What is Christian Worship?

WHAT IS CHRISTIAN WORSHIP?

If we understood worship and loved to truly worship God, we'd not come to gather for an entertaining time of music, sights and sounds, smells and bells, etc. Rather, we'd come in faith, believing what God says truly happens in worship, and coming to worship Him how He wants us to do so, for His glory and our good. Worship transcends this realm in a way invisible to the flesh, but tangible only to the eyes and heart of faith. It transcends stupid and unhelpful fog machines or light shows or guitar solos or orchestras or candles and images and icons that turn God's people into passive watchers rather than active worshipers.

Whether contemporary pop Christian "worship" that is focused on stage performers rather than corporately worshiping God, or high church liturgy, it's all a dazzling of the eyes, one to entertain and draw seekers, the other to vainly attempt to draw near to God through temples and things crafted with hands, that appeal to the smells and sights and senses, but distracting from heart worship in Spirit and in Truth.

Worship is simple, pure, and glorious. This is printed in our bulletins every Sunday, so that our members can be reminded from God's Word of the invisible, glorious realities of entering heaven itself by the Spirit to worship God, on the Lord's Day/Sunday as Christ commanded. It is also printed for visitors and any unbelievers who attend to understand what God and His people are doing together in worship. That is both true, Spiritual worship that will actually draw sinners to something higher as the Lord works in the hearts of sinners. It is seen by the eyes of faith, faith in God's Word and what God tells us worship is. It is not by and large externalized beyond the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, symbolizing Christ's work for His people in washing them of their sins, pouring out His Spirit upon them, and feeding them of His life-giving sacrifice for them at His table in heaven above, as a glorious foretaste of the wedding supper of the Lamb that God's people will partake of in the flesh in heaven above, when Christ returns.

Come and worship Jesus Christ, according to God's Word, in Spirit and in Truth. Leave these false churches with their false worship that God hates and condemns and kills for because of its vain worship, as if we can approach God how we want, not how He has prescribed. As if we can improve upon what God has arranged, or as if we can make worship to be about those who do not know Him, rather than a communion of the bride/body of Christ with the Triune God.

WORSHIP AT HERITAGE:

In worship, God’s people enter Heaven though Christ’s blood (Heb. 10:19-20), approaching the thrice holy God’s throne of grace as His children, to be blessed by His presence & receive His Word (Heb. 12:22-25)! We come giving Him the glory due Him (Ps. 29:1-2) in word, prayer, & song, in the forms of confession, adoration, thanks-giving, etc., by His Spirit & Truth (John 4:24) according to His will in Scripture. So, our “Order of Worship” is a covenant/family dia-logue, initiated by God with His people, Christ’s body/church. We worship corporately, as God’s one temple & Christ’s one bride, with reverence & joy in the Lord that strengthens us week by week.

Why Pastors Shouldn't Preach In Jeans (Especially Skinny Jeans)

By: Thomas F. Booher I can't think of a better way to get labeled a legalist than to title a post like this. Hopefully by the end you will not see this as legalism and will see this as what it is- my attempt at describing what I believe is proper ecclesiology as defined by God in Scripture. So then, what is church? What does Scripture say we should be doing and not doing on Sunday mornings? That's what I want to explore. The Bible says to gather together in Christ's name; to teach, encourage, and admonish one another; to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts to God (Heb. 10:24-25; Mat. 18:20; Col. 3:16). There are to be deacons (Acts 6:1-6) and elders (Ti. 1:5) in the church who act as overseers, and in the case of elders, are the shepherds of the flock who teach the word and rebuke with authority (Ti. 1:9). God must call one to be a pastor/elder (Eph. 4:11). As such those who are called by God to preach the word are held to a

The Stone Choir/Corey Mahler Invert God's Revelation

https://coreyjmahler.com/the-european-peoples-and-christianity/ *****EDIT: Some have said that they, or at least Corey Mahler perhaps believes, that the European religions were deviations from Christianity, believed by Noah and his sons. Over time, sinful man and demons twisted these European religions, which I think their argument is that it was originally Christian/derived from Noah and his offspring. Nordic paganism had the most in common with Christianity, even with Odin sacrificing himself on a tree, and therefore the Europeans were the most ripe and ready to embrace Christianity and continue to advance the cause of Christ more than other peoples/races/nations over the last 2,000 years since Christ. To that I simply say, I appreciate the context given, but even if all that were true (maybe it is, maybe it is not), it doesn't change the fundamental points of my post below. Syncretism, Odinism, etc., even if it was somehow a distorted derivation flowing from the true faith, is

Some Problems in the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America)

By: Thomas F. Booher NOTE: I posted what's below to Facebook on this day, December 6, 2016. I wanted to post this here for record keeping and so that it can have a more visible and permanent viewership for those concerned or wishing to be more informed about the PCA. I would like to explain my love for and grave concerns within the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America), the denomination in which I am currently a member and have served as a ruling elder. The state of the PCA is, in my estimation, not a consistently conservative, orthodox, and confessional one. I believe it is in the midst of much compromise, and I do not think that the average lay person is aware of it. It grieves me to say these things. I wish they were not true. I grew up in the PCA, and until several years ago I was still under the delusion that all was well in this denomination, that it was, by and large, holding fast to the Word of God. I still believe that there are many

The Tulip Driven Life

Search This Blog