Thoughts on Worship from R.C. Sproul

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
John 4:23 ESV

I have been very blessed by the ministry of R.C. Sproul. Recently, I have been reading through his book "A Taste of Heaven - Worship in the Light of Eternity." I was particularly drawn to one section as I am reading through. As in most of my posts, I simply "cut and paste" what great authors have to say, I shall do so again.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

I once wrote a book on Human Dignity. In that book, I mentioned an exercise a consultant once showed me. He said: "this is going to be a fun exercise, R.C. I want you to write down the five most meaningful compliments people have given you in your lifetime." He was right---it was a fun enterprise. I didn't have to think about the criticisms or the insults that I'd had to deal with in my life; rather, I was able to focus on the nice things people had said to me.

As I thought about those compliments and wrote down the five that seemed most significant, I was astonished to see that every one of the things I listed---comments that had come from people's mouths--had occurred before I was twenty-one years of age, and yet I could remember them years and years later. Then the consultant began to show me that these comments had had a tremendously important shaping influence on my life. He also indicated to me that the people who gave these compliments were individuals whose judgement I valued and whose words I cherished because they were authority figures in my life: coaches, relatives, teachers, and so forth. In fact, two of the five compliments I listed were from my eight-grade English teacher, and I suddenly began to realize what a tremendous influence that woman had had in my life.

As we discussed these things, the consultant pointed out to me that there must have been times when people had said even nicer things about me. he asked, "Hasn't anybody ever given you a higher compliment than the ones that you've put down in this list?" "Well, yes," I said, and I mentioned a couple that came to mind. "Why didn't you write those down on the paper?" he asked. "That's easy," I said with a smile. "I didn't write them down because I didn't believe them."

I judged those particular compliments to be insincere. They were flattery, and I intuitively understood the difference between flattery and a genuine compliment. We somehow tend to know when people are giving us empty words of praise, of flattery, words that are not sincere. We have all received praise that isn't sincere, and there's something insulting about it. The very hollowness of it torments us in a way. We would like to be able to believe all the nice things people say about us---even when we know they don't mean what they're saying.

God's feelings aren't hurt by insincere praise, but neither is He honored by it. God is NEVER honored by flattery. That's why true worship must be sincere, genuine, and honest. (Emphasis Added). (40-41)

We invite you all to our Grace Camp Meeting. Registration and information click here

Grace Camp Meeting '09 -- April 16 - 19

I'm still rejoicing about all that God did for us during last year's camp meeting here at Rockport. Brother Paul Washer, Mike Morrow, Mike Williams, Charles Leiter and Rob Pelky blessed us with clear, encouraging, challenging messages from God's Word (all of which can still be heard by clicking here). And even though it was our first time ever to try and host such a meeting, God helped us tremendously and everything just seemed to work out for a wonderful time of fellowship, prayer and worship.

With that in mind, we are beginning to look forward to this year's

Grace Camp Meeting '09.

Dates: April 16-19

Speakers:
Charles Leiter
Mike Williams
Tim Conway
Michael Durham

Be praying with us as we make preparations. Registration information will be up on our website soon.

We hope many of you will be able to come.

In Jesus,

Pastor Scott

OUR SOVEREIGN GOD

I am glad that our Lord has not left even our sanctification in our hands. He is the One who saves, he is the One who gives faith and repentance, He is the One who calls his own sheep by name. He is the One who is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
No, it is not in our feeble hands, thank God. If left to myself, my growth in holiness would never take place. The sanctification of a believer is sure. Faithful is He who calls us who also will do it.
He has not left it in the hands of men to determine who will gather around His throne and worship Him for all eternity as if there were even a remote possibility that the crowd would be small. No. In fact, He knows exactly every single soul that will be there, for He has determined that from the foundation of the world and will ensure that they are there.
He will finish His work of building His church. His chosen bride will gather around His throne and worship Him. And even right now, He is perfecting in me and completing that which He has begun. It is all in His hands. He is perfect and He is Faithful. What a God!

I HAVE LOVED YOU WITH AN EVERLASTING LOVE.

