SERMON COORDINATOR NOTES: This sermon looks at two acrostic passages that display the Biblical character of man and woman. By looking at what Scripture says, Pastor Johnston lay the framework for understanding what God requires of men and women who seek to live in their respective roles.
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Nikolaos Seferiadis is the pastor of Trinity International Baptist Church in Athens, Greece. He is married to Stavroula and they have two daughters.
SERMON COORDINATOR NOTES: This sermon provides a concise exegetical approach to the passage looking at the flow of the argument, the Greek used in the text, and addressing the arguments against covering.
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Heard a good sermon on head covering or biblical manhood/womanhood? Tell us about it here.
Editor’s Note: The Head Covering Movement team is made up of men and women from various denominations and does not endorse a specific style or form of worship as a core tenet of HCM. This article is intended to describe a worship philosophy that arose during the Protestant Reformation, which is helpful to consider as it challenges us to rely on Scripture as our guide for all of life and helps us to see why the practice of head covering is appropriate for Christian worship everywhere.
Imagine you were given the opportunity to meet the Queen of England. It’s likely you wouldn’t wing it, arriving in your favorite comfy outfit to share some personal stories about your family dog. Instead, you’d probably study to find out what you are supposed to do when you were in her presence. Likewise, we should be thoughtful as to how we enter God’s presence in worship as a church body. During the Protestant Reformation (roughly 1517-1648), one of five key doctrines to emerge was sola scriptura, which is Latin for “Scripture alone.” This means that the Bible is our source of truth and provides our only infallible rule of faith and practice. This doctrine guards against elevating church tradition, personal experience, or reason to an equal level of authority with God’s revealed will in the Bible.
Scripture Guides Us
A primary purpose of God’s Word is the self-disclosure of Himself to His people. This includes how we are to worship Him with our lives, and how we worship Him in corporate worship—our time gathered with other believers on the Lord’s Day. Two primary schools of thought emerged during the Reformation: the earliest Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, applied sola scriptura to worship by saying that anything which may be edifying is permissible in gathered worship if it is not forbidden in Scripture: “I condemn no ceremony except such as are opposed to the gospel; all the rest I leave intact within the church.” 1) Tanner, Craig. “NPW vs. RPW.” Avoiding Evil, 2004, http://www.tbcsullivan.com/avoidingevil/2004/03/05/npw-vs-rpw/.
This became known as the “Normative Principle of Worship” and is the prevailing approach to corporate worship in North American churches. Essentially it states that Scripture makes clear things we should not do in worship; that is, we should avoid anything obviously sinful. Many faithful Christians adhere to this worship philosophy, seeking to legitimately honor God’s Word in their worship by not violating God’s commands during their times of gathered worship.
However, another view became much more widely held among the “Reformed” (Protestant non-Lutheran) groups. It was eventually known as the Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW). This concept also applied sola scriptura, but instead of asking what we may do in gathered worship, it states Scripture is sufficient to tell us what we shoulddo in worship. This principle states that God, through His Word, commands certain distinct elements for corporate worship, such as singing, praying, and preaching. 2) The key elements of corporate worship laid out in God’s Word are reading the Bible (1 Tim. 4:13); preaching the Bible (2 Tim. 4:2); singing the Bible (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16) — Psalms and other songs that accurately reflect the teaching of Scripture; prayer (Matt. 21:13), and administration of the two sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:38–39; 1 Cor. 11:23–26). Some would also include a few other elements like taking offerings (1 Cor 16:2) and installing church officers (Acts 6:1-6). The above biblically-prescribed church service elements are clearly spelled out within many of Christianity’s historical creeds.
Any additional elements not found in Scripture must be left out. (Full disclosure: I, the writer of this article, subscribe to this view.) There may be some variation in how the elements are executed (sermon length, number of songs, etc.), but the actual service components are those which are prescribed in Scripture.
