Genuine Worship

At the fall of the Roman Empire, a philosopher by the name of Ancinius Manilus Severinus Boethius said this in regards to the most detrimental poison that affects humanity, “Those poisons are much more toxic that creep within and infect the mind and soul.” It seems there is a variety of poisons that infiltrate the minds of individuals, but the poison I want to talk is about is the one that has infiltrated the minds of the congregations of the Christian Church and rendered the congregants blind and numb to the identity and purpose of worship. Though toxicologists have not yet named this poison, I think it is appropriate to call it idolatry. Of course Paul labeled idolatry simply as a “work of the flesh” (Galatians 5:20), but the destructive connotations of “poison” describe accurately this form of idolatry which some may commonly call worship.

Notice I did not say true worship, for this idol parades around disguising itself as worship, but it is not genuine because it ascribes praise and adoration to human ability and emotion, however, when it comes to humanity, “none is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). Worship is due to God alone. Revelation 4:11 says this, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” This poison of idolatry that I speak of can be defined as the worship of music/songs that evoke happy human emotion to temporarily comfort the participant with words that have no foundation in God’s holy word. And what exactly are the affects of this poison? Side effects include stunted spiritual growth and blindness towards the holiness of God. This worship of worship has rendered the true body of Christ as a remnant sitting in the pews in structures built to glorify man and his ability to worship the music and the emotional strum of a guitar chord. This is not true worship. Unfortunately it has become the standard for worship among many churches in the 21st century and it is nothing more than a large blindfold.

Lacking the ability to see some glimpse of the holiness of God keeps a congregation from genuine worship. The effect of holiness of God is “that dread and amazement with which, as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God… Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God” (John Calvin). God’s attribute of holiness helps prepare the believer for worship and give understanding to man about his position in relation to Almighty God. In fact, dwelling on the attributes and work of God, as laid out in Scripture, is essential for genuine worship, for if we do not worship God for whom He is and what He is done, then what is the point. The only other route is to worship something other than Almighty God. “We must sanctify God in the duties of His worship because it is the special glory that God has in the world to be actively honored. As far as His passive glory, that is, to be glorified in a passive way, He has that in hell. But the special glory that God would have is that He might be glorified actively” (Gospel Worship, pg. 126). If “His worship” requires an understanding of who He is, then it is important to have some glimpse of His holiness. Teaching about the attributes of God is important in a church congregation.

Congregations can be taught and led to grow spiritually as they sing God’s praise, but what’s the remedy for our poisoned congregational worship? I believe it is simply a return to scripturally and doctrinally rich worship. Let us look to Christ as our Worship leader and foundation that we continually build on, because Jesus is the only mediator between God and man, and the perfect man who sings God’s praise in our midst, (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 2:12). He is our high priest who has offered the perfect sacrifice of Himself to insure our entrance into the holy places, (Hebrews 10:19-22). In light of such hope and grace we worship God. A glimpse of God’s holiness is understood and through worship, spiritual growth is encouraged. This fruitful worship is true worship, which brings glory to God. “Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,” Hebrews 6:1. A poison has infiltrated the minds of the congregations of the Christian Church and rendered the congregants blind and numb to the identity and purpose of true worship, but the power of Gospel and Scripture filled worship eradicates this toxin leaving behind an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

Worship not Based on Emotions

Emotions and worship! Why does it seem that those go hand in hand these days? The answer to that is found in the fact that worship is becoming less Christ-centered and more self-centered. Worship leaders seem to have taken worship to an extreme where the drums and guitar solos lead to people falling on their knees in repentance of sins they really did not have. People are able to mess with emotions greatly and it seems as though this is becoming a very real issue in today’s worship. If the music is not moving the soul to action then it must not be good music. In GPTG Godfrey explains, “Pentecostals, building on the revivalism from which they sprang, claim that open expression of strong emotions is more truly human and more truly biblical than more traditional forms of worship (359).” This statement really hits the target in regards to the rising issue of emotions leading worship.

Music plays a huge role in the issue of emotions and worship. The music in worship is the biggest cause of the emotions getting out of control and pulling one away from true worship of God. This is where the worship leader must make some difficult choices in how the worship music should be presented. Should the worship be presented in a rock style that will appeal to a younger generation or should it be presented in a hymn style that will appeal to the elder generation? Music for the younger generation tends to play with emotions and cause people to feel as though they are close to God, thus causing them to make irrational decisions.

