Worship as God Commands: The Regulative Principle

What happens when we reshape worship to fit our preferences rather than God's commands? In this powerful exploration of the regulative principle, we uncover the biblical foundation for authentic worship that honors God on His terms.

The journey begins with Jesus's profound declaration that true worshipers must worship "in spirit and truth." Far from being an Old Testament concept, we trace this principle from the Ten Commandments through sobering New Testament examples where God's judgment fell on those who approached Him incorrectly—even with good intentions.

Through biblical narratives of Nadab and Abihu, King Saul, Uzzah, and Ananias and Sapphira, we confront an uncomfortable truth: God takes worship seriously, and so should we. These weren't just historical anomalies but timeless warnings about the consequences of following human wisdom over divine instruction.

In an age where churches are measured by attendance and programs rather than biblical fidelity, this message challenges us to return to Scripture as our final authority. The regulative principle isn't about rigid legalism but about loving God enough to worship Him as He desires—finding true freedom within His divine boundaries.

Whether you're disillusioned with modern church trends or simply seeking to deepen your understanding of biblical worship, this exploration will transform how you view Sunday gatherings and perhaps even your daily approach to God. When was the last time you were truly in awe of your Creator? Join us as we rediscover worship that's acceptable to God—offered with reverence and awe to the consuming fire who is worthy of nothing less.

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening Prayer
• 28:23 ] Building a Church on God's Word
• 28:24 Introduction to the Regulative Principle

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

From the inside out, that we would be a church that is guided and led and uh ultimately accountable to your word. Lord, help us to submit to your word, to be joyful in that, to be humble in that, and to uh yeah, embrace this process as we all grow together and grow closer to you as well. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, good evening. Welcome to Distinctive Number Seven. All right, it's enough of that. Uh welcome to Distinctive Number Seven for our church of eight. Again, these are the guiding principles upon which this church will be built that will not change ten years from now. These are the things that uh are timeless in their essence. Um and we begin tonight with what we're going to call the regulative principle. Uh, and that's probably our most academic term we've had thus far. Uh, so I'll do my best to unpack that as we go throughout scripture. You should expect this message to feel a lot more like a uh narrative upon which we'll go through a story arc of the Bible and come to the conclusion of this principle. The regulative principle, in the most basic way we can describe it, is a distinction in our church where we say we will worship on Sunday mornings in a way that is prescribed either explicitly or clearly, implicitly from God's word. What that does for us is number one, it helps us to make sure that we are worshiping God as God has designed, but also it helps to keep us from errors that very easily come into the church. Our launching text will be John chapter 4, verses 23 and 24. Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, and this very important uh little nugget comes out of it. Verse 23, Jesus says, But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. We live in a day and age where if I were to ask you about the local church's worship, you would almost automatically go to describing the musical aspect of the service. When we think about worshiping in spirit and truth, it's very easy when someone says, Oh, those people know how to worship. Then we think of people that are very into and passionate and boisterous with their musical worship specifically. But is that what we see in the scriptures? Is that what the definition of worshiping in spirit means? And what does it mean to worship in spirit and in truth? And that's really what we're seeking to unpack tonight. It's helpful to go all the way back almost to the beginning in Exodus chapter 20. There is this moment where God lays out his law. And what's fascinating is that the first section of the law, of God's Ten Commandments here, has to do specifically with how we worship, how we interact with, love, and adore God. Listen to this. It says in Exodus chapter twenty, verses three through five and seven, you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. And again, we live in an age where we're very flippant when it comes to many different things, but God is usually somewhere on the top of the list, where uh the phrase OMG gets thrown around like it does not matter at all, and yet at the very beginning of God establishing order, establishing what is right and what is good, to take the Lord's name in vain, to flippantly, irresponsibly, and incorrectly use God's name is one of the top ten worst things you can do. And so it's a fascinating moment where we have to take ourselves out of our current cultural context and put ourselves into the Bible's context. When we look at that first command, you shall have no other gods before me. Again, this is a command of worship, that you are to worship and adore me first. You may have nothing else that you appreciate, that you enjoy, that you love more than me. I am God, and there will be no one before me. Verse 4, you may not make for yourself some sort of representative image of me. Why? Because I am God, I created everything, thus nothing in creation fully represents me. In the same way that you and I might see a carpenter make a beautiful dining room table, and in that you could see the touches that they have and their own style. But if you were to say, draw me a picture of this guy off this table, you would have a very hard time looking at the table and being like, I think he has a beard. Like that you would have a very hard time getting from point A to point B because the creation shows only an aspect of the creator. The