The basis for this principle is that God is perfect, holy, and transcendent beyond our imagining; we are redeemed-yet-flawed created beings and cannot rightly come up with how we ought to enter His presence in worship. Instead, we must worship God together on His terms, according to His guidelines made known in His Word — especially through Jesus’ teachings, the apostles’ writings, and New Testament church practice carried out under apostolic oversight. The Regulative Principle emphasizes that we must not add to or take away from God’s Word 3)Deut. 4:2, Deut. 12:32, Rev. 22:18-19.
and “that worship is of God, by God, and for God.” 4) Hyde, Daniel. “What Is the Regulative Principle of Worship?” Ligonier, 2017, https://www.ligonier.org/blog/what-regulative-principle-worship/.
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References
1.
↑ Tanner, Craig. “NPW vs. RPW.” Avoiding Evil, 2004, http://www.tbcsullivan.com/avoidingevil/2004/03/05/npw-vs-rpw/.
2.
↑ The key elements of corporate worship laid out in God’s Word are reading the Bible (1 Tim. 4:13); preaching the Bible (2 Tim. 4:2); singing the Bible (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16) — Psalms and other songs that accurately reflect the teaching of Scripture; prayer (Matt. 21:13), and administration of the two sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:38–39; 1 Cor. 11:23–26). Some would also include a few other elements like taking offerings (1 Cor 16:2) and installing church officers (Acts 6:1-6). The above biblically-prescribed church service elements are clearly spelled out within many of Christianity’s historical creeds.
Preacher: J. Glenn Ferrell | Sermon Length: 45min | Preached: Dec 13, 2015
Glenn Ferrell has been pastor of First Orthodox Presbyterian Church in San Francisco since November 5th, 2010. Previously, he was pastor of Sovereign Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho, for more than five years; and prior to that a church planter and evangelist in the Appalachian region of Kentucky. Glenn grew up in Eastern Kentucky, the grandson of coal miners, a seventh generation Appalachian. He attended college in North Carolina, and seminaries in New Jersey, Kentucky and California. He did additional graduate work in Ohio and Kentucky. He was ordained to the ministry in 1987. Before that he worked in communications, information systems, and as a community developer. He served in Southeast Asia with the Army Signal Corps in the mid 70s. Married to Susan Nye Ferrell; they have six children and twelve grandchildren.
Glenn is an orthodox, confessional Calvinist, who subscribes to the historical Westminster Standards as an accurate summary of the most important teachings of the Bible.
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Preacher: Rev. Colin Mercer | Sermon Length: 43 min | Year preached: February 2003
Rev. Colin Mercer is the senior minister of Faith Free Presbyterian Church. He and his family moved to Greenville from Northern Ireland in September, 2009. He was converted to Christ at the age of eight. He commenced attending his local Free Presbyterian Church in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, as a young teenager and soon became involved in the ministry of that congregation. He served as a Sunday School teacher and participated in Youth meetings and open air services. In 1988 he was called by God to prepare for the gospel ministry and consequently in September 1989 commenced studies in the Theological Hall of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. On the completion of his studies he accepted a call from the Castlederg congregation and was ordained and installed on 21st January 1994. In 1999 Rev. Mercer moved to Mourne Free Presbyterian Church, and accepted the Lord’s call to Faith in May 2009.
Mr. Mercer and his wife, Heather, have two daughters, Lois is a student at Bob Jones University and Hannah attends Bob Jones Academy.
The subject of the headcovering has caused great controversy within the church of Christ. Strange as it seems, many believers accept the latter part of 1 Corinthians 11 but have grave difficulty when it comes to the opening verses. However, obedience to God is important on every matter – even on the matter of the headcovering.
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In this clip I respond to a video posted on Christianity.com from Mary Mohler. Mary directs the Seminary Wives Instutite at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where her husband, Albert Mohler serves as president. In this video Mary answers the question “Should women wear head coverings in church services?” I’ll let you watch her answer in its entirety, while I interject with some thoughts on her main points.
Note: In case you’re wondering, I highly respect the Mohlers and think S.B.T.S. is a fantastic seminary. Though I see this issue differently than them, we agree on far more than we disagree. This is a friendly response to help you, the viewer, think through common objections to this practice.
