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A Taste of Heaven: Worship in the Light of Eternity

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Dr. Sproul goes through great lengths to describe baptism as a sign or seal to the New Testament covenant. As Circumcision was a sign or seal to the Old Testament covenant, Baptism is a sign or seal to the New Testament covenant. The author does a fair job describing the counter argument to believers Baptism. Dr. Sproul argues that Baptism is assign of coming to the Family of God; actual belief is a realization of this fact. I disagree; I believe that a person needs an actual knowledge and belief to be identified with God's Kingdom. The author goes through great lengths in describing the difference between a sign and symbol. A sign points to the actual fact whereas a symbol represents the actual thing. Symbolism is not to be confused with mere symbolism or activity that does not reflect the actual glory of God and His great acts.
Dr. Sproul goes to great length to identify worship with the God described in the Bible. If one accepts the idea the Bible is God's word then what the Bible teaches about worship should be prescribed in God's Church. TH e words of the Bible should take precedence over personal taste, enjoyment or fulfillment. Worship is not about oneself. This should not be confused that worship should only touch the cerebral. Yes worship service should provoke thought, understanding about whom God is and the works of God. Pure knowledge of these things should provoke an emotional response. That does not mean that the form, the organization of the service, worship surroundings, and actual activity of the service cannot form additional emotion about God and His great deeds. R.C. Sproul argues the Old Testament worship as prescribed about the Old Testament did this and some of it can be used enlighten us about worship in the New Testament Church. Yes the New Testament looks at the perfected sacrifice of Jesus. No current repetitive sacrifice need occur.

The author does an excellent job of describing why the Lord's Supper in representation and the actual Spirit of Christ in the Lord's Supper should a very emotional experience in reverence to what God has provided so one need not pay the consequence of their sin. Not be confused with a physical actual corporal body being involved. R.C. Sproul also argues baptism as identification to Jesus and the New Testament Covenant.

This is an excellent book on worhsip. Sproul stresses the importance of the use of the 5 senses in worship. it is also a solid apologetic on infant baptism and he makes a great appeal for the use of wine in the Lord's supper. This book will unfortuntley fall on deaf ears, but happy is the church that follows his suggestions.

This is another great work by R.C. Sproul. He share with me some views i had not previously thought much about and showed through this book the involvement of God in everthing. I especially loved how he connects the old testament with the new to show us our current application of biblical principles. Thanks R.C.

"If God himself were to design worship, what would it look like?" This is the question that Dr R.C. Sproul asks and endeavors to answer in his book A Taste of Heaven: Worship in the Light of Eternity.

I think he did a pretty good job. The book is short (172 pages, 8' x 5.5') but don't let the size make you think it is a paper weight. Consistent with his reputation, Sproul gives you a lot to chew on in small, managable bites. It's good.

Sproul's sounds as if he walked into a typical evangelical church's pastoral meeting and asked, "Hey, have you guys ever thought about what God wants?" From there he is so thoughtful, compassionate, and refreshingly biblical.

Sproul's strength is that he drives everything back to the Scripture. God rules his people through his word. Therefore, Christians love the Bible! This heart cry of the Reformation is the cry of the Bible and should be of every Christian.

He covers reoccuring principles and patterns throughout redemptive history. He shows how God has always employed our senses and minds in our worship of him. He takes us to a wandering nation out of Egypt. He takes us to Jerusalem. He takes us to Geneva. He takes us to Florida. And throughout this guided tour through biblical and church history, Sproul makes us think and interact with the Scriptures.

He also spends considerable time (3 chapters) talking about baptism. Of course Sproul is a Presbyterian and staunch advocate of paedo-baptism. I found this ironic when I noticed that he dedicated the book to John MacArthur (Sproul and MacArthur have publicaly debated infant baptism). If you disagree with Sproul, don't get hung up on this; there is more than enough to help you in your appreciation of private and corporate worship.

The best thing I can say about the book is that it makes you anticipate and appreciate the Lord's Day gathering of the church. It is a very helpful resource.

