Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. (Rev. 4:11) One of the problems we have in worshipping God is forgetting why He is so WORTHY to be worshipped. When we do, our minds tend to shift into neutral and we end up mouthing words that we’re barely thinking about. Part of magnifying God’s worth is recounting the reasons it’s appropriate to worship Him. One way is to recount what Wayne Grudem calls God’s “summary attributes.” Those include God’s perfection, blessedness, beauty, and glory. We can also speak to each other about …
Using Cancer to Worship God
I received my weekly “Fresh Words” e-mail from pastor-theologian-author John Piper today. He had surgery for cancer this morning, and appears to be doing well after surgery. Last night, on the eve of his surgery, he wrote down ten ways we can benefit from cancer, if God chooses not to heal us. Here’s a portion: You will waste your cancer if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God. The design of God in your cancer is not to train you in the rationalistic, human calculation of odds. The world gets comfort from their odds. Not Christians. Some count their chariots (percentages of survival) and some count their horses (side effects …
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What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 10
When someone stands (or sits) in front of a congregation to lead them in worshipping God, what’s their goal? I believe it is this: To magnify the worth of God and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. David invites us in Psalm 34:3: “Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.” When people walk into church service, they might be magnifying all sorts of things, from the superficial to the serious – deadlines, unpaid bills, an unkind comment from a friend, a lab test for cancer that came back positive, a “thump-thump” sound the car is making, the championship game this afternoon, a rebellious child, some besetting …
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What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 9
I want to finish up thoughts today on why God wants us to use music at times to praise Him. I’ve mentioned that music, especially singing, helps us to remember and meditate on God’s word, and also enables us to proclaim truth with heartfelt passion. Finally, We sing to reflect God’s glory. How does singing reflect God’s glory? I can think of at least three ways. First, singing glorifies God by expressing the unity Christ died to bring us. Of course, gathering in the same room at one time expresses unity, as does reciting a creed together. Music both intensifies and demonstrates our appreciation of that unity. I’ve been told on …
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Monday Devotions – Where am I Looking?
I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. (Ps. 34:4-5) After being married almost 30 years, my wife has developed the ability to know what I’m thinking just by looking at my face. Julie – “What’s bothering you?” Me – “Nothing.” Julie – “No, something’s bothering you. What is it?” Me – “How do you know something’s bothering me?” Julie – “You have that furrowed brow, low eyebrows, ‘something’s bothering me’ face.” She’s right …
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Free Song
I’m taking a break from Q&A Friday to thank you for stopping by worshipmatters.com. A free song is available as a download to the right. It’s from our most recent project, WorshipGod Live. It’s called “Receive the Glory,” and I wrote it for the “Milestone Weekend” (Sept. 18-19, 2004) when my former senior pastor, C.J. Mahaney, turned the leadership of Covenant Life Church over to Josh Harris, our present senior pastor. C.J. had started the church 27 years earlier, and had been eagerly awaiting the day he would hand the leadership of the church over to a younger man. At a time when CJ could have drawn attention to himself and all that he had built, …
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What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 8
I’m in the middle of series on the role of a congregational worship leader, and I’ve been camping out on how music works in worshipping God. Yesterday I addressed how one of the primary functions of music is to help us remember God’s Word. Today, I’d like to share another way music serves us in worshipping God. We sing to respond to God’s grace. Colossians 3:16 tells us that we’re to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts to God. God is not interested in mere lip service. It dishonors him. But he’s not looking for raw emotionalism either, that is, seeking emotion for its own sake. We sing to express …
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What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 7
If someone wants to lead God’s people effectively in corporate worship, they have to know why God wants us to use music, especially singing. Here’s the first reason I suggested yesterday: We sing to remember God’s Word. It would be natural to assume that we sing because music affects our emotions. But in congregational worship, music is a servant to words. From the time Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, God’s Word has always been central to the worship of God. God’s Ten Words were placed in the center of Israel’s worship. (1 Kings 8:9) The longest book in the Bible is a collection of words set to music. Revivals …
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What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 6
If a skillful worship leader skillfully combines biblical truth and music, what part does music play? Why is God so concerned that we use music to worship Him? One response comes from Martin Luther. This is a portion of his Forward to Georg Rhau’s Symphoniae iucundae, a collection of chorale motets published in 1538: “Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits…This precious gift has been given to man alone that he might thereby remind himself that God has created man for the express purpose of praising and extolling God. However, when man’s …
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Monday Devotions – I Will Sing
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. (Psalm 13) David begins in the clutches of despair, discouragement, …
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Hymnals or Screens?
A while ago, Richard wrote in to ask: “Do you think there is an advantage one way or the other for a congregation to sing from a hymnal and songbook/sheet (so that they are all looking down), or singing from the words on a large screen in the front of the room (where they are all looking up and facing the same direction)?” First, I think that people can sing from hymnals and still be “facing the same direction,” and that you can sing from a hymnal and still be looking up. However, I’m not making a case for using hymnals. Or not using them. Actually, I’m surprised at how strongly people defend one position or the other in dealing with this …
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What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 5
We’ve almost reached the place where I talk about what a corporate worship leader is actually supposed to be doing. But not quite. There’s one more thing I want to say about the tools we use to lead congregational worship. An effective worship leader “skillfully combines biblical truth with music.” Skillfully. Skill has been defined as the “the ability to do something well.” With all the benefits of the mass outpouring of worship songs in the past decade, there have been some down sides. One is the belief that a sincere heart, a guitar, and a knowledge of three chords qualifies someone to lead worship in a church. Fortunately, …
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What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 4
Here’s the next part of my proposed definition of a worship leader. An effective corporate worship leader is aided and led by the Holy Spirit. Every leader of congregational worship will acknowledge that biblical worship is impossible apart from the activity of the Holy Spirit. This is at least part of what Jesus meant when he told the Samaritan woman in John 4 that the Father seeks worshipers who worship Him in spirit and truth. Paul also tells us in Philippians 3:3, “For we are the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.” (See also Eph. 2:18, Eph. 5:18-21, and 1 …
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What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 3
Today I want to begin unpacking this proposed definition of a corporate worship leader’s role: An effective corporate worship leader, aided and led by the Holy Spirit, skillfully combines biblical truth with music to magnify the worth of God and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, thereby motivating the gathered church to join him in proclaiming and cherishing the truth about God and seeking to live all of life for the glory of God. An effective corporate worship leader… If I’m in front of a group, I’m leading. Whether it’s through verbal contributions, facial expressions, or bodily posture, people are following me. That raises …
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Monday Devotions – Approaching God
"O Father of Jesus, Help me to approach you with deepest reverence, not with presumption, Not with servile fear, but with holy boldness. You are beyond the grasp of my understanding, But not beyond that of my love." My view of God tends to one of two extremes. Either I think of Him as familiar, approachable, and very much like me; or I imagine that He’s distant, fearsome, and completely alien to me. These opening lines, from the prayer "The Love of Jesus" in The Valley of Vision, succinctly capture the tension of worshipping the God who is both transcendent and immanent. "O Father of Jesus." I’m reminded …