The Regulative Principle of Worship

 

Most of us have attended different churches in our lives. Some have grown up in one church, only to leave that church for various reasons. I’m sure we have all noticed the differences of worship style, some drastic and some not, between those churches. Many of the elements of worship are familiar to us - the singing of hymns, reading of Scripture, prayers, and sermons – while the forms they take may vary.  However, the elements of worship in other churches may not be familiar to us at all; people running up and down aisles, others rolling in the floor,  and others laughing hysterically.  There are even some groups who incorporate the handling of venomous snakes and the drinking of poison into their worship service.

         Are all of these elements acceptable in the worship of God? Those who practice them seem to think so, although many would say, “No, they are not all acceptable.”  The goal, then, is to discover a means by which a Christian may determine what is acceptable in the worship of God. We are all familiar with Jesus’ words to the woman at the well in John 4:24 when He says, “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (NASB).  I think that it is important that we have a working definition of three words Jesus used in His statement to the woman at the well; worship, Spirit, and truth.

Worship is focusing on and responding to God. The more we focus upon God, the more we will respond to God. The two best examples of focus and response can be found in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 1. Both Isaiah and John, when brought face to face with the Lord, responded by falling upon their face. The creatures in Isaiah 6, who are constantly in God’s presence, continually cry out, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”¹ This is worship – focusing on and responding to God!

Most of us have an idea of what it means to worship God in Spirit. Our spirit must be actively involved in the worship of God. In fact, we cannot worship God unless we have His Spirit in us leading us. The harder question to answer is, “How do we worship God in truth?” 

         Worshipping God in truth means “to worship according to the truth of Scripture.”² Although this seems straightforward, there are two divergent points of view on this. One view holds that any activity is appropriate in worship if the participants believe it honors God, edifies the people, is done in the right spirit, and is not prohibited by the Bible.³  This principle is known as the Normative Principle of Worship (NPW). On the surface the NPW would appear to be acceptable in the sight of most Christians and, in fact, is accepted by many today. A closer examination of how people use the NPW is warranted.

         Today the trend is for churches to be “relevant” and “contemporary.” The means used by those championing this trend might surprise you.  A large church in the heart of the “Bible-belt” hosted a “wrestling match during a Sunday Service.” They had a professional wrestler train the pastors how to throw, fall, pull hair, and kick one another without actually hurting one another. This same church later hosted a circus Sunday evening service complete with clowns, acrobats, animals, and refreshments.⁴

         A church with which I am familiar decided to capitalize on its name (that of a country music city in Tennessee) to attract the community. For the last ten years or more, ninety percent of the music in that church is played by a country western band with the pastor being the lead singer. All attire is country western, or farm, down to the cowboy boots.

         Most of us would agree that a wrestling match during a Sunday morning worship service is not appropriate, but many of us might disagree on the circus event during the Sunday evening worship service. After all, Sunday evening worship services are generally less formal than the Sunday morning service. However, a careful and honest consideration of their decision-making process reveals the problem; they are basing their decisions on their personal preferences. For example, find a Scripture that would suggest using wrestling or circuses to draw a crowd. Some might quote Paul in 1 Cor. 9:22 when he said, “I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.”  I think it is clear that the NPW, taken to its extreme, generally ends up with the elements of worship being a matter of the personal preferences of the ones making the decision.

         So, is there anything you can do to determine what is an acceptable method of “worshipping in truth?”  There is, and it is the other view, the Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW). The RPW, which goes all the way back to the reformation and was standard for all Baptist churches until the 20^th century, “teaches that God has set forth in Scripture the only acceptable ways of worshipping Him and that it is a sin to worship Him in any other way.”⁵   Some may feel that this is just some legalistic way to control what occurs in a worship service. Although the RPW can be used in a very narrow way, the truth is far from that. The regulative principle actual frees the worshippers in that they can know that they are worshipping God in truth.

         We have already said that God is Spirit. If God is Spirit, He is cannot be seen. Yet God has revealed His nature to us through His creation, but, He has gone farther than that. Since nature does not reveal how we must be saved, God has revealed Himself to us in His Word which is alive (John 1:1 & 14). However, it is very unlikely that Jesus will bodily appear in a local worship service this week so what are we to do? The Bible, God’s printed Word, has been left for us as a teacher and a guide (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21).

         For us to worship in truth we must focus our worship on what the Bible instructs us to do. Yes, the Bible gives us instruction on the very elements of worship themselves. At this point, I must give the definition for two words that I have already used up to this point and one which I will introduce now; elements, forms, and circumstances.

         The elements of worship are the parts or activities of worship. Elements acceptable to God are those He has revealed in Scripture by command, example, or principle.

         Forms are how the elements of worship are expressed. The form must be consistent with the element. A hymn about our sin should not be sun to a light-hearted, bouncy tune! Scripture does not always specify how the element is to be conducted.

         Circumstances of worship are the ancillary parts of the service such as seating, hymnals, lighting, methods of heating and air conditioning, and the time of worship (do we meet at 10:30 a.m. or 11:00 a.m?).

         What about claims that the RPW is legalistic and stifles worship? Is God really that concerned about the details of our worship? Remember when Israel was moving the Ark of the Covenant in 2 Samuel 6? As they were moving it the Ark tipped and almost fell. Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark and keep it from falling. Because he touched it when the Lord had commanded that no one touch the Ark, Uzzah was struck dead.  Were Uzzah’s motives pure? Most likely, but he still violated God’s command.