Emotions in worship are not a bad thing. The problem arises when emotions lead the worship. Calvin states, “The human soul consists of two faculties, understanding and will” (361). These two come together and are from the heart. This is why emotions are so important and should not be messed with. The Bible teaches in Proverbs that we are to guard our hearts because it is the wellspring of life (4:23). However, if we let the heart be uncontrolled by our emotions we are going to have a heart that is not where it should be.

Emotions are not wrong but they can be used in a very powerful way that makes them wrong. When worshiping, we are to be in control of our bodies and focusing on what God is teaching us. We are to be giving him our undivided attention while being in control of ourselves. However, when we let emotions take the control we lose the ability to rationalize and determine if our worship is truly God-centered or if it is a result of the music. Emotions are powerful and must be used in a very careful manner especially in regards to worship.

The Necessity of maturity in worship

The crux of this class is has been the acceptable forms of worship as we gather corporately. Yet besides the form of our worship, I believe there also is need for theological depth in our worship, allowing us progress in our sanctification. The book of Hebrews tells us there is a certain level of maturity that believers should possess in relation to our spiritual lives.

In Hebrew Chapter 5:11-6:3 in verse 12 of chapter 5 the author says, “By this time you ought to be teachers” yet the believers in this passage need to be taught once again the “basics” about God. The writer goes on to say believers need to leave the elementary understanding of Christ and move on to maturity. The mature believer should not need to have reaffirmed and reestablished the primary issues regarding faith and salvation.

This is not to say doctrine concerning Christ is not necessary, but for those who are mature and should have reached a point where they could and should be teaching other believers should have no misconceptions about the basis of their faith. Mature believers should not have question of whether it is better for them to turn back to the life they formerly lived as unbelievers. They should be pressing past the primary doctrines, while also being able to account for the faith they have to others.

With maturity of the believers being a point of emphasis for the believers in the book of Hebrews I do not think it is, a stretch to ask what is the level of maturity in our own churches. In his 2008 book Christless Christianity Michael Horton testifies to the many shortcomings of the evangelical church today as the depth of theology and understanding has been traded in for ways to improve our morality and transform our lives through a __ (you fill in the blank) step plan.

We need never to assume the power and the work of the cross, because this leads us away from the cross and the one to whom all the glory belongs. A sure contributor to the artificial Christianity in the evangelical church today is substituting God’s prescribed as worship for what man desires. God’s word prescribes specific forms of acceptable worship. For us to deviate from what God has intended for worship to consist of is to undermine his authority and omniscience regarding himself and what he desires.

Now our worship does not go without advantage to the believer. As we are cooperating in corporate worship as God intended we grow in our sanctification, which is manifest in our growth in the areas of knowledge about God, our love for God. Ultimately, our worship in a right way brings the ultimate glory to God. The God who the book of Revelation 5:13b says, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” This proclamation does not come as a random happening or by chance, the proclamation is given in response to the Lamb’s (Jesus’) shed blood as to ransom his people from sin and bondage. This is a clear happening of God being worshiped because of what has been revealed about God, a model for us to consider the next time we gather for worship.

Final Essay - Preparation

One of the greatest lessons I have learned from this class, as it relates to corporate worship, is that of the importance of our preparation for worship.

On page 68 of Gospel Worship, Burroughs states this unfortunate and troublesome fact of life, “Most men let out their hearts so much to other things, as their consciences cannot but tell them, that if God called the to prayer at such a time in the day, they would be altogether unfit for it.” This is an issue we deal with every day of the week, both in our personal worship and in our corporate worship. We much too easily give our minds to this thing over here or that thing over there, and we allow our attention to be captivated by pursuits of pleasure or of work. It is a shame our attentions and interests are given to so many things and things that are unworthy of its attention. But that is a rabbit trail I will refrain from going down for the sake of the purpose of this essay. Alas, when we come to worship our God, He is the last thing on our minds because our minds have been much busied with other things. To combat such a thing there must be preparation for the service. Time to reign in our wondering minds must be taken before we come to the service. Burroughs puts it this way, “[We must be] very serious in the examination of [our] hearts, to endeavor to work [our] hearts into mourning for [our] sin, and to labor to possess [our] souls with the presence of God.” (p. 69) Burroughs suggests we must understand the great weightiness of the glory of the Person we are about to commune with. We are going to come into the presence of God, the Sovereign Creator of the World. For this we must reel in our wandering minds and hearts.

