Grace Covenant Community Church - Frequently Asked Questions

To begin with, the strongest words of condemnation in all the New Testament are aimed at false teachers who corrupt the Gospel. Therefore the Gospel message itself must be acknowledged as a primary point of fundamental doctrine.

But what message will determine the content of our gospel testimony? The biblical message of instantaneous justification through faith alone-or a system of rituals and sacraments that are supposed to convey grace to the participants with no guarantee of ultimate salvation? What authority will we point people to? The Scriptures alone-or a papal hierarchy and church tradition? Those two gospels are flatly contradictory and mutually exclusive.

All these considerations determine what message we proclaim and whether that message is the authentic Gospel of true Christianity. Therefore we are dealing with matters that go to the very heart of the doctrines Scripture identifies as fundamental.

Can we get more specific? Let's turn to Scripture itself and attempt to lay out some biblical principles for determining which articles of faith are truly essential to authentic Christianity.

I. All Fundamental Articles of Faith Must Be Drawn from the Scriptures

First, if a doctrine is truly fundamental, it must have its origin in Scripture, not tradition, papal decrees, or some other source of authority. Paul reminded Timothy that the Scriptures are "able to make thee wise unto salvation" (2 Timothy 3:15, KJV). In other words, if a doctrine is essential for salvation, we can learn it from the Bible. The written Word of God therefore must contain all doctrine that is truly fundamental. It is able to make us "adequate, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:17). If there were necessary doctrines not revealed in Scripture, those promises would ring empty.

The psalmist wrote, "The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul" (Psalm 19:7). That means Scripture is sufficient. Apart from the truths revealed to us in Scripture, there is no essential spiritual truth, no fundamental doctrine, nothing essential to soul-restoration. We do not need to look beyond the written Word of God for any essential doctrines. There is nothing necessary beyond what is recorded in God's Word.

This, of course, is the Reformation principle of sola Scriptura-Scripture alone. According to the Bible itself, no supposed spiritual authority outside "the sacred writings" of Scripture can give us wisdom that leads to salvation. No papal decrees, no oral tradition, no latter-day prophecy can contain truth apart from Scripture that is genuinely fundamental.

II. The Fundamentals Are Clear in Scripture

Second, if an article of faith is to be regarded as fundamental, it must be clearly set forth in Scripture. No "secret knowledge" or hidden truth-formula could ever qualify as a fundamental article of faith. No key is necessary to unlock the teaching of the Bible.

The truth of God is not aimed at learned intellectuals; it is simple enough for a child. "Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes" (Matthew 11:25, KJV). The Word of God is not a puzzle. It does not speak in riddles. It is not cryptic or mysterious. It is plain and obvious to those who have spiritual ears to hear. "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple" (Psalm 19:7).

The point is not that every fundamental article of faith must be supported with an explicit proof text. The doctrine of the Trinity, for example, is certainly essential to true Christianity—and it is very clear in Scripture—but you will find no comprehensive statement of the Trinity from any single passage of Scripture.

This does not mean that a doctrine must be non-controversial in order to be considered a fundamental article. Some would argue that the only test of whether something is essential to true Christianity is whether it is affirmed by all the major Christian traditions. By that rule, hardly anything of any substance would remain to distinguish the Christian Gospel from the "salvation" offered by pagan morality or Islamic theology. "There is much truth in the remark of Clement of Alexandria; 'No Scripture, I apprehend, is so favourably treated, as to be contradicted by no one.'" (Herman Witsius, Sacred Dissertations on the Apostles' Creed [Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1993 reprint], 1:21)

III. Everything Essential to Saving Faith Is Fundamental

Third, a doctrine must be regarded as fundamental if eternal life depends on it. Scripture is full of statements that identify the terms of salvation and the marks of genuine faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). That verse makes faith itself essential to a right relationship with God. It also expressly identifies both the existence and the veracity of God as fundamental articles of the Christian faith.

Elsewhere we are told that eternal life is obtained through the knowledge of the true God and Jesus Christ (John 17:3; 14:6; Acts 4:12). Since Jesus Himself is the true God incarnate (1 John 5:20; John 8:58; 10:30), the fact of His deity (and by implication the whole doctrine of the Trinity) is a fundamental article of faith (see 1 John 2:23). Our Lord Himself confirmed this when He said all must honor Him as they honor the Father (John 5:23).

The truths of Jesus' divine Sonship and Messiahship are also fundamental articles of faith (John 20:31).

Of course, the bodily resurrection of Christ is a fundamental doctrine, because 1 Corinthians 15:14 tells us, "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain."

Romans 10:9 confirms that the resurrection is a fundamental doctrine, and adds another: the lordship of Christ. "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved."

And according to Romans 4:4-5, justification by faith is a fundamental doctrine as well: "Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness" (emphasis added). In other words, those who seek acceptance before God on the ground of their own righteousness will find they fall short (Romans 3:27-28; Galatians 2:16-3:29). Only those who trust God to impute Christ's perfect righteousness to them are accounted truly righteous. This is precisely the difference between Roman Catholic doctrine and the Gospel set forth in Scripture. It is at the heart of all doctrine that is truly fundamental.

In fact, an error in understanding justification is the very thing that was responsible for the apostasy of the Jewish nation: "For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God" (Romans 10:3). Is that not the precise failure of Roman Catholicism? But "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (v. 4). In chapter 5 we will return for a closer look at the doctrine of justification by faith.

IV. Every Doctrine We Are Forbidden to Deny Is Fundamental

Certain teachings of Scripture carry threats of damnation to those who deny them. Other ideas are expressly stated to be affirmed only by unbelievers. Such doctrines, obviously, involve fundamental articles of genuine Christianity.

The apostle John began his first epistle with a series of statements that establish key points of the doctrine of sin (hamartiology) as fundamental articles of faith. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth" (1:6). That condemns wanton antinomianism (the idea that Christians are under no law whatsoever) and makes some degree of doctrinal and moral enlightenment essential to true Christianity. A second statement rules out the humanistic notion that people are basically good: "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (v. 8). And a third suggests that no true Christian would deny his or her own sinfulness: "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us" (v. 10).

First Corinthians 16:22 makes love for Christ a fundamental issue: "If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed." And a similar verse, 1 Corinthians 12:3, says that no one speaking by the Spirit of God can call Jesus accursed.

The truth of Jesus' incarnation is also clearly designated a fundamental doctrine: "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist" (1 John 4:2-3). "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist" (2 John 7). Those verses by implication also condemn those who deny the Virgin Birth of our Lord, for if He was not virgin-born, He would be merely human, not eternal God come in the flesh.

And since those who twist and distort the Word of God are threatened with destruction (2 Peter 3:16), it is evident that both a lofty view of Scripture and a sound method of Bible interpretation (hermeneutics) are fundamental tenets of true Christianity.

V. The Fundamental Doctrines Are All Summed up in the Person and Work of Christ

Paul wrote, "No man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11). Christ Himself embodied or established every doctrine that is essential to genuine Christianity. Those who reject any of the cardinal doctrines of the faith worship a christ who is not the Christ of Scripture.

How are the fundamentals of the faith personified in Christ?

With regard to the inspiration and authority of Scripture, He is the incarnate Word (John 1:1, 14). He upheld the written Word's absolute authority (Matthew 5:18). Christ Himself established sola Scriptura as a fundamental doctrine when He upbraided the Pharisees for nullifying Scripture with their own traditions: "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.… You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition" (Mark 7:6-9). Our Lord had much to say about the authority and infallibility of the Word of God.