In Deuteronomy, God instructs Israel to not get ideas about how to worship God from the nations around them. The New Testament says that in vain men worship God, teaching as precepts the doctrine of men (Matt. 15:9). One might ask how to determine what to use from the Bible, after all, the Old Testament was full of animal sacrifices and the New Testament had people selling their property. How do we know what is proper? The basic rule is that New Testament commands trump Old Testament commands. New Testament Churches should use the following priorities:   first priority are the New Testament commands on worship; second priority are the Old Testament commands on worship; third priority are the New Testament passages which provide warrant, sanction, or support for principles of worship; fourth priority are Old Testament passages which provide warrant, sanction, or support for principles of worship.⁶  An example is the blood sacrifice found in the Old Testament. This is not required because Jesus Christ has satisfied all the sacrificial requirements. 

So, what are the elements of worship the Bible commands? The following is a list of worship elements from both the Old and New Testaments with their various Scripture references:⁷

praise God with voice and instrument (Nehemiah 12:27; Psalm 103; & Psalm 150:5);

preaching God’s Word (Col 1:25 & 2 Tim 4:2);

the public reading and teaching of Scripture (1 Tim. 4:13 & Rev. 1:3);

hearing God’s Word (James 1:19);

singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19  and Col 3:16);

pray and supplication (Phil 4:6);

the Lord’s Supper observed (Acts 2:42 & 1 Cor. 11:23ff);

baptism (Matt. 28:19);

collecting of offerings (Gal. 2:10; 1 Cor. 9:3-12; 16:1-2; & Phil. 4:18);.

the use of spiritual gifts to edify the flock (1 Cor. 14:12 & Eph. 4:12);

showing reverence and gratitude (Heb. 12:28-29);

worshipping corporately (Heb. 10:24-25).

It is clear from the above list that the ways that God has commanded us to worship Him have much to do with reading about God, teaching about God, singing about God, and praying to God. This supports the statement in the very beginning that worship is focusing upon and responding to God. What about specific contemporary examples of what is and is not acceptable in the worship of God? Let’s go back to examples listed in the beginning of this article.

What about a circus worship theme? The questions to ask are these. Can you find examples of the early church using clowns, animals, gaudy make-up, and an entertainment atmosphere in general in their worship? No, it was always reverent.

What about a professional wrestling theme? Same questions. Can you find “Gorgeous George” in the early church? Did the early pastors engage in fake fights to draw a crowd? No, they were solemn and reverent.

What about “Pentecostal-type” themes? At first glance we see clear evidence of speaking in tongues, but Paul clarifies in 1 Corinthians 14:27-28, 33, “If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and let one interpret; ²⁸ but if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God. ³³for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”  This runs counter to the pandemonium that is the normative practice of many churches today.

What about the cowboy theme?  I do not believe that this example violates the Regulative Principle of Worship. Most of the “elements” required by Scripture were there and none that I could tell of were contrary to Scripture. The difference here is not in element, but in form. That church read the Scripture, prayed, preached, sang, baptized, observed the Lord’s Supper, and collected money for the Lord’s work. The difference was the “form” of their musical instruments and dress.

The last question to be asked is this. Must all the biblical elements be present in every worship service? It would be nice, but then we would be baptizing every time we met. That would be great, but what if there was no one to baptize? Do you baptize someone again just so you can say you baptized? Most of the elements should be done every worship service but elements such as the Lord’s Supper and baptism are not required for every service.

Two last things to remember about the Regulative Principle of Worship. One, most “worship wars” are fought over “forms” and not “elements.” If a congregation is utilizing all or most of the biblical elements in their worship, they are most likely worshipping “in spirit and in truth.” Just because their forms differ from what you are accustomed to does not mean they are wrong. Two, there is freedom within the RPW if one understands accommodation. Accommodation is “the willing restriction of the exercise of legitimate Christian liberties for the purpose of redeeming people and circumstances which are governed by the ignorance and misunderstanding which results from man’s fallen nature.”⁸ Paul gave the clearest example of this when he willingly gave up eating meat so he would not cause his brother to stumble (Rom. 14:2-4). That, too, should be our goal.

We, as Baptists, like to say that we are a “people of the book.” The first article in “The Baptist Faith and Message” addresses Scripture. It says, in part, that Scripture is “a perfect treasure of divine instruction” and is “the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.”⁹  If we truly try our conduct and opinions according to Scripture, our worship should certainly be conducted according to the commands found in Scripture.  If we are to worship in spirit and in truth” as Jesus said people would, then our focus must be upon God and how He has directed us to worship Him. If our focus is on God through biblically directed worship, then we will respond to Him and worship Him “in Spirit and in truth.”

 ¹Donald Whitney, Worship Leadership Lecture, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri,      29 January, 2004.

²Ibid.

³Ibid.

⁴John H. Armstrong et al., eds., The Coming Evangelical Crisis: Current Challenge to the Authority of Scripture and the Gospel (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1997), 175-176.

⁵Ernest C. Reisinger and D. Matthew Allen, Worship: The Regulative Principle and the Biblical Practice of Accommodation (Cape Coral, Florida: Founders Press, 2001), 10.

⁶Whitney, Worship Leadership lecture.

⁷Reisinger and Allen, Worship, 54.

⁸Reisinger and Allen, Worship, 131.

⁹Herschel H. Hobbs et all, eds., “The Baptist Faith and Message: A Statement Adopted By the Southern Baptist Convention (Nashville, TN: The Sunday School Board of the  Southern Baptist Convention, 1963), 7.