The Two Majors of Worship in a New Year

As we begin a new year I believe the two majors of our personal and corporate worship are God's Word to us and prayer.  We need to hear from Him on a regular, consistent basis and He needs to hear from us with our expectation of His promised presence and glory among us.  Here are some of the words from Him that I am reminded of:

"But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night" Ps. 1:2.  "Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.  Each morning I bring my requests to You and wait expectantly" Ps. 3:5.  "I praise You, O Lord; teach me Your decrees.  I will study your commandments and reflect on Your ways.  I will delight in Your decrees and not forget your word"  Ps. 119:12, 15-16.  "Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through Your word" Ps. 119: 37.  "Your decrees have been the theme of my songs wherever I have lived." Ps. 119:54.  "Lord accept my offerings of praise, and teach me Your regulations" Ps. 119:108.  "Give discernment to me, Your servant; then I will understand Your laws" Ps. 119:125.  "Guide my steps by Your word, so I will not be overcome by evil"  Ps. 119:133.  "Look upon me with love; teach me Your decrees"  Ps. 119:135.  "I pray with all my heart; answer me, Lord! I will obey Your decrees.  I cry out to You; rescue me, that I may obey Your laws.  I rise early, before the sun is up; I cry out for help and put my hope in Your words" Ps. 119:145-147.  "Listen to my prayer; rescue me as You promised.  Let praise flow from my lips, for You have taught me Your decrees.  Let my tongue sing about Your word, for all Your commands are right"  Ps. 119:170-172.  And that's just from the Psalms.  

"Let the word of Christ dwell richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord"  Col. 3:16.  May we begin the new year committed to a very simple but profound thing in our daily lives - spending time in His Word and praying.  As our pastor said last Sunday...we spend time doing all kinds of things, reading the news, on Facebook, etc.  May we give time to that which will enhance and enrich our personal and public worship to the glory of God as we begin a new year!  mjm

A Christmas and New Year Prayer

Father, as we make the transition from the celebration of Your blessed Son's birth to a new year of opportunity, illuminate our hearts with the Light of the World, the radiance of the presence of Christ.  Tomorrow, oh Lord, won't You do wonders among us?  May our lives show forth Your love in a dark and weary world.  Teach us to befriend, and love with Your love, the lost; to serve the poor; to reconcile with our enemies; to love our neighbors as ourselves.  

Turn our eyes upon Jesus and help us keep our eyes on Him.  Keep us ever faithful in Your ministry and service until our Lord Jesus comes for the final victory when we shall feast with all Your saints in the joy of Your eternal presence.

Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ and in the unity of the Spirit, may all glory and honor be Yours, almighty God, now and forever.  Amen.  mjm

O Holy Night

One of the most popular Christmas songs of all time is "O Holy Night".  It has some interesting history that I want to share with you this Christmas. The beginning story of this song takes place in France.  Not only did it  become one of the most popular Christmas songs ever, but it also marked a technological revolution for music.  In 1847 a parish priest requested a poet in his parish by the name of Cappeau to pen a poem for Christmas Mass. This poet was not a very regular church attender.  In fact the poet was a little surprised by the request.  But, he used Luke as a guide and created the poem.  He was so moved by his own poem that he decided it needed to be set to music.  He enlisted a classically trained musician of the Paris Conservatoire by the name of Adolphe and "Cantique de Noel" was created. It was used three weeks later in a Christmas Mass and was wholeheartedly accepted and used throughout the churches in France.  

However, after being wholeheartedly accepted into the church, Cappeau left the church and became a part of the socialist movement.  When it became known that Adolphe, the musician, was a Jew "Cantique de Noel" was banned by the church in France.  Even though the official church tried to bury the Christmas song, the people continued to sing it.  

John Sullivan Dwight, a graduate of Harvard College and Divinity School, later found the song and translated it into English.  He published it as "O Holy Night".  Then in 1906 Reginald Fesseden, a    33-year-old professor in Pittsburg, using a new type of generator, spoke into a microphone and for the first time in history broadcast over the airwaves the Christmas Story from the gospel of Luke.  It created quite a sensation on ships and in offices. People were rushing to their wireless units to catch this Christmas eve miracle.  After he finished the recitation of the Christmas Story, he picked up his violin and played "O Holy Night," beginning a new medium for music that would take it around the world.  

This great song of worship - requested by a forgotten parish priest, written by a poet who would leave the church for the socialist movement, set to soaring music by a Jewish composer, and brought to America by someone who wanted to highlight the sinful nature of slavery as well as the birth of Christ - has become one of the most popular Christmas anthems of all times.  May all of you and yours have a blessed Christmas on this Holy Night.  mjm

All Heavenly and Earthly Hosts Sing Praise

In Psalm 148 verses 1-6 we find the Psalmist using powerful personification to describe heavenly praise.  It is as if the Psalmist is describing the night of all nights with all creation erupting in an explosion of joy!  In verse 1 the luminaries of heaven praise the Lord.  In verse 2 the angels of heaven praise the Lord, with all the segments of nature praising the Lord in verses 3-4.  What would motivate this kind of all-creation praise?  On that night hundreds of years later . . . "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

Then in verses 7-14 all of nature breaks forth into praise to the Lord.  Why are they praising Him?  In verse 13 they are responding to the glory of His name.  Second, in verse 13 they are realizing that His glory completely transcends His creation.  And then in verse 14 they are praising in gratitude for the coming king He has given Israel - a prophecy and prelude to the coming of Christ.  

Why do we who now know this Messiah sometimes neglect to praise?  Why is it that sometimes our hearts are non-responsive?  Do we sometimes worship the creation rather than the Creator?  As we approach Christmas may we bow again before the throne of His cradle, and cherish this great Gift from the Father.  O come, let us adore Him!  mjm

Glory and Praise

Glory and Praise are abundant in the Christmas Season.  And love flourishes during this season of giving and receiving.  Paul brings us challenges in the 1st chapter of Philippians in verses 9-11 that are very appropriate for this time of the year as we enter into the season of celebrating His birth.

First, he challenges us to let our love overflow, abound, and flourish with discernment or understanding.  The last I checked our church had given over $728,000 to world missions this month.  That's a great start.  But, we must not stop there.  We need to be discerning where God would have us spread love among our families, our church families, our neighbors - those around us who are needy during this time.   ". . . And love thy neighbor as thyself."  This is the second part of the Great Commandment which is both a continuation and natural result of our worship.

Second, he shows us in verse 11 that as we bear the fruits of love and righteousness that come through Jesus living in us, that God's glory is manifested and recognized by others.  When we worship the Lord by loving Him with all our heart, mind, and soul, it makes Jesus Christ attractive to all. It is our privilege and calling to get everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.  There is no better time for us to show people His glory and praise.  It will bring much glory and praise to Him.  Oh yeah, our worship theme for this year is - Making His Praise Known! May the Christ of Christmas be manifested in our daily personal worship and our gathered/corporate worship in these days. That would be the first part of The Great Commandment.   mjm

He Started the Symphony of Song

The Gospel of Luke opens with a song, "Glory to God" (Luke 2:14) and closes with a song, "Praising God" (Luke 24:53).  This symphony of song begins and ends with God's glory.  It started the whole world singing His song and there have been believers singing ever since.  

There is a huge emphasis on songs and hymns throughout this great gospel which shows God manifest in the flesh.  Luke is the gospel of Christ's manhood.  The angel says to Mary, "so the holy one to be born" referring to our Lord's humanity.  In contrast our human nature is unclean, but when the Son of God took bodily form He was "holy".  

In Luke 1:46-55 we find the song of Mary, The Magnificat.  It is a song of rejoicing.  Then, in 68-79 we find the song of Zacharias.  It is a song of deliverance and worship.  Then of course there is the song of the angels in chapter 2.  God's glory blazed the heavens and a huge angelic choir sang praises and glory to God.  

Not only a symphony of song but a symphony of prayer is seen in this gospel.  Luke tells us more about the prayers of our Lord than any other of the gospel writers.  Prayer is an expression of human dependence on God.  We need to continue this symphony of prayer today.  There is too much activity with too little private prayer in the church today.  The cause of Christ doesn't need less work, but definitely more prayer.  

