Wow my reputation precedes me - I was even late posting - so they had their chance - but would like more to join in so its not just Jack and I. Anyway here were my thoughts when reading this chapter.
Chapter 8 – (Worship Matters because it) Magnifies the Greatness of God
(Part 1) This chapter really ministered to me (seeing the big picture of what Psalms teaches us about worship) and if I had one chapter to recommend for someone to understand Biblical worship it would be this one. The starting point for worship “involves thinking about, magnifying, and responding to the glory and splendor of God.” This is a great definition of worship (although the starting point of worship is regeneration by the Holy Spirit as an unbeliever cannot worship as an enemy of God). Kauflin rightly warns of the multitude distractions in life as an extreme danger/threat to a believer’s worship when they are tempted to view God as small when He is so great. In remembering this we are given another aspect in defining worship, “magnifying and cherishing His greatness is at the heart of biblical worship.” I really like Kaulflin’s illustration of the greatness of God being like stars being massive fire balls million times bigger than the earth, but our perspective of them being tiny points of light. This is why we must work so hard on our “vision” in worship and as Kauflin rightly urges for us to as our first priority to magnify the Lord and to be clear and specific in our worship about God’s nature, character, and acts. This is definitely good advice for our church to “telescope” in on by our worship so that we see and worship the God’s greatness. (Wow I can't even post this as it exceeds the allowed number of characters - I hear cheering - but still see part 2)
(Part 2) We get a third installment of an excellent definition of worship by John Stott that is the WHAT of worship: “All true worship is a response to the self-revelation of God in Christ and Scripture, and arises from our reflection on who He is and what He has done…The worship of God is evoked, informed, and inspired by the vision of God…The true knowledge of God will always lead us to worship.” Next Kaufin gives us the HOW of worship via the book of Psalms – magnifying the greatness of God’s Word (Psalm 56:10-11, 19:7-9, 119:172), Nature (Psalm 145:8-9, 117:1-2, 21:13, 99:3), and Works (Psalm 105:2, 28:5, 111:2, 148:5, Hebrews 10:19-22, 11:3, Colossians 1:17). These Scriptures alone (hopefully Ref Tagger will allow these verses to speak as they did to me) are worth the price of admission. I starred in the book (my way of marking the top statement of the chapter) the great conclusion: “Magnifying God’s greatness begins with the proclamation of objective, biblical truths about God, but it ends with the expression of deep and holy affections toward God. We aren’t simply reciting facts about God…God wants us to DELIGHT in Him (Psalm 37:4). He is exalted when all our energies are directed to one end – being satisfied in who He is.” May we learn as Kauflin writes to better respond to God’s greatness and to rejoice with all we are (thoughts, actions, feelings, affections, energy). Kauflin summarizes our response as delight, commitment, yearning, and trust (Philippians 4:4, Psalm 31:23, 100:2). He helps us with a poignant statement for each: “It glorifies God when we delight in Him, expressing the joy of knowing Him and being known by Him (Psalm 18:1, 34:8)…Committing ourselves to follow and serve God also honors Him – we can never be too frequent or too solemn in the general surrender of our souls to God and bind our souls by a vow to be the Lord’s forever (Psalm 34:1)…Yearning to know more of God also brings Him glory (Psalm 63:1, 84:2) to thirst for God like in a dry and weary land where there is no water because we more than need Him…Expressing trust in god in times of trial, suffering, and discouragement (Psalm 77:2-9, 62:8) even when we feel a disconnect between what we feel (circumstances) and what we know to be true of God.” Therefore, may Truth Bible Church magnify and telescope in on God’s greatness by proclaiming it in our worship with passion so that we have biblical truth working in tandem with strong affections.
"An effective corporate worship leader, aided and led by the Holy Spirit, skillfully combines God's Wordwith musicto magnify the worth of God and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, thereby motivating the gathered church to join him in proclaiming and cherishing the truth about God and seeking to live all of life for the glory of God." - Bob Kauflin
4 comments:
Someone please say something before Chad does and thereby leave nothing else to say!
