Heaven Worship

I am going to re-visit a subject I touched on a couple of years ago as Fran's mom is now with the Lord. We are able to get little glimpses of Heaven in the book of Revelation.  Mom's object of worship all the years of her life as an accompanist and singer she now finds is with her for eternity and every possible need is completely satisfied in Him.

In Rev. 4 & 5 we see that God values the organization of praise and worship in Heaven.  Order is indicated and in Rev. 4:8-11 and 5:11-14, we see that worship is for all the people and that again, He is the all in all of the worship.  She sang for years that He was her all in all.  Now she is experiencing it.

In Rev. 5:9-10 and 14:2-3, we see there is congregational singing in Heaven.  In fact we will sing the song of redemption and the angels will just have to listen.  In Rev. 15: 3-4 we are told we will sing the Victory Song.  The congregation certainly sang the song of redemption and the victory song, "Victory in Jesus", in Mom's service yesterday.  They almost lifted the roof off.   Mom has seen the last of the enemy and is experiencing perfect worship in a perfect environment.  I'll guarantee you she is shouting - Hallelujah!

Rev. 19:6-9 shows us the Hallelujah Chorus of Heaven.  A multitude will gather, a choir from all nations and those in Christ qualify for the eternal Chorus.  Beth, Mom, Mammaw - sing on.  It will not be long 'till we will be joining you around the throne for perfect worship!  mjm

Another Church Musician Tribute - Beth Rock

I didn't know when I wrote the last blog having to do with passing on worship from one generation to the other and the importance of the example to our children among the body of Christ in worship that another church musician who did just that in her small way would go to be with the Lord today.

That church musician is my wife's mom, Beth Rock.  Beth grew up a Baptist pastor's daughter and accompanied worship on the piano at a very young age.  She continued to do so for the next some 70 years.  She was my first church pianist in the small rural church, Eula Baptist Church where Fran grew up.  She was faithful to that post until her illness took her off the bench serving as both pianist and organist all those years.  She was my first and one of my best.  I served churches much larger who were not as fortunate to have someone as gifted as Beth.  She also had a beautiful voice and played and sang very effectively.  When growing up, Fran and her sisters sang regularly with Beth in church.  There was a time when about half the choir in their church was made up of their family.  Fran's dad and siblings would be found singing in the choir.  

But, that is not the only legacy she leaves.  She taught many children through the years on both piano and organ.  Some of those are pianists and organists in their churches today.  She trained many to serve the Lord in supporting and enhancing congregational worship and praise at the keyboard.  She was one of those key church musicians out in a little rural Baptist church who not only made a difference in the life of that church and other churches, but also contributed to the worship of many others through those she taught and trained.

Yesterday, before Mammaw went to be with the Lord, I was sitting in her hospital room reading through her hand written instructions for her memorial service.  I found it interesting that at the beginning of the instructions, she printed boldly - "do not eulogize me, give glory to the Lord."  Then, at the end of the instructions - she said, "don't mourn for me, give praise and glory to the Lord."  What was her word to us?  It's about Him.  Her concern was His glory! What a lesson to leave for us all.

Bless you, Mrs. Rock, Beth, Mom, Mammaw for your years of faithful service unto the Lord and the legacy you leave us all.  mjm

Family/Community Worship

Authentic worshippers are built together with other worshippers.  The admonition from scripture as to our doing all we can do to build up one another in the faith has to do with our building up and edifying one another as worshippers.  We see phrases throughout scripture such as . . . "remind each new generation . . . must be observed from generation to generation . . . throughout  generations to come . . . the generations to come . . . generation to generation and celebrated by every family . . . I will bring honor to your name in every generation." On and on it goes reminding us of the responsibility we have to make sure our worship is Body worship and Intergenerational - building up every generation into worshippers.  

When I was in Zimbabwe, Africa as a music missionary it was almost impossible to be in the midst of a congregation of people worshipping and see even one person not participating wholeheartedly.  With our responsibility to edify one another and to pass on by modeling from generation to generation, it quite frankly puzzles me how there are so many in our congregations here who do not participate at all, much less with a whole-heart expression.

Have we become too sophisticated in our culture to do as Scripture indicates?  Or, have we become apathetic about the teachings of our Lord?  Or, are we just tuned out to what God is trying to do among us?  This is one reason why I request and ask worship choir members and worship leadership as well as our worshipping prayer warriors to constantly pray not only for our worship services,  but also for the worship life of each and every member of our church. 

It seems sometimes that we know the expressions of worship and even the importance of a lifestyle of worship.  But we need to also build worshippers together to become a community of worshippers.  Scripture shows us the importance of togetherness in the life of the church.  Peter and Paul both use the phrase "built together" to describe how God wants us to become a community of worshippers.  The whole idea of the kingdom of priests implies to us the importance of a community of worshippers.  When Jesus prayed that we would become unified as one, just like He and the Father, He was saying that the Father's love had to be demonstrated--not just explained.  In John 17:23, Jesus prayed, "May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." Literally for Christ's sake, may we build one another old and young, different approaches, different tastes, different backgrounds . . . all into true, authentic worshippers; Intergenerational, Intercultural, and yes, International.  mjm

It's Not About the Music

There was a worship book written by a worship leader that was literally entitled - It's Not About the Music - The Journey into Worship.  I want to spin off of that from the last couple of  blogs.  