The duty of worship is a great thing, a great task (p. 53). It is not something that we can take lightly or that we can participate in while sleeping (though some attempt to do so). And if we realize how great the business is of drawing nigh to God, it will cause us to realize the need for preparation.

Burroughs mentions five things we must to do in preparation on pages 58-62. I will not get into them in this essay, but summarized they are as follows: realizing Who God is, removing ourselves from the cares of the world, and keeping ourselves holy, set apart, so that we may be ready to engage ourselves in worship to our great God when the time comes (specifically corporate worship, as this essay is about). May we not come into the Sunday service half asleep and completely unprepared to commune with the God of the universe, but may we prepare ourselves ahead of time (let us keep Saturday evening and Sunday morning a holy time) so that we can come into the service prepared to give glory to God.

Worship is not about us.

The most important lesson to remember about worship is that it is not for us it is for God. That is what Gospel Worship is talking about; worshiping God has nothing to do with us except to be in the right mind set for Him. We are supposed to give praise to God while thinking of Him, not our selves. We might find ourselves thinking about how worshiping God is going to be beneficial to us and we are not in the correct mind set when this is happening. It is a time when we are lifting up our Savior in praise and only focusing on Him.

Worship includes giving something, and that something is our selves. We are to be giving God our full attention when we worship Him. All God wants is our attention, He wants all the time He is able to get with us. If we are only thinking about ourselves that is very sinful. When we give God our attention He wants all of it, He deserves all of it. God is worthy of our worship and we need to show that by not focusing on ourselves anymore.

When we go to take and eat the Lord’s Supper we ask of His forgiveness first. If you do not talk to God about your sins and ask of His forgiveness for everything before you take the Lord’s Supper then there is no use in taking it. This is because we are not being respectful of Him and we are not thinking about Him. We are to take the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Him not of our sins. We ask for forgiveness so that when we do eat and drink of Him we are doing it with clean souls. We need to come to the Lord clean.

When we pray to God we should not unroll a list of things we want Him to do for us. We need to thank Him for everything, come to Him asking for forgiveness. Worshiping God has nothing to do with our selves; it is all about Him and how great He is.

Worship Is For God’s Glory!

Jeremiah Burroughs view on the nature of corporate worship is one of the clearest explanation I have ever read on a book. A worship that is worthy of God. Burroughs is arguing that worship is for God’s glory, plain and simple. It’s not to make myself look better, and it is certainly not supposed to be a performance that elicits praise from those around us. It is so easy for us to be captivated by ourselves and what others think of us that Burroughs once again provides a helpful reminder to make worship about God’s glory, not ours. At first I was a little nervous to read centuries ago book but I find it quite easy to read and the message is as relevant today as it was when it was written. Perhaps more so. It is living proof of the timeless nature and value of the living Word.

Burroughs takes as his text Leviticus 10:3 which reads, “Then Moses said unto Aaron, it is what the Lord spoke saying, ‘I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me, and before all people I will be glorified.’ And Aaron held his peace.” He narrows in on the phrase “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me.” I know that God will be sanctified in those who draw nigh to Him. There are these two things in the point: if I do not sanctify God’s name, God will sanctify His name in a way of justice. If I do sanctify His name, then He will sanctify His name in a way of mercy towards me. When I worship every Sunday morning I need to realize that the God that I am worshipping is the same God in Leviticus 10. The importance of corporate worship really came alive through Gospel Worship. I believe that corporate worship exists to draw the whole congregation into praise of God. Jeremiah Burroughs exposes the natural tendency in man to depreciate the holiness of God in how we worship.

My brethren, I beseech you, learn this lesson this morning. Learn to account the duties of God’s worship as great matters. They are the greatest things that concern you here in this world, for they are the homage that you tender up to the high God, as you heard, and those things wherein God communicates Himself in choice mercies. (pg.70)

What underlies Burroughs’ thoughts here is something that deserves further consideration. There is something fundamentally different about the time of corporate worship than there is in all of life-worship. Even Jesus said that when two or three are gathered in his name, he is there among them. And the whole NT is unanimous that the gathering of the saints is very important.

