I began this blog so that I would pursue personal growth. I needed to discipline myself to write down my thoughts and communicate my heart to others who are interested. My goal has been to post at least 2 blogs each week. The only one I know for sure that has been reading my blog is my mom - and that's good enough for me. When I post a blog, there is a comment section, so that if those reading it choose to, they can comment on my blog and others can read what they said about it. I haven't really been paying much attention, except to see that no one had been posting comments.
Then, yesterday, as I was learning some other things that could be done on a blog, I saw that 2 of my posts had a comment attached. I had no idea who one person was that commented on one of my messages on worship. The other comment had to do with a book I recentlly read: In A Pit With a Lion On A Snowy Day. I was surprised to read the comment from that books author. It was very nice - encouraging.
I learned something new - that I probably should have already known: When you are dealing with the wide world of the internet, information is out there for all to see - including people you may write about that you never thought would see it. I'm glad I didn't trash this guy! But the other thing I learned is that the recent vision I received for my life is possible in more ways than I imagined:
My dream is to help people take the next step in their spiritual journey
Although my writings are mostly for myself (and my mom), it is possible that I might be able to help some anonymous reader out there to take his/her next step toward Christ.
Don't forget that God is in control of your life as well. He may choose to use you to have an impact on someone else, whose life you never thought you could touch. Be encouraged; and be open to what God might want to do through you - today.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
BACK TO THE FUTURE
This was the 10th and final message in the Heart of Worship message series. This was intended to give a look at how we plan to carry out the foundational principles laid during the series. It is much more about a philosophy of biblical application and heart attitude than it is a list of specific guarantees of how the worship services will look in the next few years. It was my desire to be clear on heart attitude and motivation, but leave a lot of flexibility and freedom for how God might lead us in the future.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Vision for Worship at Grace
Please turn in your Bible to Romans 11.
Last week, we look at how the principles of worship in the Scriptures affect what we do in our worship services. We have spent a couple of months working our way through just some of what the Bible has to say about worship – how it applies to our lives and how it applies to corporate worship. This morning, we conclude our message series on worship by giving a vision for what our worship can be.
Because of our human nature, we tend to want things, including how things are at church, to be what we want – for our benefit and enjoyment. But, as we begin this last message of our Heart of Worship series this morning, we need to remember that Church corporate worship, including the musical part of worship, is all about one person and that person is not me and it’s not you – it’s all about God! Our highest priorities and desires in this area of worship has to be about God and not about pleasing people. This is what the Psalmist invited us to do.
Would you please stand with me? I can’t think of a better way to begin this message than to have us read together a Psalm, a part of Israel’s song book, inviting us to come to worship God with all we have because of who He is: When I point to your side (and the balcony side is included), please read in unison:
Psalm 100 – “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
[all together]: and his faithfulness to all generations.”
This is about coming to God to praise and worship Him!
We have used Romans 12 in our worship series already, but I want you to take a look at it in its greater context. Remembering that when the Apostle Paul wrote Romans, there were no chapter divisions, please note his words just before chapter 12. Please look with me in your Bibles at:
Romans 11:33-36 – “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
Romans 12:1 – “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
This passage lays the foundation for the principles of worship vision that I want to share with you today:
· This is about God
This is all about Him. Our worship is about Him. It is for His glory. We cannot always figure Him out; or understand why He does what He chooses to do. But, we choose to trust Him and we choose to praise Him – in our worship services and in life. We showed this the first week of our Heart of Worship Series and it is appropriate to be reminded of its message today:
VIDEO: GIFT OF WORSHIP
And this leads us to the working definition we have had during our Heart of Worship message series. Say it with me if you know it:
“Worship is responding to God for who He is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”
Let’s put it on the screen and say it one more time together:
“Worship is responding to God for who He is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”
Its all about God; but as our working definition states and as Romans 12: 1 tells us:
· This is about life worship
But also, as we talk about the vision for worship, we must consider the vision for our church as a whole. Let me remind you of our purpose statement as a church:
Growing together in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are walking with God, pursuing relationships with His people, and reaching out to those who do not know Him.
All aspects of our purpose statement are connected to this issue of worship.
· This is about growing in grace
It is about spiritual growth. The worship we participate in here is to help you grow in your faith as you take your next steps in your relationship with God, other believers and those who do not yet know Him. This is about you not only learning how to appreciate God’s grace given to you, but also about you offering grace to others. This is about heart attitude. This is about God’s Word. And that is all reflected in this purpose statement.
I gave this message this strange title for a reason: BACK TO THE FUTURE. When it comes to church ministry and accomplishing God’s purposes, the past and the present are important. We must learn from the past, respect the past, and appreciate the past. We could spend hours talking about the rich heritage of Grace Baptist Church in her past. We could list and describe the wonderful ministries of each of its pastors. We could talk about the buildings, the numbers of people and the programs of the past.
But the past I am speaking of today is the biblical past. Because although our church history has a lot to do with where we are today, it is biblical truth that will be our guide to the future. As we move into the future here at Grace, including the important area of corporate worship, it is the Bible that we look to for principles that lead us. Although we want to be sensitive to our church history, we are much more concerned with what will please God in pursuing His purposes for us.
Please turn in your Bible to Psalm 150. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 547 or 559.
In our Core Values for our ministry, we include this statement:
AUTHENTIC WORSHIP
We believe it is crucial to sincerely exalt God in our personal lives and corporate gatherings. We believe worship happens twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, as we seek to honor God in our lives. Corporately, we desire to lift up the glory of God through our prayers, testimonies, giving, teaching and singing. To be real before God is our humble, heart’s desire.
[Psalm 100; John 4:21-24; Romans 12:1,2; Ephesians 5:19-21; Colossians 3:16,17]
So, this morning, I want to present principles from the Scriptures that give us a vision for where we are headed as a church, as it pertains to corporate worship. I realize in talking to a group of this size, that many of you have differing opinions, and even may have different visions for worship. Some of you will think what I have to say today is too much change: too wild, too progressive. Some of you, coming from a different perspective will think I am too vague and too conservative.
With all of that said, let me share with you statements of vision for our worship. Keep in mind that a vision does not state what is already present in every way, but the hope for the future. This is what I see in our future as it relates to our corporate worship:
1. We will worship with excellence
Colossians 3:17 – “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
“Whatever we do” includes our corporate worship service. Doing it in the name of the Lord Jesus means doing it with excellence. Is excellence important? Well, its not the most important thing, but based on the foundational beliefs we have already mentioned, it is crucial:
Stan Toler and Alan Nelson put it this way: “We need to strive for excellence and care about our church property, programming and publicity because God deserves our best. We, as the local church, are His local franchise within a community. We represent Him. The Bible says that all Christians are to act as ambassadors, as liaisons between God and others. When we do things that reflect a shabby mind-set, we are certainly not representing Him well, because God does things with excellence. Look at creation. After everything was created, He looked at it and said, It is good. When we offer mediocre music, have unfriendly ushers and ho-hum services, and then present ourselves as a reflection of God’s love and character, we insult Him.”
The vision is that when people experience our worship services, they will see a reflection of God’s excellence. The vision is that when people think about serving here at Grace, part of the reason they are drawn to serve is because they see that we are doing the best we can with what we have for the glory of God; and they want to be a part of that!
Understand something. Another reason for excellence here is because this morning worship service is the main entry point for people to Grace. Most new people to Grace come first to our morning worship service. This is where they first meet us, see what is important to us, and experience our values as it relates to our worship of God.
Therefore, we plan what is going to take place in our services. We practice. We try to keep things flexible and use variety. We know that the first impressions people have as they visit one of our worship services is going to make a huge impact on whether or not they will come back; and whether or not they want to be a part of what is going on here.
This also must affect our budget. If we are going to glorify God by reflecting excellence in our services, we will need to put our money where our mouth is. This is the service where our church meets all together. There is no other program or service we have that has more of our people meeting together. This service must receive our attention and must be the best thing that we offer here at Grace. That takes money – it takes prioritizing.
As we speak, we have over $20,000 worth of needs to make the sound the best it can be, to improve all of our equipment, in some cases replacing some, and in some cases, getting new, needed equipment all for the area of our worship service. Our budget for this next year reflects less than 2% dedicated to improving this service and helping us toward excellence. Now, there are many reasons for that. But, our budget does reflect what is important to us at this time. My dream would be that we would be closer to 10% that would dedicated to making this service as excellent and God glorifying as it can be. It will help us in assisting people in growing in their faith and in reaching new people who have not yet attended our service, but will in the future. Another part of our vision:
2. We will have blended worship
By blended worship, we mean that our worship service will reflect the past and the present, the conservative and the progressive, the old and the new, the soft and the loud, meditation and celebration.
In talking about this issue in his book : When God builds a Church, Bob Russell wrote: “The failure to understand these two sides of worship and their corresponding musical styles is at the heart of much controversy in churches today. If you come from a formal, liturgical background, you are used to an emphasis on the reverence and awe side of worship. When you enter a church, you expect quietness and an atmosphere of holiness. The leader quotes Psalm 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God,” and Hebrews 12:28,29 – “Let us…worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” So if you visit a congregation where people are talking and laughing loudly when you enter, where they clap after a special song and some even raise their hands during the singing, you think it’s inappropriate and irreverent.
But if you grew up in a more charismatic church, you’re accustomed to the emphasis on the joy of worship. The leader quotes Psalm 47:1 – “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy” and Psalm 5:11 – “But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.’ A charismatic who visits a church that’s more liturgical thinks, This church is dead! Jesus Christ is alive! Come on, you all, get with it!”
Two passages of Scripture illustrate the diversity. Consider the diversity here:
Psalm 150
“Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; Praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; Praise him according to his excellent greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound; Praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; Praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; Praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!”
In this passage, there are instruments that normally lend to more somber, reflective, softer music and instruments that are going to lead to celebratory, loud and raucous praise! Another passage we have looked at in the past remind us of some different types of songs and styles that can be used in worship:
Colossians 3:16 – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Again, we will be guided by the truths of the Word of God; but in communicating those truths, we will do it in differing styles with a variety of music.
Some might think our worship is already blended because we normally sing a few hymns and a few praise songs. But, there is much more to being truly blended than that, and we will continue to go that direction. It will mean that we will have to sacrifice some of our own preferences. It will mean that we will have to open our arms to people who respond in worship differently than we do. In other words, it means we will need to be the Body of Christ and reflect God’s love!
When we took our all church survey this past year, here is what we found, representing the opinions of our congregation in the area of music and worship:
The music I want to worship to (corporately) is:
· All hymns – 8%
· All praise songs – 12%
· Not sure or no opinion– 20%
· Blended – 60%
I believe the atmosphere of worship should be:
· Loud and celebratory – 4%
· Quiet and somber – 9%
· Not sure or no opinion– 22%
· Some of Both (Blended)– 65%
There are great positives to consider: A blended service will mean that we will have younger and older people worshipping together and loving it. It will mean that we will have people from different Baptist backgrounds, Catholic backgrounds, Methodist backgrounds, Charismatic backgrounds and other backgrounds, all worshiping together (because we have all come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation!) It means we will have those who prefer the old and those who prefer the new – together in worship. It will mean that we will reflect the true nature of the Body of Christ, in its variety, diversity and unity!
Please turn back now to Psalm 19.
3. We will all participate in worship
We will encourage everyone to participate rather then spectate. We will emphasize participation over performance. We live in a spectator world.
A.W. Tozer said: “In the average church service the most real thing is the shadowy unreality of everything. The worshipper sits in a state of suspended mentation; a kind of dreamy numbness creeps upon him; he hears words but they do not register, he cannot relate them to anything on his own life-level.”
We don’t want people to come and just sit and just leave – no impact – no change – no real worship. You probably agree that we live in a spectator world. We are used to going somewhere, taking it all in as a consumer, and then leaving. But, it can’t be that way in our corporate worship.
As I have said in the past, you are not the audience and this is not the auditorium. This is the worship center, and when you come, you are expected to worship. We , up front, are not the performers and you are not the audience. We all are the worshipers, and God is the audience. It has always been this way.
That is why God wants to make sure our heart attitudes and motivations are right when we come to worship Him corporately:
Isaiah 29:13 – “And the Lord said: Because this people, draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.”
God is concerned with the heart attitude of all the worshippers who come, not just those who are speaking or singing. Our prayer for each of us as worshippers, every time we meet for corporate worship, should be:
Psalm 19:14 – “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”
Robert Webber, in his book, Worship is a Verb, wrote: “To worship is to do something. Worship is interactive. You do not just listen passively – you engage actively…For many people, church is characterized mostly as an exercise in sitting and listening…worship…is catalyzing participation and expression.”
I agree. I think this is true. So, the question is: If you are not preaching or singing in the choir or on the worship team or doing special music, how can you be participating throughout the service? Let me give you several suggestions:
· Bring with you a humble, God honoring attitude and expectation
· Talk with one another (fellowship) before the service.
As you talk with each other, laugh with one another, cry with one another, you are honoring God, joyfully anticipating our corporate worship – you are participating in worship.
· Sing with all of your heart
Participate by singing the songs that are chosen whether they are your favorite or not.
· Serve during the service
Participate by using your God given abilities in worship: playing an instrument, singing in the choir or on the worship team, doing specials, being an usher, etc.
· Listen to the music sung and played by others, considering the truth of what is played and appreciating those who are communicating those truths.
· Respond with your voice and/or body in worship as led by the Holy Spirit. This might mean raising a hand, closing your eyes, saying Amen, etc.
· Give to God through the offering. This is an important part of participating in worship. It is your response to what God has done for you; and used by God to further His work through this local church.
· When someone is praying during the service, pray silently with them, agreeing with them.
· During the teaching of God’s Word, listen attentively, thinking about how God would want you to apply His Word to your everyday life.
The idea here is that you are always thinking about how to participate in what is going on, whether that is listening, considering something in your heart and mind, singing, praying, talking with others, or applying God’s Word. If you are participating with the right heart attitude, you are worshiping for God’s glory.
One of my applications to this is that I often ask you to answer me or take a quiz or read Scripture in our message time. The point is that you are the worshipper and we are doing it together.
Please turn to Matthew 28. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 864 or 881.
The next aspect of our corporate worship vision is this:
4. We will worship to make disciples in our community
I want to you think about this statement with me. First, let’s consider the biblical basis for it; and then let’s consider its ramifications for us today:
Matthew 28:19,20 – “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
These were the last words of Jesus before He ascended back to Heaven, after He had died and risen from the dead and met with His followers. This was the primary command He decided to leave us with. The things mentioned in these verses that we need to be doing, such as baptizing and teaching, are all descriptions of how to obey this one command: MAKE DISCIPLES.
We will worship to make disciples in our community by:
· Helping believers connect with Christ
So, when we think about the music we are going to use and the type of worship service we are going to have, we must keep this command in mind. This includes people who have been here for a long time and have been Christians for a long time. They know and appreciate worship that came from Bible days and the Reformation period and 30 years ago. We do keep in mind that we are responsible to make disciples of people who already know Christ; and we will consider their backgrounds and what best connects with them.
This is what normally is called tradition. People who have been in a church with tradition expect it to continue. This is sometimes a challenge when tradition, that can be a good thing, becomes traditionalism, which can be destructive.
Matt Redman, a worship leader and song writer said: “Tradition alone can become lifeless, existing to please itself, and leave no room for spontaneous love. When we meet to worship God, although structure is important, it must never be allowed to strangle life.”
Warren Wiersbe, in his book: Real Worship, said: “The problem really isn’t tradition, because tradition is simply the content of what one generation hands to another.The problem is traditionalism, which is the worship of traditions to such an extent that few people dare to examine them or try to change them. The familiar epigram comes to mind: ‘Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living’.”
And we are committed to appreciating tradition, even starting some ourselves; and yet running from an attitude of traditionalism – worshiping tradition.
We will worship to make disciples in our community by:
· Helping non-believers connect to Christ
This also includes people who are coming to church without knowing anything about how worship was done 10 years ago let alone 200 years ago. They know their culture but they don’t know Jesus. We are responsible to introduce them to Him. We are called by God to make disciples in Westlake, Ohio and its surrounding communities in 2007 and beyond. So, although we use whatever we can from the past, our primary focus is on using whatever God has given us today to reach today’s people in order to make disciples today.
