Bethany Baptist Church exists to glorify God by proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord and preparing His people to worship Him now and forever.
APRIL 2017
Issue1022
The Broadcaster A Theology of Worship Biblical worship is our joyful response to all that God is with all that we are. Since the purpose of the church is to bring God glory, nothing is more important to the church than her worship of God (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31). The corporate worship services of the church often include many different expressions of worship. We worship God together in our worship services as we pray, as we listen to God’s Word, as we sing, as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, as we celebrate baptisms, as we give our offerings, as we fellowship with each other, and as we encourage one another. The Church does use music to worship, but music in itself falls far short of the fullness of the worship of God by God’s people.
appropriate response is worship. The psalmist continues in verse 8, “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.” Worship begins with our listening to God speak to us through His Word. Upon listening with a submissive heart, we eagerly respond to Him with our whole person in love and service. 2. Worship is our passionate pursuit of God’s glory.
The goal of our worship is the glory of God (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31; Psalm 29:2). To glorify God means that we know God personally, enjoy God wholeheartedly, and communicate God’s goodness and greatness boldly and clearly. We measure the quality of our worship by 1. Worship is our joyful response to God’s response to it, not by our God with our whole person. response to it. We do not worship to When the Church worships God, we please the self-interests of man, but respond to His actions and His words. we worship to advance the glory of He is the actor in the creation of the God. As a consequence, our worship is world and He is the communicator of God-centered not man-centered. His Person and His actions to His While we find joy in worship, our people. He is the actor in offering worship is for the LORD. us salvation and in redeeming us as 3. Worship includes our bold adopted children. His Word is His proclamation of the Gospel. perfect communication to us. The The Gospel teaches us that God is the psalmist wrote, "By the word of the great treasure that all men need to Lord the heavens were made, and by find joy and meaning in life (cf. John the breath of his mouth all their 17:3). The Gospel is the means by host” (Psalm 33:6). When God which we can obtain this treasure and takes action and communicates His rejoice in it. No other message Person and action with us, the only
Dr. Ritch Boerckel
conceived by man offers hope, life, joy and peace. Only the Gospel possesses God’s power to transform our hearts and lead us to His glory. So we commit ourselves to proclaiming the Gospel in our worship. Our pursuit of God’s glory necessitates that we are bold and unashamed to proclaim the whole of the Gospel in every part. If our proclamation neglects part of the Gospel, then we hide God’s glory from man and we will not glorify God. The Gospel is central to everything we aim to teach through our worship. 4. Worship includes our sincere confession of biblical truth. Biblical truth teaches us who God is, what God does, what God commands, what God promises, what God cautions, and how God loves. As such, biblical truth is not peripheral to our worship, but foundational. We do not decide who God is; God tells us who He is. We do not decide what God desires; God tells us what He desires. Our worship first listens to God reveal Himself and His will to us and then responds to Him in faith and obedience. We emphasize that biblical worship is our joyful response to all that God is with all that we are. Our response includes a sincere confession of our agreement and commitment to all that God reveals. Continued on page 2.