The other day, I was sitting in my office at work reading a book on my Kindle. My wife drops me off at work two hours early because we are down to one car for the two of us to share. That's not important, but it explains why I am reading Kindle books at work (rather than working). Anyways, my co-worker comes in early as well and asks if I am ready to go to chapel. Caught off-guard by the question because there's never been a chapel service in the three months I have been working at this new job, I had to ask what all was entailed with this chapel service.
"It's really nice. Staff and individuals in programs get together, we sing worship songs, we listen to a nice message, and then we all take communion," was her response. I believe I nodded and looked contemplative. However, I do not know how I reacted. All that I am sure of is that I did not audibly voice the thoughts reverberating in my head.
We talked about our weekends while she got situated at her desk. She put her purse away, hung up her coat, put her snack in herdesk drawer, and asked, "You ready to head down?"
"Um, you know what, I think I'm just going to hang out here and continue to read."
"Really? Are you sure?"
She looked at me as if I were an alien life-form trapped in a human body. Or perhaps I appeared as a wolf in sheep's clothing. There was a lengthy pause after she asked the last question. Despite the words she used, the real question she was asking was, "Why not?" Why wouldn't you want to come join brothers and sisters in Christ, worship the Lord, and join us at the Lord's table? That's a difficult question to answer in a few seconds without coming across as a condescending, better-than-you, nose in the sky, reformed Presbyterian. This was no time to provide an overview of the Westminster Confession of Faith and the passages it summarizes from Scripture pertaining to worship, the preaching of the Word, and the sacraments. I felt like there was no inoffensive way to answer the why not? question in a few seconds. Therefore, I answered the question she actually asked with, "Yes, I'm sure. Thanks."
I've been working at a Christian non-profit organization for about three months now. The organization works with the homeless, impoverished, addicted, and destitute in our city, trying to help provide them with their greatest need: the Gospel of Christ. There are nourishing meals provided to the hungry, warm buildings to shelter the homeless during the bitterly cold winter days and nights, counselors and mentors to help men overcome addiction and the sinful woes that come with it, and case managers to help families struggling to maintain consistent, affordable housing. All of these services, however, are built upon the foundation of the Gospel, knowing that the greatest form of poverty in the world today is spiritual rather than physical.
Although my job is administrative and I hardly interact with the men and women we seek to serve, I work with a team of devoted Christians who know the mission of the organization and embody it with every decision they make. Although many of my co-workers are disconnected from the ministerial work that takes place at the organization, I have no doubt that the men and women that I work alongside of would and could jump in without a moment's hesitation and minister to the homeless and hungry. However, God has given them certain talents and gifts that are far more suited for administration than front-line ministry, and they are better equipped to support the organization's mission by organizing and managing departments so that everything is done decently and in order (1 Cor. 14:40).
All of that to say, the Gospel of Christ permeates this place. Whether you are sitting in on a counseling session, overhearing a conversation between a member of staff and a homeless person looking for help, or walking through the office building, you are constantly reminded that this is a Christian organization with the primary mission to feed the poor the Bread of Life and to see them clothed first and foremost in Christ's righteousness by faith in His work on the cross.
Therefore, sitting out a chapel service out obviously sends the wrong signal to my co-workers. My co-workers' face was a tell-tale sign that she was surprised to hear me opt out of a organizational tradition that clearly sets it apart from many other non-profits. After all, we're all professing Christian believers here, and what is more Christian than singing praise music, having a devotional, and sharing communion together with other believers? In many ways, her face seemed to say, "Say it is not so, friend. You are one of us, so why will you not join us?"
This wasn't the first time my RP convictions prevented me from joining in with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. A couple of weeks ago during a department meeting, a conversation was broached about Joel Osteen as a pastor. One of my co-workers announced her affection and admiration of his "uplifting" spirit and demeanor. I didn't roll my eyes, I didn't look down on her for her opinion, and I didn't utter a sound in derision. I didn't have to hold my tongue because I didn't sense any urge to retort her opinion. Everyone else in the room chimed in on the conversation, most of them expressing their dislike and animosity for Joel Osteen. "I can't stand that guy," said one of my other co-workers, "He's way too happy. The Christian life is not like that. You're not always happy and successful." Thankfully, someone else spoke my mind for me.
