"Worship is the believer’s response of all that they are – mind, emotions, will, body – to what God is and says and does." (Warren Wiersbe, Real Worship, p. 26)
Dr. Dan Block, who until recently was a Professor of Old Testament at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, defines true worship as “reverential human acts of submission and homage before the divine Sovereign, in response to his gracious revelation of himself, and in accordance with his will.” (from Dr. Block’s 'For the Glory of God' course notes)
This...definition...specifically mentions what many of the biblical words for worship imply - submission and homage.
-- Bob Kauflin, worship director for Sovereign Grace Ministries. He has an excellent website: worshipmatters.com
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
"Statement of Principle for Music in the Church" (pt.1)
The following are excerpts from the guidelines for church music that were printed as part of the preface of a church hymnal in 1959:
PRINCIPLE: The music of the Church should be appropriate for worship.
1. In spirit, form and content the music of the church should be a positive expression of Scripturally religious thought and feeling. It should serve the ministry of the Word.
2. The music of the church should be beautiful.... It should satisfy the aesthetic laws of balance, unity, harmony, design, rhythm, restraint, and fitness [appropriateness] which are the conditions of all art.
IMPLICATIONS:
1. The music of the church should represent the full range of the revelation of God.
2. The minister of the Word...and the [music] director should cooperate constantly, so that the service of music will contribute to the service of the Word.
3. The poetry [lyric] of the songs should be good poetry; it should not have to rely upon the music to carry it. The music of the songs should be ... good music; it should not have to rely upon the words to carry it.
4. Whenever Psalms or other portions of Scripture are involved, the poetry [lyrics] should be true to the inspired Word. Such poetry should at the same time be vital -- free from the defects of artificiality and sentimentality....
I plan to add the rest of the "Implications" in a future post, but for now I am struck by a number of things about these guidelines, including how carefully (and theologically) this denomination (and the publishers of this hymnal) reflected on the issues related to what kind of music/lyric was appropriate and God-pleasing for use in gathered worship.
-- from the Psalter Hymnal of the Christian Reformed Church (1959)
PRINCIPLE: The music of the Church should be appropriate for worship.
1. In spirit, form and content the music of the church should be a positive expression of Scripturally religious thought and feeling. It should serve the ministry of the Word.
2. The music of the church should be beautiful.... It should satisfy the aesthetic laws of balance, unity, harmony, design, rhythm, restraint, and fitness [appropriateness] which are the conditions of all art.
IMPLICATIONS:
1. The music of the church should represent the full range of the revelation of God.
2. The minister of the Word...and the [music] director should cooperate constantly, so that the service of music will contribute to the service of the Word.
3. The poetry [lyric] of the songs should be good poetry; it should not have to rely upon the music to carry it. The music of the songs should be ... good music; it should not have to rely upon the words to carry it.
4. Whenever Psalms or other portions of Scripture are involved, the poetry [lyrics] should be true to the inspired Word. Such poetry should at the same time be vital -- free from the defects of artificiality and sentimentality....
I plan to add the rest of the "Implications" in a future post, but for now I am struck by a number of things about these guidelines, including how carefully (and theologically) this denomination (and the publishers of this hymnal) reflected on the issues related to what kind of music/lyric was appropriate and God-pleasing for use in gathered worship.
-- from the Psalter Hymnal of the Christian Reformed Church (1959)
In Pursuit of the Self
David Wells, in his new book, "The Courage to Be Protestant," writes about the gradual, growing pre-occupation with the Self (self-centeredness versus God-centeredness) that has infected evangelicalism, and the impact that this radical shift is having on churches:
"In 1983 James Hunter discovered that of evangelical books published in that year, almost nine out of ten dealt with matters of the self....
"...When evangelical churches entered this new universe of the self, they left the moral world behind. The evangelical church, which takes seriously its responsibility to steward the gospel, should have been the first to see this because the gospel makes sense only in a moral world.
"Sin, after all, is not simply feeling bad about ourselves. It is violating what is right in God's law and character. Those who inhabit this self-world look only for therapy, not for forgiveness and regeneration.
