On what we do in worship

Those of us who have paid any attention to church history and ecclesiology are familiar with the debate that existed concerning what is and what is not permitted in worship. Martin Luther's take on it was "whatever is not condemned by the Scriptures is permitted." On the other hand, John Calvin's view (none now as the "Regulative Principle") was that "whatever is not commanded by the Scripture is forbidden."

Although Calvin's view seems a bit extreme, I feel that his argument has much to commend it.

Calvin, recognizing that his view was the "tougher" of the two, wrote:

"I know how difficult it is to persuade the world that God disapproves of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned by His Word. The opposite persuasion which cleaves to them, being seated, as it were, in their very bones and marrow, is, that whatever they do has in itself a sufficient sanction, provided it exhibits some kind of zeal for the honor of God. But since God not only regards as fruitless, but also plainly abominates, whatever we undertake from zeal to His worship, if at variance with His command, what do we gain by a contrary course? The words of God are clear and distinct:

“Obedience is better than sacrifice.” (1 Samuel 15:22)
“In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,” (Matthew. 15:9.)

Every addition to His word, especially in this matter, is a lie. Mere “will worship” (εθελοθρησκεια) is vanity. This is the decision, and when once the judge has decided, it is no longer time to debate." (Humble Exhortation—The Necessity of Reforming the Church)

I suggest that you who have a charge over a flock (both planters and pastors) not dismiss this without taking the time to consider it. I did not appreciate what Calvin's point was until I really mulled over the fact that God did not accept whatever it was that people offered him in the name of worship. We need only consider the "strange fire" offered by the sons of Korah or the sacrifices offered by Saul which were condemned by Samuel and led to God's removing Saul from being king. Read the passages. Wasn't Saul only doing what he thought God wanted him to do?

I'm not talking here of worship that is mere action without heart- such as that condemned in the first chapter of Isaiah. I'm talking worship that the offerer thinks God will be pleased with, yet which receives rejection instead.

Doesn't that give us cause for pause?

I have gained much from meditating on this and, in particular, a book called "Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship." With contributors Baptist and Presbyterian alike, the book has been one of the most helpful to me in terms of forcing me to think through what it is that we should be about on Sunday mornings. Some conclusions that I came to, and have posted on our church website are:

We worship according to what the Scriptures command, not according to our own innovativeness because.... (It is actually stated that we "Preach the Bible, Pray the Bible, Sing the Bible, and See the Bible)

1) Because we believe the dictums that "we become like what we worship" and "we become like Who we worship." The way we worship contributes to our grasp of the one true God and how we approach Him in all of life.

2) Because it keeps the focus on God and not on worship itself. Too often, the way in which a church worships takes precedence over the Who a church worships. And when that happenes, teh worship can actually change the message. The purpose of worship is not to draw attention to itself, but to aid the congregation in their communion with God.

3) Because it protects the congregation. God is the One who created us to worship Him as He has revealed. It is not the church's job to create new ways to approach Him. To require the congregation, during corporate worship, to do something God has not commanded them to do, could possibly force them to sin against their own conscience as they engage in acts which they do not believe the Bible requires of them.

4) Because it helps to keep us from idolatry. John Wesley, John Calvin, and Martin Luther all warned of our tendency to create God in our own image and end up worshipping ourselves rather than God. The only way to ensure that we worship the right One is to worship accordin to His wishes. As J. Ligon Duncan observes: "The whom of worship is, of course, central to true worship (John 4:22, 24). It is what the first commandment is all about. We aim to worship the God of the Bible, God as he reveals himself, for we cannot worship him as we ought unless we know him as he is- and we cannot know him as he is except insofar as he has revealed himself to us in his word. There is a god we want and the God who is, and the two are not the same. The only way to be sure that we have the whom of worship right is to worship according to God's written self-revelation."

- Doug

Ready to Hire a Mystery Worshiper?

Thursday, Christianity Today's online mag posted an article titled: "Get Thee Behind Us, The Devil's Latest Marketing Guise."

