The Regulative Principle

Introduction

In this series we will be primarily focusing on music in worship. To quote Scott Aniol in his book Worship in Song

Certainly no firm sacred/secular distinction exists for the believer, but many books on music apply to everyday music choices principles from scripture such as descriptions of temple worship. I am convinced that when it comes to the secular music we enjoy, much greater lattitude exists than with music used for sacred purposes.”

This statement is based off of the distinction between the common and sacred throughout scripture. If all distinction is eliminate then nothing is truly sacred and everything has become common. As we will see in the principle we will be covering tonight, God punished two men for taking that which was common and using it in the worship of the Lord. In our message next Sunday, we will look at how music communicates. There are some musical expressions that are always wrong and others that just aren’t appropriate to the worship of God.

When you think of worship, there are two questions that everyone must wrestle with:

Who should we worship?- as a Christian, we should all have this one down though we wrestle with it practically. Keeping self off the throne is a full time job.

How should we worship?

When we ask that question How should we Worship? A true worshiper wants to know what will please God. But more often than not the discussion of musical expressions of worship come down to arguments about taste and preference. We want to worship in a way that we like. Some offer elements of worship that God has not required. Worship can become tainted by the desire to gratify our own human desires or even to draw attention to ourselves. When we take it upon ourselves to dictate how we will worship instead of listening to what God has said, we are practicing a form of what Paul calls will worship Colossians 2:23 “Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.”

I mentioned when we looked at how the scriptures speak to 21st century issues that we would be looking at four principles that apply to the issue of biblical worship. I will go ahead and tell you those four principles right off the bat:

Regulative Principle

Principle of Communication

Principle of Influence

Principle of Liberty

Tonight we will be focusing on the first of these principles: the regulative principle.

What is the Regulative Principle

Most likely you haven’t heard of this principle unless you have picked up on it in my preaching, and yet, it is not some new doctrine made up by me and some pastors today. This principle has been a foundational principle for worship among the puritans, baptists and the presbyterians since the beginning. The 1644 London Baptist Confession defines the regulative principle like this:

The rule of this knowledge, faith, and obedience, concerning the worship and service of God and all other Christian duties, is not man’s invention, opinions, devices, laws, constitutions, or traditions unwritten whatsoever, but only the Word of God contained in the Canonical Scriptures.

The second edition of the confession would go on to say:

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 imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.

The regulative principle applies to the:

Elements of our worship- reading of scripture, exhortation, teaching, preaching, supplications, fellowship, prayers, thanksgiving, singing, offerings, baptism and the Lord’s supper are all practices of the Church directed by the Lord.

Content of our worship- the Word of God- not news articles, art festivals, ted talks

Forms of our worship- the way we worship

In essence the regulative principle says that we must worship God only in the ways He has approved. You might be thinking that that is pretty restrictive or that this is just manmade opinion, but let’s go back to what the scriptures actually say to show that this is a principle found in both the OT and the NT.

What is the Biblical Basis for the Regulative Principle

Nadab and Abihu Leviticus 10.

Just two verses prior to this Moses and Aaron had offered a sacrifice in the tabernacle before the entire congregation. They had laid the burnt offering and the fat on the altar and God’s glory came down and consumed the offering before all the people. Prior to this God had given Moses a series of laws regulating how those offerings could be offered. Aaron and his family were to be involved in the service of the temple which included the daily sacrifices, the lighting of the candelabra, the washings before going into the inner court of the tabernacle.

Aaron had two sons Nadab and Abihu who were assigned one day to light the incense in the tabernacle. For some reason of another, they took their censers and lite them on fire and put incense in it. The bible calls their offering strange fire. The word strange here just means different, or unauthorized. They had gotten their incense for the fire from an unauthorized source. This passage does not say that the incense was from pagan temples or an immoral source; it merely states that it wasn’t what God had perscribed.

Take a look back at Exodus 30:34–38 “And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy. And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord. Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.”

God demanded a distinction between the holy and the common. That which was used for personal use could not be used for worship. The point here though is this: God specified how he wanted to be worshiped and even the priests were not allowed to create new ways of doing so.

Its kinda like if your wife asked you to express your love to her by cleaning the car, but you hate cleaning the car. Especially when you have kids. There’s all that gunk and candy that they leave behind. So instead you go and mow the lawn. Trim the hedges and buy her some flowers. Now do you think she will be pleased?

The Pharisees Mark 7.

When we think of the Pharisees, we often think of legalism which is a just comparison. Often times people make the inaccurate assumption that anyone who is stricter is automatically a Pharisee. I have mentioned in the past that this also is not necessarily so. What people often fail to realize is that those who think of themselves as antilegalists often themselves fall into the sins of the Pharisees.