In the doctrine of justification by faith, it is Christ's own perfect righteousness, imputed to the believer, that makes the pivotal difference between true biblical justification and the corrupted doctrine of Roman Catholicism and the cults. That is what Paul meant when he wrote, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Romans 10:4). It is also why Paul wrote that Christ is become to us righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30), and it is why Jeremiah called Him "The Lord our righteousness" (Jeremiah 23:6). The Lord Himself, Jesus Christ, is our righteousness (Jeremiah 33:16). That is the very essence of justification by faith alone, sola fide.

Of course, all the fundamental doctrines related to the incarnation—the Virgin Birth of Christ, His deity, His humanity, and His sinlessness—are part and parcel of who He is. To deny any of those doctrines is to attack Christ Himself.

The essential doctrines related to His work-His atoning death, His resurrection, and the reality of His miracles-are the very basis of the Gospel (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Hebrews 2:3-4). Reject them and you nullify the heart of the Christian message.

The fundamentals of the faith are so closely identified with Christ that the apostle John used the expression "the teaching of Christ" as a kind of shorthand for the set of doctrines he regarded as fundamental. To him, these doctrines represented the difference between true Christianity and false religion.

That is why he wrote, "Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son" (2 John 9). Far from encouraging union with those who denied the fundamental truths of the faith, John forbade any form of spiritual fellowship with or encouragement of such false religion (vv. 10-11).

So What?

It has not been my purpose here to attempt to give an exhaustive list of fundamental doctrines. Such a task is beyond the scope of this article. Furthermore, the attempt to precisely identify and number such a list of doctrines would be an extremely difficult thing to do. However, a reasonable list of fundamentals would necessarily begin with these doctrines explicitly identified in Scripture as non-negotiable: the absolute authority of Scripture over tradition (sola Scriptura), justification by faith alone (sola fide), the deity of Christ, and the Trinity.

But what are we to do with this understanding? First of all, we should resist any temptation to wield these doctrines like a judge's gavel that consigns multitudes to eternal doom. We must not set ourselves up as judges of other people's eternal fate.

On the other hand, we must recognize that those who have turned away from sound doctrine in matters essential to salvation are condemning themselves. "He who does not believe has been judged already" (John 3:18). Our passion ought to be to proclaim the fundamentals with clarity and precision, in order to turn people away from the darkness of error. We must confront head-on the blindness and unbelief that will be the reason multitudes will one day hear the Lord say, "I never knew you; depart from Me" (Matthew 7:23). Again, it must be stressed that those who act as if crucial doctrines were of no consequence only heap the false teacher's guilt on themselves (2 John 11).

We have no right to pronounce a sentence of eternal doom against anyone (John 5:22). But by the same token, we have no business receiving just anyone into the communion and fellowship of the church. We should no more forge spiritual bonds with people whose religion is fundamentally in error than we would seek fellowship with those guilty of heinous sin. To do so is tantamount to the arrogance shown by the Corinthians, who refused to dismiss from their fellowship a man living in the grossest kind of sin (1 Corinthians 5:1-3).

We must also remember that serious error can be extremely subtle. False teachers don't wear a sign proclaiming who they are. They disguise themselves as apostles of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:13). "And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness" (vv. 14-15).

In view of the current hunger for ecumenical compromise, nothing is more desperately needed in the church right now than a new movement to reemphasize the fundamental articles of the faith.

^ TOP

Q. How to promote unity in theological discourse?

A Very Brief Summary Outline of a fuller paper on Convictions, Persuasions, and Opinions
Levels of belief in the Pauline Epistles: A Paradigm for Evangelical Unity

2 issues puzzle me: 1) How should believers argue, discuss, dialogue, debate over points of belief that they have different commitment to? (Emotional commitment is not the same as Personal commitment here). I want to allow people to have just as strong emotional commitment to say eschatology as they do the divinity of Christ, but allow themselves to understand that they do not view each of those with the same level of importance or value that one has a personal commitment to (One could call this theological triage if they want). 2) I was puzzled as well by those who called themselves Christians but denied basic doctrines like the Trinity or the deity of Christ. C. S Lewis says that the common core of Christian belief: "…turns out to be something not only positive but pungent; divided from all non-Christian beliefs by a chasm to which the worst divisions inside Christendom are not really comparable at all."[1] In the remainder of the book Lewis, in essence, establishes two categories of views: those that are a part of "mere" Christianity and those that are not.
Two of the major attempts within the twentieth century to find a basis for Christian unity have failed due tack of an adequate doctrinal base.

The first of these attempts was the ecumenical movement epitomized by the World council of churches.
A Second recent attempt as transdenominational unity has been the Modern Charismatic movement. Although this movement has tended to be more traditional the theologically conservative in its teachings, the resulting “unity” has not be predicated primarily on common doctrinal conviction:
The common element in both of these approaches, then, it a dilution or bypassing of doctrinal orthodoxy resulting in a retreat into experiential subjectivism as the prime ground for unity.

It seems to me that just about everyone who discusses biblical teaching on ecclesiastical cooperation and separation recognizes several unavoidable factors that affect how much we are able to cooperate in gospel ministry with other professing believers, how much we are compelled to withdraw from such fellowship, and when we are required to expose and rebuke error. I believe these factors include at least three specific dimensions:
1. Proximity to the gospel (should be applied to both the thin and thick Gospel)
2. Nature of the cooperation in view (Philosophy of Ministry would be included in this category)
3. Exegetical certainty
4. the spirit of the age."

Proximity to the gospel means that some doctrines are so essential to the nature of the Christian gospel that to deny the doctrine is to deny the gospel itself. The nature of the cooperation in view recognizes that different levels of fellowship and joint gospel ministry impose different demands on agreement. To serve as an elder-pastor in a church, I would need to have a very high level of agreement on most (but not all) issues with the other elders. My level of agreement with non-elder members of the church would be less. We could permit a person to speak in our church who might not qualify for membership. We might even be able to support other churches or ministries in some specific venture whose leaders we would not permit to speak in our church. Finally, exegetical certainty means that we do not possess equal certainty on all biblical doctrines. "Baptism for the dead" is not as clear as "Jesus is Lord." A more relevant example might be some matter of Soteriology that could be very close to the center of the gospel, yet be less clear in the understanding of some than of others. A potential fourth dimension I am thinking about is what I am currently calling "the spirit of the age." In this dimension a doctrine might rise in importance because of its prominence in a contemporary groundswell against sound doctrine. An current example might be egalitarianism, the belief that both genders should share equally leadership roles in the local church and the family.
Evangelicals badly need a means of sorting out and agreeing upon what is crucial and central to Christian doctrine from what is valuable but secondary. To this end a three-fold paradigm will be proposed consisting of “Convictions’, “persuasions,” and “Opinions.” The precedent for this rubric will be examined in three of Paul’s epistles and two examples of potential application will be suggested.

