This part of the post now looks at how the means of grace, those biblically-prescribed elements included in the church’s worship, have a key function in the church’s fulfillment of its mission. Part one of this post will look at the role of the Word and prayer in the mission of the church. Part two will look at singing and the Ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
The Mission of the Church and the Means of Grace (Part 1)
Having defined the three-fold mission of the church, I would like to add to this discussion an analysis of how Christ designed each aspect of the worship service, each means of grace, to fulfill this mission. This analysis will look principally at four means of grace: the Word, prayer, singing, and the ordinances. It is these four things that “make up the ordinary public worship of God, as designed to be a standing ordinance in the Church, and [that are] to be kept up uninterruptedly from one generation to another.” In short, the ‘Means of Grace’ are those divinely regulated means given to the church through which the church is granted by the Spirit the grace of Christ’s mediation necessary to fulfill its mission. John Frame explicitly recognizes that these are the resources that Christ has given the church to help her fulfill the GC. In contrast to the teaching of the Catholic Church, these means of grace do not confer grace simply by the act of doing them (ex opere operato); however, when they are done in a Christ-centered, Word-centered, Spirit-empowered, and God-glorifying way they are an efficient means by which God blesses His people with a special bestowal of His grace fit for their mission.
As they have been given by God for the edification of the church, the means of grace all are intended to glorify God. These means of grace also constitute the biblically regulated aspects of the church’s worship. Following the regulative principle of worship, these are those essential aspects of the church’s worship. Also, it is the Spirit who empowers and uses these means in order to bestow His grace, sanctify God’s people, and even save sinners. In this way the means of grace help the church fulfill its mission. The mission is to expand the church and plant new churches. As we have argued, it is not enough to merely get people converted, we want to establish them into biblically-structured churches. It is impossible to do this without partaking of the means of grace regularly as prescribed, and also reproducing that structure among new believers wherever they are to be found as the church expands its borders to the uttermost parts of the earth.
To be done correctly, these means of grace need to be Word-centered and Christ-centered, and they must be accompanied with the working of the Spirit. The truth itself is where grace is found, and unless these means of grace present truth to the hearers and seers, they have no grace to offer. Our preaching must focus on the text of the Scriptures and must present Christ to the people. Our singing and prayers must be filled with Scriptural truth and confess a humble submission to God. The ordinances are divinely instituted symbols that remind the church of the truth of the Scriptures. The ordinances, therefore, only benefit us spiritually if we partake of them being conscious of the truth that they are proclaiming—that is, in faith. If these means of grace are practiced in accordance with these principles, then God will be glorified in our worship. Having this foundational understanding of the means of grace, we now proceed to analyze each one individually and how it is designed to equip the church for its mission.
The Word
The role of the Word in helping the church fulfill its mission is much more obvious than the other three. What is meant by the Word as a means of grace is the public preaching and reading of the Scriptures. The Scriptures clearly teach us that it is through the Word and through the preaching of the Word that God has chosen to save sinners (Rom 1:16, 1 Cor 1:21). Unless someone is sent to preach, how will anyone hear in order to believe (Rom 10:14-15). “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). Through the public reading and the public preaching of the Word, the Lord saves souls. This helps the church fulfill its ‘horizontal and external’ mission. In a way, every Sunday when the preacher proclaims the Gospel to the congregation the church is fulfilling its mission. For this reason the Reformers joyfully moved the pulpit back into the center of the church building. The preached word ought to be the focus of the worship service because it is where the soul-saving and christian-sanctifying truth is most clearly and explicitly proclaimed.
Likewise, when the pastor preaches an evangelistic message, he is not only calling the sinners to repent and believe in Christ in fulfillment of the GC, but he is also training the members to better understand the gospel in order to be able to proclaim it to their family, friends, and coworkers. An evangelistic message is a great way to help the people be more well-versed in the Gospel and also fuels them with a compassion for lost souls. Seeing the pastor plead with sinners to bow to Christ instead of rushing off to Hell, helps Christians to grow in that same passion for lost souls.
However, being given the task of preaching the whole counsel of God, the pastor also is to preach many sermons that edify and build up the people. The lost souls cannot come to life without the word of God, and neither can the christian live by bread alone; he needs every word that God has revealed (Mat. 4:4). Paul also “commended [the Ephesian pastors] to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build [them] up and to give [them] the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). Christ also prayed that the Father would use the Word to sanctify His people (John 17:17). All that was written is for our instruction (Rom. 15:4), and every passage is inspired by God and is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16).
Therefore, the Lord has gifted the church with this means of grace by which the church can fulfill its mission. The word of God is both the power of God unto salvation, and it is the word of His grace that is able to build us up (Rom 1:16; Acts 20:32).
