What if worship were like the NFL?

HT: The Irish Calvinist



Comment: I'm glad it's not!

"Give Praise to God" quotes

A friend suggested this book to me and I am working my way carefully though it.

Here are several quotes:

Calvin called our minds "perpetual idol factories." Experience confirms his less-then-flattering estimation. Indeed, idolatry, not theoretical atheism, is the basic problem of the human heart. Luther said that "we are inclined to it by nature; and coming to us as an inheritance, it seems pleasant." Humanity, having been created in God's image, and with a sense of deity indelibly written on its heart, is inescapably religious. However, since the fall, our tendency is to attempt to make God in our own image and thus worship ourselves rather than the one in whose image we were made. (p. 59)

In Biblical worship we so focus upon God Himself and are so intent to acknowledge his inherent and unique worthiness that we are transfixed by Him, and thus worship is not about what we want or like … but rather about meeting with God and delighting in His delights. Praise decentralizes self. (p. 64)


Comment: Image above is linked to Amazon.com

Ryan Martin on Corporate Worship (# 2)

The church assembles for worship, part 2

Excerpt (Be sure to read the entire article!):

As I said, the application of the phrase “house of God” to the church means that the church is the “new temple,” the place for public worship. I believe this becomes even more explicit in the clear New Testament teaching that gathered believers are together a “new temple” in this era of God’s work.

This is most clearly taught in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.

"Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple."

The teaching that the assembled church is the temple of God should not be confused with the teaching in 1 Cor 6:19 that our individual bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is an important separate teaching with the implication that we should live holy lives lest we make the Holy Spirit a partaker of sin. The teaching that the church also is the “new temple” has the implications that the church must be holy and that God dwells in the midst of assembled believers. Because the Spirit of God dwells in the midst of assembled believers, that group of assembled believers is holy. The church is owned by God, completely devoted to him and his worship


Comments:

1. Previous post: Part 1: "The House of God"
   
2. Note the important distinction between Temple in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (corporate) and 1 Cor 6:19 (individual)
   

Thanks Ryan. These are ministering to me!

From the Lord's Day to Christian Sunday

The Son's Day to Sunday

Excerpts:

... Another sure sign of formalized worship was the increase in complaints from clergymen about casualness during services among the flock. John Chrysostom, lamenting—even then—that churches were filled on Easter and Christmas but empty on the Lord's Day, urged his audience to compel friends and enemies and wives and children alike to come to services weekly, even forcibly drag them along, as part of their Christian obligation to love their neighbor. And it wasn't enough that people merely show up to church: he complained about young men who giggled or laughed aloud during prayer or sermons, declaring it a wonder that thunderbolts were not cast down upon them. If such indifference was suffered by Chrysostom, whose name means "the golden mouth," then one may safely assume that other preachers suffered it as well.
...
Some early Christians had already used, with mixed results, the Sun's imagery to speak of Christ. But such imagery became more acceptable during the fourth century, when far more Christians began calling the first day "Sunday" rather than exclusively the Lord's Day—despite even the condemnations of an Augustine or a Chrysostom. Saint Jerome himself defended the practice, saying, why shouldn't we call it Sunday, since Christ is the Sun of justice and has filled the world with his light? Jerome even claimed that Sunday took its name from Christ the Sun rather than from the physical Sun. This was a classic example of reading present desires into the past, but Jerome demonstrated perfectly the ability to take something previously seen as Roman and make it Christian.

Sunday: A History of the First Day from Babylonia to the Super Bowl

Comment: Quotes above are from the CT article not the book itself. The book looks interesting.

Happenings:

1. Kathee out getting her hair cut
   
2. Tomorrow is my first night teaching the singles study at 4th this month.
   
3. Rainy day
   

Ryan Martin on corporate worship

The church assembles for worship, part 1

Excerpt:

For millennia, the church understood the purpose of its gathering to be for worship. Today some scholars argue that “Christians worship everywhere,” that there “was no chapter and verse” (so to speak) that indicated that the early church thought of its assembly as a time for worship.

This should be a warning to us on the dangers of exegesis. Sometimes we want the Scriptures to affirm certain theological themes that are true in a way that satisfies our own strict requirements, but failing to allow the Scriptures to affirm those themes in its way.

I believe that there are several passages in the New Testament that point to the assembly as worship. Here I want to highlight a few of them off and on over the next few days.

The first is the phrase “house of God.” While this phrase undoubtedly meant to give the church the nuance of the meaning of the Graeco-Roman household, I do not believe that it can be so easily divorced from its Old Testament referent, traces of which we see in the Gospels.

In 1 Timothy 3:15, Paul says that he wants Timothy to know how to behave in the “household of God,” clearly equating this phrase with the church, as we see in the following phrase, “the church of the living God.”


Comment: I only excerpted a small portion of his article. Read the whole! Thanks Ryan!

Nightclub or church?

Big churches give the young their own way to worship

Excerpt:

As guitar-driven rock accelerated and five mammoth video screens flashed with high-speed urban imagery, hundreds of young people swayed in a dark and crowded hall, ready to start the party.

But this was no nightclub. This was church -- a new youth service called the Gathering at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie.

Comment: Is is worship? or entertainment?

Sam Horn on Worship

The Want of Worthy Worship

Conclusion: "only worship that meets His requirements, is in line with His goals, and is centered on His glory is worthy and acceptable"

Comment: I'm not sure if I have a complete handle on what "worship" is! But this article was helpful and I recommend it to you!

It's All About Me

It's All About Me

A satirical look at how some would worship.

Should Worship Be Fun?

A good read. Helps one think about what "worship" should be.

Should Worship Be Fun?

Excerpt:

Should worship be fun? If we take the exhaustive testimony of Scripture, the answer would have to be a resounding NO. "Fun" doesn't seem to characterize many of the scenes where people encounter God in the Bible. We're told to worship God with reverence and awe, for he is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28-29). To have "fun" should never be our primary motive as we gather. Our goal is to remember God's greatness, present our petitions before him, and thank him for his abundant mercies in Jesus Christ. Celebration should certainly be included in that, but there are also times when worshipping God can produce awe, tears of repentance, or a profound silence.