Artwork by Gustav Dore, "Paul Preaches to the Thessalonians" (Scan by Felix Just, S.J.,http://catholic-resources.org/Art/Dore.htm )

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. (Hebrews 13:15)

Something has rolling around in my head for a few months and I couldn’t quite pin down what it was. It all started when I noted that among some of the brethren a new term had come into use. It pertains to the Sunday morning hour of worship.

Again and again, I kept hearing about brethren calling the Sunday hour of worship “the worship experience.”

The emerging and contemporary churches seem to love the term. Others of us who are outside that movement seem to be largely sticking with the older term “worship service.”  Every time I heard of a worship experience, it snapped my head up because it just sounded totally wrong, but I couldn’t articulate why I was so distressed in my spirit about it.

Today,after a day’s toil in my study, I was putting old leaves from the yard in one of my garden beds and it dawned on me why this semantic struggle has been going on in the Parson’s noggin. When a congregation uses the terminology “worship experience” to describe the Sunday time of gathering, it has betrayed something about what they believe “worship” is all about, and largely, who worship is for. Is the congregation and its leadership all about about providing some kind of “experience” for the attender, or offering to Almighty God, the Lord of Hosts, the King of Glory, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving?

The terminology begs the question: who is the audience of what takes place? Doesn’t it seem odd to think of a worship experience being for God?

When we describe the Sunday gathering as an “experience” that puts all the emphasis on what it does for us, the worshiper. It seems to me that a serious erosion of our worship theology has occurred when we can’t bring ourselves to describe what we do as a worship service anymore.

The word service suggests doing something for someone else. For example, a lawyer performs legal service for his clients. A lawn service mows the yard for their customers. Somebody is doing something for someone else when a service is performed.

Experience, on the other hand suggests passivity. I go to a church, sit in my seat and then watch and listen, passively, often wowed by the technological display, applauding at particularly moving, sentimental times.And then, I go home. I have had a great experience–I soaked it all up. But I haven’t done much service. Not too much has been offered by me to God.

The name we stick on the Sunday gathering is important. Who is worship for? Us? Or God? Ancient churches called the Sunday gathering the Liturgy, or the Divine Service. There’s a reason. Liturgy means “the work of the people.” Today’s liturgical churches, the conservative ones, anyway, are not all about the “experience”–when you  go to a church like that, you have to pay attention and keep up–there are congregational responses throughout the service–you can’t sit there like a pew potato–you have work to do. And that work is service unto Almighty God in heartfelt, devoted praise and prayer.

For those of us who are not in the liturgical tradition, but who still maintain a traditional order with congregational participation in our worship services, we have our reasons, and this is part of the explanation why we have held on to the older ways.

Have I misconstrued this new terminology’s use, and spoken in haste?  If by some chance those of you who use the term “experience” happen upon this blog, please correct me if I have. If not, then I humbly submit to my peers in ordained ministry that we need to use care in our use of terms.

I welcome your comments and friendly debate.

©Baptist Parson, 2009. All rights reserved.

Tim Smith announces Re:Sound’s new podcast. It looks like a great resource for anyone planning and leading gathered worship.

New Free Podcast

When we launched Re:Sound last spring I had in mind a larger audience and more polished recording projects. However, at Mars Hill Church we have been giving away free downloads of live music from our worship gatherings for years. As a way to share more of what God is doing among the musicians of Mars Hill, we are launching a new podcast.

The Mars Hill Church: Worship podcast will highlight worship leaders and songwriters from across the church as well as brief insights into the theology of worship and why we respond to God the way we do at Mars Hill Church. There will also be new songs with every installment. Join me for the first episode, which includes an interview and new song from Cam Huxford of Mars Hill Downtown Seattle and another song from my band Ex Nihilo.

Download and Subscribe

Download the Mars Hill: Worship podcast here and subscribe to the feed to get all future content. I hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think on Twitter at twitter.com/pastortimsmith.

You can also subscribe to the Mars Hill Worship podcast on iTunes.

In my Theology of Worship class today, we had a discussion about how common it is for Christians to say, “Wow, God really used me today…”  We discussed the danger in making this our meditation.  We should rejoice in the work of God, who is bringing people into a greater delight in Him through the gospel.  However, is this really why we say things like this?  Are we praising God because He did a wonderful thing and we are able to enjoy it?  Or are we glorying in our own role in what God has done?

Here is the litmus test: Would we be just as delighted if we were able to witness God accomplishing that same work through someone else?

It is still true that we should have joy in God using us.  In light of our personal acquaintance with the gravity of our own sin, we should be amazed and rejoice that God can use even us. All things considered, if we are rejoicing in the work of God, then it should be inconsequential who He chooses to use.  If we are rejoicing in ourselves, then we will have joy when we are used by God, and we will be prone to jealousy when God chooses to use others.

