Idols of Means

I was greatly looking forward to this class, because of my future career.  I have definitely learned a lot, even more than I had anticipated I would learn.  While it was often stressful at times, I am glad that I was at Ross Corners this semester as well.  It allowed me the opportunity to have an outside view on their take on corporate worship through music.  The largest thing that impacted me this semester was this idea of strange fire.  I knew that there were guidelines in scripture on how to worship.  But, I had only ever viewed it with that narrow idea of an instructional manual, but not a God who knows who He is and demands that He be regarded in manners that He originates.  I am a very creative oriented person, so this idea struck me as odd, even wrong.  As I've done studies in and out of class I have come to realize that, if I truly believe God is who He says He is, then I have no right to interject my flawed, creative perspective.  God is perfect, so He has made a perfect way for Himself to be worshipped.  I need to step out of the way.  However, we are idol factories.  I know this thought has been presented many times in class, but it didn't really resonate with me until this followup post.  I have observed many times that we as creative humans want to elevate our given means of worship to an ungodly height.  The means have become something they were never intended to be.  Questions of style, Watts vs. Tomlin, ties or t-shirts, and organ or electric guitar have become so important and we hold on our views so tightly that we can't even love the brethren around us.  God said to love one another!  We pride ourselves on our own forms of legalism, that we refuse to call such, and ostracize one another over means.  If we would just sit down as a body and work out together what God really demands we do and be, we would experience unity and love is such an astounding way that those unredeemed would look at our worship time and yearn to join in such a body.  As I go forward, I plan to share this and many other truths with those who ask, and if I have opportunity to do so, those I teach.  I must constantly pray that I do not exalt the means above my Creator,

In the Words of the One Who is Wiser

            One of the many central ideas from this class that has truly made an impact on my thinking is the idea of thinking, praying, and speaking the Word. The use of the Scriptures in prayer, thought, and speech, in worship but also in teaching and everyday life, in order to exhort one another is key to drawing hearers’ minds to sacred things and to God’s Word. I have seen this evidenced in the words and prayers of many professors as well as pastors and peers and have noticed and appreciated it more fully because of the emphasis placed upon it by such authors as Terry L. Johnson and J. Ligon Duncan III. Praying freely, guided by the forms, language, and words of Scripture takes away the fallibility of human words and replaces that with God’s Words – using God’s Words to speak to God. Not only that, but as the afore mentioned authors noted, scriptural prayer is the pattern on Scripture itself, more accurately reflects the will of God, is more comforting to the heart and soul, and reinforces the ministry of the Word.

In my life, this should and will affect how I teach and pray, not as a pastor, but as a follower of Christ. Practically, for any follower of Christ, this entails first of all knowing the Scriptures and secondly knowing the context of the Scripture in order to integrate it into prayer and teaching effectively. This concept is something that I had never thought about in this way before reading this book and the other class books and I am thankful for all the insights brought out over the course of the semester in the class.

To the Praise of His Glorious Grace

I am so thankful for the amazing learning experience that this class was for me!  More than anything else, I have been stretched to see God with a greater awe and deeper love!  I started thinking about this earlier in the fall when Pastor David Epstein preached a sermon about holy awe.  I remember him saying, "If you do not have a holy awe and reverence for God, how can you expect to make an impact in ministry?"  And this really hit me hard!  As I continued to think about it (especially in our class), I realized that my life was not centered around a deep desire to serve God in everything.  This led me to prayer... and though I am still not where I need to be, I have definitely grown this semester!  My prayer is that I will continue to desire to serve God more and more in the future, and the best part is... I know this is possible with God!  The more we sanctify God's name, the more joy it will bring to our hearts!  And the more there is joy, the more we shall yearn to glorify God!

