At the risk of being redundant, I wanted to share a few more thoughts on blogging, in response to a question I received from Steve. He wrote, “Is there the potential for there to be recognized "elders" among Christian bloggers? I wonder what that would look like, and if it would help foster a more healthy "community" here in cyberspace?” I want to take Steve’s question to address the larger issue of what blogs can accomplish. Let me respond to the second question first. What would a healthy community in cyberspace look like? Excellent question. I’m not sure how much of a healthy community CAN exist in cyberspace. …
Blogging to Worship God 3 – Motives
My post from yesterday is already out of date. Technorati.com now says it searches 24.5 million blogs. That’s 100,000 more than yesterday. Which leads me to ask two questions. What are all these people saying? And why are they saying it? The past two days we’ve been talking about ways Christians can distinguish themselves in the blogosphere – in content and attitude. Today, I want to speak to an area that may not be as obvious – our motives. Every action has one or more motives behind it, whether we’re aware or not. Sometimes our motives are godly, sometimes sinful. Often I find that my motives are mixed. While …
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Blogging to Worship God 2 – Attitudes
Today, Technorati.com told me that it searches 24.4 million blogs. That’s up from 14.2 million two months ago. Apparently, in the past 8 weeks, at least ten million people have decided they have something the world needs to hear. Maybe. Maybe not. However, as Carl Trueman succinctly points out: “The danger of the web is this: where everyone has a right to speak, everyone ends up thinking they have a right to be heard; and when everyone in general thinks they have a right to be heard, then you end up with a situation where nobody in particular is listened to.” In spite of the inherent dangers, I really am grateful to God for …
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Blogging to Worship God 1 – Content
Recently I’ve been reading some insightful posts by bloggers on blogging. (Specifically, these by Carl Trueman, Michael Beasley, and Timmy.) While I don’t think everyone who reads WorshipMatters has their own blog, I know that a good number of you do. And if you don’t, you might leave a comment on one. So, I want to take this week to talk about how posting or commenting on a blog can be an act of worship to God. He tells us in 1 Cor. 10:31: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” If we should eat and drink to the glory of God, certainly we should blog to the glory of God. Three ways we can …
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Monday Devotions – Psalm 1
For the last few years I’ve made it a practice to begin each morning reading the five Psalms for the day. I multiply the day of the month times five and read that Psalm along with the preceding four Psalms. I read Psalm 119 on the last day of months that have 31 days. I started reading the Psalms in earnest after realizing that this is the one book God gave us that shows in detail how we should relate to Him in praise, prayer, and petition. There are few books in Scripture that so profoundly teach us about God with such a broad range of emotional expression. Even more importantly, since my job is to lead people in worshipping God corporately, …
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More on Love Songs to Jesus
This question comes from Cheyne, in response to the post Expressing Love to God. I’ve edited his question for the sake of brevity. “Last year, I heard a well-known and respected speaker discuss Psalm 16:11 (“at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore”)…The impression I got from his message was that to know Jesus far exceeds any other pleasure we could experience in this world…The comments you made in your post seem to indicate that expressing one’s feelings for the Lord is not a biblical form of worship. Could you clarify your position?” I’ll certainly try. It’s not expressing our feelings for the Lord that’s unbiblical; it’s how …
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Idolatry on Sunday Mornings, Pt. 8
This is my final post in this series. It’s a little longer than the others, but it’s actually much shorter than it could be…The last idol I want to speak to is the idol of RELEVANCE. Churches can become irrelevant for any number of reasons. Spiritual pride can keep us from considering that non-Christian guests may not understand our highly developed “Christian-speak.” Administrative incompetence might make it difficult for people to find us, or to enjoy being with us once they do (possibly due to crowded conditions, erratic temperature control, musty smells, etc.). A faulty understanding of what it means to be “in the world but not of …
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Idolatry on Sunday Mornings, Pt. 7
