Worship Guide

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WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS HAMBURG

Isaac Watts wrote “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” in preparation for a communion service in 1707.

“When I Survey The Wondrous Cross” is considered one of the finest hymns ever written. It’s the first known hymn to be written in the first person, introducing a personal religious experience rather than limiting itself to doctrine. In Watts’ day such hymns were termed “hymns of human composure” and they stirred up great controversy. At the time, congregational singing was predominately ponderous repetitions of the Psalms. But this hymn gave Christians of Watts’ day a way to express a deeply personal gratitude to their Savior. The well-loved hymn continues to stir our hearts today as we “survey the cross” and consider the immensity of God’s love for us -- And our response to Him.

GROW IN GRACE AT THE TABLE

DAVID MATHS (Excerpts from his book Habits of Grace) The Lord’s Supper is an extraordinary meal. To be sure, it is simply an ordinary means of God’s grace to his church, but as eating and drinking go, it can be an unusually powerful experience. Along with baptism, the Supper is one of Jesus’s two specially instituted sacraments for the signifying, sealing, and strengthening of his new-covenant people. Call them ordinances if you please. The true issue is not the term, but what we mean by it, and whether we handle these twin means of God’s grace as Jesus means, to guide and shape the life of the church in her new covenant with the Bridegroom.

Originally, the hymn was named “Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ,” following the practice of the day to summarize a hymn’s theme in the title. It was first published in 1707 in Watt’s collection Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Watts wrote five stanzas for the original version of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” However, he put his fourth stanza in brackets, indicating it was the most likely one to be left out, if need be: [“His dying crimson, like a robe, Spreads o’er His body on the tree: Then am I dead to all the globe, And all the globe is dead to me.”]



The means of grace — also known as the “spiritual disciplines” — are the various channels God has appointed for regularly supplying his church with spiritual power. The key principles behind the means of grace are Jesus’s voice (the word), his ear (prayer), and his body (the church). The various disciplines and practices, then, are ways of hearing, and responding, to his word in the context of his church. Shaped and supported by these principles, a thousand practical flowers grow in the life of the new-covenant community. But few, if any, other practices bring together all three principles of grace like the preaching of God’s word, and the celebration of the sacraments, in the context of corporate worship. Here, then, are four aspects of the Supper to consider in seeing it as a means of grace. The Gravity: Blessing or Judgment One of the first things to note is that the Supper is not to be taken lightly. Handling the elements “in an unworthy manner” is the reason Paul gives the Corinthians for “why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Corinthians 11:27–30). Great things are at stake when the church gathers at the Table of her Lord. Blessing and judgment are in the balance. There is no neutral engagement. Our gospel is “the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life” (2 Corinthians 2:15–16). So also the “visible sermon” of the Supper leads from life to life, or death to death. As with gospel preaching, the Table will not leave us unaffected, but either closer to our Savior, or more callous to him. Which leads to a second aspect.

The Celebration of the Lord’s Supper “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” I Corinthians 11:26 HOW BEAUTIFUL • ECBC ORCHESTRA FORGIVE ME • CAMERON WILSON, SOLO