What would happen if today we were to get serious about the symphony of song and the symphony of prayer?  Maybe then we would truly see God's glory!  mjm

No Substitute

There is no substitute for a heart of worship that has established that it's all about Jesus.  The Lord is the audience of one.  Worship is about God, . . . for God, . . . and to God!  There is a dynamic something that takes place when the people of God gather for Him! . . . for worship.  That dynamic happens no place else on earth.  It is for His pleasure and His glory!  

There have been hundreds of books on worship, seminars, conferences, on-line courses, all kinds of help in understanding and growing in worship.  And, if we are not careful, we begin to make it too complicated because of all of these resources available.  When, before all of these resources and now after all of these resources, the bottom line is still the same.  Do we have the right heart for worship?  There is no substitute for having a heart for worship.  It is put very clearly in Ephesians 5:10.  "And try to learn [in your experience] what is pleasing to the Lord [let your lives be constant proofs of what is most acceptable to Him]". (Amplified Bible)  More succinctly, "find out what pleases the Lord".  

In the paragraph before Ephesians 5:10, we are challenged to walk in the light.  Walk in the light and find out what pleases the Lord.  In our experience and study of God's Word we must find the actions, attitudes, and even thoughts that will delight the heart of God with our offerings of worship.  It is the finding how to express intimately a relationship with our God in which we feed on the truths of His Word.  As individuals and as the church, our worship must be a passion and priority so that others will see Him in us and have a hunger and desire to also become passionate worshippers.  There is no substitute.   mjm

The Power of Song

I was reading in Deuteronomy 31 yesterday and was struck by how Moses is instructed by the Lord that song is a powerful tool in teaching and remembering what God has done and what God requires of His people. Moses was getting ready to depart this life and had written a book of instruction for his people.  He tells the people that this book of instruction is to be read at the end of every seventh year.

Then the Lord predicts Israel's disobedience and tells Moses to write down the words of a song and teach it to the people. It is then stated that the descendants of Moses will never forget the song.  The song of Moses would live on.

J. S. Bach, the great church musician, also saw the importance of song.  He stated, "The final reason of all music is nothing other than the glorification of God and the refreshment of the spirit.  Where there is devotional music, God is always at hand with His gracious presence."  He knew the song would go on.

The great Martin Luther believed that music has the power to light up the gospel message, giving life to the words, impressing it on the human heart and expressing the joy it brings.  He believed there was no better way to conserve the truth and spread the gospel.  He believed you could sing truth into the heart.  This was the reason he said he would leave others to write the theology books as long as he could write the hymns.  He knew if the people sang the truth, they would believe and carry the truth.

It is also interesting that concern for the descendants of Moses is mentioned, and that both Bach and Luther stressed the importance of musical training for youth for the very same reason.

We see the power of music at work in our children as they perpetuate the truth and the song at Christmas.  The Christmas Story is wrapped in song and the song goes on!  mjm

His Abiding Presence

In a real sense worship begins and ends with His abiding presence.  Jesus' promise to all His disciples was that He would be with us till the very end of time.  We have the potential and privilege of experiencing His abiding presence every moment of every day.  That promise was given in the midst of the great commission, given on His authority that we were to go, tell, and teach everyone that they could also live in His abiding presence.  

A life in complete fellowship with Him is the preparation needed for us to be willing to go, for us to pray fervently for a lost and dying world, and for us to give sacrificially so that others will experience Him.  When He left those disciples and promised them the Holy Spirit, their primary vocation was to live in unbroken fellowship with Him.  The strength of their testimony and the power of their preaching was totally dependent on His abiding presence.  They had to be "totally His".  

It is no different for us as His disciples today.  Anything we try to do apart from Him is totally human effort that means nothing in the kingdom.  We must be "totally His" and completely dependent on unbroken fellowship with Him and His abiding presence if we are to effectively be a part of His kingdom-building, shedding light to a dark world.  Again, we have a choice to make.  His mission through us depends on our worship!  If our worship is right, our participation in His mission will be just right!   mjm

Ambassadors of Worship

I remember the Royal Ambassador's motto when I was a boy: "We are ambassadors for Christ".  And as a young elementary school kid I would lead the other boys in the Royal Ambassador Hymn - The King's Business. I remember singing those words . . . "I am a stranger here within a foreign land . . . Ambassador to be . . . I'm here on business for my King!  This is the message that I bring . . . be ye reconciled to God."  

If we are aligned with our Lord, we are aligned in our relationship to the world.  God shows us that there is a wall of separation from the world.  "Be not conformed to this world . .. " (Rom. 12:2).  "Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers . . . be ye separate " (2 Cor. 6:14-15, 17).  In a real sense we are taken out of the world so that we can be put back into it.  In John 20:21 Jesus says, "Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I You."  Christ came into the world as the Father's Ambassador.  Now the Christian goes forth into the world as an Ambassador of the Kingdom to shed the light of Christ, to be the light of the world, and to call people out of darkness to worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!  

The Holy Spirit indwells us in Christ and takes the love of the crucified, risen, ascended Christ,  shedding it abroad in our hearts . . . giving us a Spirit-filled love for the Father just as the Son loves Him, love for fellow members of the body of Christ as the Head loves them, and love for the unsaved world as the Savior loves them. We are ambassadors of the Kingdom while here in a foreign land.  Praying, going, and giving because of the love of Christ and His call to us to bring others to worship Him, joining us in shedding light to a dark, lost and dying world. God's business is to reconcile the world back to Himself.  We have a choice as to whether we will join the endeavor He calls us to.  mjm

Thanksgiving, Our Lives, Our Worship

Thanksgiving is really a state of mind and heart.  I am amazed at how many times we are challenged to be thanks-givers in the Scripture.  Giving thanks is an acknowledgment  that all we have comes to us and is not something of our own contriving.  We give thanks to God because we know He is creator and redeemer of His people, and our sustainer.  Whether we live our lives in an attitude of thanksgiving determines how we worship.  

Philippians 4 gives us insight into our thanksgiving state of mind.  Paul challenges us to rejoice . . . to not worry but to depend on our Lord, with thanksgiving.  It is an affront to our Lord, after all He is and has done, for us not to rejoice, for us to worry, for us not to have His peace guarding our hearts and minds in Him.  In this chapter we are challenged to "think" on all that God provides for us and in us.  

Will our thanksgiving instruct our living?  Will our thanksgiving affect our worship and bless the Lord?  Will our thanksgiving challenge us to give sacrificially so others may know the same peace?  Will our thanksgiving create an attitude of thankfulness in us that affects all we do and say so that He is glorified?  The more an attitude of thanksgiving instructs our lives . . . the more it will change our worship!  And . . . it also works the other way.  The more we thank Him in our worship the more apt we will be in living our daily lives with an attitude of thankfulness.  mjm

Proclaiming His Glory Throughout the Earth

If we love the Lord with all that we are we will bear a burden of love for people in need with a passionate desire to proclaim His glory to all the world.  Proclaiming God's glory is one of the fruits of true worship.  

A true test is if believers spend more time praying for their own prosperity and breakthroughs in their lives than they do praying for the advancement of the gospel to all peoples.  Many believers have come to believe that Christianity is all about what God can do for them and how He can bless them.  Rather, we as true worshippers would believe that Christianity is about our getting involved with Him and His kingdom purposes all around the earth.

Are we more concerned as churches as to how much we invest in our own churches or in how we invest in God's great kingdom mission?  If our churches are full of worshippers, we will become white hot about proclaiming God's glory through our lives and churches.

May we pray that God will ignite a fire in His people raising up an army of worshippers and followers of Jesus who are totally His (surrendered) and committed to proclaiming His Glory to the ends of the earth.  It begins with prayer.  So basic.  So overlooked.  Let us pray that as we worship and love God with all that we are, He will give us a vision of His heart for a world that really is hungry to see His glory!  Lord, set my soul afire! mjm

Praise and Glory for the Breakthrough

I was reading Acts 11 this morning and verse 18 literally jumped off the page.  Peter is trying to explain why he was ministering to the Gentiles, and all of a sudden it sinks in to his fellow Jews that salvation is for all peoples. And when it sank in guess what?  They started praising and glorifying God. What a breakthrough! This life was for all peoples.   It was prophesied in Isaiah 42, mentioned in Luke 2:32, John 11:52 and Romans 10:12-13...and the Isaiah passage was referred to again in Romans 15:9-16.

