Episode 201: Westminster Chapter 21

Date: 11/27/2024

Chapter 21: Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day

1. Psalm 19; Romans 1
   1. Elder discussion: there are things we do in our services that aren’t “prescribed in Scripture”.
      1. Announcements
      2. Sermon series videos
   2. Sproul 462

2. Nothing to add.

3. This is why, on most Sundays, we pray at least three times during our worship services. Sometimes even more.
   1. Elder discussion: “in a known language” could be an objection, but our denomination allows for gifts (tongues) // See Sproul 471
   2. Sproul 469
   3. Sproul 470

4. Two elder discussion points:
   1. What’s the “sin unto death?” – similar to blaspheming the Holy Spirit (attributing to Satan the works of God)
   2. People in the congregation could question not praying to saints…opportunities for conversations – would not be an acceptable exception for a church leader

5. Of these items listed, Scripture reading is probably what we do the least of. Other than during the sermon, we don’t read much of Scripture in our worship services. This is something I think about often, but I don’t know what it would look like to incorporate more Scripture reading into our worship services.
   1. Sproul 475

6. Worship is more than the weekly gathering of the church, but it isn’t less than that.

7. Laura, you and I finished a book recently that talked quite a bit about Sabbath and rest. What are some takeaways from our study that you can share with our listeners?
   1. Sproul 485

8. Instead of stumbling into worship — not preparing for it — God’s people are to spend time in preparation and anticipation of gathering to worship with their fellow Christians. Here we can learn a lot from practicing Jews and Sabbatarians, who will spend half a day or more preparing for the Sabbath.
   1. Elder discussion: Sabbath – resting the whole day to the glory of God; the day of rest and the Lord’s Day are separate days
   2. Sproul 487