The Regulative Principle and Contemporary Worship

How important is our manner of worship? Posing this question will evoke a broad response from any number of people. As I have spent much time reviewing the websites of a large number of “reformed” churches, I find that many have abandoned the regulative principle of worship which “teaches that the public worship of God should include those and only those elements that are instituted, commanded, or appointed by command or example in the Bible. In other words, it is the belief that God institutes in Scripture whatever he requires for worship in the Church, and everything else should be avoided.” (Theopedia)  Now, I understand that even this definition is interpreted differently by a vast group of people, but I find that many churches have adopted the pragmatic approach to worship (adopting practices which are seeker sensitive or appealing to the lost as a means of attracting them to church). This question must be asked and answered biblically, “Are our worship services meant to be evangelistic in nature or did God intend for His people to worship Him when they gather together?”  The regulative principle answers this question and history confirms its validity. It is becoming more evident that departure from the regulative principle has ushered in chaos and confusion in many worship services. The Word of God is given a back seat to what feels good or what we want to do rather than what God requires of us.

It is disheartening to see “reformed” churches abandoning a principle that goes all the way back to the Reformation for the sake of appealing to the lost or satisfying the worldly and immature desires of the young. Please understand, I am all for evangelism and reaching the lost and it would be contrary to our great commission to be otherwise, but worship and evangelism are distinct activities of the Church. I also desire to see young people take an interest in being involved in worship, but just as we don’t as parents, give a steady diet of sugar to our children, so we should not change our practice solely to accommodate them. Whatever happened to Proverbs 22:6? “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” We should be educating both the lost and the young what is proper worship and why we do it the way we do, but instead, we are willing to leaven the sacred with the unholy. Calvin clearly shows, almost prophetically, the dangers of abandoning the regulative principle:

“Moreover, the rule which distinguishes between pure and vitiated worship is of universal application, in order that we may not adopt any device which seems fit to ourselves, but look to the injunctions of him who alone is entitled to prescribe. Therefore, if we would have him to approve our worship, this rule, which he everywhere enforces with the utmost strictness, must be carefully observed. For there is a twofold reason why the Lord, in condemning and prohibiting all fictitious worship, requires us to give obedience only to his own voice. First, it tends greatly to establish his authority that we do not follow our own pleasure, but depend entirely on his sovereignty; and, secondly, such is our folly, that when we are left at liberty, all we are able to do is to go astray. And then when once we have turned aside from the right path, there is no end to our wanderings, until we get buried under a multitude of superstitions. Justly, therefore, does the Lord, in order to assert his full right of dominion, strictly enjoin what he wishes us to do, and at once reject all human devices which are at variance with his command. Justly, too, does he, in express terms, define our limits, that we may not, by fabricating perverse modes of worship, provoke his anger against us.” (John Calvin, The Necessity of Reforming the Church, emphasis mine).

The Catechism says, “the chief end of man is to glorify God…,” but worship in many churches today reflects a distrust if not total abandonment of principles that guide us to worship properly. The clarion call of God’s ministers must be to return to the regulative principle of worship and to encourage elders and congregants to remain faithful to it. Unfortunately, the appearance and practices of the visible church and those of the world are becoming seriously indistinct.

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