Richard I. and Richard W. Gregory have written a book dealing with the subject of biblical relationships among believers, entitled On the Level (IFCA Press, 2005). In the chapter, “You Are the Church,” they make some excellent observations concerning how worship designed for the consumer fails to produce humility in the people of God:
“Worship is so tremendously varied in our churches today, and there are many reasons for this. One reason is we have developed designer worship for the pleasure of the one ‘offering’ it instead of seeking to conform to the God for whom worship is designed. Believers are under obligation to seek a church where the clear audience during worship is the God of glory, for whom our awed awareness of His central attribute of holiness is displayed. It is for His enjoyment that His truth is thoroughly embraced and celebrated by the one worshiping. Thus, a central theme in worship, as sought by the Lord, is humility. Humility is not seen in the arrogant assertions of morally compromised ’singing stars,’ who with contorted faces crank out ballads of affection for their ’significant spiritual other.’ The hype engendered by popular Christian ‘worship’ today is often indistinguishable from that which is generated by an assembly of the worldly listening to a popular secular diva. But to the common Christian today, such ‘fun’ in church is the essence of a desirable ‘worship’ experience. Genuine worship stirs contrition not conceit, contentment with God, not the satisfaction of cultural impulses. It motivated us toward maturity. True worship does not affirm the sinner in his mediocrity. It’s about humility, not hype! Tozer said it best when he declared that: ‘libidinous impulses and the sweet, deep moving of the Holy Spirit are diametrically opposed to one another.’
“. . . We have come to believe the twisted logic that God can be pleased with a form of worship that attracts the ungodly. Either God will be lifted up in worship and sinners brought to humility and repentance, or sinners will be cuddled and affirmed while God is slighted.” (pp. 100-101)
[HT: Paul Tautges]
A Remembrance to Our Lord — from Charles Spurgeon
True have His promises been; not one has failed me, in this I must rejoice. His promises have been yea and Amen. I do but speak the testimony of every believer in Christ, though I put it thus personally to make it the more forceful. I bear witness that never servant had such a Master as I have. Never brother had such a Kinsman as He has been to me. Never spouse had such a Husband as Christ has been to my soul. Never sinner a better Savior; never soldier a better Captain; never mourner a better Comforter than Christ has been to my spirit. I want none beside Him. In life, He is my life; and in death, He shall be the death of death. In poverty, Christ is my riches. In sickness, He makes my bed. In darkness, He is my star; and in brightness, He is my Sun.
By faith I understand that the blessed Son of God redeemed my soul with His own heart’s blood; and by sweet experience I know that He raised me up from the pit of dark despair, and set my feet on the rock. He died for me. This is the root of every satisfaction I have. He put all my transgressions away. He cleansed me with His precious blood; He covered me with His perfect righteousness; He wrapped me up in His own virtues. He promised to keep me, while I abide in this world, from its temptations and snares; and when I depart this world, He has already prepared for me a mansion in the Heaven of unfading bliss, and a crown of everlasting joy that shall never, never fade away.
To me then, the days or years of my mortal sojourn on this earth are of little moment. Nor is the manner of my decease of much consequence. Should the foeman sentence me to martyrdom, or the physicians declare that I must soon part this life, it is all alike –
“A few more rolling suns at most
Shall land me on fair Canaan’s coast.”
What more can I wish than that, while my brief term on earth shall last, I should be a servant of Him who became the Servant of servants for me?
Charles Spurgeon, Autobiography: 1, The Early Years, p. 95.
In light of the posts last week on contemporary worship and the “regulative principle,” I thought this was worth adding. It is a question & response extracted from an interview with David Wells at Eerdmans Publishing regarding his new book, Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World.
Question: Your strong critique of contemporary “seeker-sensitive” styles of worship will come as a surprise to evangelicals who see this kind of worship as necessary to bringing people into the church. What are the greatest dangers of uncritically accepting this kind of worship?
David Wells’ response: You are certainly right that my critique will come as a surprise to many evangelicals because they have come to think that the seeker-sensitive approach is the only game in town. It is also the only thing they know. And certainly it is what has made many churches big and important. These evangelicals also reject the alternative which they think of as being backward, obsolete, traditional, aging, not with-it, failing to reach a new generation, and therefore doomed to inevitable decline and irrelevance. I think these are false alternatives. (more…)
Having recounted my introduction to the “regulative principle” and voiced some personal concerns about the direction of contemporary worship styles (Part 1), and having looked into the specific formulation and background of the principle (Part 2), I hope to conclude today (Part 3) with some general comments on application.
The “devil is in the details,” so to speak. There are unending discussions and disagreements regarding the application of the regulative principle among Presbyterian and Reformed scholars and churchmen – and it seems obvious to most there will never be complete unanimity among them on specifics. For example, at one end of the spectrum there are some who are very puritanical and take this principle to exclude the use of musical instruments altogether and exclude singing anything but the words of the Psalms themselves, etc. At the other end, there are some like Reformed theologian John Frame who has argued for fairly liberal reformulations of the regulative principle allowing even for both contemporary music and drama in worship. And you will naturally find mediating variations in between. (more…)
This second discussion on the “regulative principle” will step back and look at the specific formulations and related background. For example, the 1646 Westminster Confession presents the principle in this manner:
The light of nature sheweth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and doth good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture. (XXI.1)
This is also the exact wording found (as one would expect) in the 1689 London Baptist Confession (XXII.1). The idea of a regulative principle of worship is found much earlier in the words of John Calvin as follows: (more…)
I was saved (as an adult) into an independent Bible Church where God’s sovereign grace was proclaimed. As time went by my theology became clearly Calvinistic and naturally led to the study of the Reformers, the Puritans, and Reformed theology. Not being in a Reformed Confessional local church, however, it was later before I was exposed to the 1646 Westminster Confession and 1689 London Baptist Confession. It is here I was first introduced to the idea of the Regulative Principle of Worship.
The regulative principle of worship teaches that the public worship of God should include those and only those elements that are instituted, commanded, or appointed by command or example in the Bible. In other words, it is the belief that God institutes in Scripture whatever he requires for worship in the Church, and everything else should be avoided.
The regulative principle is often contrasted with the normative principle of worship, which teaches that whatever is not prohibited in Scripture is permitted in worship, so long as it is agreeable to the peace and unity of the Church.
(more…)
Too often it seems, in evangelical churches today, we are called to worship God “in praise and thanksgiving for all he has done for us.” There is certainly a need for praise and thanksgiving, but the emphasis is often on the benefits to “me.”
Jonathan Edwards once asked, “Do we embrace God for the beauty of His glory in itself, or for the benefits God gives?” He went on to suggest that, “To savor the gifts of God without savoring fellowship with God himself is mere self-love, not a true embracing of God.’
(more…)
The Maker of the universe
As Man, for man was made a curse.
The claims of Law which He had made
Unto the uttermost He paid.
His holy fingers made the bough
Which grew the thorns that crowned His brow.
The nails that pierced His hands were mined
In secret places He designed.
He made the forest whence there sprung
The tree on which His body hung.
He died upon a cross of wood
Yet made the hill on which it stood.
The sky that darkened o’er His head
By Him above the earth was spread.
The sun that hid from Him its face
By His decree was poised in space.
The spear which spilled His precious blood
Was tempered in the fires of God.
The grave in which His form was laid
Was hewn in rocks His hands had made,
The throne on which He now appears
Was His from everlasting years.
But a new glory crowns His brow
And every knee to Him shall bow.
F. W. Pitt
