Course Syllabus

Foundation and Issues in Worship 2010 [MU404]
Baptist Bible College, Dr. David Harris, D.M.A.
Monday/Wednesday 1:10-2:00 p.m. B3

I. Course Description

A study of Biblical and historical foundations of Christian worship and their implications for understanding the nature of corporate worship. Through the close reading of seminal texts, the student will examine the Christian’s responsibility to worship in spirit and truth.

II. Six Observations

A. Jeremiah Burroughs [1599-1646]

Jeremiah Burroughs, one of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, wrote Gospel Worship so that the people of God might corporately sanctify God as God in hearing the Word of God preached, in taking the Lord’s Supper, and through prayer. His text for these 14 sermons are the words of Moses spoken after God slew Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, for offering unauthorized fire before the Lord: “Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ And Aaron held his peace.” Leviticus 10:3, ESV. Burroughs writes: Now upon this, when Moses said that God would be sanctified in those that draw near to Him, it was as if He had said, ‘Aaron, though I confess that the hand of God is heavy upon you this day, yet it is fitting for you to submit to God. It is fitting that God should be glorified, whatever becomes of you. You are dear to God, but God’s name is dearer to Him than you are. Whatever the lives of your sons were, yet it is fitting that God should be honored and His name sanctified whatever becomes of your sons or your comforts, and, therefore, let your heart be quieted. You have had a great loss and affliction upon you, but God has had glory. God has glorified Himself.’” from the CD Gospel Worship recorded by the BBC Praise Band [2005]

B. John Piper [b. 1946]

“Jonathan Edwards was criticized in response to that book [The Essay on the Trinity] for trying too hard to understand the Trinity, and removing mystery. His response to that was two things. The Bible reveals vastly more than we imagine about God as Three in One. And we have scarcely begun to probe the depths of what really there is for us to understand by revelation. And secondly, he said that there is plenty of mystery left when I’m done with my little efforts. He said we will intensify our worship more if we press in and up as far as we can, rather than stopping early and saying, ‘Isn’t it a mystery? Let’s all bow down and worship. Now the way that landed on me 30 years ago was very significant because there were people in my class in seminary [Fuller] who had a very anti-intellectualistic, anti-rational, ‘stop questioning, probing, digging, trying to understand, because worship comes from the great unknown [mysterious] and if you can understand God, why would you want to worship Him? He’d be equal to you!’ And that never quite sat right with me. You can’t sing [very] many worship songs about what you don’t know about God. I mean one or two. You can write one or two songs about how little you know of God and feel really little and worshipful. But you can’t write more than two or three. Worship does not primarily flow from what you do not know. Worship primarily flows from what we have been able to see of the wonder. And it just seems so strange to me that people would be pushing on ignorance for the sake of worship. ‘Just don’t go there, don’t rise there, don’t climb there, because when you get to the top you won’t worship. You’ll stand on top of God.’ And I just thought, ‘there is no danger of that happening.’ In fact, I have a conception of eternity, of spending about 10,000 years climbing the Alps of God’s all-satisfying glory, discovering new things all the way, and at the last year of the 10,000th, pulling myself over the crest and looking – and there stretches another mountain range disappearing into the sky and you spend another 10,000 years climbing and discovering new things about the glory and wonder of God. And you pull yourself up over 20,000 years into eternity and there’s another mountain range – and that will happen forever and ever. You will never be bored in heaven. An infinite God revealing Himself to a finite mind requires eternity. It’s the knowledge of God, not the ignorance of God that inspires God-exalting awe and worship.” September 2003, Capitol Hill Baptist Church [transcribed].

C. Bob Kauflin

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1362_kauflin_on_singing_and_preaching_and_2_other_conference_interview_clips/

D. The Cambridge Declaration [1996]

“Whenever in the church biblical authority has been lost, Christ has been displaced, the gospel has been distorted, or faith has been perverted, it has always been for one reason: our interests have displaced God's and we are doing his work in our way. The loss of God's centrality in the life of today's church is common and lamentable. It is this loss that allows us to transform worship into entertainment, gospel preaching into marketing, believing into technique, being good into feeling good about ourselves, and faithfulness into being successful. As a result, God, Christ, and the Bible have come to mean too little to us and rest too inconsequentially upon us.”


E. Paragraph XVIII [Worship] Statement of Faith, Grace Baptist Church [2006]

We believe that the Word of Christ should dwell richly in the corporate worship services of Grace Baptist Church. The Word should be prayed, sung, read, and preached. The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. So we desire that the Word should also dwell in fullness among His people. When God’s Word fills His people, true religious affections filled with grace and truth will rise to the praise of His glorious grace. Colossians 3:16; I Timothy 2:1; I Timothy 4:13; Romans 10:17; Ephesians 5:19; John 1:14; Ephesians 3:19; Ephesians 1:6.