Introduction:

A Taste of Heaven was written by Sproul in order to foster in our churches what is proper worship. His fear is that churches have merged far to much into our Sunday what is secular rather than that which is spiritual. Secular worship to the Father is improper worship and according to Isaiah a waste of breath. Sproul's desire is that churches and individuals may engage in worship that is honoring to God.

Body: The bases that Sproul works off for his text is his belief on liturgy. The doctor writes in his text that during seminary he came to the conclusion that in the debate over worship he sided with the liturgy style of the priests, rather than the prophets. The argument is that in the books of the prophets, the prophets hold to that the form does not matter, rather the heart is the important part. This would mean that a person could worship in whatever way he found appropriate as long as his heart was right. However, Sproul's argument is that the prophets were not negating the liturgical style that God established through the priest, but rather showing the people that the style was worthless without the right kind of heart. Therefore, Sproul argues that we still need to pay attention to what principles God set in place in the Old Testament worship method. He admits that a Christian needs to be careful as he enters the Old Testament to discover how he should live so he does not fall into pharisaical tendencies, but that does not remove the necessity of such an endeavor.

R.C. Sproul argues that worship begins by giving of ourselves in full entirety to God. He quotes Romans 12:1-2 and concludes that God plays for keeps. This is the essence of worship and must proceed the form. The form is very important but the heart issue allows the proper worship to take place. In the same way as the Jewish customs focused upon an animal sacrifice the New Testaments alerts us to the truth that Christ has been the ultimate sacrifice and we must follow in his steps.

Another chief element of Jewish worship that was set in place by God was prayer. This was evidenced by the role of Zechariah in the beginning of Luke. Zechariah was commissioned to light incense on the altar and say a pastoral prayer. This act of prayer was a chief part of worship for the Jewish people. Christ even said, "my house shall be called a house of prayer." (Matt 21:13)
Sproul writes a piercing paragraph on prayer in Evangelical churches:

Do we think of our church buildings today in principal
terms as being houses of prayer? When we talk as evangelicals
about prayer, we can almost assume that the conversation
will be about private and personal prayer, quiet times, daily
devotions, or perhaps the Wednesday night prayer meeting
where we gather with other Christians to pray. But it's almost
completely outside the scope of consideration when we talk
about prayer to think about it in terms of the sanctuary. The
typical Protestant church building today can hardly be called
a house of prayer.
The sacraments is another avenue of worship initiated by Christ. He placed two objects in front of us to have in the Lord's supper: bread and wine.

"...historically, the church has tried to maintain a close connection
with that which Christ in fact instituted. The Scriptures tell
us that Christ ordained that the Lord's Supper be celebrated
with bread and wine, and if we truly want to worship God
in the way He directs, we should be willing to use those
elements."

Therefore, during the Lord's supper we should not substitute bread and wine with peanut butter and a bottle of Pepsi. Christ has set in place these symbols for his church to use.

Other issues that Sproul covers is an excellent portion on infant baptism that this Baptist struggled through. He also makes arguments in this book for the usage of wine in communion. Incense, church architecture, and music are also themes covered in A Taste of Heaven.

Conclusion:

My grandmother had a massive collection of knickknacks that she kept on her shelf. She would on a rare occasion dust the shelf and take stock of her knickknacks. After cleaning them she would then decide which ones to keep, or should she throw one of them away. This is what Sproul does in A Taste of Heaven. He takes the ritual actions of the church off the shelf, inspects them, and sees if there is a biblical defense for them. If a biblical defense is to be had then Sproul urges the church not to lose this act of worship.

I feel that when my ordination comes along I will peer into these pages often in order to have a defense for my position. This book is an invaluable tool for the church as well as its leaders.

"Worship...is far too important to be left to personal preferences". This statement, made in the first chapter of Sproul's book on worship, sets the tone for the entire discussion that follows. R.C. Sproul offers the Christian community a mini-theology of worship. He convincingly argues that far from standing back and allowing us complete freedom in how we choose to worship, God in fact preciously defined worship for the Old Testament believer. The author challenges his readers to ask the question: "If God Himself were to design worship, what would it look like?" The answer is simple: "We're not left to speculate on the answer to that question, because vast portions of the Old Testament text are specifically devoted to a style and practice of worship that God Himself ordained and established among His people." While recognizing the inherent discontinuity with the New Covenant, Sproul still sees operative principles at work.