:{)
Wow my reputation precedes me - I was even late posting - so they had their chance - but would like more to join in so its not just Jack and I. Anyway here were my thoughts when reading this chapter.
Chapter 8 – (Worship Matters because it) Magnifies the Greatness of God
(Part 1) This chapter really ministered to me (seeing the big picture of what Psalms teaches us about worship) and if I had one chapter to recommend for someone to understand Biblical worship it would be this one. The starting point for worship “involves thinking about, magnifying, and responding to the glory and splendor of God.” This is a great definition of worship (although the starting point of worship is regeneration by the Holy Spirit as an unbeliever cannot worship as an enemy of God).
Kauflin rightly warns of the multitude distractions in life as an extreme danger/threat to a believer’s worship when they are tempted to view God as small when He is so great. In remembering this we are given another aspect in defining worship, “magnifying and cherishing His greatness is at the heart of biblical worship.” I really like Kaulflin’s illustration of the greatness of God being like stars being massive fire balls million times bigger than the earth, but our perspective of them being tiny points of light. This is why we must work so hard on our “vision” in worship and as Kauflin rightly urges for us to as our first priority to magnify the Lord and to be clear and specific in our worship about God’s nature, character, and acts. This is definitely good advice for our church to “telescope” in on by our worship so that we see and worship the God’s greatness. (Wow I can't even post this as it exceeds the allowed number of characters - I hear cheering - but still see part 2)
(Part 2) We get a third installment of an excellent definition of worship by John Stott that is the WHAT of worship: “All true worship is a response to the self-revelation of God in Christ and Scripture, and arises from our reflection on who He is and what He has done…The worship of God is evoked, informed, and inspired by the vision of God…The true knowledge of God will always lead us to worship.” Next Kaufin gives us the HOW of worship via the book of Psalms – magnifying the greatness of God’s Word (Psalm 56:10-11, 19:7-9, 119:172), Nature (Psalm 145:8-9, 117:1-2, 21:13, 99:3), and Works (Psalm 105:2, 28:5, 111:2, 148:5, Hebrews 10:19-22, 11:3, Colossians 1:17). These Scriptures alone (hopefully Ref Tagger will allow these verses to speak as they did to me) are worth the price of admission.
I starred in the book (my way of marking the top statement of the chapter) the great conclusion: “Magnifying God’s greatness begins with the proclamation of objective, biblical truths about God, but it ends with the expression of deep and holy affections toward God. We aren’t simply reciting facts about God…God wants us to DELIGHT in Him (Psalm 37:4). He is exalted when all our energies are directed to one end – being satisfied in who He is.” May we learn as Kauflin writes to better respond to God’s greatness and to rejoice with all we are (thoughts, actions, feelings, affections, energy).
Kauflin summarizes our response as delight, commitment, yearning, and trust (Philippians 4:4, Psalm 31:23, 100:2). He helps us with a poignant statement for each: “It glorifies God when we delight in Him, expressing the joy of knowing Him and being known by Him (Psalm 18:1, 34:8)…Committing ourselves to follow and serve God also honors Him – we can never be too frequent or too solemn in the general surrender of our souls to God and bind our souls by a vow to be the Lord’s forever (Psalm 34:1)…Yearning to know more of God also brings Him glory (Psalm 63:1, 84:2) to thirst for God like in a dry and weary land where there is no water because we more than need Him…Expressing trust in god in times of trial, suffering, and discouragement (Psalm 77:2-9, 62:8) even when we feel a disconnect between what we feel (circumstances) and what we know to be true of God.” Therefore, may Truth Bible Church magnify and telescope in on God’s greatness by proclaiming it in our worship with passion so that we have biblical truth working in tandem with strong affections.
Thanks Chad, nice summary. Almost as long as the chapter, but nice summary. If it's not brief is a still a summary? ;{)
I really liked this chapter too, after you get past the shocking idea that something as large as God needs to be magnified by wee little us...
Completely unneeded if we would only stop trying to make Him our size.
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