WORSHIP-THEOLOGY
The ultimate goal of theology
is not knowledge, but worship. If our learning and knowledge of God do not lead to the
joyful praise of God, we have failed. We
learn only that we might laud. Another way of putting it is to say that theology without doxology is idolatry.
The only theology worth studying is a theology that can be sung.
Sam
Storms
The Ultimate Aim of Theology, November 8, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com.
Used by Permission.
Theological
ignorance won’t take us very far, at least not in the right direction.
Excitement uninformed by truth invariably leads either to idolatry or
fanaticism. If we don’t know the God we enjoy, we may end up enjoying the wrong
god!
Sam Storms
One Thing, Christian Focus, © Enjoying God Ministries, 2004, p.12-13. www.enjoyinggodministries.com.
Used by Permission.
True worship
does not come from people whose feelings are like air ferns with no root in the
solid ground of biblical doctrine. The only affections that honor God are those
rooted in the rock of biblical truth [John 4:23].
John Piper
Desiring God, 1996, p. 90, Used by
Permission, www.desiringGod.org.
Questions of
who God is and of what He is like can never be considered irrelevant to the
practical matters of church life. Different understandings of God will lead you
to worship Him in different ways, and if some of those understandings are
wrong, some of those ways in which you approach Him could be wrong as well.
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Crossway,
2000, p. 15.
Worship
should lead to greater understanding of theological truth. If we contrast the
theological depth of the prose hymn in Colossians 1:15-20 with examples from
modern praise choruses, we can see more clearly how trivial and insubstantial
some of what we sing in our worship is.
Eugene Roehlkepartian
The great
hymns of the church are on the way out. They are not gone entirely, but they
are going and in their place have come trite jingles that have more in common
with contemporary advertising ditties than the psalms. The problem here is not
so much the style of the music, though trite words fit best with trite tunes
and harmonies. Rather it is with the content of the songs. The old hymns
expressed the theology of the Bible in profound and perceptive ways and with
winsome memorable language. Today’s songs are focused on ourselves. They
reflect our shallow or nonexistent theology and do almost nothing to elevate
our thoughts about God. Worst of all are
songs that merely repeat a trite idea, word, or phrase over and over again.
Songs like this are not worship, though they may give the church-goer a religious feeling. They are mantras, which belong
more in a gathering of New Agers than among the worshiping people of God.
James Montgomery Boice
We must
worship in truth. Worship is not just an
emotional exercise but a response of the heart built on truth about God.
"The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in
truth" (Psm. 145:18). Worship that is not based on God's Word is but an
emotional encounter with oneself.
Erwin Lutzer
Pastor to Pastor, Kregel, 1998, p. 81.
All of our
discussions of the style and mechanics of worship must be anchored in a deeply
biblical and richly gospel-centered understanding of what worship is. We might
be tempted at a worship conference to focus exclusively on the style and
mechanics of worship. And these are important! But a larger challenge is to
link how we approach the week-in, week-out task of planning and leading worship
with our theological understanding of worship. Do our planning and leading
habits, mechanics, and techniques enable people to experience worship in the
deepest, most profound, most Christ-centered way? Does our work form our
congregations in a deeply biblical faith? We need a high-octane theology of
worship – and one that is not simply articulated in writing, but enacted in our
worship and lived out in our lives.
John Witvliet
Reflections on Worship’s Meaning and
Purpose - Thinking About Worship, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.
The
foundation of true holiness and true Christian worship is the doctrine of the
gospel, what we are to believe. So when Christian doctrine is neglected,
forsaken, or corrupted, true holiness and worship will also be neglected,
forsaken, and corrupted.
John Owen
Transcendent
worship is directly related to the depth of comprehending divine truth. Those
who understand the gospel most deeply worship God with the greatest exaltation
and exhilaration.
Author Unknown
The Master's Mantle, The Power of Expository
Preaching, Fall/Winter 2006, v. 13:2.
The
foundation of worship in the heart is not emotional (“I feel full of
worship” or “The atmosphere is so worshipful”). Actually, it is theological. Worship is not something we “work up,” it
is something that “comes down” to us, from the character of God.
Sinclair Ferguson
A Heart for God, 1987, p. 110, by
permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
It is God who
gives us the spirit of worship (Psalm 133:3), and it is what we know of God that
produces this spirit of worship. We might say that worship is simply theology,
doctrine, what we think about God, going into top gear! Instead of merely
thinking about Him, we tell Him, in prayer and praise and song, how great and
glorious we believe Him to be!
Sinclair Ferguson
A Heart for God, 1987, p. 111, by
permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.