September 26, 2025 • 43 mins
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.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
From the inside out, that we would be a church that
is guided and led and uhultimately accountable to your
word.
Lord, help us to submit to yourword, to be joyful in that, to
be humble in that, and to uhyeah, embrace this process as we
all grow together and growcloser to you as well.
(00:24):
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right, good evening.
Welcome to Distinctive NumberSeven.
All right, it's enough of that.
Uh welcome to Distinctive NumberSeven for our church of eight.
Again, these are the guidingprinciples upon which this
(00:46):
church will be built that willnot change ten years from now.
These are the things that uh aretimeless in their essence.
Um and we begin tonight withwhat we're going to call the
regulative principle.
Uh, and that's probably our mostacademic term we've had thus
far.
Uh, so I'll do my best to unpackthat as we go throughout
(01:08):
scripture.
You should expect this messageto feel a lot more like a uh
narrative upon which we'll gothrough a story arc of the Bible
and come to the conclusion ofthis principle.
The regulative principle, in themost basic way we can describe
it, is a distinction in ourchurch where we say we will
(01:30):
worship on Sunday mornings in away that is prescribed either
explicitly or clearly,implicitly from God's word.
What that does for us is numberone, it helps us to make sure
that we are worshiping God asGod has designed, but also it
(01:50):
helps to keep us from errorsthat very easily come into the
church.
Our launching text will be Johnchapter 4, verses 23 and 24.
Jesus is talking to theSamaritan woman at the well, and
this very important uh littlenugget comes out of it.
Verse 23, Jesus says, But thehour is coming and is now here
(02:15):
when the true worshipers willworship the Father in spirit and
truth.
For the Father is seeking suchpeople to worship him.
God is spirit, so those whoworship him must worship in
spirit and truth.
We live in a day and age whereif I were to ask you about the
(02:38):
local church's worship, youwould almost automatically go to
describing the musical aspect ofthe service.
When we think about worshipingin spirit and truth, it's very
easy when someone says, Oh,those people know how to
worship.
Then we think of people that arevery into and passionate and
(02:59):
boisterous with their musicalworship specifically.
But is that what we see in thescriptures?
Is that what the definition ofworshiping in spirit means?
And what does it mean to worshipin spirit and in truth?
And that's really what we'reseeking to unpack tonight.
It's helpful to go all the wayback almost to the beginning in
(03:21):
Exodus chapter 20.
There is this moment where Godlays out his law.
And what's fascinating is thatthe first section of the law, of
God's Ten Commandments here, hasto do specifically with how we
worship, how we interact with,love, and adore God.
Listen to this.
(03:42):
It says in Exodus chaptertwenty, verses three through
five and seven, you shall haveno other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourselfa carved image, or any likeness
of anything that is in heavenabove, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the waterunder the earth.
You shall not bow down to themor serve them, for I, the Lord
(04:02):
your God, am a jealous God.
You shall not take the name ofthe Lord your God in vain, for
the Lord will not hold himguiltless who takes his name in
vain.
And again, we live in an agewhere we're very flippant when
it comes to many differentthings, but God is usually
somewhere on the top of thelist, where uh the phrase OMG
(04:27):
gets thrown around like it doesnot matter at all, and yet at
the very beginning of Godestablishing 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
(04:47):
is one of the top ten worstthings you can do.
And so it's a fascinating momentwhere we have to take ourselves
out of our current culturalcontext and put ourselves into
the Bible's context.
When we look at that firstcommand, you shall have no other
gods before me.
Again, this is a command ofworship, that you are to worship
and adore me first.
(05:09):
You may have nothing else thatyou appreciate, that you enjoy,
that you love more than me.
I am God, and there will be noone before me.
Verse 4, you may not make foryourself some sort of
representative image of me.
Why?
Because I am God, I createdeverything, thus nothing in
(05:32):
creation fully represents me.
In the same way that you and Imight see a carpenter make a
beautiful dining room table, andin that you could see the
touches that they have and theirown style.
But if you were to say, draw mea picture of this guy off this
table, you would have a veryhard time looking at the table
(05:52):
and being like, I think he has abeard.
Like that you would have a veryhard time getting from point A
to point B because the creationshows only an aspect of the
creator.
The natural temptation in ourhearts and our minds, then, as
we go throughout life, is tolook around us to see what is
(06:13):
normal, as opposed to looking atGod's word to begin with, what
is normal.
So, for instance, in Deuteronomychapter 12, verses 30 through
32, it says, Take care that yoube not ensnared to follow them.
That's the people that theIsraelites have are kicking out
and have kicked out of thepromised land, after they have
(06:36):
been destroyed before you, andthat you do not inquire about
their gods, saying, How didthese nations serve their gods?
That it also may do the same.
You see, it's a naturaltemptation, even when we see the
enemy, to try to redeem someaspect of what they're doing.
To say, Well, maybe they were onto something.
(06:58):
They were here for a long time,they had some success.
Verse 31 You shall not worshipthe Lord your God in that way.
So we see very clearly thatthere is a wrong way to worship,
which is very important, becauseagain, we live in the generation
of love is love.
(07:18):
Whatever you want to do, someonesays, I worship God by skipping
church and going out into naturefor hours.
And me and God spend timetogether, and I don't have to
read my Bible, and I don't needto be a part of any of this.
And we would say that's, Iunderstand how you could think
that, but the Bible is clear onwhat worshiping God looks like.
(07:42):
And what you have done is takenthings that are good and you
have made them a God thing.
And we have created anout-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.
(08:05):
Not only that, you shall not addto it or take from it.
The implication, the naturaltendency of the human heart is
to add to or to take away fromwhat God has said.
It either is to add to it forcomfort, for security, for
performance, so I have somethingto do, or I think I've earned
(08:28):
something, or to take away fromit in the area that I'm not as
comfortable, or I don't enjoy asmuch, or seems boring to me.
And there are plenty of examplesin the Bible of people that have
gone astray in their worship andhow seriously God takes them.
So, for instance, in Leviticuschapter 10, verses 1 through 3,
(08:49):
it says, Now Nadab and Abihu,the sons of Aaron, each took his
censor and put fire in it, andlaid incense on it, and offered
unauthorized fire before theLord, which he had not commanded
them.
And fire came out from beforethe Lord and consumed them, and
they died before the Lord.
(09:12):
Then Moses said to Aaron, Thisis what the Lord has said.
Among those who are near me, Iwill be sanctified, and before
all the people I will beglorified.
And Aaron held his peace.
You see, there is this idea thatonce we get into a position that
(09:33):
you and I can do whatever wewould like, then, or whatever
sounds good.
It's very easy for a pastor toget into a comfortable zone and
to begin to just tell a lot ofstories instead of preaching
God's word.
Or to stay away from thesensitive subjects of God's
word.
