More of Fear and Reverence…

In continuing on in the spirit of thinking about worship and what was previously said in our brief discussion on Psalm 89:7, let me offer a few more thoughts on this subject since I feel it is of huge importance.

I have had the privilege of reading John Piper’s Let the Nations be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions and I have found some real gems to ponder at a time when I needed them. The book should be a “must read” for anyone contemplating missions to make sure they are approaching this responsibility for the right reasons. The very first line in the book goes a little like this

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t”. [i]

The first chapter is devoted to the subject of the glory of God in worship. Piper does a fantastic job at demonstrating what we had tried to unpack in the text of Psalm 89:7 that worship should be approached in fear and reverence if they wish to approach Him as His people with the intent of worshipping. Piper explains that in many pulpits in Christian churches, the preachers have failed to present to the world the grandeur and majesty of God. Christians have often failed to really lead the nations to see what Paul wrote about in Romans 1:20. Piper proceeds give an example of someone who had been repulsed by the lack of the proclamation of God’s greatness. He goes on to quotes Charles Misner regarding Albert Einstein’s view of the church as followed.

Ecclesiastical Contentment: Thinking About Worship

We have already made the point that there are allot of Christians who don’t seem content with church. Some of these come in the form of church hoppers while others are members of churches who have grievances and are happy to make them known to others. They are simply not satisfied wherever they go. What we have argued so far is that for a Christian to search for ecclesiastical contentment, he/she must begin by establishing that joy can only be had in a church that looks to be theocentric as opposed to centered around men. God and His glory must be the focal point of the church. A big part of the way this is manifested is in how a church worships. Again, this is not simply what hymns are sang or how eloquent the preacher is or whether you have a large congregation participating in the worship, we are talking about how people approach God in worship.

The scriptures tell us that God is seeking men and women who will worship Him (John 4:23) and this is the primary purpose of the church. God’s people are privileged with the ability to approach the God of eternity through our Lord Jesus Christ with praise and adoration. This must entail more than just a physical demonstration of worship in that it must also include Spirit & Truth (John 4:24) . It is the spirit of a person that must enter into the worship of God in truth. Ecclesiastical Contentment must begin with worship but again, not simply “how we do things” but more importantly in what spirit we do things. I don’t want to diminish the importance of what we do and this will come out loud and clear in future posts but for the moment we must build a foundation as to how this all works. It begins with the inner and expresses itself in the outer.