5 days left to enter the drawing for a free copy of Calvin’s Institutes!

Justin Taylor points out some significant praise for Bryan Chapell’s latest book, on Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice:

“This will be the first book I give people–or turn to myself–on the practice of understanding, planning, and leading in corporate worship.”
- Tim Keller, senior pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church; author of The Reason for God

“Destined to become one of the best resources available for improving the practice of Christian worship.”
- Philip Ryken, senior minister, Tenth Presbyterian Church, PA

“An astonishingly helpful book. It is theologically rich, especially when it comes to showing, in detail, how the nature of the gospel ought to shape our public services. . . . No one will agree with everything he has written here, but only the most ignorant could not profit enormously from this thoughtful and stimulating book.”
- D. A. Carson, research professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

For 48 hours (until 4 PM on Saturday, August 15), WTS Books is selling it for $9.99 (60% off the retail price).

Explore sample pages.

Here’s a video introduction:

The most recent Worship Notes is now available, here.

The July 2009 issue concludes the series on the distinctives of New Testament Worship begun in the March 2009 issue and includes:

• Theme article: Part 4 of “Key Themes in New Testament Worship” (“Freedom of Form”)
• Additional resources on the theme of “Worship and Culture”
• Quotations on the theme of “Freedom and Form in Worship”

Worship Notes is a ‘must read’ newsletter–brimming with rich theology but in a small enough dose that you can actually read the whole thing.

All back issues of Worship Notes are available here.

I’m eagerly awaiting the launch of Re:Sound next week. If you lead music or just listen to music, you’ll want to listen up! Re:Sound is poised to be your one-stop, gospel-centered, truth-brimming  music-storehouse for gathered worship. Here’s what Tim Smith has to say about it:

The folks with great theology don’t tend to have music that you would want to listen to, and the folks with music you like don’t tend to have great theology. Re:Sound will be the musical end of the Resurgence, dedicated to bringing you theologically unified, stylistically diverse, excellent music. Our music will also be free for any ministry use you can think of, as long as you don’t charge money for it. Re:Sound will launch Thursday, June 4th, in conjunction with our Advance 09 conference. I will be speaking on the “Marks of Missional Worship,” as well as leading in song with my band, at a special event in Raleigh, NC Friday, June 5th. For more info go to ReSound.org.

(From “A Stained-Glass Window“.)

This is the manuscript from a sermon I wrote for my homiletics class. It’s based off of Colossians 3:12-17. There was a lot more I wanted to do with it, but it’s limited to 30 minutes so I kept it simple. It’s entitled “A Lifesong of Thankfulness”.

During my current stage of life, being an unmarried bachelor for now, I don’t really cook. From time to time over the past few years I’ve tried baking and cooking things. I learned that there are certain things that work when baking – various ingredients that one can add to the mix – and they really help the recipe to do the job. One time I was having some difficulties with an omelet I was cooking. It was much flatter than I wanted it to be, so I decided I’d add something that had been of great assistance in some of my baking experience. That ingredient was baking soda. I figured adding this ingredient would give my eggs some extra volume and fluffiness. Never, ever, ever try this. I’ve never tasted eggs which such unique flavoring and texture, nor will I again.

So what was the problem? I’d moved from baking bread-based delicacies in the oven to cooking raw chicken embryos on a skillet – this was a major categorical shift. There’s a huge difference between baking in an oven and cooking on a stove. There’s also a big difference between bread products and eggs. When I moved from baking to frying on a skillet, it became necessary to take on a new approach. It required different tools, different recipes and ingredients, different techniques and tactics. The omelet suffered because of my failure to understand this difference. It looked fine, though it didn’t fluff up like I wanted it to. It tasted somewhat like a pancake, but not just any pancake – it was a rubbery and bouncy pancake.

If we are Christians, we’ve crossed over into new territory. We have a new life in Christ. Paul, writing to the Colossian believers, commanded them to live differently because of this same new life. Just like me moving from baking in the oven to cooking on the stove, the Colossians were to live in a completely new way than they had before. Before they were thankless, prideful and self-absorbed. Now things had to be different.

We all have some sense of entitlement. Because humanity is often so naturally self-absorbed it also naturally focuses upon self and to what oneself is entitled. This breeds thanklessness, pride, and many other traits of the old self – the sin nature. As Christians, we’ve been redeemed from the power and penalty of sin. We’ve been given a new identity. A categorical shift has taken place. We’ve been moved from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love – yet sometimes we carry over the practices and mentalities of the old into the new, and it changes our appearance. Anybody who gets a “taste” of us might know immediately that something isn’t adding up when we fail to live out the calling of this new life we’ve been given. While the old self is thankless, prideful and self-absorbed, our new life requires a thankful, upward focus on Christ that is demonstrated in our thankful new behavior towards others.