This means we will use anything within the boundaries of God’s Word to make disciples through corporate worship. When it comes to singing, we will use choirs and solos and worship teams and whatever will make the connection with people today. We will use organs and guitars and violins and drums, if we have people to play these instruments and if they can be done in an honoring way – to communicate God’s truth today.
We are not necessarily going to change everything we do just so non-believers will like it; but we will keep in mind that non-believers do come to Grace and will come and will be watching us worship! Is it our purpose to worship in a way that they cannot understand at all because it comes from another century that we hold dear? We know that non-believers cannot truly worship because they do not have the Holy Spirit within them.
Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Southern California said: “Although unbelievers cannot truly worship, they can watch believers worship. They can observe the joy that we feel. They can see how we value God’s Word and how we respond to it. They can hear how the Bible answers the problems and questions of life. They can notice how worship encourages, strengthens, and changes us. They can sense when God is supernaturally moving in a service, although they won’t be able to explain it. When unbelievers watch genuine worship, it becomes a powerful witness.”
We want people to experience our love and worship and be able to say what Paul wanted non-believers to say about the worship in those biblical churches:
I Corinthians 14:25 – “God is truly among you…”
We will worship to make disciples in our community by:
· Making disciples of Christ, not of particular people, churches or denominations.
So, just because some people would rather live and worship in a day gone by, we cannot let that stop us from using all God has given us today to reach people and worship Him. This means we will use sound systems, CD’s, background tapes, video, drama, congregational participation in a variety of ways; and anything else God has given us to be able to help make disciples in this generation in this community. It affects how we do announcements, how we do worship music and how we communicate the Word of God to today’s people. It affects how we dress.
Now, I know that there are just as many strong opinions about how we dress in church as there are about the kind of music we use. That may be for another sermon at another time. But, let me at least give this simple principle: Dress in a way that you feel comfortable with, but that will also not be distracting or discouraging to those who come to our church from the outside. That means we are not going to have a specific dress code.
In know of people who have made it their priority to teach women that if they ever wear pants, they are disobeying Scripture and dishonoring God; and any church that allows women to wear pants is dishonoring God. Really? People have even tried to make the Scriptures say that. Not long ago, I had someone quote Deuteronomy and tell me this. However, the Bible doesn’t tell us these details. It gives us principles to go by.
We expect you to dress in a way people dress in 2007 in our community – in an appropriate and modest way. That is going to look different depending on who you are. That’s ok! There is diversity and variety in dress as well!
This also means that we will do things that other people and groups have done, with whom we do not fully agree. For example, a couple weeks ago, we found out that the organ was used in the Catholic Church well before the Christian Church, and that the Reformers wanted nothing to do with it because others might think they were like the Catholics. We don’t have that fear today because of the organ; but we fear other things for the same reasons.
One reason people are concerned about raising your hands in worship has nothing to do with whether or not it will honor God. They are just concerned that people might think we’re charismatic. Who cares? This is about making disciples of Christ not Baptist disciples or charismatic or Presbyterian disciples. Right? Just because a Catholic wrote a song; or a Methodist wrote a drama; or an instrument is also used in a nightclub – all of these, used appropriately within the church can bring glory to Him. So, we have stained glass windows like many dead churches around the world. Does that mean we are dead and dishonoring to God? And we cannot worry that someone is going to call us names or say that we are worldly because we use something the world uses for their own purposes.
We will worship to make disciples in our community by:
· Engaging people with the truths of God
In seeking to engage people in discussion and considering the truths of God, we will use what we have to honor God, including the area of music.
Our music might be criticized – for being too worldly or being too churchy. Some might think its too progressive and some too conservative; and neither side can understand how the other side can see it that way! People might complain that some of the music we sing has a lot of repetition in it; but they fail to recognize that not only is repetition a great teaching tool (and we have learned from the Bible that part of the purpose of music is teaching); but also that the worship in the Scriptures, including the Psalms, used quite a bit of repetition.
Someone might call us worldly because we use videos, dramas and other teaching styles in order to communicate God’s unchanging truth to our changing times. We use a variety of resources to communicate with today’s people. Sometimes, the criticism is given: You’re just about entertainment. That was entertainment, not worship. Well, can you really judge that? I believe if Jesus lived here today, many people would accuse him of entertainment. Why? Because his main teaching method was simply telling stories – good stories, entertaining stories, challenging stories. He didn’t parse Hebrew verbs or walk them verse by verse through Leviticus. Now, I believe one of the best ways we can teach God’s Word is by teaching the books of the Bible. But, we use methods that engage. Our desire is to engage people with God’s truth, not entertain. But, some who are critical may still view it that way. That’s o.k.!
This brings us to the fun topic of separation. Without getting into detail, many take God’s command to be separate from the world’s philosophy to mean that we should not use anything the world uses for good. So, if you use a certain drama or video or instrument or song, you will be accused of being worldly. Let’s be very careful how we use that term. Let’s use it in its biblical context to describe a world view that opposes Christ rather than using “worldly” to describe something that can be used for good or evil.
Warren Wiersbe – Real Worship – “I was told that separation was the secret to a successful church. But then I saw ‘separated churches’ fight among themselves, split and splinter, and sometimes hurt the testimony of Christ in a community…Separation apart from worship can- and usually does – become a brittle piety that breeds arrogance, legalism, and an unbiblical isolation from both the world and the church.”
But I had someone tell me recently that separation was really the important thing. We will separate from the world’s philosophy, but we are not afraid to be accused of being worldly just because we are using what God has made available to reach people and to worship for His glory. We will not apologize for that!
We are not closed. We are flexible. We are concerned more about people than programs. It is our highest desire to glorify God and through worship encourage people to take their next steps toward Him.
Let’s stand together.
I would like us to close our worship series with the song we were introduced to in the first message of this series, and that we sang together last week. It is a song of commitment for each of us. Think about what you are singing. Believe it. And then, live it out.
HEART OF WORSHIP
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Vision for Worship at Grace
Please turn in your Bible to Romans 11.
Last week, we look at how the principles of worship in the Scriptures affect what we do in our worship services. We have spent a couple of months working our way through just some of what the Bible has to say about worship – how it applies to our lives and how it applies to corporate worship. This morning, we conclude our message series on worship by giving a vision for what our worship can be.
Because of our human nature, we tend to want things, including how things are at church, to be what we want – for our benefit and enjoyment. But, as we begin this last message of our Heart of Worship series this morning, we need to remember that Church corporate worship, including the musical part of worship, is all about one person and that person is not me and it’s not you – it’s all about God! Our highest priorities and desires in this area of worship has to be about God and not about pleasing people. This is what the Psalmist invited us to do.
Would you please stand with me? I can’t think of a better way to begin this message than to have us read together a Psalm, a part of Israel’s song book, inviting us to come to worship God with all we have because of who He is: When I point to your side (and the balcony side is included), please read in unison:
Psalm 100 – “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
[all together]: and his faithfulness to all generations.”
This is about coming to God to praise and worship Him!
We have used Romans 12 in our worship series already, but I want you to take a look at it in its greater context. Remembering that when the Apostle Paul wrote Romans, there were no chapter divisions, please note his words just before chapter 12. Please look with me in your Bibles at:
Romans 11:33-36 – “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
Romans 12:1 – “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
This passage lays the foundation for the principles of worship vision that I want to share with you today:
· This is about God
This is all about Him. Our worship is about Him. It is for His glory. We cannot always figure Him out; or understand why He does what He chooses to do. But, we choose to trust Him and we choose to praise Him – in our worship services and in life. We showed this the first week of our Heart of Worship Series and it is appropriate to be reminded of its message today:
VIDEO: GIFT OF WORSHIP
And this leads us to the working definition we have had during our Heart of Worship message series. Say it with me if you know it:
“Worship is responding to God for who He is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”
Let’s put it on the screen and say it one more time together:
“Worship is responding to God for who He is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”
Its all about God; but as our working definition states and as Romans 12: 1 tells us:
· This is about life worship
But also, as we talk about the vision for worship, we must consider the vision for our church as a whole. Let me remind you of our purpose statement as a church:
Growing together in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are walking with God, pursuing relationships with His people, and reaching out to those who do not know Him.
All aspects of our purpose statement are connected to this issue of worship.
· This is about growing in grace
It is about spiritual growth. The worship we participate in here is to help you grow in your faith as you take your next steps in your relationship with God, other believers and those who do not yet know Him. This is about you not only learning how to appreciate God’s grace given to you, but also about you offering grace to others. This is about heart attitude. This is about God’s Word. And that is all reflected in this purpose statement.
I gave this message this strange title for a reason: BACK TO THE FUTURE. When it comes to church ministry and accomplishing God’s purposes, the past and the present are important. We must learn from the past, respect the past, and appreciate the past. We could spend hours talking about the rich heritage of Grace Baptist Church in her past. We could list and describe the wonderful ministries of each of its pastors. We could talk about the buildings, the numbers of people and the programs of the past.
But the past I am speaking of today is the biblical past. Because although our church history has a lot to do with where we are today, it is biblical truth that will be our guide to the future. As we move into the future here at Grace, including the important area of corporate worship, it is the Bible that we look to for principles that lead us. Although we want to be sensitive to our church history, we are much more concerned with what will please God in pursuing His purposes for us.
Please turn in your Bible to Psalm 150. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 547 or 559.
In our Core Values for our ministry, we include this statement:
AUTHENTIC WORSHIP
We believe it is crucial to sincerely exalt God in our personal lives and corporate gatherings. We believe worship happens twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, as we seek to honor God in our lives. Corporately, we desire to lift up the glory of God through our prayers, testimonies, giving, teaching and singing. To be real before God is our humble, heart’s desire.
[Psalm 100; John 4:21-24; Romans 12:1,2; Ephesians 5:19-21; Colossians 3:16,17]
So, this morning, I want to present principles from the Scriptures that give us a vision for where we are headed as a church, as it pertains to corporate worship. I realize in talking to a group of this size, that many of you have differing opinions, and even may have different visions for worship. Some of you will think what I have to say today is too much change: too wild, too progressive. Some of you, coming from a different perspective will think I am too vague and too conservative.
With all of that said, let me share with you statements of vision for our worship. Keep in mind that a vision does not state what is already present in every way, but the hope for the future. This is what I see in our future as it relates to our corporate worship:
1. We will worship with excellence
Colossians 3:17 – “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
“Whatever we do” includes our corporate worship service. Doing it in the name of the Lord Jesus means doing it with excellence. Is excellence important? Well, its not the most important thing, but based on the foundational beliefs we have already mentioned, it is crucial:
Stan Toler and Alan Nelson put it this way: “We need to strive for excellence and care about our church property, programming and publicity because God deserves our best. We, as the local church, are His local franchise within a community. We represent Him. The Bible says that all Christians are to act as ambassadors, as liaisons between God and others. When we do things that reflect a shabby mind-set, we are certainly not representing Him well, because God does things with excellence. Look at creation. After everything was created, He looked at it and said, It is good. When we offer mediocre music, have unfriendly ushers and ho-hum services, and then present ourselves as a reflection of God’s love and character, we insult Him.”
The vision is that when people experience our worship services, they will see a reflection of God’s excellence. The vision is that when people think about serving here at Grace, part of the reason they are drawn to serve is because they see that we are doing the best we can with what we have for the glory of God; and they want to be a part of that!
Understand something. Another reason for excellence here is because this morning worship service is the main entry point for people to Grace. Most new people to Grace come first to our morning worship service. This is where they first meet us, see what is important to us, and experience our values as it relates to our worship of God.
Therefore, we plan what is going to take place in our services. We practice. We try to keep things flexible and use variety. We know that the first impressions people have as they visit one of our worship services is going to make a huge impact on whether or not they will come back; and whether or not they want to be a part of what is going on here.
This also must affect our budget. If we are going to glorify God by reflecting excellence in our services, we will need to put our money where our mouth is. This is the service where our church meets all together. There is no other program or service we have that has more of our people meeting together. This service must receive our attention and must be the best thing that we offer here at Grace. That takes money – it takes prioritizing.
As we speak, we have over $20,000 worth of needs to make the sound the best it can be, to improve all of our equipment, in some cases replacing some, and in some cases, getting new, needed equipment all for the area of our worship service. Our budget for this next year reflects less than 2% dedicated to improving this service and helping us toward excellence. Now, there are many reasons for that. But, our budget does reflect what is important to us at this time. My dream would be that we would be closer to 10% that would dedicated to making this service as excellent and God glorifying as it can be. It will help us in assisting people in growing in their faith and in reaching new people who have not yet attended our service, but will in the future. Another part of our vision:
2. We will have blended worship
By blended worship, we mean that our worship service will reflect the past and the present, the conservative and the progressive, the old and the new, the soft and the loud, meditation and celebration.
In talking about this issue in his book : When God builds a Church, Bob Russell wrote: “The failure to understand these two sides of worship and their corresponding musical styles is at the heart of much controversy in churches today. If you come from a formal, liturgical background, you are used to an emphasis on the reverence and awe side of worship. When you enter a church, you expect quietness and an atmosphere of holiness. The leader quotes Psalm 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God,” and Hebrews 12:28,29 – “Let us…worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” So if you visit a congregation where people are talking and laughing loudly when you enter, where they clap after a special song and some even raise their hands during the singing, you think it’s inappropriate and irreverent.
But if you grew up in a more charismatic church, you’re accustomed to the emphasis on the joy of worship. The leader quotes Psalm 47:1 – “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy” and Psalm 5:11 – “But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.’ A charismatic who visits a church that’s more liturgical thinks, This church is dead! Jesus Christ is alive! Come on, you all, get with it!”
Two passages of Scripture illustrate the diversity. Consider the diversity here:
Psalm 150
“Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; Praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; Praise him according to his excellent greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound; Praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; Praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; Praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!”
In this passage, there are instruments that normally lend to more somber, reflective, softer music and instruments that are going to lead to celebratory, loud and raucous praise! Another passage we have looked at in the past remind us of some different types of songs and styles that can be used in worship:
Colossians 3:16 – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Again, we will be guided by the truths of the Word of God; but in communicating those truths, we will do it in differing styles with a variety of music.
Some might think our worship is already blended because we normally sing a few hymns and a few praise songs. But, there is much more to being truly blended than that, and we will continue to go that direction. It will mean that we will have to sacrifice some of our own preferences. It will mean that we will have to open our arms to people who respond in worship differently than we do. In other words, it means we will need to be the Body of Christ and reflect God’s love!
When we took our all church survey this past year, here is what we found, representing the opinions of our congregation in the area of music and worship:
The music I want to worship to (corporately) is:
· All hymns – 8%
· All praise songs – 12%
· Not sure or no opinion– 20%
· Blended – 60%
I believe the atmosphere of worship should be:
· Loud and celebratory – 4%
· Quiet and somber – 9%
· Not sure or no opinion– 22%
· Some of Both (Blended)– 65%
There are great positives to consider: A blended service will mean that we will have younger and older people worshipping together and loving it. It will mean that we will have people from different Baptist backgrounds, Catholic backgrounds, Methodist backgrounds, Charismatic backgrounds and other backgrounds, all worshiping together (because we have all come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation!) It means we will have those who prefer the old and those who prefer the new – together in worship. It will mean that we will reflect the true nature of the Body of Christ, in its variety, diversity and unity!
Please turn back now to Psalm 19.
3. We will all participate in worship
We will encourage everyone to participate rather then spectate. We will emphasize participation over performance. We live in a spectator world.
A.W. Tozer said: “In the average church service the most real thing is the shadowy unreality of everything. The worshipper sits in a state of suspended mentation; a kind of dreamy numbness creeps upon him; he hears words but they do not register, he cannot relate them to anything on his own life-level.”
We don’t want people to come and just sit and just leave – no impact – no change – no real worship. You probably agree that we live in a spectator world. We are used to going somewhere, taking it all in as a consumer, and then leaving. But, it can’t be that way in our corporate worship.
As I have said in the past, you are not the audience and this is not the auditorium. This is the worship center, and when you come, you are expected to worship. We , up front, are not the performers and you are not the audience. We all are the worshipers, and God is the audience. It has always been this way.
