Last week in two separate posts I addressed the issue of pastoral oversight in worship and music. I agreed with Michael Lawrence’s article that pastors should have oversight in these matters, but I also insisted that this means that pastors must be equipped to do so. In response to those posts, I received an email from Steve… Continue Reading
Many of the “worship wars” today are fueled by, I believe, differing views of the nature of worship itself. Clearly differences over what worship is and the function of various worship elements would lead to significant differences over what kind of music we might use in a worship service, for example, and so I believe that… Continue Reading
During the time of the Kings of the split Kingdom, there were certain kings of Judah (Southern Kingdom) who did right in the sight of the Lord, and others who did evil. Second Chronicles follows these Kings and describes their reigns, largely focusing on their worship practices. Such is the case with King Manasseh. King… Continue Reading
Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts by Harold M. Best. 2003, InterVarsity Press. I had just finished my review of Best’s first book, Music through the Eyes of Faith, when I decided to go ahead and pick up his next book. Unceasing Worship is a logical continuation of his work, expanding it into the area of worship.… Continue Reading
Brother Lawrence, born Nicolas Herman in Hériménil, near Lunéville in the region of Lorraine, in 1611, was a former footsoldier and valet who entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Paris as a lay brother, taking the name “Lawrence of the Resurrection”. His serene piety drew attention, and he was eventually interviewed in person, and through… Continue Reading
And the most notable era of Scottish preaching was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they had great power. In fact, the strongest reformational preaching going on in Europe at that time was in Scotland, the great preaching of the Reformation in Scotland. For two centuries it lasted. And Blakey writing in 1888 points out… Continue Reading
Unless you believe in orthopathy as essential to Christianity, the worship wars are much ado over nothing. They represent the dying thrashes of hide-bound traditionalists, raging against the waning popularity of those songs most familiar to them. They represent the immature clamor of people who do not understand the Romans 14 principle, and want to… Continue Reading
In this series I have been exploring the relationship between worship and the mission of God. I have already established that the mission of God and the mission of the church are related, but not the same. I have also indicated that redemption serves the purpose of creating worshipers. This leads to the third significant… Continue Reading
Last week I argued that a biblical understanding of both worship and evangelism will understand evangelism to be subservient to worship; the gospel creates worshipers. This is essentially God’s mission, and it should significantly influence our understanding and practice of worship and evangelism in the church. Today, we explore another significant point regarding the relationship… Continue Reading
There is a lot of talk today about the Missio Dei–the mission of God. God is a sending God, the principle states, and the church–including its worship–is but part of that mission. Worship, therefore, serves mission. This series will evaluate this claim and articulate a biblical relationship between worship and mission. There is perhaps a no… Continue Reading
In this series I have suggested that the building blocks of worship were established in the first few chapters of Genesis. To review, those building blocks are as follows: (1) God reveals himself and initiates a relationship with his people; (2) God forms the boundaries of the relationship with his commandments; (3) the nature of worship… Continue Reading
We are beginning to see that discernment was a significant category for Paul. As an apostle, Paul was very much accustomed to giving the Lord Jesus Christ’s divine instruction to the church for doctrine, worship, and practice. But he was also very much aware that such instruction could in no way satisfy all the moral… Continue Reading
In the creation account of Genesis 1-2, most English translations make it seem like Adam was put in the Garden for gardening purposes, since Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” However, there may be something more beneath the… Continue Reading
Sometimes we really don’t appreciate the continuity of the Christian tradition, especially in that there is, by and large, an approach to the music of worship that can be traced back to ancient Israel itself and its psalmody. Over the next several weeks, I want to trace how a particular psalm, Psalm 130, has been… Continue Reading
In his Nature and Causes of Apostasy from the Gospel (contained in vol. 7 of the Banner Works), John Owen (1616-1683) spends a chapter briefly discussing the “apostasy from evangelical worship.” Owen is quite broad in this chapter, seeking, as he says, to discuss “only . . . such things as the generality of Christians,… Continue Reading
Christianity is far more than salvation from sin and the knowledge of some Christian doctrine. Christianity claims to offer true worship to the only true God. Therefore, a Christianity worth conserving is a Christianity deeply concerned with the question of worship. To conserve the gospel and the whole counsel of God and abandon the battle… Continue Reading
Kevin DeYoung (DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed) has a good post today asking pastors and church leaders not to assume that the decline they see in their church is because of (or can be solved by) worship styles. He says, I do wish church leaders would stop assuming that their problems boil down to a certain… Continue Reading
Nathan Hatch, in his Democratization of American Christianity, writes concerning the changes in American religion due to the implicit notion of the “Sovereign Audience”: Popular gospel music became a pervasive reality in Jacksonian culture because people wrested singing from churchly control. The music created a spontaneous, moving medium, capable of capturing the identity of plain… Continue Reading
I appreciate Joel Beeke, the pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids and the President and Professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, for his ability to combine sound theology with warm devotion, while not undermining the former or distorting the shape of the latter. If you have… Continue Reading
The free course being offered this June at Central Baptist Theological Seminary of Minneapolis should be of particular interest to readers of this blog. It is true that space in the course is limited, and that enrollment priority will be given to those who want to take the course for credit. Because of this, we’re… Continue Reading