In the Splendor of Holiness

Title: In the Splendor of Holiness
Author: Jon D. Payne
Publisher: Tolle Lege Press, 2008
Pages: 115
Begun: March 11, 2009
Completed: March 16, 2009

The subtitle of this book is "Rediscovering the beauty of Reformed worship for the 21st century." Payne is the pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Douglasville, Georgia. This fairly brief work is a compilation of his weekly pastoral letters to his congregation on the subject of corporate worship. Payne organizes his material by beginning with an introduction and then laying out a chronological order of a church's liturgy with Scriptural teachin on each section of the liturgy. From his introduction, I like his observation on the state of worship that tragically marks innumerable churches:

"In general, evangelical worship has become radically informal, presumptuously innovative, and biblically impoverished. Much of this is due largely to the abandonment of God-centered, biblically-regulated liturgy. What has been shelved is a Protestant liturgical heritage which, for centuries, has faithfully led Christians to worship God biblically and nourish their faith upon Christ through the ordinary means of Word and sacrament" (16).

The Second Chapter, in my opinion, is the best written and articulated chapter of this book, and is one of the best exposes on worship I have read. Payne lists eight qualities of Biblical worship:

1. Biblical worship is Biblical
2. Biblical worship is God-centered, not Man-centered
3. Biblical worship is Dialogical (a dialogue between God and His people)
4. Biblical worship is Simple
5. Biblical worship is Expressed in All of Life AND at Sacred Times
6. Biblical Worship is Reverent
7. Biblical worship is Trinitarian
8. Biblical worship Sets Forth the Person and Redemptive Work of Jesus Christ

Under the first quality, Payne says:

"Worship must, however, in its form and content be rooted in teh authoritative Word of God. Theology, and not a pragmatic philosophy for church growth or the weekly quest for a mountaintop experience with God, must drive our worship....Indeed, to worship God in a way not prescribed in His Word is to undermine His divine authority and rob Him of the glory due His Name" (22, 24).

This is a great book for both pastors and laypersons. I like Payne's deliberateness to be unashamedly Scriptural and Gospel-focused in every aspect of the worship service. It's especially refreshing in a day when churches conduct their worship services with little or no Scriptural thought to them. Why is it that some so-called Gospel-preaching churches engage in mindless, tradition-centered, man-centered "worship?" It is because there is a famine of the Gospel and/or lack of understanding of the Gospel in the church. Where there is a want of the Gospel in the church, there is no true worship. Worship is not about traditions, men, or fads, but as Payne states, "authentic Christian worship, when carried out according to what God (the ultimate governing authority) has instituted in His Word, is the context in which God is honored and His people flourish" (25).