That is why God wants to make sure our heart attitudes and motivations are right when we come to worship Him corporately:
Isaiah 29:13 – “And the Lord said: Because this people, draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.”
God is concerned with the heart attitude of all the worshippers who come, not just those who are speaking or singing. Our prayer for each of us as worshippers, every time we meet for corporate worship, should be:
Psalm 19:14 – “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”
Robert Webber, in his book, Worship is a Verb, wrote: “To worship is to do something. Worship is interactive. You do not just listen passively – you engage actively…For many people, church is characterized mostly as an exercise in sitting and listening…worship…is catalyzing participation and expression.”
I agree. I think this is true. So, the question is: If you are not preaching or singing in the choir or on the worship team or doing special music, how can you be participating throughout the service? Let me give you several suggestions:
· Bring with you a humble, God honoring attitude and expectation
· Talk with one another (fellowship) before the service.
As you talk with each other, laugh with one another, cry with one another, you are honoring God, joyfully anticipating our corporate worship – you are participating in worship.
· Sing with all of your heart
Participate by singing the songs that are chosen whether they are your favorite or not.
· Serve during the service
Participate by using your God given abilities in worship: playing an instrument, singing in the choir or on the worship team, doing specials, being an usher, etc.
· Listen to the music sung and played by others, considering the truth of what is played and appreciating those who are communicating those truths.
· Respond with your voice and/or body in worship as led by the Holy Spirit. This might mean raising a hand, closing your eyes, saying Amen, etc.
· Give to God through the offering. This is an important part of participating in worship. It is your response to what God has done for you; and used by God to further His work through this local church.
· When someone is praying during the service, pray silently with them, agreeing with them.
· During the teaching of God’s Word, listen attentively, thinking about how God would want you to apply His Word to your everyday life.
The idea here is that you are always thinking about how to participate in what is going on, whether that is listening, considering something in your heart and mind, singing, praying, talking with others, or applying God’s Word. If you are participating with the right heart attitude, you are worshiping for God’s glory.
One of my applications to this is that I often ask you to answer me or take a quiz or read Scripture in our message time. The point is that you are the worshipper and we are doing it together.
Please turn to Matthew 28. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 864 or 881.
The next aspect of our corporate worship vision is this:
4. We will worship to make disciples in our community
I want to you think about this statement with me. First, let’s consider the biblical basis for it; and then let’s consider its ramifications for us today:
Matthew 28:19,20 – “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
These were the last words of Jesus before He ascended back to Heaven, after He had died and risen from the dead and met with His followers. This was the primary command He decided to leave us with. The things mentioned in these verses that we need to be doing, such as baptizing and teaching, are all descriptions of how to obey this one command: MAKE DISCIPLES.
We will worship to make disciples in our community by:
· Helping believers connect with Christ
So, when we think about the music we are going to use and the type of worship service we are going to have, we must keep this command in mind. This includes people who have been here for a long time and have been Christians for a long time. They know and appreciate worship that came from Bible days and the Reformation period and 30 years ago. We do keep in mind that we are responsible to make disciples of people who already know Christ; and we will consider their backgrounds and what best connects with them.
This is what normally is called tradition. People who have been in a church with tradition expect it to continue. This is sometimes a challenge when tradition, that can be a good thing, becomes traditionalism, which can be destructive.
Matt Redman, a worship leader and song writer said: “Tradition alone can become lifeless, existing to please itself, and leave no room for spontaneous love. When we meet to worship God, although structure is important, it must never be allowed to strangle life.”
Warren Wiersbe, in his book: Real Worship, said: “The problem really isn’t tradition, because tradition is simply the content of what one generation hands to another.The problem is traditionalism, which is the worship of traditions to such an extent that few people dare to examine them or try to change them. The familiar epigram comes to mind: ‘Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living’.”
And we are committed to appreciating tradition, even starting some ourselves; and yet running from an attitude of traditionalism – worshiping tradition.
We will worship to make disciples in our community by:
· Helping non-believers connect to Christ
This also includes people who are coming to church without knowing anything about how worship was done 10 years ago let alone 200 years ago. They know their culture but they don’t know Jesus. We are responsible to introduce them to Him. We are called by God to make disciples in Westlake, Ohio and its surrounding communities in 2007 and beyond. So, although we use whatever we can from the past, our primary focus is on using whatever God has given us today to reach today’s people in order to make disciples today.
This means we will use anything within the boundaries of God’s Word to make disciples through corporate worship. When it comes to singing, we will use choirs and solos and worship teams and whatever will make the connection with people today. We will use organs and guitars and violins and drums, if we have people to play these instruments and if they can be done in an honoring way – to communicate God’s truth today.
We are not necessarily going to change everything we do just so non-believers will like it; but we will keep in mind that non-believers do come to Grace and will come and will be watching us worship! Is it our purpose to worship in a way that they cannot understand at all because it comes from another century that we hold dear? We know that non-believers cannot truly worship because they do not have the Holy Spirit within them.
Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Southern California said: “Although unbelievers cannot truly worship, they can watch believers worship. They can observe the joy that we feel. They can see how we value God’s Word and how we respond to it. They can hear how the Bible answers the problems and questions of life. They can notice how worship encourages, strengthens, and changes us. They can sense when God is supernaturally moving in a service, although they won’t be able to explain it. When unbelievers watch genuine worship, it becomes a powerful witness.”
We want people to experience our love and worship and be able to say what Paul wanted non-believers to say about the worship in those biblical churches:
I Corinthians 14:25 – “God is truly among you…”
We will worship to make disciples in our community by:
· Making disciples of Christ, not of particular people, churches or denominations.
So, just because some people would rather live and worship in a day gone by, we cannot let that stop us from using all God has given us today to reach people and worship Him. This means we will use sound systems, CD’s, background tapes, video, drama, congregational participation in a variety of ways; and anything else God has given us to be able to help make disciples in this generation in this community. It affects how we do announcements, how we do worship music and how we communicate the Word of God to today’s people. It affects how we dress.
Now, I know that there are just as many strong opinions about how we dress in church as there are about the kind of music we use. That may be for another sermon at another time. But, let me at least give this simple principle: Dress in a way that you feel comfortable with, but that will also not be distracting or discouraging to those who come to our church from the outside. That means we are not going to have a specific dress code.
In know of people who have made it their priority to teach women that if they ever wear pants, they are disobeying Scripture and dishonoring God; and any church that allows women to wear pants is dishonoring God. Really? People have even tried to make the Scriptures say that. Not long ago, I had someone quote Deuteronomy and tell me this. However, the Bible doesn’t tell us these details. It gives us principles to go by.
We expect you to dress in a way people dress in 2007 in our community – in an appropriate and modest way. That is going to look different depending on who you are. That’s ok! There is diversity and variety in dress as well!
This also means that we will do things that other people and groups have done, with whom we do not fully agree. For example, a couple weeks ago, we found out that the organ was used in the Catholic Church well before the Christian Church, and that the Reformers wanted nothing to do with it because others might think they were like the Catholics. We don’t have that fear today because of the organ; but we fear other things for the same reasons.
One reason people are concerned about raising your hands in worship has nothing to do with whether or not it will honor God. They are just concerned that people might think we’re charismatic. Who cares? This is about making disciples of Christ not Baptist disciples or charismatic or Presbyterian disciples. Right? Just because a Catholic wrote a song; or a Methodist wrote a drama; or an instrument is also used in a nightclub – all of these, used appropriately within the church can bring glory to Him. So, we have stained glass windows like many dead churches around the world. Does that mean we are dead and dishonoring to God? And we cannot worry that someone is going to call us names or say that we are worldly because we use something the world uses for their own purposes.
We will worship to make disciples in our community by:
· Engaging people with the truths of God
In seeking to engage people in discussion and considering the truths of God, we will use what we have to honor God, including the area of music.
Our music might be criticized – for being too worldly or being too churchy. Some might think its too progressive and some too conservative; and neither side can understand how the other side can see it that way! People might complain that some of the music we sing has a lot of repetition in it; but they fail to recognize that not only is repetition a great teaching tool (and we have learned from the Bible that part of the purpose of music is teaching); but also that the worship in the Scriptures, including the Psalms, used quite a bit of repetition.
Someone might call us worldly because we use videos, dramas and other teaching styles in order to communicate God’s unchanging truth to our changing times. We use a variety of resources to communicate with today’s people. Sometimes, the criticism is given: You’re just about entertainment. That was entertainment, not worship. Well, can you really judge that? I believe if Jesus lived here today, many people would accuse him of entertainment. Why? Because his main teaching method was simply telling stories – good stories, entertaining stories, challenging stories. He didn’t parse Hebrew verbs or walk them verse by verse through Leviticus. Now, I believe one of the best ways we can teach God’s Word is by teaching the books of the Bible. But, we use methods that engage. Our desire is to engage people with God’s truth, not entertain. But, some who are critical may still view it that way. That’s o.k.!
This brings us to the fun topic of separation. Without getting into detail, many take God’s command to be separate from the world’s philosophy to mean that we should not use anything the world uses for good. So, if you use a certain drama or video or instrument or song, you will be accused of being worldly. Let’s be very careful how we use that term. Let’s use it in its biblical context to describe a world view that opposes Christ rather than using “worldly” to describe something that can be used for good or evil.
Warren Wiersbe – Real Worship – “I was told that separation was the secret to a successful church. But then I saw ‘separated churches’ fight among themselves, split and splinter, and sometimes hurt the testimony of Christ in a community…Separation apart from worship can- and usually does – become a brittle piety that breeds arrogance, legalism, and an unbiblical isolation from both the world and the church.”
But I had someone tell me recently that separation was really the important thing. We will separate from the world’s philosophy, but we are not afraid to be accused of being worldly just because we are using what God has made available to reach people and to worship for His glory. We will not apologize for that!
We are not closed. We are flexible. We are concerned more about people than programs. It is our highest desire to glorify God and through worship encourage people to take their next steps toward Him.
Let’s stand together.
I would like us to close our worship series with the song we were introduced to in the first message of this series, and that we sang together last week. It is a song of commitment for each of us. Think about what you are singing. Believe it. And then, live it out.
HEART OF WORSHIP
Monday, December 10, 2007
ITS SUNDAY MORNING - SO WHAT?
This was the 9th message in the Heart of Worship Series. After talking about music for 2 consecutive weeks, it was time to apply the principles of the Scriptures to our particular worship service. It was my desire to explain how the different aspects of our service are built on the foundational principles of worship in Scripture.
ITS SUNDAY MORNING
SO WHAT?
Please turn in your Bible to Hebrews 10.
We have been working our way through this Heart of Worship series, looking at what the Bible has to say about worship. We have been considering a working definition on worship. Before we put it on the screen, if you know it, say it with me:
“Worship is responding to who God is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”
Now, let’s put it on the screen and say it together:
“Worship is responding to who God is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”
This truly has to do with how we live our lives. But, it also has to do with our corporate worship. The past couple of weeks, we have looked at the issue of worship music, and this morning, we want to consider our worship service. Just as music can be controversial, so can all the elements of a worship service. This is because, again, we all have opinions, experiences and preferences we have brought from our past. What if each of us could choose what church is like on a Sunday morning?
ME CHURCH VIDEO
No one, probably, would demand the same things they demanded in the video; but you probably know that people are picky about what they experience in church. And, if they don’t like what they are seeing, there is another church down the road. A lot of this has to do with expectations people have when they come to a worship service. And the church leadership has a huge challenge in deciding what our services will be like – with a limited amount of time, what we will choose to do.
Just like with worship music, God gives us a lot of flexibility concerning the details we choose to include. Let’s consider some important biblical principles and the application for us today.
1. Meet each week to worship God together
You may know that in the Old Testament days, God’s people were to take Saturday, the Sabbath as their day of rest. Many people still continue that today. And although we have record in Acts that believers met daily, it is evident that the early church began to meet on Sundays for worship, celebrating the fact that Jesus Christ rose again on the first day of the week. The Apostle Paul spoke of the fact that churches met together on the first day of the week. That tradition has stuck with most churches even until today. It doesn’t mean that churches who have worship services on Saturday or Wednesday are sinning. But, we have chosen to make our main corporate worship service Sunday morning.
We meet at other times as well, but this is our main corporate worship service, when the majority of our people are able to come together. That is not true everywhere. When I visited our missionaries, the Richners, in Brazil this summer, they met on Sunday nights rather than mornings, because that is when the majority of their people could come. There is nothing holy about the time of 10:45, but it is the time we currently meet for corporate worship. We believe one of the principles of Scripture is that we would have a corporate worship service each week to worship God together.
I think one of the best ways to consider what we do on Sundays together is to remember one of the very first principles we found in this Heart of Worship series several weeks ago. And that truth is found in several places, including:
I Peter 2:5 – “You yourselves…are to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
As we saw weeks ago, God’s intention was that all of His people would approach him as a priest, coming to God personally with their sacrifices and leading their families to Him. However, they were not ready to do so, and a system of priests, representatives for the people, was set up. God appointed the Levites to offer sacrifices, and the High Priest was the only one allowed to go into the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence was.
But, here in I Peter, we are reminded that every believer is a priest, to offer spiritual sacrifices to God.
You are in Hebrews 10. Let’s see what it says to every believer – what it says about us this morning:
Hebrews 10:19-25 – “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, He became our High Priest and remains the only one who can bring us to God. But when we come to God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we then become priests as well, and are welcomed to approach God directly through prayer. In fact, instead of being afraid of losing our lives, as anyone who approached God directly in the Old Testament sacrificial system, we are to approach God with full confidence. What did these verses say? “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful!” Yes!
Because we have a faithful God who keeps His promises, we can go to Him directly, through His Son Jesus Christ, to offer the sacrifice of our life worship. But, did you notice the full context of these verses? Right after that, it says: “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together…”
In the context of being able to go directly to God through Jesus Christ, we are to meet together with other believers on a regular basis in order to help one another grow in relationship to Christ. So, it is not enough just to privately have a devotional, worship time on your own at home. But, we are also to meet together with other believers at church in order to worship God and be built up in our faith.
Now, please turn back to the first book of the New Testament, the book of Matthew 6. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 837 or 853.
So, let’s consider the aspects of our worship service from the perspective of bringing our sacrifices to offer to God. We are to sacrifice in our life worship every moment of every day, and we are to sacrifice in our corporate worship when we meet together, like we do on Sunday mornings, at 10:45.
Part of the sacrifice of coming together on Sunday morning, is that it is not necessarily easy to do so. Some of you miss work in order to come Sunday mornings for worship. Now, I realize that not everyone can work that out and they have to find other times for corporate worship; but I have found that the majority of us, sometimes at great sacrifice, can make it possible not to work on Sunday mornings in order to corporately worship.
It is also a sacrifice because there are many other great things to do on a Sunday morning, aren’t there? There is sleeping in, going to the park, working out, putting in overtime at work, playing sports and many other enjoyable things. But, we decide to sacrifice these other good things to come together to worship God.
There is even the sacrifice that comes on Saturday night. What do you mean Greg? Well, if you stay up all night Saturday night, it is unlikely you will be alert enough to truly give all of yourself in worship on Sunday mornings. Again, it is not always possible, but making sure you get the rest you need on Saturday night can be a great sacrifice, but also a great way to be prepared to worship God on Sunday.
Another principle of sacrifice that is crucial for corporate worship is to:
2. Pray
A.W. Tozer – “Prayer at its best is the expression of the total life…all things being equal, our prayers are only as powerful as our lives.”
This relates to the whole life worship thing. Prayer is a part of our corporate worship, but it is to be a reflection, an overflow of our life worship. In worship King David said:
Psalm 141:2 – “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you…”
David saw prayer and thought God saw prayer as a sacrifice that we give to Him.
We believe in the importance of prayer, including corporate prayer. There are some things to consider here. Jesus gave a warning about this when He said:
Matthew 6:5-7 – “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
God is not interested in us standing here and praying long, flowery prayers. That does not impress God. He would much rather have you pray in the privacy of your own room. And let me say that it is important that you pray for our services even before you come to church. Cry out to God in private that He would do something great in people’s hearts during our worship services.
During our worship services, you normally will not hear a long, impressive prayer. But, we are encouraged in the Scriptures to pray in public worship and we will. We probably pray 3-4 times in our corporate worship services. It will sometimes be more, sometimes less. It may be a prayer for a certain person, a certain event, for the service itself, for the offering or for a closing prayer of commitment or dismissal. We do like variety, but we will definitely pray.