The Foundation of All Worship

Many conversations about worship employ a syllogism which appears coherent, but often leads to strange conclusions. It is roughly as follows:

(Premise 1) Person A possesses Ability X

(Premise 2) God designed Person A in this manner to glorify Him

(Premise 3) Worship Services are a time when God is glorified

(Conclusion) Person A must perform Ability X in a worship service to best glorify God

Lest we fall prey to judge this thinking too quickly, I shall provide two examples. Suppose that a man is gifted to graciously understand and apply the word of God in his own life and the life of other believers. This man will demonstrate the fruit of the spirit and the qualifications for a pastor, and in his case our syllogism proves valid: he ought to be considered for the position of elder.

Our second example is a gifted man: a gourmet chef. For him it is not so easy. Yes, God has prescribed his New Covenant people to consume food during the assembled corporate worship time. But unleavened bread is not in any way broad enough to make use of our chef’s talent. What then must become of him and of his desire to contribute? It seems that he might be employed in the kitchen for potluck dinners and outreach events, but even that offers little hope for his Bouillabaisse: Poissons de roche, bay scallops, mussels, shrimps, fennel-saffron broth, rouille & garlic croutons. Alas, our syllogism proves invalid: he possesses the ability, God so designed him, but he cannot, with this particular ability, contribute to a worship service like the first man can.

But mean this that he may not serve God with his talent? Mean this that he may not contribute to the worship service? No and no. God wants him to cook well. God made the earth full of edible materials so that we might put them together and make gourmet meals. For this man to refrain from cooking because it has no place in a Sunday morning worship service would be disobedience. Furthermore he may contribute to the worship service in other ways: participation, singing, encouraging, building up his fellow believers. To this he also is called that he might glorify God.

The difference between these two ways he may worship God is a categorical difference. I think that as we leave this class and enter into eventual opportunities to assist believers know how to honor God with their lives we ourselves will be assisted by clear and concise categories of worship. The man’s vocation and calling, the culinary arts, is the means by which God desires Six-Day Worship. The man’s participation and involvement in his church body, in his case listening, encouraging, singing, and building-up, are the means by which God desires Seventh Day worship. Please don’t mistake me. I’m not arguing for abiding weight of the fourth commandment. I’m simply trying to assert that as God wanted Adam to bring him glory by gardening six days and resting one, God wants us to cultivate the earth with some of our time, and rest from working to worship him with the rest.

But the similarity between these two categories is also important. In both cases the intrinsic value is found in obedience. All worship must be rooted on obedience. And, as I believe the case of the Chef may demonstrate, all obedience brings honor to God. May we be found thoughtfully and wholeheartedly endeavoring to honor God by obedience in our six days, as well as our seventh.

Worship for God

Many times in discussion of corporate worship, such things as emotion, tradition, or preferences receive too high a value in the interaction, and the people involved depend upon them too heavily. Too much attention is given to these human perspectives of worship (which often can be selfish: “what do I want from worship”), and not enough consideration is given to what Scripture says regarding what God wants from us when we worship Him. This idea of having a biblically-based theology of worship has really come through to me during this course. Not only have I been able to read three quality books that look at worship in different ways and yet still retain the central theme (of how worship is about God and is to be done according to His Word), but also I have been able to learn much from the discussion in class and in these “blogs” themselves.
One area that we considered was the topic of corporate worship and what should be included in a regular weekly service. Many times the “worship wars” have become overly-focused on only the aspect of music and singing and have overlooked equally important elements such as prayer and the public reading of Scripture. If God wills for me to be a pastor, I do not want to forget about these important parts to the corporate worship service, nor do I want to pass over them quickly without giving them due thought. Burroughs rightfully delivers some castigating remarks regarding the wrong way in which we so often pray, and at the same time, he encourages his readers to pray in a manner that reflects a knowledge of who God really is. Give Praise to God presents some great ideas for the public reading of God’s Word, including instituting an agreed-upon systematic plan that will cover all of the Bible.
The elements (duties) of corporate worship should be a part of the service because Scripture gives God’s desire for them; they should be based on and filled with Scripture. Whether it is preaching, or parking in the Lord’s Table, or singing or praying or reading: God and His Word should be the sole focus. It is all about giving God the glory in the way in which He prescribes. This whole concept of praying, reading, singing, and preaching the Bible was a very important theme of this class and one that I want to hold on to in whatever ministry God has for me in which to serve Him. [word count: 420]

Worship as One

I have come to enjoy the definition for biblical worship that came from David Peterson’s book Engaging God, Worship is engaging with God on the terms he has given us. One area of worship that seems to have been ignored by many Christians is the nature of community that should be present in corporate worship. We are told to show our love for God by our love for each other, and we sense that corporate worship is worshipping God with others, as though we were all one body.

