A Preferred Order of Worship
Theologians speak of the “regulative principle” when it comes to worship. The regulative principle is simply worshiping God in the way revealed in the Scriptures. Here is an order of worship with simple explanations on why these represent favorable components to our service of worship.
First, a call to worship from the Psalms to open the worship service. The Psalms are the Christian song book, and they also serve as the Christian book of prayer. The Word of God is to be prayed, and it keeps God’s people singing. The Jewish people would sing the Psalms as they ascended the hill of the Lord to enter the temple. This is God’s call and invitation for people to approach Him in worship.
Second, an opening hymn to bring us into the courts of the God’s presence. Singing to the Lord is one of the great Christian privileges. We have a faith that causes us to sing. We have a God who is worthy of our songs of worship. Music is a powerful medium for carrying a message. God’s message is either present, absent, or distorted in our songs of worship. Hymns with rich theology are a gift from God to the church. They focus our minds and warm our hearts to the One who loves us (Eph 1:4–5; Rom 5:5, 8; 1 Jn 4:19).
Third, a corporate prayer to adore the Lord. Prayer is worship. It is our affectionate acknowledgement of the God who created us and redeemed us (Eph 1:7; Col 1:14, 16). He has initiated a personal relationship with His people, and people in a relationship suffer for lack of communication. God has spoken to us through His Son (Heb 1:2). The Word has come to us through divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 3:16). We must respond to God’s communiqué.
There are endless books on the subject of prayer. The best book on prayer is the Bible, and God’s Word is our best prayer. We acknowledge the truth about God and about ourselves. We find our utter dependence on our Maker; and therefore, we pray to acknowledge Him, to adore Him, and to make our needs known to Him.
Church members learn to pray from the man appointed to pray in the worship service. He should carefully prepare and present points of prayer that pertain to specific individuals, the local congregation, the church world-wide, and for the lost souls needing salvation.
Fourth, a reading from the Old Testament. The public reading of Scripture is ordered in 1 Timothy 4:13. Biblical illiteracy is always a problem. Sinful people are naturally averse to the Bible, and even the saints have discipline problems when it comes to devotion to God’s Word. Large swaths of Scripture are never read by Christians because of the foreign nature of some parts of the Bible.
The Old Testament is made up of history, legal code, accounting statistics, proverbs, Psalms, and prophetic literature. Believers find some of these genres easier than others to take in. By systematically reading a chapter of the Hebrew Scriptures, these deficiencies are alleviated. The Word of God is profitable for God’s people to read, and we should do it privately and corporately.
Fifth, a reading of the Ten Commandments from Deuteronomy 5:6–21. The moral law of God is summarized in this ordered list of commands from God. They are a rule for right living for the Christian. By reading them each Sunday in corporate worship, members are reminded of the continuation of the Law over and against antinomian licentiousness and its program of cheap grace and free sin. Children are taught to fear God, to learn of His holiness standard, and to be convicted of sins. The Law of God is spiritual. It is good (Rom 7:12, 16; 1 Tim 1:8). How can Christians fear God and keep His commandments if they do not even know these ten basic commands of God?
Sixth, a reading from the New Testament. In the same manner, the New Testament carries a message of grace (Eph 2:8–9). Once the Old Testament has been acknowledged as relevant, the Law of God continuing (never as a means for justification), then the Christian can learn from Jesus and the apostles about living the Christian life of faith.
Systematic reading of Scripture holds a similar value to expositional preaching. By moving verse by verse through the Bible, nothing is missed. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God (Rom 10:17). While religion is dependent on visuals, Christianity is auditory. We take in Christ through hearing Him by the Spirit.
Seventh, a second hymn of thanksgiving. Each component of worship is connected to the others. Together, in unity, they keep us drawing nearer to God. They reach into our hearts and minds. They align us to God in the way He has prescribed. Christians have the mind of Christ when Christ is on their minds (1 Cor 2:16). Worship sets aside the cares of the world and brings us into a supernatural encounter with Almighty God, through the mediation of Christ Jesus by His Spirit.
The Spirit brings us, heart and mind, into the presence of God for a foretaste of heaven. When our souls are in full agreement with God’s Word, through the readings of Scripture, then we can give thanks to God for His Word (1 Thess 5:18). His Word reveals who He is and what He has done in order to be the blessing to His people. Worship is give and take.
Eighth, a sermon from the exposition of God’s Word. Expository preaching is preferred because both preachers and God’s people struggle with the discipline to deal honestly with difficult parts of Scripture. God’s people cannot avoid sin, death, judgment, wrath, hell, the lake of fire, and other challenging doctrines when they are systematically working through a book of the Bible verse by verse.
After years of exposure to expository preaching, a congregation has been familiarized with entire books of the Bible. This greatly aids in the formulation of right doctrine and alleviates the problem of forming theology through proof texting and pet doctrines, caused by a diet of thematic preaching. If context is king, then the flow of context from verse to verse and chapter to chapter is better understood in sequence. This method of preaching also avoids sermon content being driven by every wind of circumstances in the nightly news.