We believe that the people of God will learn to love the glory of God as the ministers of God teach them to see and savor the Word of God. God’s self-revelation is found in His Word. The self-love and relativism of our “ungodly” and “unrighteous” culture have negatively affected the church’s corporate worship. A change of audience has occurred. Worship is often shaped more by what people desire than by the nature of God’s self-disclosure found in the Bible. We will be changed only as we discover in the Word what God must be like for our joy in the face of Jesus Christ. Exodus 32:7-10; II Timothy 3:1-5; II Corinthians 3:17-18; I Corinthians 14:26-33.

We believe that the singing of theologically based and historically informed hymns and songs will free us to rejoice in our God. Unison singing unites us with one voice as we sing with “one accord.” Part singing expresses musically the unity of substance and tri-unity of persons within the Godhead. Part singing reflects the unity of purpose and difference of roles within the congregation. All the music used in our worship services will be measured against the standard of sound doctrine. James 5:13; Psalm 149:1; Titus 2:1.

F. Michael Horton

“Creeds, confessions, a good systematic theology can all help us to see the limitations of our own narrow range of ideas, presuppositions, experiences, and longings. We must rid ourselves of the notion that it matters little what others have said in their reading of Scripture through the ages . . . The choice is not between following ‘mere men’ and Scripture directly; it’s a choice between interpreting Scripture with the larger church rather than thinking of ourselves as omnicompetent. It is a sign of humility when we are able to conclude that we, like the Ethiopian eunuch, are hampered by our own blind spots. ‘So Philip ran to him [the Ethiopian], and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him . . . Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture [Isaiah 53.7-8], preached Jesus to him [Acts 8.30-31, 35 NKJV].’ Instead of pretending to start from scratch, join the conversation already in progress since Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of Christ-Centered Worship [2003]

III. General Objectives

A. The student will see the Bible as the the final authority for the practice of Christian worship.
B. The student will interpret the Scripture with the larger historical consciousness of the Christian church for the practice of Christian worship.
C. The student will recognize anthropocentric worship, performance based worship, and methodically based worship as compared with the practice of Christian worship.
D. The student will appreciate the value of reading seminal texts on the practice of Christian worship.

IV. Specific Objectives

A. The student will read seminal texts on the practice of Christian worship
B. The student will evaluate relationships between Old and New covenant practices of Christian worship.
C. The student will evaluate relationships between historical writing and contemporary writing on the practice of Christian worship.
D. The student will participate in class discussions on the practice of Christian worship.
E. The student will blog on the practice of Christian worship.

V. Requirements

A. Knowing
B. Enjoying
C. Reading
D. Remembering [quizzing] 40%
E. Blogging [on subjects covered in the reading] 40%
F. Final essay assessment on subjects of interest to class members 20%

VI. Texts

Burroughs, Jeremiah. Gospel Worship. Morgan, Pennsylvania: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1990.

Peterson, David. Engaging With God: A Biblical Theology of Worship. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992.

Roff, Laurence C., editors, Trinity Hymnal. Suwanee, GA: Great Commission Publications, 2008.

Ryken, Philip Graham, Thomas Derek W.H., and Duncan J. Ligon III, editors. Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship. Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2004.

VII. Calendar

August
23 Course Introduction
25 GPTG 1-16, GW 1-11, EWG 9-10; 15-24

30 GPTG 17-32, GW 12-23, EWG 25-40 Quiz 1
September
1 GPTG 33-48, GW 24-33, EWG 41-54 Blog 1

6 GPTG 49-64, GW 34-44, EWG 55-70 Quiz 2
8 GPTG 65-80, GW 45-56, EWG 70-84 Blog 2

13 GPTG 81-96, GW 57-66, EWG 84-101 Quiz 3
15 GPTG 97-112, GW 67-78, EWG 101-115 Blog 3

20 GPTG 113-128, GW 79-89, EWG 115-126 Quiz 4
22 GPTG 129-144, GW 90-100, EWG 126-135 Blog 4

27 GPTG 145-160, GW 101-110, EWG 136-149 Quiz 5
29 GPTG 161-169, GW GW 111-124, EWG 149-165 Blog 5

October
11 C.S. Lewis on Church Music, GW 125-135, EWG 166-182 Quiz 6
13 GW 136-146, EWG 182-193, Blog 6

18 C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory 25-35, GW 147-157, EWG 194-208, Quiz 7
20 C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory 35-46, EWG 208-218 , Blog 7

25 GPTG 241-256, GW 158-174, EWG 218-227, Quiz 8
27 GPTG 257-272, GW 174-191, EWG 228-241, Blog 8

November
3 GPTG 273-288, GW 191-2o2, EWG 241-252 Quiz 9

8 GPTG 289-304, GW 203-215, EWG 252-260, Quiz 10
10 GPTG 305-320, GW 215-225, EWG 261-267, Blog 10

15 GPTG 321-336, GW 225-236, EWG 267-273, Quiz 11
17 GPTG 337-352, GW 236-247, EWG 273-277, Blog 11

22 GPTG 353-368, GW 247-258, EWG 277-282, Quiz 12

December
1 GPTG 369-374; 222-240, GW 258-280, EWG 283-286, Quiz 13

6 GW 158-166; GW 280-291, EWG 287-293, Quiz 14
8 GPTG 436-448, GW, 291-299, Blog 14

14-16Final Exams