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In the late 3rd and early 4th century AD the Christian church experienced a fierce conflict over the exact nature of Jesus’ deity. The conflict was over a doctrine called Arianism, after Arius, a priest who was one of the doctrine’s chief advocates. The doctrine denied that Jesus was truly God, and became very popular. In 325 AD the Council of Nicea was called to settle the matter by the new Christian emperor, Constantine. They rejected Arius and affirmed the doctrine of the Trinity and the full deity of Christ. They wrote a creed, known as the Nicene Creed (along with some later additions fromRead More →

At the Salutation and Benediction, the pastor raises his hands before the congregation. What is the meaning of this gesture? The Salutation and Benediction mark the opening and the closing of the service. At the salutation, God, through the minister, pronounces His blessing on the congregation. It is important to recognize that the “grace and peace” pronounced at the salutation is not from the minister but from God. Likewise, the blessing pronounced at the benediction to send people out from the meeting is also a pronouncement from God, not from the minister. The laying on of hands symbolizes blessing. In Genesis 48, when Jacob blessedRead More →

The dialogical principle is one way of talking about our approach to worship. The dialogical principle teaches us that our worship is a conversation, a dialogue between God and His people. Our highest created purpose was fellowship and communion with God as His beloved people, and Biblical worship models that. Biblical worship, therefore, is not just us talking about how we feel about God, or worse talking to ourselves about ourselves. It is talking to God and hearing Him speak to us. So we open with God’s summoning us to worship, which we answer with a hymn (the Gloria Patri) and a prayer to HimRead More →

“Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Give to the LORD glory and strength. Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts.” (Psa 96:7-8 NKJ) “The bringing of tithes and offerings into God’s house is a solemn act of thanksgiving to almighty God. It is the duty of the minister to cultivate the grace of biblical giving in the members of the church by calling their attention to the scriptural admonition that everyone should give as the Lord has prospered him.”- From the RCUS Directory of Worship Tithes and offerings are an appropriate partRead More →

Last Sunday, in looking at the Third Commandment, we looked at the idea of the name of God, and how the name of God is much more than just a phonetic symbol identifying the God that we worship. Rather, it is the idea of the way that God chooses to reveal Himself. In the Scriptures, it is associated with such rich ideas as the people of God (those on whom He puts His name, Jeremiah 15:6), the worship of God (where His name is proclaimed, Psalm 69:10), , the nation of God (where His name is made known, Psalm 76:1) and the city of GodRead More →

Some thoughts from sermon preparation for this Sunday: Ephesians 5:16 “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Say you’re driving along in your car, and suddenly, you run out of gas. You’re out in the middle of nowhere, an old country road with nothing around for miles. But you’ve got cell phone coverage, so you call your wife or AAA or someone to come fill you up. They say they’ll get there in a couple of hours or so. Now you’ve got nothing to do but wait. Your day is ruined. But you’ve got a good book with you. Now you realize that evenRead More →

This Sunday we read the Ten Commandments as part of our confession of the Heidelberg Catechism. This begins our examination of the Ten Commandments and the role they play in the Christian life. As we are also studying the Ten Commandments in the Sunday School class, we should remind ourselves what role the law in general plays in our lives, and particularly, what role the law plays in Christian worship. Paul told us that we are not under law but under grace. But we need to understand what he means. He does not at all mean that God’s moral truth no longer applies to us,Read More →

In the salutation, we say, “Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are fully Trinitarian in our theology, a question might arise- why just from the Father and the Son? Why not from the Spirit? From the blog “Feeding on Christ” (feedingonchrist.com), we find a quote from Jonathan Edwards that provides an interesting answer. From An Unpublished Essay on the Trinity (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/trinity/files/trinity.html) Edwards says, “I can think of no other good account that can be given of the apostle Paul’s wishing grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in theRead More →

Hymn #176 is a song of praise to Jesus Christ for His sacrificial death on our behalf. The Second Person would have been worthy of praise had He never been incarnate and had He never died, but Revelation 5:9 cites this fact in particular: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation…” Indeed, we would have never known God to praise Him rightly if Jesus had not died to save us. He became lowly and despised, a commonRead More →