The first thing that strikes many visitors as they worship at WRPC is that our worship seems…well, different from the run-of-the-mill evangelical church. Our services are marked by a God-centeredness and an intensity and a seriousness that is increasingly rare. If we could sum up our goal for our worship services it would be that our services would be characterized by reverence.
What is “reverence”? This may seem pedantic, but in an irreverent culture we need to go back to foundations. In the Old Testament two Hebrew words (yare & shahah) are translated “reverence”. The first also can mean awe or fear. The second also can be translated as prostration, honor, or obeisance. In the New Testament three Greek words are typically translated “reverence”. They are aidos, phobemai, and entrepomai. These words carry the idea of “proper subjection”, “modest and self-effacing in demeanor”, “the fear of God”, and “the self-evaluation of inferiority that compels one to honor a superior being”.
Why should we be (corporately) reverent before God in worship? Anytime we come into the presence of Jehovah the first thing that should strike us is that God is holy and we are profane (remember Isaiah 6?). This is why we regularly have a corporate confession of sin in our worship services. Simply put, we must be reverent out of awe for a holy God. In fact, it’s inappropriate for weak & sinful creatures to be anything OTHER than humbled before a sovereign & holy God. We must never lose sight of the fact that we must “serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).
Historically speaking, Reformed and Presbyterian folks have always grasped the centrality of reverence. You can clearly see this in our confessional documents:
Westminster Confession of Faith 21:3: Prayer…being one special part of religious worship, is required by God of all men, and that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the Name of the Son…with REVERENCE.
Westminster Confession of Faith 22:2: The Name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and REVERENCE.
What is required in the Third Commandment ? The third commandment requireth the holy and REVERENT use of God’s Names, Titles, Attributes, Ordinances, Word and Works. (Shorter Catechism, #54).
What doth the preface of the Lord’s Prayer teach us? The preface of the Lord’s Prayer, (which is “Our Father, which art in heaven”) teacheth us to draw near to God with all holy REVERENCE… (Shorter Catechism, #100).
What reverence is: Worshiping God as He commands, instead of doing what we think is neat (Nadab and Abihu learned this the hard way, Lev. 10:1-3).
What reverence isn’t: There are some who are cultured and sophisticated and find it embarrassing to sing God’s praise or say “Amen” at the close of a prayer. They are confusing reverence with disobedience or plain ole’ lifelessness. They have forgotten that God is looking for those who WORSHIP (i.e. actively & obediently) Him, not for those who stand like wooden Indians ! Real reverence is not just a stoic outward expression, but is a matter of the whole soul, extending to our mind, will and emotions. Our minds are reverent when they are ready to receive God’s Word without raising arguments against it. Our wills are reverent when we are purposing to DO what God has commanded, and our emotions are reverent when we love what God loves and hate what He hates.
- The Well-Ordered Home - May 16, 2017
- Grace-Based Parenting - March 8, 2017
- The Civil Government Has Asked Us to Pray - November 16, 2016