When I saw that title I was reminded of the story of how Matt Redman's church actually took a break from any music in their worship so they could find what it truly was that should be focused on in worship.  His song, The Heart of  Worship,  actually came out of that experience as a church. As that song says, "We need to come back to the heart of worship . . . and it's all about Him!"  It is not about music; it is about Him.  Also, it is not about music, it is about our hearts.  With what heart attitude do we approach worship?  The attitude of our heart is paramount in our approach to worship.  It's about our heart and about Him.

Is music one of the many tools of worship, yes.  Is it worship, yes.  But it is not ever the main thing.  Does God desire to hear the praise of His people?  Yes, the scripture says so.  But is it the main focus of our worship?  Never.  

We live in a day, when Bands have jumped on the worship wagon and sometimes, in a sense have tried to make worship about music.  We must be very careful of that enticement.  It is much easier to worship certain music, rather than worship Him.  I am afraid we have neglected other things in worship because of music:  prayer, the reading of God's Word, testimony of what God is doing in lives.  All of these are also important to worship.  Why do we not do more of some of these things in our worship?  I think it might be cultural as well as putting music ahead of other things.  People get restless when music is not happening in worship.  We have lost the understanding of power in prayer and the power of God's Word being read.  These are my thoughts.  May we continue to grow in our worship of Him.

Worship is not about music.  Worship is our life in Him - our obedience to Him - our surrender to Him!   As Martin said in the service today, "We were made (created) to worship. May we truly learn to worship Him with our lives. . . and then our music will be much more meaningful in our worship of Him  -  and be kept in its proper place.  mjm

Our Focus in Worship

Continuing with the thoughts about Christ-centric worship, I want to elaborate a little more on the focus of our worship.  Hear me.  The focus of our worship is not and should never be music.  Yes, that is coming from a musician who puts great emphasis on our giving our best offering to Him through music in worship.  However, music is never the goal.  I have to admit, I cringe inside just a bit when people come up to me after worship and say - "great music today!"  It is not about the music, it is about Him!

Our complete focus in worship is embodied in the Son of God, the person of Jesus, Lord of the Church.  He is to be central in our focus.  "For in Him all the fullness of God was placed to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross."  Col. 1:19 and Col. 2:9, "For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled  . . ." He is to be the central person and focus of our worship.  We should approach worship with a passion and desire for His manifest presence with us.  

We also see in the passage above that He is the center point of witness through the gospel, the Lord's table and the witness of the cross.  

Finally, we see that He is to be the center piece of our worship.  The Word of God, the Bible, and the Sword of the Spirit exist for one purpose: "These [Scriptures] are they which testify of Me" (John 5:39).  Either by type, foreshadowing, or direct mention, Messiah is the subject woven into every book of the Bible.  And its ultimate message is - He is the Incarnate Word.

Music is not the focus of our worship.  If so, it becomes an idol.  Growing in our intellectual knowledge to know "about" God is not the focus of our worship.  If so, that becomes an idol.  Truth is important, but HE IS THE TRUTH!  Our focus must be Him, our desire to love, adore, worship, sacrifice and serve Him.  We need to make the main thing the main thing.  Let's worship Him! mjm

The Pivot from Old to New . . . Testament

The Pivot from the Old Testament to the New Testament is well described in the book of Hebrews.  I am not qualified to get into the different interpretive approaches to Hebrews, but there are some observations I see in relation to worship.  It seems the writer of Hebrews understood the OT from a Christ-centric view - recognizing Christ Jesus as the fulfillment of all the redemptive promises of the OT. (Heb. 10:11-18).  The purpose of the book seems to be to demonstrate the superiority of Jesus and His new covenant over Moses.  The writer affirms Christianity as the consummation of the Mosaic covenant.  

Examples are: The priesthood of Melchizedek (Aaron and Levi) apparently correspond to the priesthood of Jesus (Heb. 4-7).  The Mosaic covenant of the OT corresponds to the better covenant of Jesus Christ in the NT.  The sanctuary of the Mosaic covenant (the tabernacle and temple) give way to the greater and perfect sanctuary, not made with hands, of the new covenant (Heb. 9:1-23) and the sacrificial worship of the Mosaic covenant corresponds to Christ's offering of His body as the single sacrifice for all time, beginning the new covenant (Heb. 9:23-10:18).  

An appreciation and understanding of the Old Testament as the promise Jesus Christ fulfilled permits the enrichment of worship by drawing attention to God's sovereignty and grace; His redemptive plan accomplished in the lives of many different OT characters throughout history.   He reveals that plan to humanity through Israel, and Jesus Christ as the ultimate and final Word from God (Heb. 1:1-4).  So, even as the Israelites sacrificed the Passover lamb prior to the exodus from Egypt (Exod. 12:21) Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us (I Cor. 5:7, John 1:14, 18,29).