History has a way of repeating itself.  Over the years and even now I sometimes hear people say things like, "Why do we need to go to the other side of the world to tell people about Jesus?".  There are some in the church today who have the same kind of attitude the Jews had before the breakthrough.  We live in a country with evangelical churches on almost every other corner.  We have the most advanced media in the world. People here have the opportunity to hear about Jesus.  But there are many people groups across the earth that have never heard the name of Jesus. Of course we  need to be telling people here at home about Jesus, but we must not stop there.  

We can praise and glorify God which, by the way, is worship.  We can praise Him that our church here in Rockwall gives around 40% of all of our giving every year to ministry and missions outside our church.  This includes our giving through the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention (which is a lifeline to our missionaries and other ministries), associational missions, our World Missions Offering,  budgeted items for ministry and missions here in our community, monies set aside for our student and adult mission trips and other monies designated to mission projects.  We praise and glorify God that we are part of a church with that kind of heart for missions.  Praise and glorify God for the breakthrough to all peoples.  

We are singing a hymn on Sunday, "Because I Have Been Given Much" which ends with these words by Grace Noll Crowell,  . . . "I shall give love to those in need, Shall show that love by word and deed: Thus shall my thanks be thanks indeed."  As we approach Thanksgiving, Christmas, and our World Missions Offering may those words be our heart's desire. Then, we can give praise and glory for the breakthrough of life to all peoples.  mjm

Throne Room Worship

In a very real sense our praise "enthrones" the Lord and as He is enthroned  it becomes a place of His abiding  presence.  Anywhere, anytime, anyplace the Lord shows up becomes a sacred place; a throne room if you please.  These throne room encounters are worship.  

God's Word is full of these throne room encounters.  In every instance there is a direct correlation between individuals encountering God and being involved in His mission to others.  Throne room encounters transform us into people on mission with God.  We see it in Isaiah's encounter in Isaiah 6. Isaiah was cleansed, commissioned, and sent forth on mission.  In Matthew 28 we see the 11 disciples encounter.  After a worship encounter, they are given the great commission.  Day of Pentecost encounter results in 3000 people being saved.  The Antioch church encounter included worship, laying on hands and sending them out.  The Philippian jail encounter of singing hymns to God results in the jailer and all of his house being saved, as well as the other prisoners witnessing God's power.  

Throne Room encounters equal great things:

Praise and Worship = His Presence

His Presence = Encounter

Encounter = Evangelism and Mission

Ministering to the Lord always comes before ministering for the Lord.  Throne room encounters are a prerequisite.  We can never effectively love the lost and dying world unless we first love Him!  mjm

Missions in Relation to Worship

One of the places in Scripture that we find missions and worship intertwined is in Acts 13:2.  This is a description of the birth of the great missionary movement that in a sense continues today.  Paul and Barnabas on their mission to the Gentile world is the beginning of that movement.

We see that the mission commission comes in the midst of worship.  It says in this passage "they were ministering to the Lord and fasting" when the Holy Spirit calls them to the mission.  Their mission came while they were worshipping.  Authentic Godly mission will always begin and end in worship.  We mentioned in other blogs how we see the same principle in Isaiah 6.  Worship will always lead us to be on mission.  If it doesn't, then we are not really worshipping.  We may attend church regularly, love to sing, be very religious, but if it doesn't lead us to mission, we are not really worshipping.  If we are not telling others about the Lord, praying, going, and giving then our basic problem is that our hearts are not abounding in Him.  

Why are these people in the church in Antioch found "ministering to the Lord and fasting"?  Because in chapter 11 we find the church of Jerusalem sending out people on mission, reaching those at Antioch.  The mission to the church at Antioch leads the new church at Antioch to worship.  Missions is not an end in itself.  Missions is a means to the greatest end - worship.  

John Piper is well known for saying: "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church, worship is.  Missions exists because worship doesn't."  We were not created to be on mission, we were created to worship.  Because if our worship is genuine we will be on mission to those who are not worshipping Him.  Those who are reached are reached so they may worship the same glorious God whom we serve and worship.  And the very, very end of the mission will be the worship in heaven around the throne as predicted in Revelation 7.

Missions starts in worship, when God's people become caught up in His glory and majesty, becoming compelled to do everything possible to share Him with all peoples.  And the mission will end in worship... with peoples from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation one day standing before the throne of God joining with us in the eternal worship of heaven.  Hallelujah!  mjm

Out of Despair into Worship

As human beings we are capable of despair and depression.  There are things in our lives that are calculated to cause despair.  The actualities of life sometimes overwhelm and we begin to look down over our circumstances, our failures, our missed opportunities, and our unintentional hurting of others.  Despair comes when there seems to be no hope of things to come.

In I Kings 19:5 we find that the angel did not give Elijah a vision, an exegesis of the scripture or any other outstanding thing.  He simply told him to do an unremarkable thing . . . "arise and eat." When God's Spirit is able to get into our despair He tells us to do the most ordinary things.  When God comes He inspires us to do the most natural and simplest of things.  And, in the doing of them, we find that God is there.  When God's Spirit tells us to do something and we do it, we find the despair is gone.   Later in that chapter we see the word of the Lord as God's revelation comes to Elijah because he crawled out from under that tree.  When we arise and obey, we literally enter into a higher plane of life and worship. 

In Matthew 26:46 we find the disciples have failed to stay awake with Jesus and it produces despair.  A sense of the irreparable will bring us despair.  That's when we say, "There's no use in trying anymore."  This is not exceptional but common place in ordinary human experience.  Jesus comes to them and basically says this opportunity is lost forever and you can't change that,  . . . "but arise and go to the next thing."  His challenge is to allow the past to sleep on the shoulders of Christ, and to do the next thing, which is to trust Him wholly and to pray on the ground and basis of His Redemption.  We have had experiences like this in our lives.  But His challenge is for us to never let the sense of failure keep us from "arising and doing the next thing."  

The hope from despair comes when we know that "in us (in our flesh) dwelleth no good thing."  And our hope is:  as God shows Himself we are raised up by the hand of God.  God can do nothing until we reach the limit of our possible.  Rev. 1:17 says, "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead." When we see our limitations, we see His limitlessness.  Another place in scripture I am reminded of says, "My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up."  Yes, even despair can lead us to "arise, . . . look up" and . . . worship.  We need to arise and look up and see what God is doing on mission in our world! . . . and join with Him.    mjm

Gathered Together

We the disciples of Christ faithfully gather together week after week in worship.  In an interesting way today it dawned upon me that the account of His disciples gathering together with Him that last time we find in Acts 1 has great signifigance -  in the sense of our gathering together weekly as His disciples to worship Him even as they did.  And because they gathered with Him they were told:

"When the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world."  If we gather as we should in His name and for His glory faithfully, He will be faithful to make us witnesses beginning right in our homes and in the places we live, extending out to those areas around us, our country and yes, the whole world.

Our involvement in witness is direct and indirect.  We can be involved by praying for the lost in all those places and for those who will go.  We can give so that both we and others can go directly and witness in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In a very real sense, as we gather to worship every week, He says to us, "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses to Me in your home town, your state and nation, and the entire world."  God, in our worship as we yield to you as totally yours, may we be given your global vision that begins here at home.  mjm

With Thanksgiving

I don't know how there can be any worship without thanksgiving.  As we enter that month where we talk about it, let's do more than talk and eat turkey and dressing.  

Our worship must extend beyond the wall of the church into our everyday lives.  Our worship touches and affects our homes, our work, our community, and our world through relationships, circumstances and opportunities.  The problem is many times we allow worry to replace worship in our hearts when it comes to all of these things.  

In verse 6 of Philippians 4 we find the following words, "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplications with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." And in the next verse we see that the result of doing that brings the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  He is the center of our worship if we approach all of life as Paul challenges us in this passage.  

