The Amen in Public Worship: Practical Guidelines

The Importance of Worship in Spirit and Truth and the Role of the Amen

0:04 In speaking to that immoral woman of Samaria, our Lord Jesus Christ said in the fourth chapter of John's Gospel, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall ye worship the Father. Ye worship that which ye know not. We worship that which we know. For salvation is from the Jews.

0:32 But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth. For such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. In the light of this pivotal statement of our Lord, we as his people dare not regard lightly nor with indifference anything that pertains, to the worship of our great and gracious God and Father. For the Father seeks worshippers to worship him in a very specific category, even the category of spirit and of truth. Our study in the Word of God today reflects the concern of your elders, not an individual concern of mine, that we as the people of God have, a more clear grasp upon a certain dimension of the kind of worship which God seeks, a certain element of that which constitutes worship in the realm of truth. And I am referring, of course, to our specific corporate worship as the people of God

1:57 when we gather on occasions such as the one in which we find ourselves this morning. Our study is the last half of a brief examination of the subject, the verbal Amen in the public worship of God. Last Lord's Day, using 1 Corinthians 14.16 as the framework of our study, a verse in which the Apostle assumes that the public Amen was part of the congregational life at Corinth, asks the question, How shall he that occupieth the place of the Holy Spirit, who hath the power of the Holy Spirit, who hath the power of the Holy Spirit, who hath the power of the Holy Spirit, the unlearned, say thee Amen at the giving of thy thanks, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest? And opening up the principles that are inherent in that text, I then sought to lay before you two very simple principles. Number one, the meaning and significance of the word Amen in the Old and the New Testaments. And we discovered together that its basic idea was that of a verbal ratification or affirmation of the prayers and praises of God, or of the proclamation of the word of God to his people.

3:19 And then we considered, secondly, the pattern of the use of the Amen in the worship of God as found in the Scriptures. And I suggested that that pattern conforms basically to the whole concept of the major elements of Biblical worship. When God's people are gathered for specific worship, the first dimension of that worship are those activities in which God comes to his people, and then secondly those activities in which God's people draw near to him with their spiritual sacrifices. And in both areas, the public Amen is central to the congregational activity involving itself in the worship of God. And in both areas, the public Amen is central to the congregational activity involving itself in those activities. Though only those who are qualified, equipped, and duly recognized are to be the instruments of proclaiming and teaching us the word of God, it is not a matter of one-way communication. It is by this means that God himself engages the minds and hearts of his people through his appointed teachers and proclaimers of his truth, and the people of God are to acknowledge their hearty embrace of the voice of God by that affirmation of their Amen to the word of God.

4:46 And then as different ones are engaged in leading the congregation in expressions of praise and gratitude and confession in the presence of God, those who are not leading are not spectators or mere listeners. They are participants. With one heart and one soul, through the one voice of the appointed leader, they are drawing near to God, spreading their needs and sins and joys and expressions of gratitude before him, and their Amen is the affirmation that indeed, they consent in all that has been expressed, even as 1 Corinthians 14, 16 teaches. Well, that's a very brief review. of about 55 minutes of exposition. Now we come this morning to consider the practical outworking of this biblical teaching with respect to the Amen in the public worship of God. And the directions that I am giving you this morning on this subject are not the fruit of my own study alone, but in a sense, this is an elder's sermon.

Major Biblical Principle 1: Corporate Edification Must Never Be Undermined

5:59 Each point was carefully examined last night in our elders' meeting, and various suggestions were made, and additions and corrections to the proposed sermon were made. So in a very real sense, I am speaking with one mouth, but on behalf of all of the elders who were present last night. And I've tried to gather the materials under two major headings. As we consider the practical outworking of the teaching which we sought to absorb last Lord's Day, there is first of all what I'm calling the major biblical principles which must regulate our use of the Amen in the public worship of God.

6:42 And then there are the major dangers to be avoided in the use of the public or the Amen in the public worship of God. So we have then the major biblical principles and then the major dangers. First of all then, the major biblical principles which must regulate our use of the Amen. And there are two.

