…the movement is unmistakable, and it is unidirectional. Evangelicals who set down the path toward LGBTQ acceptance rarely turn around and head back in the other direction. And once the revisionist jump—that really wasn’t a jump—is complete, the tolerance and inclusion don’t usually last long. Sex is too powerful a thing to allow for competing visions. And so Neuhaus’ Law almost always proves true: Where orthodoxy is optional, orthodoxy will sooner or later be outlawed.

I don’t often agree with David Gushee, the liberal Christian ethicist whose “battles,” by his own description, have included “issues like climate change, torture, LGBTQ inclusion, and white supremacism.” But he spoke the uncomfortable truth when he observed years ago that when it comes to LGBTQ issues, there is no middle ground: “Neutrality is not an option. Neither is polite half-acceptance. Nor is avoiding the subject. Hide as you might, the issue will come and find you.”
I thought of those words, written way back in 2016, in recent weeks as I read of Michael Gerson’s tacit approval of gay marriage and of Dr. Bradley Nassif’s claims that he was expunged from North Park University because he upholds traditional views of sex, sexuality, and marriage. These aren’t the first cases of a self-described evangelical or evangelical institution moving into the revisionist camp, nor will it be the last. I hope I’m wrong, but I have my mental list of writers, thinkers, schools, and organizations that eventually will make the same move.
I almost wrote “jump” in the last sentence instead of “move,” but “jump” is not really the right word. Rarely do evangelical leaders and institutions leap all at once from the open celebration and defense of orthodoxy to the open celebration and defense of (what they once believed was) heterodoxy. In fact, when evangelical capitulation on LGBTQ issues makes the news it is rarely a surprise. There are almost always a series of familiar steps.
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Written by R.C. Sproul |
Saturday, November 20, 2021
Humility is the secret to a happy life. What is humility? Scripture does not say the humble person is Mr. Milquetoast, the wishy-washy person, the spineless man who is a doormat for the world; rather, the humble person is one who fears God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and such fear flows from a heart that is in awe of God and bows to His authority.

James is sometimes called the “New Testament book of Proverbs.” That’s because of passages such as James 4 that give us a series of loosely linked aphorisms of practical, godly wisdom. This chapter begins with our universal concern about conflict:
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend on your passions. (James 4:1-3)
The world is marked by warfare. There’s global war and national conflict; there’s warfare in the church; there’s warfare in the community; there’s warfare in the home—there’s conflict all around us. James says that these quarrels, fights, disputes, and contentions come from within, from the fallenness of our hearts. The motivation for these conflicts is envy, or covetousness, which is a transgression we rarely hear about in our own day.
Conflict is the fruit of covetous hearts that want what others have. Now, it’s not inherently wrong to want something we don’t have. James’ statement that we do not have because we do not ask implicitly calls us to ask God to give us our desires. We should feel no shame when we desire good things as long as our desire does not make those good things into idols. The warning against covetousness comes into play when James acknowledges that sometimes we ask wrongly for what we don’t have. Sometimes we ask for good things in the wrong spirit.
What does this mean? Consider that we ask for things because we believe they will make us happy. This turns into covetousness when we believe that we have an inalienable right to pursue pleasure as the source of happiness. Maximizing pleasure is our culture’s chief goal, but happiness and pleasure are profoundly different.
I’m not opposed to pleasure. I enjoy pleasure. But remember, sin is tempting because it can be pleasurable—in the short term. We sin because we think it will feel good.
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Corporate worship is the rushing river that runs through every current of your life. So make it a priority to plead with God that he would greatly bless your church’s gatherings. He’s already made special promises to his gathered people: the risen Christ is in your midst! With your whole heart, seek and anticipate God’s rich supply of grace in corporate worship.
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.1 Timothy 3:14-15
Suppose that on Monday morning you strike up a conversation with Andrew, your Christian coworker. The topic of church comes up, and you ask, “Andrew, what do you like about your church?” 
He replies, “Well, my church has a wonderful children’s program. The messages are always encouraging. And I love the worship.”
You then ask, “What exactly do you enjoy about the worship?”
“My goodness!” he answers. “We have an amazing worship band. They’re so talented and can play any style. They play a mix of hymns and contemporary songs. We even have services for each and members get to choose based on what they enjoy. For me, I prefer the contemporary service. The songs get me into a worshipful mood. You know, our worship leader actually went to Juilliard and toured with the band Third Day?”
There are many aspects of Andrew’s answer that are worth highlighting. I wish to highlight only one: when asked about worship, he only speaks of music.
Is Andrew odd?
Probably not. My guess is that most evangelicals merely think of music when they think about worship. The words aren’t synonymous, but they’re close. You’ve surely heard something like this at church: “Before we move back into a time of worship, I’m going to lead us in prayer.” Fifteen minutes later, a pastor delivers a thirty-minute message, followed by (you guessed it) more “worship.” Why are so many of us inclined to reduce corporate worship solely to the musical portions of our gatherings?
Perhaps the main reason is this: we equate worship with music because we have been trained to think that singing is the only way in which congregations actually participate in worship.
But Scripture is clear: corporate worship encompasses much more than music. In fact, every element of Christian worship involves the active participation of the entire congregation.
The Role of Every Member in Every Element of Worship
In order to understand corporate worship, we need to first understand what a church is. The Apostle Peter says of the church: “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5).
According to Peter, Christians are stones. Together, they form a spiritual house which we call a local church. Every time a church gathers in the name of Jesus, the people form a habitation of praise—an environment of exultation that exists for the sole purpose of glorifying God.
Such a vision for the church should shatter any desire for one-sided performance in corporate worship. If every member is essential to what a church is and if corporate worship is essential to church life, then every member is essential to corporate worship. Congregations are never audiences; they are eager and active participants.
Let’s examine the congregation’s role in different elements of corporate worship.
The Congregation’s Role in Singing
Most of us intuitively recognize singing as participatory. Nonetheless, many Christians sadly refrain from singing. Perhaps they don’t like the songs, or maybe they think they’re bad singers. Such Christians would do well to read the 400+ references to singing in Scripture. This includes fifty direct commands to sing. The largest book in the Bible, and the most quoted book in the New Testament, is the Psalms, which is essentially a songbook. Evidently, it’s of paramount importance to God that his people—every last one of them—sing his praises.
The apostle Paul makes no exceptions when he says in Colossians 3, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” The only instrument referred to in New Testament worship is the human voice. That matters. It’s God’s design that the local church’s music ministry be comprised of an untrained choir of blood-bought saints.
The Congregation’s Role in Prayer
A cursory reading of the New Testament reveals the priority of prayer in gathered worship (Acts 4:23–31, 1 Cor. 11, 1 Tim. 2). We see churches pray together in one voice, and we also see individuals lead congregations in prayer. And we should do this all to edify or build up the whole body (1 Cor. 14).
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