Levels of Belief in Paul’s Letters

I find it so intriguing that Paul did not hold all of his beliefs at the same level of importance. I think we find in Paul’s letters at least three distinct levels of belief. I will call these three levels, "convictions," "persuasions," and "opinions."
1.        Convictions: Even though Paul was often a man of peace and tolerance, there were some issues so crucial and central to the faith that Paul was willing to risk dividing the body of Christ. Paul tells us about one such issue in his letter to the Galatians.
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" (Galatians 2:11-14)
·         Paul was willing to stand and fight, even risking a public controversy, because the issue of circumcision struck at the heart of the gospel. Any compromise at this point would be tantamount to a loss of the gospel itself! In both instances recounted in Galatians 2, Paul is acting from convictions concerning matters crucial to salvation. These are not "mere" persuasions where the Apostle, although certain he is right, can allow other believers to disagree.
·         Convictions, for Paul, are matters of belief where the gospel itself is at stake. In these matters Paul is not "tolerant." Rather he confronts those in error and is ready to break fellowship with them if they do not repent.
2.        Persuasions: In determining if this sort of schema has any validity the central question to consider is this: “Does any New Testament writer ever indicate that he had more than one level or strength of view?” A prime example of this second level of belief can be found in Romans 14. In verse five Paul states, "One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully persuaded in his own mind." It is important to observe that while each person is to be fully persuaded, Paul is not insisting on uniformity of view between "fully persuaded" believers. Each person can have his or her own belief, yet remain in unity with believers who disagree.
3.        Opinions. A final level of belief is found in Paul's treatment of marriage in 1 Corinthians 7. In dealing with the question of celibacy he says:
Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again least Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control. This I say by way of concession, not of command. Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. (vs. 7-8)
·         The word for wish is thelo, which in this context expresses "desire" or "design." Frequently it simply means "will" or "would" but sometimes the word takes on the more tentative nuance of a wish or desire. Therefore, while thelo can have a more general meaning, it frequently carries the sense of a strictly personal or even hypothetical wish. So when Paul says, "I wish all were like me," expressing his opinion that the celibate state is best.
·         Perhaps an even clearer example of Paul expressing an "opinion" is found in 1 Corinthians 7:40. In advising the widow, he says, "But in my opinion she is happier if she remains as she is; and I think I also have the Spirit of God." "
·         Elsewhere in this passage, Paul did speak authoritatively. In verse 12, the apostle undoubtedly expected his directives to be literally obeyed for he concludes his discussion in verse 17 with "and thus I direct (diatassomai) . . . ." In this verse, we find no hint of a disclaimer, no room left for individual conscience. But verses 25 and 40 are quite different. Clearly neither of these is in the nature of a universal directive; for each carries a disclaimer in a nearby verse.
4.        Clarification: I want to stop a minute to clarify something that may be confusing. Often when I have taught these ideas in the past, some have misunderstood me to be saying that what distinguishes one level of belief from another is how strongly a person feels about something. So let me say it as clearly as I can, what separates these levels of belief is not the psychological or subjective "strength" with which one holds a belief. An individual might feel very strongly about an issue and still choose, based on biblical or theological criteria, to class her view as a persuasion or an opinion rather than a conviction. Example: Abortion.
5.     Judgment Calls: What I mean by a "judgment call" is a decision that has to be made when no specific rule of Scripture refers explicitly to your circumstances. There is no passage in Scripture that says, "When a young missionary has forsaken the work on his first journey, you shall give him a second chance after 18 months of penitent and faithful service." And no Biblical text says not to. Instead we have principles that say, "Encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all." And we have principles which say that leaders in the church should be above reproach, and well-tested. One principle stresses the glory of God's mercy. Another principle stresses the glory of God's calling. One principle accents the bounty of God. The other principle accents the holiness of God.
·         Some of our decisions are governed by explicit Biblical commands -- thou shalt not commit adultery! But most of our decisions in life are an effort to apply Biblical principles to situations that the Bible does not deal with explicitly. And the problem is that we often differ on how to do this. Matthew Henry calls these issues "points of prudence." Listen to his wise and sober words:
Even those that are united to one and the same Jesus, and sanctified by one and the same Spirit, have different apprehensions, different opinions, different views, and different sentiments in points of prudence. It will be so while we are in this state of darkness and imperfection; we shall never be all of a mind till we come to heaven, where light and love are perfect. (Commentary, vol. 6, p. 200)
·         In Acts 15:38 the word Luke uses to describe Paul's conviction that Mark should not go fits this idea. It says, literally, "But Paul did not count it fitting, or proper, to take along one who had withdrawn. . ." It was an issue of spiritual prudence, an issue of propriety and fitness and strategic wisdom.
·         But what does wisdom dictate in a choice like this? Barnabas seemed to focus on the need and potential of Mark. Paul seemed to focus on the demands and potential of the larger cause of the Gospel and the honor of the mission.
·         I don't think we should see this as all bad. It's the rancor and bitterness and resentment that are bad. But is it bad that one mission agency perceives wisdom in one strategy and another agency perceives wisdom in another strategy, so that two mission agencies are formed? In fact there are agencies today with extremely high standards for their candidates more like Paul's and their are agencies who will send almost anyone who wants to go. Is that all bad?
·         The point here is simply this: most of our life and ministry is made up of those kinds of decisions -- the application of Biblical principles to situations not explicitly dealt with in the Bible. And therefore complete agreement in these areas will not happen in the body of Christ until we no longer see through a glass darkly. And I suggest that we not too quickly assume that our different strategies for Christ are a bad thing.
6.        Distinguishing between these 3 levels of belief: Convictions are central beliefs, crucial to salvation, over which we should be willing to denounce someone in serious disagreement and (if there is no repentance) eventually divide fellowship. Persuasions are beliefs about which we are personally certain but which are not crucial to salvation. We must accept those with differing persuasions as members in good standing of God’s family even when we are certain they are wrong. Opinions are beliefs about subjects which either: we have a preference, but acknowledge that others may also be right in holding a different view, or we do not have any confidence that we yet know the truth of the matter.

So What?

In this section, I will try to show some of the everyday aspects of holding these belief levels.
1.        Convictions. I believe we should have very few convictions. We should be willing to die (or suffer ridicule) for our convictions.
2.        Persuasions. Most Christians have a fair number of persuasions. The number of our persuasions generally increases as we study. Persuasions should be subjects we have studied enough to be entitled to a clear view on the subject. Examples might be: Millennial views, the role of "tongues," and capital punishment.
3.        Opinions. We will have many opinions and they will change fairly frequently. Opinions may be on subjects which either we have not personally studied or on which the Bible is silent or ambiguous. Examples might be: How long until Christ returns? Which is the best Bible translation? What is the proper size of the US military budget?
4.        Judgment Calls:
5.        Boundary Statements. I would like to draw out one final implication of this “convictions, persuasions, opinions classification scheme.” From the very early centuries of Christianity down to the present day, many churches, denominations, and other Christian groups have drafted lists of their beliefs. These lists are usually called creeds, doctrinal statements, or statements of faith. I have long pondered the question, "what sorts of beliefs properly belong in these kinds of boundary statements?" Now you may be thinking that my answer is obvious. You may think I will say only conviction level beliefs belong in these faith statements, but that is not my conclusion. If boundary statements were only written to clarify who is, and who is not, a true Christian, then it might make sense to include only conviction level beliefs.[2] However, many doctrinal statements, especially in recent centuries, are designed to capture the distinctives of a ministry or a particular group of Christians and include a mixture of conviction, persuasion, and sometimes even opinion level beliefs.[3]   Also boundary statements must decide on the issues that effect a church’s ecclesiology and philosophy of ministry because these issues will effect the message, theology and ministry action of the church. The leaders must be committed to teaching the truths that are contained in the confession. Leadership within a church must have both theological and philosophical unity in order for the church to be healthy.
Application and Conclusion
Inerrancy: After considerable study and thought this writer has concluded that inerrancy must be held at a conviction level of belief. Without a confidence in the Scriptures and a general hermeneutic closely akin to that of the Chicago Statement, conclusions of the sort reached in this article could not be held consistently and would likely not long endure. As that document states, in part: … we further deny that inerrancy can be rejected without grave consequences, both to the individual and to the Church.
Creationism: Must evangelicals reject at the conviction level all forms of theistic evolution? More specifically, is belief that the “days” in Genesis 1 were literal 24 hour days essential to the Christian faith? The levels of belief paradigm might be applied to this issue in the following fashion. At the conviction level all evangelicals can agree that God is the Creator, the ultimate source of all that exists. This is definitely a doctrine that is central to salvation for if he did not create man then he is not accountable to Him and may not need Salvation. But the exact timing of the creation can be held at the persuasion level or opinion level. While scholars may want to discuss or even debate this issue, they need not imply that all those who disagree are somehow similar to those who have deserted the faith for other gods.
Conclusion: Extensive further development of a paradigm of this sort couldbe a great boon to the Christian world. Increased clarity concerning what is truly central and crucial and what is not could assist in promoting cooperative efforts in evangelism, follow-up, and discipleship of new believers and in setting agenda for churches that desire to grow.
The evangelical community needs a careful, thorough, lucid, systematic theology that makes a concerned attempt to delineate what is central and nonnegotiable in the Christian faith from what is valuable but secondary. It is this writer’s persuasion that such a work would be of inestimable value to younger believers, pastors, theological students, and scholars alike.