(09:54):
And that's again why it's soimportant that you and I
practice expository preaching atthis church, is it makes it so
that we're chained to God'sword.
Whatever God's word says is whatwe preach on that week.
We cannot avoid topics orsubjects.
And when someone has a problemwith what is preached, we can
always go back to the word andsay, your problem is not with
(10:17):
man, but with God.
You see, Nadab and Abihu wereirresponsible and irreverent.
They did not think highly ofGod.
They were blessed with thisposition, but they were
undisciplined.
They were not trained inrighteousness, and so they took
their job flippantly.
(10:38):
And they just started gettingcreative.
Well, let's just do somethingelse.
Let's have fun.
Let's enjoy something that weare not allowed to enjoy.
A very uh relevant aspect ofthat today would be when I went
to the local college last yearto listen into a religious, I
(11:03):
don't even know what you want tocall it, QA.
And there was a reformed Jewishlady, there was a Muslim guy, a
Catholic priest, some else.
And what was insane to me inthat entire time was that as the
kids asked all their questions,all three of these people
(11:28):
answered the exact same way.
Now let that sink in for asecond.
These very different religionsall came down to this moralistic
be a good person, therapeutic,feel good about yourself
(11:49):
religion.
All of them.
Now that is extremely differentthan what God's word has to say.
There was a moment where a younglady stood up, and the guy who
was overseeing the whole thingwas from a liberal uh
Presbyterian background.
(12:09):
So he wasn't doing the QA, buthe was leading in.
He was officiating it, if youwant to say.
And she stood up and she said, Igrew up in a conservative
Christian home, and I stand bythose values, those truths I was
taught.
How should I approach all thesedifferent religions that are now
(12:31):
being thrown at me now that I'min college?
And it was a fearful moment forme in the back row, unable to
speak, as the very liberalpastor looked at this young lady
and said, number one, youshouldn't think that
Christianity has all theanswers.
(12:54):
Number two, you shouldn't bejudgmental and critical before
you get to know all of the otherreligions.
Number three, you should taketime to go ahead and invest into
those relationships and otherreligions so that you can learn
how to peacefully coexist withothers who are on the same path.
(13:18):
It was the most anti-Christianresponse 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.
(13:39):
I am the only way.
And we live in a generation thatwants to peacefully, sinfully
coexist.
The Bible says that you and I inthe church are to bring each
other's sin to each other, thatwe're to hold each other
accountable and to lovinglycorrect.
(14:00):
And the question to you wouldbe: when's the last time that
you saw that or experiencedthat?
The Bible says that you and Iare to be a light on a hill,
that we are to be shining in thedarkness, standing for the
truth, unashamed.
And the question would be, howmany churches do we see that
(14:22):
actively do that?
And that's why one of thegreatest needs you and I can
ever have is to have a fear anda reverence for God and His
Word, where it controls how youand I operate, how we worship,
how we proceed forward in thislife.
(14:44):
Because otherwise, you and Iwill look at the story of Nadab
and Abaihu and say, thoseidiots, I can't believe they did
that.
All they had to do was do theright kind of fire.
And there's a whole Biblesitting on our side table that
has all the commands of what thechurch is supposed to be and
look like.
(15:06):
And you and I don't even knowthem, much less follow them.
God is clear on what his churchis to look like, sound like, and
act like.
And you and I have to establisha church that believes that and
believes that to the point ofaction, of change, of
(15:28):
discomfort.
Why?
After fire comes from heaven toconsume these men as judgment
from God, Moses says to Aaronthat God said, Among those who
are near me, I will besanctified, I will be set apart.
(15:52):
You will not add me as anornament to the tree of your
life.
I will be the tree of your lifeupon which you decide to add
things to.
I will be the center, I will bethe focus, I will be in control.
I am God.
For those who are near me, Iwill be sanctified, and before
(16:14):
all people I will be glorified.
You see, God's glory is theheart of all of this.
It is the heartbeat and blood ofthe church.
And when you and I miss that,when we forget that, we think
our own glory is on display.
(16:34):
We think that our ownreputations are more important
than standing for the truth.
We think that the discomfort ofourselves and others is more
important than honoring God andhis word.
God has said, I will beglorified before all people.
The church is to be arepresentation of Christ in the
(16:59):
community.
We are to be the hands and feetof Christ and to love these
people and to serve them and togive our lives for them in
sacrifice.
And at the same time, the churchis also called to be the
conscience of the community.
A church that isn't willing tostand up for culturally relevant
topics and preach a biblicaltruth is not glorifying God, but
(17:24):
is rather glorifying themselves.
A church that is willing tooverlook sin after sin after sin
within the church without anycorrection, without any
coaching, without any loving,tender care has missed the mark
and has not regulated itselfaccording to Scripture.
(17:47):
And we might say, but God knowsmy heart, right?
I have good intentions.
And we would say that you and Iare never judged off of our
intentions.
We are always judged off of ouractions.
Great example is 1 Samuelchapter 13, verses 8 through 13.
We see Saul, King Saul, says hewaited seven days, the time
(18:11):
appointed by Samuel, theprophet.
But Samuel did not come toGilgal, and the people were
scattering from him.
So there's this moment whereSaul is waiting for Samuel to
come and to give this offeringbefore they go.
We'd like to think of it like uhsaying a prayer over the food
before eating, but a lot biggerbecause thousands of people
(18:34):
could die if you don't, like ifyou go to battle without getting
God's blessing first.
And what's happening?
Saul is trying to wait becauseSamuel is the only one
authorized to give the offering.
But Saul, similar to Peter,walking on the water, and then
(18:56):
all of a sudden he sees thewaves instead of his savior.
Saul sees the people begin toscatter.
And he says, Oh no, this is ourmoment, and we're losing it.
There's momentum, there'ssomething happening, and we're
going to lose it.
I'm going to lose the people.
Verse 9.
So Paul, so Saul said, Bring theburnt offering here to me and
(19:20):
the peace offerings.
And he offered the burntoffering.
This is exactly what you and Ilook like when we give into sin
at the last minute.
I don't know if you've ever beenthere before.
I definitely have.
When like you give in to sin atthe last minute, and you didn't
(19:40):
think it was the last minute.
Like you thought you're gonna,like, it was gonna be hours
later, it's gonna be all thisexcruciating pain later.
And just moments later, thetruth comes, the relief comes.
The problem is that you're notpeacefully purely waiting for it
anymore.
You've taken things sinfullyinto your own hands.
(20:06):
As soon as he had finishedoffering the burnt offering,
behold, Samuel came.
And Saul went out to meet himand greet him.
I want you to imagine thatmoment.
Saul knows he's not authorizedto do this, but he has qualified
what he has done because of thecircumstance around him.
(20:28):
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 haveto just kind of meet in the
middle, God.
God knows what he's doing mostof the time, but sometimes he
just can't see the fact thatthese people are about to
scatter and we won't be able toget them back again.