I remember agonizing as a teenager praying about someone who was straying from the Lord.  And I read this passage in Philippians over and over until one day I finally saw the words, "with thanksgiving" and it totally changed my perspective in my praying over this one and the circumstances involved.  If we are to worship Him in all aspects of our lives, we must learn to lay things at His feet with thanksgiving knowing, knowing, knowing, yes, knowing that He is working and accomplishing His will and way in every circumstance.  With thanksgiving is our act of trust and faith in a dependable God.  May we worship Him . . . with thanksgiving! mjm

Worship A Matter of an Undivided Heart

Our worship theme for the year is "Making His Praise Known"  . . . having to do with Proclaiming the Lord.  Proclaim means to make known publicly.  At the very heart of the gospel is the mission to make God known to the world.  Authentic worship is based in the desire to make God known to all peoples - beginning with our families, the neighbor next door and reaching around the earth.  Can it be possible for us to truly seek God, cherish God, and glorify God without being one who proclaims God?  True worship will always  result or culminate in an outward focus.  

Our Missions Theme this year is "Totally His, Heart, Hands, Voice".  In Matthew 22: 36- 39, Jesus is asked which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses.  Jesus says, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind."  And the second is to "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Jesus makes this the priority.  We can never hope to be His hands or His voice until we are so "totally His" that we know His heart for every lost one.  So, first are we totally His?  God not only sees our gifts, our sacrifice and service, but He sees right through to our hearts.  With God the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. (I Sam. 16:7)  Until our heart belongs to Him, totally and completely, we can not hope to be His heart, hands, and voice to the world around us.  

We live in a day when there is so much to distract and deflect our attention, time, and energy away from loving God to the point that we are "totally His".  May we cry out with the Psalmist - "Give me an undivided heart!" (Psalm 86:11)  If we are "totally His"  we will give, we will go, we will pray-- being involved in God's mission to the world like never before as we, in seeking Him, become - His Heart - His Hands - His Voice to all peoples of the earth! Our level of worship will determine how involved we will be in God's mission.  mjm

True Worship Leads to Rest

Hebrews 4 has these words for us: "God's promise of entering His rest sill stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.  For only we who believe can enter His rest.  So, let us do our best to enter that rest.  But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall." If our worship is authentic it will lead us to the following:

First, we must believe with all our hearts there is a rest in a life of faith.  We have to speak and believe that there is rest into which Jesus can bring us into a complete trust in Him.  Worship brings us to the point of knowing that God keeps us every hour in His mighty power.  Second, we are brought to the experience of believing that the grace of Jesus proves sufficient every day, every hour bringing us into a life of rest in Him.  Third, as a result of our worship we come to know that because of our union in Christ, "I can do all things through Him that strengthens me" and "we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us".  As we come to truly know Him in worship, He gives us the strength to stand firm in His victory.  

This is no effort of our own.  God must bestow it on us.  We can not take hold of it without Him.  We are brought into a conscious realization of utter helplessness and self-despair.  Only then is He able to draw near and ask us to trust Him completely to work rest into our hearts.  God gives the rest.  We must give up ourselves to the holy and everlasting God, for Him to lead us into this perfect rest.  When we do, we can trust God to make it all real to us in our experience with Him.  Our worship should lead us to live a life not in our own strength, but a life in which God shall be our all in all.  Pray today: "Oh, God, I ask, I expect, I trust Thee for it.  I enter this day into the rest of God to keep me every hour of every day."  He will take you and the work will be done, and we will find that worship leads to rest and rest leads to worship.  mjm

Song, Prayer and Obedience

There are principles found in 2 Chronicles 5 and 7 that get me really over the top excited about potential worship.  In chapter 5, starting with verse 12, we find that God has established that the trumpeters (instrumentalists) and singers are to be one (unison) in their praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.  And gloriously, the result was the house of the Lord filled with a cloud of glory to the point the priests were unable to stand and minister.  God's glory filled the house.  Now, what had to take place? First the instrumentalists and singers were called.  Second they became one.  I believe that becoming one has to do with preparation, both musically and spiritually, to the point of their being one in spirit and one in the Spirit.  And we see the result -  Hallelujah!

The second principle is found in chapter 7 beginning with verse 1.  Here we find that Solomon finishes his prayer, then the offerings and sacrifices are made to the Lord.  And the same result as above - the glory of the Lord filled the temple to the point the priests could not enter.  And the people bowed down, worshipped and gave thanks to the Lord!  WOW!  Can we get our hearts around these principles?  If God is to show Himself and His glory, God's people have got to play and sing His song, pray, and be willing to be a "living sacrifice" unto Him by obeying all He has commanded.  

A word to our worship choir - Choir, this is why we work so hard to offer our very best to the Lord through thorough preparation musically.  This is why we emphasize prayer for one another, for our church, and for the worship of our church.  And this is why we emphasize the importance of every worship choir member's "letting the word of Christ dwell richly" -  becoming obedient to Him.  It is only as we commit faithfully to do these things that we can have any hope of seeing God's glory in our worship together.  Song - Prayer - Obedience results in His glory!  Hallelujah! mjm

Teach Me to Worship

In the last blog we said it is very simple.  Fear God and keep His commandments.  And truly that is the beginning of worship.  However, I had someone once say,  "Teach me to worship."  Well, I thought, in the first place we are made to worship and if we are His it shouldn't be difficult.  

But there is a place to go and learn more about worship as you are literally practicing worship - the ancient hymn book, the Psalms.  I committed a long time ago to read through the Psalms and Proverbs every month until I go to be with the Lord.  It amazes me how after all this time, God still speaks fresh new things to me every day from the Psalms.  The Psalms is a book of songs.   God's people have always loved songs.  Throughout scripture the saints of God expressed both their joy and their sorrow.  Songs of gladness and sadness were sung.  Songs of adoration, gratitude and grievance were sung.  Songs were sung to inspire prophets, enthrone kings, celebrate marriages, lament deaths, celebrate harvest, exorcise evil spirits, accompanying feasts, work, war, and worship.  Job says even the stars once sang (Job 38:1).   The first mention of music is in Genesis 4 where we see the instrumentalist, Jubal, playing instruments and singing.  Man has been playing and singing ever since. The word "sing" is used more than 120 times in God's Word.  Singing was and is an important part of worship.

We see the importance given to it in the Psalms.  The Psalms, or the Psalter, is a complete book of the Bible devoted to the expression of truth through melody.  Its title in the Jewish Bible is Tehilim ("praises" or "hymns").  It was literally the song book of Israel.  In the Psalms we find songs of praise, history, lament, wisdom, penitence, imprecation (cursing of enemies), ascent (people going up to worship), prophecy (including Messianic), thanksgiving, prayer, and more.  The composers of these songs were living out  multifaceted lives and involving song in living and worshipping.  

I would challenge you to learn to worship by reading, singing, and praying the Psalms, sometimes out loud.  If you will do that, you will discover you are becoming a learner of worship.  mjm

It's Really Very Simple

The writer of Ecclesiastes really puts it very straight as to what is required.  In chapter 12, the writer talks about the importance of wisdom and in living well.  Then in verses 12-13, he suggests that the constant publishing of books and constant study wears us out to the point of being good for nothing else.  Then he says, "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."  

This made me think of some people who go to endless Bible studies and yet, there never seems to be a change or impact on the way they live their lives.  We are all guilty of this.  But it also got me to thinking about the myriad of books that have been written on worship, going in to great detail of God's intentions and instruction about worship.  Many of us have studied them until blue in the face, and yet many of us still want worship the way we want it, or we make it far more complicated than it is.  

Whether it be our daily walk of faith, which in itself is worship, or our worship events or gatherings, it is rather simple - "Fear God and obey His commandments."  Wow, that really sums a lot up for our worship when we are gathered together, as well as working out our worship in our daily walk with Him.  mjm

Worship Music Beyond the Walls

Our worship music should not stay inside the walls of the church.  It should become an integral part of our everyday lives.  All cultures sing and create music that helps them to express their deepest thoughts,  passions and concerns about all of life.  The songs we sing in worship should be recalled in all kinds of circumstances and situations in our lives.  These songs should grow us and encourage us in our faith- walk as we recall their words and music.  

