Worship Regulated by Scripture
The critical point is to extend biblical authority to every aspect of our worship—elements, content, structure, and aesthetics: If we understand the formative role of corporate worship in making disciples, and if we consequently recognize that such disciple-forming corporate worship must be formed by Scripture, then we must be sure that our liturgies and how we express God’s truth aesthetically in corporate worship are similar in meaning to how Scripture expresses God’s truth.
What would it mean for our worship to be truly shaped by Scripture? Christians are people of the book. Conservative Evangelical Christians, in particular, demand that their beliefs and lives be governed by Scripture. God’s inspired Word is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16–17). Therefore, for Christ-honoring sanctification to take place, the lives of Christians must be governed and saturated by the living and active Word of God. And for this same reason, corporate worship must also be governed and saturated by the Word; since public worship both reveals belief and forms belief, and thus it must be shaped by Scripture.
Yet, I think it’s safe to say that most modern evangelical Christians have an entirely different conception of corporate worship. Instead of a life-forming drama, corporate worship has become a concert plus a lecture, a time where we sing some songs that give authentic expression to our hearts and listen to a sermon that hopefully will give us some practical advice for the week. Most evangelical Christians would quickly assert that Scripture in general provides for us the necessary theological foundation and content for our corporate worship, but not much more, particularly when you venture into questions of the aesthetics of our worship, the cultural forms our songs employ.
Instead, what I will argue in this essay is that in order for worship to properly form God’s people as God has intended, every aspect of our worship—including our worship aesthetics, must be formed and shaped by the Word of God.
Biblical Worship
This emphasis upon biblical authority over our corporate worship applies in at least four areas; First, the elements of our worship must be regulated by the Word of God. The sufficient Word has given those ordinary means of grace that, through their regular use, will shape believers to live as disciples who observe everything Jesus taught: These elements have been clearly prescribed for the church in the New Testament: First, Paul commands Timothy, in the context of teaching him how to behave in the house of God, “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture (1 Tim 4:13). He repeats similar commands in Colossians 4:16 and 1 Thessalonians 5:27.
Paul also commands Timothy to “devote yourself . . . to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Tim 4:13) and “preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim 4:2).
Third, Paul commands that “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and for all who are in high positions (1 Tim 2:1). He commands the Colossians to “continue steadfastly in prayer (4:2), and to the Ephesians he admonishes, “praying at all time in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication . . . making supplication for all the saints” (6:18).
A fourth biblically-prescribed element might not actually be a separate element at all, but rather a form of Scripture reading or prayer, and that is singing. In both Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, Paul commands gathered believers to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, thereby “singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (Eph 5:19) and “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom” (Col 3:16).
Fifth, Christ commanded in his Great Commission to the disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
And finally, Paul told the Corinthian church that he passed on “the Lord’s Supper” to the church, having received it from the Lord himself (1 Cor 11:20, 23). The regular, disciplined use of these means of grace progressively forms believers into the image of Jesus Christ; these Spirit-ordained elements are the means through which Christians “work out [their] own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in [them], both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:12–13).
Second, the content of our worship elements must be regulated by the Word of God. Clearly what we teach and preach, what we pray, and what we sing must contain the Word of God, or at very least express sentiments consistent with the Word of God.
Third, the order of our worship should be regulated by the Word of God. If the primary purpose of corporate worship is the edification of believers—God forming us into mature disciple-worshipers, then even the structure of our services should follow what God has given to us in Scripture. God made clear this purpose when he instituted corporate worship assemblies in the OT, establishing a structural pattern that continues also into the NT. God often calls these assemblies of worship “memorials,” meaning more than just a passive remembrance of something, but actually a reenactment of God’s works in history for his people such that the worshipers are shaped over and over again by what God has done. Beginning at Mt. Sinai (Exod 19–24), God instituted a particular order of what the OT frequently calls the “solemn assemblies” of Israel. This order reflects what I like to call a “theo-logic” in which in the assembly, God’s people reenact through the order of what they do God’s atoning work on their behalf. For sake of time, I will just summarize this structure:
God reveals himself and calls his people to worship
God’s people acknowledge and confess their need for forgiveness
God provides atonement
God speaks his Word
God’s people respond with commitment
God hosts a celebratory feast
This same theo-logic characterized the progression of sacrifices within the tabernacle assemblies and the dedication of Solomon’s temple (2 Chron 15–17). In each case, the structure of the worship assemblies follows a theo-logical order in which the worshipers reenact the covenant relationship they have with God through the atonement he provided, culminating with a feast that celebrates the fellowship they enjoy with God because of what he has done for them.
While the particular rituals present in Hebrew worship pass away for the NT church, the book of Hebrews tells us that these OT rituals were “a copy and shadow of heavenly things” (8:5). Thus while the shadows fade away, the theo-logic of corporate worship remains the same: we are reenacting God’s atoning work on our behalf when we gather for corporate worship. Significantly, Hebrews teaches that when we gather for services of worship, through Christ we are actually joining with the real worship taking place in the heavenly Jerusalem of which those Old Testament rituals were a mere shadow. And so it is important to recognize that the two records we have in Scripture of heavenly worship also follow the same theo-logic modeled in the OT.
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You’re Gonna Have to Serve Somebody
Everyone is either a slave to sin (John 8:34) or a has been freed to be a slave of Christ (John 8:36). Sin is a cruel taskmaster, one that only takes, dehumanizes, and robs people of the joy they seek. Christ is a good master, who is gracious to His servants (Matt 11:28-30), prays for His servants (Rom 8:34), delivered His people with His own blood (1 Peter 1:18-19), and who is not ashamed to call us brother (Hebrews 2:11).