This afternoon we’ll find ourselves in Colossians chapter three, verses twelve through seventeen. Please go ahead and open your Bibles to this text of Scripture. Before we jump into this section it will prove helpful to understand Paul’s line of thought and the context upon which the legs of this portion of the letter stands.

Starting from the beginning of this letter, Paul has expressed thankfulness for the Colossians’ faith and love springing from their hope in the Gospel. He has prayed that they would walk worthy of God and please Him by continually growing by His strength. In that discussion he emphasized both his thankfulness to God and his joy. He then explained that all things have been created by, through, and for Jesus Christ. It is through this same power and person of Christ – being God himself – that the Colossians had been redeemed, forgiven of sin, and reconciled to God. He explains that these truths are the Gospel of which he has become a minister. Paul has described his ministry as one that desires to make plain the mystery that all are now equal in Christ, that the ground is level at the cross, and how it was his desire to see Christians encouraged, knit together in love, thankful, and understanding. Paul gave three warnings concerning the false teachings the Colossian church faced and in summation he exhorts them explaining that Christ’s person and work are more than sufficient and they have no need to cling to the elementary principles of the world.

That’s when we come to chapter three. Because of the sufficiency of Christ and his magnificent work on the believer’s behalf, one’s life – as one now walks on this earth – is to be different. Paul describes how the believer, having died with Christ and raised in his resurrection, is to set his mind on “things above”, not on temporal things of the earth. The believer’s new identity should bring a new focus and change the direction in which our lives are aimed. Just like me in the kitchen, this shift to a new identity comes with a new recipe book, fresh ingredients, and new instructions. It requires different tools and a different technique – a different way of doing things – of living.

Paul explains how we are still “works in progress”, and so we must continually work out our salvation as we put to death our old ways – sin. Our bodies and lives can be tools of righteousness or instruments caught in the vices of sin. After listing the vices of the old way of life, before Christ, Paul then addresses the Colossians as God’s chosen ones and gives them a sampling of what the new life should look like as we actively put on the new practices of our new self. Colossians three verse twelve and following state this:

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

This afternoon as we take a look into this portion of Paul’s letter, I want us to understand that as we live out this new life in Christ, having put on the new self being renewed in Christ’s image, we must demonstrate our thankful heart in how we treat other people. We must show our thankfulness to God in everything we do with and for one another. Paul prescribed three ways that this should be worked out as we consider our relationships with other Christians. We must be thankful as we interact with other members, as we teach and admonish each other in music, and as we do everything else, seeking to do so in the name of Jesus.

So first, as Christians we must show thankfulness by the way we treat other believers. Being holy and beloved, there is a calling to put on new characteristics such as compassion and humility, forgiving one another. Paul identifies them as “God’s chosen ones”. In verse twelve he says, “So (or therefore) as those who have been chosen by God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentles and patience.” He first points out that God took the initiative in creating their new identity and graciously bringing them to Him. They are “holy”, being set apart, and “beloved”, not only by God but by Paul as well. As I mentioned just a bit ago, Paul calls the Colossians to put off the ways of the old self. As part of their new identity they are to put on the new self and all that comes with it. He tells them to put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, courtesy, and patience. He further calls them to forgive one another in verse thirteen. The culmination of these characteristics is discovered in verse fourteen, wherein he commands, “Beyond (or above) all these thing put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” Above and beyond anything else Paul commands them to put on and show love, the perfect bond of unity. This is what bonds the community together. Paul does not tell them this because they have not loved or because they don’t know what love is. When we look at his opening statements he explains how thankful he is for them because of what he’s heard about them. He’s heard about their love for all of the saints and their “love in the Spirit.” Now he is reminding them to continue in that love, to not let that love grow stale. Love is so important. Love is the “perfect bond of unity” that holds the rest of it together.

Most houses today have some form of lap siding, and because of the price of cedar there’s a couple substitute that most builders use. They are both a kind of a composite board. The first is referred to as “LP” siding. When this product made, manufacturers take wood fibers and compress them together into the form of a siding board. Builders and homeowners swiftly learned that this product had a multitude of problems. Within just a few seasons it would start to become compromised. I’ve been a professional painter for most of my life and I worked in management for Sherwin-Williams for several years – during that time I have seen all of those problems over and over again. I’ve seen the bottom edges of the board fan out like a deck of cards. I’ve seen mushrooms growing out of those same spots. I’ve seen all sorts of related problems, and sanding, priming and slapping paint on surface of these things does not solve the problem. LP siding is weak not just because of all of the individual fibers, but because nothing really bonds them together. If given the chance, cold and wet weather will immediately start separating the fibers, pulling apart and breaking down the integrity of the board since there’s no bond of unity to hold them all together. More recently a newer second product started replacing LP siding in the market.