We have a corporate prayer meeting on Wednesday nights, but you may not realize that we also have a corporate prayer meeting on Sunday mornings. We begin our ministry day with an opportunity for everyone to come together to pray for our services, asking God to move in a mighty way. We meet at 8:45 in my office and you are welcome to come. After that prayer time, we then get ready for Sunday school. Prayer is important as it relates to our morning service: your private prayer time before you come, our corporate prayer time at 8:45 every Sunday morning, and our times of prayer during our service.
There is sacrifice involved here as well. Some of you have to sacrifice in order to take time for personal prayer. It would be a sacrifice for you to come early in order to pray with others before our services. And for some of you, staying alert and praying silently while someone else is praying publicly in a service is a sacrifice and hard work for you. Worship involves our sacrifices.
Please turn in your Bible to II Corinthians 9. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 1005 or 1030.
Another principle to apply here is to:
3. Encourage others with joyful anticipation
Do you remember what the Bible said we are to be doing when we come together, in Hebrews 10:24,25 – “Stir up one another to love and good works…encourage one another.” When are we supposed to do that when most of our worship service is spent singing and listening to other people preach, sing and give announcements? I think one of the best times to apply this principle is just before the service begins.
I realize I am going against some people’s preferences and traditions. Some would prefer what I grew up in: You were to enter the holy sanctuary, as it was called, and you were to be quiet. You were to prepare your heart for worship, and sometimes that would even be announced from the pulpit or appear in the bulletin. Kids who were talking were SHHHHHHed and people were expected to open their Bibles, meditate and pray until the service started. By the way, some of our people still do that, and there is nothing wrong with that.
But, we have chosen a different path here at Grace, at least for now. Most of the service, you are not talking. You are singing, hopefully, led by our worship team. But, the majority of the time you are listening to me preach, listening to our choir, special music and announcements. You are quietly worshiping God, hopefully meditating on the message from the music and the Word of God.
So, we have chosen to make the time just before the service a great time to anticipate the celebration and corporate worship of God that we are about to enter into. We have chosen this as the time, as well as just after the service, for people to greet one another, and to encourage one another by talking! While we joyfully anticipate the service, we vary the background music with organ or CD playing.
As you talk and encourage each other, we are eagerly anticipating the opportunity to continue our worship in other ways. But, make no mistake about it: fellowshipping together before the service is worship to God! I think He loves hearing our talking and laughing and encouragement – I really do. For about an hour and a half, most of us will be silently worshiping. For those 15 or so minutes before the service, our worship is through the encouraging talk among ourselves.
Romans 16:16 –“Greet one another…”
This is one of the best times to apply this principle. Yes, in the Bible days, they greeted one another in that culture with a kiss. Some cultures and traditions still do that and that is fine. Here, in our culture, we greet one another with a hug, or most of us go with a kind word and handshake. Every other service or so, we take a few minutes to let you greet one another after we get started; but your greatest opportunities for encouragement with one another is before the service gets started and afterward.
It is one of my best opportunities to talk with those who come to our services; and I love hearing people fellowshipping as we prepare to come to God with our other sacrifices. And by the way, some of us have to sacrifice to do this. We would rather be quiet and not talk to anyone. It’s hard for some of us. We would rather stay to ourselves and not go talk to a new guest or anyone for that matter. It might be a sacrifice for you to think of others and spend time encouraging them.
I saw a comic strip recently that illustrates a sacrifice some of us must face when we come into the worship center and prepare to find our seats:
In the comic, you see church pews, with a fairly young couple (new guests) sitting in a one of the pews by the aisle. You see a little older couple standing in the aisle, looking at this new couple with frowns on their faces and arms clutching their Bibles to their chests. Other people around are looking back at what is going on. And the caption says: “The whole church watched with nervous anticipation as the visitors sat where the Jones’ have sat for 42 years.” I loved that!
What else is an application of our sacrificial worship on Sunday morning? What is another principle to apply here?
4. Give voluntarily, joyfully and sacrificially
A part of our corporate worship is giving financially in what we call the offering. I would like the ushers to go ahead and come forward to prepare to receive the offering this morning.
Now, this is one of those things that is hard for people. We easily come to believe that our money is our money; and we easily forget that everything we have is a gift from God. And He has asked us to give part of it back to Him to be used through the church for His glory. This is normally known as the tithe. Tithe means 10%. If you study the Old Testament, you will find that sometimes the giving was more like 20%; but the tithe of 10% of what God had given was always expected to be given back to Him.
In fact, God took it so seriously, that He accused His people of robbing Him. And when they asked how in the world they had robbed Him, He said:
Malachi 3:8 – “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, How have we robbed you? In your tithes and contributions.”
In the Old Testament, as it related to sacrifices for those going to worship Him:
Deuteronomy 16:16 – “…They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.”
It was expected that when people went to worship, they would have an offering, a sacrifice to give to God.
Someone wanted to give King David the sacrifice needed so he did not need to offer anything of his own. But his response:
II Samuel 24:24 – “…The king said…No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.”
No doubt, there is sacrifice involved when we speak of financially giving in our worship. This is something that is very hard for many of us to do. I think the basic principle is that we give, at the very least, 10% to God from the total of what He has given us – setting it aside off the top. Then, there may be additional offerings and contributions to give to God through the church or to send to other missionaries or organizations that we also might choose to support as individuals or families.
So, if I were to get $10 this week for all my hard work, or from some other source, I take the first 10% ($1) and set it aside first to place in the offering plate. Normally, since I get paid every twice a month, I put my tithe envelope in the offering plate twice a month, giving the amount of 10% or above that I have determined in my heart. Some give 20% because that is what they feel led to give. That would be $2 if I have $10. Then, some money goes to taxes, some to paying my bills, maybe some to savings and some to spending. The Bible talks about the tithe and then extra offerings or contributions. Perhaps, after my tithe, I decide to give 10% to go toward a special need in the church facility (Mike Yager); or maybe 10% to a missionary I have a burden for (Glicks) or some other ministry or person. This is all based on believing God’s promises, including this one:
Philippians 4:19 – “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Believing that God will meet all of my true needs, I can give even if I feel I don’t have money to give. I trust in God’s promises. You might ask: What does the New Testament say about how much to give? Instead of concentrating on specific amounts, it concentrates on heart attitude, which as we have learned, is most important in our worship.
II Corinthians 9:6-9 – “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he had made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Between you and God, knowing the principles from the Scripture, you are to determine what you will give – voluntarily, joyfully and sacrificially. And we feel it is important to take the time in our service to practice this sacrifice of giving together. Let’s apply that right now with our offering. We have not taken it yet and this is a great time to do it. Men, will you please come forward, preparing to receive the offering. As we take the offering, please remain seated and sing with us a song of thanksgiving to God. Let’s pray. (ushers come forward)
Song – Give Thanks (choir come up)
I know that some question why we would sing or have special music during the offering. There are some who like it to be quiet during the offering or to just have the organ play quietly. We do that about once a month. But, giving is a great celebration of worship – a joyful, sacrificial celebration. What better way to give than while we are singing or listening to a special or listening to the choir? Music accompanying our gifts of worship to God! How appropriate – How fitting!
Please turn to one more passage with me. Turn in your Bible to Nehemiah 8. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 424 or 435.
5. Sing to God with all your heart
Psalm 69:30 – “I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.”
Psalm 100:1,2 - “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!”
We have already spoken of worship music and how important it is in our corporate worship. We know it includes Psalms, Hymns, spiritual songs and all kinds of different music and style and instrumentation and singers. We take time each worship service to give of ourselves in singing and in listening to others sing; and playing praise songs to and about our God.
How does this relate to a sacrifice?
Hebrews 13:15 – “…Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God…”
Praising Him through music is a sacrifice for many. Why? Several reasons: Some don’t like to sing. For you to actually sing is a sacrifice. Some are self conscious about their singing because they don’t have a good voice. Good thing God rejoices in a “joyful noise”! Some of you sacrifice during singing because you don’t like the music that is chosen or the special that is sung or the choir number. Some of you don’t prefer the instrumentation or even the people that are leading or singing, for whatever reasons. In those cases, you must sacrifice your preferences in order to give all of yourself in musical worship – whether you are the one singing or the one listening.
Now, let’s consider a principle that may be the most uncomfortable one for us:
6. Respond to God with your body
Many of us are used to going to churches where we expect people to be fairly quiet and their bodies to be fairly motionless during worship. We get a little nervous when someone expresses worship with their bodies in ways we are not used to or in ways we do not prefer. I have asked the choir to remind us of a very biblical word, from which we need to consider this principle:
Choir – AMEN
Did you hear the message of the song. Obviously the theme was Amen, but the reason Amen was sung was because of the story of Christ, beginning with His birth and leading to when He would die for our sins and rise again. There is a great reason to say Amen, which means “so be it.” It is a term of agreement. I realize there is some stigma with this word. It makes us a little uncomfortable is someone is saying it all the time and loudly. And we are concerned what others might think if we say something out loud. But, despite our fears, it does have a biblical basis and the key, as always, is the heart attitude in which we respond. You are turned to
Nehemiah 8:5,6 – “And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.”
According to pastor John Piper: “The amen meant, Yes, we agree with your blessing! We join in your blessing! All you have said of God’s greatness we let it echo in our Amen. We say, True, and firm and reliable is what you have said.”
Perhaps you would choose to say amen or Yes or something else that communicates that after a song, after a prayer after a spoken word. If you have the right heart attitude, it is an appropriate thing. How about if we practice? ON three, let’s all say “Amen.” Ready? 1…2…3… AMEN! Now, on a count of three, let’s say “yes.” Ready? 1…2…3…YES! That wasn’t too difficult, was it? Most of us are ok with that. But, what about the other responses with our bodies mentioned in Scripture?
Psalm 149:3 – “Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!”
Psalm 95:6 – “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!”
Psalm 47:1- “Clap your hands, all people! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!”
Psalm 63:3,4 – “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.”
I know this makes some of you nervous. But don’t be. These were responses of worship in the Bible. These were appropriate ways in which people sacrificed in their worship. And you can imagine that for many, responding with vocal responses or body responses like the ones we just read are huge sacrifices for some people. Again, just like with the worship music, there is a lot of flexibility here, depending on your particular church, the culture in which you live and the community in which you worship.
I very much doubt if we will do much dancing here. Not because the bible condemns it. In fact, we know it was used in Hebrew worship. But, in our culture, today’s American culture and in our church culture, it would be extremely difficult for dance to have a positive impact in our services. It is hard to have dance without thoughts of seductive moves or actions. I am open to it, but you will have to prove to me it can be done with honor to God in our circumstances here. Probably the way we have used it is in kid’s programs, where they are moving to the music (doing choreography) as they sing – in worship to God!
But, I do believe that we can be free and give others some freedom to respond to God with body and voice action. Maybe you close your eyes, sit down, kneel down, raise your hands. Not all of these have to be done; but they are permissible; and should be considered. O.k. Stand with me for a moment. Raise your right hand with me – now your left hand. Uh-Oh. You’re raising your hands in worship! Does it feel uncomfortable? It might if you were singing and raising your hands at the same time. You may be seated. But, there will be those, including myself, that might raise our hands in response to God. As long as we have the right heart attitude, that can be a biblical, great response to Him. But, its not required.
In what ways are you willing to sacrifice in your worship? Are there any ways in which you are not willing – things you are not willing to give to God? One last principle this morning:
7. Apply the teaching of God’s Word to your life
Martin Luther: “When I declare the Word of God I offer sacrifice; when thou hearest the Word of God with all thy heart, thou dost offer sacrifice.”
One of the key components of our corporate worship service is the time that we preach the Word of God. But, it is not just about me or someone else talking. It is about you having a receptive heart to the Word of God and the willingness to apply it to life. The Word of God is not primarily preached so that we can learn more and have more knowledge than anyone else. The Apostle Paul tells us the emphasis:
II Timothy 3:16– “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
This Word of God that we teach from every Sunday is about life transformation. The Word of God is powerful and is able, being utilized by the Holy Spirit, to change our lives. But, we must give ourselves to it – not only listening carefully, or even just agreeing with what is being said; but actually applying it to every day life. Sometimes we need help with that – others who can listen to us, and challenge us in ways it can be applied – people who can pray for us and keep us accountable for applying it. That is what our life groups are all about.
I know there are people who are used to altar calls at the end of services. The idea for many years has been that God moves in people’s lives, a song is sung, an invitation is given, people walk the aisle and make a decision of some kind. There is nothing wrong with that. We have decided to take a different route, but I think for good reasons.
I don’t think walking an aisle is the key. The key is taking the Word of God and applying it to life. It can be done just as effectively without walking an aisle. In fact, if someone thinks walking an aisle is the decisive key, I think they are missing it. The real proof that God is working is…changed lives, not people coming forward. I expect that in your hearts, you all will come forward every single week – along with me. In other words, every time God’s Word is preached, we should be responding to what God wants us to do in response to His Word. His Word is clear – it changes us, every time we experience it and humbly submit to it. I challenge you to apply it every week and that is true worship.
However, for those of you who want to have someone to talk to or pray with you about a decision, there is an open invitation every week. I remain here at the front after our services are over. Although I am open to talking to anyone about anything you would like to talk about, I am also here if you want to talk about a decision you need to make or have me pray with you. I would love to do that. The only difference is that you will not be walking down while others are singing and looking at you. I believe this leads to the idea that we all need to apply God’s Word to life every time the Word is preached, not just when we feel moved to walk an aisle.
Announcements are a needed part of our service, but sometimes hard to place. We have tried them in a variety of places in our order of service. Right now, we are doing them at the end of the service. Some people like them at the beginning, some in the middle and some in the end. There are positives and negatives about all of them. But, our goal is that the announcements we do make are relevant to the majority of our congregation and that we feel need to be said publicly and not just written in the bulletin. Most of the announcements are just in the bulletin or made in Sunday school classes or other communication. We don’t want waste time; but there are some things we need to say and want people to remember as they leave.
SO WHAT is a question I ask quite often at the end of a message time. And it is an important question. Our desire is that you will not leave our service unchanged by God’s Word. But, that you will be challenged by it and go away with one thing that you want to do in order to honor God in your life worship and apply His Word to daily life. So, I ask you, today:
SO WHAT? are you going to do with God’s Word today?
Take a moment to quiet your heart before Him and commit yourself to applying anything that He is asking you to apply from His Word.
I LOVE YOU LORD
Prayer
ITS SUNDAY MORNING
SO WHAT?
Please turn in your Bible to Hebrews 10.
We have been working our way through this Heart of Worship series, looking at what the Bible has to say about worship. We have been considering a working definition on worship. Before we put it on the screen, if you know it, say it with me:
“Worship is responding to who God is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”
Now, let’s put it on the screen and say it together:
“Worship is responding to who God is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”
This truly has to do with how we live our lives. But, it also has to do with our corporate worship. The past couple of weeks, we have looked at the issue of worship music, and this morning, we want to consider our worship service. Just as music can be controversial, so can all the elements of a worship service. This is because, again, we all have opinions, experiences and preferences we have brought from our past. What if each of us could choose what church is like on a Sunday morning?
ME CHURCH VIDEO
No one, probably, would demand the same things they demanded in the video; but you probably know that people are picky about what they experience in church. And, if they don’t like what they are seeing, there is another church down the road. A lot of this has to do with expectations people have when they come to a worship service. And the church leadership has a huge challenge in deciding what our services will be like – with a limited amount of time, what we will choose to do.
Just like with worship music, God gives us a lot of flexibility concerning the details we choose to include. Let’s consider some important biblical principles and the application for us today.
1. Meet each week to worship God together
You may know that in the Old Testament days, God’s people were to take Saturday, the Sabbath as their day of rest. Many people still continue that today. And although we have record in Acts that believers met daily, it is evident that the early church began to meet on Sundays for worship, celebrating the fact that Jesus Christ rose again on the first day of the week. The Apostle Paul spoke of the fact that churches met together on the first day of the week. That tradition has stuck with most churches even until today. It doesn’t mean that churches who have worship services on Saturday or Wednesday are sinning. But, we have chosen to make our main corporate worship service Sunday morning.