As I watched the sun rise this morning, it reminded me of the Faithfulness of God. That's who He is. He is Faithful. As sure as I sit here typing this, the sun will rise tomorrow also. Well, unless Jesus comes back, which is so much better. To hear our "Welcome Home" and to enter into the fullness of His radiance and joy.
As I looked into the sun, the higher it rose, the less I could look at it. It wasn't long before I couldn't bear to look at it any longer. That is how much God's love burns for you dear children. If you could begin to contemplate the fathomless love of God for you, you could no more contain that immensity than if you could gaze into the sun. He loves you with an everlasting love. He has loved you, dear believer, before the world was ever created. That is why He sent His Son to die for your sins. And He upholds you with everlasting arms, and will protect you all the way to glory, by the power of His omnipotence. What a God.

Don't Listen To Yourself

This evening at Bible Study we will be taking a look at Ephesians 1 and contemplating what God has done and who we are in Christ. Much of the doubt and depression that believers experience is that unknowingly they listen to themselves more than they listen to God.
by that I mean, they listen to their own self talk on a consistent basis rather than evaluating what is being said in the light of Gods' word, believing what God has said, and affirming that what they are believing is the truth.

Because of the performance oriented Christianity that exists today, many people have a problem becoming established in the truths of Ephesians 1, because they can't wait to get to Ephesians 4. The pattern that both Paul and Peter used is to establish foundational truths, and then exhort the believer to live by faith in the light of those truths.

The pattern of knowing, considering and yielding, that Paul taught in Romans 6 is implicit in most of new Testament teaching. Jesus said, "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." He prefaced that with "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples." it is the Word of God that renews the mind.
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You see, our minds are filled with wrong thoughts, wrong thinking patterns, wrong views of God, ourselves and reality. it is the word of God that gives us the truth about God, ourselves and reality. We need to daily meditate on the Word of God, and refuse to believe the errant thoughts that are produced in the flesh by our sin-tainted minds.

We need to speak the truth to ourselves.
David did this. In Psalm 42, David asked himself, "why are you cast down, O my soul?" He didn't want to believe the hopeless lies he was telling himself. then he encouraged himself to hope in God, and he affirmed that no matter what circumstances said, or self, or Satan, he would look to God and praise Him, who was his salvation and his God.

The failure of most believers is the failure to talk to themselves rather than listen to themselves.
Of course, when we speak to ourselves, we ought to follow Pauls' admonition to speak to ourselves in Psalms, and Hymns and spiritual songs.

We need to continual affirm the truth to ourselves.

So, in Ephesians, we should first of all become established in the foundational truths found in Chapter 1. When we are feeling low and despised, who should affirm the facts from the Word of God about who God is, what He is doing in our lives, (i.e. faithful testing us? disciplining us? nurturing us? being Faithful to us?) and what the truth is concerning ourselves. We are God's chosen children. we are washed, we are justified, we are sanctified in Christ. We have been made holy. We are accepted in the beloved. we are blessed. He loved us before the creation of this world. He died for our sins and is guarding us until the day we enter our wonderful inheritance in heaven with Him. It is all on His strong shoulders, and ours is to rest in Him. Now, go tell yourself that!! Self, here are the facts from God's own word, no matter how you feel.

You see, until you adopt a Christ-centered rather than a sin-centered theology, you will never live in the victory that Christ got for you at Calvary.
Keep your focus on Christ, and live in the light of what He has done for you.

By Grace Alone

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

It is humbling to believe the Gospel. Religion, on the other hand, is a great foundation for human pride. Religion lets me continue to think well of myself even as I exult in “the depths” of my devotion to God. With religion I am the one in charge. I set the pace. I make the decisions (at least the ones that really matter!). I devote myself to God’s cause and do my best to practice my faith in a way I feel is both personally fulfilling and, I imagine, of help to God.

But the Gospel is just the reverse. When the Gospel comes to me, it finds me to be an outcast, powerless and – to be honest – anything but devout. No, I am a sinner. A reprobate. A pagan with nothing in me that could commend me to God. Every decision I have ever made – spiritually speaking – has been the wrong one. And even my best acts of righteous devotion have been nothing but filthy rags of self-serving pride. That’s where the Gospel finds me! Not a good man, hoping to be better. Not even a weak man needing to be made strong. But a dead man who needs to be given a life that comes from outside himself.

