Practical Theology / Worship

  • The Foolishness of Idolatry

    Isaiah 44:6–20

    Every form of idolatry manifests our doubts that God really has the ability to save. Counselors have long understood, for instance, that one of the main reasons people become drug, alcohol, and sex addicts is because they are looking for ...Read More

  • Dead Worship

    Amos 5:21–27

    It is not that God wanted Israel to abandon what He said about the form of worship, as we will see in other passages that address this issue. The goal, rather, was for worship to be true in form and ...Read More

  • Glorifying God in Worship

    Genesis 4:1–16

    In worship, we may say all the right things in our liturgies, but if our hearts are not in it, the Lord is displeased with our offering of praise. Similarly, our hearts may be fully into worshiping God, but if ...Read More

  • Glorifying God in Heaven

    Hebrews 12:18–29

    At issue in the worship wars is not old versus new but God-honoring worship versus irreverence. There are contemporary forms of worship that strive to keep God at the center, and there are traditional forms of worship that fail to ...Read More

  • How to Worship

    John 4:1–45

    The best way to ensure that we are worshiping God in spirit and truth is to make sure that we are consciously working to have the right attitude toward worship. We must always think carefully about what goes into a ...Read More

  • Fulfilling the Sabbath

    Hebrews 4:9–11

    The fact that people have disagreed over Lord’s Day observance and that it should not be an issue that divides Christians is not to say that the matter is unimportant. Instead, it is to recognize that there is a ...Read More

  • Gathering Together

    Hebrews 10:24–25

    “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Heb. 4:9). In our glorification, we will finally and fully rest from our sin and the weariness of laboring in a creation that is suffering the effects of the ...Read More

  • Architecture

    1 Kings 6

    When we gather to worship the Lord, it is essential to remember that we are coming into the presence of the most holy Creator who has nonetheless chosen to show great mercy to a particular people in the person of ...Read More

  • The Handmaiden of Theology

    Colossians 3:16

    Not every traditional hymn is good simply because it is old, and not every contemporary song is unfit for worship simply because it is new. There are bad traditional songs, and there are edifying contemporary songs. Our goal in worship ...Read More

  • Art for Whose Sake?

    Exodus 28

    Whether or not you agree that images have a place in our sanctuaries and church buildings, it is important to be aware of what is being communicated by the design of your church. The walls of our places of worship ...Read More

  • The Regulative Principle

    Leviticus 10:1–3

    Even within the Reformed tradition, where the regulative principle is highly esteemed, there is disagreement as to how it should be applied. But adherents to the regulative principle agree that human beings are not free to introduce things into worship ...Read More

  • Loving God by Loving Christ

    Matthew 10:37–39

    Adherents of other religions may do many good deeds in the name of God. They may even think that they are praying to Him when they beseech the Creator. But in doing all these things, they are really committing idolatry ...Read More

  • Doxology: The Goal of Theology

    Ephesians 3:20-21

    Knowing about the Lord is pointless without worship and praise. After all, the Devil knows far more about God than we do, and yet this knowledge gives him no benefit because he refuses to bow the knee in humble adoration ...Read More

  • Life Without Hope

    Ephesians 2:12b

    A generic confession of faith in God will not do for salvation but only belief in the one true living God, the covenant Lord of Israel and Father of Christ Jesus. Let us not fall into the cultural trap of ...Read More

  • Christ’s Word and the Believer

    Colossians 3:16-17

    Paul closes out Colossians 3:17 by reminding us to do everything in the name of Jesus. This entails not merely an action accompanied by an audible expression of “in Jesus name”; rather, to do something in His name is ...Read More