Here are several quotes that show how revelation of God’s word must come first in our worship. Worship then becomes a correct passionate response to biblical truth:
“True worship does not come from people whose feelings are like air ferns with no root in the solid ground of biblical doctrine. The only affections that honor God are those rooted in the rock of biblical truth. . . . True worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship.”
John Piper, Desiring God , 90, 76
No worship leader, pastor, band, or song will ever bring us close to God. . . . Worship itself cannot lead us into God’s presence. Only Jesus himself can bring us into God’s presence.”
Bob Kauflin
When such things as the arts and music are used to lead God’s people into worship . . . we have supplanted the leading of the Holy Spirit with music and the arts. Such a move is pagan because music becomes mediatorial in a way that only Jesus Christ is supposed to be. [1 Tim 2:5] This kind of pagan thinking is commonly articulated following corporate worship services when people say things like, “The music really led me into God’s presence,” or “I could not worship well because of the music.
(Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe, p. 354)
“Worship is our response to what God has revealed about himself. The Scriptures are the written record here we receive God’s special revelation. Through the Scriptures, we learn about God; we learn about his love for is people; and we discover his redemptive plan. Worship is our response to this foundational truth.
Kevin J. Navarro, The Complete Worship Leader, 41
“Knowledge of God is the result of the divine initiative, to which man responds by selfcommittal to God, entering through Christ into a holy fellowship. ‘We love, because He first loved us.’ That is the sequence of this worship: the revelation of God in holy Scripture, and the response of His children in the fellowship of the great prayer.”
William D. Maxwell, Concerning Worship, 38
“Worship is the human response to the self revelation of the triune God, which involves: (1) divine initiation in which God graciously reveals himself, his purposes, and will; (2) a spiritual and personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ enabled by the ministry of the Holy Spirit; and (3) a response by the worshiper of joyful
adoration, reverence, humility, submission and obedience.”David Nelson, from “Voicing God’s Praise: The Use of Music in Worship, in Authentic Worship: Hearing Scripture’s Voice, Applying Its Truth, 149
“Worship depends upon revelation, and Christian worship depends upon the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. Worship, that is to say, begins not from our end but from God’s; it springs from the divine initiative in redemption. We come to God because God, in Jesus Christ, has come to us: we love Him because He first loved us: we ascribe to Him supreme worth because He has showed Himself to be worthy of our complete homage, gratitude and trust. Worship is essentially a response, man’s response to God’s Word of grace, to what He has done for us men and for our salvation.”
Raymond Abba, Principles of Christian Worship, 5