The Shape of Liturgy

My hope is to show you that these are not random decisions made in sort of bald appeal to tradition or anything like that, but that there is a deep and biblical logic to the Lord's service and why it is the gravitational center of our community. It's a gravitational center of our community, what we do here on the Lord's Day each week. So let me begin here by saying a word of defense, a word in defense of formalism in liturgy and forms and structures and rhythms and rhythms and rituals, right? These things, words like liturgy and formal and ceremony have fallen on hard times. They're often used as epithets in our day, an insult to denigrate that which is not authentic. And it's not authentic, of course, because it's not spontaneous. We're not just reacting in the moment and doing whatever comes to mind as the Spirit leads. But I would have those kinds of words, liturgy form, these things be cherished words, words that would invoke a sense of awe and majesty and seriousness and joy as they are filled up with the glorious patterns of a distinctly Christian liturgy, a liturgy which God draws us into his glory. glorious presence week after week. I was recently reading a book on liturgy and liturgies where a pastor who wrote it was a PCA minister named Jeff Myers. Some of you are probably

glorious presence week after week. I was recently reading a book on liturgy and liturgies where a pastor who wrote it was a PCA minister named Jeff Myers. Some of you are probably familiar. I think I even met some folks from Pastor Myers Church this week, so that was pretty cool. And he relays in that book some various criticisms that he's heard about a more formal liturgy like the one that their church worships by means of. One person had complained about it as worship by recipe. And I thought his response was helpful, which was what's wrong with recipes? Right? If you eat dinner every night and you're not a Michelin-Star chef, then you probably are quite, you probably see recipes as a wonderful gift. Even Michelin-Star chefs, by the way, love recipes. There's a fundamental point in that, which I think many miss when thinking these things through. And missed because we tend to be steeped in an attitude that elevates in our culture the casual and the informal and the spontaneous over the planned and formal and elevated. But no builder ever despised carefully ordered plans, right? No master chef ever despised precisely measured ingredients. No seasoned carpenter ever mocked carefully measuring before you hack at a piece of wood. At the end of the day, the issue of liturgy, it just is one of those not whether but which issues. It's not whether or not your worship liturgy will have a set

measuring before you hack at a piece of wood. At the end of the day, the issue of liturgy, it just is one of those not whether but which issues. It's not whether or not your worship liturgy will have a set in regular shape or form, but rather just which set or form or shape it will have, and whether or not you will be able to give a reason for its shape. Why does it look this way? Often hip or casual worship and megachurches in America have no less of a set liturgy than high church Anglicans. Forms and liturgies and repetition, these things are virtually inescapable. As Hughes Aliphon-Old points out, they can either be helpful these forms, like an athlete practicing perfect form to compete at the highest level or unhelpful as when an amateur athlete does the same workout wrong 50 times and gets injured because his form was bad. Form itself teaches. Form is didactic. Form teaches just as surely as the content it holds teaches. So the question is something like, what form is does our worship take? And what is that form teaching us? That's what we'll examine in our time together this morning, and we're going to begin that examination by reading from the Word of the Lord, Matthew chapter 4, verses 8 through 10. And this is the Word of the living God.

Word of the Lord, Matthew chapter 4, verses 8 through 10. And this is the Word of the living God. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, be gone Satan, for it is written, and he's quoting from Deuteronomy 6, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Thus ends the reading of God's Holy Word. May he write it on our hearts by faith. And let's pray. Father, we do pray that you would teach us to worship you a right. Lord, that you would bless our worship and that we would be built up into your image through it. I pray that you would give us wisdom as we open your word together. And that you'd be glorified in Jesus' name. Amen. I chose this passage to set the tone for our time because of the connection that the Lord Jesus makes from Deuteronomy, six, between worship and service. Right? We worship the Lord and him alone do we serve, he said. The whole of our worship is the Lord's service in which we offer to the Lord the fitting sacrifice due to his name. We come and we serve him by presenting to him that which is pleasing to him, that which he's owed, which when you, when you get to the ultimate question, what is that that we're offering to the Lord? It's worship,