"Recovery, in fact, is their way of speaking about regeneration. It is all about human technique and not about miraculous intervention. All of this was apparently lost on evangelicals who stumbled after one another in the earnest pursuit to recast their faith in this new language from the culture."
-- p.138 ("The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers and Emergents in the Postmodern World" [Eerdmans 2008])
"In 1983 James Hunter discovered that of evangelical books published in that year, almost nine out of ten dealt with matters of the self....
"...When evangelical churches entered this new universe of the self, they left the moral world behind. The evangelical church, which takes seriously its responsibility to steward the gospel, should have been the first to see this because the gospel makes sense only in a moral world.
"Sin, after all, is not simply feeling bad about ourselves. It is violating what is right in God's law and character. Those who inhabit this self-world look only for therapy, not for forgiveness and regeneration.
"Recovery, in fact, is their way of speaking about regeneration. It is all about human technique and not about miraculous intervention. All of this was apparently lost on evangelicals who stumbled after one another in the earnest pursuit to recast their faith in this new language from the culture."
-- p.138 ("The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers and Emergents in the Postmodern World" [Eerdmans 2008])
Monday, April 28, 2008
Recommended Reading on Christ's Work on the Cross
"The cross of Christ is at the very center of gospel proclamation, and thus a thorough, biblical grasp of this central truth is necessary for every gospel minister. Yet our day has seen (like ages before us) much confusion on this vital point of truth.
"This little book, In My Place Condemned He Stood, is offered as an aid and and an encouragement to Christians who want more deeply to understand the nature and accomplishments of Jesus' death and thus to be lost in wonder, love, and praise to the gracious Father who gave and delivered up his only begotten Son on our behalf, and to the Son who loved us and gave himself for us, by the Holy Spirit, who alone enables us to truly say, 'Jesus is Lord.'"
-- from the Foreword of "In My Place Condemned He Stood" p.13 (Crossway 2007)
Pastor Tim Keller's endorsement: "The essays in this volume by Packer and Dever are some of the most important things I have ever read. If you want to preach in such a way that results in real conversions and changed lives, you should master the approach to the cross laid out in this book."
"This little book, In My Place Condemned He Stood, is offered as an aid and and an encouragement to Christians who want more deeply to understand the nature and accomplishments of Jesus' death and thus to be lost in wonder, love, and praise to the gracious Father who gave and delivered up his only begotten Son on our behalf, and to the Son who loved us and gave himself for us, by the Holy Spirit, who alone enables us to truly say, 'Jesus is Lord.'"
-- from the Foreword of "In My Place Condemned He Stood" p.13 (Crossway 2007)
Pastor Tim Keller's endorsement: "The essays in this volume by Packer and Dever are some of the most important things I have ever read. If you want to preach in such a way that results in real conversions and changed lives, you should master the approach to the cross laid out in this book."
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The Word of God and the Worship of God
"All true worship is a response to the self-revelation of God in Christ and Scripture, and arises from our reflection on who he is and what he has done. It was the tremendous truths of Romans 1 - 11 which provoked Paul's outburst of praise in verses 33-36 of chapter 11.
"The worship of God is evoked, informed and inspired by the vision of God. Worship without theology is bound to degenerate into idolatry. Hence the indispensable place of Scripture in both public worship and private devotion. It is the Word of God which calls forth the worship of God. "
--From "The Message of Romans" (The Bible Speaks Today series: Leicester: IVP, 1994), p. 311.
"The worship of God is evoked, informed and inspired by the vision of God. Worship without theology is bound to degenerate into idolatry. Hence the indispensable place of Scripture in both public worship and private devotion. It is the Word of God which calls forth the worship of God. "
--From "The Message of Romans" (The Bible Speaks Today series: Leicester: IVP, 1994), p. 311.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
A Song for Worship
"How Sweet and Awesome Is This Place"
How sweet and awesome is this place
[originally How sweet and aweful is the place]
With Christ within the doors,
While everlasting love displays
The choicest of her stores!
Here every mercy of our God
With soft compassion rolls;
Here peace and pardon bought with blood
Is food for dying souls.
While all our hearts and all our songs
Join to admire the feast,
Each of us cry, with thankful tongues,
“Lord, why was I a guest?
