What Does It Mean to "Bless God"?

A SONG OF ASCENTS.
Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD,
   who stand by night in the house of the LORD!
Lift up your hands to the holy place
   and bless the LORD!
May the LORD bless you from Zion,
   he who made heaven and earth!
— Psalm 134

Commenting on Psalm 134 in his book, Journey to Joy: The Psalms of Ascent (published by Crossway Books), Josh Moody writes about what it means for a human being to bless God:

How can an inferior person, a subject, bless a superior person, a king? How can a created person, a human, bless his or her creator, the God of heaven and earth? Scholars have attempted various solutions to this conundrum, because the idea of our being able to bless God does not merely occur in this psalm but is fairly frequent throughout the Old Testament. Psalm 72: 18 says, 'Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel'; and Genesis 24: 27 says, 'Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master.' How can this be? How can it be true not only that 'blessed be Abram by God Most High' (Gen. 14: 19), but also 'blessed be God Most High' (Gen. 14: 20)? Or how can we not only receive blessing from God but actually give blessing to God?

Perhaps we need to ask another question: what does it actually mean to be blessed? In English the word bless means to pronounce that something is good or to confer goodness upon something in a religious sense, and the word may have its origins in the Old English word blood. A benediction, frequently used as a synonym, means 'a good saying,' coming from the Latin root meaning to say that something is good or well. The Hebrew word used here for 'blessed' may have the root of meaning to kneel before something or someone, though not all agree with that derivation.

Perhaps it is simplest to say, by analogy, that this word blessed, often used of us blessing God and of God blessing us, functions similarly to when we say that we speak to God and that God speaks to us. When we speak to God , we are speaking, and we speak human words necessarily. When we bless God, we are blessing and give human blessing necessarily. When God speaks, he speaks God's words, and when he blesses, he gives God's blessings. So the blessing of God by humans is a human declaration that God is good. What the pilgrims here are urging the priests to do ('Come, bless the LORD') and what they themselves will do ('lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!') is to live a life, to utter words and do deeds, in such a way that makes clear that God is good. They are being urged to live a life that honors God, to live a life that focuses upon God, to live for God. They are being urged to say that God is good, that he is blessed. They are not adding to the divine, eternal, complete, sufficient blessedness of God in his own person; they are witnessing to it. They are declaring, in their own experience, through their journey, that they have witnessed that a life lived for God is the happiest kind of life. They are blessing God that he is blessed and worth living for. It is their witness, their declaration.

The Book of Psalms, the Book of Christ

What could be a better way of starting a Saturday than to have the beauty of the Book of Psalms extolled through a clear, gentle, and lucid explanation of the Regulative Principle of Worship (except a Saturday when Turretin's Institutes arrives and someone tells you that he's gonna give you Bavinck's 4-vol Reformed Dogmatics for free!)?

Watch and listen to Ptr. Jeff Stivason of Grace Reformed Presbyterian Church talk about the beauty of worshiping God in the manner that truly pleases him.

John Calvin's Theology of Music: An Introduction

By N. Seth Nelson for In Covenant (newsletter of Covenant OPC):

Part I

Part II

Isaiah 40 and Divine Simplicity

Today's Lord's Day sermon on Isaiah 40 almost brought tears to my eyes (I was holding it in). Hearing the Gospel preached through a narrative of God's incomprehensible power and grace, as manifested in nature and redemption, inevitably moved me, and I noticed that my pastor's voice cracked at times (he was moved too!).

I was extremely pleased that today's sermon was, in a way, a reinforcement of this very profitable and philosophically technical (hence, profitable!) Reformed Forum presentation on the doctrine of divine simplicity that I got into yesterday (Dr. James Dolezal rocked!):

Now This Is How It's Done

G.I. Williamson explains why:

The Trinity in Everything

To be Christian is to be Trinitarian. To be anything otherwise and still claim Christianity is to be in a state of damnable error and deception. In fact, the whole of created reality bears the stamp of the-One-and-the-Many as evinced in the universal-particulars relationship inherent in every created object. God's Trinitarian "seal of approval" is emblazoned on creation as it is on redemption.

Robert Letham, a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and teacher of Systematic and Historical Theology at Wales Evangelical School of Theology, explains how our whole being must possess an utterly Trinitarian thrust in terms of the expressions of our piety—in prayer, preaching, the worship service, and the Sacraments:

The Psalter in Calvin's Piety

"Calvin views the Psalms as the canonical manual of piety. In the preface to his five-volume commentary on the Psalms—his largest exposition of any Bible book—Calvin writes: 'There is no other book in which we are more perfectly taught the right manner of praising God, or in which we are more powerfully stirred up to the performance of this exercise of piety.' Calvin's preoccupation with the Psalter was motivated by his belief that the Psalms teach and inspire genuine piety in the following ways:

Reformed Rap

There's this discussion over at The Reformed Pinoy about whether "Christian rap" is permissible in the context of the corporate worship of the church.

