On the Heart of Worship, Part 2
November 2, 2008
Sunday Adult Bible Class
West Broad Church of Christ
October 26 and November 2, 2008
Dr. J.L. Nesmith, Jr., Facilitator
Introduction:
In our last lesson we noted that Scripture presents worship as an active endeavor, but too many Christians approach it passively. During this week’s discussion, we will work to answer one question: How do we move from passivity to active participation when we gather as the people of God in the house of God for the purpose of God?
I. Reviewing the H.E.A.R.T. of Worship
As we will see, impactful worship involves several core elements.
• Hearing (listening to) what is being said.
- the perspective of Israel
- the perspective of the New Testament writers
- the perspective of modern language
- Question: Does this discussion impact your view of the role of hearing in worship? How does this explanation coincide with your past practice?
• Engaging.
- making a comparison
- engagement and the text
- Understand that there is a name for places that restrict engagement in worship: “cult.”
• Appropriating.
- an example from history
- examples from Scripture
- Question: Think of your past worship experiences. What happened when you failed to appropriate? What happened when you did?
• Relating. We should remember that worship is not an isolated or isolating experience.
- relating in the New Testament
- a reality of biblical worship
- Question: How does this scriptural understanding compare to the “Sunday contact only” saint?
• Telling.
- tendencies and trends
- Christ and proclamation
- connecting proclamation and me
- Question: What is your response after worship? Are you interested in spreading the good news, or simply spreading news?
Summation and Challenge
We Christians possess the wonderful blessing of having relationship with the God of heaven. This relationship moves us to offer worship that involves hearing, engaging, appropriating, relating, and telling. Okay. You have an idea of what biblical worship demands. The question is, what kind of worship will you offer?