“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there’s room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?”
’Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly drew us in;
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin.
Pity the nations, O our God!
Constrain the earth to come;
Send Thy victorious Word abroad,
And bring the strangers home.
We long to see Thy churches full,
That all the chosen race
May with one voice, and heart and soul,
Sing Thy redeeming grace.
Lyric: Isaac Watts, "Hymns and Sacred Songs," 1707.
How sweet and awesome is this place
[originally How sweet and aweful is the place]
With Christ within the doors,
While everlasting love displays
The choicest of her stores!
Here every mercy of our God
With soft compassion rolls;
Here peace and pardon bought with blood
Is food for dying souls.
While all our hearts and all our songs
Join to admire the feast,
Each of us cry, with thankful tongues,
“Lord, why was I a guest?
“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there’s room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?”
’Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly drew us in;
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin.
Pity the nations, O our God!
Constrain the earth to come;
Send Thy victorious Word abroad,
And bring the strangers home.
We long to see Thy churches full,
That all the chosen race
May with one voice, and heart and soul,
Sing Thy redeeming grace.
Lyric: Isaac Watts, "Hymns and Sacred Songs," 1707.
True Worship: Gospel-inspired, Christ-centered, Cross-focused
“To worship God ‘in spirit and in truth‘ is first and foremost a way of saying that we must worship God by means of Christ. In him the reality has dawned and the shadows are being swept away (Hebrews 8:13). Christian worship is new covenant worship; it is gospel-inspired worship; it is Christ-centered worship; it is cross-focused worship.”
- D.A. Carson, Worship by the Book (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan, 2002), 37.
HT: Of First Importance
- D.A. Carson, Worship by the Book (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan, 2002), 37.
HT: Of First Importance
"The Problem of Suffering": Ehrman vs. Wright
Bart Ehrman and N.T. Wright have been engaged in a blog dialogue on God and the problem of suffering.
Justin Taylor organizes the material on his site.
Justin Taylor organizes the material on his site.
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Courage to be Authentically Christian
When it comes to thinking deeply and carefully about authentic Christianity, the condition the evangelical church is in, and how the culture is affecting the church (instead of the reverse), I highly recommend David Wells' latest book, "The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World."
Scripture readings in the worship service
Almost all churches everywhere include a place for Scripture reading (or readings) as an important part of their worship gatherings. It is a practice that has its basis in both the Old and New Testaments (Neh.8:1-10; Lk.4:16-17f.; Acts 13:14-16; Col.4:16). It is a specific application of what Paul had in mind when he said that the word of Christ (the message from him and about him) should richly dwell in us (Col.3:16) – that is, the truth of the Gospel should richly inhabit our fellowship together, especially in our times for worshiping.
For it is this Gospel – this word of Christ – that is the power of God for the salvation of the lost (Rom.1:16) and for the sanctification/transformation of the saved (Jn.17:17; 2 Tim.3:16f.; Rom.12:2; Col.1:28).
One specific concern, therefore, applies today: Scripture readings are not to function merely as song intros, or as brief interludes between songs. They are important and valuable in their own right, and have a specific, distinct place and function in the activity of worshiping that is not to be subordinated to the singing (as crucial as Word-shaped singing also is).
As Paul exhorted Timothy: “Command and teach these things…. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching….” (1 Tim.4:11,13).
For it is this Gospel – this word of Christ – that is the power of God for the salvation of the lost (Rom.1:16) and for the sanctification/transformation of the saved (Jn.17:17; 2 Tim.3:16f.; Rom.12:2; Col.1:28).
One specific concern, therefore, applies today: Scripture readings are not to function merely as song intros, or as brief interludes between songs. They are important and valuable in their own right, and have a specific, distinct place and function in the activity of worshiping that is not to be subordinated to the singing (as crucial as Word-shaped singing also is).
As Paul exhorted Timothy: “Command and teach these things…. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching….” (1 Tim.4:11,13).
Thursday, April 24, 2008
The Essential Connection Between Theology and Worship
...from John Stott:
It is important to note from Romans 1 - 11 that theology (our belief about God) and doxology (our worship of God) should never be separated. On the one hand, there can be no doxology without theology. It is not possible to worship an unknown god. All true worship is a response to the self-revelation of God in Christ and Scripture, and arises from our reflection on who he is and what he has done.