[1] Lewis, p. 8.

[2] Some of the early Christian creeds did function as boundary statements between true and false believers but in modern times many function to distinguish one group of Christians from another.

[3] For example, the one page statement of faith of Campus Crusade for Christ, which I use to sign annually, contains a number of conviction level beliefs (the Trinity, the deity of Christ, salvation by grace through faith, etc.). The statement also includes some persuasion level beliefs such as statements about the filling of the Spirit and the inerrancy of scripture. Since I can fully affirm all of the articles without mental reservation, I can sign the statement even though I see some of the articles as more central to historic Christianity than others. Through the years, CCC has not treated its statement of faith as the dividing line between true and false faith. CCC leaders and staff have frequently cooperated in evangelistic thrusts with believers from other groups and denominations who could not necessarily sign all the articles of our particular boundary statement.

^ TOP

Christian Hedonism

Q. Are We Obligated to Pursue our Joy?

The Grand Obligation
The Pursuit of Joy

Does It Really Follow that We Should therefore Pursue our Joy in God?
Another pivotal quote from C. S. Lewis:
The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire.
If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. (C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1965], pp. 1-2.)

There Are Biblical Commands to Pursue Our Joy in God
Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 32:11
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.
Psalm 33:1
Sing for joy in the LORD, O you righteous ones; praise is becoming to the upright.
Psalm 67:4
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You will judge the peoples with uprightness and guide the nations on the earth.
Psalm 100:1
Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing.
Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

There is a Biblical Threat if We Will Not Pursue Our Joy in God
Deuteronomy 28:47
Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you.

The Essence of Evil and Sin Is to Pursue Satisfaction Outside God
Jeremiah 2:12-13
"Be appalled, O heavens, at this, and shudder, be very desolate," declares the LORD. "For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water."

An Essential Element of Saving Faith Is Being Satisfied with All That He Is for Us
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
John 6:35
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst."
2 Corinthians 1: 24
Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm.

The Affections (Emotions) Are Biblically Essential to Christian Living
No feelings of covetousness
Exodus 20:17
You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Contentment
Hebrews 13:5
Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"
Fervent Brotherly Love from the Heart
1 Peter 1:22
Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.
Hope
Psalm 42:5
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.
1 Peter 1:13
Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, hope fully in the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Fear
Luke 12:5
But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!
Romans 11:20
Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear.
Peace
Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Zeal and fervency
Romans 12:11
. . . not lagging behind in diligence, [be] fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
Sorrow
Romans 12:15
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
James 4:9
Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
Desire
1 Peter 2:2
Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.
Tenderheartedness
Ephesians 4:32
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Gratitude
Ephesians 5:19-20
Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.
Lowliness
Philippians 2:3
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with lowliness regard one another as more important than yourselves.

Problems
1) Can we govern our feelings?
2) What if they are not there; what do we do?

The Meaning of Conversion is the Awakening of Delight in the Glory of God
Deuteronomy 30:6
Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
Jeremiah 32:40
I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.
Ezekiel 11:19-20
And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.
Ezekiel 36:26 –27
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
John 3:19-20
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
2 Corinthians 4:4-6
The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Praising God (Worship) Is, in Essence, Prizing God
Philippians 1:19-23
I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;

Love for People Is the Overflow and Expansion of Joy in God
2 Corinthians 8:1-8
Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints . . . I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also.
2 Corinthians 9:7
Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
1 Peter 5:2
Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness.
Hebrews 13:17
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.
Acts 20:35
In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
Luke 12:33
Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys.
Hebrews 10:32-34
But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.
Hebrews 11:24-26
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 13:12-14
Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.

Pride and Self-pity Are Overcome by the Pursuit of Joy in God
Mark 10:23-30
And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." They were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?" Looking at them, Jesus said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." Peter began to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You." Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life."

The Words of David Livingston
On December 4, 1857, David Livingstone, the great pioneer missionary to Africa, made a stirring appeal to the students of Cambridge University, showing that he had learned through years of experience what Jesus was trying to teach Peter:
For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. . . . Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice. (Cited in Samuel Zwemer, "The Glory of the Impossible" in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, Ralph Winter and Stephen Hawthorne, eds. [Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1981], p.259. Emphasis added.)

There is Self-denial, but All for the Sake of Ultimate Satisfaction in God
Mark 8:34-35
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it."
Matthew 13:44
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Suffering is Required and Sustained by the Pursuit of Joy in God
Romans 8:17-18
If [we are] children, [then we are] heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Matthew 5:10
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Romans 5:2-4
We exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.

The Duty of Serving God is Sustained by the Joy of Being Served by God
Acts 17:25
God is not served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.
Psalm 50:12-15
If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.
1 Peter 4:11
Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Isaiah 64:4
For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works for the one who waits for Him.
2 Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.

^ TOP

Q. Why Prusuing your Pleasure in God is not an Endorsement of the Prosperity Gospel?

Delight Yourself in the Lord! (Ps. 37.4)
Sam Storms - www.enjoyinggodministries.com
May 18, 2007

I am an unashamed, passionate advocate of Christian Hedonism. I’m sure there are some who think that’s akin to saying that I enjoy eating fried ice or drawing round squares. After all, aren’t Christianity and Hedonism mutually exclusive? This isn’t the place to explain why they aren’t. I’ve done that elsewhere at some length (see my books, Pleasures Evermore and One Thing, and of course, John Piper’s classic defense in his book, Desiring God).

I’ll simply say that I’m a hedonist because I believe it is impossible to desire pleasure too much. But I’m a Christian hedonist because I believe the pleasure we cannot desire too much is pleasure in God and all that he is for us in Jesus.

Of the many biblical texts I could cite to defend this concept, none is more explicit than what David says in Psalm 37:4 – “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

David doesn’t say, “Delight yourself.” Such would be an endorsement of secular, self-indulgent hedonism. Hedonism as it is found in the world at large is a philosophy of life and decision-making which says that choices should be made based solely on their capacity to bring us the greatest degree of personal pleasure. Hedonism, then, is the pursuit of pleasure as an end in itself. But David's counsel is that we delight ourselves in God!

I once asked John Piper how we avoid reading this text as an endorsement of the prosperity gospel or a gospel that uses God to get goodies, so to speak. In other words, what prevents us from seeking our joy and satisfaction in God as a pathway to laying hold of other desires of the heart?

He responded by saying that the “desires” of the heart must be desires that are satisfied in more of God in more and more ways. If that were not the case, we would not truly be delighting in God as an end in itself but only using God to get what we enjoy more than what may be found in him alone. He wrote to me: “I often say that the desire of the heart that we get is God himself. True. But the text implies plurality, and so I am willing to say that we get more of God in more ways when we delight in him. It does not promise that all we can conceive of enjoying will come to us, but that our desires to taste more of God in many ways will be arranged according to God’s wise and loving plan.”