The second product is called hardiplank. This stuff is made of the same fiber materials as LP siding but its intermixed with a form of cement. They take lots and lots of the same loose wood fibers and cram them together very tightly with some cement intermixed throughout. It’s really tough stuff, and very heavy. It still needs to be painted, but regardless of protective coatings, the bonding agents that tie the fibers together seem to hold through even the toughest weather conditions. This product is much more effective than the LP product, again not due to its fibers but due to the bond of unity in the cement.
That’s kind of how love works. We are all individual members of one composite body and through our identity with this body we are one. To maintain our harmony we must relate to each other with the characteristics of this new life, and the perfect bond of unity is like the cement in the hardiplank – that perfect bond of unity. Love: It holds us all together. But none of these things will happen if we’re not thankful for one another. Paul told the Colossians that they need to be thankful as they let the peace of Christ rule in their hearts. He reminds them that they have been called into one body, and because they are all part of one body they must be a peace with each other. The same goes for us as well. The peace that comes from knowing Christ should characterize our relationships with other people.

Understanding our unity, we must be thankful to God for the privilege of being part of this body as we exercise these characteristics of the new self. Without this thankfulness, no peace, love, forgiveness or humility will ever take place.

So what does this thankfulness look like? This thankfulness expresses itself in thanks for the unity we have in being part of one body. When I was down in Oregon for my college studies and the year thereafter at Western Seminary, I was never able to plug into a local church for ministry or even fellowship. I found that now, being part of a church family, I find that this thankfulness is quite overwhelming as I recognize the community of believers I belong to. God has called all of us into a relationship not only with Him but also with each other. Part of how this thankfulness is shown is by how we treat those with whom He has made us one body. Do we show compassion, humility, gentleness, kindness and forgiveness to one another? When someone wrongs you, how long does it take you to go to that person and forgive him? Do you go to other people first and complain? Do you consider the needs of other people, laying down your own imagined importance for the sake of someone else in need? Do you “weep with those who weep”, showing compassion for the pain and struggles of others? This can be as simple as letting someone know that you’ve been praying for them or as involved as becoming a really good friend to them, being with them during their times of distress and actually “being there”, not just saying that you’ll “be there” for them.

Not only must we be thankful in the way we treat each other in our day to day dealings with other believers, but we must also be thankful as we teach and admonish each other in song. That leads to the second way in which we can express our thankfulness for each other.

As Christians, we must show thankfulness as we teach and admonish one another through music. Let’s look at verse sixteen again. Paul says this: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” We must let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. Teaching and admonishing each other will accomplish this mission. Paul’s command is to teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. Paul unpacks an instrumental tool for their mutual teaching and admonishment: Music. Yes, there is a direct imperative to use music and singing not only for encouragement or praise but also teaching doctrine and the word about Christ, the Gospel and more. One of the major ways this idea of teaching and admonishing one another is carried out is through music.

This must be done with all wisdom. For many people, music in our church services has just become another perfunctory ritual. It’s just “something we do”. It’s often seen as filler and the average individual is more concerned with the style and the instrumentality rather than the creed, theology and meaning behind the words they let slip between their lips. We can sometimes fall into the rhythm (pun intended) of seeing as just music.

Paul tells the Colossians that they must let the “word of Christ” dwell in them richly. The “word of Christ” is most likely the word about Christ and the message about him. As the word of Christ dwells in us richly it should do several things. It should convey our fundamental faith about God and pass it on. It should foster fruits of the faith. It should filter all aspects of life – family, jobs, relationships, politics – through our faith in Christ. It should cause us to seek to grow spiritually. It should nurture faith in community.

For many now, worship through music becomes a time when God is supposed to meet our needs, rather than a time in which we admonish and teach one another and give glory to God. When it fails to do what we want it to do for us, we say “We got nothing out of it,” and I ask, what then is the point? This response of “getting nothing” seems to be the response of a selfish and thankless heart, not a selfless attitude seeking to serve others and singing in one’s heart to God. As we sing to each other we are to sing in our hearts to God – we are to do so with thankfulness. This worship through music and this aspect of church community is to be done with thankfulness. This is the second admonition to be thankful within as many verses. The emphasis becomes clear that a changed life, changed by the power of the Gospel of Christ, is a thankful life.

