Lord. When he is worshiped as he deserves and according to his will, the church will be edified. When we glorify God, we will enjoy him.

God is present everywhere in a general sense. He fills the heavens and the earth and is present even in hell. But he manifests himself differently at various places and times to fulfill his purposes. So he calls his people to worship with words such as these, found in Psalm 100:2, “Come into my presence”. Examples of this are commonly found in the Scriptures, including Matthew 18:20, Hebrews 12:18-29, 1 Corinthians 14:25, and many more.

To come into his presence in public worship is to come to a place of grace and blessing. To gather with his church is to stand before the face of God and be awe-struck by his person and our great privilege. Instead of consuming us by his fiery holiness, God speaks to us, pointing us to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to his sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

This special presence is therefore one of mercy, joy, and the peace of covenantal friendship. We come with the expectation of receiving good from him. Our meeting him is a means of salvation. Because God is here, we know he will speak from his word, hear our prayers, and bless us.

Since he is specially present in these ways, he is our focus. Even the church around us and any guests, must be secondary in our thoughts. May we give God the attention that he deserves as our present help.

This principle means that public worship is defined or regulated by God in the Holy Scriptures. It teaches that no one except God is qualified to tell us how he wants to be worshiped.

This principle is taught in many ways in the Bible. It is God’s command (Exodus 20:4-6; Deuteronomy 12:31-32). He also condemns worship invented by men (Colossians 2:23), calling it “self-made religion” or “will worship”. There are many examples of God punishing those who dare to add to or change his prescribed worship (Leviticus 10, 1 Samuel 15:22, Matthew 15:1-14). Many more reasons could be given, but in general, since it is God’s worship and not ours, we should wonder why we would be pure enough and wise enough to tell God how he should be hallowed and adored.

This principle drives us to our Bibles to find out what pleases God in our public assemblies. Through the ages, the church has found the following parts or elements of worship there: the reading and preaching of God’s word, prayer, baptism and the Lord’s supper, giving, singing, the “amen”, and the benediction.

The principle doesn’t decide every circumstance of worship. So there is freedom for different churches to worship in different ways within the boundaries God gives. This rule also protects God’s people. For unless they can be shown from the Bible that they should worship God in a particular way, they are free to ignore men’s requirements.

This principle means that in public worship there is a dialogue or holy conversation between God and the congregation. Worship is structured as a back and forth between the Lord and his
gathered people.

According to John 4, God is seeking worshipers. As we gather together, we are formed into a holy temple of living stones (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 where the “you” is plural, 1 Peter 2:5). And so we become one and interact as one with God who is present in worship. Fundamentally, there are two parties in worship: God and the church.

Since God is specially present to be worshiped, he is not ignored or put on the sidelines. Instead, the order of service or liturgy is structured in a back-and-forth way between God and the assembly, using the parts of worship. When the service begins and we invoke God’s presence, we are speaking to him, asking for him to come among us according to the promises in his Word. When God speaks in the reading and preaching of his Word, we respond with the “amen” or a song. When we confess our sins, God responds from the Bible with his assurance of pardon. We then speak back to him thanking and accepting his pardon through Jesus Christ.

These are just some of the ways that public worship is a holy conversation between the Lord and his church. So don’t think that worship is passive. There should be no spectators as we gather for the worship of God. No, we are to be constantly engaged with the God who is present, interacting with the God who is speaking to us, and who hears our responses with approval through Jesus Christ.

Public worship is where God’s church comes together as a body or temple and interacts with him.

Each true worshiper is individually indwelt by the Holy Spirit and comes by faith into God’s presence. But the Scriptures also teach that together we are indwelt by the Spirit and become part of the single worshiping throng that surrounds the throne (Hebrews 12:18-29), experiencing living communion with Christ and each other.

In the Old Testament, only a select number of the people of God were priests who could perform worship. The other Israelites had to stand outside and listen or watch. But in the New Testament, every believer is a priest in a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). Every Christian offers spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ in worship (1 Peter 2:5).

So while those gifted and recognized as leaders (Hebrews 13:7, 17) may lead the services, every one in faith should participate by hearing, speaking the “amen”, praying with the men voicing the prayers, taking the Lord’s supper, and singing. Every priest sings and presents himself and his spiritual offerings to God.

This truth leads us to guard against displays of exaggerated individualism, drawing attention to ourselves, or worshiping with a performance or entertainment mentality.

Public worship is first and foremost for God. But a secondary and derivative goal is for God’s people to be edified. The corporate worship of God has both vertical and horizontal dimensions. It is primarily oriented upward to our Triune God. But it also is meant to function across the meeting room to those gathered.

God’s glory comes first but in worshiping him as he commands, we are built up in our faith. We are edified when God is most glorified. What best brings honor to God is also designed by him to feed us spiritually. For example, when we praise God in song and rehearse his truth, we are simultaneously “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,” Colossians 3:16.

Much modern worship reverses this. But we trust God that when we obey him in this matter, we are strengthened for the journey to heaven. When God’s truth about himself and us is rehearsed, saints are sanctified. Or another way to say this is that gathered worship is designed by God to be a primary time of discipleship.

By sacramental we mean that meeting with God changes us. When we come by faith into God’s presence in public worship, his Word and Spirit work in us. He convicts, comforts, encourages, and strengthens us in the faith. And so we value public worship partly because it is the primary means of grace to our souls.

Some people use the word “sacramental” to mean that grace automatically comes to anyone present and receiving the Scripture lesson and ordinances (or sacraments). But just as our initial reception of grace comes through faith, so does our progressive growing in grace. The sovereign Spirit works in us through faith. So as we come believingly to hear his Word read, preached, and sung, we are changed into the likeness of Christ.

