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Ask Pastor John

Should I Ever Go Through the Motions in Worship?

Ask Pastor John

Desiring God

John Piper, Unknown, 163859, Pastor, Ask, Theology, Desiring God, Religion & Spirituality/christianity, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Questions

4.83.8K Ratings

🗓️ 23 November 2018

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Is there an alternative between empty, duty-driven worship and spontaneous, joyful worship? Pastor John gives six marks of a middle way.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

We'll have you Thanksgiving every one this episode releases on the evening of the holiday and

0:07.8

we pray that your day has been full of gratitude for God's kindness and Pastor John, as we

0:11.8

look forward now to another weekend, today's timely question is about corporate worship.

0:17.2

It's from a listener named Scott, dear Pastor John and Tony, thank you for this podcast.

0:22.6

On this show of her, do you say that no one can truly worship God without enjoying him?

0:28.4

It's been a big indictment to me for the many occasions in church when I have participated

0:32.7

in the service without any feelings of joy in God for who he is.

0:37.3

So my question is, should we still try to worship God even when we aren't enjoying him?

0:42.6

Or should we wait for the enjoyment to come first, seeking it out prior to the beginning of our

0:46.8

musical worship? I have a feeling you're going to say that we should go ahead and try and pray

0:51.1

for enjoyment. So then can we work back from an action to a state of heart? That is, can going

0:57.4

through the motions of worship, producing us the sort of heart that would bring forth

1:01.9

that same worship spontaneously, Pastor John, what would you say to Scott?

1:07.4

The short answer to that last question is yes. You can't work backward like that.

1:13.8

That is possible if, if, if, if done in the right way. And before I try to sum up what that

1:24.8

right way is, let me point Scott to pages 96 and 97 of the book Desiring God because that's

1:35.9

where I pose this very question and give it the best answer I know how. So pages 96 and 97,

1:43.1

I think it's the most recent edition of Desiring God. In that section, I actually use the moment of

1:47.7

worship and the act of our giving a tithe in that moment as an act of worship. When I don't feel

1:55.9

like it, should I give a tithe when I don't feel like it as the war, you know, the play is coming

2:00.2

down the aisle and I have to choose whether to do that act of of worship because I ought to and I

2:06.8

don't feel like it or not. But instead of just rehearsing what I wrote on those pages, which seems

...

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