THE PRAYER OF RESPONSE AND THE OFFERTORY PRAYER OFFERTORY

AMAZING GRACE • ECBC CHOIR & ORCHESTRA, RILEY LANIER, BAGPIPE

CONGREGATIONAL GREETINGS BABY DEDICATIONS

ANNELISE GENEVIEVE JENNINGS ELLOREE CELESTE JENNINGS ANNIE GRACE PORTER

The Past: Rehearsing the Gospel When instituting the Supper, Jesus instructed his disciples, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19), and Paul twice applies the phrase “in remembrance of me” in his instructions to the church (1 Corinthians 11:24–25). The Lord’s Supper is no less than a memorial meal that draws us back to the cutting of the covenant at Calvary in Christ’s self-giving sacrifice for us. With baptism and marriage and every good Christian funeral, the Table gives the church a formal rhythm of remembering and rehearsing that which is of first importance (1 Corinthians 15:3), the gospel of Christ’s saving work for us. It helps embed gospel-centrality into the life of the church. The Present: Proclaiming His Death And so the Table is more than simply a memorial. In this rich recollection of Jesus’s sacrifice, and the taking of the elements in faith, is a present proclamation of his death. “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). This visible sermon, like audible preaching, is “able to strengthen you” according to the gospel (Romans 16:25) as a means of grace to those who watch and receive. In this way, the Lord’s Supper is a powerful pathway for deepening and sustaining the Christian life. “Participation in the Lord’s Supper,” writes Wayne Grudem, is very clearly a means of grace which the Holy Spirit uses to bring blessing to his church. . . . [W]e should expect that the Lord would give spiritual blessing as we participate in the Lord’s Supper in faith and in obedience to the directions laid down in Scripture, and in this way it is a ‘means of grace’ which the Holy Spirit uses to convey blessing to us. . . . There is a spiritual union among believers and with the Lord that is strengthened and solidified at the Lord’s Supper, and it is not to be taken lightly. (Systematic Theology), 954–955) The Future: Awaiting the Feast As Westminster confesses, the Table, received in faith, is for our “spiritual nourishment and growth” (29.1). But it not only strengthens our union with Jesus, but also our communion with fellow believers in Christ. As we come together to the Supper to feed spiritually on Christ (John 6:53–58), he not only draws us closer to himself, but also to others in the body (1 Corinthians 10:17). Here at the Table, we hear Jesus’s voice, have our Savior’s ear, and commune with his body. We receive afresh his gospel, respond in faith, and knit our hearts together in the bread and cup we share. And in doing so, we look not only to the past and remember what he’s done, and not only to the present and our growing union with him, but also to the future and the full feast to come. “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). “We eat only little bits of bread and drink little cups of wine,” says John Frame (Systematic Theology, 1069), “for we know that our fellowship with Christ in this life cannot begin to compare with the glory that awaits us in him.”

THE MORNING SERMON

CONRAD “BUSTER” BROWN, SENIOR PASTOR

THE PASTORAL PRAYER THE RESPONSE HYMN

MY FAITH HAS FOUND A RESTING PLACE

BENEDICTION POSTLUDE

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WORSHIPGUIDE

WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS



LET US LOVE, AND SING, AND WONDER

John Newton, 1774

The Church in Corporate Worship Please use the following prayer to prepare your hearts for worship: OUR FATHER,

FEBRUARY 17, 2019

As we come to The Lord’s Table this morning, we celebrate grace and peace found in the forgiveness in Christ. Let us love, and sing, and wonder as we profess the joy of our salvation in Christ!

I do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful Lord, REFLECTION trusting in my own THOUGHTS FOR WORSHIP PREPARATION righteousness, but in your manifold and Cheap grace means forgiveness of sins great mercies. proclaimed as a general truth... an intellectual assent to that idea is held to be itself I am not worthy sufficient to secure remission of sins. so much as to gather the crumbs Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, under your table. grace without the cross. But you are the same Lord; you Costly grace is the gospel. ever love to show It is costly because it costs a man his life, mercy. and grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin Grant me thereand grace because it justifies the sinner. fore, gracious Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his son... Lord, so to it is grace because God did not reckon his Son partake of the too dear a price to pay for our life. body of your dear Son Jesus Christ, Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.... and to drink his cup, that my sinful When Christ calls a man, body may be He bids him come and die.... made clean by his body, and my soul That is why the rich young man was so loath to follow Jesus, washed through for the cost of his following his most precious was the death of his will. blood, and that In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, I may evermore with all our affections and lusts. dwell in him, and he in me. -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship Amen. Written prayer by Thomas Cranmer 16th century archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the English Reformation. He was martyred for his faith.

