The Lord's Service Quotes

“Every church service is a liturgy, if it has various elements in some arrangement. That is what liturgy is. Liturgical churches are churches that have thought about those elements and their proper order. Nonliturgical churches are those that have not. It is no compliment to say that a church is a nonliturgical church. It is the same thing as saying it is a church that gives little thought to how it worships God.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“Chesterton’s witty observation usually holds: “As is common in most modern discussions the unmentionable thing is the pivot of the whole discussion.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“What we do on the Lord’s Day in God’s presence defines who we are. We are most authentically the Church when we gather around the Word, the Table, and the ordained minister on the Lord’s Day in corporate worship.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“The covenant is formally inaugurated with disciples at Baptism. An analysis of the rite of Baptism shows that this same covenantal order is present: The child (or adult) is called by God. He is then separated from his old way of life (natural parents). God takes hold of the person being baptized, tearing him from his old world and bringing him into a new life in the Church. United to Christ and his Body, the Church, the child is given a new name (disciple/Christian) and placed under the authority of the pastors and elders of the church. As a disciple the person now learns to listen to and heed God’s Word. He is admitted to the covenant memorial meal where he must learn to live faithfully and experience the blessings of the covenant. Finally, he grows to learn the importance of perpetuating the covenant by means of evangelism, marriage, and the faithful nurture of covenant children.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“The ritual of the Lord’s Supper is explicitly identified by Jesus as a covenant renewal rite: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (Lk. 22:10). That means we should find the same covenantal order and shape here as well. The Lord’s Supper is a covenant memorial meal. Every week at this meal the covenant is renewed when the Lord takes us through the order of covenant renewal: Jesus took hold of the bread and gave thanks. He did the same with the cup. He broke the bread and poured out the wine giving them new names (“my body” and “my blood”), and as Lord and Master distributed them to His followers. He taught them while they ate and spoke of the new covenant that would result from His death and resurrection. (Jn. 14–17) He told them to “do” what He did and so memorialize His life, death, and resurrection to the Father in this ritual meal. After they ate and enjoyed the bread and wine, the disciples were strengthened for the mission to which they were being called. They sang a psalm and departed.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“The people of God are now called “Hebrews” (from Abraham’s ancestor Eber, Gen. 11:16).”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“Now, let us review what we have discovered in our analysis of the first creation covenant. Yahweh’s covenant with Adam contains in seed form everything that will go into the other covenants in the Scriptures. There will be some important changes, of course, after the fall of man, but the post-fall covenants are not ad hoc, novel arrangements, but renewals of the creation covenant. Our outline of the form of God’s covenant includes five dimensions: As covenant Lord, Yahweh takes hold of His creation in order to do something new with it. The Lord effects a separation. What God grasps is then transformed from one state to another, from the old to the new: a new creation. This new union (dirt and life-giving breath of Yahweh) receives from God a corresponding new name, which implies a new hierarchical relationship. There is a covenant head (Yahweh) and there are those who are dependent on that covenant head (human creatures). A new verbal communication of stipulations is expressed by the covenant Lord, a way of life fit for the new covenantal situation, a gracious enumeration of how to live fully and joyfully in this new covenant. The Lord offers His covenant partners a fellowship meal. He gives the gift of signs and seals of the covenant (two trees) together with a setting forth of blessings for grateful faithfulness and curses for ungrateful disobedience. The Lord arranges for the future succession of the covenant, which in this covenant involves marriage and children.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“The Church evangelizes when she goes out from God’s presence to proclaim to the world that Jesus is Savior and Lord (Mt. 28:16–20; Acts 1:8).”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“The self-denying, generous lives of Christians are sacrifices. The author of Hebrews admonishes the church, “But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Heb. 13:”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“A brief tour through the New Testament Scriptures ought to establish the fact that the way of sacrifice has not been abrogated, but fulfilled—not only by the work of Christ for us, but also through the work of Christ in us.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“The symbolic connection between the sacrificial animal and the human worshiper ought to have been well-known to the Israelite (e.g., the ram substituted and represented Isaac on the altar, Gen. 22:13). All animal sacrifice symbolized human sacrifice.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“The Church of Jesus Christ is the New Temple and as such the worship and ministry of the Church is in some profound sense “temple service.”10”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“Consider the birth of the New Covenant church on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two. In the old world, when the glory cloud descended upon the tabernacle and temple, the fire of God ignited the wood on top of the altar for the purpose of sacrifice. At the inauguration of the new creation in Christ, the glory cloud descends upon the new temple of God in Acts 2 and the fire of God is ignited over the heads of the Apostles, the new human temple of God, enabling them to offer their lives as living sacrifices (Eph. 2:21; 1 Pet. 2:5).”