Worship by the Book

Every day you breathe in and out roughly 22,000 times a day! You breathe in about 2,000 gallons of air, which is enough to fill a swimming pool. You do it so often that you don’t think about it. This is how we can begin to think about worship — every week, every year, we come to church and worship. We read the Bible, sing, hear preaching, take the Lord’s supper and pray together. But have you ever stopped to think why do we worship God the way we do? Is it just tradition, preference of the leaders, or random choice?

Join me then as we think about why we worship God and why we worship God the way we do. Does the Bible give us any guidelines or principles to help us know what to do and in which order?  Or is the Bible a bit like a menu at restaurant where you pick what bits you like and another church picks bits they like? I want you to see that the Bible, the word of God, prescribes how we are to worship God.  We are to be people and churches that worship by the book. Let’s consider 4 things the Bible gives us for worship.

1) The Bible gives us the Command to Worship

Since the beginning of time there has been worship of God on the earth (Gen. 4:26). But what is worship? In a summary to Johnathan Gibson’s book ‘Reformation Worship,’ it states that worship is a “[r]ight, fitting and delightful response of moral beings — human/angelic to God creator, redeemer— for who God is and what he’s done.”[1]  In the Bible you see angels worshipping (Is. 6:3, Rev. 4:8-11) and creation worshipping (Ps. 19, Ps. 148). We too are commanded to join in and worship God:

• “Worship the LORD in the splendour of holiness” (Ps. 96:9)

• “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous works among all people.” (Ps. 29:2)

More than two hundred and fifty times we are commanded to praise the Lord and worship God.  In the 10 commandments, from Exodus 20, the 1st commandment is about worship: you are to worship God alone. Jesus said the same thing in Matt. 4:10, during his temptations, which is from Deuteronomy 6:13 “you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” You see worshipping God is not an option or a suggestion, but a command.

Why are there so many commands to worship God? It’s because, after the fall in Genesis 3, we by nature we don’t worship God but his creation, which is called idolatry. Since Genesis 3, we have been commanded to worship, which is a command to be fully human. That’s because worshipping God is to do what we were designed to do. Yes, worship is a duty that we, as God’s creatures, owe to God, our creator, but it should also be a delight. In Ephesians Paul, after expressing in a single sentence the scope and glory of the gospel, states, in 1:12, that praise and worship is a right, fitting, and delightful response to God by his creatures for what he’s done for us and the hope we have in Christ Jesus.  The Bible gives us the command to worship, a command that should be both our duty and delight to obey.

2) The Bible gives us the Way to Worship

In the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 21:1 it says that “the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself.”[2] This means that we are to worship God the way he wants. He doesn’t command us to worship and then leave it up to us to decide how. He tells us! You don’t have to go much further than the 10 Commandments to see God doing this. For example the first 4 commandments are all about how God wants to be worshipped. It is clear from the Bible that this is something God cares a lot about because he gives lots of detail regarding what is the acceptable way to worship and what isn’t. Consider the following unacceptable ways to worship God:

• the golden calf incedence (Ex. 32)

• Nadab and Abihu offering unauthorised fire (Lev. 10)

In fact God instructs Moses clearly in Exodus 25:40 to build the tabernacle, which was the centre of worship, according to the pattern that he shows to Moses. This is what we call the regulative principle, which simply means that everything we do in gathered worship is to be regulated by Scripture. When a doctor gives a prescription for some much-needed medication, he tells you what to take and how to take it. He tells you exactly what to do, why? Because he has the authority and expertise to know what’s best and most helpful. So with God, he has the authority and expertise to prescribe how he is to be worshipped.

So how does God want us to worship him? Here are just a few verses that give us instructions:

• the day of worship (Ex. 20:8, Rev. 1:10)

• the character of worship (1 Cor. 14:26-40)

Then there are the elements of worship

• Read the Bible (1 Tim. 4:13)

• Preach the Bible (2 Tim. 4:2)

• Sing the Bible  (Col. 3:16, Ps. 95:1)

• Pray the Bible (Matt. 21:13)

• See the Bible, in the sacraments of baptism (Matt. 28:19, Acts 2:38) and the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:23-26)

• Respond to the Bible, in giving (Rom. 12:8)

In somethings we are to use the general principles in the Bible, common sense, culture and love for one another to decide things like the time of service, dress code and the length of service. Therefore the way we worship is not random or personal choice but the way he wants, the way he has revealed in the Bible. If you were invited to meet the King at Buckingham Palace there would be protocols and a right way to approach and address him. You wouldn’t just do whatever you like. This is the same when we come to worship God because we are his servants, his subjects and we don’t get to decide or dictate how we worship him. It’s not about you or me, it’s about God.