It was the tremendous truths of Romans 1 - 11 which provoked Paul's outburst of praise in verses 33-36 of chapter 11. The worship of God is evoked, informed and inspired by the vision of God. Worship without theology is bound to degenerate into idolatry. Hence the indispensable place of Scripture in both public worship and private devotion. It is the Word of God which calls forth the worship of God.
On the other hand, there should be no theology without doxology. There is something fundamentally flawed about a purely academic interest in God. God is not an appropriate object for cool, critical, detached, scientific observation and evaluation. No, the true knowledge of God will always lead us to worship, as it did Paul. Our place is on our faces before him in adoration. As I believe Bishop Handley Moule said at the end of the last century, we must 'beware equally of an undevotional theology and of an untheological devotion'.
--From "The Message of Romans" (The Bible Speaks Today series: Leicester: IVP, 1994), p. 311.
It is important to note from Romans 1 - 11 that theology (our belief about God) and doxology (our worship of God) should never be separated. On the one hand, there can be no doxology without theology. It is not possible to worship an unknown god. All true worship is a response to the self-revelation of God in Christ and Scripture, and arises from our reflection on who he is and what he has done.
It was the tremendous truths of Romans 1 - 11 which provoked Paul's outburst of praise in verses 33-36 of chapter 11. The worship of God is evoked, informed and inspired by the vision of God. Worship without theology is bound to degenerate into idolatry. Hence the indispensable place of Scripture in both public worship and private devotion. It is the Word of God which calls forth the worship of God.
On the other hand, there should be no theology without doxology. There is something fundamentally flawed about a purely academic interest in God. God is not an appropriate object for cool, critical, detached, scientific observation and evaluation. No, the true knowledge of God will always lead us to worship, as it did Paul. Our place is on our faces before him in adoration. As I believe Bishop Handley Moule said at the end of the last century, we must 'beware equally of an undevotional theology and of an untheological devotion'.
--From "The Message of Romans" (The Bible Speaks Today series: Leicester: IVP, 1994), p. 311.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
God-fearing people
From Carl Trueman:
"Solid Ground Christian Books have republished as a booklet the chapter on the fear of God from John Murray's 'Principles of Conduct'.... I was struck by the following passage which I think skewers much that is wrong with contemporary Christian life and which has greatly diminished our view of the seriousness of sin:
It is symptomatic of the extent to which the concept of the fear of God and the attitude of heart and mind which it represents has suffered eclipse that we have become reluctant to distinguish the earnest and consistent believer as 'God-fearing.' (p. 19)
"At a time when taste is truth, how do we recapture this? Fear is distasteful to the modern mind; we are more comfortable with God as 'dad' rather than with God as 'Father;' sin is seen as less heinous than the sometimes tough steps that must be taken to correct the same; and yet fear of God -- and fear of his word -- is central to biblical notions of wisdom and the good life: Job 28:28; Is. 66:2; [Lk.1:50; 2 Cor.7:1; Rev.15:4]."
-- from 'reformation 21: the Online Magazine of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals'
"Solid Ground Christian Books have republished as a booklet the chapter on the fear of God from John Murray's 'Principles of Conduct'.... I was struck by the following passage which I think skewers much that is wrong with contemporary Christian life and which has greatly diminished our view of the seriousness of sin:
It is symptomatic of the extent to which the concept of the fear of God and the attitude of heart and mind which it represents has suffered eclipse that we have become reluctant to distinguish the earnest and consistent believer as 'God-fearing.' (p. 19)
"At a time when taste is truth, how do we recapture this? Fear is distasteful to the modern mind; we are more comfortable with God as 'dad' rather than with God as 'Father;' sin is seen as less heinous than the sometimes tough steps that must be taken to correct the same; and yet fear of God -- and fear of his word -- is central to biblical notions of wisdom and the good life: Job 28:28; Is. 66:2; [Lk.1:50; 2 Cor.7:1; Rev.15:4]."
-- from 'reformation 21: the Online Magazine of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals'
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