How do we show thankfulness in this context? What exactly does that look like? Out of all the times and places one could hear groans on any given morning, the most likely may be our church auditoriums before the church service begins when people glance at their bulletins and handouts to see what songs are on the schedule. It’s really easy to get fed up when we have to sing the same songs over and over again, or when we don’t like the style in which a song is played or the instruments that accompany it. It’s easy to get frustrated by the tempo, or the dress of the praise team, or many different related issues surrounding the idea of music in our church services. I find that I, myself, sometimes fall into this category. At our church I’m the primary guitarist and I play just about any time there’s a Sunday morning or evening worship service. There are songs that I enjoy playing and there are songs that I do not. There are songs that are boring and repetitive to me as a guitarist. I find that I usually fail to focus on the most important aspect of the music, namely the lyrics. If songs are to be used to teach and admonish one another, then truly the lyrics are of great importance and I need to remember that what I do as I strum the strings is only an accompaniment to the teaching and admonition the words are meant to bring. Am I thankful for the privilege to teach and admonish through music? Am I letting the word about Christ, the Gospel, dwell in me and dwell in my richly during these times? Can I honestly say that as I play my guitar that I am strumming thankfully to help others worship God, and that I am strumming the song in my heart to God as well, being thankful to serve Him? What about you? Can you honestly say that you are thankful as you participate in worship through music, whatever capacity you may fulfill as we teach and admonish one another in song? I challenge you this: Regardless of how you feel about the music at your church, thank the people who are involved in it. This might mean thanking the electric guitarist for his commitment to play every Sunday, even if you’re opposed to the style. Telling him that you appreciate his effort to do his part in teaching and admonishing others will go a long way and will help us to become “knit together in love.” Here’s another idea: Smile. Nothing will be more dampening to the spirits of the praise team members or song leader than staring back at a bunch of frowning faces more befitting a funeral march than a call to praise. Be conscientious of how you present yourself and your attitude in the presence of others. Remember that your thankfulness ought first be found in your thankfulness to God, not to people. Be thankful to God for the privilege of being part of the body of Christ. Be thankful that you have the freedom to worship Him, to do so with others, and to have to opportunity to worship freely and openly without persecution. Your thankfulness, or lack thereof, will be reflected in how you interact with others around you. Be thankful for the opportunity to worship corporately and to teach and admonish other believers, and show your thankfulness by your words to others involved.

So according to Paul, we must not only be thankful in our dealings with one another through music or other circumstances, but we must be thankful in all things because of whom we serve. The third way we must show our thankfulness for one another is this:
As Christians, we must show thankfulness in everything that we do, seeing that we ought to do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to come to a point where we measure our conduct and ask ourselves if in whatever we do or say we can do so in the name of Jesus. In verse seventeen Paul says this: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” No matter what one is doing, everything ought to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, from serving in the church to drinking orange juice. This ought to bring us to question every thought and action in our life. “Is what I am doing or thinking something that I can attach the name of Jesus to?” There’s a fairly popular song by Casting Crowns called “Lifesong”. We sing it from time to time in our church and some of the lyrics go like this:

Empty hands held high- such small sacrifice. If not joined with my life, I sing in vain tonight. May the words I say and the things I do make my lifesong sing – bring a smile to you. Let my lifesong sing to You….I want to sign your name to the end of this day knowing that my heart was true. Let my lifesong sing to You.

The lyrics essentially state the following: If we say that we love God and are willing to make sacrifices to live for Him, yet our actions don’t back it up, our words are worthless. We should live every day as if it’s a blank document, and as we fill it out by the way we live that day – how we speak, how we treat people, and what we think – we should ask ourselves if we’d be willing to sign Jesus’ name at the bottom as if He approves of the way we’ve lived that day.

At the same time, we are to do everything thankfully, giving thanks to God through (or on account of, because of) Jesus Christ. When we do anything we must thank God through Jesus Christ. As Christians, we have the privilege of being able to say “no” to sin. We have the ability, thanks to God, to walk lives that are pleasing to Him. Therefore in all that we do, we should be thanking God for the pleasure and privilege we have to walk in newness of life, free from the power and penalty of sin.

The final verse in this section of Paul’s argument reinforces the emphasis of what he’s already stressed. Everything we do, including our treatment of other believers and the teaching and admonishment we give through music, is to be done thankfully and in the name of Jesus. If you are a Christian, a believer and follower of Christ, a categorical shift has taken place in your life. Your life has been changed tremendously. With that change should come a change in action and attitude. Thankless pride is characteristic of the old self, among many vices we are called to mortify and put off, and it has no place in the Christian life. Thankfulness ought to characterize everything that we do. Just ask and consider your own actions – are you known for you thankfulness or thanklessness? Paul’s emphasis is more than intentionally obvious – The call to the Christian life is a call to thankful living. To be thankful means to show that thankfulness; true thankfulness is born out in action. Over the course of this week, think about someone who is teaching and admonishing you through the musical worship at your church, or another Christian you know who could use some compassion, and speak with them or write them a note thanking them for their participation in the body of Christ. Let them know you appreciate them – even do something for them. Don’t let it stop with words, for as Christians, we must show our thankfulness to God in everything we do through the way do all things with, alongside, and for one another.