his word, the communion feast, and then finally the commissioning of the saints for God's work. So why these elements and why this order? The New Testament, you read the whole thing, and you won't find an apostle saying, here's a set liturgy for our gathered worship to follow. No set order for the service for putting the various elements that are command. You find many elements commanded when you come together, public reading of scripture, singing, preaching, prayer, communion, all these things. But the totality of the scriptures, nonetheless, provide us with a redemptive and covenantal story that can help us put the liturgy together in a coherent and deeply biblical way. Think about the logic behind the whole arc of the biblical story. God initiates with his word. In the beginning, meaning God spoke and he created all things. He calls forth the universe from nothing. He forms man. He speaks to man. He gives man his mission. But then man falls into sin. God again initiates. God's word initiates. He finds him. He corrects him. He corrects him. He clothes him. He makes covenantal promises to him. In salvation, again, the salvation of an individual human soul. God initiates. He, through his word, he raises the spiritual dead to new life and faith and holiness. God brings us to glory from spiritual death and seats us with himself and the heavenlies. And so our worship is like that as well. God calls us to worship and we respond to his call.

God brings us to glory from spiritual death and seats us with himself and the heavenlies. And so our worship is like that as well. God calls us to worship and we respond to his call. He calls us to confess our sin before the awesome holiness of his person. We confess and we confess and we remember as we do the blood of the covenant that saves and redeems us. God then speaks to us through his word, conforming us to his image. And we respond with the hearing and obedience of faith. He then invites us to his table, where we eat with him in communion. And finally, he sends us out, commissioning us for the work of the kingdom before us. Remember, all of this happens on the Lord's Day, which is the first day of the week, preparing us for the rest of the week. We begin in worship, and then we go out from there to the rest of the work of the week. One of the most potent and concentrated places we see this story unfold would be in pattern of covenants and covenant worship under the old covenant, which will see maps on to every part of this story and comes together into a glorious picture of God's covenant to work in redemption to glory. Now, a covenant, just so we're on the same page, one way of understanding it is as a binding agreement or pact or bond or promise between two or more parties, and they come with blessings and curses. So marriage is a covenant between a husband and wife. It's administered before

it is as a binding agreement or pact or bond or promise between two or more parties, and they come with blessings and curses. So marriage is a covenant between a husband and wife. It's administered before God with blessings that come with faithfulness to the terms of that covenant, fruitfulness, sexual union, family, joy, all of the deep joys of marriage come from faithfulness to that covenant. It comes as well with curses, though, for unfaithfulness, death for adultery, divorce, pain, etc. God works and saves covenantally. We're saved by God by God by God binding promise to save us and bring us to the blessing of covenantal relationship with him. and what's interesting to discover is that covenants biblically have five basic movements. this is true of virtually all of the biblical covenants that are displayed in scripture, but I'll show you how it works with Abraham before we see how it applies to our worship. This is, of course, from Genesis 12 where God works through thousands of years of human history in Genesis 1 through 11, and then all of a sudden from chapter 12, the remaining 38, or so chapters, what's he doing? Just talking about one family. It starts with Abraham in Genesis 12. First, God calls the other party of the covenant to himself. God is one party and who's the other one? Abraham. In Genesis 12, 1, that's exactly what we see. God takes hold of Abraham to do a new thing with

First, God calls the other party of the covenant to himself. God is one party and who's the other one? Abraham. In Genesis 12, 1, that's exactly what we see. God takes hold of Abraham to do a new thing with him through covenant. Second, God separates. He separates Abraham and his family from their nation and people. Again, see Genesis 12. There's a death in a sense to the old life that Abraham lived, that life can begin again in a new way. Third, God speaks, and especially he speaks in promise. This is what we see again in Genesis 12, that God will make of Abraham a mighty nation, that he will bring forth the promised seed to bless the world through him, which Paul makes clear is ultimately Christ. Fourth, God gives a covenant sign and seal, something that signifies the covenant that puts God's seal on Abraham and his descendants in the covenant to say, these are a covenant people. These people belong to my covenant. With Abraham, this is circumcision. You can you see Genesis 17. Abraham, his children, all of his household, his male children, even down to his slaves. Everyone's marked with this sign. These are Abraham's people. They're in the covenant. Finally, God has been. ensures that the covenant will have heirs and successors, people to inherit and continue the

