Corporate Worship and the People of God
For millennia, worship of God has been the fundamental act that characterizes His people. From the Old Testament distinction between the pagans who worship false gods and the Israelites who worship the true God to the New Testament division between the church and the world, worship has always defined the people of God, for it is fundamentally what God’s people are all about. Since the Reformation dispensed with the idea that the practice and pronouncement of the Church are inherently infallible, Christians have asked what worship is, and how Christians should go about doing it. They have answered these questions in many different ways. Ligon Duncan, in his two chapters in Give Praise to God, Don Carson, in his chapter in Worship By the Book, Terry Johnson, in Reformed Worship, and David Peterson, in Engaging with God, all address the topic in slightly different, yet helpful, ways.
Duncan is primarily concerned with laying out the Regulative Principle, the guideline that Reformed churches have traditionally used in shaping their worship. In contrast to what has been called the normative principle, characteristic of Lutherans and Anglicans, which asserts that Christians are free to use any practices in worship that God does not explicitly forbid in His Word, the Regulative Principle asserts that the church may only do in worship what God has specifically commanded us to do. Duncan frames his chapters around the question “Does God care how we worship?” He answers, from the Scriptures with a resounding affirmative, laying out reasons why this is so, theological reasons for absolute Biblical faithfulness in worship, and a discussion of what a Reformed worship service should look like, touching on the distinctions between elements, forms, and circumstances of worship. Duncan’s work is tremendously helpful in understanding what the Regulative Principle is and its biblical-theological groundings.
If Duncan is primarily concerned with how worship should be practiced by the church corporately, Carson’s aim is a more fundamental question of what worship is. He notes that while our English word “worship” has been used of other activities and attitudes between humans, it takes on a very different definition when used of the activity directed at the true God by His people. He provides a “definition” a paragraph long that will not be reproduced here, but that Carson seems to think necessary in covering all of the essential points for a true understanding of Christian worship. This definition is, of course, because of its thoroughness and Biblical basis, prescriptive as well as descriptive. It tells us not only what worship is, but why we do it, how we should do it, and the character of the One to whom we direct it.
Johnson, like Duncan, is also focused somewhat on the Regulative Principle, but he seems to approach it more from the position of a pastor understanding what should be done in his church than that of a theologian investigating the question more academically (Duncan, however, surely agrees with Johnson’s position, as he edited the series in which Johnson’s booklet appears). He also goes beyond the Regulative Principle itself to address the attitude and spirit with which we engage in worship. Johnson takes Jesus’ words in John 4 as a framework for tracing out basic Scriptural justification for the Regulative Principle and how it looks in the church: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” Under “truth,” Johnson establishes that Scripture must regulate worship. Considering “spirit,” he shows how true worship is more a matter of the heart and spiritual state than of external forms and practices.
Peterson has quite a different take on worship. The thesis of his book, which traces worship throughout the progressive revelation of Scripture, is that in the New Covenant worship is no longer the activity of God’s people in particular places at particular times, but rather is characteristic of all of life. The New Testament understands that everything we do is to be done to the glory of God, and that every action a believer takes says something about God and His character. Corporate meetings of the church, then are not particularly for worship any more than they are for breathing, but rather are intended for edification, encouragement, and teaching of the believers.
Peterson’s exegesis is provocative, and rather helpful in understanding the place of worship in the whole sweep of redemptive history. If the Reformed tradition has at times been guilty of seeing too great a continuity between the Old and New covenants, Peterson’s thoughts help us learn to look at the subject from a proper, post-cross, perspective. His assertions about the whole-life character of worship raise at least two specific questions about worship and the church that are worth pursuing. First, is it proper to speak of “worship” as being the fundamental reason we gather as a body on Sunday morning, and if not, then why do we gather? Second, is there any basis for a different standard of guidance for corporate worship than for all of life?
As regards the first question, I believe it is proper to think of our public gatherings as intended first and foremost to worship, praise, and glorify God together. This is based mainly on a teleological understanding of creation and redemption. The reason that humans exist, indeed the reason that all of creation exists, is worship. We are created by God specifically for the purpose of glorifying Him by living in fellowship with Him, obeying Him, and loving Him. Even after the fall, this is still the purpose of redemption. God elected to save a people for himself so that they would be reconciled to fellowship with Him and give Him praise, so that He would be glorified. This is what it means to be a child of God, and more importantly to the present discussion, this is what it means to be the people of God. He redeemed us not to remain individuals, but to be united as His people with the sole task of bringing Him glory together. When we gather on Sunday morning to worship God, we are fulfilling the purpose for which we are being saved, and we experience a foretaste of the ultimate assembly of all God’s people, when we will be devoted for all eternity to singing His praises.
So then, if corporate worship is indeed the reason we gather as a church, then we are faced with another question: what is unique about corporate worship? What sets it apart from the worship that we as believers engage in with our whole lives? Particularly, why is it that we are held to a higher standard (the Regulative Principle) when we praise God corporately than in the rest of life? Are we bound in our private or family devotions only to those actions positively commanded in Scripture?
Terry Johnson provides an answer. Explaining how the Reformed doctrine of the church flows into the Regulative Principle, he notes we have “sharply limited the church’s authority and power to those specifically delegated to it by Christ. Its authority is extensive yet is ‘ministerial and declarative.’” The church may require of its members no more than what God requires in Scripture. Since Christians are commanded to be at the weekly public worship services of the church, we may only do those things that God requires of His people.