Prayer
Public prayer is a vital part of the life of the church. Prayer is a means of grace both in private and in public. However, in this section we are going to focus on the prayers of the church. We often do not think of prayer as a means by which the church fulfills its mission. However, what the Lord has commanded of the church and these means of grace that He has given her, when used correctly, are a part of the church’s mission. When the Lord commanded these certain things, it was not in order to distract us from our mission and then force us to make time elsewhere to fulfill it, but they are essential to the fulfillment of our mission. In fact, it is impossible to fulfill our mission if we are not obeying the Lord’s commands for the church’s worship. If we follow the example of Adam’s disobedience, we likewise will fail to advance the borders of the kingdom-temple to the uttermost parts of the earth.
The first way that corporate prayer forms part of the church’s mission is in developing church unity. Remember that the horizontal and internal mission of the church includes the cultivation of truth, holiness and unity in the church. For this reason, we ought to have a high regard for prayer and for the joint, corporate prayers of the church. Whenever we have a need or a problem in our life we want people to pray for us, how much more so to have the whole church praying for us. The corporate prayers are like a public and corporate declaration to a king with the signatures of each member who concede to and join in the prayer of the one leading the congregation. The pastor leading the church in prayer is as Thomas Jefferson (or Timothy Matlock), and the members joining him and saying ‘amen’ in their hearts are the 54 other faithful men that fixed their signatures to the document. For this reason, the Lord delights to answer the prayers of His people, especially when His people join together as one and make a single petition to Him. The prayers of the people of God are presented as a sweet incense offered to the Lord in Revelation 8:3. They are a sweet offering to the Lord; the people of God no longer offer incense or grain to the Lord, rather they offer a continual and fervent prayer as a sweet offering to the Lord in the new temple.
The second way it fulfills our mission is that it is the means that God has chosen to advance His kingdom. In 2 Corinthians 1:10-11, Paul confesses his confidence in the Lord to deliver him from his present trials, and he affirms that it will be in accordance with the prayers of the church, and he adds this, “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many” (1:11). Likewise, in the epistle to the Ephesians, Paul says,
“Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph. 6:18-20).
Paul desires that his missionary activity would be showered in the prayers of this local church. It is in answer to the church’s prayers that the Lord has ordained the opening up of doors for the advancement of the Gospel. Of course the Lord is sovereign in this work and in His election, but He has ordained the fulfillment of His decree in answer to His people’s prayers.
In the third place, it is often times in answer to prayer that God helps His people to grow. Paul tells many of the recipients of his letters that he is constantly praying for their growth in grace (Eph. 1:15-23, 3:14-21; Col. 1:9-14). Paul prays that they would grow in truth, holiness and unity. Likewise, we ought to pray in the church for her spiritual growth. This unites the hearts of the people together with a common goal of growing in truth and holiness, so that together they can pursue these things. By praying for these things together, we are better equipped to encourage each other to continue stedfast in the pursuit of these things.
Prayer is a beautiful aspect of the church service and of the church’s mission. Edmund Clowney states, “Prayer binds worship with nurture and witness, for we grow together as we pray with and for one another, and the mission of the church begins at Christ’s throne, for the Lord sends out his labourers as his people pray.” According to Clowney, prayer is a vital link between the two aspects of the horizontal mission of the church. As we pray together, the Lord knits our hearts together and we grow in our passion for the lost and the needs of the church. In prayer we ask for maturity and spiritual growth, and we pray for the salvation of lost souls and ask that the Lord would use us in the advancement of His kingdom. We pray that God would send out laborers into His vineyard in order to pick the ripe fruit. We need to make time to pray for both of these aspects: the spiritual growth of the church and the salvation of the lost. The mission of the church, as Clowney says, begins at the foot of the throne of Christ in humble intercession for our brothers and for the lost.
We see this as a very essential aspect of the life of the early church. In Acts 4 we see the disciples gathered together in order to pray and ask for boldness in the carrying out of their task. And it is in answer to their prayer that the Lord granted them His Spirit to give them boldness to preach in the face of persecution. Our task is so great and the mission of the church is so important—as we have pointed out, it is the central focus of God’s plan of redemption—for this reason we would be amiss if we did not pray. We dare not attempt this mission in our own strength. We are not sufficient of these things. We must lay ourselves humbly before God’s throne and ask for His grace. As William Carey, the great missionary to India, said, “The most glorious works of grace that have ever took place, have been in answer to prayer”.
The Lord has chosen to use the means of preaching to save souls and equip His people, and He has chosen prayer to be the means of empowering and encouraging His people in this work and knitting the hearts of His people together in order to work hand in hand, heart in heart, towards the great calling set before us.
Bannerman, James. The Church of Christ. Revised Edition. Edited by D. Douglas Bannerman. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2016.
Carey, William. Inquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen. E-book. 1792.
Clowney, Edmund P. The Church. Edited by Gerald Bray. Contours of Christian Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995.
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