Ephesians 1:3–14 (ESV) 

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 

¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Preparing the Heart

          In the many things we have discussed  and read through each of the books, there have been a few things that really convicted or were awakened for me personally. However, there is one concept in particular that I want to point my focus. In Gospel Worship, Jeremiah Burroughs talks about the “importance of preparing for worship.” (pg. 47) In my mind I guess I always thought that you just walk into a worship service and that God would do the rest. However, Jeremiah Burroughs make it very clear that we are sanctifying the name of God and because of this we need to be giving our all in worshipping God. More specifically we need to be preparing our hearts for worship. Burroughs also tells us that in scripture we are told to “sanctify ourselves for worship” (pg. 51) or “concentrate ourselves.” (ESV) Which in other words means to prepare to worship God. In 1 Samuel 16:5, Samuel tells the family of Jesse to concentrate themselves and to go with him into make a sacrifice. Also we see this again in Job 1:5, here Job is concentrating himself before offering up his sacrifices. I was also very taken back that there needs to be “preparation because of the great hindrances of the worship of God.” (pg. 55) During the semester I am so busy that when I’m not doing homework I am cooking, cleaning, practicing, or sleeping, I am not making excuses for myself in this matter if anything I was convicted about how busy I am. Thinking back on this past semester I can think of all the times that I was this busy and would just walk into church or into chapel more or less because it is the right thing to do, unfortunately this was not the right attitude to have because I was not opening up my heart for God to work. Not only do I want to work on this area of being prepared in cooperate worship but I also need to be pursuing this preparedness in my private worship time.  I believe in a sense I have always considered reading my Bible on a daily basis to be good enough for private worship, however, this is simply not enough. I have become to distracted with the many gizmos and gadgets to the point that I can be reading a verse one minute and the next be completely focused on whatever catches my eyes. When I am prepared for private worship I have noticed that my attention stays in the Word and what God is trying to teach me. I no longer want to be unprepared and miss out on the wonderful learning opportunities God gives. From now on I want to make it a goal to set aside time everyday before my devotions, chapel, and church to prepare my heart for worship. Through these books I have learned what true worship is and I am going to strive to worship God with all of my heart, soul, and mind.

God's Name will be Sanctified

Out of the many different aspects of worship that we talked about this semester, the concept that has most often returned to my mind is the sanctification of God’s name.  Jeremiah Burroughs started us off with Leviticus 10:3: “Then Moses said unto Aaron, it is what the Lord spake, saying, ‘I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified.  And Aaron held his peace.’ ” The context for this verse is incredible: two of Aaron’s sons had just been killed by the Lord for offering unauthorized fire before Him.  God was not killing them on a whim, but because His glory is of first importance and He wants His people to take the glory of His Name seriously.  As I approach private and corporate worship, the understanding that the sanctification of God’s Name is of first importance affects my mindset as well as my actions.  Often as I approach worship, I am thinking about the encouragement I am in need of or what benefit I want from my time in the presence of God.  While being encouraged and benefited from spending time with God is good (and likely to happen), that should not be my first aim.  My first aim should be to set the Name of God apart as gloriously holy.  This mindset will affect how I worship God because I will take what God’s Word says about how to sanctify God’s Name seriously.  I will not be searching for verses that make me feel good about myself.  I will not be looking for how to be a better Christian.  Rather, I will be looking for how, through my lifestyle, to glorify God’s Name because God takes that seriously.  Thus, as I approach private and corporate worship, I am striving to take the means that God has prescribed to glorify Himself seriously and bring about the sanctification of His Name.

A Semester in Review

If I could pull one thing out of the many things that we talked through or debated on it would be the centrality of the Word of God. The fact that the Word needs to be central was never a question in my mind, but it has gained in importance because of this class. Without the Word we are enslaved to the whims of the people in the congregation or even (in my opinion worse) to myself and what I think. Instead we need to place the Word of God in the center and let it speak to what we need to do or not do. The problem is that we don't look to it for help. So the question is; Is my life revolving around the Word of God? The reason this question is important is because it will poor into corporate worship. If I am keeping God's Word at the center it will poor into corporate worship.

