We enjoy almost instantaneous communication from almost anywhere on the planet. Though we have more information from more places flooding us every day, even we get excited about hearing that something great has happened. We love getting good news. Maybe we have an inheritance coming. Maybe a friend with whom you have a strained relationship desires reconciliation. Maybe an investment made many months ago has paid off. Maybe one of our children has accomplished a bold business adventure or perhaps survived a successful military assignment. It is good news and we are glad to get it.

Solomon observed the same refreshing nature of good news.

Like cold water to a thirsty soul,
so is good news from a far country.
(Proverbs 25:25, ESV)

In his day when communication was not nearly so quick, we can imagine the distances and deserts to cross, the deserted feeling of waiting to hear. How much strength does wondering sap? You wonder if your family arrived safely. You wonder if your sons are safe in the battle zone. You wonder if your sick friend will recover. For a messenger to arrive and share the good news, this energizes and comforts and gives a great reason to be glad.

We can picture many family or individual situations where receiving good news from a far country does the heart good. I think we can also appreciate it as a people. Cities, countries, teams may wait to hear. So do we as a Christian church. Every week we gather to hear the good news from a far country. The far country could be considered chronologically in terms of 21 centuries ago. The far country could be considered geographically in terms of 7000 miles from Jerusalem. The far country could even be considered spiritually between us and heaven. The good news is that God—Father, Son and Spirit—loves us and saves us. He has saved, is saving, and will save us, and not at all because we deserve it.

This is our fourth January together as a flock. At the beginning of each previous calendar year, which also coincides with our church’s anniversary, we have taken a few Sundays to consider the subject of worship. We are by no means the only game in town but we do worship the only true God in town. We know that He blesses those who fear Him. So we will take a short break from John’s Gospel to be refreshed in what we should look forward to week by week.

Our service is arranged according to the good news from a far country. Maybe it is inescapable to you; you can’t miss the progression every Sunday. Maybe you’ve heard the flow described before but don’t really consider it regularly. Or maybe you’re newer to our worship or you’re a young person whose paying attention now differently than you were before. Like going into the kitchen to find out the ingredients, here is how our service is flavored from start to finish.

The five major movements, printed in all caps in the bulletin, are the Call to Worship, Confession of Sin, Consecration, Communion, and Commissioning. Even without quoting 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, the gospel has it’s hands all over each segment. Each part is from God, through Him, and to Him. Each part addresses Him as the object of attention and honor. Each part is great news that refreshes thirsty souls like cold water. We are not studying the physics of H2O or refrigeration principles. We come together to drink the water.

Consider how the good news orients our focus on someone else, on God.

1. In the call to worship we focus on someone else’s mandate.

The good news does not begin with men or even with their need for a Savior. The good news begins with the revelation of a great God. He made heaven and earth. He created men and women in His image. He rules in righteousness and showers abundant blessings. He commands our worship both because He deserves it and because in worship we see who we’re supposed to be as those who are made to reflect Him.

Revelation 15:3-4 describes the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb (including a quote from Psalm 86:9).

Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.
(Revelation 15:4, ESV)

What good news that there is a God. What good news that He has not hidden Himself away. What good news that He invites us to praise Him. This is true for individual men. We tell them about their Creator and His beauty. And it is also true for us corporately. He is not reluctant to hear our praises. He desires it. Even more, He demands it. Come, now is the time to worship. So we submit to His mandate to drink cold water.

2. In our confession of sin we focus on someone else’s mercy.

He is worthy to be praised but we have not praised Him. There are consequences for that. We have not honored Him or given Him thanks (Romans 1:21) and He cannot stand the sinful (Psalm 5:4-6). His glory includes purity, holiness, and a commitment to justice. We can depend on that, but that means that we are naturally on the wrong side of His righteousness. Thankfully there is more good news.

God Himself has taken the punishment our sins deserved (Isaiah 53:4-6). Jesus Christ died for all who would believe and He offered Himself as the sin offering to satisfy the Father’s wrath (Romans 3:24-25). All who confess their sin, repent from it, and trust in His death and resurrection are forgiven. We do not deserve it. It comes from His grace and mercy (Ephesians 1:6-8).

Sin blocks a man’s fellowship with God and warrants judgment, now and forever. Our witness to unbelievers must include the mercy of God and their need for it. Even as believers, though we are not under the threat of judgment, our sin breaks fellowship. He is faithful to forgive us when we confess our sin (1 John 1:7-9). We hear the good news again and again that the sacrifice of Jesus covered it all and restores us. His mercy is like a cup of cold water to our sinful souls.

