The Pre-Eminence Of Christ In The Worship Of God

Colossians 1:18

            The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, is pre-eminent in the worship of God. God almighty cannot be known, worshipped or served in any way, to any decree, except as he is known, worshipped, and served by faith in and through the merits of Christ, the Mediator. Our Savior declares, “No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” Our faith, prayers, services, and sacrifices of praise are acceptable to God only through the person and work of Christ our Mediator (1 Pet. 2:5).

            In the preaching of the Word Christ is pre-eminent. The most prominent and most important aspect of public worship is the reading and preaching of the Word of God. But this fact must be understood - It is not enough just to preach the Book. We are sent of God to preach the message of the Book. And the message of this Book is Jesus Christ and him crucified. There is not a page in the Book of God that does not speak of Christ, not a page! And there is no preaching of the Word of God unless Christ, who is the gospel, is preached. (1 Pet. 1:25).

            The Book of Acts demonstrates that our Lord Jesus Christ was the singular subject of preaching in the earliest days of Christianity. The words preach, preached, and preaching are used thirty-seven times in the Book of Acts. Every time they are used the subject preached was Jesus Christ and the resurrection! If the Book of Acts is to be taken for our standard, it must be concluded that unless Christ has been preached no preaching has been done. That man who pretends to be a preacher but does not preach Christ and him crucified mocks the people who hear him. Rather than serving their souls he destroys them!

            In all our songs of praise Christ must be pre-eminent. We do not gather to sing the praises of men, but the praises of the triune God in Christ. It is insignificant what musical instruments are used or not used in the accompaniment of our hymns. It is insignificant whether the tempo of the music is modern or conservative. But it is of utmost importance that the word of and message contained in our songs of praise be both doctrinally accurate and Christ exalting.

            The two ordinances of worship prescribed in the New Testament are designed to focus our hearts upon Christ. There are two ordinances ordained of God in the church: Believer’s Baptism and The Lord’s Supper. No others are required or allowed. And these two ordinances are to be observed by believers only, and only in the manner prescribed in the New Testament. They are not sacraments by which grace is conveyed to sinners, but ordinances by which redemption and grace are confessed and celebrated. Believer’s Baptism is a symbolic burial and resurrection with Christ by which believers confess faith in and identify themselves with Christ and his gospel (Rom. 6:3-6). The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic remembrance of Christ and his great work of redemption as our Substitute (1 Cor. 11:24-26).

Don Fortner