So let the Word of GOD speak :)

The Continuum of Sincerity

“...When such people...can break down and weep at their deaths and use language of personal bereavement to describe their feelings, then true mourning and grief and bereavement has been reduced, if not to nothing, then certainly next to nothing. What is worse, because they did not know the bereaved, then whatever the rhetoric they use, the bottom line is that their mourning is all about them and not about the one who has died or about those who are truly bereaved and left distraught at the graveside. If relationships with others are to be at all meaningful, then they need to embody levels of privacy, and concepts of decency and modesty. To be truly bereaved requires that one is first intimate or connected to the person.... For them, everything changed; and then, two days later, it was back to business as usual. In my mind, however, I remain standing by my father’s coffin” (Trueman, pg 180-1).

This chapter, I feel, was especially personal for Trueman to write. Speaking from personal experience, he discusses the false emotion that people express for selfish/thoughtless reasons. There are obvious applications to how this plays out in our lives in regard to the death of celebrities and even friends of the campus , but I wonder: If we look at this in application to the birth and death and resurrection of Christ, where we might find ourselves on Trueman’s continuum of sincerity?

There are those who are sincerely excited and awed over Christ’s birth, truly grieved by His death, and genuinely celebratory at His resurrection. And then there are those who go through the motions as a matter of course and make a show of displaying their emotions. the same emotions as a matter of fact, so drastically different from birth to death and His death to the resurrection.

These two contrasts are at complete opposite ends of the continuum. Where do we find ourselves? Surely, we would always wish to be found at the genuine, sincere end of it all, but are we? Does the joy of Christmas and worship consistently penetrate our daily routines in such a way as to move our hearts with each remembrance?

Law vs. Grace

This week again the story of Nadab and Abihu came up again in the reading in Gospel Worship.  It made me wonder again how we can apply this Old Testament idea of strange fire to a new covanant relationship with God.  I can't remember if we already discussed this earlier in the class.  How can we take the story of Nadab and Abihu who worked under the Mosaic covenant and expect God to treat us in the same way now that we are under Grace instead of the Law?

Drama or worship?

In today's reading Carl Trueman brought up the way people share their lives with the world and how its removed privacy from their lives. He used Facebook to explain this idea but it also is seen in myspace and twitter and snapchat and many other social medias. I have found what the author is saying to be similar to people and their relationships; people wear their hearts on their sleeves and it becomes vulnerable. In the same way we share our personal issues or daily events for the world to see, this removes our privacy and makes us vulnerable for drama.  A good example of this can be found with the Pharisee and the tax collector. (Luke 18:11) The Pharisee was quick to speak loudly making himself an "exhibition" announcing why he was better then the tax collector.  Both believers and non-believers are to willing to make exhibitions of themselves, whether it is in the way they handle themselves. Also too many Christians have become okay with putting their life story on the internet and letting other believers and nonbelievers acknowledge them and giving the satisfaction they need. However, God should be first on our list of where to turn when something is wrong, not the rapidly growing social media.  Instead of sharing our personal life for the world to see, we should be humble and be weary of how media will effect the christian life.

My question is this: How can we encourage believers and nonbelievers to find their satisfaction in the Lord instead of searching for it from the drama that comes form social media? How can the church direct people in this way through corporate worship?

A Sadduceic-Pharasaic Psuedo-legalism

 In Gospel Worship, Burroughs outlined the process of the Lord's table. As he went along, some things really struck me in ways I have never seen them before. He mentioned that the communion was originally done seated around a table (341-342), that nearness (communion) is important (341), that it was originally taken as a community (345), and that Jesus had the disciples sing afterwards (348). He wrote: "Now it may be that this, at first, seems strange to many, yet we observe this: but keep to the institution in the Sacrament" (348). I wonder how much of what we do communion is keeping to the institution of Christ, and how much has changed by tradition (grape juice, no table, no meal, etc). This got me thinking.

We live in a generation that is fleeing from legalism. I could not count the times I have heard pastors confess their past legalism, and I have to do the same thing! It seems like our whole generation is recognizing the forms and systems that have replaced a genuine pursuit of God in the Church, and running away from them as fast as possible. But I want to ask: What are we running to?