We meet at other times as well, but this is our main corporate worship service, when the majority of our people are able to come together. That is not true everywhere. When I visited our missionaries, the Richners, in Brazil this summer, they met on Sunday nights rather than mornings, because that is when the majority of their people could come. There is nothing holy about the time of 10:45, but it is the time we currently meet for corporate worship. We believe one of the principles of Scripture is that we would have a corporate worship service each week to worship God together.
I think one of the best ways to consider what we do on Sundays together is to remember one of the very first principles we found in this Heart of Worship series several weeks ago. And that truth is found in several places, including:
I Peter 2:5 – “You yourselves…are to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
As we saw weeks ago, God’s intention was that all of His people would approach him as a priest, coming to God personally with their sacrifices and leading their families to Him. However, they were not ready to do so, and a system of priests, representatives for the people, was set up. God appointed the Levites to offer sacrifices, and the High Priest was the only one allowed to go into the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence was.
But, here in I Peter, we are reminded that every believer is a priest, to offer spiritual sacrifices to God.
You are in Hebrews 10. Let’s see what it says to every believer – what it says about us this morning:
Hebrews 10:19-25 – “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, He became our High Priest and remains the only one who can bring us to God. But when we come to God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we then become priests as well, and are welcomed to approach God directly through prayer. In fact, instead of being afraid of losing our lives, as anyone who approached God directly in the Old Testament sacrificial system, we are to approach God with full confidence. What did these verses say? “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful!” Yes!
Because we have a faithful God who keeps His promises, we can go to Him directly, through His Son Jesus Christ, to offer the sacrifice of our life worship. But, did you notice the full context of these verses? Right after that, it says: “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together…”
In the context of being able to go directly to God through Jesus Christ, we are to meet together with other believers on a regular basis in order to help one another grow in relationship to Christ. So, it is not enough just to privately have a devotional, worship time on your own at home. But, we are also to meet together with other believers at church in order to worship God and be built up in our faith.
Now, please turn back to the first book of the New Testament, the book of Matthew 6. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 837 or 853.
So, let’s consider the aspects of our worship service from the perspective of bringing our sacrifices to offer to God. We are to sacrifice in our life worship every moment of every day, and we are to sacrifice in our corporate worship when we meet together, like we do on Sunday mornings, at 10:45.
Part of the sacrifice of coming together on Sunday morning, is that it is not necessarily easy to do so. Some of you miss work in order to come Sunday mornings for worship. Now, I realize that not everyone can work that out and they have to find other times for corporate worship; but I have found that the majority of us, sometimes at great sacrifice, can make it possible not to work on Sunday mornings in order to corporately worship.
It is also a sacrifice because there are many other great things to do on a Sunday morning, aren’t there? There is sleeping in, going to the park, working out, putting in overtime at work, playing sports and many other enjoyable things. But, we decide to sacrifice these other good things to come together to worship God.
There is even the sacrifice that comes on Saturday night. What do you mean Greg? Well, if you stay up all night Saturday night, it is unlikely you will be alert enough to truly give all of yourself in worship on Sunday mornings. Again, it is not always possible, but making sure you get the rest you need on Saturday night can be a great sacrifice, but also a great way to be prepared to worship God on Sunday.
Another principle of sacrifice that is crucial for corporate worship is to:
2. Pray
A.W. Tozer – “Prayer at its best is the expression of the total life…all things being equal, our prayers are only as powerful as our lives.”
This relates to the whole life worship thing. Prayer is a part of our corporate worship, but it is to be a reflection, an overflow of our life worship. In worship King David said:
Psalm 141:2 – “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you…”
David saw prayer and thought God saw prayer as a sacrifice that we give to Him.
We believe in the importance of prayer, including corporate prayer. There are some things to consider here. Jesus gave a warning about this when He said:
Matthew 6:5-7 – “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
God is not interested in us standing here and praying long, flowery prayers. That does not impress God. He would much rather have you pray in the privacy of your own room. And let me say that it is important that you pray for our services even before you come to church. Cry out to God in private that He would do something great in people’s hearts during our worship services.
During our worship services, you normally will not hear a long, impressive prayer. But, we are encouraged in the Scriptures to pray in public worship and we will. We probably pray 3-4 times in our corporate worship services. It will sometimes be more, sometimes less. It may be a prayer for a certain person, a certain event, for the service itself, for the offering or for a closing prayer of commitment or dismissal. We do like variety, but we will definitely pray.
We have a corporate prayer meeting on Wednesday nights, but you may not realize that we also have a corporate prayer meeting on Sunday mornings. We begin our ministry day with an opportunity for everyone to come together to pray for our services, asking God to move in a mighty way. We meet at 8:45 in my office and you are welcome to come. After that prayer time, we then get ready for Sunday school. Prayer is important as it relates to our morning service: your private prayer time before you come, our corporate prayer time at 8:45 every Sunday morning, and our times of prayer during our service.
There is sacrifice involved here as well. Some of you have to sacrifice in order to take time for personal prayer. It would be a sacrifice for you to come early in order to pray with others before our services. And for some of you, staying alert and praying silently while someone else is praying publicly in a service is a sacrifice and hard work for you. Worship involves our sacrifices.
Please turn in your Bible to II Corinthians 9. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 1005 or 1030.
Another principle to apply here is to:
3. Encourage others with joyful anticipation
Do you remember what the Bible said we are to be doing when we come together, in Hebrews 10:24,25 – “Stir up one another to love and good works…encourage one another.” When are we supposed to do that when most of our worship service is spent singing and listening to other people preach, sing and give announcements? I think one of the best times to apply this principle is just before the service begins.
I realize I am going against some people’s preferences and traditions. Some would prefer what I grew up in: You were to enter the holy sanctuary, as it was called, and you were to be quiet. You were to prepare your heart for worship, and sometimes that would even be announced from the pulpit or appear in the bulletin. Kids who were talking were SHHHHHHed and people were expected to open their Bibles, meditate and pray until the service started. By the way, some of our people still do that, and there is nothing wrong with that.
But, we have chosen a different path here at Grace, at least for now. Most of the service, you are not talking. You are singing, hopefully, led by our worship team. But, the majority of the time you are listening to me preach, listening to our choir, special music and announcements. You are quietly worshiping God, hopefully meditating on the message from the music and the Word of God.
So, we have chosen to make the time just before the service a great time to anticipate the celebration and corporate worship of God that we are about to enter into. We have chosen this as the time, as well as just after the service, for people to greet one another, and to encourage one another by talking! While we joyfully anticipate the service, we vary the background music with organ or CD playing.
As you talk and encourage each other, we are eagerly anticipating the opportunity to continue our worship in other ways. But, make no mistake about it: fellowshipping together before the service is worship to God! I think He loves hearing our talking and laughing and encouragement – I really do. For about an hour and a half, most of us will be silently worshiping. For those 15 or so minutes before the service, our worship is through the encouraging talk among ourselves.
Romans 16:16 –“Greet one another…”
This is one of the best times to apply this principle. Yes, in the Bible days, they greeted one another in that culture with a kiss. Some cultures and traditions still do that and that is fine. Here, in our culture, we greet one another with a hug, or most of us go with a kind word and handshake. Every other service or so, we take a few minutes to let you greet one another after we get started; but your greatest opportunities for encouragement with one another is before the service gets started and afterward.
It is one of my best opportunities to talk with those who come to our services; and I love hearing people fellowshipping as we prepare to come to God with our other sacrifices. And by the way, some of us have to sacrifice to do this. We would rather be quiet and not talk to anyone. It’s hard for some of us. We would rather stay to ourselves and not go talk to a new guest or anyone for that matter. It might be a sacrifice for you to think of others and spend time encouraging them.
I saw a comic strip recently that illustrates a sacrifice some of us must face when we come into the worship center and prepare to find our seats:
In the comic, you see church pews, with a fairly young couple (new guests) sitting in a one of the pews by the aisle. You see a little older couple standing in the aisle, looking at this new couple with frowns on their faces and arms clutching their Bibles to their chests. Other people around are looking back at what is going on. And the caption says: “The whole church watched with nervous anticipation as the visitors sat where the Jones’ have sat for 42 years.” I loved that!
What else is an application of our sacrificial worship on Sunday morning? What is another principle to apply here?
4. Give voluntarily, joyfully and sacrificially
A part of our corporate worship is giving financially in what we call the offering. I would like the ushers to go ahead and come forward to prepare to receive the offering this morning.
Now, this is one of those things that is hard for people. We easily come to believe that our money is our money; and we easily forget that everything we have is a gift from God. And He has asked us to give part of it back to Him to be used through the church for His glory. This is normally known as the tithe. Tithe means 10%. If you study the Old Testament, you will find that sometimes the giving was more like 20%; but the tithe of 10% of what God had given was always expected to be given back to Him.
In fact, God took it so seriously, that He accused His people of robbing Him. And when they asked how in the world they had robbed Him, He said:
Malachi 3:8 – “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, How have we robbed you? In your tithes and contributions.”
In the Old Testament, as it related to sacrifices for those going to worship Him:
Deuteronomy 16:16 – “…They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.”
It was expected that when people went to worship, they would have an offering, a sacrifice to give to God.
Someone wanted to give King David the sacrifice needed so he did not need to offer anything of his own. But his response:
II Samuel 24:24 – “…The king said…No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.”
No doubt, there is sacrifice involved when we speak of financially giving in our worship. This is something that is very hard for many of us to do. I think the basic principle is that we give, at the very least, 10% to God from the total of what He has given us – setting it aside off the top. Then, there may be additional offerings and contributions to give to God through the church or to send to other missionaries or organizations that we also might choose to support as individuals or families.
So, if I were to get $10 this week for all my hard work, or from some other source, I take the first 10% ($1) and set it aside first to place in the offering plate. Normally, since I get paid every twice a month, I put my tithe envelope in the offering plate twice a month, giving the amount of 10% or above that I have determined in my heart. Some give 20% because that is what they feel led to give. That would be $2 if I have $10. Then, some money goes to taxes, some to paying my bills, maybe some to savings and some to spending. The Bible talks about the tithe and then extra offerings or contributions. Perhaps, after my tithe, I decide to give 10% to go toward a special need in the church facility (Mike Yager); or maybe 10% to a missionary I have a burden for (Glicks) or some other ministry or person. This is all based on believing God’s promises, including this one:
Philippians 4:19 – “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Believing that God will meet all of my true needs, I can give even if I feel I don’t have money to give. I trust in God’s promises. You might ask: What does the New Testament say about how much to give? Instead of concentrating on specific amounts, it concentrates on heart attitude, which as we have learned, is most important in our worship.
II Corinthians 9:6-9 – “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he had made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Between you and God, knowing the principles from the Scripture, you are to determine what you will give – voluntarily, joyfully and sacrificially. And we feel it is important to take the time in our service to practice this sacrifice of giving together. Let’s apply that right now with our offering. We have not taken it yet and this is a great time to do it. Men, will you please come forward, preparing to receive the offering. As we take the offering, please remain seated and sing with us a song of thanksgiving to God. Let’s pray. (ushers come forward)
Song – Give Thanks (choir come up)
I know that some question why we would sing or have special music during the offering. There are some who like it to be quiet during the offering or to just have the organ play quietly. We do that about once a month. But, giving is a great celebration of worship – a joyful, sacrificial celebration. What better way to give than while we are singing or listening to a special or listening to the choir? Music accompanying our gifts of worship to God! How appropriate – How fitting!
Please turn to one more passage with me. Turn in your Bible to Nehemiah 8. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 424 or 435.
5. Sing to God with all your heart
Psalm 69:30 – “I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.”
Psalm 100:1,2 - “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!”
We have already spoken of worship music and how important it is in our corporate worship. We know it includes Psalms, Hymns, spiritual songs and all kinds of different music and style and instrumentation and singers. We take time each worship service to give of ourselves in singing and in listening to others sing; and playing praise songs to and about our God.
How does this relate to a sacrifice?
Hebrews 13:15 – “…Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God…”
Praising Him through music is a sacrifice for many. Why? Several reasons: Some don’t like to sing. For you to actually sing is a sacrifice. Some are self conscious about their singing because they don’t have a good voice. Good thing God rejoices in a “joyful noise”! Some of you sacrifice during singing because you don’t like the music that is chosen or the special that is sung or the choir number. Some of you don’t prefer the instrumentation or even the people that are leading or singing, for whatever reasons. In those cases, you must sacrifice your preferences in order to give all of yourself in musical worship – whether you are the one singing or the one listening.
Now, let’s consider a principle that may be the most uncomfortable one for us:
6. Respond to God with your body
Many of us are used to going to churches where we expect people to be fairly quiet and their bodies to be fairly motionless during worship. We get a little nervous when someone expresses worship with their bodies in ways we are not used to or in ways we do not prefer. I have asked the choir to remind us of a very biblical word, from which we need to consider this principle:
Choir – AMEN
Did you hear the message of the song. Obviously the theme was Amen, but the reason Amen was sung was because of the story of Christ, beginning with His birth and leading to when He would die for our sins and rise again. There is a great reason to say Amen, which means “so be it.” It is a term of agreement. I realize there is some stigma with this word. It makes us a little uncomfortable is someone is saying it all the time and loudly. And we are concerned what others might think if we say something out loud. But, despite our fears, it does have a biblical basis and the key, as always, is the heart attitude in which we respond. You are turned to
Nehemiah 8:5,6 – “And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.”
According to pastor John Piper: “The amen meant, Yes, we agree with your blessing! We join in your blessing! All you have said of God’s greatness we let it echo in our Amen. We say, True, and firm and reliable is what you have said.”
Perhaps you would choose to say amen or Yes or something else that communicates that after a song, after a prayer after a spoken word. If you have the right heart attitude, it is an appropriate thing. How about if we practice? ON three, let’s all say “Amen.” Ready? 1…2…3… AMEN! Now, on a count of three, let’s say “yes.” Ready? 1…2…3…YES! That wasn’t too difficult, was it? Most of us are ok with that. But, what about the other responses with our bodies mentioned in Scripture?
Psalm 149:3 – “Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!”
Psalm 95:6 – “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!”
Psalm 47:1- “Clap your hands, all people! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!”
Psalm 63:3,4 – “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.”
I know this makes some of you nervous. But don’t be. These were responses of worship in the Bible. These were appropriate ways in which people sacrificed in their worship. And you can imagine that for many, responding with vocal responses or body responses like the ones we just read are huge sacrifices for some people. Again, just like with the worship music, there is a lot of flexibility here, depending on your particular church, the culture in which you live and the community in which you worship.
I very much doubt if we will do much dancing here. Not because the bible condemns it. In fact, we know it was used in Hebrew worship. But, in our culture, today’s American culture and in our church culture, it would be extremely difficult for dance to have a positive impact in our services. It is hard to have dance without thoughts of seductive moves or actions. I am open to it, but you will have to prove to me it can be done with honor to God in our circumstances here. Probably the way we have used it is in kid’s programs, where they are moving to the music (doing choreography) as they sing – in worship to God!
But, I do believe that we can be free and give others some freedom to respond to God with body and voice action. Maybe you close your eyes, sit down, kneel down, raise your hands. Not all of these have to be done; but they are permissible; and should be considered. O.k. Stand with me for a moment. Raise your right hand with me – now your left hand. Uh-Oh. You’re raising your hands in worship! Does it feel uncomfortable? It might if you were singing and raising your hands at the same time. You may be seated. But, there will be those, including myself, that might raise our hands in response to God. As long as we have the right heart attitude, that can be a biblical, great response to Him. But, its not required.
In what ways are you willing to sacrifice in your worship? Are there any ways in which you are not willing – things you are not willing to give to God? One last principle this morning:
7. Apply the teaching of God’s Word to your life
Martin Luther: “When I declare the Word of God I offer sacrifice; when thou hearest the Word of God with all thy heart, thou dost offer sacrifice.”