the Lord's table, where we remember the cost and blessing of his covenantal work in Christ. It's a memorial. It is, we're looking to this living thing which Christ has done for us. And finally, fifth, we are commissioned to go out, blessed by the Lord, and commissioned to the work of his kingdom, which is the means of covenant succession. Abraham, Isaac, continuing on. For us, what is that? Well, we go out, we in our seed, and we evangelize, baptized, and disciple the nations, seeing the Lord bring more into his covenant fold. And so there's covenant succession. But this is not the only place where we see this pattern unfold. It's not just in covenants. The whole drama is played out as well with similar patterns and elements in the worship and sacrifice of the old covenant in the temple. In fact, we see it in the first nine verses of Leviticus alone. I'm going to summarize these. You could go back and look through the first nine verses of Leviticus, and you would see this as well. First in Leviticus 1, 1, 1, and 2, God calls the worshipper to draw near. So they come, and they come with the required sacrifice. Importantly, the animal that they bring is going to in some way represent the worshipper himself. So they're called. Second, in Leviticus 1, 3 to 5, the animal is sacrificed in place of the sinful worshipper. There is substitution on account of sin. And so the

worshipper himself. So they're called. Second, in Leviticus 1, 3 to 5, the animal is sacrificed in place of the sinful worshipper. There is substitution on account of sin. And so the worshipper identifies with the animal, confessing his sinfulness, but also ceremonially celebrating the separation of the sin from himself. He's been made holy now. He's been sprinkled clean by this blood. And so now he's, his sin has been dealt with, and now he's a part of the people. And so third, in Leviticus 1, 6, and 7, the priestly blade cuts up the animal and puts it on the altar to rise up in consecration, rise up to God's holy presence in the aroma of fire and smoke. And the worshipper identified with the sacrifice is ascending up to God. Now, fourth, God receives the sacrifice. It's a pleasant aroma. It's a meal, according to verse 9. a food offering. There's communion between God and his people now across sin through this holy meal because of the shedding of blood, the cleansing of sin, and the feast. So remember, this is all this Old Testament, Leviticus I, this is all looking forward to the substance of Christ. No animal will actually remove our sins. Their blood is not actually ultimately sufficient, but rather looks forward to the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the

No animal will actually remove our sins. Their blood is not actually ultimately sufficient, but rather looks forward to the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. But it's all typified, even here in Leviticus. It's all there. And fifth and finally, the sacrifice is now complete, communed with God. God through his priests, sends the worshipper out into the land, the kingdom renewed and empowered to serve God in whatever way God has given him in his own place. And this will look vastly different across varied dominions and vocations and places and people. We see this, for example, in the blessing of Aaron in number 6, 22 to 27. Now, there's a, there's a semi-Marcionite instinct in the church today. Martian, just if you're unaware, was a heretic who attempted essentially to get rid of the Old Testament for Christians. He tried, it lives on today in men like Andy Stanley who try to unhitch us from the Old Testament, right? We don't need Christianity doesn't need the Old Testament. Let's unhitch from that. Yeah, some of it's helpful, but it's not really our thing. There's an instinct that's maybe not formal Marxianism today, but it's an instinct that balks at looking to the Old Testament for any kind of shaping of our life and practice and obedience today. And this should be mystifying to us if we read our Bibles and love our scriptures and look at how the apostles thought and reasoned. The Old Testament is all