I remember for years thinking of my salvation as if I had been drowning – going down for the last time - and Christ at the last minute jumped in to save me. Now I know that I was a dead man, three weeks dead, bloated and lying at the bottom of the ocean when Christ, for his own purpose and glory chose to come to me. I could not cry out. I would not save myself. Nevertheless He came. And with a marvelous display of astounding power and grace, He saved me! He rescued the perished and gave life to the dead. Where then is my boasting? It is no more. All I can do is say, “Praise! Praise! Praise for an Amazing Grace!”

SSL

Sola Gratia (By Grace Alone)

“By the grace of God I am what I am!”
1 Cor 15:10

“You talk way too much about grace.” I still remember how dumb-founded I was when a friend and former member of our church tossed those words in my face. “Too much about grace?” I thought! “How is that possible?” I didn’t understand it then. I still don’t understand it today. For when I look at my life, and what God has done for me in Christ. Grace is all I see!

Think about it! What was I before God saved me. I was “dead in trespasses and sins in which I used to live” as Ephesians 2:1 says. I was “without God and without hope in this world” (Ephesians 2:12). There was no reason for God to love me. And certainly no reason for Him to save me. I was a rebel. Hostile in mind against Him (Romans 8:17), by my every action deserving death.

But God,” Ephesians 2: 4 says, “Because of His great love” for me – chose to give me life, instead! He chose to send His Son to live in my place, to earn for me a perfect righteousness, and to die in my place under the weight of my sin. He chose to send His Spirit to awaken my dead heart, to bring His sweet Gospel my way and to give me ears to hear it. He moved upon my heart with faith and repentance so I could turn from my sin and believe. He did that! He did it all – and all by grace! How can I ever make too much of grace?

Certainly, I would understand, if all God had done was merely provide a way for me to save myself; or if He had merely set an example that I could follow; or given me a set of instructions for how I could live my best life now, then I would have something to boast in, and there would not be so much in grace. If God had done nothing more than make an offer which I in my own power was able to accept or reject – then sure, let’s not make too much about grace. But I was dead when God came to me. I was blind, and He made me to see. I was lost, and He went looking and found me. I was an outcast, and he took the initiative to take me in. I had nothing, and he gave me all. Not because I had earned it, or deserved it. Not even because he foresaw something I would do. But as an act of pure, undeserved mercy given to me based on the finished work of His Son. A mercy He chose to give me, even before the worlds began.

And now I can never, no never make too much of the grace rescued me!

Soli Gratia, Soli Dei Gloria (By Grace Alone, for God’s Glory Alone)

SSL

The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth!

A. W. Pink said,

"Those preachers who tell sinners that they may be saved without forsaking their idols, without repenting, and without surrendering to the Lordship of Christ are as wrong and dangerous as others who insist that salvation is by works, and that heaven must be earned by our own efforts!"

To which I can only add, "Amen." Brothers, you who share this tremendous burden and blessing of preaching, when you stand before God's people be careful to speak only the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Soli Deo Gloria,

SSL

Reflections On Instruments and Worship

The elders at Rockport believe in a “regulative principle” when it comes to worship, but not in the Regulative Principle as defined by those who would refuse the use of instruments at all. Worship at Rockport is regulated by the leadership of the Holy Spirit in many ways. As the elder who is leading worship prays and seeks the Lord’s direction in how we should prepare for worship, tune our instruments, study the Word, and once again, pray. And so I, like the Chief Musician of old, who received no less than 50 Psalms particularly directed to him in order for worship on instruments, will continue to seek the Lord on these matters, and in the meantime, I must now reflect on these things while strumming on my mandolin. My reflections include thoughts from my own serious study of the Psalms. Although this article is now an exegesis of every pertinent passage on the subject, my thoughts are not stated unless I have scriptural warrant for saying what I have said and would be glad to provide them upon request. However, for the sake of brevity, I will simply reflect. Now, on with the strumming.

