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Saturday, April 12, 2008

Regulative Principle Revisited

Recently I wrote about the Regulative Principle of Worship. I see some value in it, but I have problems with it as well. The last time my problem was how to implement it. One of my commenters brought up the false dichotomy of worship and living. Good point!

We've made a false split between the sacred and the secular. It's an understandable division. In the Old Testament, they had first the Tabernacle and then the Temple. These were prescribed by God. Their accoutrements and procedures were carefully laid out by God. When Israel worshiped, they went there to do it. When sacrifices were made, they were made there. This was "the holy". And this was carefully regulated by God. Life had a lot of variables, rules, and choices, but there was nothing variable in the Temple. Everything was prescribed by God. When the moneychangers (which had an actual God-given role at the Temple) strayed from the service they were supposed to provide to their money-making role, Christ came to blows with them. God is holy, and He will be regarded as holy. Ask Nadab. Ask Abihu. Ask Uzza.

Here's the problem. When the Son of God gave died on the cross as our Passover Lamb, things changed. Less than a generation later, all questions regarding this change were removed when "the holy" -- the Temple -- was destroyed. We know, of course, that we aren't without a Temple. Paul assured us that the Church has replaced the Temple. In place of the building made with hands, the people of God form the Temple (1 Cor. 3:16). Indeed, as individual believers, your body is the Temple of God (1 Cor. 6:19).

Most people, Christians included, when they think in terms of "worship", think in terms of a particular place, a particular time, and a very limited set of practices. Most think of singing songs as worship. That's about it, thank you very much. We're done. More informed believers understand that there is much more to worship. The preaching of the Word is worship. Giving tithes and offerings constitutes worship. Everything that goes on at church on Sunday constitutes worship. It is the very rare person that remembers that even this is a limited view of worship. I suppose many know it; it's just hard to remember.

What constitutes worship? Is prayer part of worship? Sure it is! And we are commanded, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17). I would suppose "without ceasing" would extend beyond Sunday morning church. How about rejoicing in the Lord? Is that part of worship? Of course! And we are told that we are to "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Phil. 4:4), and certainly "always" includes much more than Sunday morning. We are required to "Give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thess. 5:18), including those which don't occur on the weekend. Paul tells us that reasonable worship includes presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). What constitutes biblical Christian worship? We always in the presence of God, and the believer's worship is supposed to occur on a daily basis in everyday living.

If Christians constitute the Temple of God and daily living is supposed to be a matter of worship, how exactly do we work out the Regulative Principle of Worship? No, we don't discard it. That would be a mistake. But to put it into the confines of "music" and what we display in our churches is a shame. It's not about singing only Psalms. It's not about what days we honor (Col. 2:16). It's about a life of worship.

God will be regarded as holy. The lives that we live are to be lives of worship. The life that we offer as sacrifice must be as He prescribed. I've heard some, for instance, suggest that they can offer their adultery as worship. "I'll love another. God is love. That's good!" That's insane. It has been popular in some circles to think that you can worship through drug use. "These drugs make me feel closer to God." That's not worship. That's not the worship prescribed by God. Worship is built up of holy-living people of God. The prescription for worship of God is the entire Scripture.

God is holy. No, God is holy, holy, holy. He demands that we be holy as well. As we are sanctified -- becoming holy in our thinking, living, perspective, etc. -- our lives become living worship. We subscribe to the Regulative Principle of Worship by living holy lives of worship. We are the Temple. We are the sacrifice. We live the worship. It isn't limited to Sunday morning. It's full time. Now, try to assimilate that in your Regulative Principle of Worship.

4 comments:

The Schaubing Blogk said...

Ummm... if I understand the RPoW correctly, you have missed the point. The regulative principle is designed as something to regulate what we do together collectively. While all living is indeed 'worship' this does not prevent us from understanding the word in its more limited corporate sense.
It is no doubt appropriate for me to sing Psalms to the Lord while... undressed... in the shower. However a decent respect for the opinions of mankind demands that when I engage in *corporate* worship I dress slightly more formally.
Corporate worship involves authority. If a church makes a decision to do X it is in some fasion *teaching* that X is a good thing to do. Thus it falls into James admonition of 'let not many be teachers' for we will be judged more highly.
We need to worship in holiness and truth in all that we do. But we need to consider our *corporate* worship even more carefully and deliberatly then our *private* worship, as we both worship and teach.

Stan said...

"It is no doubt appropriate for me to sing Psalms to the Lord while... undressed... in the shower. However a decent respect for the opinions of mankind demands that when I engage in *corporate* worship I dress slightly more formally."

As you are the master of understatement, I would hope that "slightly more formally" is a real understatement. :)

On the question, however, I can see your point on corporate versus private. (As I said in the previous post on the topic, I do see value in the Regulative Principle.) I'm not on the side that suggests "anything goes," but I still can't bring myself to the "No music and only Psalms!" side either.

The Schaubing Blogk said...

You don't have to disbelieve in the regulative principle to sing hymns. The one is a principle, the other a secondary application. One can believe in antibiotics without thinking that bactrim is a good one, or best for this patient, etc.

You might want to read Greg Bahnsen on the Psalms vs Hymns.

However, I do see some people who, in their question for modernity, put Psalms and Hymns *out of bounds*.

Stan said...

Like I said (and said again), I find value in the Regulative Principle. I simply find it restrictive when people make applications that over-reach the concept.

I believe in the principle at its heart. We should worship God corporately in ways that God prescribes, not simply in ways we feel like.