The Call to Worship

Ezra Reads the Law to the People by Gustave Dore

If you grew up going to church, then you are probably acquainted with the phrase “call to worship”. This is the first part of any worship service (once the announcements are out of the way). In most churches with a purposeful worship design (liturgy), this call to worship is in the form of a Bible passage read by the pastor on God’s behalf. However, even in less liturgical churches, there is frequently an opening song that calls the people of God to worship.

When considering family worship and how to structure all of its components, it is important to understand the “why” behind what you are implementing. In this blog post, I want to review the “call to worship” which is inarguably the first piece of any worship service. I will answer three questions: What is the call to worship? Why do we need a call to worship? And, Who delivers the call to worship?

What is the call to worship?

Put quite simply, the call to worship is God’s calling his people to come and worship him. This may seem obvious, but there are many theological implications behind this relatively easy to grasp concept. In this section, we will consider the call itself and save the implications for the next section.

In Exodus 19, we see the Israelites at the foot of Mt. Sinai, freshly freed from their bondage of slavery in Egypt. God spoke with Moses and commanded him to remind the people of the salvation he brought about for them. This salvation resulted in Israel becoming his set apart people whom he would make a kingdom of priests. This responsibility required obedience to God’s commands and Israel accepted these conditions.

Once these issues were nailed down, God revealed that he was about to come down on Mt. Sinai and make his presence known. This wasn’t any mundane announcement. This was a serious affair that had serious implications. These implications are implied in God’s commands for their preparation for coming into his presence.

Prior to God’s appearance at Mt. Sinai, the people were to wash and purify themselves for three days. The people had to be consecrated to the Lord in order to enter his presence. This is considered a preparation for worship. In the New Covenant we have been consecrated by the Holy Spirit according to the finished work of Christ who justifies and sanctifies us; however, we should still reflect on that work and be humbled as preparation for worship.

After three days of consecration, Israel experienced the sight of God coming down on Mt. Sinai in smoke and lighting. With loud trumpet blasting, God called Moses up to the top of the mountain. (Notice the connection between trumpet blasts and God calling Moses. In Revelation, Jesus’ speech to John sounded like a trumpet.) At this stage of redemptive history, only Moses and Aaron could go up the mountain because they were the appointed representatives for the people. In the New Covenant, all believers are allowed to ascend the mountain of worship because of Jesus’ representative work on our behalf.

So we can see from this short sketch of Exodus 19 that the call to worship is an announcement of the Lord’s presence and an invitation for his people to come into that presence. The example in Exodus is a shadow of the true substance we have now in Christ; however, a shadow is still tied to the reality of the substance. There is a legitimacy behind New Covenant believers being called into worship.

Why do we need a call to worship?

Just as Israel had to be called to worship, so do we. Although we have so many more benefits in Christ, we still deal with a sinful nature that’s being put to death daily.

“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
Romans 3:10-12 ESV

We need to be called to worship because no human being descended from Adam naturally seeks for God. None of us have a righteousness of our own that would lead us to approach the Lord in worship. At the foot of Mt. Sinai, the people had a slavish fear of their Lord because of their sinfulness and his holiness. None of us can remain in the way of the good, but we have all turned aside and become corrupt and worthless, unable to enter his presence. But God doesn’t leave us like this, he has delivered us from darkness into marvelous light.

“But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 ESV

Lost sinners are not left in their sins once God’s electing love begins to take effect. God has chosen his people to be saved “through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth”. The work of preparation commanded to the Israelites in order to consecrate them for worship is now done by the Holy Spirit himself. And how did this whole process start in the believer? God the Father “called” us through the gospel message. God has called us out of sin and into “the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”. We are invited to enter the smoke and lightning filled mountaintop so that we might worship the Lord freely.

Left to ourselves, we would reject the Lord and turn away from him. But the Lord is faithful to his covenant and will not lose any of those whom he has foreknown and predestined to salvation. Therefore, he calls us to worship him. Week in and week out on the Lord’s Day he speaks through your pastor and calls you to forsake sin and worship him. Day in and day out he calls your family to forsake sin and worship him. He is at work in you to answer that call so that you might worship him and be further sanctified by the Spirit and freed from sin.

Who delivers the call to worship?

While we know that the call to worship comes from God, who mediates this call in worship services? Throughout redemptive history, it has pleased the Lord to work through representatives. Adam represented all mankind when he fell into sin. Moses acted as a representative for Israel on Mt. Sinai and was even willing to stand in the gap to take punishment for their sin. David was representative of the people of Israel as their king. Heads of father’s houses were representative of those houses all throughout biblical history. And Jesus himself represents his body of believers before God.

By this line of thinking, I believe it is fitting for the call to worship to be delivered by the representative head of the people who are assembled for worship. In the weekly church service on the Lord’s Day, the pastor administers the call to worship because he is the under-shepherd placed over the sheep to care for them. In the daily family worship service, the father administers the call to worship because he has been given the charge of overseeing the spiritual health of his family.

Note: This is the ideal situation for a home. There are many instances when fathers might not be present. This includes death, divorce, unbelief, odd working hours, etc. Don’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good. If the father is unavailable, the mother is perfectly capable of calling her children to worship. However, if a believing father is present, he should be taking hold of his responsibility to call his family to worship.

Conclusion

Many of us had exposure to a “call to worship” throughout our childhood. If you were anything like me, then you didn’t really understand the implications of this part of the worship service. We are naturally sinners who need to be called out of our sin and into the glory of Jesus Christ. This happens through the message of the gospel, but it needs to continually happen every time we worship the Lord because we are prone to wander. As fathers (and potentially mothers), I hope this leads you to take time to call your family to worship their Lord.