This article first appeared on The Artistic Theologian, the online theological journal of Southwestern Seminary’s School of Church Music. The Lord Jesus Christ gave the church its commission before he ascended to his Father: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of… Continue Reading
The issue of culture is always of interest to those involved with worship for one obvious reason–the “cultural” aspects of worship, primarily music, poetry, and rhetoric, are what often cause the most controversy. Questions rising out of this include: Is musical style neutral? Are there some musical styles that are more fitting for worship than… Continue Reading
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 The first three chapters of 1 Corinthians debunks the importance of the modern crutch of “relevance.” Throughout this series, I have been arguing that Paul deliberately eschewed artificial props to make the gospel more attractive to unbelievers. Instead, he preached Christ and… Continue Reading
A few days ago, Pastor Aaron Menikoff had a piece posted from the most recent 9Marks eJournal on the 9Marks blog.1 In this piece, entitled “What About Movie Clips? Applying the Regulative Principle,” Menikoff advocates the regulative principle and gives a couple brief reasons (in application) to avoid movie clips in sermons. The piece is… Continue Reading
One of the best ways we can prepare to hear from God is through prayer. The Bible teaches that we need God’s grace for us to have a spiritual understanding of his Word. It is not enough for us merely to read the Word. We must have a spiritual understanding of its message, and this… Continue Reading
Imagine a church auditorium packed with people. Their eyes are fixed on the stage where skilled musicians play and a handsome man leads the congregation in singing. He is dressed in clothing considered relevant to the congregation, and he skillfully manipulates the passions of the people with a style of music he believes adds vitality,… Continue Reading
For previous installments from this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 A further word ought to be said about building community within local churches. In all of the discussion to this point, one element has barely been stressed, and it needs to be. It is that the local church is,… Continue Reading
As conservatives, it can be easy to grow discouraged. There are very few of us. It seems that all of American Christianity (sorry, David de Bruyn) is abandoning the way of worship that we understand to be reverent. The good, the true, and the beautiful rarely brings in an audience. Our churches are shrinking. Fundamentalism… Continue Reading
Several days ago, I watched a posted video of a previously streamed chapel service at an independent Baptist school located in the deep woods of Wisconsin. (The video from this chapel seems to have since been removed.) The chapel opened with a word from the president of that school. After a few pleasantries, he proceeded… Continue Reading
I have attempted in this series to provide a framework for evaluating the relationship between worship and mission. Using Jonathan Edwards’ categories of “Ends” helps to give clarity to what God is doing in history, why he is doing it, and how his mission relates to the mission of the church. The next several posts… Continue Reading
I have been arguing that the basic building blocks of worship have existed ever since creation, were codified in the Mosaic system, and are actually pictures of heavenly reality. I have suggested that these building blocks follow this flow: (1) God reveals himself and initiates a relationship with his people; (2) God forms the boundaries of… Continue Reading
Last week I suggested that the establishment of the Jewish sacrificial system, tabernacle, and priesthood was a codification of worship elements that had been instituted in the Creation/Fall events. However, what the tabernacle also reveals is that these essential worship elements were not simply instituted at Creation, but are in fact representations of the essence… Continue Reading
Synthesizing an essential definition of worship is a perennial problem. Many have tried, several have given us very helpful definitions, yet few are fully satisfactory. Part of the problem is trying to develop an understanding of worship that encompasses the essence of worship regardless of religion but that also incorporates a particularly biblical/Christian flavor as well. One… Continue Reading
| | | We have looking at different reasons why the regular meeting for worship with one’s church is better than private meetings of worship, including times of personal devotion and family worship. Both, we have consistently stressed, are essential for vital piety in the life of a believer. But one is more important than another. And… Continue Reading
| | Private and public worship are not the same. There is a difference between the regular, ordinary times of worship for a gathered group of Christians organized as a church and the irregular times of worship personally, in our homes as families, and with other groups of Christians. The former is what we call… Continue Reading
| We have been offering reasons why public worship is better than private. Public worship is the gathered, corporate worship of a local church. Private worship includes times of informal worship apart from the church: small groups, private Bible study and prayer, and family worship. Sometimes Christians today offer a lopsided, over-individualized view of the… Continue Reading
we began a short series looking at why public worship is better than private worship. Public worship is the gathered, corporate worship of the church. Private worship includes smaller, informal times of worship apart from the ordinary worship of the church, including (in my view at least) personal Bible study, personal prayer, and family worship.… Continue Reading
Last October I wrapped up my eight-part series on Biblical discernment (parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and 8), and I thought I would now, in retrospect, add a brief postscript to that series simply demonstrating that my position is not novel. A couple years ago Scott Aniol introduced to me Matthew Henry’s book on prayer, A Method for Prayer. I strongly… Continue Reading
A while back I stumbled across Charles Wesley’s Christmas hymn, “Glory Be to God on High.” This is a superb text on the incarnation of Christ, and I thought this would be a good time to recommend it here. We’ve sung it to the 18th century tune Amsterdam. The hymns is a meditation on the… Continue Reading
I was pushed to write a series on discernment when I heard a famous evangelical pastor define discernment as the ability to see, allegedly by the Spirit of God, obscene things on a kind of imaginary “movie screen.”1 I also wanted to respond with sound exegesis to the opinions of some that any extra-biblical moral… Continue Reading