Doc has pointed out in class that some people in our generation may be forsaking the legalism of old and running to embrace a new "hip" legalism; we abandon hymns but enslave ourselves to "worship experiences." This is a definite problem, but I think problems exists on the other side as well! I have really enjoyed reading Give Praise to God this semester (and I have learned a ton), but I have noticed something in this book that really worries me. That is this: It seems like many of the writers in GPTG turn to creeds and historical arguments WAY MORE than they turn to Scripture; they seem to be advocating a "reformed view" of worship more than a "biblical view." The irony is: they stress being Word Centered, but do not practice what they preach.

So, in all of this, I have a growing theory. Is the Church today falling into the same pattern of religious legalism that the Jews had in Jesus' day? Some of us run to be like the world (like the Sadducees) and some of us try to stay protected by tradition (like the Pharisees). As far as this second group, it seems like some of us place theologians and creeds as practically equal to Scripture (e.g. take GPTG, "Calvinism", and the Lord's Table). I guess my main question is: Why are we slipping away from God's Word? Is there an underlying psuedo-legalism?

What in the World are We Doing?

In the section of Gospel Worship Burroughs speaks of how to approach the sacraments. He speaks of knowledge and understanding which then (the next step he has) leads to cleansing and purging of the heart. Knowledge is fairly simple; such as I know that God is the creator but understanding that concept is I think where we are letting diligence go. My question is why are we not TRUELY understanding the truths of scripture (answer this question individually)? If we TRUELY understood we would seek to cleanse and purge our hearts. So, what are we doing or not doing corporately that is hindering people from understanding the Word?

Approaching the Sacraments

In the Gospel Worship reading, Burroughs expounds upon many different aspects of the mindset with which we should approach the sacraments. One aspect of this is the combination of joy and sorrow in approaching the sacraments: sorrow because of our sin in the sight of a holy God but joy because He has given us mercy and grace (248).  Without having that initial sorrow for our sin, we will not have the joy of knowing we are saved by grace from that sin.  Thus as we reflect on the work of Christ, we experience both sorrow and joy, which seems contradictory but really one flows from the other.

Burroughs starts his conclusion on this sermon on our approach to the sacraments by saying that “so far as you have been wanting in any of these, know just so far you have taken God’s name in vain . . .” On pg.254, he also says, “Ho, how many are cut off who have thus profaned the name of God in this sacrament and have never come to understand this danger! They are cut off and now are undone forever.”  Is Burroughs saying that any failure to partake of communion perfectly results in condemnation? What does he mean by condemnation?   

Who blogs tomorrow?

Good Question! Answer: Josiah, Beth, and James.

How Many Rings Are on the Average Earthworm?

Truman points out that we are trivial people.  We see these insignificant things in our lives, and then celebrate and discuss them at length as if they mean something.  Even more though, than the "hilarious" time of announcements at the beginning of the service, do we take God's Word and trivialize it?  I think that we do this in two ways.  The first, we take the facts of Scripture and make them out to be little tidbits of information of no more significance than how many rings are on the average earthworm.  Instead of learning from King David's example, we memorize facts about him for only the facts sake.  The second is taking short passages of scripture to move the service along or manipulate it for our own sake.  I honestly am not sure quite where I stand on this one.  I use passages of Scripture when leading songs, but do I actually treat them like the Words of God?  Do we use the Word or let it work on us?

My question is how do we trivialize the Word in church, and how can we not trivialize it?

Unjust Justification

“...I am struck by how Christian talk of cultural engagement has coincided with a watering down of Christian standards of behavior and, ironically, thought. I have lost count of how many times I have been told in recent years that Christians should be able to watch any movie, providing they do so with a critical, Christian eye....I have a suspicion that for some it might simply function as a rationalization for watching whatever they like and not feeling guilty about it...” (Trueman, pg. 97-98).