Ninth, a recitation of a corporate prayer of confession of sin. The Puritans wrote prayers of confession (See the book Valley of Vision) for our benefit and use. Prayers of confession, offered in the congregation, will serve to spur on private confession of sin. Because sin remains with our nature (Eph 2:3), and sins daily pollute our lives, we must confess our sins to God. He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse our conscience (1 Jn 1:9). David’s confession of sin and the need for a new heart is found in Psalm 51. It is good to practice confession by learning to confess our sins corporately through recited prayers of confession, prepared by people who went much deeper in this realm than most of us.
Tenth, a corporate recitation of the Nicene Creed. I must confess, this is my favorite part of corporate worship. One may argue that the Nicene Creed is not in the Bible, and therefore, it fails to be compliant with the regulative principle. The idea is to look at the component and its value for edifying the saint in a manner recognizable in Scripture. 1 Timothy 3:16 offers us a confessional statement about the mystery of godliness.
The Nicene Creed is a succinct confession of faith. It leads to more voluminous confessions (ie. Augsburg, Westminster, Heidelberg, etc.) that incorporate more than the basics of the Christian faith. These extended confessions do distinguish denominations, but this adds even greater value to the Nicene Creed because it is accepted by all orthodox Christian denominations.
The Nicene Creed (A.D. 325) is the clearest statement of the Christian faith possessed by the church. It has a 1700 year history of being recited. All of the truth found in this creed is found in the Scriptures. The organization of the ideas is prudent, for it tells us what the church has believed and continues to believe. It is the church’s oldest statement of faith in systematic form. It also informs us what is of top tier importance to the church. It also powerfully excludes Christian cults, which was its original design. We need this creed, and we need to know what it says through recitation.
Eleventh, a corporate recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer was issued by Jesus to His disciples (Mt 6:9–13). It is valuable in both form and content. Its form teaches us the acceptable approach for Christian prayer. We acknowledge God as our Father. We remember His place above us.
We think of His precious Name above every other name (Eph 1:21; Phil 2:9). We stir hope by recognizing the promise of His coming kingdom (Rev 22:20). God is sovereign and His will must be done (Ps 115:3; 135:6; Eph 1:11), so we ask for that to be the case on earth as it is in heaven. We confess our physical needs and spiritual need for forgiveness of sins. We promise to forgive like our Father. We pray for help in dealing with the devil. We support it all with a statement of eternal exaltation. If the Nicene Creed tells us what we believe, the Lord’s Prayer has us confess to God what we affirm in our belief.
Twelfth, an explanation and participation in the Lord’s Supper. When you get together, do this. The importance of the Cross to our faith needs no explanation. Churches, however, are ever drifting from the Cross, and we need something to tether us to the central place. We preach Christ and Him crucified in Word and Sacrament (1 Cor 2:2). The visible Gospel accompanies the audible one. It reinforces the absolutely essential understanding of the death of Christ. We need remember His death, frequently, until He returns.
Thirteenth, a hymn in reflection of the Cross. A closing hymn with nuances to Christ’s sacrificial substitution for us is another seal of the climactic worship experience. The Cross humbles us and teaches us how great a love the Father has His chosen, adopted children (Rom 8:15, 23; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Jn 3:1). Christ’s love is demonstrated at the Cross (Rom 5:8), and we again need to respond.
Nothing sets Christians apart from the world like a song about the blood of the Lamb slain for us (1 Pet 1:19; Rev 5:6, 12). The world drones on about its version of love, which is sensual and seductive with an end being sexual immorality. God’s love is so very different, so much that pure and devoted lovers sing to one another (Song of Songs). It is the song of the redeemed, who sing of His love, forever.
Fourteenth, a declaration of the forgiveness of sins. Christians need to hear that they are forgiven of their innumerable sins. It was shocking when Jesus pronounced forgiveness at Capernaum to the paralytic. Born again Christians, who are trusting solely in the blood of Christ for forgiveness must be reminded of this amazing grace (Mt 26:28; Eph 1:7). They have been sprinkled with His blood, and this is sufficient for their atonement with God, when accompanied by faith, granted to us by grace (Phil 1:29). Christ did not die to make salvation possible for us; but He died to make our forgiveness a living reality, today. If you trust in nothing but His blood, your sins are forgiven.
Fifteenth, a singing of the doxology. To hear that one is forgiven of her sins also demands a song of exuberant response. Praise God from whom all these blessings in worship have come.
Sixteenth, a blessing announced from the minister. The apostle Paul was very fond of closing his epistles with statements of God’s blessing upon his readers. This is reflective of Aaron’s blessing of the people (Num 6:22–26). The greater blesses the lesser (Heb 7:7); and there is no one greater than our Lord Jesus Christ, who has secured for us all of the spiritual blessings of God (Eph 1:3).
In summary, here is a preferred order of worship for your consideration and edification. It may not be inspired like the Scriptures, but it may be a help for those who worship the Father in Spirit and truth (Jn 4:23). The loose perversion of true worship has been a problem in every age of the church, and the pendulum can swing too far back toward cold legalism. Therefore, let us regulate worship with the tools given to us, and may God’s Spirit assist us to the throne of grace, where Christ presents us holy and blameless to His Father (Col 1:22).
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you and me entirely in and through worship, now, and completely without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
David E. Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
January 23, 2021
