A Time for Worship

In this week’s reading a couple of different things stood out to me. The first thing that really impacted a lot of my thought process came from Gospel Worship. Jeremiah Burroughs added another ingredient to how we should be worshiping. He tells us here that not only should we have fear and reverence for God in worship but we should also be using humility in worship. He continued on by giving a list of ways that shows humility through the Spirit. (pg. 101-103)  Another thing Burroughs talks about is the fact that the Bible tells us that God is a Spirit; therefore, bodily worship is not the only type of worship we should be participating in. Because God is a Spirit we should be worshiping Him both in a bodily manner and spiritual manner. When we worship in just the body Burroughs say we might as well be doing nothing, however, if we are worshiping in the spirit then it is more significant because we are trying to be more God centered in our worship. (pg. 112) Worship in a church service should be spiritual as much as bodily. In today’s world we tend to not worship in a spiritual manner but only in a bodily manner.

At your church, in what ways, does the worship service prove that the church has a strong theological basis and knowledge, which allows more spiritual worship rather than bodily?

A Self-Imposed Famine

In Chapter 7 of Give Praise to God, the authors make the point that God speaks to the hearts of His people through the reading of His Word.

...And so, this act of worship, in which the verbal self-revelation of God is addressed unedited to the hearts of His gathered people, ought not to be ignored, skipped, or squeezed out. It is irritating enough to have the endure preachers who say, “I do not have enough time to read my text today” (as if to say, “we need to hurry on past God’s Word to get to mine!”), but to have to endure whole worship services in which the formal reading of God’s Word is absent is a self-imposed famine of the Word (142).

Simply put, how/why does a church meet without scripture as a part of the service (yes, this is a cross-over into the Monkey Book)? Call me ignorant, but I don’t quite understand how a group of people can dare to call themselves a church, having a worship service, without being Biblically based - even false religions/cults have their sacred texts!

You Twit...

Trueman is talking about whether something is "rubbish" or not. Then he makes this comment; "if he looks like a twit and acts like a twit, then I can only conclude that he is a twit.(pg. 57)" This is so true of church, are we showing the seriousness of the gospel?... Trueman then says even a more profound thing; " you can tell a lot by people's theology from what they do in church." So the question to us is simple... Are we reflecting the seriousness of the gospel and reflecting its glory (specifically the glory of God)?

Defeating the Accidental Hipster Attitude

In this week's reading in Give Praise to God the topic of praying in a way that is filled with Scripture.  The chapter even quotes Matthew Henry, "I would advise that the sacred dialect be most used, and made familiar to us and others in dealing about sacred things; that language Christian people are most accustomed to, most affected with, and will most readily agree to."

Is Henry's statement still true?  Do Christians in the twenty-first century speak in a "sacred dialect"?  I doubt that too many churches still speak in Scripture-esque ways.  Our church society of "accidental hipster" (as I recently read) latte socializing Christians seldom use language found in Scripture, unless it is from a translation which uses YOLO or LOL.  While I don't think that this lack of Scripture in our common speech is a benefit to the community, its lack is the status quo.

I do think that a benefit from using Scripture-esque language in our prayers, or our speech, is, as Henry points out, that it can make us familiar with it.  Now is a era in need of this association.

The problem is this--most settings that Christians would implement this kind of prayer are void of Scripture-esque speech.  If we were to suddenly use it, would it not just go over their heads?  What kind of impact would it have if the congregation doesn't even understand what you are saying?  On the other hand, they do need to be exposed to such speech.  How do we effectively lead our brothers and sisters in Christ to a greater grasp of the Scripture in our prayers and speech without alienating them?

Out of the Closet

Burroughs said: "It is a good sign of a gracious fear when the soul can be struck with more fear from the Word and from the sight of God in enjoying communion with Him in His worship than when God appears in the most terrible way of His works, or when there is terror in a man's conscience through fear of hell" (127).  Furthermore he pointed out that such fear is an abiding fear, "a fear that must abide upon your hearts after the duty is over" (128).

I don't think I could say (for certain) that we have this type of fear in our culture.  I'm thinking about the ease with which we get distracted.  Burroughs also commented that "a sight of the glory of God and high thoughts of him" would keep us focused on him in worship (114).  Recently, I have noticed that our worship can sometimes be very casual.  We turn to each other and make comments when we notice something is wrong in a slide or when a friend walks in late, or when we remember what we were going to say earlier; essentially, it is easy for us to switch our attention from God to any other old thing.  You may say, "well, we don't completely lose focus, we get back to the song soon enough."  But what about after the service?  After our hearts have been "burdened" with such amazing truth, do we continue talking about it?  Or are we very quick to let that alleged "fear of God" fade into casual conversation?