and practice and obedience today. And this should be mystifying to us if we read our Bibles and love our scriptures and look at how the apostles thought and reasoned. The Old Testament is all about Christ. It's all about His worship and covenant and renewal and glory. It's about his death. He told, remember, after his resurrection, he said that the whole of the Old Testament was about his death burial and resurrection in Luke. It's all about that. The Old Testament ought to deeply shape our thoughts on the way that God interacts with his people, even as we rightly see how Christ fulfills every step of the covenant and ceremonial system. So we don't look to it and say, so what we're going to do is we're going to start bringing goats in on Sunday and bowls and start sacrificing again. Ogden High would definitely not allow that. We would have to find another venue. A public parks out. So one of you guys has to buy a big field or something, right? But that's not how we do it. We look to it. We look through Christ the substance at the shadow and we interpret the shadow in light of the substance, but we still look to it for instruction and to shape us. We worship around the sacrifice of Christ, the true lamb, even as we come to the Lord's service to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. We remember the lamb that was slain, even as the sword of the spirit cuts us, and

why is that important? Why is it important that we begin a service with God's call for us to come and worship? Well, think about what it means to be taken into God's presence. And remember that that is what we're doing in worship. We are ascending to the heavenly Zion. Remember what began the whole exodus of God's people from Egypt? It was God's calling them out into the wilderness so that they could worship him. That was the occasion. God said, Let my people go out and worship me. That was the first thing. So what kind of scenes and attitudes do you find in the presence of God in the scriptures? Think of Isaiah or of John, the revelator. Think of Moses sitting in the cleft of the rock as God's glory passed over. God's presence is a wonderful and terrible thing. It is awful in the original sense of the word. It is full of awe. It is deeply, deeply holy. His presence is not something that we merely wander into without invitation. It's not a thing to be taken lightly. It's not a thing to trifle with. This is why the attitude of casual flippancy that permeates so much of church culture today is such a disservice when we come to think about the gathered worship of God. And I don't mean to minimize other truths that we are

attitude of casual flippancy that permeates so much of church culture today is such a disservice when we come to think about the gathered worship of God. And I don't mean to minimize other truths that we are children of the father and that he loves us. And then he says, come to my throne. Come freely for mercy and help in your time of need. I delight to give you the kingdom. We have a father like that. None of these truths about God are to minimize any other truth. They're all to live in harmony. But how dare we, for example, make light of the call to enter God's glorious presence with emoji-themed sermon series and trite, sappy, thoughtless songs, which often seem unconcerned with the holiness of God and mainly concerned with the flippancy and ourselves. The kind of casual boredom that leads churches to add more and more attractions and lights and shiny objects and pop culture references in order to jazz things up. We dare not come before this God without being called. But here's the glorious thing. The glorious thing is that you are in Christ, you are called. Hebrews 4. 14. Since then we have a great high priest to his pastor. through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect

through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And chapter 10, verse 19, there are four brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering for he who promised is faithful. The door into God's holy presence is astonishingly narrow. astonishingly narrow. It is Christ alone. It's his flesh alone. It's his blood alone. And yet, wonder of wonders, that has been given. Christ has been given. That flesh has been given and pierced for us. And so we come near to God, as he called us to, just as the saints of the old covenant did, bearing the sacrifice we bring to the Lord. Theirs was an animal, our sacrifice, the thing we offer, need no more be an animal. The Lamb of God has been

covenant did, bearing the sacrifice we bring to the Lord. Theirs was an animal, our sacrifice, the thing we offer, need no more be an animal. The Lamb of God has been given. So we bring ourselves. It's not that we come empty-handed. We actually come with more, not less. We come with our whole selves. As the call is given, we then respond as a people by reading from God's word, usually one of the Psalms, and thus the rhythm continues of God's speaking and are responding. At the conclusion of the call to worship, we sing the call to worship Psalm or him. This morning, for example, we sang Psalm 98, oh, sing a new song to the Lord, an invitation in his presence. In this song, we offer our response to the Lord's invitation by singing to him, but also we remind one another, we sing to one another and encourage one another to offer what is fitting to the Lord in light of his gracious invitation. Singing isn't just to God, it's also to one another, Paul says, in Psalms, Hims and Spiritual Psalms. This brings us to the second movement with it, which is confession and the assurance of pardon. Because whenever we come into God's presence, His holiness ought to immediately remind us that we are yet sinners, that we daily battle the flesh, that we daily require God's new morning mercies. As we come into his presence singing songs, we may even sing Psalm 6618, for example. If I regard iniquity