7:06 Number one, the goal of corporate edification must never be undermined in the use of the Amen in the public worship of God. Now what do I mean by the goal of corporate edification? Turn please to 1 Corinthians 14 as I attempt to answer that question. In this chapter dealing with the exercise of spiritual gifts in the congregation, and that's why the chapter is so helpful on this point, the apostle makes it very plain in the opening statements of this chapter and then again and again picks up this thread throughout the chapter. Namely, that corporate edification is the end for which we gather in our corporate edification. Life. Notice verse 2, For he that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God.

8:10 For no man understandeth, but in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men edification and exhortation and consolation. He that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself, but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. And then he goes on to show why prophecy must take precedence over tongue speaking.

8:36 Why? He says at the end of verse 5 that the church may receive edifying. So the great principle is that the edification of the entire gathered congregation is the great end for which any public gift is to be exercised. Now the question is how is the goal of edification?

8:59 How is the goal of edification attained? Is it by some mystical sense of the presence of God? Is it by some subjective feeling? No.

9:11 Paul says that great goal is attained only by the clear perception of the mind concerning the truth which is being proclaimed by the person who has a gift of public utterance. Verse 7, Even so things without life, giving a voice, whether pipe or harp, if they give not a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? If the trumpet give an uncertain voice, who shall prepare himself for war? So also ye, unless ye utter by the tongue speech easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken?

9:54 For ye will be speaking into the air. Then he goes on to amplify that and says, If then I cannot understand by clear speech what is spoken, I cannot be edified. Verse 12, So also ye, since ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may abound to the edifying of the church. And how is this to be done?

10:18 By speaking with the understanding. And then you see it culminates in verse 16 which we examined last week. If, he says, there is a worshipper who cannot understand what is being said in praise and gratitude, how can he join the rest of the congregation with his Amen? His understanding is unfruitful.

10:38 And even though he may have a felt sense that the Lord is there, Paul says he cannot utter an Amen in faith unless his understanding has grasped the truth. Well then, you see, the major principle which must govern our use, of the Amen in the worship of God, is this one. This great goal of corporate edification must never be undermined by the use of the Amen. Why do we not tolerate crying babies in our public worship?

11:19 Is it because we are baby haters? Well, not around this place we aren't. We love babies. Many of us are surrogate fathers to many of the little ones.

11:31 But we know that if the crying of a baby causes the eardrum to be unable to pick up the clear sounds that are being articulated by the teacher or preacher, there can be no edification. So we do not tolerate crying babies. Why? Crying babies undermine corporate edification because they hinder a clear understanding of the Word of God.

11:57 That's why we wouldn't tolerate a babbling drunk who might stagger into the back row. That's why we do not tolerate mumbling preachers. And that's why students, learn to speak clearly. Use all your speech apparatus.

12:16 Not just your diaphragm and tummy muscles and the larynx, but the lips and the tongue and the teeth. And so what if you spit once in a while? Let people vacate the wet row that's in the front.

12:32 Do not utter by the tongue words easy to be understood. There can be no edification. That's why we must develop a simple working man's vocabulary. If we use a 50 cent word, follow it up with a nickel word.

12:48 And then people will get the notion. You see, that's all woven into the whole fabric of the teaching of 1 Corinthians 14. Now then, that speaks worlds to us about the proper use of the Amen in the public worship of God. If people become overly profuse with their Amens, breaking out with them in the middle of a sentence, the person sitting next to them or him, may lose the main verb and miss the significance of the statement and thereby be robbed of edification.

13:23 And you're the thief. So irresponsibly blessed that you bellow out your Amen at an inopportune time and you rob your brother of his edification. Ill-timed Amens. Overly loud, individual Amens.

13:41 We won't tolerate them. I was at a conference once where, putting the best construction on the man's motives, a dear brother felt he had to be like almost a machine gun with a staccato Amen after every phrase. And it actually became distracting both to preacher and hearer. You couldn't carry through a thought in preaching because you were shot between the eyes with an Amen before you got your subject and verb together.

14:07 I actually heard of one preacher, now this may be apocryphal, but he got so carried away with Amen-ing his own sermons that he even got an Amen between Jeru and Salem. And it was Jeru-Amen-Salam when he was saying Jerusalem. Well, you see, this does not serve the ends of edification. And when this principle becomes a kind of intelligent spiritual obsession, it will answer 98% of your questions about when and where to say an Amen.

