Honoring the rules of God’s house – Part one

Would you not consider it reasonable to expect someone visiting your home to abide by the rules of your home? In other words, it would be uncouth, improper even, for a visitor to come in your house and do something your family is uncomfortable with. For example, if someone chooses to smoke in their own home, that’s their business. However, if you live in a smoke-free home, you’d be upset if a guest ignored your wishes, and simply lit one up. We’d consider that rude and thoughtless. “Our home, our rules” is pretty much an unwritten but understood principle in every house.

Yet, I wonder if we afford God that same respect? Do men and women truly apply the same train of thought when they assemble in the Lord’s house on Sunday? Have Christians forgotten that church is the place where the One true Holy God has chosen to meet with His people? In the Old Testament, God dwelt in the tabernacle, and later in the temple. In our New Testament economy, it is the Spirit-empowered gathering of God’s people that can rightly be called the Lord’s house. Therefore, do confessed Christians think like this … “God’s house, God’s rules?” Or instead, do people suppose it doesn’t matter how we act, or how we conduct ourselves in the Lord’s house? We certainly care how people behave in our homes, why would we think the Divine is indifferent?

In theological circles, there are two main ideas of how worship should be done: the regulative and the normative principles of worship. Allow me to give you a brief definition of both borrowed from gotquestions.org. “The regulative principle of worship maintains that Scripture gives specific guidelines for conducting corporate worship services and that churches must not add anything to those guidelines. The normative principle is the idea that anything not expressly forbidden by Scripture can be used in corporate worship.”

Now, either of these positions can be taken to an extreme. However, I am going to unapologetically say; I lean strongly to the school of regulative worship. Let me explain why.

First, church is not about you. Let that sink in a moment, and perhaps even go back and read that statement again. I don’t mean to sound sarcastic, but the average consumer-minded Christian today has been sold a bill-of-goods. So, let me make this clear – church is not about what pleases you. Worship is about what pleases God! When born-again believers gather together on the Lord’s Day, our goal, our purpose should be to magnify the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The (perhaps) well-intended, but atrocious practices of the seeker-sensitive movement have wrongly taught scores of men and women, church is about what attracts them, rather than honors God. So, the first reason I subscribe more strongly to the regulative principle, is because its doctrine is naturally more theocentric (God-centered) than the normative principle.

Secondly, while you may have unwritten rules of conduct for your home, God has not left us in the dark. The Bible clearly teaches how God would have His children to conduct themselves in His house. Some of the things I am about state over the next couple of weeks, will not be popular; however, let me remind you – I didn’t write the Bible, I am just quoting it.

The Scriptures teach us numerous activities that should be done to honor God in His house. We will consider them in the upcoming articles. Having said that … if we are serious about honoring the House of God, we will honor the Word of God. The Christian does so by making sure that the preaching and proclamation of God’s Word is primary in the worship service.

Having said that, we need to be clear about something … when the Bible speaks of preaching, it doesn’t mean motivational speeches or pep talks. It means actually opening up the Scriptures and making clear what “thus saith the Lord.” By the way, there is a vast difference between preaching about God’s Word, and actually preaching God’s Word. If your pastor is not clearly explaining to you the meaning of the inspired text, he (and not she – 1 Timothy 3:2) is not doing what God has said must be done in His house. Far too many sermons are no more than a mixture of Oprah and Dr. Phil’s feel-good humanism with a few Scriptures sprinkled in to make it sound “churchy.” We honor God by rightly expounding the Good News of His Son, and how the entirety of Scripture points to Christ’s substitutionary work. If you are not constantly being exposed to Jesus in both the Old and New Testaments, whatever you are hearing is not Biblical preaching.

Furthermore, according to the rules of God’s house, preaching should never take a backseat to anything else. When churches sideline the Word of God and give other things the leading role, there is something fundamentally wrong. If your assembly spends more time making announcements, than pronouncing God’s Word, that should concern you. If more time is given to “praise and worship” in song – than in proclaiming the life-changing, soul-saving Word of God, you might ask those in leadership if you are honoring the rules of God’s house? Not every worship service in every church has to look just alike. Yet, if we want to honor God – we will ensure His Word has the prominent place it belongs in His house.

I realize it is possible I am too stiff, too rigid … but I wonder if we asked Nadab and Abihu if God was serious about how He is worshipped, what they might say?

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