But we all decide how we will individually worship. We all decide who we will worship with. We see some who we know well as hypocrites for coming before God, even though we ourselves are fraught with sin. We all seek to get the most out of the sermon for ourselves, regardless of how it may affect others’ experience. This ought not be. In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul frowns upon Christians coming to the Lord’s table with no regard for others. It seems that Paul would much rather the believers give of themselves, and worship God AS ONE. It is the same in all of our worship. The Greek word for one another has a very unique feel to it. It is almost as if the word would be better translated one of each other as if each person was just a piece of one much greater thing.

If this were our mindset, that looking out for the interests of others was looking out for our own interests, it would have to change our conduct. We would show God how much we value him when we show his children how much we value them. This would be a beautiful picture of corporate worship.

THIS IS CALEB ABERNATHY- (I have technical difficulties)

BY- Caleb Abernathy
From the very beginning of our class we have insisted that “all-of-life-worship” is a very important Biblical concept. Our lives are to be lived as sacrifices (Rom 12:1-2), and the required reading also emphasized this point. Yet the very fact that we have a class devoted to foundations and issues in congregational worship reveals the fact that we believe there is something fundamentally different about the corporate worship of the people of God. Discovering this difference was one of the most important contributions this class has made to my life and thought. Biblically speaking, what is this difference, and how do we describe it?
Jeremiah Burroughs is immensely helpful in this inquiry. He answers a question of God’s omnipresence in relation to worship, and in the process helps us with our own question about the peculiarity of corporate worship. He writes, “Yea, but though we are always nigh to God in regard of that essential presence of His, yet there is a more peculiar and special drawing nigh to God in the duties of His worship, and that the Scripture seems to hold forth unto you” (30). So, first we see that there is a peculiar and special drawing nigh to God in the duties of corporate worship. Moreover, he cites James 4:8, Psalm 100:2, and Psalm 148:14 which assures that he has a biblical basis for his claim. But what is it that Burroughs means by drawing nearer to God in duties? In what way can God be nearer in our assembled worship?
Burroughs’ answer is clear, “…the soul is said to draw nigh to God in holy duties because it presents itself before God in those ways that God uses to communicate His choice, previous, most excellent and glorious mercies to His people” (32). So then the duties of congregational worship are unique because in them God presents mercies uniquely to his people. Burroughs further illustrates his point by drawing a comparison to the peculiar presence of God that will be enjoyed in heaven. “But the reason God is said to be in heaven is because there the Lord makes known Himself in a more glorious manner than in any other place… Now if the communication of God unto a creature is enough to make the presence of God more special… then certainly when we come to worship God we come to be near God and with God, because the duties of His worship are those means that the Lord has appointed for letting Himself out in the glory of His goodness and mercy to His people” (33). God’s goodness is made more evident through the means He has appointed in corporate worship.
The implications of this teaching are many. If the glory of God is most clearly evident to his people in congregational worship, they dare not abandon it. This adds a deep tone of seriousness. Yet we may also joyfully expect that each week God will be faithful to show forth his mercies in the means he has appointed. Thus we come with cheerful expectancy. And this expectant gravity is a good part of the uniqueness of corporate worship.