3) The Bible gives us the Order of Worship

When you are baking a cake, the ingredients are important, but so is the order which they are to be added. The Bible, similarly, doesn’t just give us the ingredients to include in worship but also the order they are to go in. In Gen. 1 we see a call, a response, and a meal. God speaks first (Gen 1:28) he initiates the relationship and calls to worship by his word. Adam and Eve respond in faithful obedience, with love and service (Gen. 2:20) and then this was followed by a meal together (Gen. 1:29). But since the fall in Genesis 3, other elements have been added in for cleansing from sin. You see this new order in Exodus 19-24.

• the people are gathered (Ex.19:3),

• they are called (Ex. 19:3)

• then they are cleansed (Ex. 19:10-15),

• They hear God’s word and teaching (in Ex. 20 )

• finally they eat a meal together with God (in Ex. 24:11).

In 2 Chronicles 5–7 we see the same pattern

• gathering (2 Chron. 5:2)

• call (2 Chron. 5:3)

• cleansing (2 Chron. 5: 6)

• God’s word and prayer (2 Chron. 6)

• feasting together (2 Chron. 7:8)

That is why our worship service follows that order — Call, Confession, Cleansing, Commission (word), Communion (meal), and Sending (Benediction). When we worship, we are following the pattern laid out for us by God: he speaks first and last and we respond in faith, obedience, love and service while giving thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord.

4) The Bible gives us the Reasons for Worship

Firstly, worship is for our good. In 1 Cor. 14: 3, 26 and 31 Paul speaks of worship that is done “decently and in order” for the upbuilding, encouragement, and consolation of God’s people. It is easy to think that worship is something we do… of course we are active in it. We sing, pray, listen and respond. But it is first and foremost something God does to us. In Romans 12:1-2 Paul states that we are transformed by renewal of our mind. In worship we are reminded week by week who God is and what he’s done for us in Jesus Christ and what he now requires of us. In Hebrews 2:12 is says that we are being built up and changed from one degree of glory to the next by the means of grace— preaching, prayer and the sacraments. Worship is a workshop where our head, heart, and hands, are transformed and shaped by the word and worship of God. From Monday through Saturday we are being shaped by the world, on Sunday we are retuned, reshaped, recalibrated to put God first as we become more like Jesus.

But then secondly and most importantly, worship is for God’s glory. In Ephesians 1:1-14 Paul outlines all that God has done in the gospel and the reason (he repeats this three times!) is that it is all to the praise of his glory (Eph. 1:6, 12 and 14). In Psalm 96:3 we are to declare his glory among the nations. In Psalm 95 we are to come, sing, make a joyful noise, worship, and bow down because God is a great God and a great King above all gods, it’s all for his glory and praise. When we worship on the 1st day of the week, we show that God is of first importance to us and so we give him all the glory due his name. Our worship is chiefly, not for our good, or our glory but God’s glory and his alone.

The early Christians were described as being people of the book. May God help us today in 2026 be described in the same way. In our lives and our worship let us be people of the book because what we do Sunday by Sunday is not random, or man-made, but from God. Let us worship God the way he wants. In the Bible God gives us the command, the way, the order and the reasons for worship. So let us worship by the book.

Notes:

[1] 10 of Those.com summary to J.Gibson’s book Reformation Worship

[2] Chad Van Dixhorn, ‘Confessing the Faith’, Banner of Truth, 2016. Pg. 275. Chad’s commentary on Chapter 21 of the WCF is excellent and well worth a read.

Other Resources:

• ‘What Happens When we Worship.’ Johnathan Landry Cruse, 2020, Reformation Heritage Books.

• ‘Worship Reformed According to Scripture.’ Hughes Oliphant Old, 2002, Westminster Press.

• ‘Worshipping with Calvin,’ Terry L. Johnson, 2014, Evangelical Press.

• ‘Let us Worship God’, Derek W.H. Thomas, 2021, Ligonier Ministries.