John Owen on Pride in Our Way of Worship

[Taylor]

"Too high an estimation of any peculiar way of worship is apt to entice the minds of some into a hurtful confidence in these things. Having an apprehension that they alone have attained unto the right way of gospel worship and the administration of its ordinances, and that, perhaps, on such accounts as wherein they are eminently deceived, they begin first greatly to value themselves, and then to despise all others, and, if they can, to persecute them. This insensibly works them into a trust in that which they esteem so excellent, and that unto an open neglect of things of a greater weight and moment. Thus is it not unusual to see persons who are under the power of some singular opinion and practice in religion to make one thing almost their whole business, the measure of other things and persons, the rule of communion and of all sincere love;—to value and esteem themselves and others according unto their embracing or not embracing of that opinion. ... Wherefore, although we ought greatly to prize and to endeavour after the true order of the church of Christ, the purity of worship, and regular administration of ordinances, yet let us take heed that we prize not ourselves too much on what we have attained; for if we do so, we shall be very apt to countenance ourselves in other neglects thereby, which will certainly bring us into a spiritual sickness and declension."

—John Owen, The Works of John Owen, vol. 7 (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1862), 252-253; emphasis original.

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

On all sides of the worship wars (what an awful term; to turn the worship of God into an occasion for war is about as base as it gets), you see this attitude manifesting itself all too often.

 

[pgwolv]

This reminds me a bit of one of the things against which our pastor often warns us. “Be careful of yourself when you come to the realisation that you are right about something”.

 

[Ed Walsh]

On all sides of the worship wars (what an awful term; to turn the worship of God into an occasion for war is about as base as it gets), you see this attitude manifesting itself all too often.

We would all be wiser if we considered the revival under Hezekiah and the resulting Passover, one of the most glorious Passover celebrations in the history of Israel. The story is excellent all by itself. But the wisdom to be gained lies in the many imperfections in following the prescribed rules for correctly celebrating the Passover. I know of people that would not have attended the celebration due to the inconsistencies and deviations from the prescribed method codified by Moses as he was directed by the very mouth of God.

First – The Passover was planned for the second month rather than the first. The Law of Moses declared the significance of it being done in the first month. (Exodus 12:1-3) This Law of the time of celebration had no hint that any other month would be acceptable. This fact alone would be a deal-breaker for many modern nitpickers. That would be like keeping the Sabbath on a Monday.

Without any detail, let me list a few more irregularities:
Q. Why change the month?
A. "For they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem." (2 Chronicles 30:3)

I changed my mind and decided to quote the rest of chapter 30. If this doesn't soften the righteous over much amoung us, I don't know what will. We need God much more than we need to be correct.

2 Chronicles 30:15–27 (NASB95)
15 Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth of the second month. And the priests and Levites were ashamed of themselves, and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the Lord.
16 They stood at their stations after their custom, according to the law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites.
17 For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves; therefore, the Levites were over the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was unclean, in order to consecrate them to the Lord.
18 For a multitude of the people, even many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than prescribed. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the good Lord pardon
19 everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary."
20 So the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
21 The sons of Israel present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day after day with loud instruments to the Lord.
22 Then Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good insight in the things of the Lord. So they ate for the appointed seven days, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord God of their fathers.
23 Then the whole assembly decided to celebrate the feast another seven days, so they celebrated the seven days with joy.
24 For Hezekiah king of Judah had contributed to the assembly 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep, and the princes had contributed to the assembly 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep; and a large number of priests consecrated themselves.
25 All the assembly of Judah rejoiced, with the priests and the Levites and all the assembly that came from Israel, both the sojourners who came from the land of Israel and those living in Judah.
26 So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel.
27 Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.

 

[davejonescue]

We would all be wiser if we considered the revival under Hezekiah and the resulting Passover, one of the most glorious Passover celebrations in the history of Israel. T story is excellent all by itself. But the wisdom to be gained lies in the many imperfections in following the prescribed rules for correctly celebrating the Passover. I know of people that would not have attended the celebration due to the inconsistencies and deviations from the prescribed method codified by Moses as he was directed by the very mouth of God.

First – The Passover was planned for the second month rather than the first. The Law of Moses declared the significance of it being done in the first month. (Exodus 12:1-3) This Law of the time of celebration had no hint that any other month would be acceptable. This fact alone would be a deal-breaker for many modern nitpickers. That would be like keeping the Sabbath on a Monday.

Without any detail, let me list a few more irregularities:
Q. Why change the month?
A. "For they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem." (2 Chronicles 30:3)

I changed my mind and decided to quote the rest of chapter 30. If this doesn't soften the righteous over much amoung us, I don't know what will. We need God much more than we need to be correct.