(20:49):
God doesn't see through myproblem, or he doesn't see how
hysterically bad it iscurrently.
And with guilt and shame, Saulgoes and meets and greets Samuel
like nothing happened.
Hey bunny, how's it going?
Verse 11.
(21:10):
Samuel said, What have you done?
That's the worst, is when you'rein your sin and someone just
asks you a very simple, pointedquestion.
Right?
You finally gave in and youyelled at somebody and got
angry, gave into sinful anger.
And someone just says, What didyou do?
(21:33):
Like yeah, you don't want tohave to say what you did.
Like you know what you did, theyknow what you did.
Why is that necessary?
For confession, like we learnedfrom this morning.
It's agreeing with God about oursin.
So what did Saul say?
Did he say, I sinned?
Did he say I did somethingwrong?
(21:54):
When he chose to worship God ina way that God had said, Don't
do this, did Saul say, I realizeI was wrong and I'm sorry?
No.
And Saul said, When I saw thatthe people were scattering from
me and that you did not comewithin the days appointed, and
that the Philistines hadmustered to Mi'kmash, I said,
(22:15):
Now the Philistines will comedown against me at Gilgal, and I
have not sought the favor of theLord.
So I forced myself and offeredthe burnt offering.
See how Saul turned it realeasy?
Like, no, no, no, no, like we'relike I had to make sure that I
had sought the favor of the Lordbefore we battled, and the
battle was pretty much about toattack me, so I had to make sure
(22:38):
this got done.
And we do the same thing when wemake exceptions within the
church.
When God makes commands on howwe are to worship, what the
church is to look like.
We say, no, no, it's a differentseason.
No, no, no, it's the they'realways like that.
No, no, we're not that kind ofchurch.
(23:01):
It's like the only kind ofchurch we should be is a Bible
church.
That's it.
Nothing else.
He says, I forced myself andoffered the burnt offering.
And Samuel said to Saul, youhave done foolishly.
Why you have not kept thecommand of the Lord your God.
(23:25):
Notice that he didn't say youweren't wise among men.
That the average man leading inthat moment wouldn't have given
in to also do the exact samething.
He didn't say, Saul, it makessense that you did this.
He says, You've been foolish.
Why?
Because you didn't obey God.
(23:48):
If you had, God would haveestablished you forever.
You see, God's blessings arealways on the other side of
obedience.
So what we wish to do as achurch isn't to say whatever God
has said we must do and must be,we will be and we will do so
(24:09):
that we can have the blessingson the other side, because we
wish to be a blessed church.
We don't wish to be a churchthat creates structures and
systems, and all of a sudden wehave 500 religious hypocrites
that are just going about theirdays, not even honoring God most
of the time.
(24:30):
A church that is not regulatedaccording to God's word creates
people who sin and don't care.
It creates a false witness wherethe world around looks in at the
church and says, they look justlike me.
They act just like me.
(24:53):
And they talk about gettingsaved, being new, being
transformed.
In 2 Samuel chapter 6, verses 5through 7, we see a glaring
example of how serious God'scommands are.
It says, And David and all thehouse of Israel were celebrating
(25:16):
before the Lord with songs andlyres and harps and tambourines
and casting nets and cymbals.
And when they came to thethreshing floor of Nagan, Uzzah
put out his hand to the ark ofGod and took hold of it, for the
oxen stumbled.
And the anger of the Lord waskindled against Uzza, and God
(25:39):
struck him down there because ofhis error, and he died there
beside the Ark of God.
Again, we see there's a logicalreason here.
The Ark of the Lord is thisbeautiful thing that represents
God.
Uzzah sees that it's stumblingand it's going to hit the
ground.
And out of reverence for this,he says, I will stop it.
(26:07):
What we actually learn from thecontext is that this ark was put
on a brand new cart.
Fancy thing.
But the Lord had commanded thatthe Levites carry it on rods.
Why?
(26:28):
Because you don't slip off of arod that's through three rings
on either side carried by sixguys.
So if God's law had beenfollowed originally, this
wouldn't have even happened.
But what happens to goodChristian people many times is
they allow the circumstance tooverrule the command.
(26:53):
And they say, Oh, I shouldn'teven be in this situation, but
since I'm here, we'll just makethe best of this, okay?
We're just gonna kind of putthings together and it'll be
alright.
Our actions are just asimportant as our attitude and
heart posture and worship.
And that's important for you andI to remember because the heart
(27:18):
posture and the attitude domatter extremely.
But there are lots of peoplethat worship God on a Sunday
morning by waving flags around,or they think it's great on
Sunday service to put on a showinstead of preaching a message.
(27:38):
They think it's great toentertain people and to do
raffles instead of praying.
There are lots of wrong ideasthat come through an idea that
is supposedly in the right heartposture and attitude.
So you and I can always go tothe action and say, does the
(28:05):
action line up with what God'sword has said?
And if it does, then with aclear conscience, I can move
forward, asking God to continueto guide my heart.
As a church, we simplify worshipin that way and keep ourselves
above board.
Why is that important?
Mark chapter 7, verses 6 and 7,Jesus says, Well did Isaiah
(28:30):
prophesy of you hypocrites, asit is written, this people
honors me with their lips, buttheir heart is far from me.
In vain do they worship me,teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men.
You see, no one was morereligious.
(28:52):
No one was more religious thanthe Pharisees.
No one was more specific withfollowing God's word to the T in
a physical sense than thePharisees.
But what had they done?
Going back to Deuteronomy, theyhad added to God's word many
(29:17):
places and taken away from some.
They had created a structurethat glorified man instead of
God.
And so at the end of all ofthis, you and I have to look at
our own hearts and say, we areweak and unable, just like the
Pharisees.
And inside each and every one ofus is another little Pharisee.
(29:41):
Just waiting to see where we canperform so that people can see
it and applaud us.
In light of that, we saveourselves much pain, we create a
much more pure.
Bride for Christ, and more soulswill be saved because of our
(30:05):
efforts if we say we will onlydo what God's word commands.
And some people might say, well,that's a lot of Old Testament
stuff we're talking about therewith this judgment.
So we go to Acts chapter 5,verses 1 through 5.
(30:26):
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 ofthe proceeds and brought only a
part of it and laid it at theapostles' feet.
But Peter said, Ananias, why hasSatan filled your heart to lie
to the Holy Spirit and to keepback for yourself part of the
(30:48):
proceeds of the land?
While it remained unsold, did itnot remain your own?
And after it was sold, was itnot at your disposal?
Why is it that you havecontrived this deed in your
heart?
You have not lied to man, but toGod.
When Ananias heard these words,he fell down and breathed his
(31:10):
last, and great fear came uponall who heard of it.
The story goes on to say thathis 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 thebid for 10,000, and then they
(31:32):
kept 2,000 for themselves, andthen they offered 8,000 to the
church and said, We're givingall of the money away that we
sold this for.
