In the previous post on public prayer, I mentioned that prayer is to be understood by all and if in a tongue it is to be interpreted. With that statement, I was in no way endorsing Pentecostalism or the Charismatic movement. I was just following Paul's injunctions in 1 Corinthians 14.
For the record, I am a Cessationist (I've always have been). At this point, I want to mention a hindrance to reformation among African Americans---the Full Gospel movement, especially the Full Gospel Baptist movement.
"Bishop" Paul S. Morton, formerly of New Orleans, spearheaded this movement in the early 1990s. As a result, a number of National Baptist churches left the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. to form this fellowship with Paul Morton, the presiding bishop. Some churches may have remained with the convention, I don't know. A National Baptist church has a right to embrace Pentecostalism and remain in good standing with the convention.
The emphasis on tongues-speaking and the "gifts" has set biblical worship a drift in African American Baptist churches, as younger pastors have grown up with this type of worship and re-form (or maybe it is proper to write "deform") the worship taking further and further away from biblical commands and precepts.
To place the tongues issue into Reformed confessional context, the Westminster Confession states that prayer must be in a "known tongue." Were the Westminster divines responding to proto-Pentecostalism? No, they responded to the Roman Catholic Church and its Latin liturgy. Let us give the divines credit for a good application of 1 Corinthians 14; drawing from that chapter, they knew that Paul commands that speech in worship is to be done in a language that is understood by all. Language in an element of worship edifies; therefore, the singing is to be in the common language, the preaching, and the praying also. The Roman Church had circumvented this commandment, and nowadays Pentecostals and Charismatics that practice what they call tongue-speaking abrogate this commandment as well, especially when men and women (usually preachers or worship leaders) break out spontaneously in "tongues." I see them on television, and they never interpret these "tongues," which is in clear rejection of Paul's commandment.
According to the Holy Scriptures, prayer is to be in the common language, or interpreted into the common language so all may say, "Amen."
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Prayer Priority
One of the biblical elements of worship is prayer. That the people of God are commanded to pray to their God is assumed in all of Scripture, but there are some specific commands to pray. We have the Lord God speaking to his prophets like Abraham and Moses. Moses, whom God spoke to "mouth to mouth" (see Numbers 12:8), offered many prayers to the Lord (see Exodus 33:12-16 for example) as did Joshua. In the book of Psalms, many of the praises are also prayers such as Psalm 51 and Psalm 119. We have the great prayers of kings and prophets such as Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20) and Daniel (Daniel 9). If all we had was the Old Testament there would be no doubt that prayer is both a command for individual believers in the Most High God and when the congregation of the people of God gathers together for worship.
When we come to the New Testament, we see in bright characters the example of Jesus Christ, who devotes his earthly life to prayer. He has given his people a model prayer to use in both private and public worship (see Matthew 6). The Early Church prayed as we read in Acts 1 and 2 and in I Corinthians 14. Prayer is a priority in corporate worship for the elect of God.
What is prayer? This is how the Westminster Shorter Catechism defines prayer: "Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies." This is Christian prayer.
How should we prayer in the public worship of God? We should pray reverently in sensible words (tongues-speaking is unwarranted in prayer unless interpreted by the speaker himself), and it should be inclusive of all. We need the help of the Spirit to help us worship rightly; therefore, we should pray for the Spirit's help and filling. We should use the psalms, the Lord's Prayer, and other biblical prayers to guide us. We have the mind of God regarding prayer; therefore, there is no excuse for men to falter in public prayer.
How much should prayer be a part of the public worship? There should be an invocation, a longer, pastoral prayer, a prayer for enlightenment before the sermon, and a prayer of consecration or submission after the sermon that would also include a benediction. That's at least four times of prayer in the public worship.
For African American Baptist churches, I believe there is room for more prayer; since there is a covenantal dialogue in worship it is important that the people of God address their Covenant Lord through prayer much in the service of worship. There should be no room for trite expressions and emotionalism in prayer. This is why holy men should lead in prayer as commanded by Paul in 1 Timothy 2. This would mean children are not to lead in prayer, or women. It is so common to have Children and Youth Sundays when children and youth lead the worship service, but this is totally unbiblical. The same goes for women; it is against the Holy Word of God for women to address the public gathering of God's people in teaching, preaching, or prayer (see 1 Timothy 2, 1 Corinthians 14). Though many large African American Baptist churches hold to the legitimacy of women preachers this is an area that needs serious reform. There is still a strong enough contingent of African American Baptist ministers who are against this. Also there needs to be a revival of the pastoral prayer that addresses the needs of the local church, but also the universal church. In some churches, the pastoral prayer is called the "Altar prayer." Though I have serious problems with the term "altar prayer," I commend churches that still have a concentrated time of public prayer.