One of the key components of our corporate worship service is the time that we preach the Word of God. But, it is not just about me or someone else talking. It is about you having a receptive heart to the Word of God and the willingness to apply it to life. The Word of God is not primarily preached so that we can learn more and have more knowledge than anyone else. The Apostle Paul tells us the emphasis:
II Timothy 3:16– “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
This Word of God that we teach from every Sunday is about life transformation. The Word of God is powerful and is able, being utilized by the Holy Spirit, to change our lives. But, we must give ourselves to it – not only listening carefully, or even just agreeing with what is being said; but actually applying it to every day life. Sometimes we need help with that – others who can listen to us, and challenge us in ways it can be applied – people who can pray for us and keep us accountable for applying it. That is what our life groups are all about.
I know there are people who are used to altar calls at the end of services. The idea for many years has been that God moves in people’s lives, a song is sung, an invitation is given, people walk the aisle and make a decision of some kind. There is nothing wrong with that. We have decided to take a different route, but I think for good reasons.
I don’t think walking an aisle is the key. The key is taking the Word of God and applying it to life. It can be done just as effectively without walking an aisle. In fact, if someone thinks walking an aisle is the decisive key, I think they are missing it. The real proof that God is working is…changed lives, not people coming forward. I expect that in your hearts, you all will come forward every single week – along with me. In other words, every time God’s Word is preached, we should be responding to what God wants us to do in response to His Word. His Word is clear – it changes us, every time we experience it and humbly submit to it. I challenge you to apply it every week and that is true worship.
However, for those of you who want to have someone to talk to or pray with you about a decision, there is an open invitation every week. I remain here at the front after our services are over. Although I am open to talking to anyone about anything you would like to talk about, I am also here if you want to talk about a decision you need to make or have me pray with you. I would love to do that. The only difference is that you will not be walking down while others are singing and looking at you. I believe this leads to the idea that we all need to apply God’s Word to life every time the Word is preached, not just when we feel moved to walk an aisle.
Announcements are a needed part of our service, but sometimes hard to place. We have tried them in a variety of places in our order of service. Right now, we are doing them at the end of the service. Some people like them at the beginning, some in the middle and some in the end. There are positives and negatives about all of them. But, our goal is that the announcements we do make are relevant to the majority of our congregation and that we feel need to be said publicly and not just written in the bulletin. Most of the announcements are just in the bulletin or made in Sunday school classes or other communication. We don’t want waste time; but there are some things we need to say and want people to remember as they leave.
SO WHAT is a question I ask quite often at the end of a message time. And it is an important question. Our desire is that you will not leave our service unchanged by God’s Word. But, that you will be challenged by it and go away with one thing that you want to do in order to honor God in your life worship and apply His Word to daily life. So, I ask you, today:
SO WHAT? are you going to do with God’s Word today?
Take a moment to quiet your heart before Him and commit yourself to applying anything that He is asking you to apply from His Word.
I LOVE YOU LORD
Prayer
Friday, December 7, 2007
WHERE IS THE HOPE?
Perhaps you have heard the news: On Wednesday, 19 year old Robert Hawkins smuggled an AK- 47 assault rifle into a mall in Omaha, Nebraska. Inside the Von Maur store, he opened fire, killing 8 people, wounding 3 others, and then committing suicide by turning the gun on himself. 12 people shot, 9 never to live again on this earth. Who would have expected that? And it is hard to measure the effect somethig like this will have on others who saw the shootings, worked at the mall, were just shoppers themselves that day; and on those who knew Robert Hawkins personally.
The theme that keeps coming to my mind when I read stories like this is: HOPE - Where is the hope? At some point, Robert decided there was no hope for the life that he wanted. I'm sure there may have been several issues involved; but eventually it came down to: no hope. Some of the loved ones who lost their family members and friends to this shooting may be struggling with hope right now.
Many others, in particular at Christmas time, are trying to come up with reasons of why they should keep on living - trying to find real, lasting, hope. In fact, it is somewhat strange that at the time of year when people are buying everything in sight and decorating and planning for this joyous holiday, the deepest fears and feelings of depression are at their higheset level. It reminds us that putting up lights and getting presents and trying to manufacture happiness - does not meet the deepest needs of the heart. And one of the deepest is that of: HOPE.
There is a verse of Scripture that has been a huge encouragement to me:
Romans 15:13 - "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."
Hope does not just appear. It comes from God. And along with that, even in stressful stimes, comes an opportunity to have joy and peace. These are things talked about quite a bit at Christmas time, but actually realized by very few. However, we all can have real joy, constant peace, and hope in all circumstances. Why? All because of Christ. If you and I are willing to look outside ourselves and our current problem, we can trust in God fully, to be that He is and to fulfill all His promises. And if we rely on HIm, then we can have hope, even though life is uncertain.
Keeping the HOPE alive at Christmas time
The theme that keeps coming to my mind when I read stories like this is: HOPE - Where is the hope? At some point, Robert decided there was no hope for the life that he wanted. I'm sure there may have been several issues involved; but eventually it came down to: no hope. Some of the loved ones who lost their family members and friends to this shooting may be struggling with hope right now.
Many others, in particular at Christmas time, are trying to come up with reasons of why they should keep on living - trying to find real, lasting, hope. In fact, it is somewhat strange that at the time of year when people are buying everything in sight and decorating and planning for this joyous holiday, the deepest fears and feelings of depression are at their higheset level. It reminds us that putting up lights and getting presents and trying to manufacture happiness - does not meet the deepest needs of the heart. And one of the deepest is that of: HOPE.
There is a verse of Scripture that has been a huge encouragement to me:
Romans 15:13 - "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."
Hope does not just appear. It comes from God. And along with that, even in stressful stimes, comes an opportunity to have joy and peace. These are things talked about quite a bit at Christmas time, but actually realized by very few. However, we all can have real joy, constant peace, and hope in all circumstances. Why? All because of Christ. If you and I are willing to look outside ourselves and our current problem, we can trust in God fully, to be that He is and to fulfill all His promises. And if we rely on HIm, then we can have hope, even though life is uncertain.
Keeping the HOPE alive at Christmas time
Monday, December 3, 2007
WHY SHOULD THE DEVIL HAVE ALL THE GOOD MUSIC
This was the 8th message in the Heart of Worship series. It was the 2nd week in a row that we dealt with the specific issue of music. I was feeling a lot of pressure coming into this series, and especially as we got specific about music; because I know how passionate people are about this issue and how much weight people put on every word spoken from a pastor about it. However, I believed it was crucial that we dealt head on with the music issue, especially in terms of our motivations and heart attitudes.
WHY SHOULD THE DEVIL HAVE ALL THE GOOD MUSIC?
Colossians 3:12-17
Please turn in your Bible to Lamentations, chapter 1. We have been reviewing a working definition on worship during our Heart of Worship message series. Does anyone think they know it by now?
“Worship is responding to who God is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”
Last week, we saw that in the Bible and in today’s world, music is used in almost every area of life. If you think about it for a moment, you will realize that you encounter music almost everywhere you go in our society today. If you call a company, listen to a computer answering service, and get put on hold; then, it is likely you are listening to music. Get in your car, you have the chance to listen to the radio, tapes or Cd’s. Now, there is satellite radio, where you can get hundreds of options. If you watch TV or movies, you know that music is used to introduce the show, used during the shows and at the end. Go to a basketball game down at the Q, and you will hear music almost constantly – not just before the game or at halftime and not just during commercial breaks. Walk into most public buildings and somewhere in that building, music is probably playing. There are some people that cannot stand to be without their music, so wherever they go, they have their CD player or Ipod playing. Music is powerful. Advertisers know that. Businesses understand this. And most churches around the world today will be using music as a part of their worship to our God.
Therefore, music is also controversial. Most people have strong opinions about what music they like and what music absolutely drives them crazy. We have those opinions personally, when it comes to what we choose to listen to. We have those opinions when we are subjected to music when we are elsewhere. And, we have those opinions when we enter the church. In fact, we sometimes have stronger opinions about the music played in church than any other area of life where music might be played. And, in many ways people who have strong opinions about style of music in church normally fall into one of two camps. A fictional story I read illustrates this:
Old farmer Joe went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. “Well”, said the farmer, “it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.” “Praise choruses?” said his wife. “What are those”? “Oh, they’re o.k. they are sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer. “Well, what’s the difference?” asked his wife.
Joe said, “Well, it’s like this – if I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn’ – well, that would be a hymn. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:
“Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh Martha, Martha, Martha,
The cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows,
The black and white cows, the cows, cows, cows
Are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn,
The corn, corn, corn.
“Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well, that would be a praise chorus.”
The next weekend, his nephew, a young, new Christian from the city came to visit his Uncle Joe and Aunt Martha. He attended their local church in the small town. When he went home his mother asked him how it was. “Well”, said the young man, “it was good. They did something different however. They sang hymns instead of praise choruses.” “Hymns?” asked his mother . “What are those?”
“Oh, they’re okay. They are sort of like praise choruses, only different,” said the young man. “Well, what’s the difference?” asked his mother. The young man said, “Well, it’s like this – if Uncle Joe were to say to his wife, Martha, the cows are in the corn’ – well, that would be a praise chorus. If on the other hand, he were to say to her:
“Oh Martha, dear Martha, hearest thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense
Hearkenest they in God’s sun or His rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.
Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.
So look to the bright shining day by and by
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn
Where no vicious animals make my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.”
“Then if he were to do only verses one, three and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn.”
That fictional story reminds us that we all have differing perspectives when it comes to worship music in the church. And, hopefully we can all agree that those perspectives are based largely on our own backgrounds and preferences. We have come to appreciate a certain style, and when we experience something different, we tend to see our style as simple and normal and see the other style as strange.
James Dobson once admitted on his “Focus on the Family” program that, “Of all the subjects we’ve ever covered in this radio program, from abortion to pornography to whatever, the most controversial subject we’ve ever dealt with is music. You can make people mad about music more quickly than anything else.”
If you have been around churches long enough, then you know this is true. Bring up music in a discussion, and fasten your seatbelt, because it might be a rough, interesting ride. People are passionate and opinionated about this topic. But, for those of us who love God with all of our hearts and have the desire, first and foremost to honor Him with our life worship which includes music, we must ask:
What does the Bible say? Does the Bible tell us what music to play, how to sing, what instruments to use, and what style to worship with? What does the Bible tell us about music in worship? Those are great and important questions.
There are more than 575 references to praise, singing, and music in the Bible. At the very center of the Bible is a 150 song hymnal known as the Psalms. Music is important and used in many ways, as we saw last week. Let me answer several questions as the Scriptures reveal a ton of information about how music was utilized:
What does God have to do with music?
God is seen as one who sings:
Zephaniah 3:17 – “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
Not exactly the way we would normally picture God. But, it illustrates how connected God is to this issue of music.
Who was the first human musician mentioned in the Bible?
You have probably heard someone called the Father of Rock and Roll; or the Father of Blues. But, in the first book of the Bible, we have the father of those who played the first instruments ever:
Genesis 4:21 – “His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.”
Where does the music ultimately come from?
Job 35:10 – “…God my maker, who gives songs in the night.”
When God provided deliverance for His people, what was a common response?
People responded with music in praise to God:
Exodus 14:31 – “Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.”
Exodus 15:1,20,21 – “Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD…Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them: Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
When God delivered Israel through the judge Deborah and the leader Barak, they sang a song of praise to God:
Judges 5:3 – “…I will make melody to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
There are many examples of this type of responsive praise in the Bible.
How did God use music in the days of law?
To instruct His people of His truths
God instructed Moses to use music in his ministry:
Deuteronomy 31:19 – “Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel.”
How was David, the man after God’s own heart, connected to worship music?
He appointed musicians for worship:
I Chronicles 6:31 – “These are the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the LORD…”
In fact, they were always available when needed:
I Chronicles 9:33 - “Now these, the singers, the heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites, were in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty day and night.”
He invented instruments:
Amos 6:5 – “Who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music.”
He wrote songs as prayers:
II Samuel 22:1 – “And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.”
David’s son Solomon was a prolific song writer:
I Kings 4:32 – “He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.”
David challenged God’s people to use music as a testimony to non-believers:
I Chronicles 16:23,24 – “Sing to the LORD, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!”
What kinds of group singing took place in the Bible?
Solo – Miriam
Duet – Deborah and Barak; Paul and Silas (Acts 16)
Women’s chorus:
· I Samuel 18:6,7 – “As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. And the women sang to one another as they celebrated…”
Men’s Chorus – The men David appointed (I Chronicles 25)
Congregational singing – Exodus 15:1ff – Song of Moses
Choirs:
· David’s Tabernacle Choir – I Chronicles 16:7 – “Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the LORD by Asaph and his brothers.”
· Solomon’s Temple Choir – II Chronicles 5:12,13 – “And all the Levitical singers…with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD…”
· Zerubbabel’s Temple Choir – Ezra 2:65 – “…And they had 200 male and female singers.”
What Instruments were used for worship in the Bible?
Human voice
Strings:
· Lyre – (a plucked string instrument, U-shaped, several different string configurations)
· Lute (like a guitar with a pear-shaped body and a flat front),
· Psaltery (stringed instrument that can be plucked or bowed),
· Harp
Wind:
· Shofar (a ram’s horn)
· Trumpet
· Flute
· Bagpipe
Percussion:
· Tambourine (Timbrel)
· Cymbal
· Castanets
· The Hand Drum
Several of these are mentioned together in:
II Samuel 6:5 - “And David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.”
Let’s read together the last Psalm. The last praise song of this great biblical hymnbook. How do these Psalms end? By encouraging God’s people to praise Him with all that they have. Let’s stand and read this together. This side, including the balcony, you read the first line of each verse, and this side, you respond with the second line. Let’s read it as David wrote it – with a plea to God’s people to respond with all they have in their worship.
Warren Wiersbe: “Music confronts the whole person – mind, heart and will; and demands some kind of response.”
Psalm 150
1 – Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary;
Praise him in his mighty heavens!
2 – Praise him for his mighty deeds;
Praise him according to his excellent greatness!
3 – Praise him with trumpet sound;
Praise him with lute and harp!
4 – Praise him with tambourine and dance;
Praise him with strings and pipe!
5 – Praise him with sounding cymbals;
Praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
{Let’s say this last verse all together in unison}
6 – Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD!
This Psalm is a reminder that worship is what we have been thinking about with our working definition: responding to who God is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him. In this Psalm, based on all God has done, God’s people were to use their voices and all kinds of instruments and their bodies in order to praise God with all they had! Do you think it was quiet worship? Do you think it was somber worship? Do you think there was any emotion involved? Give all of yourself in your worship.
So, we have seen some of what is included in the Bible when it comes to biblical worship. But, what about us today? Another question:
What instruments are we supposed to use in worship today if we are to honor God?
You are in Lamentations, chapter 1. Let’s look there.
Uh. …I can’t find it. I’m sorry, it’s in Revelation, chapter 1. I get those mixed up all the time. Please turn to the last book of the Bible, Revelation 1. What instruments are we supposed to use in worship today if we are to honor God? Where is it? I apologize. I’m usually fairly prepared for my messages. Well, if you don’t mind, let’s move on to the next question…
What style of music are we supposed to use in worship today if we are to honor God?
Please turn in your Bible to back one book to Jude, verse 14. That doesn’t seem to say anything about the style of music we are to use does it? Jude, Jude…It must be John – I John I believe. Turn back just a few books to I John, chapter 1 and verse 14. Well…this is depressing. There is no verse 14.
Do you get my point? These are the types of answers we would love for the Scriptures to address. God, what does your Word say about the specific instruments we are supposed to use, the specific musical style we are supposed to worship with, and there are many other specific questions about worship we would like a chapter and verse to address, aren’t there? But, guess what: The Bible doesn’t give us those answers. Why not?
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe the Bible is somehow incompetent or that God forgot something when He inspired them. I believe God did this on purpose.
Some churches because of the Bible’s silence on the details, believe no music should be used. Some believe only acapella singing is allowed. Some believe we should only worship as they did in the Psalms or in the Reformation time period; or however their particular church has always worshiped.
Frankly, I’m not sure God cares what instruments or style are used in worship. If He did, He would specifically address it. Certain ones were used in Hebrew worship, and other styles and instrumentation have been used in Roman society, Greek culture, the early church, the Reformation, and in different parts of the world in 2007. And that is o.k. The things God is concerned about are the heart attitude in which we worship, and our motivations. He tells us about all these types of instruments and different kinds of music that were used, but does not make it a local church mandate to do it a certain way – don’t we have an awesome, creative, diverse God? And He loves to be worshiped in creative, diverse ways! Imagine that! He has given His church an incredible amount of freedom in deciding how to use music to worship Him in today’s culture and particular church setting. What a blessing – what an opportunity!