Now, why would you lie aboutthat?
Well, number one, it sounds alot more better when you say,
everything I got from this, I'mgiving to the church, right?
(31:54):
We sold our car and whateverproceeds it has, everything's
going to the church.
That sounds a lot better than wesold our car and we're giving
$3,000 to the church.
Not that that sounds bad, butthere is something upon which it
sounds a little better when yousay everything.
See, Ananias and Sapphire wantedthe applause of men.
(32:18):
They wanted to be looked at asreally, really good Christians,
more than they wanted to belooked at with approval from
God.
My friends, this same errorhides inside each and every one
of us.
And God, even in the NewTestament, takes worship
(32:39):
seriously.
1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses27 through 30, Jesus, or Paul is
talking about communion andsays, Whoever therefore eats the
bread or drinks the cup of theLord in an unworthy manner will
be guilty concerning the bodyand blood of the Lord.
Let a person examine himselfthen, and so eat of the bread
(33:01):
and drink of the cup.
For anyone who eats and drinkswithout discerning the body eats
and drinks judgment on himself.
That is why many of you are weakand ill, and some have died.
You see, in the New Testament,we still got people dying for
(33:23):
not worshiping God correctly.
We still have people beingjudged for not worshiping God
correctly.
And that feels so far removedfrom our minds, where most of us
have not grown up in veryhealthy church cultures, where
God's word was taken veryseriously, where holiness was
(33:44):
expected and was heldaccountable by somebody else in
the church to your life.
That was not the norm for mostgrowing up in the church.
So the idea that God, withsomething as simple as
communion, just the once-a-monththing where we eat bread and
(34:05):
drink and there's prayer andmaybe some scripture read, that
moment that's worthy of beingweak and ill and possibly dying.
And the Bible would say yes.
And the only reason that you andI have a hard time believing
that is because we are so littlein faith, and God is so patient
(34:30):
with all of us.
This is why, again, as theelders of the church, it is our
goal to regulate the system, tocreate barriers and boundaries
that keep us away from dangerzones unnecessarily.
So that's why if you come to usand you say, I would love to
(34:53):
start a ministry feeding cats,we might say, that's great, and
you go feed some cats.
But the sovereign grace Biblechurch name will not go with
that.
And that will not be anestablished ministry of this
church.
Why?
(35:13):
That's not hateful.
Or that's hateful, that's notloving.
Why would you not let us dothis?
People love cats.
And we would say, because thechurch is not commanded to love
on cats.
And there are a lot of commandsand ministries and expectations
(35:35):
and community that the churchhas from God's word already that
we're not currently fulfilling.
Our goal, our job is simply tocontinue to go back to God and
his word and to say, where canwe grow inside of this bubble?
That God has created a circle ofblessing for the church wherein
(35:58):
when we honor God's word andkeep to it, it goes well for us.
There is a reason the statisticsare 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
(36:21):
or be fired or let go.
There's a reason why all ofthese things are happening.
And at the most base layer, ithas to do with who's in charge
of worship.
Who is in charge of the church?
Is it the squeaky wheel?
(36:43):
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 authoritywill always be God's word.
(37:04):
That will be the final rule andregulation for everything that
happens within the bounds ofthis community.
Why?
Hebrews chapter 12, verses 28and 29.
Says, therefore, let us begrateful for receiving a kingdom
(37:24):
that cannot be shaken.
And thus let us offer to Godacceptable worship with
reverence and awe, for our Godis a consuming fire.
You see, our goal should be tobring acceptable worship to the
(37:45):
God of the universe.
Our goal should be to realizethat if there's a command,
there's an encouragement tooffer acceptable worship, that
means there is a natural leaningin all of us to not offer
(38:05):
acceptable worship.
Or to have acceptable worshipwith a couple tweaks.
You and I do not come into thechurch with our preferences,
with our positions.
We don't make a big fuss out ofwhat color the walls are, what
(38:26):
style of music we play.
Are we into this ministry orthat ministry?
Degree by degree, we grow closerto Christ and closer to each
other.
And as the people are available,God puts the passion in our
hearts for a ministry, and heenables the function of that
(38:47):
ministry in a healthy andsustainable way, we will do it.
And the second, that it is notsustainable, it will be gone.
A ministry will never be moreimportant than God's word in
this church.
Ever.
(39:07):
And that very easily happenswhen people ask about your
church and you have something tosay that does not have to do
specifically with the gatheringof the saints on Sunday morning
or God's people or God's word.
When someone talks about ourchurch, if we get an awesome
(39:29):
kids program at some point intime in the midweek and it's
just doing a great job,fantastic.
May we never be known for that.
If we have a great outreachprogram where we are doing
things out in the community andthe physical aspect of this
community is being changedvisibly.
(39:51):
May we never be known just forthat.
May all of the ministries thatwe have point back to this
central point that we are achurch regulated by God's word.
We are a church of love, lovedby God, loving God's people in
this community.
(40:12):
And the most important rule inall of this is that you and I
begin and end with God's wordwith a heart of reverence and
awe.
And again, that is hard totangibly hold on to because we
do not live in a generationwhere reverence is shown for
(40:33):
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 acountry, an establishment.
You don't see any politicalleaders, any world leaders, and
there's very little, if any,reverence shown to them.
(40:57):
The only thing that maybe ourcon our our community is used to
showing reverence to his money.
Maybe.
And yet God, acceptable worshipof him, is defined by reverence
and awe.
(41:17):
When is the last time you werein awe of God?
When is the last time you lookedat God's word and your jaw
dropped open?
And you just said, wow.
Acceptable worship is somethingthat you and I have to kindle
(41:39):
within each other.
We have to encourage amongstourselves.
And it will only happen if wecommit to this principle and
then encourage each other as wewalk down this path.
At this church, the seventhdistinctive is the regulative
(41:59):
principle of worship because weare committed to worshiping God
as He has said, with no more andno less.
Let us pray.
Father, we come before you andwe are so unable on our own to
(42:22):
succeed in these distinctives.
And yet we pray that you wouldbless the preaching of your
word, that it would change us,that we would be transformed
degree by degree, and closer andcloser to you, more and more
like you.
Lord, help us to stand firm.
(42:46):
As the waves come and go, ashard times come and go, as
pressure comes and goes, Lord,help us to be firm on this
foundation.
These distinctives that we aresetting in place now.
May they be train tracks thatkeep us on the straight and the
narrow for years and years tocome.
(43:08):
Lord, please help us in ourweakness to keep our hearts and
our minds fixed on you.
And Lord, ultimately, we askthat your name would be
glorified, that you would bepraised in our efforts, and that
when we ever succeed, that itwould always point back to the
one true King who has done itall.