Reflections on the Regulative Principle

Reflections on the Regulative Principle
One of the most important concepts I have learned from “Foundations and Issues in Worship 2010” is the regulative principle. Although I was skeptical about this particular concept when I first came to class, the three books we have studied this semester have convinced me from the Word of God that there is no other appropriate way to worship God corporately.
The regulative principle is well supported by Scripture, as Gospel Worship explains so adequately. Burroughs states his definition of this principle in his introduction: “In God’s worship, there must be nothing offered up to God but what He has commanded. Whatsoever we meddle with in the worship of God must be what we have a warrant for out of the Word of God. ” He claims, rightly so, that anything outside of Scripture is “merely men’s inventions. ” He supports this claim with two stories in the Old Testament where God severely punished men who refused to abide by this principle. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, were destroyed for offering strange fire before the Lord, while Uzzah was struck dead instantly for touching the Ark in an attempt to keep it from falling to the ground. These two references serve as a reminder that God in His holiness demands and deserves reverent obedience from His creation.
David Peterson, author of Engaging with God, sheds further light on the regulative principle of corporate worship. In an acknowledgement of the sovereign reign of the Almighty God he writes, “Acceptable worship does not start with human intuition or inventiveness, but with the action of God. ” God’s covenant made with Israel on the Mount of Sinai is an example of God’s great care in establishing the pattern for worship. Peterson also includes New Testament examples that God deserves to be worshiped on His terms . In his writings concerning Romans he declares, “Paul… reflects the Old Testament perspective that the knowledge of God should lead to appropriate worship and obedience. ” Here is one of many illustrations of the continuity found between the Old and New Testaments regarding the regulative principle. The knowledge of God (i.e. revelation in His Word) is the only true foundation for corporate worship and obedience.
J. Ligon Duncan III describes this fundamental principle beautifully, “This moral law expressly teaches us that the Bible is to be our rule for how we corporately worship and even think about God. The Bible (God’s own self-disclosure and revelation)—not our own innovations, imaginations, experiences, opinions, and representations—is to be the source of our idea of God.”
After reading these three sources’ thorough citation of Scripture in support of the regulative principle, I am left with no choice but to lay down my preconceived notions regarding corporate worship. The regulative principle is rooted in the authority of the Bible, which ultimately rests in the authority of God. The church does not have to depend on her own creativity in order to worship her King: God be praised!

Are our Hearts Stirred When We Confess Our Sins?

"There must be an inward disposition answerable to the expressions," states Burroughs on the issue of a prayer of confession (292). He explains that so many people will seemingly confess their sins and even break the hearts of others by their list of sins and their outward repentance. However, he states that these people often have the wrong inward disposition and that their hearts really are not stirred at all by the confession and their asking God for forgiveness for their actions. Burroughs states, "This is falseness of heart when the inward disposition is not answerable to the outward expressions (293)." Believers need to take time to evaluate their hearts to see if they have the right disposition when they are praying and if not they need to change what they are doing.

Are we there yet?

Looking back about what we have read and discussed in class I feel that there are so much more we need to learn and study about the way we worship. There are questions that popped into my mind such as: Can we fully know how to worship? Are we worshipping according to the Scriptures?

See The Bigger Picture

On pages 444 and 445 of Give Praise to God, Horton reprimands the traditional church/church service. He hypothesizes that one of the reasons our culture needs such entertainment and zing and pizazz is that we have lost the weightiness of God and the unfolding drama of redemption. He points out how, "The service is almost reduced to the sermon, as if everything else were mere window dressing." And even the sermon is reduced to information. He points out that drama is a good thing, the drama of the redemption Christ offers us and the drama of a relationship renewed!

I don't know if it's just me or just the churches I have attended for most of my life, but there seems to be no always present knowledge of this great drama of time. The perfect relationship, the broken relationship, and then the restored relationship is something I feel has escaped our purposes in our private lives as well as in the corporate church. If we want the gospel to be attractive to people than let them in on this drama. Show them the love, the sin, and the forgiveness. I believe this is what Horton is saying (at least mostly).

Now, this idea of something that should be ever present in our minds and actions has been something God has been showing me this semester, and I look for ways to apply it. As far as sharing the gospel with people, what better way to be a friend to them. Don't push a gospel agenda when you don't even know who they are, but rather let them get a taste of the love of Christ through you. And then see how responsive they are to the drama.

Now this is an application in personal life. But what about the church? How do we switch from a dull service that has lost the weightiness of God, as Horton says, to a service of redemption and relation with the God of the universe? Is it through slowly awakening the minds of the congregation to the awesome drama of time? Is it through teaching? How can we show the body that it's more than a service and a sermon? What do we do in church to get the bigger picture of the weightiness of God and His drama of time?

Our only hope?

In Give Praise to God I’m really confused with the statements he was making about the use of the arts for sharing the gospel.  “So we will be driven to the power of liturgy and the communication of the gospel through the arts.”    “If liturgy possesses its own independent power and the arts may now be our only hope in reaching an idolatrous culture, one wonders whether evangelism and outreach have become euphemisms and apostasy.”

  How is the use of the arts in sharing the gospel a bad thing?  I feel like it’s making it seem like evangelism into a separate category from the arts and that everything has gotten so horrible that “the arts may now be our only hope”. The arts can be a type of outreach, the same as a WOL superbowl. People use their talents to open up opportunities to share the gospel all the time.  

