A Recommitment to the Public Means of Grace

James Ritchey

In a new year, people will often make resolutions.  New commitments, new patterns, new goals.  In the evangelical world, Bible reading plans are formed and become part of the fabric of the lives of Christians, which is good as it drives people into the Word as it is a means of grace.  But I would suggest that Christians ought to recommit themselves also to the public means of grace in corporate worship and in the life of the church.

As Reformed people, we typically hold to what is referred to as an “ordinary means of grace” philosophy of ministry.  According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism question 88, “The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption, are his ordinances, especially the word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.”[1] Christ ordinarily works in the hearts of His people through these means of grace.  I want to make two applications in this brief article.  First, I will make an application to pastors and elders; second, I will make an application to congregants. 

First, for pastors and elders, this means that we ought to devote ourselves to confidence in the ordinary means of grace.  There were many things taking place in the book of Acts, some which were very specific to the time of the Apostles.  But if you study what the Apostles were most devoted to, it was the Word, sacraments and prayer.  We read in Acts 2:42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”  We read here of a “fellowship” of the saints which is built upon the Word, sacrament and prayer. The “apostles’ teaching” has to do with the Gospel message and the teaching that we now have recorded in the Scriptures–in other words, they were teaching the Word of God.  The Word was being preached and taught.  The “breaking of bread” most likely relates to the Lord’s Supper, which is a sign and a seal of the covenant of grace, and which Christ uses for the nourishment of His own people.  And of course, they devoted themselves to prayer.[2] If this is what the Apostles devoted themselves to, then surely we as pastors and elders ought to as well.  The Apostles were trusting in the power of God to work according to His Word, and they prayed to such an end and were not infrequent in administering the sacraments.  If the Apostles to whom the Lord entrusted such care in the early days of the church devoted themselves to these means of grace, we certainly should do so as well.  What does this look like at a practical level?  For one, it means that our trust and dependence is in the Lord–we are called to faithfulness and to leave the results of that to Him.  But secondly, it means that our commitment to the ordinary means of grace ought to at some level at least undergird everything we do.  There may be many things that a church takes part in.  Many avenues for ministry may present themselves.  Ultimately these things ought to be an extension of the ordinary means of grace, whether directly (in public teaching and preaching) or indirectly (in resulting fellowship that is ultimately grounded on the Word and upon Christ). 

One very tangible way to prioritize the means of grace is through adding evening worship services in addition to morning worship services.  This may not be practical for every congregation, especially with limited pastoral staff or in places where most of the congregation lives at a great distance.  But, if possible for a congregation,  it is one very helpful way of both bookending the Lord’s Day and of setting before the people the public means of grace.  For example, if one were to meet every Sunday per year for morning and evening worship, they would have 104 opportunities to hear the Word proclaimed, rather than 52. Even if you miss a few Sunday evenings, you will probably still have close to 100 sermons per year.   Our congregation now also observes the Lord’s Supper once a month in the mornings and once a month in the evenings, allowing us to partake of the sacrament twice a month.  You could easily observe the Lord’s Supper weekly alternating between morning and evening services following this pattern as well.  That’s also twice the calls to worship, the public confessions and assurances of pardon, twice the pastoral prayers and twice the benedictions. Imagine the spiritual growth that the Lord could bring about in a congregation simply because the Word is proclaimed more often, prayed more often, sung more often, and seen in the sacraments more often.  Even if a pastor and session do not believe it best to start an evening worship service, we ought to be thinking carefully of how to prioritize the ordinary means of grace in the churches in which we are called to serve.  These are, after all, the means that God has promised to bless.  We trust that the Lord works in His people by His Word and Spirit.

Secondly, I’d like to give a brief word of application for the congregant.  A new year is a time when a congregant can devote himself or herself to the public means of grace again as well.  As important as the Bible reading resolutions are, along with this, we all need to hear the Word proclaimed, we need the public prayers, and we need the visible signs and seals of God’s covenant in the sacraments.  God is pleased to give good gifts to His people, and we see that in His giving to us His Word proclaimed, access to the throne of grace in prayer and in the sacraments.  Everytime we hear the Word preached, we can trust that it doesn’t return void in our lives but that the Spirit is using the Word for our good.  Everytime we see a child or adult baptized and every time we take the Lord’s Supper, we are pointed to Christ and all His benefits.  We know that Christ is pleased to meet with His people and to nourish them in the Supper; therefore, we receive nourishment for our own souls.  Everytime we join together with the saints in prayer we  have the confidence that God our Father is the One who hears us and the One who does not turn His children away.  Devote yourselves to the gatherings of the local church, and come expectantly to worship, believing that God is at work.  Pray that the Lord will use these means of grace in your heart and in your life. 

At the beginning of a new year, let us devote ourselves once again to the ministry of the Word, to the sacraments and to prayer.  Let us not neglect the fellowship of the saints, but let us come “encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb. 10:25).  And let us believe that the Lord is the One “who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.” (Eph. 3:20)

[1] Westminster Shorter Catechism, found in The Standards of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 2023.

[2] For a helpful booklet on the subject of prayer as it pertains to the ministry, see Devote Yourself to Prayer: A Call to Pastors by David T. Irving (Reformation Heritage Books, 2023).