In the modern spirit of “expressive individualism,” the most important virtues are those of self-determination and liberation. The biblical notion of obedience seems absurd: why would someone submit their will to another? Yet Exodus paints a picture where submission to another is an inevitability. Considering the entire narrative, the story begins with Israel in slavery to Pharaoh. He “ruthlessly made the people work as slaves,” and “made their lives bitter” in hard service (Ex 1:13-14). As a result, the people “groan because of their slavery” and cry out for help (Ex 2:23). What Israel wants is deliverance from bondage to Pharaoh.
What may surprise modern leaders is that release from Pharaoh is not merely liberation for the purpose of autonomy. The Israelites are not rescued so they can decide who they want to be. Rather, deliverance is for the sake of being in submission to another master. Israel is delivered from bondage to Pharaoh that they might become slaves of God.
In His instructions regarding future Passover celebrations, Yahweh says, “and when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service (the Passover meal). And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’” (Ex 12:25-26, emphasis added). The Hebrew word for ‘service’ (aboda) is the same word used for describing the slavery Pharaoh forced upon the Israelites.[1]
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Definition of Puritanism
In the great questions of national life presented by the crises of their day, the Puritans looked to Scripture for light on the duties, power, and rights of king, Parliament, and citizen-subjects. In regard to the individual, the Puritans focused on personal, comprehensive conversion. They believed with Christ that “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven” (John 3:3). So they excelled at preaching the gospel, probing the conscience, awakening the sinner, calling him to repentance and faith, leading him to Christ, and schooling him in the way of Christ.
Just what is meant by the term Puritan? Many people today use the term to describe a morose and legalistic brand of Christianity that borders on fanaticism. Much of this stereotype was the product of nineteenth-century anti-Puritan sentiments. While subsequent cultures have expressed various opinions of the Puritans, it is helpful to chronicle a brief history of the term and to assess the movement as objectively as possible.
The term Puritan was first used in the 1560s of those English Protestants who considered the reforms under Queen Elizabeth incomplete and called for further “purification” (from the Greek word katharos, “pure”). Its negative connotation derived from its being a translation of the Latin term catharus (Puritan) or cathari (Puritans; from katharos), a title given to medieval heretics (Gordon S. Wakefield, “The Puritans,” in The Study of Spirituality, ed. Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, and Edward Yarnold, p. 438). For William Perkins (1558- 1602), often called “the father of Puritanism,” Puritan was a “vile term” that described people with perfectionist tendencies (The Works of Mr. William Perkins, 1:342, 3:15). Leonard J. Trinterud concludes, “Throughout the sixteenth century it was used more often as a scornful adjective than as a substantive noun, and was rejected as slanderous in whatever quarter it was applied” (Elizabethan Puritanism, pp. 3ff.).
The terms Puritan and Puritanism stuck, though what they mean has changed over the years. Twentieth-century scholars offer various opinions on what the terms actually intend to describe. William Haller sees the “central dogma of Puritan ism [as] an all-embracing determinism, theologically formulated doctrine of predestination” (The Rise of Puritanism, p. 83). Perry Miller finds the “marrow of Puritan divinity” in the idea of the covenant (Errand into the Wilderness, pp. 48–49); and Alan Simpson, in the concept of conversion (Puritanism in Old and New England, p. 2). Christopher Hill emphasized the social and political ideas in Puritanism (Society and Puritanism). John Coolidge linked the Puritan emphasis to a rejection of the Anglican doctrine of adiaphora, or things indifferent (The Pauline Renaissance in England: Puritanism and the Bible).
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Suffering for God’s Glory
The closer we walk in obedience to our Lord, the more our Lord will allow our enemy to attack us in various ways in order to bring us to places of repentance and spiritual growth.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:3-7 (LSB)
I doubt that I am unique in my dread of fiery trials. I have been a Christian long enough to know, however, that despite what men such as Joel Osteen preach and teach, testing by fire is the way God perfects our faith unto completion to prepare us to be before Him in glory. I have been rereading Grace Abounding To the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan. He was a mighty warrior of the Christian faith, but he was made so by the great craftsman of our faith, our Lord, through the fires of temptation and tests that left a legacy of Biblical Truth for the body of Christ that is timeless. He lived in the 1600’s yet we are still reading of how God took a man who confesses all through this wonderful book about how wicked his heart is; but through his repentance and spiritual growth through fiery trials and temptations, God matured him and used him for His glory.
The second time through this book has been wonderful for me. I read it several years ago, but then I did not get the detail that God is giving me this time. Perhaps it is because of some of my own tests and trials this year that God is showing me or confirming in me the purpose of the physical and mental testing that I must deal with daily. When Bunyan first began preaching he was in the midst of a terrible trial of his faith. He was under continual attack from our enemy who was continually condemning him for having “sold Jesus.” The accusations were that he was not really a Christian and was outside of God’s grace because his sins were too great. However, when he would climb the stairs to the pulpit of the church in Bedford, England the enemy would leave him. Complete peace and joy would return as he preached the gospel. Lives were changed and he became quite well known as one whose preaching was touched by the Holy Spirit. However, he also confessed that as he would climb down those same stairs after preaching, the enemy would return to accuse him. This continued for over two years.
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