The several chapters of the book cover a wide range of issues related to worship. Worship is something which demands the entirety of the believer (living sacrifices) and involves three elements: offerings of praise, offerings of prayer, and offerings of sacrifice. The middle portion of the book is an extended discussion of the sacraments (Lord's Supper and Baptism) and their relationship to worship.

The book includes three chapters on baptism, the last one being a defense of infant baptism. In this chapter Sproul gives what is perhaps the most irenic and charitable disagreement with believer's baptism currently in print. He fairly portrays the Baptist point of view and carefully outlines his rationale for padeobaptism. Frankly, these three chapters alone are worth the price of the book. Yet, although this last chapter was very helpful it did seem out of place. It's significance to worship wasn't readily evident and if he had simply omitted this chapter the flow of the book would have been smoother and more focused.

Sproul then challenges the worshipper who is bored with worship. They are bored, he insists, "because they have no sense of the presence of God". Only when we understand that worship is an encounter with the risen Christ will ours hearts be set ablaze. To achieve this understanding, Sproul believes we must allow our whole person to enter into worship. Thus, the last section of the book argues for utilization of all five senses (following what Sproul believes to be an Old Testament model). This section was fascinating, but far too brief and ends somewhat abruptly.

Overall, this volume is an excellent overview of the basic biblical principles of worship.

Worship is one of the hardest things to define. We recognise it when we see it, fight over styles of it, read about it, write about, but defining it is really hard. Often our disputes over what does and does not constitute worship are about methodology rather than Scripture or Theology. I picked up a copy of this book, care of Reformation trust, in the hope that it would better help me to understand the true nature of worship. When reccomending books on worship I take a cue from David Hume . If a book on worship doesn't help you to understand worship better or strengthen your resolve to worship God then "commit it to the flames".

One of my favourite lecturers, Mark Strom, once said that "Fish glorfiy God, not by holding prayer meetings but by being Fish. Human beings Glorify God by getting on with the business of being human" Sproul opens along the same lines saying that fish have an ability to swim right from birth. Its something they do naturally and it is the way they worship God. But worship is not something that always comes naturally to human beings. The effects of sin has meant that we need to learn how to worship God and that true worship must be cultivated.


Many people may have read what Rick Warren had to say about Worship in his book "The Purpose Driven Life". While I didn't find the book particularly helpful (or theologically correct but thats a discussion for another day) it did help to break me out of the mindset that worship = the three slow songs we sang after the fast ones. Coming from a pentecostal / charamastic tradition, worship is only considered so if it is spontaneous. What I like about this book is that it showed me that no matter what style of worship we prefer or think is more biblical than another we must remember that these preferences must not become an end in themselves. Our worship of God can be formal or spontaneous. It is a matter of the heart. If our heart is not in it then its an empty ritual no matter how spontaneous it may seem. This was one are I was particularly challenged. Has lifting my hands or spontenaity become a matter of "externalism" for me? Am I just going through the motions? Where are my blind spots when it comes to worship? I'm not advocating morbid introspection but rather a healthy self examination.

"God's feelings aren't hurt by insincere praise, but neither is He honored by it. God is never honored by flattery. That's why true worship must be sincere, genuine, and honest." (page 40-1)

"Think of the gospel. What is your response to what Christ has done for you--Christ, Who spared nothing, Who gave His life for His people, Who made the ultimate sacrifice for His sheep? How do we respond to that? What is the reasonable response?" And Paul says, "Here is your reasonable service or your spiritual worship." (page 45)