1, that if we confess our sins, he's faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us us from all unrighteousness. So one of the ways that we fight sin is by heeding the rest of regular call to keep short accounts, to be a people who live in the life, and confess our sins rather than conceal our sins. None of this, of course, is contrary to the solidity of Christ's righteousness and our righteousness in Christ. We come before the Lord not to be re-justified every week. Like, oh, I fell out again, I'm out of the covenant. Can you make me one of those regenerate people again and make me justified again? No, no. We come before the Lord justified, declared righteous, because he who knew no. sin became sin in order that we might become the righteousness of God and Him. So we are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved, and one of the very means by which God will complete this work in us, I've been talking a lot, excuse me, is by the invitation of his word to confess our sin, to be searched and known, and to forsake our sin in holy living, empowered by his spirit, working in new hearts, obeying the Lord. So every week we're called to confess our own sin silently before the Lord. And you're invited to kneel during this time of prayer, as kneeling is one of the most commonly described postures of prayer in scripture, adoration and worship before God the King. This was a frequent practice in many reformed

as kneeling is one of the most commonly described postures of prayer in scripture, adoration and worship before God the King. This was a frequent practice in many reformed churches, particularly in the first generation or two, following the Reformation. Following this private prayer of confession, the minister offers a prayer of corporate confession, along with a plea to God to remember his covenant and pardon our sin. This again follows many examples we see in the scriptures of an appointed representative of the people, crying out to God on behalf of the people, as with Moses, Isaiah, the psalmist, and the Lord. The minister then brings the congregation to the point in the confession that makes this the opposite of a funeral right. The confession of sin isn't just a descent into the grave. It's also an assent out of the grave in forgiveness and the assurance of our pardon. The minister declares the forgiveness of sin through the work of Christ to the people of God. The minister does not himself affect that forgiveness. He declares that it is because of Christ. And in this, the minister exercises the authority given to those who rule in the church, the keys of the kingdom. Think about the spheres of authority and the implement of authority God gives to each. The family governments ruled by parents who wield the rod of correction. The civil government is ruled by magistrates. who wield the sword of retributive justice. The church government is ruled by elders who govern the

The civil government is ruled by magistrates. who wield the sword of retributive justice. The church government is ruled by elders who govern the church in wielding the keys of the kingdom. So when the church declares someone to be an apostate and remove them through church discipline, it's one expression of this. They're wielding the keys of the kingdom. So when the elders declare the absolution of sins is effective for all who confess their sins and shelter in Christ alone, they're not themselves cleansing the guilty, but they are authoritatively declaring that the guilty are cleared through Christ. This corresponds to the place in the Old Testament liturgy in which the worshipper identified with the sacrifice is offered for sin. In confession and the assurance of pardon through Christ were identified with Christ the Lamb and we looked to the place where our guilt was taken away from us, which is the cross. Having confessed our sins and remembered and received a new, the pardoning grace of God, we now move into the consecration portion of the service with the reading of the Old the New Testament, the pastoral prayer, and the preaching of the scriptures. In this portion of the service, which we're in right now, the Word of God sanctifies us in the presence of God. And so even though the whole service is saturated with the scriptures, it's ringing with the voice of God. God initiates, we sing the Word of God. We're assured of our pardon through the Word of God. It's throughout. But this is the point of the service where

it's ringing with the voice of God. God initiates, we sing the Word of God. We're assured of our pardon through the Word of God. It's throughout. But this is the point of the service where the ministers to take up the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and wield them. it in the preaching and declaration of the word. Remember Hebrews 412, for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-ed sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit. This is actually our memory verse from family worship last week, of joins and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. In the old covenant liturgy, the priest would literally cut up the sacrificial animal so that it could be burned to rise before God as a food offering, a meal of peace and communion between the people and their God. The sword of the Spirit cuts us up and makes us a fit offering in this portion of the service. And again, this isn't all Old Testament stuff. This is exactly the language of Paul in Romans 12. If you look there, he says, Romans 12, verse 1, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Note two things. Therefore, brothers, he's talking to Christians, this is just a one-time thing. Christians do this, and this is spiritual worship. He continues, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed how? By the renewal of your mind,