14:39 Why are we presently sitting here as we are now? At this particular moment in our corporate life as the people of God, we are specifically sitting here to be edified by the proclamation, the explanation and application of the Word of God. And any use of the Amen that will undermine that end is verboten. And if you're not sure if yours are right or wrong, someone will tap you on the shoulder and let you know if you're out of bounds.

15:12 That's what the Scripture means when it says, let all things be done decently and in order. That doesn't mean let everything be as staid as a tomb. Spurgeon one time prayed, Lord, for a season of holy disorder! And I've Amen-ed that prayer many times.

15:31 And there may be times when it's proper to get rather noisy. But it will never undermine the end of corporate edification. You got the principle? Once you get hold of that principle, then both in our approaches to God in prayer and praise and in God's approach to us in proclamation, there will not be any wooden uniformity.

15:55 We will not need to revert to a written liturgy where everyone knows at the precise point where he or she should say an Amen, nor will we fall into the excesses and anarchy of carnal impulses. We'll be regulated by love that seeks the edification of the whole body. Amen? See?

Major Biblical Principle 2: Corporate Affirmation Must Be Predominant

16:21 Now, no one was distracted by that corporate Amen. Now, there is a second major biblical principle, and it's this. The goal of corporate affirmation must always be predominant in the use of the public Amen. The goal of corporate affirmation, and the emphasis falls upon the word corporate affirmation, must always be predominant in the use of the public Amen.

16:55 Now, let me explain what I mean by the words and then demonstrate it from the Scriptures. In the examples cited from the Old and the New Testaments in our study last week, almost without exception, and the only exception I can remember is the Revelation 1-7 and Revelation 22-21 passage, every recorded use of the Amen was a use that was in a context of the corporate life of the people of God, and it was a corporate expression of the entire body of God's people. It wasn't that somehow it wasn't that some highly spiritual Israelites stood on one of the mountains and some group of a few highly spiritual Israelites on another, affirming with their Amens the blessings and cursings of the covenant. The entire nation was called upon to affirm its commitment to the covenant with its Amen and its Amen. That's found in Deuteronomy chapter 27. Then in Nehemiah, the same thing, when Nehemiah preaches to them concerning their sin in the light of God's law and then approaches God in prayer, it's the entire congregation of the people of God who answer with the Amen.

18:21 And of course, the whole implication of the 1 Corinthians 14 passage is there is that man who occupies the place of the unlearned, and the whole congregation is able to say the Amen, and that poor fellow feels uncomfortable in his silence because he doesn't understand what is being said. There are a couple of texts which though they may not in their primary meaning have any direct reference to this, I cannot help but believe there must be some secondary element of reference to this very principle. Romans chapter 15, a text that is fascinated me for years, and I've wondered how in the world can the people of God do what Paul is saying? Apart from their praises, remember this is in the setting now of trying to get Jews and Gentiles to dwell harmoniously in the same church context with all the diversity of background and religious heritage and cultural experience and expressions. Unlike the dictums of the modern church growth movement which says, let Gentiles have Gentile churches and Jews have Jewish churches, the Apostle Paul says,

19:48 no, the church must express that every barrier is broken down in Christ. And so he writes whole chapters to give the principles by which Jew and Gentile are to be integrated into one harmonious expression of the saving power of Jesus Christ. And towards the end of that subject being treated in the epistle to the Romans, he says in verse 5 of chapter 15, Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus, that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's that phrase that ye may not with many mouths but with one mouth. Now obviously, he's using a figure of speech. The whole congregation can't have one mouth.

20:53 But it can have one mouth. Physically, physiologically, impossible. But in terms both of its praise and of its act and its affirmation of those who lead the congregation in petition and adoration and who come with the word of proclamation, it is possible that we being of one mind in our commitment to the truth that comes to us, in the sentiments by which we draw near to God, we may with one accord and one mouth glorify our gracious God. And so you see the concept of corporate affirmation. We do not meet here this morning as so many little individual integers who are simply here because of the logistics of trying to get us all under the sound of one preacher's voice. We are here as the body of Christ. Oh yes, I know, the church universal is his body.

22:04 But Paul writing to the church at Corinth is, know ye not that ye, you at Corinth, you, are a naos, a temple, a sanctuary of God. And we have an identity in our corporate existence. It is just as real as our individual identity in our individual existence. What a wonderful thing it is to catch hold of something of the wonder of that with relationship to the subject in hand.