Personally, I have heard many people apply this very idea to music and books as well as movies. I find, however, that what we put into our minds is there to stay, no matter what we are thinking when we take it in. That which we ingest ultimately does affect our thinking on any number of subjects, and so that which we watch, read, and listen to does color our thinking on even the most important issues. As we seek to be Christians with hearts for God, should we not be seeking to fill our hearts and minds with Godly things?

To refute the argument that familiarity with questionable worldly movies/books/music/etc. helps us understand and better minister to unsaved people, would not a ready knowledge of God’s Word do that same thing, only so much better? And in our churches, how does this attitude and rationalization of behavior affect how our worship leaders lead others in worship (as well as affecting those whom they are trying to lead)? 

Watering Down Sin

In this week's reading I was both encouraged and fascinated with Carl Trueman's book. I found what he had to say about the church and culture to be very accurate. In this chapter he talks about the "watering down of Christian standards of behavior and ironically thought." (pg. 97) I really appreciate the fact that he mentions this mainly because I feel to often Christians try to justify what they do and their reason for whatever they have done.  Trueman uses movie watching as an example of this type of act. Many people believe that a Christian can watch any movie as long as they watch it with a critical Christian eye, however, there is no Biblical proof to justify this kind of statement. Watching a movie filled with sin is still sin. You cannot say that watching it with a "critical Christian eye" changes the sin in which you are indulging yourself in. Even today movies have changed in their rating and yet we have just slowly been sucked in, and have become to comfortable with a "rationalization for watching whatever they (we) like without having to feel guilty about it." (pg. 98) My question is this: How does the "watering down of Christian standards of behavior and thought" affect our churches and worship settings? How does this or how should this affect our personal lives?

"Father, let us be altogether here."

These words were spoken a few months ago in chapel by Pastor Ron Berrus.  His main point was this:  if we are not faithfully serving Christ today, we can have no assurance that we will serve him in the future.  In Fools Rush In, Carl Trueman makes a similar point.  He says:

"There may be bigger churches, there may be better churches, but here is where we find ourselves; here is where the Lord has put us; here is where we are to serve and to love our fellow believers in Christ" (p. 90).

My question is this:  If God has placed us here at BBC, what is our responsibility to serve Christ now, in this place?

I know we are not yet leaders, we are not ready to pastor a church, but does this excuse us from faithfully serving Christ while we are here at BBC?  Since we see school as our main priority, we finish our schoolwork and we "hang out," but this causes us to miss the real needs that exist all around us - the people who are certainly not saved, the people whose faith is on the edge, the people who are planning on going into ministry but are spiritually immature.  BBC is not a "Bubble of Baptized Christians", but it is a place where the bubble of assumption keeps us from looking for needs (because "there are none") and living out our faith (because that "is for tomorrow").  My question is this, if not us, then who?

The Little Goldfinch

In Give Praise to God, Donald S. Whitney is discussing the power of private worship in the lives of Christians.  By sharing his thoughts on routine in private worship, the daily consistency of private worship, and the point of private worship as growing close to God, he avoids making private worship part of a daily checklist or making it something that happens sporadically because it is not made a consistent priority.  On pg.311, he says that “Nothing in the Bible says that your way of ordering private worship . . . has to be the same or like anyone else’s”. While I have appreciated the wise contributions of mature Christians in my private worship, there should be no feeling of guilt in deciding that my worship of God and relationship with Him is better benefited with a certain mode of learning from God’s Word over another.  At the same time however, Whitney does not excuse a lazy and “whatever goes” approach to private worship but that it takes discipline and desire for God to make that spot in busy schedules for private worship to happen (314-315). Our daily consistent investment in private worship will make the most incredible difference in our relationship with God and our reflection of Him (316).  Thus, while not fostering a “there is only one right way to private worship and then we can check it off the list” mindset, Whitney shows that our relationship with God requires diligence and thoughtfulness in private worship. 

