Receiving the Preached Word

The young Scottish preacher Robert Murray M’Cheyne said he, “preached as a dying man to dying men.” The picture, of another Scottish preacher, in the picture below, tells the story of a preacher with this attitude. But what does a “dying man” look like that comes to hear from a dying preacher? We get a glimpse of this when the apostle Paul came to Berea in Acts 17. There he met a noble people who received the Word of God that was preached to them with eagerness, examination, and response (Acts 17:11-12).

First, we need to receive the preached Word with eagerness. We are eager for many things and we exemplify this by our anticipation and preparation. We must come to the reception of God’s word with an even eager anticipation. There are many temporal and eternal reasons for this, but here is one from the Psalmist, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; (Ps.19:7-8). Since this is true about the word of God then we must in our anticipation prepare ourselves for an eager reception on the Lord’s Day. We may do this by turning our hearts on Saturday evening to him in prayer for the church, those teaching and leading worship, the one who preaches and for the Holy Spirit to come down upon his church. We may also prepare for an eager reception by arriving to worship early with a quieted heart and a ready mind.

Second, we need to receive the Word by examination. The Bereans heard the word on the Sabbath and they examined what they heard each day during the week. Examination requires deeper thought beyond the sermon. The apostle Paul required this of Timothy when he said, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” (2Tim.2:7). It requires the discipline of checking out what has been preached with the rest of Scripture. It requires asking questions of the text and the points that were made from the text. It requires talking about it with others.

Third, we need to receive the Word with a proper response. We are called to be eager receivers and examiners of God’s Word, so that we may give a proper response. James says, “the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (Jas 1:25). A proper response to God’s word is trust, belief, thanksgiving, praise and varied obedience depending on the prescribed will of God.

We are called to receive the word of God preached by dying men with eagerness, examination and response for the glory God and the furthering of his kingdom.

Will Our Church Survive?

Pasotring a small church you sometimes are tempted to ask, "Will this church survive through these changing times?". The answer to that question lies in the sovereign will of God, but also in the responsibility of the leadership of this church. According to John Wesley if Methodism was to survive beyond his life he said,

"The Methodists must take heed of their doctrine, their experience, their practice, and their disciplines. If they attend their doctrine only, they will make people antinomians; if to the experiential part of religion only, they will make them enthusiasts (mindless fanatics); if to the practical part only, they will make them Pharisees; and if they do not attend to their discipline, they will be like persons who bestow much pains in cultivating their gardens, and put no fence round it to save it from wild boars of the forest."

The Presbyterian and Reformed churches must also take heed to his words. The doctrine of God is adorned with the righteousness of God, the experience or the enjoyment of God is guarded by the knowledge of God, the application of God's Word is expressed only through the grace God gives, and the gift of disciplines is a training ground for the display of God's glory in grace toward the nations through the church, but also a rampart to keep God's church from being overrun by the culture. We will survive if the leaders of our church keep a watch over their lives and their doctrine, and give themselves to keeping watch over the church whom they serve as under-shephards.

Sunday Evening Worship

Why should we as a church continue to worship God in the evening as well as the morning on the Lord’s Day? Why should we continue to practice something that so many churches have abandoned for small groups and mid-week programs to meet the needs of families? “Why should you participate in Sunday evening worship?”

1. Evening Worship is Biblical. No, the Bible does not say, “You shall worship me in the evening at 6:00 PM”, but neither does it say we shall worship God in the morning at 11:00 AM. However, God did provide for his people Israel morning and evening sacrifice (Exodus 29:38-41; Numbers 28:1-10). There was to be burnt offerings before the Lord in the morning and in the evening and there the Lord would meet with his people and speak to them. David, the King of Israel and writer of many Psalms penned a Sabbath psalm that reads, It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; 2to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, (Psalm 92:1-2). David’s life of devotion was based upon God’s design in the sacrificial system. In the sacrifice there was a victim in the place of the sinner bearing the wrath of God for sin, but this substitute did not fully appease the wrath of God. So they were aware of God’s judgment and looked forward by faith through the offering of sacrifice to a Messiah that would save them. And now that sacrifice has been made by Christ the Messiah and God’s wrath is appeased in him as he is accepted by the Father night and day. Now we can offer to him a sacrifice of praise…the fruit of our lips (Hebrews 13:15), morning and evening. We also see the apostle Paul gathered with believers on the first day of the week preaching to them even unto midnight (Acts 20:7), indicating that he had begun earlier in the evening. Therefore, we should seek to worship the Lord from the rising of the sun to it’s setting on the Lord’s Day because evening worship is Biblical.