of lips that acknowledge his name. And so these things continue in their substance. The type is given way to the anti-type. The shadow has given way to the substance. which cast it. And this brings us to the meal of the covenant, which is communion. Remember, covenants come with signs. They come with visible, tangible symbols that communicate the nature and glory and promises of the covenant. One of the signs of the new covenant is the communion meal. And I want you to think about what that says. We have a washing in baptism and then we have a meal in communion, the two signs of the new covenant. Think about what that says, that of all of the things that the Lord could have given to put a visible sign on the covenant, he chose a meal. He chose to eat with us. What does it mean to eat with someone? Well, it means that you receive them. It means that you would nourish them. It means that you would be at peace with them. It means that you would be strengthened with the same food as them. That you would become built of the same stuff as them. God invites us to a meal. And again, this, this, this mirrors the order of the old covenant worship, which was a food offering to God, a meal for God, according to Leviticus 1. The smoke of the sacrifice offered by the worshipper, consecrated and cut up by the priestly sword, burned on the altar and brought in holy assent before God, is a pleasing

according to Leviticus 1. The smoke of the sacrifice offered by the worshipper, consecrated and cut up by the priestly sword, burned on the altar and brought in holy assent before God, is a pleasing aroma to God, a meal he symbolically eats. In our offered worship, we are consumed, and then in our worship, we consume. We eat with God. We eat the bread of Christ's body given for us. We drink the wine of his blood spilled for us. This is a holy meal to nourish and strengthen us, to bring our eyes to the cross and to the throne. The Lord commands us in this meal to remember him, to remember what he has done for us on the cross. And he invites us to examine ourselves as we eat this meal. Remember the warning of 1st Corinthians 11th. He says, let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. We don't come to this meal lightly. We come as a confessing, a repentant people. It's yet another reason for the meal to sit where it does in the service after we've been called into God's presence, confessed our sins, sung to the Lord, heard his sanctifying, convicting, and sinner-renewing word, and then we're ready to eat with him. We've been searched and we've been known. We've been sifted and tried, and we are thus prepared to commune with our Lord by grace and through faith. And yet again, just like confession, this isn't a funeral urge. The abiding note of this meal is not sadness, but it's a deep abiding and serious kind of joy. The Lord, the Lord,

faith. And yet again, just like confession, this isn't a funeral urge. The abiding note of this meal is not sadness, but it's a deep abiding and serious kind of joy. The Lord, the Lord, Lord has invited us to eat with him. He's brought us to his own table, the table of the Lord. In the very presence of our enemies, he sets this table down and sits with us. And he even invites us to feed on himself by faith, the true manna, the true bread from heaven. If you were invited to the table of a great and high and noble king who was pleased in you and eager to commune with you, what would you feel? Like if King Alphus, David invited you to dinner because he was pleased in you. What would you feel? I for one would feel a lot. A trembling kind of joy. There'd be an awe to it and there'd be a joy to it. So this table is a table of gladness where we feast with the king of glory, where we look forward to the day that we will eat and drink the bread and the cup renewed in his completed kingdom. And as we stand up from this table, we come to the final movement of the service in which God commissions us to the work of his kingdom, sending us into the fields to labor with joy. Now we're cleansed of sin, with conscience as cleared, and vigor that comes with a clear conscience before God and man.

his kingdom, sending us into the fields to labor with joy. Now we're cleansed of sin, with conscience as cleared, and vigor that comes with a clear conscience before God and man. Now we're revived by the singing of Psalms and strengthened by the hearty bread of God's word. Now we're heartened by the strong food of his table, the bread and the wine, with our Lord and his communion meal. And so now we are ready to lift the sword ourselves, to take up the shield of faith, to put on the shoes of the gospel of peace on our feet, the helmet of salvation on our head, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, and go out into the battles that he's appointed for us, following our better David, who is thrown down the Goliath of sin and death and calls us to go and convert Philistines and teach them how to know and honor the true king. So the minister then issues the final charge, a final exhortation, and reads the Lord's benediction, his blessing. And we go out a forgiven, cleansed, strengthened, consecrated, and heartened people. Blessed, not just sent, but blessed by the Lord for his good service. So let me leave you now with three final exhortations in light of these wonders. They're wonders. The first is simple. It's to be tenaciously present. Be a tenaciously present worshipper on the Lord's Day.