The believer is no longer under laws and rules. We are no longer prescribed an order of worship. That is why the New Testament is surprisingly silent on the subject of worship In fact when the church gathers it is never called worship in the New Testament. There is to be a glad freedom in the grace of God and a liberty in the Holy Spirit. I don’t want you to be confused as to why we gather. Not that we are not worshiping when we gather, but that our reason for meeting is that we are “following hard after God”. We are simply wanting God to fill us with Himself, because we know that He is all that we need. That is why all of our songs have to do with Him. We are not performing an order of worship or doing our duty. We strive to pour our hearts and lives into the participatory experience of glorying in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We do not want there to be a focus on the musical excellence, or the lack thereof. We ought not to sit and judge the delivery of the sermon, or the appearance of other believers. Our focus is to be on God Himself. Every member of the body should gather hungry for God, and wait with anticipation as we pray and sing with all of our hearts and read the scriptures and preach and listen, all with the aim of drinking in His presence, His Word, His Spirit.

The regulative principle is used to apply to worship in the sense that only the Scriptures “sanction” what can and cannot be used in worship. In the scriptures, when Paul and James “sanction” believers to “sing Psalms”, they are using a word that in itself means “a striking, or a twanging” in particular, of a musical instrument. The whole of Psalms, and the matter of singing, clearly lends itself to being accompanied by musical instruments. In fact, a thorough study of instruments in the Psalms gives us the clear understanding that we are to praise Him with instruments. Meditating on the truths of Gods word while listening to an artist play that song beautifully on an instrument brings glory to God. I can play a beautiful song on the piano while worshiping Him in my heart, and the resultant chords sounding forth that song glorifies God. It is not that the sounds are in and of themselves are pleasing to God, but that the hearts and minds of the hearer, or hearers are stimulated to enjoin praise to God. This is God’s idea, not man’s. It is He who has made us and not we ourselves and to authentically sing praises to God, our whole being is to be incorporated. There is nothing wrong, in fact, there is everything right with using musical instruments to enhance our full worship experience and to help engage our hearts and our minds. Not simply one or the other. Music is God’s idea. Instruments are God’s idea. We are enjoined to use instruments in worship and it is to certainly be more than an intellectual exercise. We are to sing praises to God with passion. The Psalms were particularly written to be accompanied by musical instruments.
The Regulative Principle opposes the very scriptures it purports to uphold, as if one could sing Psalm 150, as sanctioned by James and Paul, and not use the same stringed instrument the Psalms they are singing exhort us to use. Or as if we could sing Psalm 33 and then command not to use the same harp in praising Him that we just sang about. Or sing Psalm 43 and believe that while David could praise Him with a harp, or a ten stringed instrument, we could not praise Him with a six or a twelve stringed instrument.
When it comes to the scriptures, I must be clear. We have the freedom according to scripture to use instruments in our corporate worship, and we have the admonition to at times use them loudly. There are other times when silence is necessitated. Times when reflective instrumentation is warranted. Times when beautiful accompaniment is needed. (For some of us, it is as beautiful as we can possibly make it with our talents.) And all of these at times should be implemented in our worship.
We are going to continue to use Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs. We are going to sing deep theological songs, simple phrases of meditation and reflection concerning those truths, we are going to wait and linger over certain truths at times, sometimes singing them repetitively, like in the Psalms. Sometimes between verses we are going to continue the melody on the instruments in meditative praise, giving the congregation more time to reflect on the truth we just sang. We are going to use different instruments, sometimes more, sometimes less, and sometimes no instruments. Sometimes Old Hymns of the faith, like It Is Well and And Can It Be, sometimes a Hymn like it is written in the holy Trinity Hymnal, and sometimes I will re-write the song, or use the melody another has written for it that seems to go better in our culture than the old dirges they sometimes used.
In short, Rockport, a reformed Baptist church, is “reformed and still reforming.” As we learn and grow together in the grace of God, we learn to support one another, to uphold one another, to encourage one another and to pray for one another. Our desire is to be a grace-filled church, with an atmosphere of “passion for God” when it comes to worship. As the elder who oversees worship at Rockport, along with the other elders who keep me accountable, my desire it to please God above all. I also desire that our worship services are a blessing to the congregation. As we join together each week let’s encourage and exhort one another in an atmosphere of grace, longing, hungering and thirsting for God.