While I cannot say statistically how many people think like this, I know that I have to consciously think of private worship as part of my relationship with God instead of an activity to check of the list and I think that part of the Christian struggle to have private worship is related to our mindset that it is a good Christian thing to do, not that it is investing in a relationship.  How do we better promote a mindset of private worship being about our worship of and relationship with God in children’s programs like AWANA or WOL where private worship becomes part of checking it off the list?

Hearing through Heart and Mind

    In this week's reading Jeremiah Burroughs discusses the dangers we run into by not sanctifying God's name by hearing His Word. He mentions that it is up to us how we hear the Word of God. (204) In many ways people come to and understanding that The Law is everything we need. However as we see on page 207 The Law is only something, "you hear in your ears"(207) or as I think of it; It is written on your mind. Think about it, The Law whether it be the Old Testament Law or the Governments Law was written on our minds by our parents and teachers. BUT The Gospel was written on our hearts by God. This isn't something parents or teachers could have done, only God could do this. The Law is something we hear and it is Gods word however Gods Gospel is written on our hearts and we hear it but we also try to understand it and grasp it so that we use it for Gods Glory!

How Did the Gospel come to be on our Hearts? Could this relate to Election? Where do you stand?

Private Music Vs. Corporate Music

I was excited to read page 302 in Give Praise to God this week.  This is a topic that has weighed heavily on my mind since it was brought up in a career chapel last year.  On page 302, Whitney discusses the importance of singing God's word as a part of private worship.  I used to be very interested in creating music, not for corporate worship, but private.  (I have since veered in the direction of corporate.)  If music that is used in corporate worship is designed to fit the needs of the congregation, what differences should there be, or are there in music designed for private worship?  What music would be more or less appropriate for the private worship as compared to the corporate worship, and why?

One More Method Band-Aid

In Give Praise To God, Terry Johnson writes, "Evangelical Christianity has struggled to stay afloat among the flood of secular, materialistic, and hedonistic influences" (284).  In other words, many churches today are forsaking their commitment to the Word of God and embracing culture - the secular, the materialistic, and the hedonistic.

According to Johnson, the answer to this problem is psalm singing.  Psalm singing will spark a "bolder, more militant spirituality," and cultivate a "piety [that will] stiffen the resolve of Christians today as it did in the past" (284).  But the problem may run much deeper than anything one more church method band-aid will fix.

Jeremiah Burroughs writes: "It is an easy matter to convince men and women that they are bound to sanctify the name of God when they come to receive the holy communion more than for the hearing of the Word" (249).  I think this accurately describes the state of the modern church, as well.  And what I mean is this:  Many churches don't take God's Word seriously at all, but even at BBC, where reading God's Word is "in style", it is often more of an exciting thing (a spiritual experience) than a convicting and eternally significant thing (a life-changing experience).  It seems we read the Word all the time (religiously) without the real life-change that should result, and that's why I don't think Psalm singing is necessarily going to fix the problem.  It may become one more "in thing" spiritual event that doesn't touch our hearts.

How can we point people back to the Word of God as the single source of life, and help them to recognize its seriousness and importance?

The Word of God

            One point that Jeremiah Burroughs made in our reading this week was the importance of hiding away the Word of God in our hearts.  He makes the point that if we merely allow the Word of God to pass through our minds, we testify that the Word of God is not valuable enough to impress upon our minds.  In his words, Burroughs says, “Now if I received a thing that is of great value, and I slight it and let anybody take it from me, I do not give a testimony to the excellency of that thing.”  Our attitude towards the Word of God testifies to our perception of its worth. If I read the Word and do not treasure it in my heart and mind, I communicate that it is not worth pondering upon.  If I read the Word and do not walk in obedience to it, I communicate that it has no wisdom to impart to my life.  Burroughs goes on to explain the importance of knowing the Word of God as a guard against temptation (181), showing that the Word is what guides us in walking in God’s ways.  This reminder was important to me because, while I value retaining God’s Word, I do not prioritize making that possible very well.  What is the church’s general attitude towards the Word of God? Is the Word of God reverenced or is the general behavior one of apathy?