The Pharisees in their desire to stay away from potentially sinning had created extra rules on top of the laws of Moses. These were called according to vs 3 the tradition of the elders. This tradition taught that you must wash your hands when you’ve come from town before you can eat. They desired cleanliness before God so they would wash their hands as well as all their utensils. But this extend of cleanliness was not required under the Mosaic law. They had added it to their worship of God. It became a point to judge others by. Notice in vs 7, this was a point of worship not merely etiquette.

But in doing so they had taught the commandments of men as the commandments of God. The inevitable consequence was that they had laid aside what God actually desired in order to practice their own traditions. What is at the root of this form of worship? Is it not will worship: the desire to worship God in the manner I want to worship Him. Jesus condemned these Pharisees for disregarding what God had said and replacing it with what they wanted to do. Sometimes those who insist on worshiping God only in the way He desires are accused of legalism because such a standard is stricter than what most of the world desires to do. If that is the case, then God is the legalist. Strictness does not define legalism, the heart of trying to be more spiritual or earn God’s pleasure based on rules is. Adding to what God says to do is and so those who add and demand things in the worship of God that he has not prescribed are also Pharisees.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” We believe in the sufficiency of scripture so the question we must ask: Are the scriptures sufficient enough to tell us how God wants to be worshipped?

What are the Practical Applications of the Regulative Principle

Let’s just begin tonight with some basic applications of the regulative principle. As the series continues, we will get more detailed. Has scripture given us guidance on how God wants to be worshipped?

God wants a distinction between the secular and sacred. Just because I might be able to enjoy something in my own home doesn’t mean it is appropriate for the actual church service. To use hyperbole to make this point, I love pizza, but we aren’t going to pass around a slice of pepperoni for the Lord’s supper. You would be surprised how many churches actually do something the equivalent of this. Rather than the fruit of the vine and bread, it become coke and oreos. Another example: Patch the Pirate has come great funny songs like his parady Big Bad Toe, but Luke isn’t going to come lead us in a congregational of Big Bad Toe tonight. I use the absurd because we can all agree here, but the consistent application of this principle might hit a little closer to home if you think about it.

God has told us what should be included in our worship. I made a brief list earlier in the message. There are many things in the modern church that may be well-intentioned, it may even seem to get results and be culturally moving; but within the worship of the church they are out of bounds. It is like God asking for a glass of water and you bring him a coke instead.

Entertainment driven worship- fog machines and strobe lights, dramatic effects, monster truck jumps in the church, magic tricks, acrobatics (James River Baptist Church- many called him a pole dancer- he was a shirtless acrobate on a very tall pole)

Stage driven worship- worship is intended to be congregational oriented. As we went through our series on Baptist distinctives, we covered the priesthood of the believers. This is a strong reason for every member to be involved in the worship. We can have specials and a main speaker, but the entire service is an invitation for all of us to respond to God in worship. When a praise team takes over the worship and congregational singing fades out, we have failed to follow God’s desire for the church.

Illustrative worship- when dramatic skits, or interpretive dance take the place of the sermon and are not used rather to illustrate the message, they have violated the regulative principle.

Gimmicks- come watch the pastor as he swallows a gold fish.

God doesn’t want us to lay aside the things He has commanded. If we are not careful, we can forget the things God has told us to do.

Scripture reading- When Paul wrote Timothy, he told him not to neglect scripture reading. This wasn’t about private devotions. It was a public thing they did in the church.

The Lord’s Supper- we can become so lax on celebrating the Lord’s supper that it rarely happens if at all.

Prayer- Unfortunately, corporate prayer meetings have become the least attended and least participated in part of the worship of the church. This is sad. Imagine if your wife really wanted you to buy her flowers every now and then, but you chose not to because you felt awkward doing it. Prayer is not about the approval of men. If you are praying from your heart thats all that matters. This is an aspect of worship that God desires from us.

Preaching- churches can get sucked into giving motivational ted talks, or a commentary on a movie theme and fail to preach the word.

Conclusion

So as we talk about the issue of worship and music in the church, the regulative principle serves as a foundation. What is it that God has commanded us to do? Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Singing is mandated by God.

But he also tells us what to sing? Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs that flow out of a heart filled with the word of God. That church I mentioned that used “Let Freedom Ring” in the church was violating this principle.

He also tells us how to sing? With grace in your hearts- this speaks of an inward gratitude.

He also tells us what that singing is supposed to do? teaching and admonishing- our music communicates as we will see next week.

We cannot lay aside what God has commanded us to do and replace it with what we want to do. Worship isn’t about personal taste or opinion; it is about God’s taste and God’s opinion.