Many of my co-workers have asked where I attend church. Having mentioned that I attend a Reformed Presbyterian church, many of my co-workers, with puzzled looks on their faces, cannot help but inquire further into what RP means. From my observations, most people do not know what Presbyterianism is and they don't really care. For them, it's just the name of another denomination that they are not a part of. However, when you throw an ambiguous and almost transcendental sounding word like "Reformed" in front of it, it piques people's interest. For some reason, I have always dreaded it when people inquire into what makes the RP church distinct from the rest. I have found that it can be very difficult to explain RP distinctives without coming across as having a chip on your shoulder (at least to others).
"There are several things that separate us from the broader Presbyterian church, but two major distinctions are that we hold to the Regulative Principle of Worship and we emphasize the doctrines of grace concerning God's predestination, calling, and salvation for the elect."
Some people's feigned interest collapses here, and they act like they know what you're talking about but they honestly have no clue what you mean when you say Regulative Principle of Worship. The inquisitive, however, delve deeper and ask the questions that I fear to answer in a "small talk" conversation: What is the Regulative Principle of Worship? I am sure there is a short answer to this question, but I have not mastered a short response to this question that I feel comfortable providing, feeling some sense of assurance that I didn't completely offend the person who asked the question. I hate answering any question with a "Well let me tell you" demeanor, but I've found it hard to explain the Regulative Principle of Worship without inadvertently accusing the person asking the question of worshiping God incorrectly their whole life.
"The acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshiped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture." (Westminster Confession of Faith)
"Worship is to be offered only in accordance with God's appointment, and in harmony with the scriptural principle that whatever is not commanded in the worship of God, by precept or example, is forbidden." (Testimony of the RPCNA)
I've tried to sneak my way around the Regulative Principle of Worship conversation by explaining that we only sing from Psalters and that we do not use musical instruments (except our vocal cords) in our worship. This, however, is not as sneaky as I think it is because, often, the very next questions is, Why in the world do you do that?
I'm not ashamed of being a member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America in any sense. With that said, I'm not proud to be a member of the RPCNA either. My identity as a Christian is not in my denomination. I don't stand and fall as a Christian on the Westminster Confession of Faith or the Testimony of the RPCNA. They are valuable tools for learning, for teaching, for discipline, and for growth in sanctification, but they are not the foundation of my faith. They summarize, accurately, all that Christ has commanded in the Old and New Testaments, they outline truth pertaining to biblical principles and doctrine, and they help generation after generation preserve the church from "suggestions of Satan," but they are only effective inasmuch as they point me to the Word of God and the Christ revealed therein. If the WCF, the RP Testimony, and the Westminster catechisms ceased to exist, I would still be a Reformed Presbyterian because there is nothing in these documents that differ from the teachings of Scripture. I would merely loose wonderful references and resources to help me search the Scriptures and understand what is contained therein about Christ and Him crucified.
The Regulative Principle of Worship is very important to me, but it is only one principle within a myriad that helps me constantly keep my eyes attuned upon my Lord and Savior. It's purpose is not to puff me up with pride, to look down upon my Christian brothers and sisters outside of the RP camp, and shake my head in derision towards their ill-fated attempts to worship a Holy God in an unholy manner. God forbid I ever think about the Regulative Principle of Worship and pat myself on the back, thinking, "What a good Christian I am." No, I know that my worship is not acceptable to God because I sing the Psalms without musical instruments or because I set apart one day in seven to commit myself to the worship of the Lord. My heart knows that there are many times when I sing the Psalms with my lips but my heart is far from the presence of the God I claim to be worshiping correctly. My conscience tells me that I have not kept the Lord's Day holy because my heart and mind were far from the Lord despite my body being present during two worship services in the morning and evening.
Thus says the Lord:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:1-2, ESV)
These are not verses about you and me. These are not verses challenging Christians to be more humble, more contrite in spirit, and to tremble more at the Word of God (although these are good things to strive after). These verses point us to the one to whom God the Father looked upon to build His kingdom. There is and only ever will be one man to whom God will look upon who is truly humble, contrite in spirit, and trembles at His word. After all, the verse says "one" and not "ones." The subject is singular. The Father looks upon those who are united to Christ by faith and by the constant sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit as righteous and holy, but it is only our union with Christ (and not our observance of the Regulative Principle of Worship) that makes our worship acceptable in God's eyes.