We should also note that if your delight is wholly in God then your desires will not be for anything that would diminish his centrality in your soul. You won’t want anything that has the potential of turning your heart to trust in anyone but him. If your “desires’ are for the stuff of this world that would detract from your complete satisfaction in God, then you aren’t truly delighting yourself in him.

That said, let's notice two things about this statement.

First, it is a command. This isn't something we are to "pray about" or "consider", as if it were an option or choice. This is a moral obligation binding on all. You can't respond to this statement by saying: "Thanks, God, but no thanks. I think I'll pass on this one. It's just not my style. It's not in keeping with my personality or temperament or spiritual gifts. But thanks anyway." No. Such would be sin! In a word: delight is a duty.

Second, delight or joy is also a feeling, an emotion, an affection, a subjective experience that is ultimately not under our control. It isn't something we can produce by an act of will. God has to awaken and stir and evoke such affections in our souls. He uses a variety of means to this: Scripture, creation, the sacraments, obedience, prayer, worship, meditation, etc. Our responsibility, as Jonathan Edwards put it, is “to lay ourselves in the way of allurement.” God’s responsibility is to allure.

How, then, are we to fulfill this command? Or, better still, in what ways does this delight manifest itself in our lives? I delight myself in my wife by spending time with her. I delight myself in baseball by watching the game and reading the box scores. I delight myself in ice cream by eating it. I delight myself in my grandsons by playing with them. I delight myself in a book by reading it. But how do we delight ourselves in God? Let me suggest four ways.

(1) Intellectual fascination. We must make use of the mind to set ourselves to know him. I have in view intellectual enthrallment with God in which our understanding of him is expanded and intensified. Know him. Learn of him. Study him. Explore his ways. Investigate his will. Become a student of the personality and character of God and he will most surely captivate your mind.

In sum, trust God to be sufficiently intriguing that you will be ruined for anything else!

(2) Aesthetic adoration. We are fundamentally, and by God’s design, aesthetic creatures. Being fashioned in the image of God means, at least in part, that we are instinctively drawn to beauty and repelled by ugliness. We have an innate capacity to recognize and rejoice in beauty (unless, of course, we pervert and diminish that capacity by hardening our souls in unrepentant sin). God is ultimate Beauty. To delight in him is to behold his beauty in all its vast array: the symmetry of his attributes, the intricacies of his handiwork, the splendor of his power, the majesty of his mercy, and the list could go, quite literally, infinitely. We must therefore labor to cultivate our aesthetic sensibility and refine our taste for the sweetness of his glory.

In sum, trust God to be sufficiently beautiful that all idols become ugly in comparison!

(3) Emotional exhilaration. Our affections are also designed to find their focus and fulfillment in God. He is worthy of our zeal, love, devotion, delight, fear, joy, passion, gratitude, and hope. Although we do not see him now, we “love him,” and “believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8). With the Spirit’s help we must learn to cultivate and re-direct all affections so that they are rooted in him and riveted on him.

In sum, trust God to be sufficiently enjoyable that all else pales in comparison!

(4) Volitional dedication. Delighting in the Lord also entails the engagement of our wills and the choices we make.

We must do two things. First, we must choose to obey his commands, and second, we must choose to avoid all that he has prohibited. Obedience nourishes delight and joy. God's commands are his prescription for happiness and spiritual health. We must therefore trust God when he says that sin will corrupt and destroy. We must trust God when he says obedience will bless and enrich.

Disobedience dulls and anesthetizes our spirits to God's presence and activity. It's like injecting Novocain into our spiritual nerves. Disobedience diminishes our capacity to delight in him; it drains our spiritual energy; it lays waste to our ability to focus on God and trust him confidently. It unleashes in our spiritual system a toxin that will progressively cause our spiritual eyes to go blind and our spiritual ears to go deaf. To the extent that we insist on eating the appealing, but ultimately toxic, delicacies of this world, our spiritual taste buds will lose their sensitivity to enjoy the sweet savor of Jesus.

In sum, trust God’s commandments to be sufficiently good that the ways of the world are exposed as noxious and fatal.

Don’t treat delight or joy as merely an after-effect of obedience, a mere by-product of duty. Make your joy in Jesus central in all you do and say and think, for in your gladness in him is his glory in you most vividly seen!

Joyful, joyful we adore Thee!

^ TOP

Q. What is Christian Hedonism?

Christian Hedonism

"Christian Hedonism" almost sounds like a contradiction in terms, doesn't it? If the term makes you squirm, we understand. But don't be too quick to pass us off as heretics or just another ease-obsessed American theology. Probe a little further. We are simply stating an ancient, Biblical truth in a fresh way.
All of us seek our own happiness. In other words, everyone is a hedonist. No matter what we say, we only act on what we think will make us the most happy ultimately, or the least miserable. We will gladly forego short-term pleasures if we believe the long-term benefits far outweigh the sacrifice. And we will ignore long-term consequences if we believe short-term pleasures are worth the risk.

On the surface, this sounds as though we want the universe to revolve around us. What about God? To answer this question we need to understand a crucial truth about pleasure-seeking (hedonism): we honor most what we delight in the most. Pleasure is a gauge which indicates how valuable we consider someone or something to be. Pleasure is the measure of our treasure. We know this intuitively. When a friend says to us, "I really enjoy being with you," we do not get angry and reply, "Stop being so selfish! Is your enjoyment all that matters to you?" We realize that we are honored by our friend's delight in us. Our "worth" is "glorified" by his satisfaction in us. The same is true of God. If we delight ourselves most in God, as the Bible commands (Psalm. 37:4), we demonstrate that God is our most precious treasure. Sin is simply delighting in someone or something else more than we do God.

Therefore, a Christian Hedonist seeks the supreme pleasure which is in God himself. He does not try to turn God into a means for gaining worldly pleasures. That would be idolatry. And it would be settling for "molehill" pleasures rather than "Mount Everest" pleasures! Nor does a Christian Hedonist sink back from suffering for Jesus in this world, but gladly counts his life as loss that he might gain Christ (Philippians 3:8).

John Piper (Introduction, Desiring God, Multnomah, 2nd ed. 1996, p. 23) explains it this way. "Christian Hedonism is a philosophy of life built on the following five convictions:

The longing to be happy is a universal human experience, and it is good, not sinful.
We should never try to deny or resist our longing to be happy, as though it were a bad impulse. Instead we should seek to intensify this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction.
The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God. Not from God, but in God.
The happiness we find in God reaches its consummation when it is shared with others in the manifold ways of love.
To the extent we try to abandon the pursuit of our own pleasure, we fail to honor God and love people. Or, to put it positively: the pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue. That is, the chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever. Another way of saying it is,

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him."

^ TOP

Worship

Q. Is Worship the Ultimate Purpose of Living?

WORSHIP IS AN END IN ITSELF
September 13, 1981 (Morning) • Bethlehem Baptist Church • John Piper, Pastor

I want to try this morning to create a consciousness in our church that worship is an end in itself. I want us to have this conviction: that worship should never be pursued as a means to achieving something other than worship. Worship is never a step on our way up to any other experience. It is not a door through which we pass to get anywhere. It is the end point, the goal.

I remember one night in my room in Saint Hall at Wheaton College my senior year. I was struggling with what should motivate me to try to win people to Christ. I asked myself "What's the goal of winning people to faith in Christ?" And I answered, uncomfortably, "So that they can help win others." But then I translated that purpose into an actual witnessing experience. Suppose a person asks me: "Why do you want me to become a Christian?" And I say, "So you can win others." Won't a thoughtful person look at me and say, "Well now, that's strange. You mean the goal of your religion is to recruit people to recruit other people to recruit other people on and on? Where's the substance? Where's the content?" I remember how miserable I felt as I realized how empty and mechanical my life with Christ had become. I could never have suggested such an empty answer to "Why evangelize?" if my own life or worship had been a real end in itself. Of course the purpose for winning people to Christ is not that they might win others. It's that they might bring honor to God in worship and that they might experience the joy of trusting God's mercy. We do not recruit people to recruit others. We recruit people for God! The content, the substance, the life, the goal, the end is God and the joyful experience of ascribing glory to him. Evangelism is not an end in itself. Worship is an end in itself.