(43:31):
Thank you, Lord, for thesepeople, for this place, and for
this purpose you've given us.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
From the inside out, that we would be a church that
is guided and led and uhultimately accountable to your
word.
Lord, help us to submit to yourword, to be joyful in that, to
be humble in that, and to uhyeah, embrace this process as we
all grow together and growcloser to you as well.
(00:24):
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right, good evening.
Welcome to Distinctive NumberSeven.
All right, it's enough of that.
Uh welcome to Distinctive NumberSeven for our church of eight.
Again, these are the guidingprinciples upon which this
(00:46):
church will be built that willnot change ten years from now.
These are the things that uh aretimeless in their essence.
Um and we begin tonight withwhat we're going to call the
regulative principle.
Uh, and that's probably our mostacademic term we've had thus
far.
Uh, so I'll do my best to unpackthat as we go throughout
(01:08):
scripture.
You should expect this messageto feel a lot more like a uh
narrative upon which we'll gothrough a story arc of the Bible
and come to the conclusion ofthis principle.
The regulative principle, in themost basic way we can describe
it, is a distinction in ourchurch where we say we will
(01:30):
worship on Sunday mornings in away that is prescribed either
explicitly or clearly,implicitly from God's word.
What that does for us is numberone, it helps us to make sure
that we are worshiping God asGod has designed, but also it
(01:50):
helps to keep us from errorsthat very easily come into the
church.
Our launching text will be Johnchapter 4, verses 23 and 24.
Jesus is talking to theSamaritan woman at the well, and
this very important uh littlenugget comes out of it.
Verse 23, Jesus says, But thehour is coming and is now here
(02:15):
when the true worshipers willworship the Father in spirit and
truth.
For the Father is seeking suchpeople to worship him.
God is spirit, so those whoworship him must worship in
spirit and truth.
We live in a day and age whereif I were to ask you about the
(02:38):
local church's worship, youwould almost automatically go to
describing the musical aspect ofthe service.
When we think about worshipingin spirit and truth, it's very
easy when someone says, Oh,those people know how to
worship.
Then we think of people that arevery into and passionate and
(02:59):
boisterous with their musicalworship specifically.
But is that what we see in thescriptures?
Is that what the definition ofworshiping in spirit means?
And what does it mean to worshipin spirit and in truth?
And that's really what we'reseeking to unpack tonight.
It's helpful to go all the wayback almost to the beginning in
(03:21):
Exodus chapter 20.
There is this moment where Godlays out his law.
And what's fascinating is thatthe first section of the law, of
God's Ten Commandments here, hasto do specifically with how we
worship, how we interact with,love, and adore God.
Listen to this.
(03:42):
It says in Exodus chaptertwenty, verses three through
five and seven, you shall haveno other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourselfa carved image, or any likeness
of anything that is in heavenabove, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the waterunder the earth.
You shall not bow down to themor serve them, for I, the Lord
(04:02):
your God, am a jealous God.
You shall not take the name ofthe Lord your God in vain, for
the Lord will not hold himguiltless who takes his name in
vain.
And again, we live in an agewhere we're very flippant when
it comes to many differentthings, but God is usually
somewhere on the top of thelist, where uh the phrase OMG
(04:27):
gets thrown around like it doesnot matter at all, and yet at
the very beginning of Godestablishing 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
(04:47):
is one of the top ten worstthings you can do.
And so it's a fascinating momentwhere we have to take ourselves
out of our current culturalcontext and put ourselves into
the Bible's context.
When we look at that firstcommand, you shall have no other
gods before me.
Again, this is a command ofworship, that you are to worship
and adore me first.
(05:09):
You may have nothing else thatyou appreciate, that you enjoy,
that you love more than me.
I am God, and there will be noone before me.
Verse 4, you may not make foryourself some sort of
representative image of me.
Why?
Because I am God, I createdeverything, thus nothing in
(05:32):
creation fully represents me.
In the same way that you and Imight see a carpenter make a
beautiful dining room table, andin that you could see the
touches that they have and theirown style.
But if you were to say, draw mea picture of this guy off this
table, you would have a veryhard time looking at the table
(05:52):
and being like, I think he has abeard.
Like that you would have a veryhard time getting from point A
to point B because the creationshows only an aspect of the
creator.
The natural temptation in ourhearts and our minds, then, as
we go throughout life, is tolook around us to see what is
(06:13):
normal, as opposed to looking atGod's word to begin with, what
is normal.
So, for instance, in Deuteronomychapter 12, verses 30 through
32, it says, Take care that yoube not ensnared to follow them.
That's the people that theIsraelites have are kicking out
and have kicked out of thepromised land, after they have
(06:36):
been destroyed before you, andthat you do not inquire about
their gods, saying, How didthese nations serve their gods?
That it also may do the same.
You see, it's a naturaltemptation, even when we see the
enemy, to try to redeem someaspect of what they're doing.
To say, Well, maybe they were onto something.
(06:58):
They were here for a long time,they had some success.
Verse 31 You shall not worshipthe Lord your God in that way.
So we see very clearly thatthere is a wrong way to worship,
which is very important, becauseagain, we live in the generation
of love is love.
(07:18):
Whatever you want to do, someonesays, I worship God by skipping
church and going out into naturefor hours.
And me and God spend timetogether, and I don't have to
read my Bible, and I don't needto be a part of any of this.
And we would say that's, Iunderstand how you could think
that, but the Bible is clear onwhat worshiping God looks like.
(07:42):
And what you have done is takenthings that are good and you
have made them a God thing.
And we have created anout-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.
(08:05):
Not only that, you shall not addto it or take from it.
The implication, the naturaltendency of the human heart is
to add to or to take away fromwhat God has said.
It either is to add to it forcomfort, for security, for
performance, so I have somethingto do, or I think I've earned
(08:28):
something, or to take away fromit in the area that I'm not as
comfortable, or I don't enjoy asmuch, or seems boring to me.
And there are plenty of examplesin the Bible of people that have
gone astray in their worship andhow seriously God takes them.
So, for instance, in Leviticuschapter 10, verses 1 through 3,
(08:49):
it says, Now Nadab and Abihu,the sons of Aaron, each took his
censor and put fire in it, andlaid incense on it, and offered
unauthorized fire before theLord, which he had not commanded
them.
And fire came out from beforethe Lord and consumed them, and
they died before the Lord.
(09:12):
Then Moses said to Aaron, Thisis what the Lord has said.
Among those who are near me, Iwill be sanctified, and before
all the people I will beglorified.
And Aaron held his peace.
You see, there is this idea thatonce we get into a position that
(09:33):
you and I can do whatever wewould like, then, or whatever
sounds good.
It's very easy for a pastor toget into a comfortable zone and
to begin to just tell a lot ofstories instead of preaching
God's word.
Or to stay away from thesensitive subjects of God's
word.
(09:54):
And that's again why it's soimportant that you and I
practice expository preaching atthis church, is it makes it so
that we're chained to God'sword.