One thing that did concern me was Sprouls idea of the Lords Supper. As a protestant I am not fussed whether we take communion with Coca-Cola, grape juice, or water. To me its an inconsequential detail. He claims that we need to use wine and bread if we want to "truly" worship God because He has consecrated these things. Does that mean all wine and bread are consecrated or does that mean its only consecrated when it enters the church building? What about when it leaves the Church? In most cases its not wise to try and press the Bread and Wine too far. Jesus could have said "Eat of this grape and orange" instead just like Sproul says "Cain could have offered God the shell of a nut and it would have been an acceptable sacrifice". He then follows that up with some peculiar circumstantial allowances for prisoners in concentration camps. There is a good overview of how it was perceived by the RCC, and the Reformers later in the book. But Sprouls understanding seems a lot more Roman Catholic than protestant. Personally I feel taking communion is a matter of the heart and that the drink and food we have (whatever that may be) is an emblem (which would make me a Zwinglian according to Sproul). I don't doubt that the Lord is present when take the Lords Supper, but he is also present living within me now. I think we could do with a little less speculation surrounding the Lords supper. Sproul rightly shows that communion is a time when God can and does impart fresh assurance for our salvation. That was a very wise insight from Sproul.
I don't find much steam for the RCC doctrine of Transubstantiation in scripture, mostly because I wonder what happens after I've eaten and drunk of the emblems. That is, what happens when I go to the toilet? Am I ridding my body of the body and blood of Christ? I'm sure many from within my tradition would also disagree with me on my views and thats fine.

The chapters on Baptism helped me understand the reaction of John when Jesus went to be baptised and even more so the reactions of the Pharisees. I was baptised at the young age of 10. Some would say thats too early but I was ready. Now at 25 I understand a lot more about it, but still don't regret doing it at such a young age. I enjoy seeing others, who have come to faith, baptised. Sproul rightly shows that as circumcision was the sign of the old covenant, and that baptism is the sign of the new covenant. While I wouldn't advocate a belief in baptismal regeneration I would say it is a very important part of being a Christian. We identify with the dying and rising of Christ. Surprisingly Sproul follows up these comments with a peculiar one "We will drown in our sins and will be inundated by the flood of God's wrath for our apostasy." (page 82) Which is bewildering to say the least. I had to stop and scratch my head at that one for a bit. I can understand what he means in relation to "Some commentators say..." and baptism, but Sproul could have done more to explain this instead of leaving the believer wondering whether or not they had transgressed or repudiated the new covenant.


Baptism is a controversial topic to say the least, especially when it comes to infant baptism. The case he built for infant baptism was as he said, by inference rather than explicit command. Some of the puzzling conclusions raised, such as the one page 104 "Based on the New Testament, there is no doubt that our children have covenant privileges" This only raises further questions about their salvation and the mysterious age of accountability. Clearly the New Testament also emphasises repentance as an essential element of salvation? I have no problem with infant baptism. I have a problem with the confusion it may breed in may congregations. How Children can now be part of the new covenant without repenting of sin is a mystery to me and I would have appreciated some more discussion on this. But there is only so much you can accomplish in such a short book. Each of these chapters could be books in themselves.
I was reminded continually throughout the book that much of what we do in Church as worship to God is symbolic and many of those symbols are continuous with practices in the Old Testament. The Eucharist could be compared to passover, baptism to circumcision, the altar of incense to the corporate prayer and so forth. But they are also discontinuous and it is not wise to press them too far as Sproul says on many occasions. Often as protestants we want to remove all symbolism for fear we are becoming more like Rome. But this need not be so. We need not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I liked his comments on "Formalism" and "Externalism" showing that these symbols became ends in themselves and many times this is what the reformers were reacting against.

The Book contains 13 short chapters and an Epilogue which are devotional in nature. I could imagine using this book for a two week small group study on worship. It certainly gave me a lot to meditate on. Those expecting a complex treatment of worship throughout the whole of a persons life will be dissappointed. The book focuses almost exclusively on Worship within the Church. While not a bad thing, it does tend to be one sided. One thing about devotional books is that they are very quotable. When trying to explain a complex idea, they can help explain the idea generally. Its a short easy read and one well worth reading particularly if you're a new Christian or just seeking a general idea of how worship should look within the Church. It shouldn't take you long to read this book. You could probably do it in a few hours. But be careful, its simplicity is deceptive and it will give you some meat to chew over for days to come. I would reccomend taking a chapter a day over two weeks and meditating on it. Theres much to think about in this book, but don't swallow it all uncritically. Test every conclusion. There so much more I could go over in this review but I fear its already becoming too long. I guess thats a sign of a good book is that it makes you think and keeps you testing its conclusions. I'll close with one of the most profound quotes from the book.

