That doesn’t mean a service of worship should be what is often called a thematic service. Some people are very clever, and they say, ‘O our theme today is such and such a doctrine, or such and such an aspect of the faith.’ And the first hymn will address it, and the Bible reading will address it, and the next hymn, and sermon will address it; and it is all on one theme. Well, that is actually contrary to Christian worship. Because the reason why worship has to be thought about is that all aspects of worship must be incorporated in the service. There is more to it than just picking a hymn.
What is worship? We call upon God, and we extol his name. We frame our hearts and focus our minds, and we objectively worship him. We name some of his attributes, and we humble ourselves before him: there is calling upon God; there is worship in that sense. Then there is thanksgiving to him for his wisdom, for his plan of salvation, for his wonderful love. We then affirm – this is part of objective worship. We always affirm some great truth or doctrine, or several of them; and we state our belief in them. We affirm the doctrine; we affirm our belief. This has a great place in biblical worship; in the Psalms of the Old Testament, in the prayers of the New Testament.
There is also this subjective aspect of worship. We express our personal thanks for our salvation, and for God’s goodness to us, and all his provisions to us, and his answers to our prayers. We thank him for everything he has done for us. We express our love to him in subjective worship. We repent of our sin. We offer prayers and petitions for holiness, for strength, for help in the walk of righteousness. We dedicate ourselves, surrender ourselves to the Lord for the days ahead. We make intercession for others. We pray for the lost and those in trouble and difficulty. And then we make all kinds of other petitions and prayers and requests – for the persecuted, for the sick. There is so much to do in worship. There are all these departments and aspects of calling upon God and praying.
Worship mustn’t be random. Somebody has got to think about it. The person who leads in prayer must remember that the congregation, the people of God, are entitled to be led in all the legitimate departments of prayer, not just one thing. The hymns must try to reflect all the aspects of our responsibility in worship. You cannot have worship the way some people want it today. It won’t enable the people of God to worship as they should. There is so much flippancy brought in, and so much irreverence, which doesn’t help us to be humble before the Lord. ‘We are here to enjoy ourselves; to sing tunes that we love; to have beat and all that sort of thing going on; to think frivolously, flippantly, lightly. That is not worship. Oh yes, we love God and we love of Christ, and we draw near to him; but there is always reverence, and there is all these different forms of thanksgiving, that we owe to him.