Two principles for worship today:

1.  Every time we meet for worship, we remember and rehearse the fact of redemption.

2.  Our worship is to always be centered in Christ Jesus, our Lord!
     Our worship is Christ-centric! mjm

Style

It still amazes me after all this time that church members, church musicians and pastors almost always want to talk about music style when you bring up the subject of worship.  Because of our worship theme for the year - iworship - Intergenerational, Intercultural, and International, let's once again discuss style a bit.  

Mark Epperson in his book on worship says, "If the lifestyles of worship leaders are solid, fashioned with hearts for God; if the lyrics of the song are sound doctrinally and Biblically, and can be understood; and if the leading of worship is sanctified with a sense of holiness, reverence and praise; then style of music doesn't matter."  And yet, we still try today to define a church by the way in which they worship.  

Style is inconsequential; however, substance is very consequential.  In John 4:24, we find stated, "God is spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  This should be our  basis for true worship:  spirit and truth, not style and form.  Style is irrelevant; substance is relevant.  Let's revisit an old favorite, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God."  (Col. 3:16)  

First, we see the variance of style indicated in this passage, "psalms, hymns, spiritual songs".   If we are to be intentionally intergenerational, intercultural, and international in our worship, the variance of style is a given.

Second, lives of worship leaders are solid, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom . . . ".  All of those who lead worship: worship choir, band, orchestra, worship teams, must have a heart for God with lifestyles pleasing to Him, allowing His word to be completely at home in their hearts.  If so, style doesn't matter.

Third, the lyrics must be sound, " . . . teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs . . ."  In any teaching and admonishing ministry of the church, we are always challenged by God's word to be Biblically accurate and doctrinally sound.  If so, style doesn't matter.

Fourth, the leading must be sanctified, "singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God."  In our worship, the congregation are the participants, prompted by worship leaders and pastor, with God as the audience.  We lead our people in worship but singing to an audience of one always. If so, style doesn't matter.  Just a thought, style doesn't matter.   mjm

Worship Ministry Theme 2012

The new banner seen on this blog reveals our worship ministry focus for this year.  iworship, Intergenerational, Intercultural, and International.

We continue to see that the priority of our lives and the church, according to scripture, is worship.  We need to remember that worship is much more than music.  Music is simply a tool to assist us in our worship of Him.  Our worship simply put is putting Him first in every part of our lives and putting Him first in the church.  The three areas of emphasis for us as the body this year are indicated in the theme.

Intergenerational - We have discussed some about this already and will do more during this year.  According to Scripture, the worship of the body is for all generations and it is indicated in scripture that every generation inspires and informs our worship together.  Side by side, every age and generation is to worship the Lord of Lords together.

Intercultural - The world has come to us.  In our worship we need to branch out and include other cultural expressions in our worship.  Again, we can learn from other cultures and other worship practices and expand our worship expression in our worship of Him.  Music is one of those ways where we can branch out to other cultural expressions.  Many of the most used modern worship and new expressions are coming from different countries and cultures from all over the world.  Again, this is Biblical with a variety of expression indicated by scripture.

International - "all peoples", "all nations", "every people group", . . . are all phrases we see tied to worship in scripture.  We are to reach out to all peoples and invite them to worship the King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords!  Our worship is faulty and not authentic if it fails to lead us to reach outside ourselves and outside the walls of the church and shout to all,  "Come and Worship!"  

May we be intentional this coming year with iworship, - Intergenerational - Intercultural - International.

mjm

Prayer . . . Ancient Practice?

I am afraid that we many times think of prayer as an ancient practice, thinking that it is not a power for the days in which we live.  A  believer who is devoted and completely committed to prayer is on the cutting edge of finding biblical discernment for his life direction, seeking wisdom from God for answers to life's questions, and doing spiritual warfare for gaining victory in the spiritual battle in which we find ourselves.  

Prayer is at the cutting edge of everything we do; it must be central to every ministry including worship.  "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints." (Ephesians 6:18)  Anything we attempt to do on our own, that is disconnected and apart from the power of God, will result in failure or simply human accomplishment that falls far short of the best God wants for us.  We must be continually speaking to God in trusting, believing prayer and allowing Him to speak to us through His Word.  

We have come to depend on anything and everything in our arsenal of programs, ideas, work, even "ministry" rather than bathing everything we do in prayer.  Too many times we plan, put leadership in place, get financial resources, purchase materials, set a date and after all that is done, we ask God to bless "our" work.  We need to pay the price of persistent, consistent, committed praying from the very beginning of anything we do, including our personal and corporate worship.  It is the only way that we will truly see God's power at work among us.  We must bathe every part of our worship, both our personal and corporate (gathered) worship in prayer, if we are to see God accomplish all He is desiring to do among us.   Let us recommit ourselves to the hard work of prayer for one another's personal worship life and every part of the worship life of our church.  mjm