3. In our consecration we focus on someone else’s might.

God justifies sinners and God transforms sinners. Grace forgives and grace changes us. We cannot purchase our own redemption or produce our own righteousness. While we ought to obey, even our obedience is oriented and empowered by God. That’s why we pray and that’s why we turn our ears to Scripture.

The Word does the work; by it we grow in respect to salvation (1 Peter 2:1-3). The sermon time isn’t so much a class as it is supper (or breakfast, based on the time). The living Word cuts us up and rearranges our thoughts and our affections. Addressing the sermon part specifically, remember Hebrews 4.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12–13 ESV)

The word “exposed” (ESV), “laid bare” (NAS), “opened” (KJV) comes from the verb τραχηλίζω (trachelizo), “to lay bare (the throat)” for slicing as a sacrifice. God’s Word is a “two-edged sword” (verse 12) that cuts us up and rearranges us so that we would be acceptable offerings to God.

A sermon instructs, yes. It equips, no doubt. But the reading and preaching of God’s Word lets it out of the sheath and the Spirit puts us “under the knife,” making us into acceptable sacrifices like the burnt offering that was consumed before God. It happens right here, not later when you go over your notes, though that’s fine. God does it by His might.

The Lord announces that all who believe are united to Jesus. We died with Him to sin so it no longer is our master. We were raised with Jesus so we walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4). We abide in Him and He produces fruit (John 15:4-5). He transforms us according to the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). That is true for every believer and for the group of us together. The gospel makes us new, not we ourselves. That is good, refreshing news.

4. In our communion we focus on someone else’s merit.

It is one of the saddest ironies that the Lord’s Table has become a time stuck in introspection for so many Christians. The Corinthians abused the Supper, so Paul told them to think about what they were doing. They disregarded the Lord. But so do we. They disregarded Him by selfish gluttony. We disregard Him by making our merit the basis of our participation.

There are qualifications for eating and drinking, the first being faith. We also believe that a Christian should be baptized and not under church discipline. Otherwise the whole point of the meal is that someone else took care of what we needed. We don’t show that we’re full so that we can eat His body as bread. We don’t prove that we’re not thirsty and then we drink. Just the opposite. We participate because we need it.

The gospel drives at our communion with God. Jesus came to reveal Him, to deal with our sin, to restore God’s image in us, and to bring us to the Father (1 Peter 3:18). We are not just saved on paper, we’re saved by Persons to know Persons. Every Sunday our service drives to the same point of good news.

5. In our commissioning we focus on someone else’s mission.

Disciples make disciples. We follow Christ and part of our responsibility is to help others follow Christ. That is the mission that Christ sent His disciples to fulfill (Matthew 28:18-20). Individually we hear the call, we confess, we are set apart, we are strengthened in fellowship with God, and then we go into the world.

On a weekly basis that is also true. We end our time together with God’s blessing to go back out and into the world as salt and light (Matthew 5:14-15). We do not deserve to hear this assignment; it belongs to a glorious King. But we are part of His kingdom and we are to represent Him with the good news.

Conclusion

Here are a few observations about how this benefits us to be oriented by the gospel in our corporate worship each week.

Our liturgy communicates the eternal aim of the Trinity. He calls us to worship, forgives us, changes us, communes with us, and blesses us for serving Him in dispersion-mode. Our liturgy embodies the potent progression of the gospel which itself is the fulfillment of God’s aim to draw men near. The form functions to communicate the goal. The evangel pattern shapes our expectations.

Our kids learn every week that God wants fellowship with His people, not only because we tell them, but because they WATCH us. They watch us enjoy gospel realities not merely hear us explain them. They will watch and, by God’s grace, will want what we have.

We meet together to receive undeserved affirmation. This is the good news from a far country. The King has sent word that He has conquered and that we live under His glorious reign. We meet to hear the announcement more than to hear arguments. We’re not gathering together to deliberate. We hear the declaration of good news. The gospel is verbally stated and liturgically stated. Each week we learn that He calls, cleanses, consecrates, communes, and commissions. He does it all by grace.

Worship aims at our obedience, it does not depend on it. In other words, the gospel orients us, we don’t get oriented first in order to appreciate the gospel. This is why we need it. This is part of what we miss when we miss worship. We miss the fresh affirmation that God is glad with us in Jesus. We haven’t earned it. That’s grace. We don’t deserve it. That’s good news.

Our meeting with God on the Lord’s Day is an argument. We make an argument about our allegiance rather than hear arguments about which side we should choose. He saved us and that’s good news that refreshes our souls.