Love so amazing, so Divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all. -- Issac Watts This, the pow’r of the cross: Christ became sin for us; Took the blame, bore the wrath— We stand forgiven at the cross. -- Keith Getty

John Newton’s hymn “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder” is really a song about worship, though the word is not directly used. The closest thing we have to worship is in the very last line – “You are worthy, Lamb of God!” But Newton demonstrates a Biblical understanding of what should be happening in worship. Worship is responding to God in a way that He has prescribed as a result of something God has revealed about Himself or His works. It’s responding to God’s revelation; put another way, God’s truth drives us to respond to Him in various ways like singing, shouting, quietly reflecting, or in absolute silence. Newton lays out four proper responses to God and uses them to structure the hymn: love, singing, wonder, and praise. This hymn is not only about worship, but also about the gospel. Newton clearly understood the means by which we can have peace with God – through Jesus’ death on the cross – and saw that as the penultimate motivator for worship. The mercy that God has revealed in loving and saving sinners like us should drive us to love and sing and wonder and praise.

THE PRELUDE

ELENA CRUDGE, ORGANIST

THE MORNING WELCOME AND SERVICE PREPARATION

CALL TO WORSHIP FROM PSALM 30

Leader: We will exalt You, O Lord, for You have lifted us out of the depths. O Lord, You brought us up from the grave. People: Sing to the Lord, you saints of His; praise His holy name. Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. Leader: When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” O Lord, when You hid Your face, I was dismayed. People: But You turned our mourning into dancing; You removed our sackcloth and clothed us with joy, that our hearts may sing to You and not be silent. O Lord, our God, we will give You thanks forever

LET US LOVE AND SING AND WONDER ALL SAINTS OLD

THE SACRED SERIOUSNESS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER JOHN PIPER

OFFERTORY

JESUS PAID IT ALL / O PRAISE THE ONE I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small; Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.”

In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul warns the church in Corinth (and us) that if you come to the Lord’s Supper in a cavalier, callous, careless way that does not discern the seriousness of what happened on the cross, you may, if you are a believer, lose your life, not because of wrath, but as an act of God’s fatherly discipline: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner [that is, not trusting and treasuring the precious gift of Christ] will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.

Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power and Thine alone, Can change the leper’s spots And melt the heart of stone. And when before the throne I stand in Him complete, “Jesus died my soul to save” my lips shall still repeat O Praise the one who paid my debt And raised this life up from the dead

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER TIME FOR COMMUNION PREPARATION

Please use the following prayer, [a Puritan Prayer from The Valley of Vision, entitled “Calvary’s Anthem”] as a catalyst to your own personal prayer time this morning in communion preparation.

HEAVENLY FATHER, Let a person exam- Thou hast led me singing to the cross ine himself, then, [not to see if you are where I fling down all my burdens good enough, but to and see them vanish, see if you are willing where my mountains of guilt are leveled to turn away from to a plain, yourself and trust where my sins disappear, though they are Jesus for what you the greatest that exist, need] and so eat of and are more in number than the grains the bread and drink of fine sand; of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body [that is, without being aware that this bread is not to be treated like a fish sandwich, the way some were doing in Corinth] eats and drinks judgment on himself. [And here is what he means:] That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died [not to be sent to hell; the next verse explains]. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined [that is, some are weak, and ill, and dying] so that we may not be condemned [that is, go to hell] along with the world. Don’t take the Lord’s Supper lightly. It is one of the most precious gifts Christ has given to his church. Let us eat it together... and celebrate.



For there is power in the blood of Calvary to destroy sins more than can be counted even by one from the choir of heaven. Thou hast given me a hill-side spring that washes clear and white, and I go as a sinner to its waters, bathing without hindrance in its crystal streams. At the cross there is free forgiveness for poor and meek ones, and ample blessings that last for ever; The blood of the Lamb is like a great river of infinite grace with never any diminishing of its fullness as thirsty ones without number drink of it.

O Lord, for ever will thy free forgiveness live that was gained on the mount of blood; In the midst of a world of pain it is a subject for praise in every place, a song on earth, an anthem in heaven, its love and virtue knowing no end. I have a longing for the world above where multitudes sing the great song, for my soul was never created to love the dust of earth. Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor, I shall go on singing Calvary’s anthem. May I always know that a clean heart full of goodness is more beautiful than the lily, that only a clean heart can sing by night and by day, that such a heart is mine when I abide at Calvary.