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Congregational Worship
Regulative Principle

“1. There Are Kinds of Worship That God Doesn’t Want … . 2. Our Own Instincts About How to Worship God Are Often Wrong … .3. God Has Told Us Exactly How to Worship Him” - 9 Marks

Discussion

Thu, 05/29/25

What’s all of this have to do with the idea of a wedding registry? Well, when it comes to our corporate worship of the Lord, he has “registered” for gifts! Of course, the Lord doesn’t need anything from us, but he has told us the exact gifts he’d like us to bring which will “bless” him. What are these Sunday morning gifts the Lord has registered for? He tells us most clearly in the book of Acts and 1 Corinthians. As Ligon Duncan helpfully summarizes: “Read the Bible, preach the Bible, pray the Bible, sing the Bible, and see the Bible (in the Lord’s Supper and baptism).” When it comes to corporate worship, God intends for us to not add to the registry (see Deuteronomy 12:32)!

It must be more complicated than this. There must be certain musical styles and instruments that God has told us are "not registered" for corporate worship.

I know. Let's use hermeneutical gymnastics to parse them out from obscure or unrelated passages of Scripture and then bind the consciences of other believers with our list of what must be on the registry and what must not be.