But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”  (John 4:23, ESV)

The following are some of the basic principles by which we seek to plan and practice corporate worship at High Pointe Baptist Church. (As best as I can remember, these principles were influenced by a sermon series I listened to by John Piper on worship titled, Worship God.)

1.  True worship is God-centered. We were created to worship, and we are commanded to worship God alone (Exodus 20:3-5; Revelation 22:9) in the ways that He has outlined in Scripture (Ecclesiates 5:1-7). Therefore, as we prepare our hearts for worship let’s remember that worship is about God, not us.

2.  True worship is Christ-focused. Jesus Christ is the image of God, the creator, sustainer, and reconciler of creation, and the head of the church (Colossians 1:15-20). It pleased God to reveal Himself through the Son and to reconcile us to Himself through Jesus’ death. So with the disciples, we worship Jesus (John 20:28); Jesus is the focus of worship because He’s the focus of the Father’s work.

3.  True worship is Spirit-empowered. The Bible makes it clear that we are born into this world as children of wrath and dead to God. However, by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:1-10), we are made alive to God and dead to sin (Romans 6:1-14). Only those who have been made alive by the power of the Holy Spirit can truly worship God; these are the true worshipers God seeks (John 4:21-24).

4.  True worship is Word-based. God’s Word (the Bible) is the basis of everything we do in worship (announcements, welcome, singing, praying, preaching, etc.). Why? Because God works by His Word. He created by His Word (Genesis 1); He sustains His creation by the Word of His power (Hebrews 1:3); He came into this world as the Word (John 1:1); He saves us by the power of His Word (Romans 1:16). Preaching is the primary form of the Word in our worship because this is the model Jesus and His disciples left us (Luke 4:43; Romans 10:14-15) and because we are commanded to preach the Word until Christ returns (2 Timothy 4:1-2).

5.  True worship engages both mind and heart. True worship requires that we engage God with our minds as we study His Word and seek to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. At the same time, it requires that we engage God with our hearts as the fullness of the Holy Spirit in our lives overflows and causes us to praise God in complete delight. This means that our worship will be passionate and Spirit-filled because it is based on the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what it means to worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:24).

6.  True worship is edifying. Though worship is about God and not us, true worship will build up believers in both mind and heart “until we all attain the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man” (Ephesians 4:11-13). In other words, though worship is all about God, it will benefit us and cause us to grow in our love for Him and one another, for worship has both a vertical (Godward) and a horizontal (corporate) direction.

7.  True worship is more than Sunday. As believers in Christ, we are not to neglect gathering together (Hebrews 10:24-25). However, true worship is an everyday matter. We are to give our entire lives over to God as living and holy sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2). That means we worship God in how we live, work and play every single day of our lives.

There is a perverseness to human thoughts about God that would be risible if it were not so tragic. We find ways to make him small. A marvelous antidote is Psalm 139. It paints an exalted picture of God, yet does so in stunningly personal ways, as befits a psalm.

What are the "stunningly personal ways" the psalmist displays an exalted God? Carson details four:

1. God sees and knows everything (139:1-6).
2. God is omnipresent, and therefore inescapable (139:7-12).
3. God is Creator and providential Ruler (139:13-18).
4. God is utterly holy (139:19-24).

For helpful commentary on each of these points, see the whole post here.

But maybe we can also learn about divine happiness from human happiness. I've just been reading Where does happiness come? in which Oscar del Ben reflects on this question, and gives four possible answers. I couldn't help but think of how his "human" answers may give theological insight into some sources of God's happiness.

1. Giving "stuff" away

As the giver of every good and perfect gift, God is always extraordinarily and immeasurably happy. But what all-surpassing happiness accompanied His greatest gift, the gift of His only Son for sinners.

2. Creating something

What happy days for God, when He was creating the universe! What satisfaction as He spoke the universe into existence. Each day His happiness was expressed as He saw everything so good. Then came the apex, the climax, when He made humanity: "All very good!"

3. Connecting people

While the devil is the great divider and separator of humanity, God is the great "connector." By His plan of grace, He is connecting people with Himself and with one another. By the Gospel of Christ, He smashes barriers and tears down walls (Eph. 2:14-17). By the Gospel, He creates unity and community.

4. Doing something new

Ultimately, God is behind every discovery, every advance, every invention. He is the source of all newness, all imagination, and all innovation. With every soul saved, He makes all things new (2 Cor.5:17). By His Holy Spirit, He is renewing His people day by day (Eph. 4:24). Finally, He will make all things new (Rev. 21:5). What an exuberantly happy day that will be, both for God and His people!

No wonder Paul calls his message "the glorious Gospel of the happy (blessed) God" (1 Tim. 1:11).