natural temptation in our hearts and our minds, then, as we go throughout life, is to look around us to see what is normal, as opposed to looking at God's word to begin with, what is normal. So, for instance, in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verses 30 through 32, it says, Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them. That's the people that the Israelites have are kicking out and have kicked out of the promised land, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? That it also may do the same. You see, it's a natural temptation, even when we see the enemy, to try to redeem some aspect of what they're doing. To say, Well, maybe they were on to something. They were here for a long time, they had some success. Verse 31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. So we see very clearly that there is a wrong way to worship, which is very important, because again, we live in the generation of love is love. Whatever you want to do, someone says, I worship God by skipping church and going out into nature for hours. And me and God spend time together, and I don't have to read my Bible, and I don't need to be a part of any of this. And we would say that's, I understand how you could think that, but the Bible is clear on what worshiping God looks like. And what you have done is taken things that are good and you have made them a God thing. And we have created an out-of-order worship. At verse 32, there at the end, God is explicit and says, Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. Not only that, you shall not add to it or take from it. The implication, the natural tendency of the human heart is to add to or to take away from what God has said. It either is to add to it for comfort, for security, for performance, so I have something to do, or I think I've earned something, or to take away from it in the area that I'm not as comfortable, or I don't enjoy as much, or seems boring to me. And there are plenty of examples in the Bible of people that have gone astray in their worship and how seriously God takes them. So, for instance, in Leviticus chapter 10, verses 1 through 3, it says, Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censor and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord has said. Among those who are near me, I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. You see, there is this idea that once we get into a position that you and I can do whatever we would like, then, or whatever sounds good. It's very easy for a pastor to get into a comfortable zone and to begin to just tell a lot of stories instead of preaching God's word. Or to stay away from the sensitive subjects of God's word. And that's again why it's so important that you and I practice expository preaching at this church, is it makes it so that we're chained to God's word. Whatever God's word says is what we preach on that week. We cannot avoid topics or subjects. And when someone has a problem with what is preached, we can always go back to the word and say, your problem is not with man, but with God. You see, Nadab and Abihu were irresponsible and irreverent. They did not think highly of God. They were blessed with this position, but they were undisciplined. They were not trained in righteousness, and so they took their job flippantly. And they just started getting creative. Well, let's just do something else. Let's have fun. Let's enjoy something that we are not allowed to enjoy. A very uh relevant aspect of that today would be when I went to the local college last year to listen into a religious, I don't even know what you want to call it, QA. And there was a reformed Jewish lady, there was a Muslim guy, a Catholic priest, some else. And what was insane to me in that entire time was that as the kids asked all their questions, all three of these people answered the exact same way. Now let that sink in for a second. These very different religions all came down to this moralistic be a good person, therapeutic, feel good about yourself religion. All of them. Now that is extremely different than what God's word has to say. There was a moment where a young lady stood up, and the guy who was overseeing the whole thing was from a liberal uh Presbyterian background. So he wasn't doing the QA, but he was leading in. He was officiating it, if you want to say. And she stood up and she said, I grew up in a conservative Christian home, and I stand by those values, those truths I was taught. How should I approach all these different religions that are now being thrown at me now that I'm in college? And it was a fearful moment for me in the back row, unable to speak, as the very liberal pastor looked at this young lady and said, number one, you shouldn't think that Christianity has all the answers. Number two, you shouldn't be judgmental and critical before you get to know all of the other religions. Number three, you should take time to go ahead and invest into those relationships and other religions so that you can learn how to peacefully coexist with others who are on the same path. It was the most anti-Christian response I've ever heard, a so-called Christian give. You see, we serve a God who, when he came in flesh and died for mankind, said, I am the way. Not a way, not one of the ways. I am the only way. And we live in a generation that wants to peacefully, sinfully coexist. The Bible says that you and I in the church are to bring each other's sin to each other, that we're to hold each other accountable and to lovingly correct. And the question to you would be: when's the last time that you saw that or experienced that? The Bible says that you and I are to be a light on a hill, that we are to be shining in the darkness, standing for the truth, unashamed. And the question would be, how many churches do we see that actively do that? And that's why one of the greatest needs you and I can ever have is to have a fear and a reverence for God and His Word, where it controls how you and I operate, how we worship, how we proceed forward in this life. Because otherwise, you and I will look at the story of Nadab and Abaihu and say, those idiots, I can't believe they did that. All they had to do was do the