The Reformed Regulative Principle of Worship immediately informs us that the biblical reply is No.

Simply put, the RPW is sola scriptura applied to the corporate worship of God's people during the Sabbath assembly. It is not that, where Scripture is silent, we are free to devise our own schemes as pertaining to the elements of worship, but that we are to implement only those which Scripture explicitly mandates.

The elements of worship consist substantially of the Word of God and formally of the Word preached, the Word prayed, the Word sung, and the Word eaten and drunk. The circumstances of worship are those peripherals that do not impinge upon the nature and character of the dialog that ensues between God and His people (marked by reverence, awe, and humility), such as the building where the assembly is held, microphones, pews, etc. It is a universal phenomenon, and not cultural, that heavy, crunching guitars, slamming drums, and screaming (or rapping) vocals do not make for reverential, awe-struck, and humble expression.

Click here for the biblical arguments for RPW, and here for Calvin's take on worship.

Now that I'm at it, here's how a "Reformed rap" might look like (my own "composition"):

Hey, everybody, have you got a flowah
That changes lives, ooooh, what a powah
Comin' from mah homies, number one is Piper
But he's Baptistic, ooooh, makes me shudder

TULIP is the flowah everybody's pickin'
Even heretics, just look at Rick Warren
It's so cool, jump on the bandwagon
Just so you know, that's not the Reformation

TULIP! TULIP! TU-TU-TU-TULIP!
Not the Reformation
TULIP! TULIP! TU-TU-TU-TULIP!
Just look at Rick Warren
TULIP! TULIP! TU-TU-TU-TULIP!
Number one is Piper
TULIP! TULIP! TU-TU-TU-TULIP!
Ooooh, it makes me shudder

(Repeat indefinitely until crowd frenzy ensues)

The True Song

"The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him" (Exodus 15:2).

The song, or singing, is universal to man. It is the vehicle by which our deepest thoughts and emotions are brought to the fore, in a stream of melody and harmony.

If the man who is without God sings from the wellspring of his autonomy, the man of God, as Moses shows us, sings from a place of deep theological reflection and affection. In the battles of life, he knows and feels dependence—a singular clinging to God—and this moves him to song!

The song finds it teleological significance only when it flows from the dependent and worshipping lips of the child of God.

10 Arguments for the Regulative Principle of Worship by T. David Gordon

WCF XXI.1: "But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture."


I. Argument from the character of God as jealous

A. Brief description of the argument.

God is revealed to be a jealous God in scripture, and his character as a jealous God is introduced into texts which prohibit certain things (creating images) in the worship of God. Thus, the prohibition of creating graven images or any other likeness of anything in heaven or earth is grounded in God’s character as a jealous God. As a jealous God, He does not accommodate himself to the forms of worship to which humans are accustomed, but rather insists that He be worshiped as He wills.

B. Sample of relevant texts—Ex.20:4-5; 34:14


II. Argument from those passages where piety is described as doing exclusively what God wishes.

A. Brief description of the argument.

In many passages, the wicked are described not as doing what is contradictory to God’s will, but what is beside His will. Similarly, the pious are described by their trembling in God’s presence, their doing exclusively what God wishes. This being the case, "creative" worship; worship which is beside what God has revealed, which is anything other than what God has revealed to be a delight to him, is impious.

B. Sample of relevant texts—Isa.66:1-4; Dt.12:29-32; Lev. 10:1-2; 1 Sam.13:8-15; 15:3-22


III. Argument from the severity of the temporal punishments inflicted upon those who offer to God worship other than what He has prescribed (this is the "heart" of the traditional argument).

A. Brief description of the argument.

There are places where people offer worship to God, in an apparently good-faith desire to please Him, yet they do so in some manner not prescribed by God, and His punishment of them is severe. The severity of the punishment reveals that God is intensely displeased by such.

B. Sample of relevant texts—Lev. 10:1-2; 1 Sam.13:8-15


IV. Argument from the sinful tendency towards idolatry (Rom. 1).

Paul’s point in Romans 1:19ff is that the human race, in its revolt against God, has "worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator." Further, this is not due to ignorance, but to moral defilement: "Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give him thanks…"

Cf. Thomas E. Peck, Miscellanies, vol. I, pp. 96-97: "Man, then, is incompetent to devise modes of worship, because he knows not what modes are best adapted to express the truth or the emotions which the truth is suited to produce."