We are careful only to use those means that God has promised to bless for our salvation in worship. This is why we come expectantly, looking for God’s promised blessing in our lives, as we give him glory. And this is also why we believe his final word in worship – a word of blessing, the benediction. Because this is why he has drawn near to us – to change us as we come to him in faith.

In John 4:24, Jesus says that “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.” Worship is given only to God and therefore defined by him. Worship must also match his nature as a spiritual being.

So our service to God in the unity of the assembly is to be in spirit, that is, from the heart – a new heart placed in us by the regenerating work of the Spirit. Our worship should be sincere and not hypocritical or inattentive. And it ought to be with our whole being – our minds, wills, and emotions all engaged to love and glorify God.

In worship-dialogue with God, our minds focus to hear him as he speaks in the Scriptures. Our wills bend to his will. And we expect to feel a spectrum of emotions. At times we will be thrilled with the works of God. At other times we will be shamed at our sins. We will feel relief for God’s forgiveness in Christ, and a desire for greater obedience. All of these and other hopes and affections should be exercised within the boundaries of self-control which is the fruit of the Spirit. Worship is in the Spirit.

Worship is also according to truth. So it is bounded by God’s regulations in the Scriptures. And the content of worship should be filled with the teachings of the Bible. Both the parts of worship and the forms and even the very words are grounded in the truth of God. And so we read, preach, and hear the Word, sing the Word, pray the Word, see the Word, and obey the Word. Worship is in truth.

Worshiping in the Reformed tradition means that we pattern our gathered service after the truths and emphases of the Bible. Our worship embodies or expresses our understanding of who God is and how he saves us. So certain teachings play prominent roles in shaping our gathered worship.

For example, we confess the importance of the Word of God in revealing God to us, converting us, and explaining how we are to worship and live. We believe the Bible is not only the words of men, but more importantly, the very words of God. So naturally, the content of the Bible fills our service. We don’t believe that any other words are better suited for us to speak back to God in song and prayer than those directly from or fitting with the Scriptures. And it is the Bible itself that is how God speaks to us in worship. So, it is read and preached. Only it can change us into the image of Christ by the Holy Spirit.

The flow of our service is also patterned after how God saves us.
In our conversion, he came to us, convicted us of our sins, showed us Jesus Christ, forgave us, taught us, and assured us. And so in worship, we first recognize God’s presence among us and are in awe. Then, knowing we still sin, we confess our sins and receive his forgiveness. We praise him for that. We hear his Word and believe it again. Through his ordinances we are comforted in the knowledge that Christ remains ours by the promise of God. Sovereign grace saved us, and our worship recognizes and responds to that.

We believe in the person of the Holy Spirit and the necessity of his work among us in worship. He helps us deeply love God in our gatherings but with the emotional stability that is an outcome of his teaching us self-control. We constantly ask for his help so that our worship is not only pleasing to God but also a spiritual benefit to us. Without him, our service is vain. But by his work in us, we are enabled to will and to do his good pleasure.

By “universal” several things are meant including heavenly, catholic or world-wide, and historical. Our individual congregation’s worship does not stand alone.

First, whenever we gather as the church, our worship joins that of heaven, which is always on-going (Hebrews 12:18-29). We come to Mount Zion in festal gathering (that is, at worship). Our ears
and voices are, for a short time, added to the angels, and spirits of just men made perfect, and Christ (Hebrews 2:12). What a privilege to not worship the Triune God in solitary, but in fellowship with the innumerable heavenly host.

Second, genuine worship is catholic or world-wide. Every Lord’s Day, from the rising of the sun to its setting, one local body of Christ after another joins each other in worshipping God. Of course, there are false churches giving false worship to their self-conceived false gods. But, despite the real differences found among true churches, they jointly give proper service to the Triune God.

Third, our worship attempts to display the belief that we are part of 2000 years of the people of God. There is one body and one Spirit (Ephesians 4:4). So we attempt to not be too culturally narrow, either by being too “new” or too “old”. We want to worship like true churches have over the centuries as they followed Scripture. So we sing psalms and older hymns and new hymns. And we use ancient responses from God’s Word and old prayers and newly written ones specific to our day.

Finally, since God should be the focus of worship, we believe
that our surroundings and actions should be neither austere or
distractingly beautiful. We aim for variety within consistency to
train ourselves to see the face of God most of all in worship.

All of church life is to be led by God-appointed leaders (Hebrews 13:7, 17). This includes public worship. These men ordinarily are pastor-teachers qualified according to the Word of God (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9). They may also be gifted brothers, men in training for such offices, or deacons and other godly men when the pastors need their assistance.

In leading worship, the pastor is acting as what the New Testament calls “the man of God” (1 Timothy 3:16-17). This doesn’t refer to every male Christian but to a man graced and gifted to speak for God. This is not a miraculous utterance but is the work of a man recognized by the church as having a mature life and thorough understanding of God’s Word.

So in public worship, the pastor does not speak for himself. He is almost always speaking for God to the congregation or to God from the congregation. When he reads God’s word or preaches or pronounces God’s pardon or blessing, he is not saying these on his own authority. He is speaking as a “man of God”, a spokesman for the Lord. When he leads in prayer, he is speaking to God on behalf of the congregation. It is not a private prayer. When we sing to the Lord, he joins the body in praising God. When he acts in baptism or the Lord’s Supper, he is acting for God according to his instructions.

So, the man of God performs a priestly service. He is not an Old Testament priest or replacement for our great High Priest, Jesus. But he does a priestly function in speaking to God for his people and for God to his people. This is a weighty work and must be taken seriously with preparation and prayer.