It concerned a new service called "Church Check." Church Check is the brain child of a mystery shopper company which has expanded to now provide "mystery worshipers" who you can hire to visit your church and give you feedback on how you are doing and how you can better reach your community.

Included in their pitch is this promise:
Our team of savvy professionals can secretly worship at your church, analyze it in detail, and present you with a report detailing items that are lacking. With this report, you can make changes that boost your retention rate and make your church grow. Make the adjustments our team suggests and you'll not only retain more of your first-time visitors, you'll get them talking to their friends about you.

The article's author, Mark Galli, asks this probing question about their statement:

Should churches really make it a goal to "boost your retention rate and make your church grow"? Is that not a product of other things, like faithful worship, meaningful biblical teaching, and sacrificial love for one another and the neighbor? What has happened to a church that makes "boosting your retention rate" a focus, instead of these other things?

I'm curious what your thoughts as church planters are on this.

When we enter into a church plant, what should be our goal?
How do our goals differ from that of an "established" church? Or do/should they?

Should it be to "grow"?
Should our goal to be to have a high retention rate?
How do you plant a church if these are not foci of yours?
How do you avoid compromise if they are?

It seems to me that in order to answer these questions we need to answer some more fundamental questions.

What is a church planter?
An missionary/evangelist?
A pastor?
Both?

If he is an missionary/evangelist, then should we be casting the seed and then bringing in someone after us to actually shepherd the flock that God grows?

If he is a pastor, then should we be as driven by growth as we are?

Another question that we need to wrestle with is: "what is the purpose of the church?"

I think we can all agree with Rick Warren at least in one regard- we do need to be "purpose driven."

But what, really, is the purpose of the church?
And as I ask this, I'm thinking of the institution of church- not the individuals composing a local body of believers which I believe Dr. Warren actually does. We are all called to worship, do ministry, fellowship, disciple and be discipled, and to evangelize. But is this the call of the institution of church? Clearly that call is closely related to the call of the pastor. As a believer, he is called to these five things as well, but in his role as pastor, what is his specific call?

These are some questions it seems to me that we need to do a better job wrestling with and, unless we wrestle with them, I don't see how we can possibly have any basis by which to judge whether or not to hire "Church Check."

I'd like to share some of my thoughts and I will, and I hope that you will too.
What do you think?

-Doug

Which takes priority- public worship or private devotion?

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What happens when someone argues that their own private times with God are more important than the corporate gatherings that you are working so hard to pull together?

Each of us, I'm sure, have heard those who have questioned the necessity of corporate worship, thinking that it is less "spiritual" than their own private times of reading and meditation.

Well, R. Scott Clark, professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Westminster Seminary in California, has recently written saying that a strong case can be made from Scripture that public worship is more important than private.

He writes:

"We know precious little about God's clearly revealed requirements for private piety. What we have are clearly revealed requirements, in the typological revelation about attending to the divinely appointed feasts and other corporate gatherings...In the 18th and 19th centuries, however, the relation between the public and the private became reversed under the influence of pietism."

Clark argues that private practice of devotion and worship should be secondary to the public: "It is through the public reading and preaching of the Gospel that God has promised to bring his people to faith (Rom. 10). " He adds that communion and baptism are administered in public services. People are disciplined (or ought to be) for failing to attend to these public gatherings.

He continued:

"Remember, universal literacy is relatively new. Universal bible ownership is relatively new. That doesn’t mean that people couldn’t have recited passages or even whole books from memory but it means that, for much of world history, God’s people could not have had “devotions” in the way that we think of them.

Private piety and devotion is important. If we neglect private prayer and meditation on Scripture we deprive ourselves on important benefits and blessings. There is probably a correlation between private devotions and maturity but they are not the public means of grace. When it comes to piety, the private flows from the public. The latter is not the joint expression of a hundreds of private religious experiences. Whatever private religious experience we may (or may not) have our Christian life is grounded in the preaching of the Word, especially the gospel, the administration of the sacraments, and public prayers in the context of public worship services."

His full article can be found here.

For more help in this area, 9 Marks (a ministry out of Capital Hill Baptist) has wonderful resources on the importance of church membership and worship.