Here’s new book that definitely should be found on your 2009 Worship Reading List–Bryan Chapell’s Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice .  Due out this August,  Chapell’s book could very well be the catalyst for revival! How?! Simple. Wherever there is gospel-renewal there is revival! Whenever the gospel is proclaimed, celebrated, and embraced by Jesus’ followers there will be revival. The gospel is, afterall, the power of God (Romans 1:16-17).

Our deepest need in gathered worship is not musical excellence or savvy technology. Our greatest need to be committed and convinced that the Gospel of Jesus Christ really is good news, the best news, the only essential news. We must sing the gospel, pray the gospel, preach the gospel, say the gospel, celebrate the gospel–Chapell’s book will help us.

Here’s a blurb from the publisher:

The church’s worship has always been shaped by its understanding of the gospel. Here Bryan Chapell, author of the well-regarded text Christ-Centered Preaching, provides churches with a Christ-centered understanding of worship to enable them to transcend the traditional/contemporary worship debate and unite in ministry and mission priorities. Churches will learn how to shape their worship based on Christ’s ministry to and through them and will be challenged to let the gospel shape every element of their corporate worship.

Christ-Centered Worship brings historical and biblical perspective to discussions about worship, demonstrating that the gospel has shaped key liturgical traditions and should also shape contemporary worship. It then addresses practical issues; looks outward to the church’s mission; and provides resources for worship planning, encouraging readers to identify their church’s specific gospel calling as the basis for making decisions about worship. The book will be useful to worship and ministry professors and students at the seminary level, pastors, worship leaders, worship planning committees, and missionaries.

Worship is either true or idolatrous. Either acceptable or blasphemous. That’s why every pastor and gathered worship leader and ought to read G.K. Beale’s book We Become What We Worship. For my benefit and yours I’ve been blogging my way through it over at Eucatastrophe101. Here’s a list of the posts so far. I hope they give you a good summary of the book and a handle on Beale’s argument. But more than that, I hope they make you want to read the book!

7 Reasons Why I’m reading We Become What We Worship

We Become What We Worship, chapter 1

We Become What We Worship, chapter 2

We Become What We Worship, Chapter 3

We Become What We Worship, Chapter 4

We Become What We Worship, Chapter 5

Harold Best encourages us to watch out mouths. Every time we speak, we are teaching. So the question is…what are we teaching about God?

Good is a word I want back in culture so badly. Instead of ‘awesome,’ and ‘exellent,’ and ‘fantastic.’ And all these things we use to describe everything from Jesus to a popsicle. We’re using superlatives addictively and there is no language left to talk about God who is superlative, who is transcendent, who according not just to those who have popularized the word ‘awesome,’ but according to the Scriptures is awesome. A pooped-out word now. It’s totally pooped out. It has nothing left within it. So we talk about God and call him awesome when in just a few minutes ago we talked about how awesome my new Toyota is. Or how awesomely low the score was in last night’s or last week’s baseball game was and so on and so forth. How I long for someone to say: ‘He or she is a good person.’ ‘This is good music.’ ‘This is merely good.’ The way C.S. Lewis talks about ‘Mere Christianity.’ The mere goodness of something.
–Harold Best, “Continuous Worship: Is ‘Worship’ the Only Word for ‘Worship’” (11:00). From the Continuous Worship Conference .

This month’s Worship Notes from Ron Man are now online, here.

The April 2009 issue focuses on “Worship and Experience” and includes:

• Theme article: “The Road to Understanding: An Easter Meditation” (on Luke 24:13-25)
• Great quotes on the theme of worship and our experience
• Info on oncoming worship events.

Just a reminder that all back issues are also available here.

One of my favorite resources is the Southern Bapitist Theological Seminary’s Institute for Christian Worship. While you can always find the link in the sidebar, I want to share with you Justin Taylor’s very helpful listing of all the audio resources you’ll find there. And if you’re wondering where to start…listen to David Peterson’s lectures…and read his book Engaging With God: A Biblical Theology of Worship. It’s the best book on understanding biblical worship.

The other day I came across the audio files from Southern Seminary’s Institute for Christian Worship. Go to the site for all the lectures, but below are a number of ones that looked interesting to me. If the speaker has a related book, I’ve included some info after the links to his lecture.