Please turn in your Bible to Colossians 3. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 1021 or 1047.
And we are able to enjoy music, even if it comes from people outside our own circles of worship. We sing songs from people we would disagree with doctrinally or practically. We love to sing songs that began in other denominations or religions:
Methodist: Christ the Lord is Risen today
Anglican: Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me
Roman Catholic: Jesus the very thought of thee
Classical Beethoven: Joyful Joyful we adore thee
We are told that Johann Sebastian Bach often put the letters SDG on his compositions, signifying Soli Deo Gloria, “to God alone be the glory.”
The truth is: The Devil doesn’t have the good music. God is the creator of all good things, including music.
James 1:17 – “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…”
This is a reminder that God is the creator of all things and the giver of all good things, including music. Some people wrongly assume that certain things came from the Devil, such as shouting, dancing, war, percussion instruments and sex. But, all of these were created and used by God in order to glorify Him. What happens is that sinful man gets a hold of these things and then uses them selfishly, for his own purposes and not for God’s glory. The same can be said of music.
In the Scriptures and in the world today, you have music used for worshiping God, and music used for worshiping other gods; or for indulging in sinful pleasures.
And just because some music does not fall into the category of a Psalm, Hymn or spiritual song, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is the Devil’s music.
There are those who believe that only songs with definitive Christian words or a certain type of musical style are pleasing to God. But, that is not true. Truth, even if it does not mention God’s name, is still God’s truth. Truth, even spoken by someone who is not a follower of Christ, is still God’s truth. God is the author and Father of truth and Satan is the Father of lies:
John 8:44 – “The Devil...there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
If you find a song or group of songs that speak lies against God’s truth, then you have found the Devil’s music.
So, the Old Testament Bible times passed on, and as time passed, the need for new songs came with it:
Psalm 96:1 – “Oh sing to the LORD a new song…”
Dr. Milo Thompson, in his work – Ministry of Music said: “It seems the Hebrews preserved their old songs, sang contemporary songs, and looked forward to the composition of yet unwritten new songs. In other words, the Old Testament Psalms, which someone has referred to as Israel’s hymnbook, display the same respect for variety and tradition that the New Testament affirms. The Psalms span about a thousand years, dating back to Moses (about 1400 B.C.), to David (c. 1000 B.C.), to the post-exilic period (c. 400 B.C.), and still others call for a “new song.”
However, there are always going to be those who oppose the new music. A pastor put this list together of:
Ten Reasons that Contemporary Music is Harmful
1. It is too new, like an unknown language
2. It is not as melodious as the more established style
3. It is impossible to learn all of the new songs
4. The new music creates disturbances and causes people to act in an indecent and disorderly manner
5. It places too much emphasis on instruments rather than godly lyrics
6. The lyrics are often wordly, even blasphemous
7. It is not needed, since preceding generations have gone to heaven without it.
8. It is a scheme to make money
9. It monopolizes the Christian’s time
10. These new musicians are young upstarts, and some of them are lewd and loose persons
Many people might say Amen to that! Contemporary music is harmful, especially if we allow it in the church. Well, guess what:These ten reasons were stated by a prominent American pastor in 1723 against the use of hymns!
The word contemporary music gets thrown around today as a part of the music wars. But, what cannot be forgotten is that contemporary music simply refers to the music of today. And in 1723, the music of today were the new hymns. And it shouldn’t be too difficult for us to understand that in every century and generation, the new music, whether it was hymns or today’s praise music, is going to be criticized, simply because it is new.
It has been said that Charles Spurgeon, the great English pastor, despised the contemporary worship songs of his day – the same songs we now revere.
John Wesley said: “I have no objection to instruments of music in our chapels… provided they are neither heard nor seen.” That’s great. [repeat]
Warren Wiersbe wrote: “Christians in the first 3 centuries prohibited the playing of flutes in their worship services because flute music was identified with pagan cults.
Dr. Milo Thompson wrote – “Many of the instruments commonly used in churches today such as pianos, pipe organs, electronic organs, flutes, and so forth, were once widely considered worldly and even heretical. And yet as new instruments or musical innovations are introduced, such as the MIDI keyboard and discs, electric guitars, or background tapes, they are being resisted by some of today’s church as worldly and even heretical.”
“The use of popular tunes from secular sources in England and Europe for the writing of spiritual music created a considerable stir of antagonism, dissent, and rejection in the Church, and yet these same hymns are revered by today’s Church.
· John Calvin hired two secular songwriters of his day to put his theology to music. The Queen of England was so incensed by these “vulgar tunes” that she derisively referred to them as Calvin’s “Geneva jigs!”
· Wesley’s compilation, Hymns on the great Festivals and Other Occasions, contained twenty-four tunes by a German comic opera composer.
David Jeremiah – My Heart’s Desire – “Hymns that seem normal and churchy to us might surprise us by their origins. Martin Luther and others actually took common everyday melodies and redeemed them with the truth of God’s Word. We must always be willing to wrap the age-old truths in the best of brand-new packages.”
See if don’t recognize the tune that John plays; but listen for how this tune is used for praise and worship to our God.
John Jacobs special
This is just one current day example of taking a melody familiar to many in the secular world and using it to a greater degree for God’s glory by turning it into a song of praise.
Rick Warren – Purpose Driven Life – “Perhaps most impossible to believe, Handel’s Messiah was widely condemned as vulgar theater by the church men of his day. Like the criticism of today’s contemporary choruses, the Messiah was panned for having too much repetition and not enough message – it contains nearly one hundred repetitions of Hallelujah.”
But, of course, the debate is not just about the lyrics, but also about the instrumentation. Our types of churches normally have the standard piano and organ as the main instruments that are played every week. But, not only are these instruments not mentioned in the Scripture, they are also instruments that were once seen as worldly. Can you believe it?
Steve Miller, in his work: The Contemporary Christian Music Debate: Worldly Compromise or Agent of Renewal , wrote– “The organ as we know it has been traced to the hydraulic or water organ of the third century B.C., possibly invented by Ktesibius, an Alexandrian engineer. It became popular and accompanied outdoor events such as circuses and gladiator combats. This early organ may even have accompanied the slaughter of early Christians in the Roman arena.
Not until the thirteenth century was the organ incorporated into the Mass, but even then it was not without its opponents. By the time of the Reformation the organ was quite at home in the Catholic Church. Yet the association of the instrument with Catholicism gave it a bad reputation among some of the reformers, who promptly condemned its use. The magistrates in Zurich decreed in 1525 that there should be no more playing of organs in the city and in the churches. Soon thereafter, the organ of the Great Minister was broken into pieces.
Calvin shunned the instrument, and through his influence, many organs were destroyed in succeeding years. The instrument’s banishment was so complete that by 1727 only one organ could be found in all the churches of Scotland. The eminent Cotton Mather (1663-1728, pastor of Boston’s North Church and prolific writer) argued that if organs were permitted, other instruments would later be acceptable, and then dancing would follow!”
Dr. Milo Thompson – “An interesting side note is that one of the few places you can still hear a pipe organ is in church. What should that say to us? It is appropriate for the church to use any musical instruments, background tapes, and other innovations of the current time frame in a biblically acceptable manner. This can be done without violating theology or becoming sin and it will relate to today’s generation.”
Last week we read one of the key texts about music in the New Testament: Ephesians 5:15-21. This morning, let’s read a similar text:
Colossians 3:16 – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
We have the same three kinds of worship music listed here, which in principle, serve as a help for us. These were sung in the early church: “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs…” We dealt with this last week. This tells us that Paul was consistent when listing variety to be used in worship to different groups of churches in two separate cities – Ephesus and Collosae.
There are a couple of principles that come from this passage, however, that I would like to use in suggesting how we can apply God’s truth to our worship music discussion:
SO WHAT?
1. The Bible must be the basis for any worship music and discussion.
Let’s not forget this. Paul said: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” in the context of worship music. So, this reminds us that when we sing, whatever we sing, our songs must be in line with the Bible. It doesn’t mean that the song has to be a direct quote out of the Scriptures or that the instruments have to be listed in the Bible, but that it fits in the context and principles that are taught in the Scriptures. Part of what worship is about, as Paul said, is “teaching” the Word of God. And when we talk about music, our discussion must be in the context of what the Bible does say about music, not what it doesn’t say! It is partly, as Paul says, about “admonishing one another.”
Let’s back up to see the context in which this verse appears:
Colossians 3:12-15
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
You might be wondering: Uh, Greg did you get the wrong passage again. What in the world does this have to do with the issue of worship music in the church? Well, the truth is: God chooses not to give us a lot of details of what instruments or style we must use in order to honor Him in our worship services. What He does address is heart attitude; which, as we have been sharing with you throughout this Heart of Worship Series, is more important than anything else when it comes to worship.
Here, in the context of what we will read about music in verse 16, these verses remind us of some very important heart issues that relate to how we deal with all of life’s issues, including the topic of worship music. So, what God is specific about when it comes to music, is how to treat one another when dealing with this issue. Let’s consider these applications:
SO WHAT?
In the area of worship music participation and discussion, I will:
2. Be patient in listening to understand the other person’s heart
Patience is crucial when it comes to music issues. Don’t just listen to the other person’s opinion, thinking about your response; and then when they take a breath, you go on the attack, explaining why your opinion of worship music is right and they are wrong. Be patient – Listen – and listen to the person’s heart, truly trying to understand where that person is coming from; and appreciate where they are.
3. Participate in and talk about worship music with humility, compassion and love.
We read about these character qualities in verse 12. If we will think about being humble, truly caring for the other person and demonstrating Christ like love, it will make a huge difference in how these disagreements and discussions go.
4. Strive for unity, pursue peace, and readily offer forgiveness.
Paul says, here in these verses, that our love for one another is to “bind us together in perfect harmony” (using a musical reference); and he reminds us we were called to be “one body” which is an issue of unity. So, as we deal with worship music issues, as you participate in special music, playing instruments, the worship team, the choir or just singing with us in the congregation and listening to the music, we are to remember that we are a part of the body of Christ, and we are to be unified in what is most important – representing God’s love and grace.
We are to pursue peace whenever possible, even as it concerns music; and when someone offends us, sins against us in this area, we are to do what Christ did for us: forgive them – every time, immediately, without holding a grudge or tearing them down. This is not easy, but this is what God has called us to do. How are you doing in this area?
Finally, let’s look at the context on the other side of verse 16:
Colossians 3:17 – “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
No, the Bible doesn’t tell us the details of the worship music we are to use and how to do it. But, it does tell us this that can be applied to the area of musical worship:
5. Enjoy the variety of music and participate with joyful thanksgiving
This is the best advice I can give you in this area, when it comes to applying the biblical principles. Don’t waste your time criticizing or boycotting certain songs or styles. Give yourself to it. Enjoy it. Give all of your praise to God in every song that is played or sung. If you will do this without complaining, you will honor God in your musical worship and in your life worship. All the music we use, along with all the instrumentation, is God’s gift for us to turn back in praise to Him – let’s do it and let’s do it joyfully with thanksgiving to God!
Let’s pray.
WHY SHOULD THE DEVIL HAVE ALL THE GOOD MUSIC?
Colossians 3:12-17
Please turn in your Bible to Lamentations, chapter 1. We have been reviewing a working definition on worship during our Heart of Worship message series. Does anyone think they know it by now?
“Worship is responding to who God is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him.”
Last week, we saw that in the Bible and in today’s world, music is used in almost every area of life. If you think about it for a moment, you will realize that you encounter music almost everywhere you go in our society today. If you call a company, listen to a computer answering service, and get put on hold; then, it is likely you are listening to music. Get in your car, you have the chance to listen to the radio, tapes or Cd’s. Now, there is satellite radio, where you can get hundreds of options. If you watch TV or movies, you know that music is used to introduce the show, used during the shows and at the end. Go to a basketball game down at the Q, and you will hear music almost constantly – not just before the game or at halftime and not just during commercial breaks. Walk into most public buildings and somewhere in that building, music is probably playing. There are some people that cannot stand to be without their music, so wherever they go, they have their CD player or Ipod playing. Music is powerful. Advertisers know that. Businesses understand this. And most churches around the world today will be using music as a part of their worship to our God.
Therefore, music is also controversial. Most people have strong opinions about what music they like and what music absolutely drives them crazy. We have those opinions personally, when it comes to what we choose to listen to. We have those opinions when we are subjected to music when we are elsewhere. And, we have those opinions when we enter the church. In fact, we sometimes have stronger opinions about the music played in church than any other area of life where music might be played. And, in many ways people who have strong opinions about style of music in church normally fall into one of two camps. A fictional story I read illustrates this:
Old farmer Joe went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. “Well”, said the farmer, “it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.” “Praise choruses?” said his wife. “What are those”? “Oh, they’re o.k. they are sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer. “Well, what’s the difference?” asked his wife.
Joe said, “Well, it’s like this – if I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn’ – well, that would be a hymn. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:
“Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh Martha, Martha, Martha,
The cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows,
The black and white cows, the cows, cows, cows
Are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn,
The corn, corn, corn.
“Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well, that would be a praise chorus.”
The next weekend, his nephew, a young, new Christian from the city came to visit his Uncle Joe and Aunt Martha. He attended their local church in the small town. When he went home his mother asked him how it was. “Well”, said the young man, “it was good. They did something different however. They sang hymns instead of praise choruses.” “Hymns?” asked his mother . “What are those?”
“Oh, they’re okay. They are sort of like praise choruses, only different,” said the young man. “Well, what’s the difference?” asked his mother. The young man said, “Well, it’s like this – if Uncle Joe were to say to his wife, Martha, the cows are in the corn’ – well, that would be a praise chorus. If on the other hand, he were to say to her:
“Oh Martha, dear Martha, hearest thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense
Hearkenest they in God’s sun or His rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.
Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.
So look to the bright shining day by and by
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn
Where no vicious animals make my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.”
“Then if he were to do only verses one, three and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn.”
That fictional story reminds us that we all have differing perspectives when it comes to worship music in the church. And, hopefully we can all agree that those perspectives are based largely on our own backgrounds and preferences. We have come to appreciate a certain style, and when we experience something different, we tend to see our style as simple and normal and see the other style as strange.
James Dobson once admitted on his “Focus on the Family” program that, “Of all the subjects we’ve ever covered in this radio program, from abortion to pornography to whatever, the most controversial subject we’ve ever dealt with is music. You can make people mad about music more quickly than anything else.”
If you have been around churches long enough, then you know this is true. Bring up music in a discussion, and fasten your seatbelt, because it might be a rough, interesting ride. People are passionate and opinionated about this topic. But, for those of us who love God with all of our hearts and have the desire, first and foremost to honor Him with our life worship which includes music, we must ask:
What does the Bible say? Does the Bible tell us what music to play, how to sing, what instruments to use, and what style to worship with? What does the Bible tell us about music in worship? Those are great and important questions.
There are more than 575 references to praise, singing, and music in the Bible. At the very center of the Bible is a 150 song hymnal known as the Psalms. Music is important and used in many ways, as we saw last week. Let me answer several questions as the Scriptures reveal a ton of information about how music was utilized:
What does God have to do with music?
God is seen as one who sings:
Zephaniah 3:17 – “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
Not exactly the way we would normally picture God. But, it illustrates how connected God is to this issue of music.
Who was the first human musician mentioned in the Bible?
You have probably heard someone called the Father of Rock and Roll; or the Father of Blues. But, in the first book of the Bible, we have the father of those who played the first instruments ever:
Genesis 4:21 – “His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.”
Where does the music ultimately come from?
Job 35:10 – “…God my maker, who gives songs in the night.”
When God provided deliverance for His people, what was a common response?
People responded with music in praise to God:
Exodus 14:31 – “Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.”
Exodus 15:1,20,21 – “Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD…Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them: Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
When God delivered Israel through the judge Deborah and the leader Barak, they sang a song of praise to God:
Judges 5:3 – “…I will make melody to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
There are many examples of this type of responsive praise in the Bible.
How did God use music in the days of law?
To instruct His people of His truths
God instructed Moses to use music in his ministry:
Deuteronomy 31:19 – “Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel.”
