Men’s Sunday Small Group: Sound Doctrine and Worship

Leave a reply

Join us every Sunday morning at 9:15 at Tabernacle Baptist Church for our Men’s Small Group!

Before Sunday’s class, please take the time to read and reflect on the scripture provided and be prepared to participate in the discussion of the assigned questions.

Bobby Jamieson, The Whole Truth about God: Biblical Theology, ed. Mark Dever, 9Marks Healthy Church Study Guides (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012)

Sadly, worship is a battleground in many churches today. Skirmishes over volume, instrumentation, and style frequently divide churches. In all of these “worship wars,” the focus is almost exclusively on music, and especially on the style of music.

Combatants in the worship wars may be surprised to learn that the Bible tells us very little about the style of music churches should sing. On one hand, the New Testament does provide a pattern for what kinds of activities churches should do in their corporate gatherings (namely, singing, praying, reading Scripture, preaching, and celebrating baptism and the Lord’s Supper). On the other hand, it says little about matters of style. In fact, as Christians, Scripture tells us far more about why to worship God than about how to worship him.
Simply put, Scripture tells us that we are to worship God because of who he is and what he has done. In other words, worship is fueled by sound doctrine.

MAIN IDEA

Sound doctrine fuels our worship of God because true worship is praising God for who he is and what he has done.

Psalm 96

[1] Oh sing to the LORD a new song;
	sing to the LORD, all the earth!
[2] Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
	tell of his salvation from day to day.
[3] Declare his glory among the nations,
	his marvelous works among all the peoples!
[4] For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
	he is to be feared above all gods.
[5] For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
	but the LORD made the heavens.
[6] Splendor and majesty are before him;
	strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
	
[7] Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
	ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
[8] Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
	bring an offering, and come into his courts!
[9] Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness;
	tremble before him, all the earth!
	
[10] Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!
	Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
	he will judge the peoples with equity.”
	
[11] Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
	let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
[12] let the field exult, and everything in it!
	Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
[13] before the LORD, for he comes,
	for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
	and the peoples in his faithfulness. (ESV)
  1. What does the psalmist command his hearers to do in verses 2b and 3?
  2. In verse 8, the psalmist invites us to “ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.” What does that mean? What does this verse teach us about worship?
  3. As we’ve seen in this psalm, the heart of worship is giving glory to God for who he is and what he has done. How then does sound doctrine relate to worship?
  4. In 1 Timothy 4:13 Paul commands Timothy, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” In light of Psalm 96, explain why public Scripture reading in a church service is an appropriate act of worship. (Think especially about this psalm’s link between singing to the Lord and declaring God’s praise to others.)

How has your understanding of sound doctrine increased your love for God and your worship of God? Can you give specific examples of how your growth in the knowledge of God—even coming to understand specific doctrines—has led you to worship God more heartily and devotedly, and to declare his praise to others?

Leave a ReplyCancel reply