The most perfect act of worship throughout the history of mankind cost a man His life. Unlike Nadab and Abihu, Christ did not offer up unauthorized (strange) fire to God, and yet He died because of the sacrifice He brought before His Heavenly Father. Men far more stained and sinful than Uzzah spit upon Christ's face, plowed their fists into his skull, and tore away his flesh as they scourged Him, and yet they walked home that evening to their families as the Promised One lay dead in a tomb. The Regulative Principle of Worship is built upon accounts like those of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10 and Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6, wherein we see that God strikes down those who do not worship Him or approach Him in accordance with His revealed will in Scripture. The guidelines instituted by the Lord for the building, set up, and transportation of the tabernacle to the precise measurements (i.e. the yearly Bible reading plan stumbling block) demonstrates to God's people that you cannot just pitch a tent in the wilderness and set up shop to worship God willy-nilly. With that said, Jesus was struck down as a perfect sacrifice for our sins so that we could come before the presence of God and worship Him forever clothed in His perfect righteousness. When Christ breathed his last, He yelled, "It is finished!" The curtain in the Temple that blocked off the Holy of Holies, the chamber where the Ark of the Covenant rested, was torn down the middle. The cherubim no longer needed to guard the Tree of Life, for redemption for mankind had finally been purchased and mere men could once more come before the presence of God in Christ Jesus.
The Regulative Principle of Worship gives no man or woman grounds to be puffed up with pride, look down upon their neighbor, and feel that the Lord accepts their worship while He rejects that of their neighbor's. Therefore, to think that your mode of worship, your day of worship, or your heart's condition during worship are enough to make it acceptable before our Holy God is a dangerous and destructive position to hold. These things are important, but they are not the reason why God's face shines upon His adopted children as they gather to worship Him. If the Regulative Principle of Worship does not point us to Christ and His finished work of redemption on our behalf, then we have grossly abused and convoluted this beautiful, biblical principle.
The true meaning of the Regulative Principle of Worship is that we come before God by His work (not our own) and on His terms (not our own), and sometimes that is not readily apparent in the way RPs answer their co-workers' questions about what makes RP churches distinct from the rest. Of course, if I said that something that makes the RP church distinct from others is that I rely upon the grace of God, in humble reliance upon my union with Jesus Christ by the constant work of the Holy Spirit in order to join together with fellow believers and lift up holy worship in accordance to God's revealed will then they might not really see the distinction between the RP church and their church. In many ways, they force your hand until you tell them that you cannot worship with them because their form of worship is not commanded in Scripture, and therefore, it is forbidden. This is where many get offended. Most people do not know how you can hold to a position that emphasizes God's grace and yet still feel required to follow Old Testament principles of Law like the Regulative Principle of Worship.
The grace of God is not an excuse to continue to abound in sin, and it is important that we worship God according to His revealed will. That is why the Regulative Principle of Worship is important and I believe it should be recognized and observed by every Christian. God didn't change between Malachi and Matthew. God didn't get a makeover. God is immutable. He never changes. He demanded strict regulations in worship in the Old Testament, and a strict adherence of those regulations are still required of all of us in the New Covenant (the Covenant of Grace). The difference is that God doesn't strike us down when we fail to adhere to the regulations He has instituted for worship, but rather, He died our death so that love would cover a multitude of sins. Just because the sin is pardoned doesn't mean that the sin is pardonable. When we don't come before God correctly and worship Him according to His revealed will, we might not feel the weight of our sin, but Christ felt it for us when He died on the cross. It might be asked, "If God still cares so much about how we worship Him, then why aren't Christians falling dead all around the world like Nadab, Abihu, and Uzzah?" I would ask in return, "If Christ was perfectly righteous, perfectly holy, without sin, without blemish, and without stain, then why did He die on the cross?" Sinful men receive grace because a perfect man accepted wrath.
With that said, RPs cannot use the Regulative Principle of Worship as a crutch to excuse their half-hearted, self-serving, pride-enabling approach to worship. The RP stance has never been and should never be that we are the only church upon the face of the planet that worships God correctly because we have the holy-grail of worship principles. Shame on us if we present the Regulative Principle of Worship outside of the context of Christ's mediatorial work on the cross and our union to Him by grace through faith. If it were not for the grace of God and the death and resurrection of God's only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, we would have no need for the Regulative Principle of Worship because no sacrifice, no Psalm, and no worship service would ever be pleasing in God's sight. It is only because God is gracious and loving to sinful men and women that the Regulative Principle of Worship has any bearing on how the body of Christ should conduct itself before the presence of God.