V. Argument from the nature of worship as covenant renewal.

If, as we have attempted to demonstrate, corporate worship is a gathering of God’s people to renew covenant with him, and if the nature of that covenant is sovereign (instituted entirely by God’s free choice), and if the duty of that covenant is our complete obedience in all areas of life, then the service in which we renew our commitment to such a covenant ought especially and explicitly to reflect the utter lordship of God over us.


VI. Argument from the Limits of Church-Power

A. Brief description of the argument.

The Church is an institution; instituted by the positive command of the risen Christ, and authorized by Him to require obedience to His commands and participation in His ordinances. The Church is given no authority to require obedience to its own commands, and is given no authority to require participation in ordinances of its own making. The Regulative Principle of Church-Government lies behind the Regulative Principle of Worship.

B. Sample of relevant texts—Mat. 28:18-20; 2 Cor. 1:24; Rom. 14:7-9


VII. Argument from Liberty of Conscience (or argument from charity, cf. the following outline for a further elaboration)

A. Brief description of the argument.

The Bible teaches that Christ is the sole Lord of an individual’s conscience; that believers owe implicit obedience (obedience that needs no justification in reason or arguments) to Christ alone. God alone may require us to do something simply because He has said so. To induce someone to act contrary to what they believe is right is sinful. Further, God requires us to worship Him only as He has revealed. Therefore, to require a person, in corporate worship, to do something which God has not required, forces the person either to sin against his/her conscience, by making them do what they do not believe God has called them to do, or to not participate in portions of public worship, which offends the principle of corporate worship (John Murray and Edmund Clowney have articulated this view very clearly).

B. Sample of relevant texts—Romans 14; 1 Corinthians 8:4-13


VIII. Argument from Faith

A. Brief description of the argument. By its very essence, faith is a trusting, obedient response to what God has revealed. Faith, that is, looks outside of the self to God, depending not on self but on God, relying on Him, believing Him, acquiescing in His judgments and ways. Where God has not revealed himself, no faithful response is possible, by definition. And, without faith it is impossible to please God. Therefore, God cannot be pleased by worship which is unfaithful, that is, worship which is not an obedient response to his revelation (John Owen makes this argument compellingly).

B. Sample of relevant texts—Rom.14:23; Heb. 11:6, and entire chapter.


IX. Argument from the distance between the Creator and the creature.

A. Brief description of the argument.

God’s ways and thoughts are above ours as the heavens are above the earth. He is clothed in mystery, and it is his glory to conceal a thing. The hidden things belong to him, but the revealed things belong to us. What makes us think we can possibly fathom what would please God?

B. Sample of relevant texts—Isa. 40:12-14; Deut. 29:29; Isa. 55:9; Prov.25:2


X. Argument from Church History

A. Brief description of the argument.

Church history amply demonstrates that fallen creatures, left to their own devices, inevitably produce worship which is impious. Especially the Reformation, as an historical movement, bore testimony to the corruption which creeps slowly yet inevitably into worship when worship is not regulated by the revealed will of God.


Source: Regulative Principle Handout

For Calvin, Worship Was No. 1

An axiom of John Calvin's theology was the importance and centrality of worship for vital and genuine Christian faith and practice. In fact, Calvin put worship ahead of salvation in his list of the two most important facets of biblical religion. The Christian religion maintains its truth, he wrote, by "a knowledge,  first, of the mode in which God is duly worshipped; and  secondly, of the source from which salvation is to be obtained."

Calvin also observed that the first table of the law—the first four commandments—all directly related to worship, thus making worship "the first foundation of righteousness."

The prominence of worship led to Calvin's articulation of his regulative principle, one of the hallmarks of the Reformed tradition. The regulative principle teaches that public worship is governed by God's revelation in his Holy Word; whatever elements comprise corporate worship must be directly commanded by God in Scripture. The fact that a congregation always has worshipped in a particular way or that a certain practice stems from sincere piety are insufficient justifications for such worship. According to Calvin, God not only "regards as fruitless, but also plainly abominates" whatever does not conform to his revealed will. "The words of God are clear and distinct," Calvin wrote, "'Obedience is better than sacrifice.' 'In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, . . . .' (1 Sam. 15:22; Matt. 15:9)."

