Grace Worship

In our worship today we related, reveled, relished, reflected, responded, and rehearsed the wonderful grace of our Lord in the worship music and then heard from our Pastor about the glorious gains of the great gospel.  On this Memorial Day Weekend I have meditated on the realization that God's grace to us as individuals is overwhelming and God's grace to us as a nation has also been overwhelming.

As believers, it is easy for us to begin to take God's grace for granted.  Every time we come before the Lord in our private devotion or worship time we need to relate and respond to God's saving grace.  And, every time we gather as the body for worship we rehearse the wondrous saving grace of God.  And, quite frankly, the saving grace of our Lord is the only hope of our nation.  If we are to continue to know the freedom that is given in Christ, and won sacrificially by so many of our forefathers, we must turn back to God as a nation.  Too many of our worship houses are empty and there are two many walking around as empty shells because of the void in their lives, in need of the grace of a Savior.

But grace doesn't stop there, as were reminded in our Pastor's message today. There is not only saving grace, but sustaining grace. We are promised there will be persecution and tribulation in our lives.  But, Jesus says, "In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world." "My grace IS sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness."  I love the tiny word "is" because it is one of the most powerful words in Scripture in this context.  Doesn't say could be, should be, or even will be, "IS" . . .  HALLELUJAH!  His grace IS sufficient.

On this Memorial Day Weekend, . . . we remember.  We remember those who gave there lives so we could know freedom.  We remember He Who gave His life for our salvation and ultimate freedom.

Let us not squander their sacrifices for our freedom as a nation.  Let us not squander His sacrifice for our salvation as believers.  The price was paid . . . and that informs Grace Worship.   mjm

Sincere Worship

How sincere and honest is our worship?  Are we sincere enough to spend a sacrificial amount of time, whatever that is for each of us, to pray and praise, worshipping God in our private worship?  If we were it would revolutionize the worship of the body as we gathered each time and worshipped out of our own personal worship lives.  The beginning of our worship is described in Psalm 51:17:  "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart."  Are we broken before God about our own personal worship and the lack of sincerity and honesty about our worship as the church?

Sincere worship involves an honest evaluation of our love for God.  When we sing, "My Jesus, I love Thee" is it sincere and from our hearts to Him, or are we just singing words?  The English word for worship is derived from the word, "worthship".  What is His true worth in our lives?  Is our worship sincere?

Sincere worship also will lead to a sincere expressing of our love to Him.  As the body of Christ we should not try to put worship in a neat box of our own making.  We should never gather just to say we gathered.  We each must be broken of pride, arrogance and even the selfishness that drives us to "serve" and think too highly of ourselves for doing it.  As we said above, it begins with a brokenness.

Sincere worship calls for us to practice praise all the time.  Psalm 34:1 says, "I will extol the Lord at all times."  Hebrews 13:15 states, "Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. . ."  When the body gathers to worship it should be an extension and enlargement of our continual praise as individuals, becoming a corporate expression of glory to God!

Sincere worship also says, "My truly knowing God is more important than a form, tradition, a certain style of worship music, or norms we have created on our own that we 'think' is worship."   " . . . that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings." (Phil. 3:10.)

Finally, sincere public worship must be an outgrowth of our private time with God.  How can we please God with our worship on Sunday without the sincerity of our worship during the week?  How can we possibly worship God sincerely in spirit and in truth when the sanctuary of our heart is crowded with busyness, pride, and selfishness?  A.W. Tozer stated that if we didn't know the presence of God in our offices, schools, factories or our homes, then God would not be in the church we attend.  mjm

Singing our Prayers

"For he who sings not only praises, but praises with gladness.  Whoever sings praise not only sings, but also loves Him of whom He sings.  In praise, there is the speaking forth of one confession [of faith]; in singing, the affection of one loving" St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430). I would add to that, "For he who sings not only praises, but prays.  Not only is our singing in a very real sense prayer, but sometimes the texts are specifically prayer."  Psalm 59:16 says, "I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of troubles."  

Not often do I quote Popes, but John Paul XXIII stated, "[Jesus Christ] is the one high priest of the new and eternal covenant, Who by accomplishing our salvation offers perfect worship to the Father."  For me, I think one of the highest forms of worship is when song and prayer are combined.  We need to do this in our private worship time as well as when we gather as the Body.  Because we need not only private prayer but corporate prayer.  And then one day we will worship perfectly, combining praise and prayer before the throne.

I know I bring up Col. 3:16 a lot, but again our singing and our praying has to come from scripture getting off the page and into our hearts.  When it has become a part of us, it is completely natural for us to sing a Psalm, Hymn, or Song even by our own making to the Savior.  We heard today in worship that great old Southern Gospel Song, Oh, What a Savior; what a time of singing and praying and therefore worship.

Especially in your private worship time I would encourage you to sing pure scripture; songs you remember and prayers to God.  It will bless you and, more importantly, it will bless God as we worship Him!  mjm

"Sing the God Songs"

Read an article this week by Darlene Zschech telling about her visit with George Beverly Shea, who is 101.  Darlene is the worship leader from Australia who has written many worship songs including her classic, "Shout to the Lord".  She asked him what he would say to the next generation if he had the chance. He said to her, "Please, Darlene, tell them to sing the God songs.  Just the God songs--songs that exalt Jesus.  People need to be reminded of God's great glory."
Wow, in this day when people want to argue worship styles and musical styles, there is great wisdom in that statement, "Sing the God songs".  All people, not some, but all need to be reminded of God's great glory.  Hymns and songs shape the spiritual life of generations to come.  We need to not be caught up in worshipping certain songs, certain styles, or even worshipping worship.  We must be caught up in worshipping the Lord . . . Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
In Jeremiah 30:19 we read, "Out of them will come songs of thanksgiving and the voices of those who make merry.  And I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small."  Our Lord will be faithful to enlarge, enhance, and envelope His church with the new song and His presence and power if we are faithful to "sing the God songs"! mjm

Singing and the Word

"Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.  For the word of the LORD is right and true; He is faithful in all He does."  (Ps. 33:3-4)  Several things we see in this Psalm.  One, the people of God are commanded and expected to sing and they are commanded to sing a new song.  The Psalmist adds that we are to also play instruments, implied skillfully, and again we are told to shout for joy.  It is beyond me how believers can say, "I don't sing" and they certainly don't shout, least not in worship.  Then the Psalmist reminds us that the Word of the Lord should be in our singing and living, as God is faithful in all He does in our lives.  So we are to sing the Word and . . .
"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." (Col. 3:16)  So, not only are we to sing the Word, but we are also directed to let His word make itself at home in our hearts -  with a result of singing.  In other words if Christ's Word is dwelling, the natural thing will be singing, whether you think you are a singer or not.  The question is not "Do I have a singing voice?"  The question is "Do I have a song, the new song?"  If that were understood by all believers it would revolutionize our corporate worship.  mjm

Thanksgiving and Praise!

Psalm 100 is the only time the word "thanksgiving" is used in the headings of the Psalms.  It probably refers both to sacrifice and attitude and is often linked with the word "praise".  The entire Psalm speaks to the joyful response to life, seeking to praise God for all that He has done and for all that He is.  The Psalm is in two sections: one a call to joyful worship and then the call is reiterated, finally stating the reasons for such worship.

Unrestrained joy and gladness pulsates through the first verses and "all the earth" is summoned to join the celebration, making it missional also.  The word "worship" can also be translated "serve" as we have discussed before.  It is worship exceeding just the gathering of God's people by emphasizing walking in the Lord's ways, loving Him, keeping  His commandments and living a life consistent with our commitment to the Lord. 

The reason for such worship is spelled out in v. 3.  with the word "know".  This is not head knowledge, but to experience and know in relationship.  Imagine . . . we . . . His people!  For our faith to remain vibrant we must never lose that sense of amazement and awe.  In the time to come all offerings will cease, except the thank offering.  All prayers will cease, except the prayer of thanksgiving.  Several of our hymns are versions of Psalm 100.  This Psalm takes us close to the heart of true worship, with congregations experiencing many different versions and forms of Psalm 100.  mjm

His Unfailing Love - Our Persistent Prayer

Over and over throughout God's Word our Lord affirms that His love will never fail, and the Psalmists and people of God echo that back in worship.  Not only has God revealed Himself to be "unfailing love," but has also by His grace shown Himself to be our unfailing love.  One of those early songs rings in my ears, "Oh how I love Jesus, because He first loved me."  God's love was His first initiative to our worship.  He initiates; we respond.  In Psalm 52:8-9 the Psalmist says, "But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever.  I will praise You forever for what You have done;  in Your name I will hope,  for Your name is good.  I will praise You in the presence of Your saints."  It is important that we praise Him in the presence of His saints. And it is ever essential that as we prepare to praise Him in the presence of His saints that we all prepare with persistent prayer.  Our Pastor reminded us of that today in a great message on prayer.  Thank the Lord for more than 250 First Family members we know of, our worship leaders and our worshipping prayer warriors who pray weekly for our worship services.  It would be easy to let up and not persist, but we must not.  Ps. 37:5 states, "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will act."  And in Ps. 130:5, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope."  In our praying we anticipate the presence and power of God every week as the saints gather for worship.  mjm 

"Enter to Worship, Exit to Serve"

I grew up seeing it and have seen that sign in churches for years.  Many times it was posted at the back of the church.  (Enter to Worship, Exit to Serve)  To some extent there is truth, but it is not really the whole truth. 

Our corporate worship may end when we exit, but not our worship.  In fact the word "serve"  many times in scripture could actually be translated, "worship".  For instance, Rom. 12:1.  In fact, service is part of worship.  Have we really worshipped if we don't have "rivers of living water" flowing from our lives?  Have we really worshipped if the Great Commandment has not evolved into Great Commision obedience? 

When we look at that great passage, Isaiah 6:1-11a, we see the gathered congregation being scattered out to bring the blessings and joy of the "holy place" out into the marketplace.  When we as God's people encounter Him, our minds have been brought to God's light, our hearts have been cleansed and freed, our wills have been aligned with His will, our passion replenished, our vision refocused, our commitment renewed, our mission redefined, our courage restored and our walk of faith deepened.

Our worship doesn't stop at the door.  We live everyday worshipping Him!   mjm

"You are God" Worship

Robert Webber, a worship theologian and professor, once stated that there is no greater definition of worship than one found in the Te Deum (Latin for "You are God").  This is a 4th century prayer.  The content is rightly rooted in scripture.  It is a prayer that reminds us that worship is primarily prayer.  Unfortunately, many do not see worship as a prayer.  If we look at it as a prayer it is easy to see that God is the audience of our worship.   I think I have mentioned before that the Shona word from Zimbabwe for worship is "Ngatinamatei" literal meaning, "Let us Pray".  Webber says, "Worship is a dramatic expression of God's glory and a representation of God's saving deeds in history for which we, the community of God's people on earth, offer grateful praise and thanksgiving."

It is also a place where worship is happening eternally.  That place is in the heavens.  Jesus alludes to this in John 4:21-23.   He repudiates the common Jewish places of worship, locating worship in the Spirit.  The "spirit" is Biblically understood as the eternal place of worship around the throne where there is continual worship to God.  In a very real way, when we worship we ascend into the heavens and join heavenly worship.  John writes of a similar experience in Revelation.  

Finally, we see that the Te Deum teaches that worship is not the worship of an essence merely sitting up in heaven, but it is the worship of the One who not only creates, but who also becomes personally involved in creation.  The Book of Psalms is filled with "creator" worship.  The order of creation, from creator to created establishes our focus in worship and should revolutionize our worship.   mjm