2 Chronicles 30:15–27 (NASB95)
15 Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth of the second month. And the priests and Levites were ashamed of themselves, and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the Lord.
16 They stood at their stations after their custom, according to the law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites.
17 For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves; therefore, the Levites were over the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was unclean, in order to consecrate them to the Lord.
18 For a multitude of the people, even many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than prescribed. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the good Lord pardon
19 everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary."
20 So the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
21 The sons of Israel present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day after day with loud instruments to the Lord.
22 Then Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good insight in the things of the Lord. So they ate for the appointed seven days, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord God of their fathers.
23 Then the whole assembly decided to celebrate the feast another seven days, so they celebrated the seven days with joy.
24 For Hezekiah king of Judah had contributed to the assembly 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep, and the princes had contributed to the assembly 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep; and a large number of priests consecrated themselves.
25 All the assembly of Judah rejoiced, with the priests and the Levites and all the assembly that came from Israel, both the sojourners who came from the land of Israel and those living in Judah.
26 So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel.
27 Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.

This is what I was reading during my morning devotion this morning (I go from cover to cover) and I too was thinking to myself, with all this talk of revival, this is a perfect example of what a Godly revival is. How it was meant to be seven days, but people were so caught up in worshipping God, they also extended it another 7 days. And you are correct about people scoffing. It said letters were sent to the tribes of Israel and many scoffed at the thought; yet, some humbled themselves and participated. It is a very exciting part of scripture, and people that avoid Chronicles because of the genealogies at first, miss out on the "good" stuff once you get them out of the way.

 

[JP Wallace]

I was speaking at our denominational family conference on Saturday past and I concluded with this very point - I was speaking on valuing and teaching our distinctives (which include acapella psalmody) my last point was we are to teaching humbly and chartitably.

Also here is a good article by a friend on the same principle:

What Majoring on the Minors Will Do to You

One of my favourite books of 2022 was the republication in one volume of three works by the nineteenth century Irish Presbyterian Thomas Witherow, under the title I Will Build My Church. (For my review, see the Feb 2023 Banner of Truth magazine). After training in Scotland under Thomas Chalmers,

gentlereformation.com

 

[iainduguid]

We would all be wiser if we considered the revival under Hezekiah and the resulting Passover, one of the most glorious Passover celebrations in the history of Israel. The story is excellent all by itself. But the wisdom to be gained lies in the many imperfections in following the prescribed rules for correctly celebrating the Passover. I know of people that would not have attended the celebration due to the inconsistencies and deviations from the prescribed method codified by Moses as he was directed by the very mouth of God.

First – The Passover was planned for the second month rather than the first. The Law of Moses declared the significance of it being done in the first month. (Exodus 12:1-3) This Law of the time of celebration had no hint that any other month would be acceptable. This fact alone would be a deal-breaker for many modern nitpickers. That would be like keeping the Sabbath on a Monday.

One slight correction, Ed. This precise issue emerged in Numbers 9, as it inevitably would given that you could become unclean for legitimate reasons beyond your control such as burying a body, and according to the letter of the law could not eat the Passover when unclean and would have to be excommunicated if you didn't partake. So in Numbers 9 the Lord permitted those who were ceremonially unclean to celebrate the Passover on the second month instead. What I found fascinating about the passage is that the Lord's answer covers a wider range of reasons for not being able to keep the passover properly than Moses asked about (e.g. being on a journey). This is the basis for what I call "the irregular principle of worship": sometimes under difficult circumstances in a fallen world it is better to worship God to the best of your ability, while making every effort to move toward compliance (you couldn't just decide you preferred the second month to the first), rather than to give up on worship (or give up on people) because it wasn't in full accord with the Biblical standards. Of course, this principle calls for wisdom and could be abused, as so much else in life, but you see it in our Books of Church Order in the use of words like "normally" and "extraordinarily".

 

[Ed Walsh]

So in Numbers 9 the Lord permitted those who were ceremonially unclean to celebrate the Passover on the second month instead.

Thanks, as usual, for your corrections. I am aware of that passage in Numbers but was in too much haste to think this all through.

Thanks and God bless,

Ed

 

[CathH]

Also here is a good article by a friend on the same principle:

What Majoring on the Minors Will Do to You

One of my favourite books of 2022 was the republication in one volume of three works by the nineteenth century Irish Presbyterian Thomas Witherow, under the title I Will Build My Church. (For my review, see the Feb 2023 Banner of Truth magazine). After training in Scotland under Thomas Chalmers,

gentlereformation.com

I was impressed and grateful for this article when it first appeared. It is a familiar story in other denominations too.