Congregational singing does not initiate worship, God does. Songs don’t call people to worship, God does – through his word. He speaks, we listen. He commands, we obey. He calls, we answer. He invites us to worship him, we attend and respond.
@JosephCrider
When personal gratification is worship’s objective, worship is invalidated. The church is supposed to be a corporate entity with God as the focus of attention.
Calvin Johansson
In other words, more objective hymns & less subjective songs.
@ScottAniol helpfully places Old Testament and New Testament passages of worship side-by-side and discusses their relationship in biblical context. This is a brief book, but it is packed with profound truth.
There are more worship songs focused on us and what God can do for us than there are about God and His glory.
More Christians should be saying this is a problem.
I love an encouraging song as much as the next guy, but it's almost to the point where we're worshipping ourselves.
A dominant error of some Christians is to say, “I must bring God into my story.” The ancient understanding is that God joins the story of humanity to take us into his story. There is a world of difference. One is narcissistic; the other is God-oriented.
Robert Webber
The church is Christ’s bride, and it is in corporate worship that we are knit together and brought into communion with God and with one another.
Jonathan Landry Cruse
If we are going to be mature Christians, we must not allow ourselves to be dominated by hunger-pangs for immediate gratification. We must resist the pressures of the age to squeeze us into its mould.
Sinclair Ferguson
Working through my #g3reads list. I put this book off a long time because I thought it was going to be too difficult. But after 3 years of classes with @ScottAniol, philosophy isn’t intimidating any more. Thank you, Dr. Aniol.
“In our current climate of pragmatism and cultural relevancy, the church must once again take up the torch of Scripture-based preaching, gospel-centered evangelism, Christ-embracing church service, and God-glorifying lives.”
An excellent read.