Worship, Ancient and Modern

Sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 602 Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2026

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Liturgical forms of worship in free churches were on the rise during the ministry of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. This tendency hasn’t slowed and continues to this day as evangelicals have a renewed interest in read prayers, prayer books, responsive readings, and vestments. In this sermon on Romans 12:6–8 titled “Worship, Ancient and Modern,” Dr. Lloyd-Jones asks pressing questions of this movement. When one reads the descriptions of early church life, do they see themselves? Do they find these liturgical elements in Scripture and in what sense is the New Testament teaching binding on worship forms? While the liturgical practice of a prayer book and prescribed prayers each week is often argued on the basis of the Lord’s Prayer, Dr. Lloyd-Jones challenges this interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer. But Dr. Lloyd-Jones’s critique of the liturgical movement also takes the listener through church history in order to give a historical context for its development. While Dr. Lloyd-Jones acknowledges that both Martin Luther and John Calvin affirmed the authority of Scripture, it was Calvin who carried that belief beyond the realm of salvation and into church governance and worship. The goal in worship, says Dr. Lloyd-Jones, should be to correspond as closely to the picture given in Scripture. Listen to this intriguing and informative message on the history and development of church worship practices.

Transcript

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0:00.0	to the words found in the epistle to the Romans in chapter 12 reading verses 6, 7 and 8.
0:08.2	Having therefore gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us,
0:13.3	whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith or ministry,
0:19.1	let us wait on our ministry, or he that teacheth on teaching,
0:23.6	or he that exhorteth on exhortation, he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity,
0:29.1	he that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
0:35.2	Now, we are considering this most interesting and important statement. We've
0:40.9	already considered it in detail, and from the standpoint of the particular instructions,
0:46.9	that the apostle was giving to the members of the church at Rome, and in doing that,
0:53.4	we have discovered that he is incidentally and at the same time
0:58.0	giving us a description of the life of the early church. And we are now paying particular
1:06.0	attention to that. The danger is, of course, that we should just be content with giving the meaning of these
1:13.2	different terms, such as teaching and exhortation, and ministering and governing and so on,
1:19.3	and leave it at that. But we've seen that we mustn't do that. As this is a description of the
1:25.9	life and behavior of the early church, we naturally must
1:30.3	go on to ask the question, well then do we see ourselves in that picture?
1:35.3	And if we do not, why don't we?
1:38.3	What has happened to the Christian church?
1:41.3	That she should appear in general today to be so different from the picture that we find of her in the New Testament.
1:49.0	We've dismissed the suggestion that these things only applied to the early church.
1:55.0	That seems to me to be one of the most dangerous things that we can ever say.
1:59.0	We will soon be cutting down, as so many are doing at the present time,
	...

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