Our worship music should speak to us throughout life from our early days of childhood to old age.  Our worship music should provide a support that will nurture us through all the different stages of life.  We have a responsibility to teach songs to our children that go further than cute and novel.  We must teach them songs that have texts that will fill their minds with thoughts of God the Creator and Redeemer, and His plan for them.  

Music is a natural part of life, even for non-musicians, that needs to offer life-long texts and music that sustain a faith for a lifetime.  We must carry our worship music outside the walls of the church in our everyday comings and goings with our families and friends.  It has much to offer in the growth and nurture of our faith. mjm

Worship in Pursuit of Truth

In my readings this week a very familiar passage caught my eye and mentally grabbed me by the shoulders.  John 4:23-24 - "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  Over the years I've heard people try to say that "spirit" here is speaking of the Holy Spirit, but it is not.  There are other passages that show us the "Spirit's" involvement in our worship, but that is not what it is really being talked about here.  It is referring to our spirits, all that we are - mentally, emotionally, and bodily.  

When we look at the verse previous to this one, we see Jesus saying it is not where or how you worship that matters.  As far as the Lord is concerned it's who you are and how you are living out your faith before God that counts.  I love the way the Message puts it - "Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth." The Father is seeking out those kinds of worshipers - those who come very simply and honestly, being themselves before Him in their worship. Our churches have many people who come week after week seeking truth, but never seem to engage their spirits. 

We are challenged in this passage  to worship Him out of our very being, out of our spirits, our true selves, all that we are in adoration of Him.  Do we let go and do that?  I wonder.  I see people lose themselves in family, recreation, spectator sports, certain kinds of music and all kinds of other stuff.  But, do we reserve greater passion and our whole selves for adoration and praise of Creator - Redeemer God?  And, are we constantly pursuing with all that we are life changing truth from His Word in our worship?  I think these are exactly what Jesus' challenge is to us in John 4.  "Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth".  Amen and Amen.  mjm

Worship Evangelism

Many get all hung up when you use those two words together.  It has become more appreciated due to a book several years ago by that very name.  As worshippers we have a passion for God's glory.  It is an awesome experience when all of God's people worship Him with heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Some think we have to "dumb" that down to also have evangelism in our worship.  However, scripture indicates that it is when the lost see and hear God's people worshipping Him that they are moved toward Him in the power of God's Spirit.

Apart from God our friends, neighbors and family members are lost.  We should be motivated to let them see the Lord and Savior through our worship.  But, you say, how does evangelism mix with worship.  Well, our ultimate goal is to make them worshippers of Him.  So, our motivation to love them and worship before them is part of that great commandant to love Him with all that we are, and others as ourselves.  

Love for others, however, should not really be the primary driver for evangelism.  Rather, our passion for God's glory should be the basic incentive that drives us to share the gospel with unbelievers.  We should want all peoples to be able to hear and respond to His good news because as Psalm 48:1 says, "God is great and greatly to be praised."

As we grow in our faith and in our worship we should become more and more motivated by a zeal for God's glory in wanting to see others find out how wonderful and awesome God is. We grow in our desire for them to experience His love, not just so they can be healed and transformed but that they might give glory and honor to God with their whole lives, yes, so that they might worship Him!  

May we worship Him with our whole heart seeking to add new worshippers to the community of faith!  May we cover the earth with His glory "making His praise known to all".  mjm

My Music vs. His Music in Worship

I serve in a congregation that is multi-generational in nature.  We have families of four and five generations represented in our congregation.  That makes it very challenging when choosing music for worship.  Because we are a multi-generational church and have a lot of intergenerational relationships in our church, we have chosen up to this point to not have a traditional hymn-driven service nor a modern praise and worship service, nor a gospel song-driven service.  We do all kinds of music in our worship week by week as we seek to worship Him according to who our congregation is, and as we seek to reach out and disciple others in His name.

The pendulum swings back and forth on styles of music used in worship.  For many years it was gospel songs; for many years it was more classical hymns; for many years it became praise and worship choruses; for years it became modern songs; the pendulum swung back to hymns with a more modern setting; and one of the things now is the songs of Christian artists.  At one time or another we try to touch on the best of all of these in our congregational worship.  But, that's just it.  It is congregational worship - worship of ALL the people.  

Whatever we do in worship must be accessible to all the people.  I constantly deal with that tension of trying to make all that we do accessible to all people and make sure in the process that it is not about a particular style of music, but about Him.  I had someone not long ago say to me, "I just can't worship unless is it with a Hymn."  I so wanted to say,  "It is more important that you worship with Him than with a Hymn."  I think if our real focus was on the Lord, there would be much less discussion of what we sing and more about Who we sing to and about.

The newest thing is the very popular songs of Christian artists that people seem to think should be used in worship.  I have nothing against artists.  But, much of the music being used by these artists cover at least one and a half octaves in their ranges, which makes it impossible for a congregation to sing effectively.  When we go to hear a Christian artist it is usually mostly to "listen".  Not so in congregational worship.  The songs, hymns, and spiritual songs we sing in worship need to be accessible to the congregation as a whole so that as many as possible can join in exalting the Lord and lifting up the Savior in song.  May we accept that some songs are meant for Christian artists and not congregational worship?  Some theologians have said that the most important choir in the church is the congregation.  As I have studied Scripture over the years, I would concur.  mjm

Trinitarian Worship

It would be understood, I assume, that the Trinity is very important in approaching worship.  There is much we don't fully understand about the Trinity and much understanding we haven't attained in worship.  God draws us into the three-person life.  

C. S. Lewis says, "An ordinary simple Christian kneels down to say his prayers.  He is trying to get in touch with God.  But if a Christian, he knows that what is prompting him to pray is also God:  God, so to speak, inside him.  But he also knows that all his real knowledge of God comes through Christ, the Man who was God - that Christ is standing beside him, helping him to pray, praying for him.  You see what is happening.  God is the thing to which he is praying - the goal he is trying to reach.  God is also the thing inside him which is pushing him on - the motive power.  God is also the road or bridge along which he is being pushed to that goal.  So that the whole threefold life of the three-personal being is actually going on in that ordinary little bedroom where an ordinary Christian is saying his prayers."

So, God is at work prompting us, encouraging us, and even when we don't know what to pray - praying through us, as seen in Romans 8:26.  It is God simultaneously doing the praying in me, receiving the prayer and in that exchange agreed to in me, inviting me into the Christ life of the redeemed. 

What does all of this have to do with worship?  In a simple statement:  God actively prompts, receives, and perfects our worship.  Hallelujah!  mjm

Worship . . . Seeking God's Face . . . Not His Hand

There are evidences of both seeking God's face and seeking God's hand throughout Scripture.  Too many times we as believers are more concerned about seeking God's hand than we are about seeking God's face.  Authentic worship would lead us to seek God's face first and foremost.  

God's hand is always associated with God's actions in Scripture - whether it be for good or destruction.  It is by His hand that His power is demonstrated.  God's face is associated with seeking God in His fullness.  Not seeking "a hand out of trouble" but seeking Him for who He is.  When we are seeking God's hand we are looking for results, answers, or an experience.  When we seek His face we are seeking Him for Himself, to abide in Him, aware of His fullness within us and His presence dwelling in us in glory. When we seek God's face we will feel the blessings from His hand in natural progression. But too many of us go straight for the blessing over the Blesser.  We are more interested in the gift than in the Giver. 

Second Chronicles 7:14 makes it very clear that we can't come face to face with God apart from          1) humbling ourselves, 2) praying, and 3) turning from our wicked ways.  In seeking God's face we are seeking His heart and mind. We can only do that by coming clean before Him! He longs to have relationship with us, rather than our just looking to Him as a big Santa Claus with a bag full of "spiritual treats".   

As we approach our personal and corporate worship let us hear what Augustine had to say: "Essentially there are two kinds of people, because there are two kinds of love.  One is holy, the other is selfish.  One is subject to God, the other endeavors to equal Him.  One is friendly, the other is envious.  One wishes for the neighbor what it would wish for itself; the other wishes to subject the neighbor to itself.  One guides the neighbor in the interests of the neighbor's good; the other guides the neighbor for its own interests."  Psalm 27: 8 says, "You have said, 'Seek my face.'  My heart says to you, 'Your face, Lord, do I seek.'" In today's worship, the two kinds of people described above are simply the ones who seek God's hand and the ones who seek God's face (heart and mind).  Which are you?  mjm

Reverence, Idols and Worship

As our Pastor begins a series on The Ten Commandments, I began thinking about those commandments and worship.  We talked a little about reverence in the last blog. The very foundational principle of the Ten Commandments is reverence for God.  Jesus reaffirmed this quality in indicating man's approach to God in the first petition in the Lord's Prayer.  "Hallowed be Thy Name."  We live in a day where people are too flippant about the name of God and use it in a trivial way.  

