The God we seek is a Person. As we seek Him (and not just an experience of Him) we glorify and do indeed enjoy Him… It is not “my experience” at which proper worship aims. Fulfilling personal experience is a by-product of God-centeredness in worship.
God-Centered Worship? Table Talk, Jan. 2005, p. 17-18. Used by Permission.
By definition worship must be about God, not my amusement… All up front, the service performed on behalf of an audience relaxing in theater-style seating… Much of what passes for worship today is nothing more than lightly baptized entertainment, and therefore is idolatrous. It is idolatry from which serious churches must distance themselves.
Pluralistic Worship, Tabletalk, June 2008, p. 64, Used by Permission.
We’ve watched the biblical content of services shrink beyond visibility. But doesn’t faith come by hearing the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17)? Are the spiritually dead not born again by the living and abiding Word of God (1 Pet. 1:23)? Do the people of God not grow by the pure milk of God’s Word (2:2)? Then does it not matter what we read, preach, and sing in our services, and in what quantities? Should we not be alarmed when we see self-centered sermons replace biblical exposition, repetitious choruses replace biblically rich hymnody and psalmody, token prayers replace a full-diet of biblical prayer (for example, praise, confession, thanksgiving, intercessions), and Scripture reading disappear altogether?
On Being Negative, September 2009, Tabletalk, p. 38. Used by Permission.
