Why Presbyterians Believe in Regulated Worship
What is Presbyterianism? Part 2
This is part 2 of 7 articles explaining what is Presbyterianism.
Table of Contents
Part 1
Part 3
Regulated Worship
Because our God-centered worldview is derived from what He has revealed about Himself in the Scriptures, as they are the sole infallible rule of faith, then we must also have our practice founded only upon the Scriptures. This is known as the regulative principle of worship.
Public worship is not just out of love for fellow believers that we gather together. Public worship is where the Holy Triune God, revealed by the authoritative and infallible Holy Scriptures, meets with His redeemed people. His presence in the worship service is from His presence with the believers through Union with Christ. This is a meeting place of reconciled parties. This is where a groom enjoys his bride. This is where a father holds his children the closest.
Public worship is God’s design, and therefore we must practice it as He has described. Again, God is the center of our lives and the purpose for why we were made. Public worship is by Him, from Him, and to Him. God is both the orchestrator and the end of public worship. As Terry Johnson, senior pastor at Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia, has said before:
“You can make a case that there is a true sense that the whole Bible is the story of the establishment of the true worship of the true God.”1
God in His Holy Scriptures teaches that the following are proper elements in public elements: reading of the Scriptures, the singing of psalms and hymns, the offering of prayer, the preaching of the Word, the presentation of offerings, confessing the faith, and observing the Sacraments.2
Reading of the Scriptures
“Through it God speaks most directly to the congregation, even more directly than through the sermon.”
- PCA Book of Church Order, 50-1
Here the words of our God are heard. As displayed in the Scriptures, the public reading of them bring about further holiness as it is inseparably annexed with the Holy Spirit. This is the most sublime portion of public worship.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?…
- Romans 10:13-14
Our salvation and the salvation of others is dependent upon the hearing of the word of God. Paul exhorts Timothy in 1 Timothy 4 to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture (1 Timothy 4:13). He then states that if he does this he will see progress in his faith (v.15). And goes even further to say that if he persists in the public reading of Scripture that his hearers will be saved (v.16).
Paul again in 2 Timothy 3:16 teaches that all Scripture is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” If our people do not hear the word of God, how will they be complete men of God, equipped for every good work?
The Scriptures must be read publicly again!
Singing of Psalms and Hymns
Singing praises to God is part of our high end as creatures and of supreme delight. This special portion of public worship is where our joy may be expressed (Psalm 16:9). We praise God because “great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3).
The pinnacle of this particular joy is in the singing of the Psalms. In singing them we sing the words of Jesus, who sung them truthfully on our behalf. The words of Psalm 63 in the thirsting after God and the soul being satisfied with fat and rich food are only true for us because they were first true for Christ. Christ desired God for us.
Because of Christ’s accomplishment our souls are filled with joy and praise. Our purposes are restored and we delight in them. We turn to hymns and psalms for the right expression of these joys. We turn only to what God has given us so that our tongues do not tarnish this great privilege as we “declare his greatness” (Psalm 145:6).
once told me, “If you have a difficult choice between a hymn and a psalm, always choice the psalm.”We sing to the Lord for it is good to give thanks to him and to sing praises to the name of the Most High (Psalm 92:1).
Public Prayer
Though neglected for its importance in modern times, this high and proper time is for the adoration of God’s boundless majesty, the expression of the great distance and chasm between us as we are His creatures, and our wickedness and unscrupulousness to His holiness; the humble petitioning that we be met by His gracious and glorious presence, are assisted by His Holy Spirit in the carrying out of His worship, and “His acceptance of us through the merits of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”3
It is not fitting for the pastor to pray from a fixed form of prayer. Rather he should pray from the power and shepherding warmth given to him by the Holy Spirit4 Public prayer is to have the unction of the Holy Spirit in it. Without it, it is a mere uttering of words that return void.
The Preaching of the Word
“And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”
- Romans 10:14
Preaching is to be done with the utmost seriousness and reverence of the truths of God (2 Timothy 2:15). Preaching is not for teaching, arguments, story time, joking around, appearing intellectual, or feeling good about ourselves. Preaching is the proclamation of the glory of God to unworthy sinners. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones famously said:
“If you don’t know the difference between preaching and teaching, then you haven’t heard preaching.”
Our pulpits are in the middle of our sanctuaries because of the Word of God is the central point of our worship and is the most supreme means of grace.
The minister is to compose himself in a worthy manner, avoiding emotional excesses and the appearance of a corpse. The Word of God is living and active, so should be the man of God who is proclaiming it!
The Presbyterian view of preaching is for it be expository and verse-by-verse.5 Expository preaching explains a particular passage by careful and precise exegesis, or reading out of the text. We have expository and verse-by verse preaching because the whole counsel of God must be proclaimed. If we do not exposit the Scriptures and/or preach topically, the whole counsel of God is a shadow to us. As our worldview is centered upon the glory of God, so must our preaching be. Otherwise, we diminish our view of God, the fullness of Christ is stunted, and our person remains empty. We need the of God applied to our whole man.