How was David, the man after God’s own heart, connected to worship music?
He appointed musicians for worship:
I Chronicles 6:31 – “These are the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the LORD…”
In fact, they were always available when needed:
I Chronicles 9:33 - “Now these, the singers, the heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites, were in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty day and night.”
He invented instruments:
Amos 6:5 – “Who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music.”
He wrote songs as prayers:
II Samuel 22:1 – “And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.”
David’s son Solomon was a prolific song writer:
I Kings 4:32 – “He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.”
David challenged God’s people to use music as a testimony to non-believers:
I Chronicles 16:23,24 – “Sing to the LORD, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!”
What kinds of group singing took place in the Bible?
Solo – Miriam
Duet – Deborah and Barak; Paul and Silas (Acts 16)
Women’s chorus:
· I Samuel 18:6,7 – “As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. And the women sang to one another as they celebrated…”
Men’s Chorus – The men David appointed (I Chronicles 25)
Congregational singing – Exodus 15:1ff – Song of Moses
Choirs:
· David’s Tabernacle Choir – I Chronicles 16:7 – “Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the LORD by Asaph and his brothers.”
· Solomon’s Temple Choir – II Chronicles 5:12,13 – “And all the Levitical singers…with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD…”
· Zerubbabel’s Temple Choir – Ezra 2:65 – “…And they had 200 male and female singers.”
What Instruments were used for worship in the Bible?
Human voice
Strings:
· Lyre – (a plucked string instrument, U-shaped, several different string configurations)
· Lute (like a guitar with a pear-shaped body and a flat front),
· Psaltery (stringed instrument that can be plucked or bowed),
· Harp
Wind:
· Shofar (a ram’s horn)
· Trumpet
· Flute
· Bagpipe
Percussion:
· Tambourine (Timbrel)
· Cymbal
· Castanets
· The Hand Drum
Several of these are mentioned together in:
II Samuel 6:5 - “And David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.”
Let’s read together the last Psalm. The last praise song of this great biblical hymnbook. How do these Psalms end? By encouraging God’s people to praise Him with all that they have. Let’s stand and read this together. This side, including the balcony, you read the first line of each verse, and this side, you respond with the second line. Let’s read it as David wrote it – with a plea to God’s people to respond with all they have in their worship.
Warren Wiersbe: “Music confronts the whole person – mind, heart and will; and demands some kind of response.”
Psalm 150
1 – Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary;
Praise him in his mighty heavens!
2 – Praise him for his mighty deeds;
Praise him according to his excellent greatness!
3 – Praise him with trumpet sound;
Praise him with lute and harp!
4 – Praise him with tambourine and dance;
Praise him with strings and pipe!
5 – Praise him with sounding cymbals;
Praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
{Let’s say this last verse all together in unison}
6 – Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD!
This Psalm is a reminder that worship is what we have been thinking about with our working definition: responding to who God is and what He has done by giving ourselves completely to Him. In this Psalm, based on all God has done, God’s people were to use their voices and all kinds of instruments and their bodies in order to praise God with all they had! Do you think it was quiet worship? Do you think it was somber worship? Do you think there was any emotion involved? Give all of yourself in your worship.
So, we have seen some of what is included in the Bible when it comes to biblical worship. But, what about us today? Another question:
What instruments are we supposed to use in worship today if we are to honor God?
You are in Lamentations, chapter 1. Let’s look there.
Uh. …I can’t find it. I’m sorry, it’s in Revelation, chapter 1. I get those mixed up all the time. Please turn to the last book of the Bible, Revelation 1. What instruments are we supposed to use in worship today if we are to honor God? Where is it? I apologize. I’m usually fairly prepared for my messages. Well, if you don’t mind, let’s move on to the next question…
What style of music are we supposed to use in worship today if we are to honor God?
Please turn in your Bible to back one book to Jude, verse 14. That doesn’t seem to say anything about the style of music we are to use does it? Jude, Jude…It must be John – I John I believe. Turn back just a few books to I John, chapter 1 and verse 14. Well…this is depressing. There is no verse 14.
Do you get my point? These are the types of answers we would love for the Scriptures to address. God, what does your Word say about the specific instruments we are supposed to use, the specific musical style we are supposed to worship with, and there are many other specific questions about worship we would like a chapter and verse to address, aren’t there? But, guess what: The Bible doesn’t give us those answers. Why not?
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe the Bible is somehow incompetent or that God forgot something when He inspired them. I believe God did this on purpose.
Some churches because of the Bible’s silence on the details, believe no music should be used. Some believe only acapella singing is allowed. Some believe we should only worship as they did in the Psalms or in the Reformation time period; or however their particular church has always worshiped.
Frankly, I’m not sure God cares what instruments or style are used in worship. If He did, He would specifically address it. Certain ones were used in Hebrew worship, and other styles and instrumentation have been used in Roman society, Greek culture, the early church, the Reformation, and in different parts of the world in 2007. And that is o.k. The things God is concerned about are the heart attitude in which we worship, and our motivations. He tells us about all these types of instruments and different kinds of music that were used, but does not make it a local church mandate to do it a certain way – don’t we have an awesome, creative, diverse God? And He loves to be worshiped in creative, diverse ways! Imagine that! He has given His church an incredible amount of freedom in deciding how to use music to worship Him in today’s culture and particular church setting. What a blessing – what an opportunity!
Please turn in your Bible to Colossians 3. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 1021 or 1047.
And we are able to enjoy music, even if it comes from people outside our own circles of worship. We sing songs from people we would disagree with doctrinally or practically. We love to sing songs that began in other denominations or religions:
Methodist: Christ the Lord is Risen today
Anglican: Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me
Roman Catholic: Jesus the very thought of thee
Classical Beethoven: Joyful Joyful we adore thee
We are told that Johann Sebastian Bach often put the letters SDG on his compositions, signifying Soli Deo Gloria, “to God alone be the glory.”
The truth is: The Devil doesn’t have the good music. God is the creator of all good things, including music.
James 1:17 – “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…”
This is a reminder that God is the creator of all things and the giver of all good things, including music. Some people wrongly assume that certain things came from the Devil, such as shouting, dancing, war, percussion instruments and sex. But, all of these were created and used by God in order to glorify Him. What happens is that sinful man gets a hold of these things and then uses them selfishly, for his own purposes and not for God’s glory. The same can be said of music.
In the Scriptures and in the world today, you have music used for worshiping God, and music used for worshiping other gods; or for indulging in sinful pleasures.
And just because some music does not fall into the category of a Psalm, Hymn or spiritual song, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is the Devil’s music.
There are those who believe that only songs with definitive Christian words or a certain type of musical style are pleasing to God. But, that is not true. Truth, even if it does not mention God’s name, is still God’s truth. Truth, even spoken by someone who is not a follower of Christ, is still God’s truth. God is the author and Father of truth and Satan is the Father of lies:
John 8:44 – “The Devil...there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
If you find a song or group of songs that speak lies against God’s truth, then you have found the Devil’s music.
So, the Old Testament Bible times passed on, and as time passed, the need for new songs came with it:
Psalm 96:1 – “Oh sing to the LORD a new song…”
Dr. Milo Thompson, in his work – Ministry of Music said: “It seems the Hebrews preserved their old songs, sang contemporary songs, and looked forward to the composition of yet unwritten new songs. In other words, the Old Testament Psalms, which someone has referred to as Israel’s hymnbook, display the same respect for variety and tradition that the New Testament affirms. The Psalms span about a thousand years, dating back to Moses (about 1400 B.C.), to David (c. 1000 B.C.), to the post-exilic period (c. 400 B.C.), and still others call for a “new song.”
However, there are always going to be those who oppose the new music. A pastor put this list together of:
Ten Reasons that Contemporary Music is Harmful
1. It is too new, like an unknown language
2. It is not as melodious as the more established style
3. It is impossible to learn all of the new songs
4. The new music creates disturbances and causes people to act in an indecent and disorderly manner
5. It places too much emphasis on instruments rather than godly lyrics
6. The lyrics are often wordly, even blasphemous
7. It is not needed, since preceding generations have gone to heaven without it.
8. It is a scheme to make money
9. It monopolizes the Christian’s time
10. These new musicians are young upstarts, and some of them are lewd and loose persons
Many people might say Amen to that! Contemporary music is harmful, especially if we allow it in the church. Well, guess what:These ten reasons were stated by a prominent American pastor in 1723 against the use of hymns!
The word contemporary music gets thrown around today as a part of the music wars. But, what cannot be forgotten is that contemporary music simply refers to the music of today. And in 1723, the music of today were the new hymns. And it shouldn’t be too difficult for us to understand that in every century and generation, the new music, whether it was hymns or today’s praise music, is going to be criticized, simply because it is new.
It has been said that Charles Spurgeon, the great English pastor, despised the contemporary worship songs of his day – the same songs we now revere.
John Wesley said: “I have no objection to instruments of music in our chapels… provided they are neither heard nor seen.” That’s great. [repeat]
Warren Wiersbe wrote: “Christians in the first 3 centuries prohibited the playing of flutes in their worship services because flute music was identified with pagan cults.
Dr. Milo Thompson wrote – “Many of the instruments commonly used in churches today such as pianos, pipe organs, electronic organs, flutes, and so forth, were once widely considered worldly and even heretical. And yet as new instruments or musical innovations are introduced, such as the MIDI keyboard and discs, electric guitars, or background tapes, they are being resisted by some of today’s church as worldly and even heretical.”
“The use of popular tunes from secular sources in England and Europe for the writing of spiritual music created a considerable stir of antagonism, dissent, and rejection in the Church, and yet these same hymns are revered by today’s Church.
· John Calvin hired two secular songwriters of his day to put his theology to music. The Queen of England was so incensed by these “vulgar tunes” that she derisively referred to them as Calvin’s “Geneva jigs!”
· Wesley’s compilation, Hymns on the great Festivals and Other Occasions, contained twenty-four tunes by a German comic opera composer.
David Jeremiah – My Heart’s Desire – “Hymns that seem normal and churchy to us might surprise us by their origins. Martin Luther and others actually took common everyday melodies and redeemed them with the truth of God’s Word. We must always be willing to wrap the age-old truths in the best of brand-new packages.”
See if don’t recognize the tune that John plays; but listen for how this tune is used for praise and worship to our God.
John Jacobs special
This is just one current day example of taking a melody familiar to many in the secular world and using it to a greater degree for God’s glory by turning it into a song of praise.
Rick Warren – Purpose Driven Life – “Perhaps most impossible to believe, Handel’s Messiah was widely condemned as vulgar theater by the church men of his day. Like the criticism of today’s contemporary choruses, the Messiah was panned for having too much repetition and not enough message – it contains nearly one hundred repetitions of Hallelujah.”
But, of course, the debate is not just about the lyrics, but also about the instrumentation. Our types of churches normally have the standard piano and organ as the main instruments that are played every week. But, not only are these instruments not mentioned in the Scripture, they are also instruments that were once seen as worldly. Can you believe it?
Steve Miller, in his work: The Contemporary Christian Music Debate: Worldly Compromise or Agent of Renewal , wrote– “The organ as we know it has been traced to the hydraulic or water organ of the third century B.C., possibly invented by Ktesibius, an Alexandrian engineer. It became popular and accompanied outdoor events such as circuses and gladiator combats. This early organ may even have accompanied the slaughter of early Christians in the Roman arena.
Not until the thirteenth century was the organ incorporated into the Mass, but even then it was not without its opponents. By the time of the Reformation the organ was quite at home in the Catholic Church. Yet the association of the instrument with Catholicism gave it a bad reputation among some of the reformers, who promptly condemned its use. The magistrates in Zurich decreed in 1525 that there should be no more playing of organs in the city and in the churches. Soon thereafter, the organ of the Great Minister was broken into pieces.
Calvin shunned the instrument, and through his influence, many organs were destroyed in succeeding years. The instrument’s banishment was so complete that by 1727 only one organ could be found in all the churches of Scotland. The eminent Cotton Mather (1663-1728, pastor of Boston’s North Church and prolific writer) argued that if organs were permitted, other instruments would later be acceptable, and then dancing would follow!”
Dr. Milo Thompson – “An interesting side note is that one of the few places you can still hear a pipe organ is in church. What should that say to us? It is appropriate for the church to use any musical instruments, background tapes, and other innovations of the current time frame in a biblically acceptable manner. This can be done without violating theology or becoming sin and it will relate to today’s generation.”
Last week we read one of the key texts about music in the New Testament: Ephesians 5:15-21. This morning, let’s read a similar text:
Colossians 3:16 – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
We have the same three kinds of worship music listed here, which in principle, serve as a help for us. These were sung in the early church: “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs…” We dealt with this last week. This tells us that Paul was consistent when listing variety to be used in worship to different groups of churches in two separate cities – Ephesus and Collosae.
There are a couple of principles that come from this passage, however, that I would like to use in suggesting how we can apply God’s truth to our worship music discussion:
SO WHAT?
1. The Bible must be the basis for any worship music and discussion.
Let’s not forget this. Paul said: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” in the context of worship music. So, this reminds us that when we sing, whatever we sing, our songs must be in line with the Bible. It doesn’t mean that the song has to be a direct quote out of the Scriptures or that the instruments have to be listed in the Bible, but that it fits in the context and principles that are taught in the Scriptures. Part of what worship is about, as Paul said, is “teaching” the Word of God. And when we talk about music, our discussion must be in the context of what the Bible does say about music, not what it doesn’t say! It is partly, as Paul says, about “admonishing one another.”
Let’s back up to see the context in which this verse appears:
Colossians 3:12-15
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
You might be wondering: Uh, Greg did you get the wrong passage again. What in the world does this have to do with the issue of worship music in the church? Well, the truth is: God chooses not to give us a lot of details of what instruments or style we must use in order to honor Him in our worship services. What He does address is heart attitude; which, as we have been sharing with you throughout this Heart of Worship Series, is more important than anything else when it comes to worship.
Here, in the context of what we will read about music in verse 16, these verses remind us of some very important heart issues that relate to how we deal with all of life’s issues, including the topic of worship music. So, what God is specific about when it comes to music, is how to treat one another when dealing with this issue. Let’s consider these applications:
SO WHAT?
In the area of worship music participation and discussion, I will:
2. Be patient in listening to understand the other person’s heart
Patience is crucial when it comes to music issues. Don’t just listen to the other person’s opinion, thinking about your response; and then when they take a breath, you go on the attack, explaining why your opinion of worship music is right and they are wrong. Be patient – Listen – and listen to the person’s heart, truly trying to understand where that person is coming from; and appreciate where they are.
3. Participate in and talk about worship music with humility, compassion and love.
We read about these character qualities in verse 12. If we will think about being humble, truly caring for the other person and demonstrating Christ like love, it will make a huge difference in how these disagreements and discussions go.
4. Strive for unity, pursue peace, and readily offer forgiveness.
Paul says, here in these verses, that our love for one another is to “bind us together in perfect harmony” (using a musical reference); and he reminds us we were called to be “one body” which is an issue of unity. So, as we deal with worship music issues, as you participate in special music, playing instruments, the worship team, the choir or just singing with us in the congregation and listening to the music, we are to remember that we are a part of the body of Christ, and we are to be unified in what is most important – representing God’s love and grace.
We are to pursue peace whenever possible, even as it concerns music; and when someone offends us, sins against us in this area, we are to do what Christ did for us: forgive them – every time, immediately, without holding a grudge or tearing them down. This is not easy, but this is what God has called us to do. How are you doing in this area?
Finally, let’s look at the context on the other side of verse 16:
Colossians 3:17 – “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
No, the Bible doesn’t tell us the details of the worship music we are to use and how to do it. But, it does tell us this that can be applied to the area of musical worship:
5. Enjoy the variety of music and participate with joyful thanksgiving
This is the best advice I can give you in this area, when it comes to applying the biblical principles. Don’t waste your time criticizing or boycotting certain songs or styles. Give yourself to it. Enjoy it. Give all of your praise to God in every song that is played or sung. If you will do this without complaining, you will honor God in your musical worship and in your life worship. All the music we use, along with all the instrumentation, is God’s gift for us to turn back in praise to Him – let’s do it and let’s do it joyfully with thanksgiving to God!
Let’s pray.
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