Not only did the desire to obey God inform Calvin's conception of the regulative principle, but equally important was his understanding of human depravity. The principal effect of Adam's first transgression was to turn all people into idolaters. All individuals, Calvin believed, possess a seed of religion or a sense of God in their souls. But after the fall this religious sense no longer led to the true God but forced men and women to create gods of their own making, ones that conformed to their own selfishness and vanity. The temptation of idolatry required Christians to be ever vigilant in regulating their worship by the direct commands of God in Scripture. This temptation made Calvin especially suspicious of practices in worship that were said to be pleasing or attractive to members of the congregation. He said, the more a practice "delights human nature, the more it is to be suspected by believers."

— D. G. Hart, Reforming Worship

The Beauty, Purity, and Simplicity of Reformed Worship

"Reformed worship is beautiful, but it does not have the beauty of sensual things. Rather, it has the beauty mentioned in several of the psalms. 'Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness' (Ps. 29:2).

It is for this reason that Reformed worship has always been marked by what some have called 'a stark simplicity.' The beauty is found in the faithful preaching of the Word of God, in the simple, unadorned, but faithful administration of the sacraments, and in the maintenance of faithful discipline. Reformed people find their delight in truth and in the spiritual things that Christ spoke of when he said that we must worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Abraham Kuyper spoke of 'the serious danger with which symbolism menaces the future of our Calvinistic Church life.' When 'symbolism replaces revelation,' he said, it 'makes us fall back from conscious to unconscious religion. The Reformed faith always places revelation in the foreground, and tolerates no other performances than such as are able to echo it and remain carefully under its sway.' This simplicity is a hallmark of the worship conducted in Reformed churches."

- Thomas E. Tyson and G.I. Williamson, What is the Reformed Faith?, Part IV, p. 34

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord—Woe is Me!

Isaiah 6 cuts to the quick! Just for the life we lived today, you and I can fittingly cry "Woe is me!", for its incongruity to God's holiness and our professed Christianity. We miss the mark time and time again and we mourn. We cry out to God and ask for more of His holiness to be who and what we are, not just positionally, but in true substance and character. And so we will never cease to worship Him for all eternity for that is precisely what He has accomplished in Christ, and that is make a way for us to be partakers of His holiness, His beauty, and His character.

Some Points on Worship

Joh 4:23
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Joh 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The kind of worship that God esteems is the kind that is both founded on the truths of God's Word and brimming with fire and passion, involving the total man.

Firstly, a true worshipper must be one with Truth personified, and that is Jesus Christ. Only the person who has the Holy Spirit in him, and is united with Christ, can offer acceptable worship unto God.

Secondly, a true worshipper must know the One to whom He is offering worship. This is where the study of God's Word plays a primary role. We are commanded to KNOW GOD in Scripture and through Scripture. As we know more of God's character and nature, we are filled with awe and reverence, and this, in turn, leads us to the third point.

A true worshipper must worship with all zeal and enthusiasm, involving emotions that have been charged by a sincere affection for God, founded on the truths about Him revealed in His Word.

True worship must involve the MIND, the AFFECTIONS, and the WILL. Anything short of this is a farce.

"Sincerity, enthusiasm, and aggressiveness are important, but they must be based on truth. And truth is foundational, but if it doesn't result in an eager, excited, enthusiastic heart, it is deficient. Enthusiastic heresy is heat without light. Barren orthodoxy is light without heat...The Father seeks both enthusiasm and orthodoxy, spirit and truth." - John MacArthur, Jr., The Ultimate Priority - Worship, ch.11, p. 116

"All worship is an INTELLIGENT and LOVING response to the REVELATION of God...

Therefore acceptable worship is impossible without preaching.

Our worship is poor BECAUSE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IS POOR, and our knowledge of God is poor because our preaching is poor. But when the Word of God is EXPOUNDED in its fullness, and the congregation begin to glimpse the glory of the living God, they bow down in solemn awe and joyful wonder before His throne." (emphases mine) - John Stott, Between Two Worlds, pp. 82-83

Early Morning Brokenness

Ps 5:3
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

Ps 143:8
Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.

How can a new day be started pure? By being at once in the mode of repentance and humility as consciousness dawns. It is being antagonistically aware of the various sinful thoughts that now seek realization, and beseeching God for the mercies, fresh everyday, that will gird oneself against early-morning disobedience. It is being on one's knees before God, with a lowly heart, asking Him for the grace to be able to put a smile on His face. God, beholding the soul hungry and thirsty for righteousness, is faithful and will satisfy this holy desire that burns in the heart of every child of God.

May we offer the Lord a broken and contrite heart every morning. Be assured that this, in no way, will He despise.