Is Worship a Lifestyle?
What are theologians saying?
A lot of theologians want us to believe worship is a really big subject that covers every aspect of our lives. However their arguments are not always logical. For example, Carson makes a categorical statement (see below) that worship cannot be understood by doing a word study throughout scripture. He says it’s OK for a topic like grace but not worship. But why? It appears he is bringing his views to scripture rather than letting the Bible speak for itself. Sometimes their anti-contemporary bias shines through. A good example is Daniel Block . . .
In a recent book on worship, Edith Humphrey correctly identifies five maladies that plague worship in the North American church: (1) trivializing worship by a preoccupation with atmospherics/mood (it’s all about how worship makes me feel); (2) misdirecting worship by having a human-centered rather than God-centered focus (it’s all about me, the worshiper); (3) deadening worship by substituting stones for bread (the loss of the Word of God); (4) perverting worship with emotional, self-indulgent experiences at the expense of true liturgy; and (5) exploiting worship with market-driven values. After observing trends in worship for a half century, I agree with Humphrey completely.
Block, Daniel I.. For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship,
David Peterson
Worship in the New Testament is a comprehensive category describing the Christian's total existence. It is coextensive with the faith-response wherever and whenever that response is elicited. Consequently, 'our traditional understanding of worship as restricted to the cultic gathering of the congregation at a designated time and place for rite and proclamation will no longer do.
This is not what the New Testament means by worship.
Engaging with God - David Peterson
D.A. Carson
“But although the word worship occurs in our English Bibles, one cannot thereby get at the theme of worship as easily as one can get at, say, the theology of grace by studying all the occurrences of the word grace, or get at the theology of calling by examining all the passages that use the word call . . .
. . . the same thing cannot be done with worship, not least because for almost any definition of worship there are many passages that have a bearing on this subject that do not use the Hebrew or Greek word that could be rendered by the word worship itself. Moreover, the Hebrew and Greek words that are sometimes rendered by the English word worship sometimes mean something rather different from what we mean by worship. So we cannot get at this subject by simplistic word studies . We shall need to arrive at definitions that we can agree upon”
- Worship by the Book - ed D. A. Carson
Bible Teachers
Clickhere
Musicians
Click here
Worship is Special
Click here
.
Is Work Worship?
Click here