David Peterson:

• What Really Is Worship?
• The Worship That Pleases God
• Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs: Does the Bible Direct Us in the Choice of Musical Styles?
• Meeting God in the Gathering of His People
• Worship That Jesus Makes Possible

D.A. Carson thinks that Peterson’s book, Engaging With God: A Biblical Theology of Worship (1992), is one of the very best treatments available.

John Frame:

• Worshiping God’s Way (Part 1)
• Worshiping God’s Way (Part 2)
• Christian Worship Music: Is It Postmodern?

Frame’s two books on worship are Worship in Spirit and Truth: A Refreshing Study of the Principles and Practice of Biblical Worship (1996) and Contemporary Worship: A Biblical Defense (1997). These books make some in the Reformed camp uncomfortable, but I found both of them to be very helpful.

Harold Best:

• Music for, by, and Toward the Church
• The Glory of God in Contemporary Worship: A Shared Burden
• Text and Music: Content and Context for Music in Ministry

• The Arts in Worship: Can’t Art Just Be Art?
• Authentic Multiculturalism and High Culture
• Authentic Multiculturalism and High Culture: What of Quality?

Best’s two books on worship are Music Through the Eyes of Faith (1993) and Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts (2003). Music Through the Eyes of Faith has had a significant impact on John Piper, and he highly recommends the book.

Michael Card:

• The Lost Language of Lament
• Worshiping the God Who Takes Everything Away

For Card on lament, see A Sacred Sorrow Experience Guide: Reaching out to God in the Lost Language of Lament (2005) and The Hidden Face of God: Finding the Missing Door to the Father Through Lament (2007).

Keith and Kristyn Getty:

• World Music for the Universal Church
• Irish Hymns: A Singing Faith for the Worshipping Church
• A Musical and Poetic Vernacular for Worship: Finding a Heart Language for the Modern Church

• The New Hymns
• The Making of Worship Songs for the Modern Church
• The Songs That Jesus Said: Singing the Bible for Young Worshipers

Stuart Townend, Keith Getty, and Kristyn Getty:

• Hymns, Worship, and Christian Thought (Part 1)
• Hymns, Worship, and Christian Thought (Part 2)
• Modern Hymns: Christian Congregational Song for the 21st Century

Bob Kauflin:

• What Is Word-Centered Worship?
• Visuals in Worship: How Do We See God?
• Worship and the Presence of God
• Worship Leadership: Gift and Craft

• Piano Stylings for Effective Leadership in Contemporary Worship
• Arranging the Rhythm Section for Contemporary Worship
• Vocal Arranging for Effective Leadership in Contemporary Worship

• Healthy Tensions in Corporate Worship
• Congregational Worship as Pastoral Care

• Why the Cross Is Crucial in Corporate Worship
• Worship Music or Music Worship: The Meaning of Music in Congregational Worship
• Making the Most of the Modern Worship Movement

• Music in Worship: Divine or Divisive?
• Creativity in Worship: Novelty or Necessity?

• Worship: What Really Matters
• Biblical Worship in a Postmodern Age

Kauflin’s book is Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God (2008). See also his blog, Worship Matters. If you lead others in worship, this is probably the first book to get your hands on.

Kevin Twit:

• Exploring the ‘Why’ behind the Modern Hymn Movement (Part 1)
• Exploring the ‘Why’ behind the Modern Hymn Movement (Part 2)
• Engaging the Emerging Church with Hymns

• My Grandmother Saved it, My Mother Threw It Away, and Now I’m Buying It Back: Why We Still Need Hymns in a Postmodern World
• Hymns as Passion, Story, and Community: Exploring Connections with a Postmodern World
• New Music in the Christian Community: An Apologetic for Popular Musical Styles

Jason Harms:

• Lessons in Jazz from the Book of Daniel (Part 1)
• Lessons in Jazz from the Book of Daniel (Part 2)
• Jazz as a Means of Growing in the Knowledge of God

See Jason’s writings and music at JasonHarms.com.

John Piper:

Though it’s not part of the lecture series above, I’d be remiss not to mention John Piper’s five-hour seminar, which I would highly recommend. With the links below you can either watch the videos, read the notes, or listen to the audio for free:

• Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning, Part 1
• Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning, Part 2
• Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning, Part 3
• Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning, Part 4
• Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning, Part 5
• Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning, Part 6

“Prayer is the process by which our will is brought in line with God’s will.”

In reference to Jesus teaching the Lord’s Prayer- “Our patter of conduct becomes God’s pattern of conduct to us.  What kind of God is this?  He forgives us as we forgive our debtors.”

“Prayer changes God.  He is immutable in his essence and character, but He is not a stone.  There are circumstances that when there is repentance, He changes his mind.  (Jonah 3, Exodus 32)”

“There is a great difference between private and public prayers.  Private prayer is often spontaneous.  There is room for speaking to God as if in natural conversation, voicing struggles, concerns, and things like it.  But when prayer is public, on behalf of a congregation, it is not casual.  It is to be poetic and elevated.  It has an appropriate awareness of being in God’s presence on behalf of the people of God.”