I’m in the middle of a discussion on idols that can tempt us when we gather to worship God on Sunday mornings. Today, I’d like to talk about the idol of REPUTATION, especially as it’s revealed in the lives of leaders. God commends a good reputation in Proverbs: A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. Prov. 22:1 That means God wants our lives characterized by virtues such as godliness, integrity, and faithfulness. However, I’m never to seek my good name at the expense of God’s name. I must never be more concerned about my reputation than God’s. The idol of reputation is subtle. It’s masquerades …
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Idolatry on Sunday Mornings, Pt. 6
I thought I’d finish this series before the year ends. With three days to go and three more topics to cover, it seems like a good fit. In case you missed the earlier entries, I’ve collected the other posts under the heading of Idolatry on Sunday Mornings. These last three areas are primarily directed to leaders, although they could apply to anyone. Today I want to focus on the idol of RESULTS. I’m referring to the mindset that views worshipping God as a means to attain a more desirable end, like increased attendance, evangelism, mutual ministry, or individual experiences. “Results-worship” might underlie comments like these: “We stay away from …
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Monday Devotions – Finding Hope in the Depths
I’m writing this after spending most of the last 24 hours in bed with the flu. I’ll spare you the details, but it ended up affecting everyone but Chelsea, my 19 year old. The family we invited over for dinner last night also succumbed. It was a little special "gift" we gave them… What’s been running through my mind at various points is the opening to Psalm 130: Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! I’m not sure what "depths" the Psalmist was going through, but I definitely feel like I’ve been there. No motivation, no strength, no …
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In the First Light
I don’t know if anyone will be reading this today or not, but if you are, I wanted to post some lyrics I wrote about 20 years ago. We were working on an independent project with a vocalist named Kathy Sinni, and wanted an “all year round” Christmas song for the recording. A song that included the birth of Christ, but explored what happened both before and after that event. The result was the song, In the First Light, recorded by GLAD on two of their a cappella CD’s. I pray it will be an encouragement to you. In the first light of a new day no one knew he had arrived Things continued as they had been while a newborn softly cried But the heavens …
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The Right Kind of Imitation
One leader who wrote me lives near a large internationally known church. Many of the musicians on the team want to imitate that church’s sound and music style. “How do I teach the music team to seek and recognize God’s heart for us? How do I encourage them to pursue God’s specific plan for us and help them see that this may not look like what we expect?” Here’s what I’d want to say to this leader’s group of musicians: God’s specific plan for every church is that we proclaim with our lives and our lips the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Pet. 2:9) At times that means we’ll imitate …
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Another Christmas CD Recommendation
Last year I came across An Acoustic Christmas, by guitarist Tom Hemby. The review I read said this was a CD that would "find its way into your CD player long before the Chistmas Season begins." I’m a fan of instrumental acoustic guitar CD’s, and wondered if the product would live up to its reputation. Here’s my report. I do indeed listen to these songs all year round. Tom Hemby is a Nashville studio musician who uses God’s gift of creativity to the utmost. He shies away from arranging a song the way others have already performed it, resulting in a CD that is truly remarkable. It’s certainly grown on me over time, but after multiple …
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Should We Can Canned Music in the Church? Pt. 2
Yesterday I shared some of the drawbacks of using pre-recorded music in church services. Can it ever be beneficial? I think so, as long as we’re aware that God is more concerned about the faith in our hearts than the sound of the music. If you’re part of a small church, a small group, or a mission church, you may find the following to be true. 1. Recorded music can encourage people to sing out enthusiastically While I generally prefer the sound of an average musician to a CD, there are times when bad instrumentalists are more distracting than helpful. Of course, as I mentioned yesterday, singing with no accompaniment is certainly a viable …
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Thanks for Responding
To everyone who responded to the Blogs for Music post last week – THANKS! We received a little over 50 requests, so we just sent everyone an Awesome God CD. The offer is now officially over, if you’re wondering. (You can still purchase a copy here). I hope to do something similar next month with the WorshipGod Live CD. It’s my prayer that we’d be able to put out many more CD’s that teach children biblical truth using songs they can sing again and again. Please be specific when you post your review so that we can benefit from your feedback. …