The Contemporary Church is W – Without Worthy, Weekly Worship
- 17 December 2023
Alas, we have failed to apply the Law of God to the most obvious & important area of human life – the public worship of God! The neglect of psalm singing partially accounts for the Churches’ loss of a vital kingdom-centred perspective among Christians today. In the psalms, God’s program in history is celebrated. By contrast, much contemporary worship, however musically up-beat, however impressively it is executed and soothingly watched (have you noticed that?!) is arguably frivolous and profane.
In the Psalms: (i) the Law of God is extolled (ii) an international anti-Christian conspiracy is exposed (iii) God’s wisdom and sovereignty in creation is celebrated; (iv) God’s providence in HISTORY is acknowledged (v) the (postmillennial) victory of God’s kingdom is plainly is anticipated; (vi) corporate national repentance is prompted; (vii) God’s covenant faithfulness is rehearsed; (viii) both individual and corporate piety are exhibited and (ix) the law of God as a the defining criteria of sanctification is kept in proper focus.
There exists plain theological, historical, logical & Confessional warrant for advocating (i) Psalm singing ought to dominate the public worship of God and (ii) only those other ‘songs’ found within Scripture may supplement Psalm singing & consequently. Traditional hymns & contemporary so called ‘worship songs’ therefore ought to be rejected within the regular formal worship of God who has supplied us with a hymn book Himself within Scripture!
Theological warrant
It is no exaggeration to say that every aspect of the construction of the tabernacle was prescribed by God, and that nothing was left to man’s imagination (Ex. 31:2-11). By this God instructs us that we are to be wholly subject to the Divine decree as we draw near to Him as His fallen yet redeemed creatures. What was true of the Tabernacle is also true of the more elaborate Temple. Nothing was left to man’s innovation. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron died when “fire went out from the Lord and devoured them” (Lev. 10:2). Why did this dreadful thing happen? Not because they were insincere or lacked ‘good intentions’; rather because they “offered strange fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded.”
King Jeroboam, notorious for being the one who “caused Israel to sin” to consolidate his hold on the ten tribes that rebelled against the house of David, “appointed ” or “instituted” worship of “his own choosing” (I Kings 12:32-33). And why was king Ahaz condemned when he “burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his sons in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations?” (II Chron. 28:3) Scripture tells us plainly for pursuing “something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind” (Jer. 7:31).
Martin Luther described the Psalms as “a book which comprehends most beautifully and briefly everything that is in the entire Bible”. Likewise, Calvin conceived of its contents as “an anatomy of all parts of the soul; a book which is a compendium of all divinity.” Calvin wrote that the Psalms are full of Christ without mentioning His Name once explicitly.
Logical warrant
After an interval of four centuries, the Spirit of inspiration spoke again by the evangelists and apostles; but no psalmist was raised up in the apostolical Church. The New Testament contains books of history, of doctrine, and of prophecy; but it contains no new book of Psalms. The apostle Paul wrote no new songs; rather he instructed both the Ephesians and the Colossians to sing the existing spiritual psalms, hymns and spiritual songs – i.e. various categories of extant Psalms. [Beware committing the anachronistic fallacy of forgetting how original hearers understood ancient vocabulary]. Finally, Christ’s singing of a Psalm while inaugurating NT ordinances is significant – it demonstrated the continuity of the Covenant of Grace across both Testaments.
Historical warrant
Dr. Philip Schaff, American church historian (1819-1893) wrote, “The Book of Psalms is the oldest Christian Hymn Book; inherited from the ancient covenant … The Councils of Laodicea (360 AD) and of Chalcedon (451 AD) prohibited the ecclesiastical use of all uninspired or private hymns.” The Calvinistic Reformers, Scottish Presbyterians, French Huguenots, Dutch Reformed and English and American Puritans were biblically correct then in maintaining Psalmody.
Confessional warrant
Both Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Directory for Public Worship of God (1640s) stipulate exclusive psalmody for public worship. Virtually all the great (16th to 18th century) Reformed Catechisms and Confessions defining Reformation practice for the ensuing two centuries were either (i) exclusive psalmody OR (ii) predominant psalmody with occasional supplementary hymns derived explicitly from Scripture passages. The Regulative Principle in Worship (RPW) says ‘only that worship is acceptable to God that He sanctions.’
Calvin concluded: “all so-called good intentions are struck by this thunderbolt, which tells us that men can do nothing but err when they are guided by their own opinion without the Word or command of God.”
“What is there now to do? It is to have songs not only honest, but also holy, which will be like spurs to incite us to pray to and praise God, and to meditate upon his works in order to love, fear, honour and glorify him. Moreover, that which St. Augustine has said is true, that no one is able to sing things worthy of God except that which he has received from him. Therefore, when we have looked thoroughly, and searched here and there, we shall not find better songs nor more fitting for the purpose, than the Psalms of David, which the Holy Spirit spoke and made through him. And moreover, when we sing them, we are certain that God puts in our mouths these, as if he himself were singing in us to exalt his glory. Wherefore Chrysostom exhorts, as well as the men, the women and the little children to accustom themselves to singing them, in order that this may be a sort of meditation to associate themselves with the company of the angels.” So wrote Calvin in his Preface to the Psalter!
Alas, the singing of the one hundred and fifty inspired psalms has been eclipsed today by the singing of thousands of uninspired songs/hymns. The church’s truncated mindset (worldview) is largely maintained and informed by this sweet, intoxicating drivel ‘performed by the music group.’ Until this trend is halted and our hearts are induced to repent, we shall continue to experience the obvious reproach of the nations: ‘O God, how long will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?’ (Ps 74:10)
