What Is Worship?

“True worship involves 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.” 

-Daniel I. Block

Soli Deo Gloria 

A Sense of Vocation

"If we ask how this most remarkable of the miracles of history was performed, we are amazed at the simplicity of God's method.  The world needed a saving faith, and the formula was that such a faith comes by a particular kind of fellowship.  Jesus was deeply concerned for the continuation of his redemptive work after the close of his earthly existence, and his chosen method was the formation of a redemptive society.  He did not form an army, establish a headquarters, or even write a book.  All he did was to collect a few unpromising men and women, inspire them with the sense of his vocation and theirs, and build their lives into an intensive fellowship of affection, worship, and work."

Elton Trueblood, Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Thinking Christians, ed. Kelly Monroe Kullberg (Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2007), 334.

Soli Deo Gloria

Happy Birthday John Wesley

 Happy 308th birthday to John Wesley.

"Thanksgiving is inseparable from true prayer; it is almost essentially connected with it. One who always prays is ever giving praise, whether in ease or pain, both for prosperity and for the greatest adversity. He blesses God for all things, looks on them as coming from Him, and receives them for His sake- not choosing nor refusing, liking or disliking,anything, but only as it is agreeable or disagreeable to His perfect will." 

-John Wesley

Soli Deo Gloria

Our King's Kingdom

A "kingdom," as I wrote earlier, is a king's domain.  To belong to the Kingdom of God means we surrender our life to God and make it part of the domain over which he rules.  When we do this, we immediately begin so experience the Life that comes from God and begin to be transformed into the image of Jesus.

Gregory A. Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Religion (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 42. 


Soli Deo Gloria

Worship Must Be Theological

Moreover, that which St. Augustine has said is true, that no one is able to sing things worthy of God except that which he has received from him. Therefore, when we have looked thoroughly and searched here and there, we shall not find better songs nor more fitting for the purpose, than the Psalms of David, which the Holy Spirit spoke and made through him. And, moreover, when we sing them, we are certain that God puts in our mouths these, as if he himself were singing in us to exalt his glory.

-John Calvin

Psalms and 21st-Century Worship

The book of Psalms will not solve our worship controversies and dilemmas, which typically focus on taste and traditions rather than on biblical or theological propriety.  Is there a biblical way to worship? Yes - with a "pure heart" (24:4).  "Pure heart" refers to the integrity of our motivations and the clarity of our commitment to live holy lives.  That is the worship that is pleasing to God.  It is important for us to remember that the effectiveness of our worship is not measured by how we feel when we are done.  It is too easy to walk out of church asking ourselves what we got out of it.  We should be wondering what God got out of it.  Our question should be, "How did I do?"

"In addition, there are precedents for worship that we can glean from the Psalms.  For instance, despite the presence of exuberant worship in Psalms, we cannot afford to ignore the inclusion of the other two psalm categories - lament and wisdom.  Lament suggests the appropriateness of coming before God with problems, questions, petitions, humility, and repentance - not just in personal prayer, but in corporate contexts as well.  Wisdom psalms indicate the appropriateness of instruction and exhortation in the context of worship.  These should not be considered requirements, but ideas offered concerning the range of possibilities that should be considered for well-rounded worship."

John H. Walton and Andrew E. Hill, Old Testament Today: A Journey from Original Meaning to Contemporary Significance (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), 371.

Soli Deo Gloria 

Worship Looks to a Central Figure

"Jesus is absolutely in the middle.  If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus.  If you want to know what it means to be human, look at Jesus.  If you want to know what love is, look at Jesus.  If you want to know what grief is, look at Jesus.  And go on looking until you’re not just a spectator, but you’re actually part of the drama which has him as the central character."

-N.T. Wright