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“But in the New Testament period the temple system was central; after its destruction the Rabbis organized a new Judaism on enlightened Pharisee lines. But it was a new religion, not the old. The old religion died in the year A.D. 70, and gave birth to two children; the elder was modern Judaism without temple or priest or sacrifice; the younger was Christianity, which was proud possessor of all three. What links Hebrews with Revelation is its insistence on this fact. Christianity is the true heir of the old faith. To it have been transferred the priesthood and her sacrifice.9”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“Jesus was not only our substitute, but also the forerunner (Heb. 6:20). In union with Him we are drawn into God’s presence as living sacrifices. In Him the Church is holy space, the environment in which living sacrifices are offered.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“after the death and resurrection of Christ, the Church is the New Temple. She feasts with the King of Kings every week when she gathers. The fact that the covenant renewal meal is an integral part of weekly Christian worship was a dramatic experience for the first-century Jews. They understood the change: the Church was the New Temple (1 Cor. 3:16–17; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:18–22; Heb. 8:1–2; 1 Pet. 2:5; Rev. 21:3).4 When the early Christians met they ate (Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7, 11; 1 Cor. 5:8; 10:16–17; 11: 17–34; Rev. 3:20).”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“every Sabbath day was to be a “holy convocation,” one of the “feasts,” according to Leviticus 23:1–3. Such a mandate demands local, weekly worship, and not in Jerusalem, but decentralized in the towns.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“much of the language used to describe the Church and the Christian life in the New Testament is derived from the tabernacle, temple, and sacrificial system.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“In the New Testament sacrificial language is not confined to the historical work of Christ on the cross (Eph. 5:2; Heb. 9:26; 10:12). The author of Hebrews, for example, tells us that the entire Old Covenant sacrificial system “was symbolic for the present time” (Heb. 9:9–10).”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“The way of sacrifice has not been abrogated; animal sacrifices have. Discussion of the revocation of the sacrificial system has not always been carefully nuanced. The meaning and application of the Old Testament animal sacrificial system cannot be exhausted by referring it all to the historical work of Christ on the cross.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“Call to Worship: God calls the worshiper to draw near. In response to God’s call the worshiper comes with the appropriate animal. (Lev. 1:1–2)”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“the same five-fold covenantal pattern can be discerned in the way the details of the sacrificial ritual unfold. The first offering of Leviticus 1:1–9 illustrates this:”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“The public face of the covenant has changed too. Gone are circumcision and the animal sacrifices. New, non-bloody signs and seals of the covenant are instituted—the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. These are now the memorials of God’s new covenant.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“Not only does God utter the Ten Words from Mt. Sinai, but He also provides them with new signs and seals of His covenant: the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the sacrificial system. Not surprisingly, associated with these sacramental tokens of His presence are all sorts of blessings promised to those who faithfully perform them and curses for those who faithlessly violate the covenant rituals.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“There is a new sign and seal of the covenant: circumcision (Gen. 17). Blessings and curses are associated with this covenantal sacrament.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“There are new signs and seals of this new covenant: first, a sacrificial system that involves the use of every clean animal (Gen. 8:20); and second, a rainbow to remind God of his covenant. (Gen. 9:8–17)”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“The “sacrament,” if you will, or physical memorial of this marriage covenant is the sexual union between a man and his wife (“they were both naked and not ashamed,” v. 25). This becomes the physical sign and seal of the marital covenant. Finally,”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“But the important point here is that essential to every biblical covenant are these public, very physical memorials of the covenant. There is a sign of the covenant, something physical and tangible to remind God and Adam of the covenant: the two trees in the Garden. Faithfully maintaining the covenant demands that Adam and Eve maintain a faithful relation to these two trees. Faithfulness to God means being faithful in relating to these two trees. This same pattern is found throughout the Bible: keeping God’s covenant means faithfully performing the covenantal rituals established by God.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“For pedagogical purposes I will analyze God’s covenant under five headings: 1) God takes hold, 2) God separates and makes something new, 3) God speaks, 4) God grants ritual signs and seals, and 5) God arranges for the future.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

“Indeed, a covenant is a formal personal relationship, if you will. That is not an adequate definition, of course, but it reminds us that covenants possess definitive content and structure. The covenant is the form or shape of God’s personal relations with us.”
― Jeffrey J. Meyers, The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship