Cost of Worship

Because of all of the work and preparation our worship choir has put into the worship musical that we presented a couple of weeks ago and then recorded this week, I was reminded of 2 Samuel 24:24 as David said, "... I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing".  This was truly a sacrifice of praise offered to the Lord and there were many hours of preparation bathed in prayer.  So, there was cost involved.

I am so thankful for all of our instrumentalists and choir who are willing to give over and over in prayer and preparation for worship with our local congregation and beyond.  And it made me think again about the cost of worship.  I think the ultimate "cost" is our full surrender to His Lordship every day.  That is the beginning of our worship.  The "cost" of spending time with Him every day and getting to know Him more intimately through His Word and prayer.  The "cost" of seeking to love and follow Him with all our heart.  The "cost" of preparing our own hearts through prayer and preparation for corporate worship as we gather as the body.  The "cost" of every kind of preparation for the gathered body as we come together to worship.  Yes, He is worthy of nothing less than our all.  We are called to worship.  We are called "to offer worship that costs us something".  mjm

The Resurrected Life in Worship

Victory over sin at the cross and victory for life in the resurrection are what make Christianity more than just a mere religion.  Those two things set Christianity apart from all others.  The living Christ Himself is the very life content of the Christian faith.  I heard one say something like this, "Jesus did not die just so we could be saved from our sin or a bad conscience.  He was 'clearing the deck' for divine action in and through our lives."  Rom 5:10 says, "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."  Jesus ministers to us in two unique ways - He reconciles us to God by His death, and He saves us by His "resurrected" life.  How does that impact our worship life?
1.  It should impact our everyday living life worship.  Rom. 12:1 "... to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Informed of the Resurrection Life, we live in Him and He in us every day, every moment... empowered by the Resurrection Life living in us.
2.  It should impact our own private devotional/prayer life.  How can we dare live each day without spending time with the Resurrected Lord, feeding on His Word and listening to Him so that "rivers of living water may flow" because He has made His resurrection life in us known anew each day?
3.  It should impact our corporate worship as the body gathers.  When we gather, every Sunday is Easter Sunday.  How can we gather - aware of the Resurrected Life in us - and not celebrate every time we worship?  How can we sit and not participate when God has commanded us to worship actively, and revealed the living Lord in our lives?  Hallelujah!  What worship!   mjm

Resurrection Victory in Worship

I was thinking today about how the Cross and the Resurrection inform our corporate worship.  It has been said of Evangelicals that we celebrate Easter every Sunday.  There is a great deal of truth in that statement.  Every time we gather, we come together with the knowledge that the work of the cross and the victorious resurrection assure us of a completed victory!  The victory has already been won. Therefore, all of our worship should be born out of a basis or foundation of victory.  That is why no matter the season or the particular emphasis in worship, it is always coming from the glorious ground of victory.

In 1 Cor. 15 we see that "Death is swallowed up in victory which propagates thanksgiving to God who gives us the victory through our 'resurrected' Lord Jesus Christ." Then, 2 Cor. 2:14-15 says, "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere.  For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life."  When we sing, praise, and worship according to the instructions and principles from God's Word, we don't just sing or just worship.  What we do reminds every believer that we already have the victory through the resurrected Christ! It is also a reminder to satan and his demons that we are already victorious in Christ and are celebrating it when we gather the Body!  Against that, satan and his demons cannot stand and will surely shrink back when the church stands and celebrates in the victorious, risen Christ!  HALLELUJAH, WHAT A SAVIOR!   mjm

Singing, Worship and the Resurrection

The Bible contains more than 600 references to music with some 300 of them having to do directly with singing.  We also know from Scripture that singing is to be our eternal occupation.  Singing should be a daily activity of every Christian.  We live in a day and a culture where we allow others to do our singing for us.  But, that is not a Biblical approach.  We are all trained or untrained to sing unto the Lord!  Luther believed that music was one of the most powerful tools in teaching Biblical doctrine and training young people.  He believed that the singing of God's Word would strengthen the faith of believers.  

Psalm 96:1 says, "Sing to the Lord a new song."  There are three commandments in that phrase which are found in other places in Scripture.  The first commandment is simple, "Sing".  Singing is not an option for believers.  No one is excused for lack of vocal skill.  The second command is directional.  We are to sing: "to the Lord".  It is an act of worship, an offering or sacrifice of praise to God.  The audience is not people, but God Himself.  Our song is to be directed to God while people are allowed to listen in. The third command is that we are to sing: "a new song".  The newness arises out of a new life of faith in Christ Jesus.  He is the new song.  Because of that, we should sing the song as if it is new every time, even if we have sung it for years.  

As we enter Holy Week and prepare to celebrate the resurrection, there is nothing that expresses the wide ranges of emotion and truth better than song.  As our Pastor said today,  Christianity is a "singing" religion. May we sing our way into the celebration of our resurrected Lord!  mjm

Join to Sing/Praise

Yes, in scripture the words sing and praise are almost synonymous in most passages, especially in the Psalms.  And in Ps. 22:3 we see the principle of God dwelling, living in, being enthroned in, or inhabiting the praises of His people.  As we read in Ps. 113 and 150, God has commanded that we are to praise Him. In Ps. 81:1 the verse says, "Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob." (This verse gets both singers and non-singers in on the act.)  Then verse 2 includes the musicians or instrumentalists.  Praise is not a choice...it is a command.  It is not optional.  It is not a privilege; it is a prerequisite.  For us to not praise is to be disobedient to a specific command of God. 

Not only is it a command, it is a witness of God to the world.  Where there are praising children of God, God is the center of attention because He is both the source and object of that praise.  He is lifted up for all to see and adore when we offer praise to Him.  ( Ephesians 1:4, 12 and Ps. 40:3)  

Praise is also freeing.  In Ps. 81:6, 7 He says, "I removed his shoulder from the burden; his hands were delivered from the pots.  Thou callest in trouble, and I delivered thee."  As we said earlier, God dwells in praise.  The all-powerful and all-knowing One is present and in the middle of anything and anywhere we find ourselves.  Freeing victory is certain and His prevailing power and presence is present here and now when praises are sung.  We see in other places where praise frees from mourning, depression, or a heavy spirit.  (Is. 51:11)  When we praise we are expecting God to come and do all He promises.  In Ps. 47:6-7 God commands us to "sing praise with understanding."  God wants us to understand the principles of praise and the cause and effects of offering the sacrifice of praise.  As the song says, "God inhabits the praises of His people and inhabits the people of praise!"  mjm

Palm Sunday and Worship

In Mark 11 we see Jesus moving toward Jerusalem.  He is moving geographically and chronologically closer to His death.  This will be the last week of His earthly life.  While some are plotting His death - others are showing allegiance and obeying Him.  That has been true for over 2000 years.  There are always those two classes of people.  In a way, this ride into Jerusalem is a call to worship.  Was He possibly saying, "You need to choose who you will worship."

On this first day He came as the Priest, and He was the sacrifice.  He came as the great High Priest to offer the sacrifice that is acceptable to God for your sin and for my sin.  We can not over tell that wonderful story of redemption every time we gather as the church to worship Him!  And when we enter worship, it should be the same kind of glorious celebration of that redemption in Him that appeared to be in Jerusalem on that day.  It never ceases to amaze me that Christians can attend a sports event and get in to it big time in full participation; and yet when we gather to worship, some will sit in a pew with closed mouths and stone faces.  Every time we gather we celebrate what the sacrifice for us means to us every day and every moment.  It is interesting that Jesus didn't spend the night in Jerusalem, but returned to Bethany for the evening, rather than stay in Jerusalem where He would be rejected.  Jesus had put Himself before the city publicly and was basically demanding a decision.  Whom will YOU worship?  mjm

Rehearsing the Christ Event in Worship

Years ago, Robert Webber proposed the concept that we rehearse or retell the Christ event in worship in order for our worship to be in spirit and truth and meaningful in our lives.  

Because we live in a secularized world many are basing worship on "Christian" entertainment, or overly intellectualizing, or emphasis on sentimentality, or centering on self.  If we are not careful, our worship becomes based on a non-Christian event.
The Church needs to recover the sense that worship is a celebration of Christ's life, death, and resurrection. It centers on the Christ event. It is that Christ event that begins and sustains the church.  Much like Jewish worship, Christian worship is rooted in an event. Christians celebrate the Christ-event.  It is the gathering of the Body of Christ to re-tell, rehearse, remember and celebrate all that Christ is.  We preach, we pray, we sing hymns and spiritual songs, we confess, we partake the Lord's Supper all for the re-telling and celebrating the fullness of Christ Jesus our Lord and what He is doing in us and the church.  A basic definition of public worship is gathering the Body to tell and act-out the Christ-event for the glory of God!  Every time we gather, may we remember Who and what we celebrate,  . . . lest we forget. mjm

Christ-centered Worship

Why would we even need to emphasize this?  Because, sometimes we forget.  We should know that all our worship, our songs, our lives, our all should be all about Jesus.  Paul makes it crystal clear that it is, "Christ and Him crucified."   In I Cor. 2:1-2 see the focus on the centrality and pre-eminence of Christ.  

In Paul's letters we keep catching a glimpse of another world.  A world that is different from what we experience with our natural senses.  "Things in heaven" and "things invisible"  are referred to in his letters. He talks of the great mystery throughout his letters and in Gal. 1:27 states; "This is the great mystery: Christ in you the hope of glory".
The object of our worship, both private and corporate, is Christ Jesus.  Every band member, every orchestra player, every worship team member, every choir member, every worship leader prepares for worship; even our preparation should point to the Savior.  Let us prayerfully prepare musically, and spiritually every song, every prayer, every part of our heart focused on our Savior and His work of grace that gave us salvation for eternity.  As our Pastor preached today on gratitude; there is no gratitude higher than that of focusing on Him in the work of the cross.  May everything we do and the way we do it point always to Him!  mjm