Whatever God's word says is whatwe preach on that week.
We cannot avoid topics orsubjects.
And when someone has a problemwith what is preached, we can
always go back to the word andsay, your problem is not with
(10:17):
man, but with God.
You see, Nadab and Abihu wereirresponsible and irreverent.
They did not think highly ofGod.
They were blessed with thisposition, but they were
undisciplined.
They were not trained inrighteousness, and so they took
their job flippantly.
(10:38):
And they just started gettingcreative.
Well, let's just do somethingelse.
Let's have fun.
Let's enjoy something that weare not allowed to enjoy.
A very uh relevant aspect ofthat today would be when I went
to the local college last yearto listen into a religious, I
(11:03):
don't even know what you want tocall it, QA.
And there was a reformed Jewishlady, there was a Muslim guy, a
Catholic priest, some else.
And what was insane to me inthat entire time was that as the
kids asked all their questions,all three of these people
(11:28):
answered the exact same way.
Now let that sink in for asecond.
These very different religionsall came down to this moralistic
be a good person, therapeutic,feel good about yourself
(11:49):
religion.
All of them.
Now that is extremely differentthan what God's word has to say.
There was a moment where a younglady stood up, and the guy who
was overseeing the whole thingwas from a liberal uh
Presbyterian background.
(12:09):
So he wasn't doing the QA, buthe was leading in.
He was officiating it, if youwant to say.
And she stood up and she said, Igrew up in a conservative
Christian home, and I stand bythose values, those truths I was
taught.
How should I approach all thesedifferent religions that are now
(12:31):
being thrown at me now that I'min college?
And it was a fearful moment forme in the back row, unable to
speak, as the very liberalpastor looked at this young lady
and said, number one, youshouldn't think that
Christianity has all theanswers.
(12:54):
Number two, you shouldn't bejudgmental and critical before
you get to know all of the otherreligions.
Number three, you should taketime to go ahead and invest into
those relationships and otherreligions so that you can learn
how to peacefully coexist withothers who are on the same path.
(13:18):
It was the most anti-Christianresponse 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.
(13:39):
I am the only way.
And we live in a generation thatwants to peacefully, sinfully
coexist.
The Bible says that you and I inthe church are to bring each
other's sin to each other, thatwe're to hold each other
accountable and to lovinglycorrect.
(14:00):
And the question to you wouldbe: when's the last time that
you saw that or experiencedthat?
The Bible says that you and Iare to be a light on a hill,
that we are to be shining in thedarkness, standing for the
truth, unashamed.
And the question would be, howmany churches do we see that
(14:22):
actively do that?
And that's why one of thegreatest needs you and I can
ever have is to have a fear anda reverence for God and His
Word, where it controls how youand I operate, how we worship,
how we proceed forward in thislife.
(14:44):
Because otherwise, you and Iwill look at the story of Nadab
and Abaihu and say, thoseidiots, I can't believe they did
that.
All they had to do was do theright kind of fire.
And there's a whole Biblesitting on our side table that
has all the commands of what thechurch is supposed to be and
look like.
(15:06):
And you and I don't even knowthem, much less follow them.
God is clear on what his churchis to look like, sound like, and
act like.
And you and I have to establisha church that believes that and
believes that to the point ofaction, of change, of
(15:28):
discomfort.
Why?
After fire comes from heaven toconsume these men as judgment
from God, Moses says to Aaronthat God said, Among those who
are near me, I will besanctified, I will be set apart.
(15:52):
You will not add me as anornament to the tree of your
life.
I will be the tree of your lifeupon which you decide to add
things to.
I will be the center, I will bethe focus, I will be in control.
I am God.
For those who are near me, Iwill be sanctified, and before
(16:14):
all people I will be glorified.
You see, God's glory is theheart of all of this.
It is the heartbeat and blood ofthe church.
And when you and I miss that,when we forget that, we think
our own glory is on display.
(16:34):
We think that our ownreputations are more important
than standing for the truth.
We think that the discomfort ofourselves and others is more
important than honoring God andhis word.
God has said, I will beglorified before all people.
The church is to be arepresentation of Christ in the
(16:59):
community.
We are to be the hands and feetof Christ and to love these
people and to serve them and togive our lives for them in
sacrifice.
And at the same time, the churchis also called to be the
conscience of the community.
A church that isn't willing tostand up for culturally relevant
topics and preach a biblicaltruth is not glorifying God, but
(17:24):
is rather glorifying themselves.
A church that is willing tooverlook sin after sin after sin
within the church without anycorrection, without any
coaching, without any loving,tender care has missed the mark
and has not regulated itselfaccording to Scripture.
(17:47):
And we might say, but God knowsmy heart, right?
I have good intentions.
And we would say that you and Iare never judged off of our
intentions.
We are always judged off of ouractions.
Great example is 1 Samuelchapter 13, verses 8 through 13.
We see Saul, King Saul, says hewaited seven days, the time
(18:11):
appointed by Samuel, theprophet.
But Samuel did not come toGilgal, and the people were
scattering from him.
So there's this moment whereSaul is waiting for Samuel to
come and to give this offeringbefore they go.
We'd like to think of it like uhsaying a prayer over the food
before eating, but a lot biggerbecause thousands of people
(18:34):
could die if you don't, like ifyou go to battle without getting
God's blessing first.
And what's happening?
Saul is trying to wait becauseSamuel is the only one
authorized to give the offering.
But Saul, similar to Peter,walking on the water, and then
(18:56):
all of a sudden he sees thewaves instead of his savior.
Saul sees the people begin toscatter.
And he says, Oh no, this is ourmoment, and we're losing it.
There's momentum, there'ssomething happening, and we're
going to lose it.
I'm going to lose the people.
Verse 9.
So Paul, so Saul said, Bring theburnt offering here to me and
(19:20):
the peace offerings.
And he offered the burntoffering.
This is exactly what you and Ilook like when we give into sin
at the last minute.
I don't know if you've ever beenthere before.
I definitely have.
When like you give in to sin atthe last minute, and you didn't
(19:40):
think it was the last minute.
Like you thought you're gonna,like, it was gonna be hours
later, it's gonna be all thisexcruciating pain later.
And just moments later, thetruth comes, the relief comes.
The problem is that you're notpeacefully purely waiting for it
anymore.
You've taken things sinfullyinto your own hands.
(20:06):
As soon as he had finishedoffering the burnt offering,
behold, Samuel came.
And Saul went out to meet himand greet him.
I want you to imagine thatmoment.
Saul knows he's not authorizedto do this, but he has qualified
what he has done because of thecircumstance around him.
(20:28):
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 haveto just kind of meet in the
middle, God.
God knows what he's doing mostof the time, but sometimes he
just can't see the fact thatthese people are about to
scatter and we won't be able toget them back again.