"The single most important thing to understand about worship is that the only worship that is acceptable to God is worship that proceeds from a heart that is trusting in God, and in God alone." (page 38)

What is God's intention for worship in the New Testament church? We know of course that we are under the New Covenant of Jesus Christ and we no longer are required to practice the sacrifices and rituals as the Jews living under the Old Covenant would have. However, does that mean that God's design for the reverence and meaning of worship have changed too? Sproul argues that, while we obviously want to be very careful to consider the context and usage of anything from the Old Covenant before bringing it into the Church today, we can glean much deeper insight to how serious God takes the worship of His Name and how specific He was about the way we approach Him.

Though we don't go to the temple or burn incense on the altar, or take a lamb to the priest once a year to be slaughtered... the importance of those symbols (and others) hasn't simply gone away. They serve to teach us that God expects us to approach Him with reverence and not flippantly. That He desires sincere worship and that self-righteousness or works-boasting has no place in His courts.

This is important to consider because we live in a church culture that says pretty much anything goes. We see so much irreverence in so many so-called churches these days. Everything from using carnal means to get people through the doors to dumbing down the Gospel so much so that it becomes no Gospel at all (Galatians 1:6-10).

But we must exercise careful prudence in planning how worship is structured in our church. I'm not calling us back to a strict liturgy that would resemble the old-traditional Roman Catholic, rather saying that we need to approach everything we sing, do, and say in worship by asking the question. Does this glorify God and point sinful man towards the Savior OR does this point sinful man towards a carnal world and excuse his sinful behavior?

Paul wrote, in 1 Corinthians 10:31, that we should do all things to the glory of God. This does not mean that we take a carnal thing (such as a secular song) and Christianize it for use in the church or on our local family friendly radio stations. On the contrary it means that we need to consider all we do and filter it through whether or not this thing brings glory to God. How we intend it isn't what determines what brings glory to God, whether or not it glorifies God is what determines whether or not it glorifies God. We don't assign that meaning. To get a better understanding of this, we look to Christ's words in Matthew 6:33, He said to seek first the Kingdom of God and HIS Righteousness...

So that's the focus, seeking first that which glorifies God and that which strives after HIS righteousness... and not that which pleases us and to clear our consciences we tag God's name to it...

Lastly, He brings up the importance of the sacraments that have been ordained for the church today. Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Sproul presents the popular views on each and makes his case for which he ascribes to. He and I fall pretty well in line with our belief on the Lord's Supper and it being only for a believer. On the issue of Baptism we depart in view because, as a Presbyterian, Sproul teaches the practice of infant baptism. Let me be clear that he absolutely rejects the idea that paedo-baptism (infant baptism) saves. He believes infant baptism to merely be a sign of the New Covenant and not salvific. On that we agree, it is a sign of the covenant. But I would make the case that the New Testament teaches that Baptism, just like the observance of the Lord's Supper, is for the Believer only.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Reformation Trust [...] book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 <[...] : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

This is book is a good primer for those who have questions or difficulties with "traditional" or liturgical worship.

R.C. Sproul does a decent job of relating the Old Testament priestly system to worship in the New Covenant, but the book lacks focus, and fails to really tie the Old Testament to the worship of Heaven, which is where I believe is the best argument for continuity in certain elements of the Lord's Service. This seems an odd lapse, given the title of the book.

Also, I wish R.C. Sproul had given more Scripture references and had made more practical application for how what we know of the Old Testament worship could possibly be applied to worship today. Of course, lacking a full eschatological focus in the book, this could be difficult to do.

Nevertheless, the book should be thought provoking for those thinking about how worship ought to be done. What manner of worship is glorifying to God? R.C. Sproul has some good insights on this, based on what he does present. The book is short enough to read in a day or so, and is worth reading.

R.C Sproul takes us past superficial worship to a greater understanding of the fundamental tenets, beliefs and motivations behind worship of our creator. I really enjoyed how he explored each area theologically and backed it up with scripture. I also appreciated how he acknowledged differences between Catholic/Protestant worship but did not advocate one over the other.