Sinclair B. Ferguson

These are what we sometimes call elements.

And then there will be variables, and there are many variables.

For example, the time of day when we gather for worship.

For the first half of my life, without fail, the morning worship service began at 11 o'clock.

And I think it traditionally began then because the farmers need time to milk their cows.

So even when no one in the congregation owns a cow, somehow or another we have kept up the tradition and treated it as a constant, although it's a variable.

And there are other variables.

The Scriptures don't tell us what tunes we need to use to sing God's praise.

The Scriptures don't tell us when we should stand and when we should sit.

And so, as the Westminster Confession of Faith says, it's legitimate and appropriate for these things to be, as the Westminster divines noted, ordered by the light of nature.

And so these characteristics may differ from place to place, from culture to culture.

But as I say, there are aspects of our worship that should be fixed.

And that's where sometimes Christians tend to go adrift by saying, if God has not given us clear instructions, then we can do whatever we want.

We can do whatever we like.

You remember there was one church in the New Testament that said that to the Apostle Paul.

And Paul said it's not like that.

Even in areas of life and worship where God has not given specific instructions, we're called to apply general biblical principles to every one of these specific occasions.

And in his first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul tells us how to do that.

He raises these two questions.

Is this really going to be edifying for the church?