(20:49):
God doesn't see through myproblem, or he doesn't see how
hysterically bad it iscurrently.
And with guilt and shame, Saulgoes and meets and greets Samuel
like nothing happened.
Hey bunny, how's it going?
Verse 11.
(21:10):
Samuel said, What have you done?
That's the worst, is when you'rein your sin and someone just
asks you a very simple, pointedquestion.
Right?
You finally gave in and youyelled at somebody and got
angry, gave into sinful anger.
And someone just says, What didyou do?
(21:33):
Like yeah, you don't want tohave to say what you did.
Like you know what you did, theyknow what you did.
Why is that necessary?
For confession, like we learnedfrom this morning.
It's agreeing with God about oursin.
So what did Saul say?
Did he say, I sinned?
Did he say I did somethingwrong?
(21:54):
When he chose to worship God ina way that God had said, Don't
do this, did Saul say, I realizeI was wrong and I'm sorry?
No.
And Saul said, When I saw thatthe people were scattering from
me and that you did not comewithin the days appointed, and
that the Philistines hadmustered to Mi'kmash, I said,
(22:15):
Now the Philistines will comedown against me at Gilgal, and I
have not sought the favor of theLord.
So I forced myself and offeredthe burnt offering.
See how Saul turned it realeasy?
Like, no, no, no, no, like we'relike I had to make sure that I
had sought the favor of the Lordbefore we battled, and the
battle was pretty much about toattack me, so I had to make sure
(22:38):
this got done.
And we do the same thing when wemake exceptions within the
church.
When God makes commands on howwe are to worship, what the
church is to look like.
We say, no, no, it's a differentseason.
No, no, no, it's the they'realways like that.
No, no, we're not that kind ofchurch.
(23:01):
It's like the only kind ofchurch we should be is a Bible
church.
That's it.
Nothing else.
He says, I forced myself andoffered the burnt offering.
And Samuel said to Saul, youhave done foolishly.
Why you have not kept thecommand of the Lord your God.
(23:25):
Notice that he didn't say youweren't wise among men.
That the average man leading inthat moment wouldn't have given
in to also do the exact samething.
He didn't say, Saul, it makessense that you did this.
He says, You've been foolish.
Why?
Because you didn't obey God.
(23:48):
If you had, God would haveestablished you forever.
You see, God's blessings arealways on the other side of
obedience.
So what we wish to do as achurch isn't to say whatever God
has said we must do and must be,we will be and we will do so
(24:09):
that we can have the blessingson the other side, because we
wish to be a blessed church.
We don't wish to be a churchthat creates structures and
systems, and all of a sudden wehave 500 religious hypocrites
that are just going about theirdays, not even honoring God most
of the time.
(24:30):
A church that is not regulatedaccording to God's word creates
people who sin and don't care.
It creates a false witness wherethe world around looks in at the
church and says, they look justlike me.
They act just like me.
(24:53):
And they talk about gettingsaved, being new, being
transformed.
In 2 Samuel chapter 6, verses 5through 7, we see a glaring
example of how serious God'scommands are.
It says, And David and all thehouse of Israel were celebrating
(25:16):
before the Lord with songs andlyres and harps and tambourines
and casting nets and cymbals.
And when they came to thethreshing floor of Nagan, Uzzah
put out his hand to the ark ofGod and took hold of it, for the
oxen stumbled.
And the anger of the Lord waskindled against Uzza, and God
(25:39):
struck him down there because ofhis error, and he died there
beside the Ark of God.
Again, we see there's a logicalreason here.
The Ark of the Lord is thisbeautiful thing that represents
God.
Uzzah sees that it's stumblingand it's going to hit the
ground.
And out of reverence for this,he says, I will stop it.
(26:07):
What we actually learn from thecontext is that this ark was put
on a brand new cart.
Fancy thing.
But the Lord had commanded thatthe Levites carry it on rods.
Why?
(26:28):
Because you don't slip off of arod that's through three rings
on either side carried by sixguys.
So if God's law had beenfollowed originally, this
wouldn't have even happened.
But what happens to goodChristian people many times is
they allow the circumstance tooverrule the command.
(26:53):
And they say, Oh, I shouldn'teven be in this situation, but
since I'm here, we'll just makethe best of this, okay?
We're just gonna kind of putthings together and it'll be
alright.
Our actions are just asimportant as our attitude and
heart posture and worship.
And that's important for you andI to remember because the heart
(27:18):
posture and the attitude domatter extremely.
But there are lots of peoplethat worship God on a Sunday
morning by waving flags around,or they think it's great on
Sunday service to put on a showinstead of preaching a message.
(27:38):
They think it's great toentertain people and to do
raffles instead of praying.
There are lots of wrong ideasthat come through an idea that
is supposedly in the right heartposture and attitude.
So you and I can always go tothe action and say, does the
(28:05):
action line up with what God'sword has said?
And if it does, then with aclear conscience, I can move
forward, asking God to continueto guide my heart.
As a church, we simplify worshipin that way and keep ourselves
above board.
Why is that important?
Mark chapter 7, verses 6 and 7,Jesus says, Well did Isaiah
(28:30):
prophesy of you hypocrites, asit is written, this people
honors me with their lips, buttheir heart is far from me.
In vain do they worship me,teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men.
You see, no one was morereligious.
(28:52):
No one was more religious thanthe Pharisees.
No one was more specific withfollowing God's word to the T in
a physical sense than thePharisees.
But what had they done?
Going back to Deuteronomy, theyhad added to God's word many
(29:17):
places and taken away from some.
They had created a structurethat glorified man instead of
God.
And so at the end of all ofthis, you and I have to look at
our own hearts and say, we areweak and unable, just like the
Pharisees.
And inside each and every one ofus is another little Pharisee.
(29:41):
Just waiting to see where we canperform so that people can see
it and applaud us.
In light of that, we saveourselves much pain, we create a
much more pure.
Bride for Christ, and more soulswill be saved because of our
(30:05):
efforts if we say we will onlydo what God's word commands.
And some people might say, well,that's a lot of Old Testament
stuff we're talking about therewith this judgment.
So we go to Acts chapter 5,verses 1 through 5.
(30:26):
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 ofthe proceeds and brought only a
part of it and laid it at theapostles' feet.
But Peter said, Ananias, why hasSatan filled your heart to lie
to the Holy Spirit and to keepback for yourself part of the
(30:48):
proceeds of the land?
While it remained unsold, did itnot remain your own?
And after it was sold, was itnot at your disposal?
Why is it that you havecontrived this deed in your
heart?
You have not lied to man, but toGod.
When Ananias heard these words,he fell down and breathed his
(31:10):
last, and great fear came uponall who heard of it.
The story goes on to say thathis 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 thebid for 10,000, and then they
(31:32):
kept 2,000 for themselves, andthen they offered 8,000 to the
church and said, We're givingall of the money away that we
sold this for.