2. Evening Worship is a Means of Grace. How does God sanctify the hearts of his church? He does this primarily by his word and sacraments. He has meant for us to be holy and blameless in the Son and he has ordained that listening and responding to him by the means of his word, and being nurtured and strengthened through communion and baptism is his primary means. Whenever we choose not to participate in the public gathering for worship we are neglecting God’s ordained means of grace. This is why we as elders are calling upon the congregation to worship twice on the Lord’s Day. We have to give account for the souls whom God has given us to serve and so we believe calling God’s people to worship around his means of grace is the primary means he has given us to keep watch over the souls of his church (Hebrews 13:17). When the apostle Paul outlined the culture and problems that Timothy faced in the first century (which are no different than those we face today) (2Timothy3:1-9), he told him to preach the Word (2Timothy 4:2). Today we are told that things have changed, people are not able to endure preaching and teaching, we need more programs, small groups and other inventive ways to meet the felt needs of those in our culture. But when God has wanted to address the needs of his people he has given them his word and the signs and seals of their covenant relationship to him, the sacraments. We must not be shrinking away from the means of grace into modernity where it seems we find rest in our chosen recreation. We must hold fast to God’s grace in the means he has ordained to communicate it to us, and that happens in the context of morning and evening worship.

3. Evening Worship Helps Us Keep the Lord’s Day Holy. Everyday is the day that the Lord has made and we can rejoice and be glad in it. But the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day that he set apart by defeating sin and death and winning our salvation in his resurrection. Sunday is the Lord’s Day, and ‘Day’ indicates a whole day. It is a day ordained in creation and by redemption that God is jealous over. He has commanded us in the fourth commandment to keep it holy, and we must not treat this command of God with contempt. We have the opportunity on the Lord’s Day to sanctify it, set it apart as holy unto the Lord for worship, rest, doing works of mercy and fellowshipping with God’s people. Morning and evening worship is necessary to us in our weak state. We are created with a need to find our rest one day in seven in God’s presence where he is worshiped, trusted and obeyed. Therefore participating in evening worship is provided for us so that we may carry out the will of God in the earth for his glory and our good.

4. Evening Worship Helps to Propagate an Effective Christian Culture. In our country the church is camouflaged by being patterned more after our culture than biblical precepts. If we want to see God’s glory spreading throughout our community, country and earth, then God’s people must come together for worship morning and evening. Paul Alexander, a pastor of one church for more than 37 years, says, “Those who regularly participate in morning and evening worship over a period of years are the most stable and productive Christians. They are furthermore the most joyful and effective.” (Let’s Keep Our Sunday Evening Worship). We long to see one another built up and strengthened in the faith, equipped for every work of ministry, strong in the faith so as not to be blown and tossed by every wave of doctrine and modernity. We long to see a church full of worshipers and workers who are joyful and effective in our culture for God’s glory. But this will not happen where God’s people are not patterning their lives after God’s designs in corporate worship morning and evening.

On a drive around our community this past Wednesday night I noticed how full the parking lots of the churches were. People had come out for primarily children and youth programs at those churches. But a drive around our community on Sunday night will not afford us with the same picture. On Sunday evening less than a third of the churches in our community will have cars in their parking lots. People are not gathered to hear the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, participate in prayers, the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, the sacraments and fellowship with God’s people. Where have all the people gone on Sunday evening, where has the church gone, and where has the culture gone? Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23-25).