This past summer, my family from all around the country got together for a family reunion in the mountains of Colorado. When Sunday morning rolled around, most of my extended family went to a small, local church in the resort town we were vacationing in. However, my wife and I stayed home along with my parents, and we closed ourselves in one of the rooms of the house that we rented. We sang Psalms, we read passages from the Old and New Testament, we prayed together, we listened to a sermon from sermonaudio, and we were singing our final Psalm when the rest of the family got back home. My wife and I went down to our room after our private service, and she began to cry. She was noticeably upset because we "locked" ourselves in a room while the rest of the family went out to find a worship service to attend. I tried to tell her that we did the right thing, but I couldn't convince her because I couldn't even convince myself.
At suppertime, one of my uncles began to discuss the sermon that they heard that morning. I remember discrediting it in my heart long before I even knew what it was about. It probably wasn't Gospel focused, it probably wasn't a sermon by RP standards, but I just assumed so. As my uncle described it and shared some thoughts about his meditation upon it, I kept reassuring myself that it was a good thing that my wife and I stayed home and listened to a good sermon. After my uncle shared his thoughts, my cousins chimed in and shared. As for me and my immediate family, we served the Lord that morning and we each kept our mouths shut at the dinner table, refusing to share about our worship service that morning. Honestly, I didn't remember much from the sermon we listened to that morning. Honestly, I felt awkward all dressed up, sitting in a row of chairs in my parents' suite, facing a computer screen, completely distracted while trying to convince myself that this form of worship was more acceptable to the Lord than visibly gathering together with the saints to worship the Lord in an unbiblical fashion.
As a Reformed Presbyterian, I find myself torn when it comes to the Regulative Principle of Worship concerning worshiping with those that disregard it. I know that the principle is biblical and I know that I ought to observe it, but at the same time, I am not fully convinced that it should cause schism in the same manner that eating food offered up to idols caused in the New Testament. As RPs, we all know that when we travel and take vacations, odds are there won't be an RP church where we're headed. Is it more pleasing to God for us to stay in our hotel rooms, sing the Psalms, and listen to a sermon online, or should we leave our comfort zones, visibly go to worship at an unfamiliar church, and take part in the worship service as we can without sinning against our conscience? I've done the former enough to know that it doesn't seem like the right thing to do.
I think I would rather attend a worship service wherein I cannot sing the songs and I might be disappointed with the preaching than attend a worship service behind closed doors, sing Psalms, and face a computer while the Word is preached. It's a gamble, but as an RP, I should probably be more ecumenical and winsome rather than being overly-critical of men and women that I should be embracing in Christ rather than shunning. The Regulative Principle of Worship is important, and more than anything else, it teaches us that the means far outweigh the mode of worship. It's important to be reminded that grace has made worship possible before I start placing my confidence to come before God in my ability to sing the Psalms acapella, keeping the Lord's Day holy by not working, and observing the sacraments according to Christ's institution. The Regulative Principle of Worship is important, but so is union within the body of Christ. I cannot say that I revere and honor Christ when I look down upon my brothers and sisters in Christ. How can I adore the head while I turn my back upon the body?
Being ecumenical and polemical have their values, and it can be hard to know when to reach out to other traditions of faith and when to pull back. There is a fine line, and it can be difficult to distinguish. My Christian duty and chief end is to glorify God, not men. It is hard, however, to defend a stance of glorifying God to the exclusion of loving His children.
Earlier, I talked about the fact that I would remain a Reformed Presbyterian even if the Westminster Confession of Faith and the RP Testimony ceased to exist. In much the same way, I would remain a Reformed Presbyterian even if all the RP churches ceased to exist. It's hard to imagine what that might look like, but I'm not imagining my family holed up in a room with our Psalters and a computer every Sunday. I'm imagining my family attending worship services of other denominations, taking and leaving what we can, and feeling blessed and thankful for the grace of God and the work of Christ made manifest in the lives and testimonies that surround us in the universal church.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19, ESV)
That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. I keep coming back to that sentence from the text my pastor preached on last Sunday. Paul is telling us that there is a connection between comprehending the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ's love and "all the saints." I could be totally wrong, but it seems to me that Paul is telling us that if you want to measure the love of Christ then look at the myriad of saints. Gather all of God's children together, listen to their testimonies and confessions of faith in Christ, hear their stories of hurt and healing, and pray for the strength to comprehend the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. That God would save one sinner requires love that surpasses knowledge, but imagine the love that saved the breadth, length, height, and depth of all the saints. The more and more I think about this, the more and more I am humbled and convicted that we do ourselves a great disservice as believers by drawing a line in the sand between our tradition of faith and that of our neighbors. We certainly don't have to agree with each other on everything, but hopefully we can still pray together, encourage each other in the faith, and worship God together. We'd better start practicing now because eternity is a joyously long time!