Worship is, as the back of Peterson’s book notes, “of immense concern to the church,” and especially to pastors, elders, and leaders in the church who are in charge of leading their congregation in the worship of the living God, in spirit and in truth. There is much more in these readings that I have not plumbed, and that will continue to shape my thinking about worship for a long time to come. Learning better to worship God and more deeply to engage with him is a life-long process, and one that I trust will bring greater joy and delight the more I pursue it.
Duncan is primarily concerned with laying out the Regulative Principle, the guideline that Reformed churches have traditionally used in shaping their worship. In contrast to what has been called the normative principle, characteristic of Lutherans and Anglicans, which asserts that Christians are free to use any practices in worship that God does not explicitly forbid in His Word, the Regulative Principle asserts that the church may only do in worship what God has specifically commanded us to do. Duncan frames his chapters around the question “Does God care how we worship?” He answers, from the Scriptures with a resounding affirmative, laying out reasons why this is so, theological reasons for absolute Biblical faithfulness in worship, and a discussion of what a Reformed worship service should look like, touching on the distinctions between elements, forms, and circumstances of worship. Duncan’s work is tremendously helpful in understanding what the Regulative Principle is and its biblical-theological groundings.
If Duncan is primarily concerned with how worship should be practiced by the church corporately, Carson’s aim is a more fundamental question of what worship is. He notes that while our English word “worship” has been used of other activities and attitudes between humans, it takes on a very different definition when used of the activity directed at the true God by His people. He provides a “definition” a paragraph long that will not be reproduced here, but that Carson seems to think necessary in covering all of the essential points for a true understanding of Christian worship. This definition is, of course, because of its thoroughness and Biblical basis, prescriptive as well as descriptive. It tells us not only what worship is, but why we do it, how we should do it, and the character of the One to whom we direct it.
Johnson, like Duncan, is also focused somewhat on the Regulative Principle, but he seems to approach it more from the position of a pastor understanding what should be done in his church than that of a theologian investigating the question more academically (Duncan, however, surely agrees with Johnson’s position, as he edited the series in which Johnson’s booklet appears). He also goes beyond the Regulative Principle itself to address the attitude and spirit with which we engage in worship. Johnson takes Jesus’ words in John 4 as a framework for tracing out basic Scriptural justification for the Regulative Principle and how it looks in the church: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” Under “truth,” Johnson establishes that Scripture must regulate worship. Considering “spirit,” he shows how true worship is more a matter of the heart and spiritual state than of external forms and practices.
Peterson has quite a different take on worship. The thesis of his book, which traces worship throughout the progressive revelation of Scripture, is that in the New Covenant worship is no longer the activity of God’s people in particular places at particular times, but rather is characteristic of all of life. The New Testament understands that everything we do is to be done to the glory of God, and that every action a believer takes says something about God and His character. Corporate meetings of the church, then are not particularly for worship any more than they are for breathing, but rather are intended for edification, encouragement, and teaching of the believers.
Peterson’s exegesis is provocative, and rather helpful in understanding the place of worship in the whole sweep of redemptive history. If the Reformed tradition has at times been guilty of seeing too great a continuity between the Old and New covenants, Peterson’s thoughts help us learn to look at the subject from a proper, post-cross, perspective. His assertions about the whole-life character of worship raise at least two specific questions about worship and the church that are worth pursuing. First, is it proper to speak of “worship” as being the fundamental reason we gather as a body on Sunday morning, and if not, then why do we gather? Second, is there any basis for a different standard of guidance for corporate worship than for all of life?
As regards the first question, I believe it is proper to think of our public gatherings as intended first and foremost to worship, praise, and glorify God together. This is based mainly on a teleological understanding of creation and redemption. The reason that humans exist, indeed the reason that all of creation exists, is worship. We are created by God specifically for the purpose of glorifying Him by living in fellowship with Him, obeying Him, and loving Him. Even after the fall, this is still the purpose of redemption. God elected to save a people for himself so that they would be reconciled to fellowship with Him and give Him praise, so that He would be glorified. This is what it means to be a child of God, and more importantly to the present discussion, this is what it means to be the people of God. He redeemed us not to remain individuals, but to be united as His people with the sole task of bringing Him glory together. When we gather on Sunday morning to worship God, we are fulfilling the purpose for which we are being saved, and we experience a foretaste of the ultimate assembly of all God’s people, when we will be devoted for all eternity to singing His praises.
So then, if corporate worship is indeed the reason we gather as a church, then we are faced with another question: what is unique about corporate worship? What sets it apart from the worship that we as believers engage in with our whole lives? Particularly, why is it that we are held to a higher standard (the Regulative Principle) when we praise God corporately than in the rest of life? Are we bound in our private or family devotions only to those actions positively commanded in Scripture?
Terry Johnson provides an answer. Explaining how the Reformed doctrine of the church flows into the Regulative Principle, he notes we have “sharply limited the church’s authority and power to those specifically delegated to it by Christ. Its authority is extensive yet is ‘ministerial and declarative.’” The church may require of its members no more than what God requires in Scripture. Since Christians are commanded to be at the weekly public worship services of the church, we may only do those things that God requires of His people.
Worship is, as the back of Peterson’s book notes, “of immense concern to the church,” and especially to pastors, elders, and leaders in the church who are in charge of leading their congregation in the worship of the living God, in spirit and in truth. There is much more in these readings that I have not plumbed, and that will continue to shape my thinking about worship for a long time to come. Learning better to worship God and more deeply to engage with him is a life-long process, and one that I trust will bring greater joy and delight the more I pursue it.
posted by Jeff at 7:22 PM
<< Home