My top recommended book on a biblical theology of worship is David Peterson's Engaging with God. If you're responsible for leading in your church, either as a pastor or a musician, I think you'll serve people more faithfully and biblically if you read it. I go through it every year with my interns and never fail to come away from our discussion times with fresh understanding and inspiration for leading corporate worship.
Peterson focuses on worship as it's understood in the Old Testament, the gospels, and various epistles. The chapters on Hebrews and Revelation by themselves are worth the price of the book.
This past Wednesday we were discussing the chapter on Revelation. Many Christians tend to avoid Revelation because they view it as a somewhat obscure and confusing book. Others think it's simply a code-book for figuring out the significance of end time events.
Peterson makes a compelling case that one of the primary purposes of John's letter was to "encourage Christians to maintain their faith in Christ and resist every temptation to idolatry and apostasy" (p. 277). We still need that kind of encouragement today. And the hymns scattered throughout Revelation (Rev. 1:5-6, 4:11, 5:9-10, 7:11-12, 11:17-18, 15:3-4, 19:6-8), with their focus on the sovereignty of God and the victory of the Lamb, do just that.
In summarizing his chapter on Revelation, Peterson makes application to the songs we sing today:
The hymnic material in the book of the Revelation...should alert us to the importance of singing God's praise in a way that is truly honoring to him and helpful to his people. Do our hymns and songs concentrate on praising God for his character and his mighty acts in history on our behalf? Do they focus sufficiently on the great truths of the gospel? There is always a temptation to focus too much on the expression of our own immediate needs.
This is gold. Our songs should both honor God and help people. It's not either/or. It's both/and. We don't come together merely to sing about how passionate we are for God (although that's a very good thing!) or to be emotionally affected. Our songs should help us concentrate and focus on God's character and his mighty acts in history on our behalf, especially the gospel.
Source: Worship Matters
Leave a comment