This is part of the worship series,
"A Classic TULIP Bouquet”
Series Introduction
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3
Week 4 | Week 5
Week One—Total depravity
Opening of Worship
We decided to focus on God’s holiness as a way of centering the early part of our worship.
“Holy, Holy, Holy” Heber
Opening Prayer
O loving God
to turn away from you is to fall,
to turn toward you is to rise,
and to stand before you is to abide forever.
Grant us, dear God,
in all our duties your help;
in all our uncertainties your guidance;
in all our dangers your protection;
and in all our sorrows your peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
—Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
"Lord, I Want to Be a Christian" African-American Spiritual
We Are Reconciled to God
[The movement from worshiping a holy God toward awareness of our own unholiness is a classic Reformed liturgical move, and one to which our congregation is accustomed. We considered various Lenten hymns, often reserved for their specific liturgical season, to use during the time of confession. The weight of those hymns, we discovered, can be even greater when presented at another time. The hymn was set off with a spoken and sung litany of confession.]
Confession/Reconciliation/Dedication to Holy Living
| All sing: | Ah, holy Jesus, how have you offended, that mortal judgment has on you descended? By foes derided, by your own rejected, O most afflicted! |
| Leader: | Did God create people so wicked and perverse? |
| All Speak: | No. God created them good and in his own image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that they might truly know God their creator, love him with all their heart, and live with him in eternal happiness to praise and glorify him. —Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 6, Translation © 2011, Faith Alive Christian Resources. Used by permission |
| All sing: | Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon you? It is my treason, Lord, that has undone you. Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied you; I crucified you. |
| Leader: | Then where does this corrupt human nature come from? |
| All Speak: | From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise. This fall has so poisoned our nature that we are all conceived and born in a sinful condition. —Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 7, Translation © 2011, Faith Alive Christian Resources. Used by permission. |
| All sing: | For me, dear Jesus, was your incarnation, your mortal sorrow, and your life’s oblation; your death of anguish and your bitter passion, for my salvation. |
| Leader: | But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined toward all evil? |
| All Speak: | Yes, unless we are born again, by the Spirit of God. —Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 8, Translation © 2011, Faith Alive Christian Resources. Used by permission. |
| All sing: | Therefore, dear Jesus, since I cannot pay you, I do adore you and will ever pray you, think on your pity and your love unswerving, not my deserving. —From the hymn “Ah, Holy Jesus”Heerman |
The Word
Scripture Lessons
Genesis 3; Romans 5:6–6:14. (The Genesis 3 passage lends itself to a readers' theater, although we did not present it in this way.)
Sermon Notes
- I began with an illustration of a frustrated teacher attempting to take charge of a noisy classroom by threatening to punish the whole class if a single student speaks out of turn. When that happens and all are punished, the rest protest: “It’s not fair!”
- From there we moved to the protest all of us could make: “It was Adam who sinned; why are all of us punished? It’s not fair!” Adam and Even uncorked an infection that spread through all of God’s orderly world. Even the good we do is tainted: we volunteer to help out with a neighborhood Bible study not only because is it an investment in the neighborhood but also because it will look great on our résumé.
- Our depravity keeps us from maintaining the holiness we attempt—how many of us attempt to incorporate a new spiritual discipline into our lives and fail?
- Total depravity does not mean that we act as sinfully as we can all of the time. Nor that all of us engage in all forms of sin. Although all are depraved, we do not all manifest our depravity in the same ways or to the same degree. But none of us is better than another. When it comes to holiness, we don’t compare ourselves to the guy at the end of the pew, we compare ourselves to God.
- Because of our depravity, we can do nothing to get ourselves out of this mess and into God’s good graces. Even our most righteous works are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Unlike Catholics, who believe that our good works help us make up for actual sins; unlike Arminians, who believe that our free will enables us to choose God; we believe that sin makes us unable to choose God and unable to do anything that would earn our way into heaven. Sin doesn’t just make us sick, it kills us (Romans 5; 1 Corinthians 15).
- It would have been fair for God to leave us, to condemn Adam and Eve for all eternity. But God didn’t. God cursed the serpent first. And in the cursing of the serpent, God promised that a Redeemer would come and depravity would be no more. Because of the work of Jesus, we are saved, we are forgiven, we are free. It’s not fair. Thanks be to God!
Hymn of Response
“And Can It Be?” Wesley
Closing Hymn
“Holy, Holy, Holy” (st. 3) Heber
Revised Common Lectionary
Year A: Lent—First Sunday in Lent
Year A: Lent—Third Sunday in Lent
Year A: Season after Pentecost—Proper 6 (11)
Year A: Season after Pentecost—Proper 7 (12)
Year B: Season after Pentecost—Proper 5 (10)
