Parakaleo
Puritan Board Sophomore
This is a confession. When I first came out of seminary, received a call, and started leading worship services, I took it on good faith that all the things we were doing in worship were biblical, time-honored, and acceptable to God. Even though I knew nothing is to be incorporated into God's worship other than what is proven to be His direct command, I trusted that the godly men I looked up to had done this exegetical work and I could safely follow their example.
I was not only slothful about doing my own study, but I was cowardly in turning a blind eye to my own misgivings, since I knew reform in this area would likely come at a steep personal cost. Like a profane child, I stubbornly persisted in my way for some time.
A major realization came when I understood that the ground for many worship practices in the modern Reformed church is found only in the Old Covenant. While there is great continuity between the Old and New Covenant, I have now realized that no part of Old Covenant worship whatsoever can be Christianized and imported into New Covenant worship without God's command for it in the New Testament. He is the sole Gatekeeper between these covenants when it comes to what carries on and what is fulfilled in worship. We cannot trust ourselves to take things God gave for Israel's worship and replicate them in the church. How will we know what He has chosen to continue through the gate? The instructions and practices of the apostles, of course.
Don't be like me. Don't take it on good faith that others are leading you correctly in God's worship, and thus regard them as apostles! You are accountable to God to worship exactly as He has commanded. Study the worship of the apostles. Do modern Reformed worship services look more like their practice, or a little more like worship in the old temple?
I was not only slothful about doing my own study, but I was cowardly in turning a blind eye to my own misgivings, since I knew reform in this area would likely come at a steep personal cost. Like a profane child, I stubbornly persisted in my way for some time.
A major realization came when I understood that the ground for many worship practices in the modern Reformed church is found only in the Old Covenant. While there is great continuity between the Old and New Covenant, I have now realized that no part of Old Covenant worship whatsoever can be Christianized and imported into New Covenant worship without God's command for it in the New Testament. He is the sole Gatekeeper between these covenants when it comes to what carries on and what is fulfilled in worship. We cannot trust ourselves to take things God gave for Israel's worship and replicate them in the church. How will we know what He has chosen to continue through the gate? The instructions and practices of the apostles, of course.
Don't be like me. Don't take it on good faith that others are leading you correctly in God's worship, and thus regard them as apostles! You are accountable to God to worship exactly as He has commanded. Study the worship of the apostles. Do modern Reformed worship services look more like their practice, or a little more like worship in the old temple?
Last edited:
