Here’s another clip from the message I gave at WorshipGod09 on “The Future of Worship.” (You can find two posts from the same message here and here.)
In verse 8 the psalmist references a previous generation “whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.” They were remembered as NOT being faithful, and NOT being steadfast.
Have you thought much about what YOU want to be remembered for? That’s the question I ask in this 2 1/2 minute clip from my message.
Hi Bob – thanks so much for your blog and everything on here!
This is off topic from your post but I was just talking to some friends today and saying how the Bible has 50 direct commands to sing God’s praises, which I had read on your boundless.org article a while back. I was just wondering, do you have a list of those 50 direct commands anywhere? (Or would it be up to me to type in “sing” at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/ and just sift through the results to find them? :) )
This almost sounds as though you are accusing all those who have gone before us in the faith, through the ages of the church, of being stubborn and rebellious. I know it is just a clip, so that may not have been your intent.
Steve Green used to sing a song with lyrics that said, “And may all who come behind us find us faithful.” I think it is a good message. I think we also need to remember and appreciate those who faithfully went before us. It would be very arrogant, indeed, to assume that we are the first generation that understands what it means to worship.
In every church age, there are faithful saints and there are hypocrites (stubborn, rebellious people like those in Psalm 78:8). Those who were in contact with faithful saints will treasure the heritage that was given to them. Those who were affected by hypocrites will emerge from their experience bruised and negative.
How someone experienced the church in formative periods of his life will affect how he feels about the music of that time. Some will have a deep love for the songs they sang in those days, remembering God-fearing men and women who poured into their lives and lifted countless prayers to the Lord on their behalf. For others, those same songs may dredge up painful memories that actually hinder their worship.
This, I think, is one of the places where “worship wars” begin. It is not so much about “I like this,” or “I like that,” as though one were picking between flavors of candy sticks at Cracker Barrel. It is about emotions that well up in people’s souls when they hear particular sounds.
And this is why it is so important for us to be faithful. It should be a goal of every Christian never to be a part of creating a bad impression in someone, never to hinder someone’s worship, never to obfuscate the message of Christ behind pettiness, unkindness, or cruelty. We should dread the possibility of creating, by association with our own sinfulness, a negative connotation in something that is intrinsically good.
Two things we need to do: magnify Christ and demonstrate sacrificial love for one another (Mark 12:29-31). It is easier to want to magnify Christ than to want to love someone sacrificially. However, if we do not learn to love sacrificially, after the pattern He set for us, we will fail to magnify Him every time.