From that point on, all my thinking about the church revolved around the uniqueness of worship. Of all the activities in the church, only one is an end in itself: worship. Horizontal fellowship among believers is not an end in itself. Fellowship in scripture is considered to be very largely for the purpose of encouraging faith and stirring up love: "Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the Day drawing near." It is right to seek fellowship specifically with the aim of being encouraged in faith and stirred up to love. But even though a genuine experience of worship can produce those same results (of stronger faith and zeal to love), yet the genuineness and authenticity of our worship is threatened if we treat it as a means to some other experience.

So fellowship is not an end in itself, and the same can be said of all other ministries in the church. Christian education is not an end in itself, because knowing is not an end in itself. We seek to know God so that we might be moved to hope in God. The aim of Christian education is stated in Psalm 78:5-7: "God established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children so that they should set their hope in God …" The Bible does not present knowledge for its own sake, but rather for the kindling of faith and hope in God. As Romans 15:4 says, "Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scripture we might have hope." Education is not an end in itself.

Nor is financial stewardship an end in itself. We would be very upset if our money were ceremonially burned after the collection. We expect it to be a means to the sending of missionaries, the care of the distressed, the preservation of our meeting place. And so on, down the line, the same point could be made about all the things we do as believers. They are not ends in themselves. Only worship is an end in itself. Only worship should not be done as a means to achieving something other than itself.

But now a question arises. Are not the communion of saints in fellowship and the dissemination of Christian knowledge in preaching and the giving of tithes and offerings -- are not all these parts of our worship services? How can you say that none of these is an end in itself and yet have them as integral parts of our worship which is an end in itself? That's a good question, and to answer it we need to examine now what worship is. We will begin with the morning text, Matthew 15:8, 9.

Jesus quotes from Isaiah 29:13 in order to express the root problem with the Pharisees' way of life. "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." The first thing I want us to see from these two verses is that the parallel between "this people honors me" in verse 8 and "they worship me" in verse 9 shows that at the essence of all worship is the act of honoring God. That does not mean making God honorable. We don't improve upon God in the least when we worship him. Honoring God means recognizing his honor, feeling the worth of it and ascribing it to him in all the ways appropriate to his character. "Honor and majesty are before him, strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name (Ps. 96:6-8). That is the first thing I want us to see: that worship involves an act of reflecting back to God in praise the glories emanating from his presence.

The second thing I want us to see in Matthew 15: 8, 9 is that worship can be thought of in two different ways. When God says, "In vain do they worship me" or, "with their lips they honor me," he implies that worship can be thought of as a series of acts or words that are performed in obedience to Biblical commands or liturgical tradition. Worship throughout Biblical history always involved action. The main word for worship in Biblical Hebrew means "to bow down." Worship was performed in bowing, lifting the hands, kneeling, singing, praying, reciting scripture, etc. All this can be called worship. But all this can also be done when the heart is far from God.

We all know this sort of experience in our ordinary life. One man retires from the firm loved by all, respected by his colleagues, admired by the junior executives. When the party is given to honor him everyone knows that the hand shakes, and speeches and congratulations and gold watch are sincere. They come from the heart. But then a few years later old Grumble-Full retires and out of duty the party is given with the same handshakes and speeches and gold watch, but everyone knows this time that honor was paid with the lips but the heart was far away. Or haven't you sat through a school talent show and observed how some applause comes from internal appreciation, but other applause comes from external expectation.

Those two different experiences correspond to two different senses in which we use the word "worship." The one is a series of activities performed by the body and mind. The other is an experience of the heart which may or may not find outward expression. It seems clear to me that when the Bible commands us to worship, it is not commanding us to honor God with our lips while our heart is far from him. When David says, "Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 29:2), and when Jesus says, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve (Matt. 4:10), and when the angel says to John in Revelation 19:10, "Don't worship me; worship God," we can be sure that they did not mean perform liturgical acts regardless of your heart's condition. In those commands worship refers to an experience of the heart that is anything but far from God. This is the second meaning of worship implied in our text and this is the worship I have in mind when I say worship is an end in itself.

Now what is this experience of the heart like? We've seen already that it is more than action; it is more than kneeling and praying and singing and sitting and reciting scripture and eating the Lord's Supper. But it is also more than willing. Genuine worship is never a mere act of will-power. All those activities of worship require the exertion of our will. But they do not become genuine worship by virtue of that. When God says, "Their heart is far from me," he does not mean they don't have the will power to go through the motions. Sure they do. But their heart is still far away from God. The reason is that the drawing near of the heart to God means the coming alive of our feelings for God. Worship is an affair of the heart. It is an affair of feeling and of emotion.

I feel right now in an almost impossible pastoral position. What I want to say can be so easily categorized and dispensed with as emotionalism on the one hand or dead decency on the other, depending on your personality and experience. We live in a peculiar time. On the one hand, fascination with feelings is rampant. Psychology is the science of our era. Book after book helps us analyze our emotions and cope with their ups and downs. On the other hand, there is a widespread suspicion of emotion and embarrassment about expressing feelings, especially in the mainline churches (like ours). In response to this situation I want to say first that genuine worship is based on the mind's perception of historical and Biblical truth. It has solid intellectual content. It is not the frenzied emotional product of manipulation or gimmickry. But that is not our problem. We are not in danger of emotionalism. Far from it. Our problem -- and not ours only, but the problem of our Conference and of most evangelicals nationwide -- is that we do not realize that there is no genuine worship where feelings for God are not quickened. There is not true worship where the heart is far from God. But the heart's approach to God happens in the quickening of our feelings for God. Therefore, where feelings are dead, so is worship.

Now let's be specific. What are these feelings that make the outward acts of worship authentic? What are the feelings toward God that turn learned forms into genuine worship? For a sampling of the extraordinary rich emotional responses in worship, we do best to look into the world's richest book of worship, the book of Psalms. Some of the highest worship begins with the feeling of brokenness and contrition and grief for sin. "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17). I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin"(Psalm 38:18). Mingled with the feeling of genuine contrition is the feeling of longing or desire. "As a hart longs for the flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (Ps. 42:1,2). Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (Psalm 73:25, 26). Also mingled with our sense of sin and our longing for his mercy is the feeling of fear and awe before the holiness and magnitude of God. "I will worship toward thy holy temple in the fear of thee" (Psalm 5:7). "Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him" (Psalm 33:8). And as he approaches, forgiving all our iniquity, crowning us with honor, satisfying us with good (Ps. 103:3-5), our hearts well up with the feeling of gratitude. "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him, and bless his name!" (Ps. 100:4). And mingled with our gratitude are the feelings of joy and hope. "Be glad in the Lord and rejoice and shout for joy all you upright in heart" (Ps. 32:11). "Why are you downcast, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God" (Ps. 42:5). These are examples of some of the feelings that come from God and move us to God in genuine worship: contrition, sorrow, longing, desire, fear, awe, gratitude, joy, hope. When these feelings are quickened, the heart is no longer far from God. Worship is no longer lip-service. It is genuine and authentic.