22:35 How can we express that we are of one mind and one soul in our commitment to the truth of God, in our aspirations after holiness, in our concerns for those for whom we have prayed. Here is God's ordained way for every man, woman, boy or girl to affirm his commitment to these things. It is the inclusion of his voice in the Amen of prayer, of praise and of proclamation. Now in the light of this particular sermon, I would like to ask you to pray with me in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit.

23:11 In the light of this perspective we must seek to cultivate first of all that sense of our identity. When you come in and sit before a service of worship what do you think? Well many of you I know open your Bibles and quietly meditate upon a portion of the Word and that is good and right and proper and I hope you abound in that more and more. But may I suggest something?

23:35 Try to inject for at least a few moments as you see your brothers and sisters coming in and sitting and taking their places around you. Sit and let your mind be filled with this wonderful wonderful wonderful thought. A temple of God is here and God in a peculiar way dwells in the midst of His gathered people. What is the precise nature of that dwelling?

24:06 How does it differ from the individual indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Many such questions I am not prepared to answer but the scriptures are clear we are a temple of God where two are gathered there am I in the midst in a way He is not in my closet when I pray alone. He is there but in a peculiar way He is here in the midst of His blood-bought people. Now as you cultivate that consciousness now do you see what a joy it will be then to cultivate as an expression of that consciousness a unified sensitivity to the proper place to say the Amen. So that our Amen is a corporate affirmation it is the church expressing its commitment to whatever has been prayed preached or brought to God in praise. Now it is in pursuit of that goal and in pursuit of that purpose that we must do the commandment to do all things decently and in order that your elders are giving some specific directions that apply only to this congregation. I can't we can't give you chapter and verse for these specific things these are general

25:35 principles now applied to the specific and we are as of today and for the foreseeable future committed to joy andО we believe that the truth of the truth of the truth that we are going to those points that we can truly use in our service to our church and in and aspiration, we're going to sing the Amen. You say, well, you know, it often bothers me. Why do we sing the Amen in the morning, not in the evening? Well, I'll answer that question for you. Back some years ago, before we had any theology of the Amen, we had some people who said, I want to sing the Amen. They came to the elders.

26:32 Others said, I come out of an old liturgical dead church background where the Amen reminds me of all the grave cloths and the stinking carcass of that old dead religion. I don't like the Amen. They said, well, what are we going to do? We said, well, we'll strike a compromise.

26:46 We'll sing the Amen in the morning, and we won't sing it at night. And so it was an expedient just to keep harmony in the church. But now that we have a theology of the Amen, we don't care if your old dead carcass of religious past had an Amen that was dead and lifeless. In its place, you add an Amen that is full of the life-giving power of the Spirit because you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

27:15 And so at the end of all of our psalms and hymns, we shall sing the Amen. But I trust we shall sing it for what it is.

27:26 Not something by which we wind down the last stanza and peter out into nothing, you know, like the cowboy riding off into the sunset and then they just fade him out and then the end appears on the screen. No, no. Let it be like the last two or three steps of a mountain climber who's finally come to the place, the pinnacle of his mountain and plants his flag so that our Amen is an enthusiastic, whole-souled affirmation that everything we have expressed we ratify with all our heart and soul.

28:06 And if you can't do it, then don't sing it. But if you can, then sing the Amen as though you really meant it. Furthermore, we believe it is appropriate at the end of every public prayer, whether in prayer, in our meeting, here in our services of worship and proclamation, that the Amen be a corporate Amen. That each one of you enter in, some of you more loudly than others.

28:35 Granted, as we'll show briefly, there are these diversities of culture and temperament and God does not obliterate them. But that if you have indeed been able to have your heart run out in the praises and in the confession of sin and in the praise of God, and in the praise of God, and in the petitions of whoever leads us in prayer, then affirm it as though indeed that person was your mouthpiece as a part of this corporate identity, this Church of Christ. And then, when those who preach lead in prayer, at the end of their sermon, we're encouraging each one who does to make sure that his prayer is linked vitally to the proclamation, praying that that, that word be received, obeyed and loved. And when that person who's leading us in prayer comes to the end of his prayer, our Amen is the response to the word preached, that we do indeed receive it as the word of God. Now you see, this is the beauty again of the truth that in Christ there is neither male nor female, bond nor free. And let me speak very specifically, you dear women, you are not only warranted, you are under obligation to add your Amen.