We also find that any sort of idolatry is absolutely forbidden by God.  These ten commandments were the basis of the Hebrew Law and Covenant.  Four of them have to do with our attitudes and relationship to God and six of them have to do with our attitudes and relationship to our fellowman.  Jesus gave us a "cliff notes" version of all of them in two commandments - "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with All thy Heart and Soul and Strength and Mind; and thy Neighbor as Thyself."

When we believers look at contemporary idolatry we usually bring up money, status, sports, man-made heroes and celebrities, etc.  But, as believers we forget some of the idols we tend to carve out in our own image, minds and hearts, especially those having to do with worship.  We have lived through a time where believers have literally had wars over styles and practices of worship and styles of music, allowing our own cultural or sub-cultural biases and personal tastes to make worship about us rather than about Him.  Is your worship idol . . . traditional, modern, blended, classic, evangelistic, contemporary, southern gospel, ancient,  . . . all of these ideas and words conjured up by us in trying to describe "my" kind of worship?  May we be reminded again - that this is just another form of idolatry.  Worship is not about me or my personal likes or dislikes, ever - it is about Him! May we extol and lift Him up in Worship!  Nothing belongs in place of Him.  mjm

Reverence and Awe . . . Acceptable Worship

I came across a verse in my daily reading of the Word this week that caught my attention.  I was reading from Hebrews 12: 28-29 - "Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."  In this chapter we've seen Jesus as the founder and perfecter of our faith; challenged in not growing weary with the hostility of sin and sinners or the discipline of the Lord; and then the passage shows us our inheritance of being a part of a kingdom that cannot be shaken.  And, at the very end of all of this - talks about our acceptable worship.  

Notice the two things about our acceptable worship - reverence and awe.  The word denoting "reverence" is used some 13 times in scripture and the word "awe" some 15 times.  According to the dictionary reverence is a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; the outward manifestation of this attitude; a gesture indicative of deep respect; to bow- which crosses into the Biblical meaning of worship.  The meaning of the word "awe" - goes to an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, and healthy fear having to do with great power.  Awe has the power to both inspire and restrain.  Think a moment about the meanings of these words having to do with worship.

In our day and time the "awe" factor has been greatly accepted in worship practice, but unfortunately the "reverence" factor as been abused by many worship leaders indicating that reverence equals dead in the practice of worship.  This is truly unfortunate.  It is clear in this short passage that acceptable worship includes both reverence and awe.  Let us think on those attitudes and feelings in our own practice of worshipping Him.  mjm

Our Profound Alleluia!

Fred Pratt Green, a British Minister and Hymn writer in the 20th century, went to be with the Lord in 2000.  He left us with one of my favorite hymn texts which we don't sing very often because it is not well known.  The hymn is - When in our Music God is Glorified.  I want to look briefly at some of the text and comment on it.  It is based on Psalm 69, verse 30 and following.

"When in our music God is glorified

And adoration leaves no room for pride

It is as though the whole creation cried

Alleluia"

We are reminded that all of creation gives adoration and praise and we are invited to join in.  And, heart-felt, passionate adoration leaves no room in our lives for pride.  

"How often making music we have found

A new dimension in the world of sound

As worship moved us to a more profound

Alleluia"

God made us creative. His intention is that we continually create new sounds in His gift of music that will bring praise and worship to Him.  And,  authentic worship will always move us to a more profound alleluia!

"And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night

When utmost evil strove against the light

Then let us sing for whom He won the fight

Alleluia!

Jesus paved the way for us to sing the song of victory over death and darkness.  And we are challenged to sing Alleluia to the one for whom He won the fight!

"Let every instrument be tuned for praise

Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise

And may God give us faith to sing always

Alleluia"

We all know that we are challenged to use all instruments and everything that has breath to give praise to the Lord.  That includes every rejoicing believer's voice to be raised.  The question is . . . Are our voices "tuned for praise"?  And in closing, may God truly give us faith to sing always the Alleluia song -- both here in the now (so others will see and hear the song) and for eternity (as we sing Alleluia before the throne)!  mjm

Copyright 1972 Hope Publishing Co. CCLI #547964

Close Encounters of A God Kind

At the end of Exodus 34 we see Moses coming down from Mount Sinai after a "close encounter of a God-kind".  He had experienced such a revelation of the living God that God's glory was shining on his face.  What is the insight for us?  That a deep revelation of God brings change to those who experience Him.  He was given access to the presence of God, removing the veil covering His face, and he became a transformed worshipper - glowing with the glory of God.  

God removed a veil on the day of the crucifixion that gives us the same kind of access.  And 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit".  God invites us into an amazing place in worship.  His desire is to transform us into His likeness.  But, it can only happen as we allow ourselves to spend quality time with Him.  

He desires an intimate relationship so that His glory might be seen.  Jesus reiterates this in Revelation 3:20.  "Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me."  Too often we take this passage to be evangelistic for the lost; however, Jesus is inviting His people to a greater intimacy with Him.  There will be a whole different dynamic in worship if we will fix our eyes on Jesus.  And to see Him is to reflect His glory.  It is only then that we can truly be "making His Praise known"!  Our worship with the gathered body every Sunday is dependent on how many of us have paid the price to be with Him intimately - to the point of HIS glory being on our faces in worship.  May we be faithful! mjm

Confession in Worship

Worship does not come naturally for us, basically, because we are sinners.  Our relationships with God, with our neighbors and friends, and with God's creation are all flawed and damaged.  God's original purpose for us has been destroyed.  Confession of sin and His assurance of pardon is very important because it is the part of worship where relationship with God and people are restored.  Christ redeemed and reconciled believers to God so the way for us to worship "in spirit and in truth" would be reopened.  When we come before God in worship with an attitude and heart that says, "Lord have mercy", and pray - "Create in me a clean heart, O God," . . . then God's Spirit creates new paths for both reconciliation and joy.  Unfortunately in these days, there are worship leaders who don't feel you should ever use confession of sin and assurance of pardon in a service, in prayers or songs, because they are judged to be depressing.  But in reality, the very act of confession and affirmation of assurance  is a celebration of the identity of community of baptized believers.  Brothers and sisters in Christ are able to rejoice together in the grace that makes their relationship with God and with each other possible.

Unconfessed sin is an obstacle to worship.  The great missionary, Bertha Smith, used to greet people with the words, "are you confessed up to date?".  She knew the importance of confession to break down the dam of sin into glorious worship.  When people are asked why they don't feel like worshipping, the natural response is to point to someone else's failure: the minister, the musician worship leader, or some "Christian" they knew.  When broken relationships and personal failures control us we are unable to worship as God intended.  Confession is the only Biblical way to experience forgiveness, grace, and unhindered worship. mjm

The Book of Songs

I have the joy of reading from the Psalms every day.  For a long time now I have committed to reading through the Psalms and Proverbs every month in addition to my other Bible reading.  The Psalms give us a good grounding in our personal experiences and feelings.  

In our day people are looking for experience over rationalism.  Scientific knowledge has lost its pervasive hold over our western culture.  Experience, even to the point of mysticism, has gained significance  in people's minds.  To a great extent thinking has given way to feeling.  It was natural that the pendulum would swing, but there are inherent dangers.  We still must hold on to objective truth and of course our feelings can greatly mislead us.  But, the Psalms provide us with a Biblical model of how to properly balance heart and mind.  The Psalmists constantly bring the intensity of their feelings and invite us to experience along with them, never surrendering to mindless emotion.  The Psalmists always bring their feelings in the context of God's revealed character and will.

We also see the importance of our experiencing both highs and lows in emotions and feelings in the context of objective truth.  This is highlighted in Psalms 42 and 43.  This chorus shows up three times in these two Psalms:

"Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God."

Here we find a song written out of an experience of an intense sadness of heart.  In fact, it is a psalm composed by someone in the midst of deepest depression.  But when we study the whole of these two Psalms, we see that in this man's experience, depression was not the enemy of spirituality.  But rather, paradoxically, it was the seed or catalyst of spiritual growth and development.  

Our worship is not all joy, nor should it be.  We see that in the reading of the Psalms.  There are songs of the night and songs of the day.  When there are songs of the night, joy comes in the morning.  We can learn much about how we should worship in the midst of our own experiences in this great song book.  mjm

A Personal Word . . .

I was given the privilege and honor of being asked to be guest conductor for the Greater Rockwall Symphony Orchestra for a concert last night.  It was a great time of fun making music with around 60 professional and auditioned musicians.  I was grateful for the experience.

However, . . . I was reflecting on it in the shower this morning.  And I thought to myself:  You know that was a really fun and meaningful experience, but it was not at all the same as what I get to do all of the time, which is . . . seek to glorify the Lord in the midst of His presence with His people.  Wow!!! There is nothing that can compare with that experience.  

I entered the worship center this morning about 6:30a and the band and vocalists came in and we started rehearsing.  Within moments, I was in tears weeping because of what I was experiencing that is so totally different than what I experienced last night.  I realized that even though I had college professors (in a Baptist School)  who encouraged me to not waste my musical ability on church music, that I am, and have always been, right where I am supposed to be - doing exactly what God intended before I was fashioned in my mothers's womb.  Praise to the Lord!  There is no music that can compare with HIS SONG!  It is inspired music.

Thanks to the First Family for continuing to let me do what God made and called me to do!  mjm

Many Will See, Fear and Trust. . .

Our worship begins and ends with God.  We have an audience of One.  We glorify Him! We praise Him!  We magnify Him! We exalt the Lord Jesus!  And beautifully, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do so.  Jesus said that the greatest of the commandments was . . . "to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and strength"  and the second . . . "love your neighbor as yourself".  Sadly for some in the church, worship has just become a perfunctory habit.  Too many times we just go through the motions.  There should be joy and lament.  There should be enthusiasm and reverence.  We gather to glorify Him and to seek and experience His presence among us.  We should do it with passion realizing we don't "perform" music for music's sake and that our own preferences have little to do with our glorifying Him!  If it is not that way when the body gathers, it will never be that way outside the walls of the church.

In Psalm 40 we find that King David has spent much time in prayer waiting before the Lord and crying out to Him in repentance.  God hears His cry, lifts him up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay and sets his feet on a rock as a firm foundation.  David's life has now been cleaned up and his footsteps and faith reestablished.  So, then look what happens as a result in verse 3: "He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord."  I have mentioned this passage many times and the interesting choice of words, "many will see and fear". They didn't notice the beauty of David's music.  They didn't notice his technical accuracy and that he knew how music was to be performed.  God's Word says many will see and fear because of the outward expression of David's life, and love for the one of Whom he was singing.

We all have been given the new song.  Are people seeing Him in our song?  That is the only way they too will experience His power and presence in their lives.  mjm

Outside the Walls

Does our worship impact our lives and others lives outside the walls of the church?  To some this might seem a strange question.  However, it is very important in our day and time if we are to embody the mission of the church to the world.  Specifically, how does our worship music impact "outside the walls"? 

Music is a powerful tool and has much to offer the church of the future.  It has been and will continue to be a primary means of impacting our world with God's grace.  But if we are to do that, we need to look at some areas in which we must do better.

We need to find and use songs that have texts that really impact our lives.  Too many times we want to sing only of God's reign, God's greatness, our awe of God or our need to praise Him.  If we are not careful we will get so caught up in a "spiritual time of praise and worship experience" that it leaves us disconnected from faith and the living out of our faith.  

We also need to find very singable tunes that use meters much like the old hymns.  The Gettys and Stuart Townsend (writers of "In Christ Alone") are an example of these strong theological texts set to folk-like singable tunes.  We need songs like this to keep us in connection with strong history and theological teaching.   

Also, we need songs that help us come face to face with the human condition and what it means to live out our every day lives.  Our worship must connect with the world - it's problems, pain and great need. We must not just sing "joy" songs.  We also need to have songs that make us realize that sometimes God is silent, and that we are not always able to understand God, and that the very heart of our existence is the hope that we have in Him!

Even as we did on the mission field, we must study and find music that impacts where we are, not where we wish we were.  We must have music that is so natural to our culture and sub-culture that our songs move easily from the worship of our church to our homes, and even to our work places.  We must send folks out of the church singing the songs we sing all week long at home and in the work place if it is to impact their lives fully outside the walls. Then it becomes a shared experience with others and has the missional impact that completes worship and makes a full circle back to beginning again with new worshippers joining the gathered body and the throngs of heaven!  mjm

Making His Praise Known (Part 2)

Continuing to think on the theme for our Worship and our Worship-Leading Choir this year, we look at Isaiah 12:4-5:  "In that wonderful day you will sing: Thank the Lord! Praise His Name! Tell the nations what He has done.  Let them know how mighty He is! Sing to the Lord, for He has done wonderful things; Make known His praise around the world."  

We've discussed before about how worship is missional.  Our mission is to be used of God to lead others to be worshippers.  I'm hoping we will see with this theme a renewed emphasis on the fact that worship should not just happen inside the walls of our church, but outside, beginning in our own personal sphere of influence, our neighborhood, our city, our state, our nation, and yes around the world.  We join believers all around the world in worship of our High King!  This was brought home by a report not long ago that Chris Tomlin's worship songs are sung by 20 million people almost every Sunday around the globe.

As we are personally involved in evangelism and missions, we take the song of worship that is in our hearts and on our lips making His praise known to all.  As the scripture says, " . . . many will see and put their trust in the Lord."  

Over all of my years, I have been blessed to be on both sides of this both personally and in ministry.  I have seen it at work here at home and around the world as we served in Zimbabwe years ago as a Music Missionary.  My life verse that I have asked to be on my tombstone is Psalm 119:54 - "Your decrees have been the theme of my songs wherever I have lived." 

May we answer the call together to make His praise known!!!  mjm

Making His Praise Known

The theme for our worship leading choir and our church this year is Making His Praise Known.  We've looked at the fact in the past that . . . loving the Lord our God . . . leads to loving our neighbor.  Psalm 105:1 states, "Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim His greatness.  Let the whole world know what He has done."  In giving thanks and praising the Lord in worship we are challenged to proclaim His greatness and His great works to the world.  The second verse of the Psalm simply says . . . sing His praises telling everyone about His wonderful deeds.  The third verse reminds us to exult in His holy name, rejoicing in worship.  Verse 4 restates the fact that we are to search and seek after His presence and then verse 5 . . . remembering the wonders He has performed and the teaching and truth He has given. 

On the one hand,  we see in these first five verses: Giving thanks, Singing praise, Exulting in His name, Rejoicing in worship, Seeking His presence and strength continually.  These have to do with our worship and praise.  

Then, on the other hand, we see in these verses: Proclaiming His greatness, Letting the whole world know what He's done, Telling  everyone  about His wonderful deeds, Remembering the wonders He has performed, His miracles, and His rulings. 

These two come together in the phrase - Making His Praise Known.  Our worship begins in our private time with Him and in our corporate time with the fellowship of believers.  However, our worship must move outside of ourselves and be made known to others, and outside the walls of our church we must make His praise known to all so as to fulfill our call to worship.  Let's make His praise known! mjm

Our Highest Act of Worship

David makes clear what He thinks our highest act of worship is in Psalm 40.  "In sacrifice and offering You have not delighted . . .Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required . . . I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart." David loved God's Word, treasured it in his heart, and worked hard to be obedient to it.  That was the reason God called him . . . "a man after His own heart."  David was far from perfect, but was serious about doing God's will.  As far as David was concerned, obedience was one of the highest expressions of worship.  In Psalm 5 right in the middle of passionate worship David reaffirms his desire to live a life of obedience.  "I will bow down toward Your holy temple in the fear of You.  Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness."