right kind of fire. And there's a whole Bible sitting on our side table that has all the commands of what the church is supposed to be and look like. And you and I don't even know them, much less follow them. God is clear on what his church is to look like, sound like, and act like. And you and I have to establish a church that believes that and believes that to the point of action, of change, of discomfort. Why? After fire comes from heaven to consume these men as judgment from God, Moses says to Aaron that God said, Among those who are near me, I will be sanctified, I will be set apart. You will not add me as an ornament to the tree of your life. I will be the tree of your life upon which you decide to add things to. I will be the center, I will be the focus, I will be in control. I am God. For those who are near me, I will be sanctified, and before all people I will be glorified. You see, God's glory is the heart of all of this. It is the heartbeat and blood of the church. And when you and I miss that, when we forget that, we think our own glory is on display. We think that our own reputations are more important than standing for the truth. We think that the discomfort of ourselves and others is more important than honoring God and his word. God has said, I will be glorified before all people. The church is to be a representation of Christ in the community. We are to be the hands and feet of Christ and to love these people and to serve them and to give our lives for them in sacrifice. And at the same time, the church is also called to be the conscience of the community. A church that isn't willing to stand up for culturally relevant topics and preach a biblical truth is not glorifying God, but is rather glorifying themselves. A church that is willing to overlook sin after sin after sin within the church without any correction, without any coaching, without any loving, tender care has missed the mark and has not regulated itself according to Scripture. And we might say, but God knows my heart, right? I have good intentions. And we would say that you and I are never judged off of our intentions. We are always judged off of our actions. Great example is 1 Samuel chapter 13, verses 8 through 13. We see Saul, King Saul, says he waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel, the prophet. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So there's this moment where Saul is waiting for Samuel to come and to give this offering before they go. We'd like to think of it like uh saying a prayer over the food before eating, but a lot bigger because thousands of people could die if you don't, like if you go to battle without getting God's blessing first. And what's happening? Saul is trying to wait because Samuel is the only one authorized to give the offering. But Saul, similar to Peter, walking on the water, and then all of a sudden he sees the waves instead of his savior. Saul sees the people begin to scatter. And he says, Oh no, this is our moment, and we're losing it. There's momentum, there's something happening, and we're going to lose it. I'm going to lose the people. Verse 9. So Paul, so Saul said, Bring the burnt offering here to me and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. This is exactly what you and I look like when we give into sin at the last minute. I don't know if you've ever been there before. I definitely have. When like you give in to sin at the last minute, and you didn't think it was the last minute. Like you thought you're gonna, like, it was gonna be hours later, it's gonna be all this excruciating pain later. And just moments later, the truth comes, the relief comes. The problem is that you're not peacefully purely waiting for it anymore. You've taken things sinfully into your own hands. As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. I want you to imagine that moment. Saul knows he's not authorized to do this, but he has qualified what he has done because of the circumstance around him. He has said God's law is good, what God has said is right, however, we live real life here, okay? And there's times where we have to just kind of meet in the middle, God. God knows what he's doing most of the time, but sometimes he just can't see the fact that these people are about to scatter and we won't be able to get them back again. God doesn't see through my problem, or he doesn't see how hysterically bad it is currently. And with guilt and shame, Saul goes and meets and greets Samuel like nothing happened. Hey bunny, how's it going? Verse 11. Samuel said, What have you done? That's the worst, is when you're in your sin and someone just asks you a very simple, pointed question. Right? You finally gave in and you yelled at somebody and got angry, gave into sinful anger. And someone just says, What did you do? Like yeah, you don't want to have to say what you did. Like you know what you did, they know what you did. Why is that necessary? For confession, like we learned from this morning. It's agreeing with God about our sin. So what did Saul say? Did he say, I sinned? Did he say I did something wrong? When he chose to worship God in a way that God had said, Don't do this, did Saul say, I realize I was wrong and I'm sorry? No. And Saul said, When I saw that the people were scattering from me and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered to Mi'kmash, I said, Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord. So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering. See how Saul turned it real easy? Like, no, no, no, no, like we're like I had to make sure that I had sought the favor of the Lord before we battled, and the battle was pretty much about to attack me, so I had to make sure this got done. And we do the same thing when we make exceptions within the church. When God makes commands on how we are to worship, what the church is to look like. We say, no, no, it's a different season. No, no, no, it's the they're always like that. No, no, we're not that kind of church. It's like the only kind of church we should be is a Bible church. That's it. Nothing else. He says, I forced myself and offered the burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly. Why you have not