29:57 You see, this is not a matter of leadership in the assembly. This is a matter of the congregation in its corporate identity as one new man in Christ in which there is neither male nor female to express its affirmation of the word of God and the praises of God. Now granted, men are standing before us, in leadership, that's a matter of administration within the assembly in which God clearly teaches that men are to take the leadership. But who are they leading?

30:31 They are leading the men and the women and the boys and the girls in prayer and praise and in thinking God's thoughts after Him. So who should respond to that leadership? Every man, woman, boy or girl whose heart has been led by the appointed leader. And so in our public worship services, in our prayer meetings, we urge you women, you boys and girls who may not even yet be public disciples in the sense of having been baptized and become members of the church, but you believe God has wrought a work of grace in you and your heart can affirm what is preached and prayed, then you add your Amen.

31:16 You see, the great goal should be that goal of the corporate affirmation of the activities of our worship. In this way, visitors who come amongst us will sense that we are one body in dealing with God. The unconverted who cannot add their Amen will feel the pressure of that upon their consciences. And just as surely as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, when the church gathers, the church preaches the Lord's death till He comes when they gather to His table by our Amen to the praise and proclamation in public worship, we proclaim the great reality of our identity as the people of God. Now that means that those of us who preach and lead in prayer have got to give thought to the content of our prayers. You see, the prayer should be such that the great majority of the people of God can enter into the sentiments expressed. What is proper for prayer in the closet may not be proper for prayer in the congregation.

32:21 Those of us who lead in prayer must give serious thought to the content of our prayer, to the volume with which we pray. We have some people who are a little hard of hearing. How can they say the Amen? You may as well be speaking in tongues.

32:39 And to the length of your prayer, it's difficult to follow the track of another man's thoughts in prayers for too long a time. So those of us who lead must be conscious we are leading the entire congregation. And as we give serious and prayerful thought to that responsibility and independence upon the Spirit of God, seek to fulfill that function. As I mentioned last week, it's a wonderful thing when one has given serious thought to his prayers and felt the help of the Spirit in praying, a help that is very akin to the help in preaching.

33:15 It's a wonderful thing when there is the affirmation of the Amen of God's people and you feel that God has used you to be their mouthpiece. But I tell you, it's a heartbreaking thing to hear a dull silence when you've poured your heart out to God and wonder if you may as well have been in the back there behind the folds praying to God in secret. It's like preaching to a congregation where half the people go asleep. It's the same effect upon the one who leads.

33:43 Because that's what he's doing. He's seeking to lead the people of God. Well then, those are the two great regulative principles in the outworking of this matter. They're mustering the power of God.

33:56 They're mustering the power of God. They're mustering the power of God. There must be nothing in the use of the Amen that undermines corporate edification. The great goal should be corporate affirmation.

Danger 1: Using the Amen to Attract Attention to Self

34:06 Now, very quickly, I'm going to run through a few of the major practical dangers to be avoided in the use of the Amen. Tighten your seatbelt. We're going to pick up our speed and move quickly. Because of indwelling sin, there is no privilege which is not liable to abuse and no duty for which we do not have an indisposition.

34:33 If we could only worship for one Lord's Day without remaining corruption, this part of the sermon would not be needed. But because we worship with remaining corruption a part of us, even as we worship, this great privilege is liable to abuse and there is a native indisposition to its performance. Now, it's in the light of those truths rooted in Romans 721 and Galatians 517 that I give you these warnings. Number one, beware of using the Amen to attract attention to yourself.

35:10 The purpose of the Amen, according to 2 Corinthians 1.20, is the glory of God. In Him is the yea and through Him is the amen to the glory of God. What could be more wicked than to direct the attention of solemn worship from the ineffable, all-glorious, majestic God to a worm like yourself?

35:40 It's wicked. It's absolute wickedness. Therefore, ill-timed individual amens, overly loud, repetitious amens, become the occasion of attracting attention to oneself. Oh, I know, but the hyper-spiritual person sitting there says, yes, but if others were as spiritual as I am, they would say Amen as often as I do.

36:09 My friend, that's a stench in God's nostrils.

36:14 For the height of spirituality is love that seeketh not its own.