My main question is this:  Should our worship be casual (in the sense that it is part of our everyday life, something easy for us to do, something fun) or is casual worship a sign that we really don't understand what we are doing at all?  I seriously don't know for sure.  All I know is moments of true awe and wonder hang with you.  And it seems we hang them up in the closet.

Gospel sharing through music

The reading in Give Praise to God focused on evangelism through preaching.  I agreed that the sermon can be a prime spot to share the gospel, but what about during the music.  What are some strategies that we, as music leaders in a church, could use to share the gospel during the musical portion of the service?

A Great Thing!

"My brethren, look upon every duty of worship as a great thing that you must be intent in your thoughts about..." Here Burroughs hits on a very important point. We as believers need to believe and act on the fact that worship is indeed something to be valued and cherished. It is indeed a great thing. Instead we as "earthly" minded Christians treat worship with a heart that is lukewarm. Instead we need to follow the example that Burroughs gives in his book... the martyr is about to be burned and the executioner asks him to speak... The martyr responds with these words; "I am praying and I don't mind at all what you are doing." THAT is treasuring worship. He was so focused and so valuing his worship with his everlasting Father that he did not mind that they were lighting him on fire.

What do we put above the great thing of worship, that really is not necessary (in the context of cooperate worship)?

The New Normal

In this past week’s reading in the Monkey Book by Carl Trueman, a very important idea is raised concerning our churches’ mindsets. In the past week, I personally have been challenged to examine how I and my church(es) look at how our church functions. A speaker whom I heard over the weekend (Dr. Gene Getz) challenged us to be content where God has placed our church, in whatever situation we find ourselves, and to not change what we, as a church, are doing just for the sake of change - the “new thing” -  but to actually have a reason, a purpose, for changing something in the church (ex. forms of worship). This week’s chapter of Trueman’s book seemed to correspond to those messages so well, as Truman writes, “The routine of the ordinary, the boring, the plodding, is actually the norm for church life...” (pgs. 30-31). The glamorous, busy, complex, exciting big-ness of large churches is great, but many small church bodies find themselves pressured by popular trends to amp up their efforts and become bigger churches, in the process changing everything from music to leadership. Trueman, however, makes the point that smaller churches need to realize that their ordinary routines are what God has given them as their service to Him and that in order to glorify God, churches need to be content with all that they’ve been given and, in return, give their all to God.

Fearful and Intentional Worship

In this week’s reading of Gospel Worship, I found a few things that I have never really seen before.  The first thing that really caught my eye was the fact that we are not truly glorifying God unless we come to Him with fear and reverence for His name.  (pg.93) I found it interesting that Jeremiah Burroughs mentioned that the fear of God is often what is referred to as worship in the Bible.  The author also mentions that the fear we are to have for God is a fear that should be with us always.

                Something else that really stood out to me in this week’s reading would be the “duties of God’s worship must be full of strength”. (pg. 96-100) This concept that Burrough’s brings up is more or less new to me, but it is mainly the first strength that still has me thinking. Obviously I always knew that worship was something serious and that we should be prepared for God’s worship, however, I never really thought about why or I guess even how to worship. The first strength that Burroughs mentions is the strength of intention. This made me think about all of the intentions I have that are not focused around God’s worship. If we are supposed to be coming into God’s presence with fear and reverence for His great name why do we struggle from a day to day basis of not being intentional with our worship?

"Vanity of Vanities"

Jeremiah Burroughs brought up a concept that has been much on my mind the past couple of weeks: putting forth one’s utmost strength in worshiping God (100).  He comments: “. . . it [the Sabbath] is a time of spending a great deal of strength—and blessed is the strength that is spent in the worship of God rather than in the ways of sin, as most spend their strength” (100).  Lately, I have often looked at life and wondered at its futility and hardness.  I am considered a privileged individual in the luxury, compared to many countries, of my life style and in being able to attend college.  Yet this is my life: I work hard at summer jobs for the purpose of accumulating less debt at college.  Then I come to college and do homework and attend classes for the purpose of attaining a degree so I can spend the rest of my life doing that to pay off my college debt and make a living.  And at some point I will die.  That is all rather depressing and discourages me from my labor.  And then I remember my God and shake my head at myself. As Burroughs instructs, worshiping my God should be the area where I pour out most of my strength. When I remember that I am a servant of God, I wonder how I can expect rest in my life on earth (see verses such as 1 Timothy 4:10) and be so lax about striving for holiness and working hard at the tasks God has given me. 

My question comes from Give Praise to God. Terry L. Johnson and J. Ligon Duncan III write, “The read word is not on some lower order of significance than the proclaimed word . . .” (144) What is the mindset that leads us to think that the sermon is more important than the read work of God? Is there a historical significance to this or is it purely a result of Christians elevating man’s word over God’s?

Another Question

So ironically, one of the questions I had last week (which we were never able to discuss) was answered by Burroughs in quite a bit of detail.  It was:  What should we do if we come to worship unprepared?