kept the command of the Lord your God. Notice that he didn't say you weren't wise among men. That the average man leading in that moment wouldn't have given in to also do the exact same thing. He didn't say, Saul, it makes sense that you did this. He says, You've been foolish. Why? Because you didn't obey God. If you had, God would have established you forever. You see, God's blessings are always on the other side of obedience. So what we wish to do as a church isn't to say whatever God has said we must do and must be, we will be and we will do so that we can have the blessings on the other side, because we wish to be a blessed church. We don't wish to be a church that creates structures and systems, and all of a sudden we have 500 religious hypocrites that are just going about their days, not even honoring God most of the time. A church that is not regulated according to God's word creates people who sin and don't care. It creates a false witness where the world around looks in at the church and says, they look just like me. They act just like me. And they talk about getting saved, being new, being transformed. In 2 Samuel chapter 6, verses 5 through 7, we see a glaring example of how serious God's commands are. It says, And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and casting nets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nagan, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the Ark of God. Again, we see there's a logical reason here. The Ark of the Lord is this beautiful thing that represents God. Uzzah sees that it's stumbling and it's going to hit the ground. And out of reverence for this, he says, I will stop it. What we actually learn from the context is that this ark was put on a brand new cart. Fancy thing. But the Lord had commanded that the Levites carry it on rods. Why? Because you don't slip off of a rod that's through three rings on either side carried by six guys. So if God's law had been followed originally, this wouldn't have even happened. But what happens to good Christian people many times is they allow the circumstance to overrule the command. And they say, Oh, I shouldn't even be in this situation, but since I'm here, we'll just make the best of this, okay? We're just gonna kind of put things together and it'll be alright. Our actions are just as important as our attitude and heart posture and worship. And that's important for you and I to remember because the heart posture and the attitude do matter extremely. But there are lots of people that worship God on a Sunday morning by waving flags around, or they think it's great on Sunday service to put on a show instead of preaching a message. They think it's great to entertain people and to do raffles instead of praying. There are lots of wrong ideas that come through an idea that is supposedly in the right heart posture and attitude. So you and I can always go to the action and say, does the action line up with what God's word has said? And if it does, then with a clear conscience, I can move forward, asking God to continue to guide my heart. As a church, we simplify worship in that way and keep ourselves above board. Why is that important? Mark chapter 7, verses 6 and 7, Jesus says, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. You see, no one was more religious. No one was more religious than the Pharisees. No one was more specific with following God's word to the T in a physical sense than the Pharisees. But what had they done? Going back to Deuteronomy, they had added to God's word many places and taken away from some. They had created a structure that glorified man instead of God. And so at the end of all of this, you and I have to look at our own hearts and say, we are weak and unable, just like the Pharisees. And inside each and every one of us is another little Pharisee. Just waiting to see where we can perform so that people can see it and applaud us. In light of that, we save ourselves much pain, we create a much more pure. Bride for Christ, and more souls will be saved because of our efforts if we say we will only do what God's word commands. And some people might say, well, that's a lot of Old Testament stuff we're talking about there with this judgment. So we go to Acts chapter 5, verses 1 through 5. It says, But a man named Anaias, Ananias with his wife Sapphira, had sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man, but to God. When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon all who heard of it. The story goes on to say that his wife does the exact same thing. Comes in later, tells Peter, No, no, like we sold it for X amount and gave the whole amount. And that's what the issue was. The issue was that they sold the bid for 10,000, and then they kept 2,000 for themselves, and then they offered 8,000 to the church and said, We're giving all of the money away that we sold this for. Now, why would you lie about that? Well, number one, it sounds a lot more better when you say, everything I got from this, I'm giving to the church, right? We sold our car and whatever proceeds it has, everything's going to the church. That sounds a lot better than we sold our car and we're giving$3,000 to the church. Not that that sounds bad, but there is something upon which it sounds a little better when you say everything. See, Ananias and Sapphire wanted the applause of men. They wanted to be looked at as really, really good Christians, more than they wanted to be looked at with approval from God. My friends, this same error hides inside each and every one of us. And God, even in the New Testament, takes worship seriously. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 27 through 30, Jesus, or Paul is talking about communion and says, Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. You see, in the New Testament, we still got people dying for not worshiping God correctly. We still have people being judged for not worshiping God correctly. And that feels so far removed from our minds, where most of us have not grown up in very healthy church cultures, where God's word was taken very seriously, where holiness was expected and was held accountable by somebody else in the church to your life. That was not the norm for most growing up in the church. So the idea that God, with something as simple as communion, just the once-a-month thing where we eat bread and drink and there's prayer and maybe some scripture read, that moment that's worthy of being weak and ill and possibly dying. And the Bible would say yes. And the only reason that you and I have a hard time believing that is because we are so little in faith, and God is so patient with all of us. This is why, again, as the elders of the church, it is our goal to regulate the system, to create barriers and boundaries that keep us away from danger zones unnecessarily. So that's why if you come to us and you say, I would love to start a ministry feeding cats, we might say, that's great, and you go feed some cats. But the sovereign grace Bible church name will not go with that. And that will not be an established ministry of this church. Why? That's not hateful. Or that's hateful, that's not loving. Why would you not let us do this? People love cats. And we would say, because the church is not commanded to love on cats. And there are a lot of commands and ministries and expectations and community that the church has from God's word already that we're not currently fulfilling. Our goal, our job is simply to continue to go back to God and his word and to say, where can we grow inside of this bubble? That God has created a circle of blessing for the church wherein when we honor God's word and keep to it, it goes well for us. There is a reason the statistics are egregious when it comes to the church in America. There's a reason that over 75% of them are in decline. There's a reason that nearly 50% of pastors this year will quit or be fired or let go. There's a reason why all of these things are happening. And at the most base layer, it has to do with who's in charge of worship. Who is in charge of the church? Is it the squeaky wheel? Is it the loudest member? Is it the mob? Is it the culture? Is it one man? Is it a group of men? At this church, the authority will always be God's word. That will be the final rule and regulation for everything that happens within the bounds of this community. Why? Hebrews chapter 12, verses 28 and 29. Says, therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. You see, our goal should be to bring acceptable worship to the God of the universe. Our goal should be to realize that if there's a command, there's an encouragement to offer acceptable worship, that means there is a natural leaning in all of us to not offer acceptable worship. Or to have acceptable worship with a couple tweaks. You and I do not come into the church with our preferences, with our positions. We don't make a big fuss out of what color the walls are, what style of music we play. Are we into this ministry or that ministry? Degree by degree, we grow closer to Christ and closer to each other. And as the people are available, God puts the passion in our hearts for a ministry, and he enables the function of that ministry in a healthy and sustainable way, we will do it. And the second, that it is not sustainable, it will be gone. A ministry will never be more important than God's word in this church. Ever. And that very easily happens when people ask about your church and you have something to say that does not have to do specifically with the gathering of the saints on Sunday morning or God's people or God's word. When someone talks about our church, if we get an awesome kids program at some point in time in the midweek and it's just doing a great job, fantastic. May we never be known for that. If we have a great outreach program where we are doing things out in the community and the physical aspect of this community is being changed visibly. May we never be known just for that. May all of the ministries that we have point back to this central point that we are a church regulated by God's word. We are a church of love, loved by God, loving God's people in this community. And the most important rule in all of this is that you and I begin and end with God's word with a heart of reverence and awe. And again, that is hard to tangibly hold on to because we do not live in a generation where reverence is shown for much of anything. You don't see the American flag, and no one would dare do anything disrespectful to it. You don't see a president of a country, an establishment. You don't see any political leaders, any world leaders, and there's very little, if any, reverence shown to them. The only thing that maybe our con our our community is used to showing reverence to his money. Maybe. And yet God, acceptable worship of him, is defined by reverence and awe. When is the last time you were in awe of God? When is the last time you looked at God's word and your jaw dropped open? And you just said, wow. Acceptable worship is something that you and I have to kindle within each other. We have to encourage amongst ourselves. And it will only happen if we commit to this principle and then encourage each other as we walk down this path. At this church, the seventh distinctive is the regulative principle of worship because we are committed to worshiping God as He has said, with no more and no less. Let us pray. Father, we come before you and we are so unable on our own to succeed in these distinctives. And yet we pray that you would bless the preaching of your word, that it would change us, that we would be transformed degree by degree, and closer and closer to you, more and more like you. Lord, help us to stand firm. As the waves come and go, as hard times come and go, as pressure comes and goes, Lord, help us to be firm on this foundation. These distinctives that we are setting in place now. May they be train tracks that keep us on the straight and the narrow for years and years to come. Lord, please help us in our weakness to keep our hearts and our minds fixed on you. And Lord, ultimately, we ask that your name would be glorified, that you would be praised in our efforts, and that when we ever succeed, that it would always point back to the one true King who has done it all. Thank you, Lord, for these people, for this place, and for this purpose you've given us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.