Danger 2: Doing Violence to Yourself in Expressing Amen

36:23 The very fact that you could think that way shows your heart is devoid of that love which is concerned with others. Second warning, beware of using the Amen in such a way as to do violence to yourself. Not only must we beware of using the Amen in such a way as to attract attention to self, beware of using the Amen in such a way as to do violence to yourself. And what do I mean by that?

36:51 Well, simply this. And I read just a paragraph from an article dealing with this subject. To be sure, there are natural differences within the true Church of Christ. The Scot or the New Englander may be less expressive than the South American or the Southern American.

37:08 During the days of the British Commonwealth, there were marked differences of expression within the churches of Great Britain. The Irish Puritans expressed themselves in the public worship with a kind of shrill sound, while some of the English Puritans did so with a kind of a grunt. But while there may be regional differences, there ought to be unanimity among us as to the employment of the Amen in prayer, praise, and in the hearing of the Word of God read and preached. Now, why do I give this warning?

37:40 Well, for the simplicity of the matter, there is a simple reason that we are liable to identify a certain person and the manner in which he or she says the Amen as the proper way to do it. And in seeking to conform to another, we do violence to our own individual identity. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control. That is, the Spirit is never more operative than when I am in most control of myself in terms of who God may be.

38:10 That is, the Spirit is always the one who is in control of me and what He has made me. Some of you are soft-spoken. It would be incongruous that when you said an Amen, you should be as loud as some of the rest of us who are not soft-spoken, who are reminded all the time if someone is sleeping that even in conversation in the house you are talking too loud, you are talking too loud. Some of us just have to be really quite aggressive and quite intense and quite loud in his normal speaking volume to just whisper and squeak out a little Amen.

Danger 3: Allowing the Amen to Degenerate into Vain Repetition

38:54 Well, the opposite is true as well. So beware. Beware of using the Amen in such a way as to do violence to yourself. Thirdly, beware of allowing the Amen to degenerate into a vain repetition of religious jargon.

39:13 And what was the mark of their praying vain repetitions? Or Mark 7, this people draws near with the lips but their hearts are far from me. Beware of allowing the Amen to degenerate into a vain repetition that has either on the one hand the pagan idea, the more Amens I use, the more spiritual I am, or on the other to maintain the soul of the body of the Amen as it becomes introduced more and more into the life of our congregation. So beware of allowing the Amen to degenerate into vain repetition. It's not necessary. I've been married 23 years. If I had a penny for every time I kissed my wife I'd be well off.

40:08 But I don't grow tired of kissing her. Each kiss is a reaffirmation of the first one. That's the way our Amens can be. To the extent that spiritual realities burn in our hearts, each Amen can be as fresh as the first one.

Danger 4: Using the Amen in Inappropriate Circumstances

40:29 And then the fourth warning. Beware of using the Amen in an inappropriate set of circumstances. 1 Corinthians 13 5 says, Love doth not behave itself unseemly. I've been where total strangers went into a congregation instructed in the use of the Amen and because they were they started bellowing out their Amens they made fools of themselves and brought great reproach to Christ.

41:05 Love doth not behave itself unseemly. That's the key text. Or we could bring to bear 1 Corinthians 9 to the Jews. I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews.

41:21 To the Greeks I gave a life according to the law. regulated by the conditions in which you find yourself. Isn't that the great teaching of Christian liberty? That it must always be linked with love that seeks not its own and doth not behave itself unseemly. You're in a funeral parlor, and there may be something the preacher says that blesses you, but in our society, amens in a funeral parlor are out of place. Use some sense, will you? Will you pray for some love that is sensitive to social circumstances?

Danger 5: Indulging a Sinful Reticence to Engage in the Amen

42:26 Beware of using the amen in an inappropriate circumstance or circumstances, and then finally, beware of indulging a sinful reticence to engage in the use of the amen. And that's the danger of some of you. Beware of indulging a sinful reticence. You kids, reticence means reluctant.

42:49 You don't want to do it. Mom says, pick up your stuff in your room, and inside you don't want to. That's reticence. Beware of a reticence to engage in the use of the amen.

43:01 What would you think if you came into a group of individuals, all of whom were standing facing the American flag, had their hands over their heart, had a hand over their heart, and they were pledging allegiance, and you saw someone sitting there with his arms. Folded, looking to the ground.

43:22 What would you assume?

