Worship is central to the life of the Church of God. From the days of creation men have “called on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26, 12:8, etc.) and they will continue to do so into eternity (Revelation 4). Worship is that peculiar activity that God is seeking from us (John 4:23-24). Sadly, in our day this most central, unifying, and beautiful part of the life of the people of God has become a place of division as the church has fractured into a diversity of worship styles and practices.
At Redeemer we believe there is a way out of the conflict: allow the Bible to define as much of our worship as possible. This will not solve every difference among sinful men, but it will do much to find common ground. With this goal in mind the worship of Redeemer is simple and built on an architecture of 5 biblical blocks. Namely, we seek in worship to read the Bible, preach the Bible, pray the Bible, sing the Bible, and see the Bible.
Read the Bible. A visitor who attends Redeemer for the first time will often remark just how much the Bible is in our service. Much of our service is a direct reading of the Word: the call to worship, the assurance of pardon following a confession of sin (itself often a biblical passage), the text for the sermon, and the closing benediction. We are consciously seeking to have the Word of God frame and saturate our worship.
Preach the Bible. The promise of the Bible is that all of it is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16) and that it is peculiarly effective when it is proclaimed (Romans 10:13-14, 17). With this is in mind, the preaching of the Word of God is the central activity in our worship. It is here that the people of God turn to be instructed and blessed (1 Timothy 4:13; Psalm 81:10). God has given us His word in an orderly way – in books penned by His inspired writers. The best way to understand these words is to take them as they are given. Thus our normal practice is to preach through books verse by verse, section by section from beginning to end. Click here for sample sermons.
Pray the Bible. An amazing gift of God to His people is that we are allowed, even commanded, to speak to Him in prayer offering praise, confession, and petition (Matthew 6:5-13; Ephesians 6:18; Philippians 4:6, many others). In worship at Redeemer we have many places of prayer and when we pray we seek to pray the Bible. That is, we seek to let the emphases of the Bible be our emphases and the language of the Bible be the language of our prayers.
Sing the Bible. As a worshipping people we sing to God (a burden of the book of Psalms). When we do so we seek to have His thoughts and words frame our worship song. At Redeemer this is done by singing the very words of God back to Him by singing Psalms from the Bible and singing God’s thoughts back to Him by singing hymns that are framed by the teachings of the Bible.
See the Bible. God has spoken to us in His word, but He has not neglected our other senses. We see what the Word promises in two gifts to the church: the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In these simple rites the Word is made visible in the picture of sins washed away and the body of Christ broken, His blood spilled that we may be forgiven and nourished by Him.
These are the elements that fill and frame our worship. We seek to be simple, to be reverent, and to be Biblical. Below are some sermons that touch on the topic of worship. When all is said and done, the best way to understand is to come and worship with us.