God does not simply care that we worship. He also cares about how we worship. Last week we looked at the Old Testament justification for the regulative principle. However, the book of Galatians clearly teaches that the Law no longer binds us. Instead, we live in a state of Grace. So, we must ask, “How does Grace impact the prescriptions for worship?”

God does not change. As a result, He still cares about how we approach Him. We must therefore ask if God has given us instructions for our worship today. The answer is that He has. Throughout the New Testament are instructions on how we are to approach God. These serve as our guidelines today. And since God commands how we approach Him, we cannot approach Him any way we want. How has God commanded that we approach Him?

First, we see that we are to pray the Word. Our worship should be bathed in prayer. Consider Christ’s condemnation of the temple worship of His day, “He said to them, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers’” (Matt 21:13). In response to the trials the early church faced, they immediately responded in prayer (Acts 4:24-26). Yet even our prayer comes with instructions (Matt 6:7-13). Jesus commands us not to fill our prayer with empty ritualistic platitudes. Instead, He gives us a prayer saturated in Scripture. So, we are to pray the Word. This is why we have numerous prayer times on Sunday mornings. We try to pray a lot.

Next, 1 Timothy 4:13 commands us to read the Word. The word of God is what sanctifies believers. As a result, we are commanded to read the Word together. This is why we have two times every Sunday morning devoted to the public reading of the Word.

Third, we are to sing the Word. We covered this a little last week. But the point here is that singing is a commanded part of worship. A church that does not sing is a church that does not worship. Consider again Ephesians 5:18-19 and Colossians 3:16. “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (Eph 5:18-19). “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col 3:16).

A few weeks ago, we focused on the fact that our singing is to be Word saturated. It is to be true. So, we must ask our songs, “what does this song actually say?” Is the song saying anything, and is it true? However, the point this week is that God commands us to sing to one another. Some have said, “I don’t sing for the sake of those around me. I have a terrible voice, and no one around me wants to hear it.” Others take the opportunity of singing to demonstrate how gifted they are. Both come from a faulty view of worship. You see, the singing in the church is not for entertainment but for edification, teaching, and admonishment. God does not command that only gifted people sing, but that we all sing one to another.

So, let me be frank. If you stand silently while the congregation sings, you are doing your fellow members a disservice. You are violating a clear command of Scripture. And you are not approaching God properly. Further, if you choose to make the singing time a dazzling display of your musical prowess, you are doing the body of Christ a disservice by distracting them from the song’s message, and you are not worshipping God properly.

This is why the song that the congregation sings must be singable. Most modern Christian songs today were written for performance, not corporate singing. As a result, they contain musical elements which the average church member cannot handle. So, we attempt to introduce singable songs. We will address this concept further in the coming weeks.

Fourth, 2 Timothy 4:1-5 commands that we are to preach the Word. The preaching of the Word is necessary for the worship and spiritual growth of the church. We should note two things about this preaching. First, it is the Word that is to be preached. The pastor should not preach personal opinions or another person’s thoughts. God commands the pastor to expound the Word. Second, expository preaching will not be popular. Today many churches have chosen to downplay the preaching of the Word for this reason. But we are to love the preaching of the Word.

All of this is done so that we might worship through living the Word (Josh 1:8; Eph 2:10; Rom 12:1-2). Sunday worship means nothing if it is not followed by Monday-Saturday obedience. A true believer follows the Word every day. The church sings the Word, reads the Word, prays the Word, and preaches the Word so that Christians will live the Word.

You will note that every aspect of the worship prescribed by God is saturated with the Word. The Word is God’s tool for change in life and understanding the demands of God. God has commanded that we pray, read, sing and preach God’s words back to him. In other words, the church gathers around the Word. The Word is primary. As a result, the Bible must saturate every aspect of worship. The Word is to be read, prayed, sung, and preached.

Since the Word is central to all worship, truth is the basis for all worship. The giving of the Law demonstrates that God cares about how He is worshiped. As a result, all worship should be Bible-based and Bible-saturated. For the Word of God is Truth. When songs are sung in worship, they must be saturated with truth. When prayers are prayed, they must be saturated with truth. When the Word of God is preached, it must be saturated with truth. The question must be asked through every portion of worship, “Is it true?” Tradition cannot take precedence over truth. Preference cannot take precedence over truth. Worship is not worship if it is not true. All worship must be Bible-saturated.

The regulative principle not only keeps us from foolish attempts to gather crowds (like clowns, performing interpretive dances, or WWF-style themes for Sunday series), it also keeps us centered on what is eternally significant and serves to fulfill the purpose of the church of making disciples of Jesus for the glory of God. God created us to worship, so everyone worships something. Our call as God’s people is to worship the right One in the right way. We must take worship seriously. We should not treat it like any other gathering when we gather with God’s people. This is a sacred time with a sacred people for a sacred purpose. Our worship must reflect who God is.