Let us key in on reforming prayer in the worship of God because it is a means of grace.
When we come to the New Testament, we see in bright characters the example of Jesus Christ, who devotes his earthly life to prayer. He has given his people a model prayer to use in both private and public worship (see Matthew 6). The Early Church prayed as we read in Acts 1 and 2 and in I Corinthians 14. Prayer is a priority in corporate worship for the elect of God.
What is prayer? This is how the Westminster Shorter Catechism defines prayer: "Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies." This is Christian prayer.
How should we prayer in the public worship of God? We should pray reverently in sensible words (tongues-speaking is unwarranted in prayer unless interpreted by the speaker himself), and it should be inclusive of all. We need the help of the Spirit to help us worship rightly; therefore, we should pray for the Spirit's help and filling. We should use the psalms, the Lord's Prayer, and other biblical prayers to guide us. We have the mind of God regarding prayer; therefore, there is no excuse for men to falter in public prayer.
How much should prayer be a part of the public worship? There should be an invocation, a longer, pastoral prayer, a prayer for enlightenment before the sermon, and a prayer of consecration or submission after the sermon that would also include a benediction. That's at least four times of prayer in the public worship.
For African American Baptist churches, I believe there is room for more prayer; since there is a covenantal dialogue in worship it is important that the people of God address their Covenant Lord through prayer much in the service of worship. There should be no room for trite expressions and emotionalism in prayer. This is why holy men should lead in prayer as commanded by Paul in 1 Timothy 2. This would mean children are not to lead in prayer, or women. It is so common to have Children and Youth Sundays when children and youth lead the worship service, but this is totally unbiblical. The same goes for women; it is against the Holy Word of God for women to address the public gathering of God's people in teaching, preaching, or prayer (see 1 Timothy 2, 1 Corinthians 14). Though many large African American Baptist churches hold to the legitimacy of women preachers this is an area that needs serious reform. There is still a strong enough contingent of African American Baptist ministers who are against this. Also there needs to be a revival of the pastoral prayer that addresses the needs of the local church, but also the universal church. In some churches, the pastoral prayer is called the "Altar prayer." Though I have serious problems with the term "altar prayer," I commend churches that still have a concentrated time of public prayer.
Let us key in on reforming prayer in the worship of God because it is a means of grace.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Sola Scriptura and the Elements of Worship
I'm glad to be back blogging; my time has been short owing to teaching, grading, etc. At this point, I want to narrow our focus while still building from the scriptural law of worship, which I have argued is a historic Baptist doctrine. The question I want to explore now is: what is included in a Christian worship service? To state this question another way: what are the element of New Covenant worship services?
Using the confession as a guide, the Westminster Confession lists the elements of worship as: prayer, the reading of the Scriptures, the preaching of the Scriptures, the conscionable hearing of the Scriptures (both read and taught), the singing of psalms, and the adminstration and receiving of the sacraments. The Directory of Worship written by the Westminster Divines in 1645 states the same elements.
Again, the London Baptist Confession repeats the Westminster Confession on this issue with the exception that it states that the singing should of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs drawing directly from Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. Though it seems pretty innocuous, this extension signified that Baptists believed in singing more than the biblical pslams in worship; they believed it was warranted to sing hymns of human composition. This is a discussion I'll take up in the future.
From the confessions, we see that both Baptists and Reformed Presbyterians share the same liturgical commitments. When we look at worship now, especially in African American Baptist churches, we see a great divergence. African American Baptists have gone far from the simple Reformed Protestant liturgy.
Using the confession as a guide, the Westminster Confession lists the elements of worship as: prayer, the reading of the Scriptures, the preaching of the Scriptures, the conscionable hearing of the Scriptures (both read and taught), the singing of psalms, and the adminstration and receiving of the sacraments. The Directory of Worship written by the Westminster Divines in 1645 states the same elements.
Again, the London Baptist Confession repeats the Westminster Confession on this issue with the exception that it states that the singing should of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs drawing directly from Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. Though it seems pretty innocuous, this extension signified that Baptists believed in singing more than the biblical pslams in worship; they believed it was warranted to sing hymns of human composition. This is a discussion I'll take up in the future.
From the confessions, we see that both Baptists and Reformed Presbyterians share the same liturgical commitments. When we look at worship now, especially in African American Baptist churches, we see a great divergence. African American Baptists have gone far from the simple Reformed Protestant liturgy.
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