The duty of the hearer is not to see what he can “get out of it”. The duty of the hearer is to diligently strive to see Christ in the preaching of the Word. In the history of the Scottish Presbyterians, there was one verse inscribed inside the pulpits for only the preacher to see:
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
- John 12:21
The duty of the preacher is to show Jesus and the duty of the hearer is to see Him.
Observing the Sacraments
The observance of the sacraments are not mere rituals. The sacraments are signs and seals of the covenant of grace. In our observance of them Christ is represented, and his benefits, our holy affections to him are confirmed, a visible difference is placed between the world and the church, and we are engaged in service to God in Christ, according to the Word.6
There is a spiritual relation between the sacraments and what they signify. However, there is no power in the sacraments themselves, but in the work of the Spirit, and the word of institution. Unless there is unction of the Spirit for the conversion of a sinner, men may partake of the sacraments but never have eternal life. It is solely the work of the Holy Spirit by faith alone that a sinner finds rest in Christ.7
Baptism is the rite of passage into the visible church, those who outwardly call themselves Christians. It shows the ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, the remission of sins, and of the giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in the newness of life.8
We Presbyterians believe that immersion is permitted but not necessary, because sprinkling and pouring are the primary modes.9 In the Old Testament, Moses sprinkled the blood of goats and bulls upon the unclean to purify their flesh and upon the vessels of the tabernacle (Hebrews 9:10,13,19,21). Christ’s blood now purifies our body and soul, and was what the blood of goats and bulls shadowed and typified. The baptismal waters signify the same thing. Therefore, the baptismal waters are rightly administered through sprinkling.
To show this further, the Holy Spirit was promised to be sprinkled upon many nations in Isaiah 52:15. Notice that in Acts 8, Philip hears the Ethiopian eunuch reading from Isaiah 53 and the eunuch asks to be baptized. Not only from the limited water in the area can one deduce that he would have been sprinkled or poured, but by the context of what he was reading. If the eunuch was reading Isaiah 53, how would he have known what baptism was? By first reading Isaiah 52:15!
As circumcision was administered in the Old Testament, so should baptism be administered. Infants of one, or both, believing parents should be baptized to signify the faithfulness of God to His covenant people (Acts 2:38-39, 1 Corinthians 7:14.)10 I recently had the pleasure of having supper with Dr. Terry Johnson, at which he said, “Any argument against infant baptism is an argument against infant circumcision.”
Their baptism, however, does not have any power in itself or unite them to Christ. As aforementioned, the only power of regeneration comes from the work of the Holy Spirit by faith.11As circumcision had no regenerating power in the Old Testament the same is true for baptism in the New (Romans 4:11).
The Lord’s Supper is the nourishing meal of the believer that is for the remembrance of the Lord’s sacrificial death, the sealing of benefits to all true believers, their growth in grace, the stirring up of faithfulness in their duties, and to be a bond and pledge of their union and communion with Christ and fellow believers.12
In this meal, Christ’s love is displayed and His benefits conferred. As Thomas Watson said,
“As Christ’s beauty, so his beauty should make him loved by us; he has given us his blood as the price, and his Spirit and the witness of our pardon. In the sacrament, Christ bestows all good things. He both imputes his righteousness and imparts his loving-kindness. He gives a foretaste of the supper which shall be celebrated in the Paradise of God. To sum up all, in the blessed Supper, Christ gives himself to believers; and what more can he give?”13
Those who worthily receive the Supper do not receive His actual body or blood and neither is it in, with, or under the elements. Worthy receivers receive Christ spiritually, and really, as He is present to their faith.14
There is no need for images. The sacraments are sufficient images in themselves! God in His infinite wisdom knew that Abraham would need a physical sign as do we. The love of God is appealed to our senses through the sacraments.
Free Resources
Psalm Reading/Singing Guide
Here is a Psalm reading/singing guide that was given to me by
. You can read the Psalms in a month, twice a month, or once a week! It is here for you to download and print off.
This is another reading guide that was given to me. It takes you through the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Shorter Catechism, and the Larger Catechism once a month. You may download it and print off as well.
https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2003/the-regulative-principle-of-worship/
PCA Book of Church Order. Chapter 47, The Principles and Elements of Public Worship, Section 9
PCA Book of Church Order. Chapter 52, Public Prayer, Section 1.
PCA Book of Church Order. Chapter 52, Public Prayer, Section 4.
PCA Book of Church Order. Chapter 53, The Preaching of the Word, Section 2.
Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 27, Of the Sacraments, Section 1.
Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 27, Of the Sacraments, Sections 2 through 3.
Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 28, Of Baptism, Section 1.
Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 28, Of Baptism, Section 3.
Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 28, Of Baptism, Section 4.
Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 28, Of Baptism, Section 5.
Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 29, Of the Lord’s Supper, Section 1.
The Lord’s Supper by Thomas Watson (1665)
Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 29, Of the Lord’s Supper, Section 7.