Do you have a blind spot in your worldview? As Nancy Pearcey writes, the Enlightenment changed the nature of beauty and aesthetics in the arts. Today, beauty and meaning in the arts are seen by many as “subjective,” relative to personal preference. It is this type of thinking that makes qualitative judgments regarding the arts off-limits. Yet, Scripture speaks of God’s high standards for the arts. In this video, Shawn Eaton discusses the popular, classical, and Scriptural views of beauty. If the Church is to worship according to biblical principles, it must recover its understanding of the true nature of beauty, for beauty is rooted in the very nature and character of God.
Follow this link to read Dr. Eaton’s article, “Worldview and Aesthetics in God-Centered Worship”:
One of the primary challenges that modern-day Christians face is that the secular worldview which permeates American culture is continually working to move Christ from the throne in our lives and push him to the periphery. The good news is as James K. A. Smith writes: Christian worship is the imagination station the church needs to be leveraging to keep our lives centered on God and His Kingdom. In this video, Dr. Eaton presents five steps that pastors and church leaders can implement to cultivate God-centered worship and encourage the realization of the historic Christian worldview in the twenty-first century church.
Employ biblical principles in corporate worship along with teaching the biblical message.
Keep God the central agent of worship.
Plan worship for God and His glory.
Foster a God-fearing atmosphere.
Gain an historic Christian understanding of beauty and meaning in the arts.
Recommended Reading
Block, Daniel I. For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014.
Chapell, Bryan. Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009.
Johnson, Terry. “God-Centered Worship.” Tabletalk Magazine. Accessed on June 29, 2020. Available from https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2005/01/god-centered-worship/; Internet.
Keller, Timothy. Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism. New York: Viking, 2015.
Lawson, Steven. “Worshiping the Triune God.” In Light and Heat: A Passion for the Holiness of God. Ligonier Ministries, 2011, DVD.
Smith, James K.A. You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2016.
Wasn’t the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, a good era in the development of Western culture? By these names, one would think so. Indeed, many helpful scientific discoveries were made during the period. However, a strict reliance upon rationalism and science in the pursuit of truth brought with it a dramatic shift in the worldview of Western society, one that still continues to unfold today. Deistic thought was ultimately responsible: the idea that God created the world, endowed it with natural laws, and then separated himself from it. In this video, Dr. Eaton teaches the core ideas that shifted Western culture from a God-centered to a man-centered society.
Are you living the Christian worldview? According to a 2018 George Barna Poll, only twenty-three percent of those identified as born again Christians in the United States hold a biblical world- and life-view. If the Church ever needed to realize the Christian worldview in the lives of our members, it seems now is the time. As worship is king of the spiritual disciplines, it has historically been the central activity of spiritual formation for the body of Christ. In this video, Dr. Eaton introduces key ingredients for cultivating God-centered worship—worship that employs the three biblical functions of the heart and engages God in ways appropriate to who He is.
Recommended Reading
Aniol, Scott. Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship. Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2009.
Johnson, Terry. “God-Centered Worship.” Tabletalk Magazine. Accessed on June 29, 2020. Available from https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2005/01/god-centered-worship/; Internet.