I wrote Do I Know God? to answer two basic questions: 1) is God knowable, and, if He is, 2) how can I know that I know Him. In the book I say that if you don’t know God, He wants you to know it. And if you do know God, He wants you to know it. The two things God does not want is for you to think you know Him if you don’t and for you to think you don’t know Him if you do. Knowing that you belong to God–having a deep sense of your eternal security–not only provides a sure and steadfast anchoring for your soul, but it radically changes the way you live here and now. There’s nothing more vital, nothing more satisfying, than knowing God and knowing that you know God.

So, if you know a Spanish speaking friend or family member who is unclear about their relationship with God, this little book is now available.

God-centered anger is when you get angry because God has been dishonored and his ways have been maligned. Self-centered anger is when you’re angry because you have been dishonored or your ways have been maligned.

In my book I highlight Mark 3:1-5 which provides us with a memorable example of God-centered anger.

One day Jesus “entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand.” Meanwhile the Pharisees in the crowd “watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.” Jesus didn’t hold back: “He said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Come here.’ And he said to them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent.”

Notice carefully what comes next: “And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”

Jesus, the God-man, was angry. And then we read immediately that he was also grieved, seeing the hardness of the Pharisees’ hearts.

Here is a super-important characteristic of God’s anger that we need to understand: God’s anger is a grieving anger. It grieves because it sees the devastation that sin has on human life.

Jesus was angry because God’s ways were being maligned and God was being dishonored by these legalistic Pharisees. But his anger was fueled by grief—he saw sin’s deadening effects in the lives of these hardened Pharisees. It was as if he asked them, “Why do you continue like this? Don’t you see that you were created and designed for so much more than this?” It grieved him to see that these Pharisees, because of their sin, were only shadows of what God originally intended for them to be. They had been made to live for so much more.

God is grievingly angry when our sin causes us to become less and less of what he created us to be, because we were fearfully and wonderfully made to live for so much more.

Our anger should be a grieving anger as well. When we see immorality and injustice, our anger should be stoked because of the devastating effects these things have on human life and community.

Grieving anger is far different from the kind of anger commonly associated with Christians. Lots of people think of Christians as embittered, angry people. They view Christians as being frustrated by our culture because things just aren’t going our way—our conservative political agenda is being thwarted.

Years ago I was one of five thousand people listening to a panel discussion at a Christian conference. An editor of a conservative political-theological magazine was expressing his frustration with many of the political left-wingers, and doing so in an unnecessarily sarcastic and condescending way. When he finished, John Piper (another speaker on the panel) turned to him, and with utmost seriousness and precision, he said, “For a long time I have appreciated your ministry. You are an astute observer of our culture. I read your magazine every month. It’s always insightful. But there’s one thing missing from your ministry.”

The editor looked at Dr. Piper and asked what it was.

“Tears,” Piper replied.

The world so often senses our anger—but do they ever sense our grief? They think we’re angry simply because we’re not getting our way, but I’m afraid they don’t feel our sorrow over sin’s negative, dehumanizing effects. We fail to communicate our anger in a way that says, “You were made for so much more than this.” They assume our anger is only because we’re not getting what we want. No wonder they tune us out.

When we see the restlessness and wreckage in people’s lives because they’re not in relationship with God and they’re living sin-filled lives, it should stoke our anger—an anger that arises because we love them and we grieve to see them living for something so destructive when God created them to live for something beautiful and satisfying.

Self-centered anger is not a grieving, love-fueled anger; that’s what God-centered anger is. So does your anger rage because your love for God and your love for others is radical? When people see us hating what God hates because our love for God and people is real and deep, they may be more open to hear what we have to say.

Mathison's list reminded me of one of the clearest passages of Scripture describing the greatness of God: Isaiah 40:9-31.

• How do I know God exists?
• How can God be loving yet send people to hell?
• How can God allow suffering and evil in the world?

[HT: Justin Taylor]

The Bible is all about God. That might seem an overly obvious point with which to begin a book on character formation, but, if we consider the matter seriously, we discover that we often read the Bible imagining it is about ourselves.

One way to ponder this is to contemplate the underlying question we usually bring to the Bible. Often we ask ourselves as we read, “How does this apply to me?” or “How will I live out this text?” Less nobly, we might be subconsciously asking, “How can this text make me feel good?” or “How can I use this passage to support my own ideas?” (since we sometimes read other books or journals that way). Notice that the focus has shifted away from God to us.

What would happen if instead we first asked such questions as these: “What is God doing in this text?” or “What is God revealing about one or all of the Triune Persons in this passage?” It might seem like a small matter, but it is actually an enormous shift in perspective. It is the move from self-improvement to adoration.

To read the rest of chapter 1, go here.