43:26 I know what I would assume. This is some kind of a smart aleck who will take all the privileges and liberties of this country, but will not affirm his allegiance to that country as exemplified in that pledge of allegiance to its flag.

43:47 What would you think if there was a group of people, and into their midst walked a dignitary, a president, a governor, and everyone stood. And someone sat slouched down in the chair, with a toothpick in his mouth, chewing on it.

44:05 You'd say, that insolent brat. Who in the world does he think he is? You see where I'm going, don't you?

44:15 If someone has led us in prayer and expressed the corporate aspirations and gratitude and longings of the people of God, and with one heart they pledge their allegiance to those sentiments, your silence is like the refusal of the man to pledge allegiance to the flag. What would you say? It's not natural to me. Well, there are a lot of things that weren't natural to you before you got converted that I hope are very natural to you now.

44:49 You didn't pray before you were converted, did you? Oh, you said some prayers, but you didn't pray, did you? I hope you pray now. You didn't go to church three and four times a week, and then choose all your friends amongst Christians.

45:04 I hope you, I mean, all of your intimate friends, I hope you do now. There are a lot of things you never did you're doing now. Why? Because the Word of God and the Spirit of God direct you to do them.

45:16 Well, my friend, surely these materials I've brought to you have not been spun out of the stuff of my own notions. And if it is scriptural for the congregation, male and female, young and old, to verbally or verbally to affirm its commitment to the Word, and verbally to affirm its coalescence of heart and mind with the praise and worship of God, then learn to say the Amen. I don't care how funny you feel the first few times. I felt funny the first time I preached on the street corner.

45:52 Scared to death, knees knocking. But I did it anyway. Because I got backed into it and there was nothing else I could do. Until after a while, preaching on the street corner was as natural to me as breathing.

46:05 Oh, my dear friend, don't hide behind your culture, hide behind your personality. Within the boundaries of that culture and personality, learn to add your weight to the corporate expression of the praise and gratitude of the people of God. Well, we come around full circle to where we started last Lord's Day. Having determined the meaning and use of the Amen in Scripture, I've now tried to lay before you these great principles.

Conclusion: Affirming God's Word and Glorifying Him with One Mouth

46:43 Corporate edification must never be undermined by the Amen. Corporate affirmation must always be the great end that we seek. We must constantly avoid self-seeking, self-destruction, vain repetition, unseemliness in the use of the Amen, and sinful silence. And our great longing as your elders is that we as a congregation intelligently and wholeheartedly will again and again affirm our believing response to the Word of God, our wholehearted assent to the praises and prayers that are offered in the congregation of His saints. And our prayer is that God, who honors the obedience of His people, will use this, even in the lives of the unconverted, to make it evident that this is indeed a matter of being outside the pale of the life and joy and heart realities of the people of God. And Paul introduces that very concept of the congregational impression upon the unconverted in 1 Corinthians 14. Cause men to feel the emptiness of their heart.

48:03 Why can they not say the Amen? Not because they can't frame the Word, but because they have no heart. And who knows how God will use your life as a congregation in obedience to God. And ultimately, of course, the great end is that with one mouth we glorify our God and our Father.

48:26 May God grant then, without any trace of legalism or hyper-spirituality, we as a congregation may grow in conforming our worship to the principles of the Word of the Living God. If that's your desire, affirm it in His presence with your Amen. Amen. Let us pray.

49:00 Our Heavenly Father, we are grateful that we have the Scriptures as a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. We thank You for the conviction that has been brought home to our hearts by the power of the Spirit. That we are not at liberty to worship You according to our own whims, according to our own cultural pressures and impulses, according to any tradition that has been handed down to us, but that we are to worship You in spirit and in truth. And as we have sought to be honest with this dimension of truth, with its deep roots in the worship of Your people in ages past, and with its ultimate fruit in the worship of the world to come, when we shall join those creatures about the throne who sing their Amens to the praises of the Lamb that has been slain, O God, grant that our worship in this place may be conformed to the Word of God. We pray for those who have no worshiping heart, who could not, who could not with any degree of conviction affirm an Amen to the praises sung this morning. O God, in mercy deal with them and give them a heart

50:28 that will yet delight in Your praise. By Your grace, we seek to receive this Word, and by Your grace we seek to obey it. Hear our prayer, receive our praise, and be with us as we part from each other through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.