Lately, there has been this war constantly in my heart.  On one side, God is helping me let go of my pride, and asking me to think about what it means to serve Him genuinely.  But on the other side, a seemingly endless amount of stuff is there to distract me.  I can go through a whole day so focused on homework that I miss serving God.  So this week I have often come to worship feeling unfit and unprepared.  Thus the question.

Burroughs said, "While you are musing, plodding, and troubling your heart that way, I say you are struggling alone, but now when you fall upon the duty, then you call in help from God and so you are more able to the performance of the duty than you were before.... Though you cannot find your heart as prepared as you desire, the very falling upon it will fit you for it."

I am thankful that God has begun to answer this first question, but it is still hard to keep my heart focused on him.  And this brings me to another question I had last week:  How can we kindle a holy awe of God in a culture that is so caught up in the moment and busy with other things?  We all know the phrase "Be still, and know that I am God."  But do we actually know what it means to be still?  Are we ever still, and if not, how can we learn?

Expository Only?

My favorite section from Give Praise to God this week was "Expository Preaching as Worship." (109)  I appreciate the book's fervor for expository preaching in today's churches, because many are lacking in anything but spiritual milk.  Expository preaching is important, and when done correctly, it encourages growth to a higher degree than other forms of preaching.  However, is it the only way?  My church, while it usually uses expository, will sometimes have a special emphasis on a sunday and speak on a topic rather than a passage.  I even think of the speaker we had in MPS yesterday who said that, as a worship pastor, he preached about worship and music.  That is not going to be taking a part of scripture passage by passage.  My question would be, can we implement other forms of preaching than expository only?

Intentional Worship

“Read the Bible, preach the Bible, pray the Bible, sing the Bible, and see the Bible.”

Such is the motto for those who embrace the regulative principle, as suggested by J. Ligon Duncan III in Give Praise to God (pg. 65). We are to read the Bible in public worship. We are to preach the Bible as God’s prime appointed instrument to build up His church (pg 66). We are to pray the Bible through pastoral prayer and praying in the mind- and spirit-set of the Bible (pg. 67). We are to see the Bible acted out as we participate in the baptism of believers and in the Lord’s Supper. And we are to sing the Bible. It is this point which most caught my attention. “...Our singing ought to be biblical, shot through with the language, categories, and theology of the Bible. It ought to reflect the themes and proportion of the Bible, as well as its substance and weightiness” (pg. 67). “...a Christian worship song...should look like a Psalm...If the songs we sing in worship look like Psalms, they will develop themes over many lines with minimal repetition...They will be rich in theological and experiential content” (pg. 68).

In our current “worship culture” of repetitive songs and choruses, is there a place to step back to this idea of meaningful Psalms and worshipful songs (the kind in which the words that we sing develop a full idea - not just repeating the same mini-idea over and over again)?

Duty and Preparation

In Gospel Worship, Jeremiah Burroughs instructs believers not to allow lack of preparation to keep them from preforming their duties to God (70).  He says, “The forbearing of a duty now will not make the soul more fit for a duty afterwards” (71).  I should not neglect something that God has commanded because I am unprepared.  I should not lay aside worshiping Him in the fellowship of other believers for the reason that I am not where I should be before worship.  I should not put aside prayer with the excuse of being “unfit” to approach the throne of God.  I appreciate the wisdom of Burroughs here because it prevents me from hindering my relationship with and obedience to God with the sins that are keeping me from fellowshipping with God.  Instead, it forces me to deal with the sins (whether of commission or omission) that prevent me from communing with God which in turn brings about reconciliation with God.  However, I do have a question regarding communion. 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 says,

“Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.”

Would communion be an exception to Burroughs comments, where there must be a level of examination (and thus preparation) beforehand or would Burroughs say that this examination is a result of realizing one is unprepared in every circumstance, whether communion, prayer, singing, etc.?

Prepared or Unprepared?

            In reading Gospel Worship this week I had to do a lot of self-examination. I found the chapter on preparing for worship to be convicting for me personally. Jeremiah Burroughs talks about the men who “let out their heart” and become wrapped up in their business of everyday life.(68) Because of their business they are not prepared for what God is trying to teach them. We are not really taking pleasure in being with God if we are not able to prepare our hearts to receive His teaching. Another thing that stuck out to me is when we are worshipping God we are sanctifying Him, also we need to make sure He is getting the glory He deserves. (75) I also found what Burroughs said on page 77 very thought provoking as well. The author is basically saying that God is looking for us to lift worship above everything else. So when we come to worship we need to be giving Him our whole hearts and not just a part.

What are the things in our lives, that may be pleasing to God, but we forget to use them for worshiping God? What is the church doing to encourage preparation for worship in their congregation?