Jesus echoes this principle in John 14:15, 21.  Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep My commandments.  Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me."  Jesus very succinctly and simply is telling us that we can not supposedly express love and adoration for Him and yet ignore His will and His commandments, doing whatever we please.  

God very strongly rejects Israel's worship in Amos because of their superficiality and selfish disregard for His teaching about the poor and oppressed.  He straight forwardly tells them He doesn't want to hear the noise of their songs or the melody of their harps.  When our worship and our worship song doesn't match what we do in following His commands, the result is a hypocritical worship that God absolutely despises.  When we disobey His commands, we replace God and His glory with our own inferior substitutes which is nothing less than idolatry.  A.W. Tozer stated that that is simply worship directed in any direction but God's.  

As we can see, our highest act of worship is obedience.  May we have the same passionate desire as David to be "one after His own heart",  remembering Jesus' words,  "If you love me, . . ."  mjm 

Born to Worship

Man is born to worship.  God created us for relationship with Him.  However, He ends up giving us a choice after revealing Himself.  Our hearts are born longing to worship something.  We can look through the ages and see how man stumbled around worshipping the wrong things.  Man has bowed to the sun, the moon, the animals and trees, man-made idols.  We look in history and condemn, forgetting that we have created our own idols of worship in our day.  And, we find just as they did that none of them satisfy.  Because the worship of Yahweh has a personal relationship factor.  We worship Him in spirit as He reveals Himself and He respond to our spirits.  He is the only God who responds, fulfilling the unquenchable thirst that man has to worship God.

We worship one God.  He created it all and deserves all our worship.  Throughout history, God has rejected any and all worship that was not . . . to Him alone, of Him alone, and for Him alone?  We saw how that worked out for the children of Israel.  Will we make the same mistakes?

But yet, after Israel . . . we see changes in the place of worship, in the availability of Scripture, (Jesus is the Incarnate Word, and is accessible to all).  The last Israel heard from God was Malachi crying, "The Messiah is coming."  And in Matthew, the first book of the New Testament we find it proclaimed, "Messiah is here!"  One has said, "We must see Jesus as our Conductor, who came to this world to direct a magnificent symphony that puts us in harmony with God and each other." Jesus restores order out of chaos and transforms our ugly discord into beautiful music for the glory, honor and praise of our Most High God!  If we will but faithfully follow our composer and conductor our worship will be the right kind of worship that makes His praises known - that others might join in the great symphony of worship! mjm

Music in the Church

Speaking of history.  I was reading a book this week called Church Music published in 1935 by the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.  It was written by Isham E. Reynolds.  He was the first Director of the School of Music at Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth.  The insights were interesting as he discusses  how music has always had an important part in all religious worship.  The character or style of the music depended largely on the cultural development of the people using it.  

That hasn't changed.  Every church is different, much like every family is different.  I tell couples in pre-marital counseling all the time that they are bringing two sub-cultures together in a marriage as each of their families are different.  That is why music is perceived and used differently in every church.

Music in the Christian faith is different than all other religions.  First it is a singing religion.  It is a means of praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and exalting the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Andrew Law said, "Theology and music move on hand in hand into time and will continue eternally to illustrate, embellish, enforce, impress and fix in the mind the grand and great truth of Christianity."  

Early believers emphasized music in their churches realizing the power of music proven throughout both the Old and New Testaments.  Others also recognized the importance and power of music.  Plato said, "Music was not given men with the sole view of pleasing their senses, but rather for appeasing the troubles of their souls."  Bach said, "Its final purpose is none other than this, that it ministers solely to the honor of God and refreshment of the spirit, whereof, if one take not heed it is no proper music, but devilish din and discord."  Handel said of the inspiration in composing The Hallelujah Chorus in The Messiah, "I did think that I did see all heaven before me, and the great God Himself."

Not only does it feed our worship but we've also seen the worth and power of music in winning the lost to faith in Christ.  We need to seek to continue under God's hand to cherish and cultivate the use of music in the church bringing peace, joy, and fulfillment to the church and to those outside the church.  mjm

Reaching Both Directions

The history  of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual songs is unbelievably vast and varied.  From generation to generation, the great hymns and songs of the faith have been kept alive in the great traditions of congregational song.  The great doctrine and theology set to music has been profound in the church over the centuries.  We certainly must not dismiss such a great heritage of the way people have responded to God's love and redemption over the ages.  It has been said that true worship flows from remembering the Gospel. 

In my own experience I began using both the old Broadman Hymnal from the '40s and the 1956 Baptist Hymnal.  During my youth years, we began to sing songs from musicals such as Good News and Tell It Like It is.  The Baptist Hymnal in the '70s began using both newer songs and hymns and songs of generations back.  Then in 1990 a new Baptist Hymnal came which not only had newer songs along with the old, but also worship choruses from the praise and worship tradition.  As we moved into the new millennium, with the new 2008 Baptist Hymnal and many others, we began to see the proliferation of more new hymnals that included hymns from generations past with newer worship songs that were not only printed but continued to expand via the digital process.  

As a worship leader planning worship for a multigenerational church, we are blessed with humongous and vast resources of both old and new.  We continue to reach both directions - being blessed by the great hymns of the faith that have carried generations of folks in their walk with the Lord, and being blessed by new expressions of faith and worship that help us enlarge our expression and experience in Him.  Some of the younger generations, at this time even, are looking back not hundreds of years but even to the ancient to enhance and enlarge their expression of worship to the everlasting God.  

As we reach both directions may we say, "You have exalted Your Name and Your Promise above everything else,"  (Ps. 138:2b) and seek to unify the church in worship as we exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word to all.  mjm

Authentic Worship Leaders

Notice it is plural.  There are several worship leaders in any given worship experience.  There is the Pastor/Minister, the Music Worship Leader, sometimes an Associate Worship Leader, Band, Orchestra, Worship leading Choir, Worship Team, etc., etc.  But for whoever is in a leading position in corporate worship, authenticity is of the utmost importance.  Authentic worship leaders do not lead worship for the praise of men; they lead because they seek the favor and presence of God Almighty.  

We live in a world where, unfortunately, worship leaders are judged by their looks, style of leading, use guitar or keyboard, cool hair, or skinny jeans.  Worship leaders should embrace who they are in Christ and seek to lead people to His throne to experience Him in all His fullness.  Are you interested in a certain kind of worship leader or group of leaders as opposed to those who can lead people into the very presence of God?  Unfortunately we are in a day where we want to follow a certain kind of leader - admiring the way they dress, sound, or look rather than focusing on Jesus.

Leaders of worship, whether we are individual leaders, band, orchestra or worship leading choir,  need to be servants both behind the scenes and out front.  Leaders need to be humble about their own struggles and yet confident in their abilities, trusting God for the outcome, and being comfortable with the chinks in their armor.  In order to lead we must remember:  we follow a humble King!  mjm

Wonders Resulting in Worship

A trip to the zoo with my wife's 90 year-old father and four of our grandchildren reminded me of Psalms 8 and 9.  Psalm 9 is a triumphal victory march by David where, rather than boasting, he breaks forth into praise celebrating both the actions of the Lord and His Person.  I was reminded of this first verse, "I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.  I will be glad and rejoice in you.  I will sing praise to your name. . . "  As we walked thru the zoo yesterday looking at all the wildlife, I was reminded through the awe of grandchildren and the knowledge of my father-in-law who has a master's degree in animal husbandry, just how intricate, amazing, creative (with an incredible imagination) our God is.  His creation of all of these wonderful birds, animals, sea life, etc., just shows the awe and wonder of the Father.

Then in Psalm 8 we are reminded that man is even more special in God's creative plan.  He has revealed beauty and awe in the creatures of the earth, but has chosen to reveal and reflect God's glory through His crowning creation:  man.  Even though we can feel dwarfed by the vastness of His creation, He chose us to be made in His image.  We are a reflection of His image and His glory.  We have meaning, purpose, and significance in Him.  My 90 year-old father-in-law's testimony over and over to us is how he can look back over his long life and see how God's hand directed him time after time.  And then I look at my four grandchildren and know that God has the same kind of plan and direction for their lives - as they are significant in His kingdom.  God's Word assures us of this.  

When we step back and see these things, awe and wonder should result in continual worship of our Father in heaven who is worthy of our worship.  mjm