And now perhaps, coming full circle, it is clearer why I must say true worship is an end in itself. If that which turns habitual forms into true worship is the quickening of these feelings in the heart, then true worship cannot be performed as a means to some other experience. Feelings are not like that. Genuine feelings cannot be manufactured as stepping stones to something else. If the telephone rings and the voice on the other end says, "Johnny, this is Bob, good buddy; your mother and dad were in a serious bus accident. Your mom didn't make it and your dad is hurt bad," you don't sit down and say, "Now to what end shall I feel grief? What can I accomplish if I cry for the next half-hour?" The feeling of grief is an end in itself. It is not performed as a means to anything.

If you have been floating on a raft without water for three days after a shipwreck on the sea, and there appears a speck of land on the horizon, you don't say, "Now to what end shall I feel desire for that land? Even though the longing in your heart may give you the power to get there, you do not perform longing in order to get there. The longing sweeps into you from the value of the water that is on that land. Even though longing is always for something we do not yet have, nevertheless it is not an artificial concoction of the will; it is not planned and performed as a means to getting what we desire. It rises spontaneously in the heart and as a feeling is an end in itself.

If you are camping in the Boundary Waters and awaken to the sound of snorting outside your tent, and then see in the moonlight the silhouette of a huge bear coming toward your tent, you do not say, "Now to what end shall I feel fear?" You do not calculate the good ends to which fear can be a means and then perform the act to accomplish those ends. When you stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon and watch the setting sun send the darkness down through the geological layers of time, you don't say, "Now to what end shall I feel awe before this beauty?" It is an end in itself. When a little child on Christmas morning opens his first gift and finds his "most favoritest" rocket he has wanted for months, he does not think, "Now to what end shall I feel happy and thankful?" And when that little boy enters kindergarten and starts getting picked on by some second graders, but then his big third-grade brother comes over and stands beside him, he doesn't decide to have confidence and hope swell up in his heart. They just do. They are not an act performed as a means to some other end. And so it is with all genuine emotion (i.e. emotion springing from appropriate causes) and therefore, all true worship. 'Worship is an end in itself; because God is the voice on the phone. God is the island on the horizon. God is the bear. God is the setting sun. God is the "most favoritest" rocket. God is the big brother.

And now to go back and pick up our earlier question: if fellowship, preaching and giving of offerings are not ends in themselves, why are they integral parts of our worship service, since worship is an end in itself? The answer is this: what makes a worship service authentic and genuine and pleasing to God is the quickening of our hearts with appropriate emotions. But this quickening does not happen in a vacuum. On the one side, it is caused by true perceptions of God's manifold glories. And so there must be substantial theological content in the service: in the lyrics of our hymns, in the prayers, in the scripture, the sermon. And right here is where the communion of the saints plays a crucial role. A heart-quickening truth may be heard from a hymn but perceived with power when seen in the face of a sister or a brother across the room. So on the one side, there are elements of a worship service which are necessary in order to help the heart perceive the life-quickening reality of God. On the other side, the heart quickened with feeling for God must often express itself. And, therefore, our worship service must include vehicles of that expression: opportunities to give, sing, recite, pray and probably a good bit more that we have never tried.

In conclusion, by way of summary, Jesus said, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." Therefore, even though worship can refer to a form of activity in which the heart is distant, yet true worship which delights God is the drawing near of the heart to God, or, to put it another way, the quickening of the heart with genuine feelings in response to God's glory. Such feelings are never performances of will power calculated to accomplish other ends. They are ends in themselves. Therefore, since they constitute the heart of genuine worship, worship is an end in itself. And our Sunday morning service is unique in its focus on God who is greatly honored in such worship. And it is for his name's sake that I ask you all very earnestly to take time Saturday night and Sunday morning to prepare yourselves to meet him here, praying with the psalmist, "Open my eyes that I might behold wondrous things in your word (Ps. 119:18). And: "Unite my heart to fear thy name" (Ps. 86:11).

^ TOP

Q. What is the Ultimate Priority of the Church?

First Things First
by Ronn Man - Presented to the Summit on Church Music Ministry - Cedarville College, March 3-5, 1997

The Great Commission

The Great Commission which Jesus gave to His disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) shows us God’s heart for the world and His desire for all of His children to be faithful instruments in carrying the message of the gospel to all peoples. The Commission does not stop with evangelism, however, and includes in its scope the full-orbed ministry of disciplemaking: that process by which people are not only brought to saving faith but are also mentored in the faith, with the goal of seeing believers brought to maturity, that they might obey the commands of Jesus and ultimately become disciplemakers themselves.

Many churches (as well as other Christian organizations), recognizing the pivotal importance of the Great Commission, have built it into their mission or purpose statements, either explicitly or implicitly. Considered the following examples of actual church mission statements:

1. "Our Mission: To cause God great joy by sharing His love with others as we have seen it in Jesus Christ."

2. "Our Mission: Developing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ."

3. "[First Church] exists in order that we may glorify the Lord God through the means He has established in His Word: Evangelism (introducing people to Jesus Christ) and Edification (building believers to maturity in Jesus Christ)."

4. "For God’s glory, [Second Church] is committed to developing disciples in our area and throughout the world so that in all things Christ might have the preeminence."

5. "To the glory of God: to win, build, and equip disciples of our Lord Jesus through loving, Bible centered ministry at home and abroad."

It is commendable that so many of these groups desire to do all that they do for the glory of God. But the question arises: how do churches and individual believers most glorify God? Are the evangelization of the world and the edification of the saints the ultimate expressions of God’s purposes in creating us and saving us and calling us into His service? Does the Great Commission encompass all which we are to be about as believers?

The Great Commandment

Our answer must be no. The Great Commission, as pivotal as it is, is not the cornerstone of our Christian walk and service; it is not the bottom line. The Great Commandment is. Jesus explained in Mark 12:30 that the "great commandment in the law," that is, the sum and focus of all its provisions, is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." We are to be first and foremost lovers of God; and we are to express that love through a life and lifestyle of worship. Many have pointed out that the Great Commandment is indeed talking about the priority of worship. Sally Morgenthaler, for instance, writes relative to this passage: "Jesus knew and taught that God desires our worship above anything else. It should be number one on each of our agendas" (Worship Evangelism, p. 38).

Worshippers are what God is seeking. Morgenthaler writes: "It is significant that in John 4:23 Jesus did not say that God is seeking evangelists. He said that God is seeking worshippers" (p. 39). Throughout the Scriptures we see God’s great quest for worshippers: as He looks for Adam and Eve in hiding, as He provides in the Old Testament sacrificial system the means for a sinful people to approach Him, as He sends His Son to the cross that the way into His presence might be opened once and for all, as He sends His blood-bought church into all the world with the gospel — it is all because He is seeking worshippers, those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4: 23-24 ).

The primary way a Christian glorifies God is in worship, which at its root is the response of the heart to the Lord’s gracious initiative in one’s life, a response of adoration and love for God for who He is and what He has done (worship in truth) which wells up into outward expression out of the inner man (worship in spirit). Both the Old and New Testaments are clear that true worship begins on the inside, where only God can see (Romans 12:1; Hebrews 13:15; Philippians 3:3; I Samuel 15:22).

Worship is then "the most important activity that we can be involved in," as it has been put by John MacArthur, whose book about worship is fittingly titled The Ultimate Priority. John Piper says it this way: "Worship is the only Christian activity which is an end in itself." That is, every other spiritual endeavor — evangelism, edification, fellowship, teaching, disciplemaking — has as its ultimate aim the development of more and better worshippers.

The Great Commandment speaks of worship in that it is purely vertical in its focus; its utter God-centeredness reflects the doxological purpose of all creation. It also rightly subsumes under its expanse the Great Commission which is (by definition) more man-focused. (Look again at the mission statements quoted earlier to see just how man-focused those statements are.) Fittingly, we find worship preceding the Great Commission even in its own immediate context, where we are first told that the disciples "worshipped" the risen Jesus (Matthew 28:17).