Inward Disposition in Prayer

"And then they will call upon God for pardon of sin and for power against sin, and yet God know that their hearts close with sin and are loath to part with sin in the meantime. This is falseness of heart when the inward disposition is not answerable to the outward expressions." -Gospel Worship, pg. 293 I agree with Burroughs that there must be an inward disposition compatible with what you are praying about. I believe part of the struggle in not having the right disposition at times comes from not seeing the complete ugliness of our sins. I think that it is important to pray for understanding and remorse regarding our sin, but there are times when our inward dispositions in prayer don't completely match the gravity of the things we are praying about. I definitely believe that it is important to pray with suitable hearts, but sometimes our hearts aren't fully suitable. To what extent does our inward disposition have to match the reality of what we're praying about?

When it does matter

"What if, instead of adopting the division of history into modern and postmodern, we followed the New Testament distinction between 'this present evil age' and 'the age to come,' the reality of life 'in the flesh' versus 'life in the Spirit'? (GPTG, pg. 444)

I very much enjoy this perspective that Horton is putting forward. It seems that often so much is emphasis is placed on "the new challenges of this generation" as opposed to "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Yet Horton himself admits, "For mission, at least, it just does not matter" (pg. 445). By adding the phrase "at least", he is indicating that there are some areas in church life in which the peculiarities of a given culture and generation do matter.

My question is this: First, what are those areas in church life where cultural and generation differences matter? Second, how does one go about being careful in remaining completely true to the timeless proclamation of the gospel while simultaneously adjusting to meet the aforementioned differences (especially since we have already learned that means are not neutral).

Seperation

In this week's reading of Give Praise to God we are told that there does not need to be a dichotomy between driving for dominance and holding onto purity (341). For the most part, I agree, but I wander if there are areas where we need to have absolute, permanent separation. My original feeling is, yes there must be, but what are they? Are there activities that we can never approach? Are there locations that we should never visit?

Sinner's Prayer

I was really encouraged from the Burroughs' reading for this week. He uses Scripture to answer questions about how one can pray despite having sins that seemingly hinder. I can understand this: so many times I either don't want to pray or feel helpless when I do pray because of sin. The promise that God hears is so comforting. How can we encourage and remind ourselves of this when we pray?

New Lyrics and an Old Warning

A witty friend emailed me these lyrics. I suspect we may appreciate some interaction with them in this class.


Like You

Lord, You are beautiful, You are majestic
Lord, You are the most High God, You dwell above the stars
You have called us to be like You
You have called us to be like You
So to You I declare

I will ascend into heaven
I will exalt above the stars of God
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds
I will be like the most High God
I will be like You

(REPEAT as often as you like)

Are we doing anything right?

Although this question is not directly taken from any of the three books we have been reading as a class, it is definitely relevant to many of the conversations we have had concerning worship and the church. We have often talked about the prevalence of hedonism, narcissism, relativism and general worldliness in the church today. Unfortunately, these false doctrines have become confused with the true identity of the body of Christ.

Based on these regrettable characteristics, I have been wondering: Is there anything about worship in the church today that we can safely say we are doing according to Scripture?

The meat and the dessert of spiritual worship

This question is for Doc. I have heard you say in the past that it is important to include both the meat in our worship and to add some dessert to the menu of corporate worship as well. My question here is three-fold, for the record how would you define "meat" and "dessert" and how would these two ideas be implemented into a corporate worship service?

Balance

As talked about in GPTG and as we have talked about in class and/or out of class, we all notice that there is too much placed on emotion/feelings in much of the general American church today. I believe that our tendency when we see an issue is to go to the complete opposite spectrum. In this case, doing the completely opposite (I think) would be to have a completely theological/mental worship of God. It would be easy to appeal only to the mind in fear of emotion taking over our worship of God. We will all agree that emotion-filled worship is filled with no depth, floating like a cloud. But to answer this over-emotionalized worship by completely ignore that emotional side would not be right nor biblical.

As we looked at earlier, emotion is one of the parts of our being. Our greatest example of songs in the Bible (at least by numbers) would be the Psalms which are undeniably filled with emotion. Our emotions are very tricky things and I don't think we understand them. This is another reason why I think we fear them.

So my question is: how can we have balance between mind and emotion? Can we make emotion a positive part of our worship? Sure we don't want to manipulate by use of emotion, but can we come to a place where we do not fear emotion, where the mind and the affections work together so that our whole being praises God?