“Prayer operates to make our hearts more like God’s.  It is important that in our prayers and thanksgiving that we declare God’s grace in our lives.  It can also be done in the way we address God in our prayers in our opening words of adoration.  It communicates a profound theology and ecclesiology.  We can do it in appealing to God to have mercy according to His lovingkindness.  The moment we say that, we declare theology.”

I wanted to take a moment to let you all know of a new blog that I hope will bless you.  My friend and co-bond servant in Christ Tim Dinkins has decided to start a blog.  Tim is a graduate of BIOLA University and is going to be graduating from The Master’s Seminary this spring.  After graduation, he and his wife Lydia will be answering God’s call to foreign missions.  they will be starting off in Albania, working with Lydia’s parents who are missionaries there.  Tim also grew up on the mission field, while his parents were in Thailand.

Tim has been the intern at SGUC for a few years now, and it has been an absolute pleasure to see him grow in grace, maturity, and a knowledge of God.  He has a sensitive spirit for God’s will and desire for his life and his love for God’s Word, particularly the words of Christ and the book of Proverbs, has been an encouragement to me.  I can truly say that Tim has become a close friend and fellow servant of the Gospel.  I will truly miss his heart for God and the encouragement he has brought me, sharing an office for the last few years.

I look forward to reading what God has convicted Tim about in the future, and continuing to follow the path that God has he and his family on.  If you have found the recent posts on the Theology of Worship class helpful, I would encourage you to check out Tim’s thoughts and memories from the class, as we were able to attend it together.

Something that Block said that was particularly noteworthy was about the perception and definition of Torah.  For most people, we read Torah and think law.  ‘Torah’ is a Hebrew word, and Block says that it has unfortunately automatically translated as law.  The LXX (Septuagint) can be blamed for that.  When translating Jewish scriptures into Greek, they used the word ‘nomos’, which is the common word for ‘law’.  And we have carried that over and now think of the Torah as simply law.  But that misrepresents the meaning of Torah.

Block would say that this has created a sense that much of the Pentateuch is useless today.  We elevate the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, and the rest of the law has been dismissed and deemed unimportant or outdated.  This is lived out in our cultural presentation of the Ten Commandments, too.  What does Moses look like when he’s holding a false representation of the ten commandments?  He always has a stern look on his face!  He always looks really mean, ready the thump the law over your heard and condemn you with it.

But the Moses never saw Torah as a condemnation, but as an exercise of God’s grace.  When they read the law in Nehemiah 8, it should have lead to joy, not weeping.  When Moses is speaking of it in Deuteronomy 6:24, he says it existed for their good always, that he might preserve them alive. When asked what is the meaning of the testimonies and statutes and rules that God has commanded them. Moses replies by recounting God’s exercises of grace towards them. Bringing them out of Egypt, showing signs and wonders against Egypt, bringing them to the Land Promised, and then providing statutes, so that they can fear the Lord.

In Deuteronomy 4 wee see that if they keep the law that they will be wise and have understanding.  People will say “Wow!  They are so wise and understanding!”  They call the statutes and rules righteous and praise God for providing them for the people to follow.  People wouldn’t look at Israel and think, “Wow, it must stink to be them!  Look at all the rules they have to follow.”  No!  They saw the grace that God had upon them in letting them know how to please Him.

Block also points at how people misunderstand the Decalogue.  It is not a national law, but a personal one.  It isn’t meant to be out in front of a courthouse, but kept in the heart of a believer.   It’s not even supposed to be ten ‘commandments’, but should be ten words.  Block also notes that if you don’t include the preface to the Decalogue, “I am the Lord Your God”, it just boils down to moralism.  That’s what Paul was battling in Galatians when he took on the Judaizers.  They saw the law as a way to achieve holiness, not a way to please their God.  These laws/statutes/rules/teachings are to be followed in order to please the Lord.  To make matters worse often times when someone does have a monument, it looks more like a gravestone than art.  What does that subconsciously communicate about the perception of the law?

Block really made me want to read through Deuteronomy over again.  I don’t know if I’ve ever really wanted to read Deuteronomy specifically.  But I’m looking forward to reading through, searching for evidences of grace and what their perception of the law was.  I looked forward in my reading plan, and I’m not supposed to be there until May!  So I may have to do some editing to my reading plan, here…

Block added that much of it should be read out loud, they are Moses’ final speeches/sermons to his people/sheep.  They are his final words of encouragement to passionately pursue God, not just a recitation of law.  As Block says, its all grace!