Jesus identifies as the second greatest commandment: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31). The Great Commission actually grows out of the interworking of the first and second greatest commandments, to love God and to love our neighbor: if we truly love God, we will follow through with the love of neighbor which He commands and enables; and the greatest love we can show to our neighbor is to help him become a lover of God, a worshiper, in his own right. John Piper begins his book on missions with this magnificent statement:

"Missions is not the ultimate priority of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. . . . [Missions] is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever." (Let the Nations Be Glad! p. 11).

Our outreach and disciplemaking must flow out of a heart which is full of worship —otherwise, as Piper points out, "How can we commend to others that which we do not ourselves cherish?" (p. 11) And our outreach and disciplemaking must lead ultimately to more worship being offered up for God’s own pleasure. (It should also be said that a church which genuinely worships will reach out -- for if the people do not grow to share God’s heart for the lost, we may wonder how close they have really come to Him in worship!)

While the sample mission statements mentioned earlier are strong on the Great Commission and rightly concerned with the glory of God, yet they are woefully lacking when it comes to acknowledging worship as the primary and ultimate focus of the church and of the individual believer. Following are some mission statements which come closer to giving worship its proper due:

1. "As a local expression of the universal body of Christ, we desire to corporately love God with all our being by worshipping Him and loving others through relevant ministry both locally and around the world."

2. "[Third Church] exists for the purpose of: magnifying Jesus through worship and the Word; making Jesus known to our neighbors and the nations; and moving believers in Jesus toward maturity and ministry."

3. "The priorities of ministry of this church flow from the vision of God’s glory revealed in Jesus Christ. We exist to savor this vision in worship (John 4:23), strengthen the vision in nurture and education (I Corinthians 14:26, II Peter 3:18), and spread the vision in evangelism, missions, and loving deeds (I Peter 2:9, 3:15, 5:16; Matthew 28:18-20)."

These statements put worship in its proper place: first. And I believe thereby God is honored, because it is clear that when we are putting worship first, we are in fact putting Him first.

Implications

This understanding has two profound implications for what we will be about the next two days.

First, we must remember that church music is, as Dr. Hustad has stressed, a "functional art." Luther called music "the handmaid of theology;" it must serve the truth which it proclaims. Church music is a means to an end, indeed the most glorious of ends: the worship of Almighty God.

The second implication has to do with how we plan our church services, for a proper understanding of the ultimate priority of worship should govern our selection of forms and styles and music used in our services. Our first question must be, not "What can we do so as to best attract and reach people," but rather "What can we do to best facilitate the corporate adoration and praise of God?" (in line with the vertical, God-centered focus which is the overriding purpose for gathering in the first place). That does not mean that we should ignore issues of contextualization and culture; but our aim must be to please God, not to please men. And our ministry to people must always have as its ultimate goal the producing of more and better worshippers.

Conclusion

By all means, let us be about fulfilling the Great Commission — but first things first! Let us first and foremost seek to love God with our entire being — heart, soul, mind and strength — and to be "filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19). May our lives of worship then overflow with a grateful aspiration to "make disciples of all the nations" — that they too might worship Him and love Him and serve Him — to the glory of His name. Amen.

^ TOP

Q. What is the Biblical Case for Blended Worship

The Biblical Case for Blended Worship

Ron Man

Convergent, or blended, worship refers to the mixing and blending of both historic and contemporary expressions of worship into a diverse mosaic of praise which enfranchises and encourages the participation of all of God’s people. As such it seems to be staging a “comeback” in our day as congregations tire of providing multiple choices and dividing the congregation along generational or preferential lines.

There are sound biblical reasons for such an approach:

The Nature of the Church: The Body of Christ is blended. There is room in the church for people of all races, nationalities, ages, backgrounds and temperaments. The connecting thread is the redemptive work of Christ in our lives.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man
there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
(Galatians 3:28)

The Goal of the Church: Unity in Christ. The goal of the church is a unity which only the Holy Spirit can engender, molding a disparate people into one in purpose and love for the Lord.

“Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
(Ephesians 4:1-3)

The Goal of Worship: Worship is for God. The issue in worship is not our pleasure, or our preferences, or our comfort, but rather the honor and praise of God. We should never presume to know conclusively what God does and not does find acceptable in the worship of Him.

“Praise Him with trumpet sound . . . . with lute and harp . . . . with tambourine and dance . . . .
with strings and pipe . . . . with sounding cymbals . . . . with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!”
(Psalm 150:3-6)

God’s Perspective: He loves diversity. This is seen in His works of creation, and in the world of people He has made. Down through the centuries, and all around the world today, we find incredible variety in worship—in its forms, styles, music, dress, architecture, etc. We can see what a wide variety of expressions He has accepted when they are offered to His glory.

“Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart.”
(Ephesians 5:18-19)

God’s Priority: The heart of the worshiper. He is much, much more concerned about the heart attitude of the worshiper than He is about the outward expression, form or style.
“To love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding
and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more
than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
(Mark 12:33)

The New Testament Warrant: No one right way. The New Testament does not prescribe one form or style of worship for all churches. The absence of detailed guidelines suggests that God allows for considerable freedom in shaping worship to fit a particular local congregation. There are definitely consistent biblical principles which must shape and guide our worship, yet there is latitude as well.

“But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,
for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (John 4:23)

A Higher Calling: The common good. Rather than dividing our congregation along the lines of worship preference, we are committing ourselves to listen to one another and learn from another and tolerate one another’s worship tastes in the name of Christ. This is an exercise in true spirituality and discipleship in the body of Christ, as we purpose with God’s help to fulfill Paul’s mandates to “give preference to one another in honor” (Romans12:10) and to “consider one another more important than ourselves.” (Philippians 2:3) God will grow us in maturity as a body as we joyfully make concessions to one another for the common good.

This is not a new idea: in fact, from the very beginning of the church, we see Jews and Gentiles (as diverse a pairing as you will find anywhere!) joined together in the church. They learned to respect and love one another in gathered worship and in congregational life—to the glory of God and the spreading of the gospel!

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you
to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,
that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(Romans 15:5-6)

^ TOP

Q. Why is Blended Worship Good for the Body?

Blended Worship: Good for the Body
Blended worship has as its goal the joining together of the people of God in all their diversity, under one roof and in one service, to glorify God through the offering up of corporate praise. The term "blended" speaks of the artful weaving together of varying musical styles and other elements into a seamless tapestry which honors the Lord without alienating any particular group.
The strongest argument which can be marshalled in favor of blended worship (as opposed to offering different types of services, such as "traditional" and "contemporary," or only one specialized type) is a biblical and theological one. It relates to the very nature of the church: worship should rightly be blended because the body of Christ itself is blended (see I Corinthians 12). By definition the church gathers into one living organism people from all different backgrounds and walks of life; in fact, unity within the kind of diversity seen in the church is in itself a testimony to the divine nature of the institution (Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 4:1-6) -- for, while by nature "birds of a feather flock together," Christ's body invariably includes an unusual combination of quite disparate individuals, who have in common only their faith in and love for Christ.
But that is the whole point! In order for corporate worship (unarguably the most important thing the church does together) to accurately reflect the nature and the unity of the body, it must include the people of God in all of their diversity, unified in the worship by the common focus of that worship: the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory.
That Christ-centered focus is the key which allows us to transcend petty, man-centered squabbles over musical taste and preference. For if we are united in our commitment to the glorification of our Lord throu

Menu

Frequently Asked Questions

Theology Introduction

Christian Hedonism

Worship