Worship, the Old and the New

Sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 603 Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Human traditions are often blinded to the clear teaching of Scripture. Traditionalism is a danger Christians must avoid because it is a prejudice they are all subject to. Perhaps no area of the Christian life is more prone to traditionalism than worship. Whether as an individual or entire denomination, one can easily read their prejudices back into Scripture. In this sermon on Romans 12:6–8 titled “Worship, the Old and the New,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones calls Bible-believing Christians to examine their traditions. He asks them to consider the general impression of the New Testament as they read about the early church engaging in worship. Seeking to counter the resurgence among evangelicals towards a liturgical form, Dr. Lloyd-Jones answers the liturgical arguments by drawing attention to passages such as Romans 12:6–8. While there is continuity between Old Testament worship – with its emphasis on prescribed forms – there is discontinuity as well. Of course, this difference is not one in kind but in degree. Moreover, as figures in church history have justified set prayers and liturgical services in order to prevent error from creeping into the church, this should only be a temporary expedience, says Dr. Lloyd-Jones. Nevertheless, Christ is able to gift all to pray, preach, and teach in a biblical manner avoiding doctrinal errors. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones challenges from Scripture prevailing worship traditions and prejudices.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Most of you will recall that we are still dealing with verses 6, 7, and 8 in the 12th chapter of Paul's official to the Romans.
0:09.0	Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us,
0:14.0	whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith or ministry.
0:20.0	Let us wait to know a ministry, or he that teacheth on teaching,
0:24.9	or he that exhorteth on exaltation.
0:27.8	He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity.
0:30.7	He that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
0:36.7	Now, having looked at the exact meaning of those particular words that the apostle there
0:42.4	uses, we have moved on to consider this statement in general, because as we've seen,
0:50.6	here we find the apostle not only giving instructions as to how the members of the church
0:57.0	at Rome should conduct and comport themselves, and describing the kind of gifts that the
1:04.0	early spirit gives, dispenses, deals to the different members of the church, we have seen at the same time that it is, therefore,
1:15.7	incidentally, a description and an account and a picture of the life of the early church.
1:23.2	Now, that's the thing that is engaging our attention at the moment.
1:27.4	It raised, of course, immediately the whole question of offices in the church, or orders,
1:33.1	if you like, a ministry in the church.
1:36.0	And we've considered that.
1:38.3	But having done that, we've moved on to consider another aspect of this matter.
1:42.8	Because here, I say, you have a picture of the kind of way in which
1:47.9	the early church live and conducted her life. And that I suggest is important for us, and especially
1:58.7	at the present time. There are many reasons why we should consider this.
2:03.4	If we had no other reason, this ought to be enough, if we do indeed believe that this is the
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