Now, why would you lie aboutthat?
Well, number one, it sounds alot more better when you say,
everything I got from this, I'mgiving to the church, right?
(31:54):
We sold our car and whateverproceeds it has, everything's
going to the church.
That sounds a lot better than wesold our car and we're giving
$3,000 to the church.
Not that that sounds bad, butthere is something upon which it
sounds a little better when yousay everything.
See, Ananias and Sapphire wantedthe applause of men.
(32:18):
They wanted to be looked at asreally, really good Christians,
more than they wanted to belooked at with approval from
God.
My friends, this same errorhides inside each and every one
of us.
And God, even in the NewTestament, takes worship
(32:39):
seriously.
1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses27 through 30, Jesus, or Paul is
talking about communion andsays, Whoever therefore eats the
bread or drinks the cup of theLord in an unworthy manner will
be guilty concerning the bodyand blood of the Lord.
Let a person examine himselfthen, and so eat of the bread
(33:01):
and drink of the cup.
For anyone who eats and drinkswithout discerning the body eats
and drinks judgment on himself.
That is why many of you are weakand ill, and some have died.
You see, in the New Testament,we still got people dying for
(33:23):
not worshiping God correctly.
We still have people beingjudged for not worshiping God
correctly.
And that feels so far removedfrom our minds, where most of us
have not grown up in veryhealthy church cultures, where
God's word was taken veryseriously, where holiness was
(33:44):
expected and was heldaccountable by somebody else in
the church to your life.
That was not the norm for mostgrowing up in the church.
So the idea that God, withsomething as simple as
communion, just the once-a-monththing where we eat bread and
(34:05):
drink and there's prayer andmaybe some scripture read, that
moment that's worthy of beingweak and ill and possibly dying.
And the Bible would say yes.
And the only reason that you andI have a hard time believing
that is because we are so littlein faith, and God is so patient
(34:30):
with all of us.
This is why, again, as theelders of the church, it is our
goal to regulate the system, tocreate barriers and boundaries
that keep us away from dangerzones unnecessarily.
So that's why if you come to usand you say, I would love to
(34:53):
start a ministry feeding cats,we might say, that's great, and
you go feed some cats.
But the sovereign grace Biblechurch name will not go with
that.
And that will not be anestablished ministry of this
church.
Why?
(35:13):
That's not hateful.
Or that's hateful, that's notloving.
Why would you not let us dothis?
People love cats.
And we would say, because thechurch is not commanded to love
on cats.
And there are a lot of commandsand ministries and expectations
(35:35):
and community that the churchhas from God's word already that
we're not currently fulfilling.
Our goal, our job is simply tocontinue to go back to God and
his word and to say, where canwe grow inside of this bubble?
That God has created a circle ofblessing for the church wherein
(35:58):
when we honor God's word andkeep to it, it goes well for us.
There is a reason the statisticsare 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
(36:21):
or be fired or let go.
There's a reason why all ofthese things are happening.
And at the most base layer, ithas to do with who's in charge
of worship.
Who is in charge of the church?
Is it the squeaky wheel?
(36:43):
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 authoritywill always be God's word.
(37:04):
That will be the final rule andregulation for everything that
happens within the bounds ofthis community.
Why?
Hebrews chapter 12, verses 28and 29.
Says, therefore, let us begrateful for receiving a kingdom
(37:24):
that cannot be shaken.
And thus let us offer to Godacceptable worship with
reverence and awe, for our Godis a consuming fire.
You see, our goal should be tobring acceptable worship to the
(37:45):
God of the universe.
Our goal should be to realizethat if there's a command,
there's an encouragement tooffer acceptable worship, that
means there is a natural leaningin all of us to not offer
(38:05):
acceptable worship.
Or to have acceptable worshipwith a couple tweaks.
You and I do not come into thechurch with our preferences,
with our positions.
We don't make a big fuss out ofwhat color the walls are, what
(38:26):
style of music we play.
Are we into this ministry orthat ministry?
Degree by degree, we grow closerto Christ and closer to each
other.
And as the people are available,God puts the passion in our
hearts for a ministry, and heenables the function of that
(38:47):
ministry in a healthy andsustainable way, we will do it.
And the second, that it is notsustainable, it will be gone.
A ministry will never be moreimportant than God's word in
this church.
Ever.
(39:07):
And that very easily happenswhen people ask about your
church and you have something tosay that does not have to do
specifically with the gatheringof the saints on Sunday morning
or God's people or God's word.
When someone talks about ourchurch, if we get an awesome
(39:29):
kids program at some point intime in the midweek and it's
just doing a great job,fantastic.
May we never be known for that.
If we have a great outreachprogram where we are doing
things out in the community andthe physical aspect of this
community is being changedvisibly.
(39:51):
May we never be known just forthat.
May all of the ministries thatwe have point back to this
central point that we are achurch regulated by God's word.
We are a church of love, lovedby God, loving God's people in
this community.
(40:12):
And the most important rule inall of this is that you and I
begin and end with God's wordwith a heart of reverence and
awe.
And again, that is hard totangibly hold on to because we
do not live in a generationwhere reverence is shown for
(40:33):
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 acountry, an establishment.
You don't see any politicalleaders, any world leaders, and
there's very little, if any,reverence shown to them.
(40:57):
The only thing that maybe ourcon our our community is used to
showing reverence to his money.
Maybe.
And yet God, acceptable worshipof him, is defined by reverence
and awe.
(41:17):
When is the last time you werein awe of God?
When is the last time you lookedat God's word and your jaw
dropped open?
And you just said, wow.
Acceptable worship is somethingthat you and I have to kindle
(41:39):
within each other.
We have to encourage amongstourselves.
And it will only happen if wecommit to this principle and
then encourage each other as wewalk down this path.
At this church, the seventhdistinctive is the regulative
(41:59):
principle of worship because weare committed to worshiping God
as He has said, with no more andno less.
Let us pray.
Father, we come before you andwe are so unable on our own to
(42:22):
succeed in these distinctives.
And yet we pray that you wouldbless the preaching of your
word, that it would change us,that we would be transformed
degree by degree, and closer andcloser to you, more and more
like you.
Lord, help us to stand firm.
(42:46):
As the waves come and go, ashard times come and go, as
pressure comes and goes, Lord,help us to be firm on this
foundation.
These distinctives that we aresetting in place now.
May they be train tracks thatkeep us on the straight and the
narrow for years and years tocome.
(43:08):
Lord, please help us in ourweakness to keep our hearts and
our minds fixed on you.
And Lord, ultimately, we askthat your name would be
glorified, that you would bepraised in our efforts, and that
when we ever succeed, that itwould always point back to the
one true King who has done itall.
(43:31):
Thank you, Lord, for thesepeople, for this place, and for
this purpose you've given us.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.