No, be there in the ranks of God's hosts when he musters them weekly. The armies of God. That's what we are. We are the hosts of God, the armies. It shouldn't be weakened by AWOL soldiers. So be here for your sake. Be here for your family's sake. Be here for your children's sake. Be here for your neighbor's sake. But ultimately, be here for the Lord's sake. Because you're a living sacrifice. That's what you are to be. Be strengthened. Be filled. Be consecrated, equipped, blessed, and sent. Now, sometimes you can't come. You get sick. Things happen. The Lord is merciful. He's kind. He knows our frame. He knows that we're dust. Number two, don't just come, but come prepared. Come prepared. Again, if the king invited you to his table, you would think about it. And more than just like the five minutes before, oh, what am I going to wear. I've got, King Alfred wants me to come over. You'd be thinking about it ahead of time when the royal ambassador came and gave you the invitation. It's got the seal of the king on it. He's like, I want, I want you. My table this day, here. You'd be like, kids, we've got practice. We've got to train for this. You'd be doing the politeness Olympics in your home. I would be. I would be. Don't just come. Come prepared. Look ahead in the bulletin. Whatever your church does, our church, look ahead in the bulletin each week. next week's songs at home. Worship in your homes. As the Westminster Confession says,

our church, look ahead in the bulletin each week. next week's songs at home. Worship in your homes. As the Westminster Confession says, we don't just worship in the Lord's Day, but also daily in homes. Worship the Lord. Have your things laid out the night before. Pray for the upcoming service. Gird up your loins for war. Come ready. Don't do this. Don't wander in flippantly. Five minutes late each week. Casual as if you were going to watch a show on Netflix on your couch. But come with your heart and soul prepared to worship the living God. Knowing that he will further prepare you and cleanse you and sift you and all that. But come prepare. If you have reconciliation with another saint to do, go affected. Do it on Friday. Do it on Saturday. Leave your gift. Whatever it takes. Go make peace with all men insofar as it's up to you. Confess your sins. Be clean. Be prepared. Come with an offering ready to give to the Lord, your very self. And then finally, number three, worship with sincerity and zeal. Come and throw your weight. behind the plow of the local church. As we plow these sparrows in worship week after week. Sing loud. Confess with sincerity. Lift your hands. Kneel before the Lord. Quit being self-conscious. I wonder what people are thinking about me. The Lord is looking at you. Who cares what Dave thinks? The Lord is beholding. You're in his presence. We are his. He did

self-conscious. I wonder what people are thinking about me. The Lord is looking at you. Who cares what Dave thinks? The Lord is beholding. You're in his presence. We are his. He did us make. We are the sheep of his pastor. Don't mutter a few verses under your breath. check your phone through the sermon and participate half-heartedly. Put your shoulder to the plow and push. Is not the Lord worthy? Is not the Lord worthy? He is worthy. Amen? Let's pray. Our God and Father, we give you thanks for all of these wonders that we have seen in your word that you would call us into your presence, that you would cleanse us from our sin, that you would chop us up and rearrange us by the sword of your spirit. That you would make us fit for your work. That you would invite us to a table to eat and commune with us. That you would commission us and bless us as we go out as you're blessed, holy people to your work. Lord, we pray that you would do that in us, not just today, but week after week, that all of the days of our lives, we might worship you in joy and with fear and with trembling and with awe, and that you might have your glory and your people. And so we pray as the Lord Jesus instructed us in his word. Our Father, who art in heaven,

have your glory and your people. And so we pray as the Lord Jesus instructed us in his word. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallow and be thy kingdom come, thy will be done, earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive us. As we forgive the whole, as we forgive the who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory