Undone Worship

One of my favorite books is “The Unquenchable Worshipper” by Matt Redman. In it, Matt talks about how true worship comes from letting go of yourself. It is one of my favorite chapters - especially the part about Matt running around the parking lot. YES ! One morning - while looking over www.newlifeworship.com and Ross Parsley’s Blog (their worship Pastor) I came across this great article. It spoke to me that morning, and I hope it speaks to you today.

Defining Worship Moments
By Ross Parsley

After a night of rehearsing with our praise and worship team, I stayed late talking and enjoying some friends; discussing the wonderful direction of the Holy Spirit we were experiencing in worship. As people left one by one, I found myself there in the church auditorium alone. I turned off the lights and sensed that the Lord was in the room—and He was calling me. There, alone in the dark, I began to worship Him, simply, honestly, with no music, no trappings. I knelt on the steps, I walked down the aisles, and I laid down on the floor, seeking Him. As waves of the Holy Spirit came over me, I cried, I sang, I poured my heart out and He listened. At one point I realized I didn’t want to say anything because I knew that somehow, whatever I would say, would not be worthy of Him. It was a holy moment. I was full of awe and yet I felt as if I was home. I was overcome with wonder and yet wanted more. I was consumed with Him, His pleasure, His holiness and His purpose. It was a defining worship moment in my life.

The Bible is full of defining worship moments, instances that genuinely transform an individual. One of the most famous Biblical accounts of such an experience is found in Isaiah the sixth chapter. In examining Isaiah’s encounter with God, we find four marks of a defining worship moment.

Clarity
A couple of years ago I got a new pair of glasses. I had been using an old pair with a prescription from a few years earlier. My eyes had gotten worse and I had just started to notice. But it wasn’t until I got my new glasses that I realized how blurry everything had become to me. When I put on my new pair, the world came alive with sparkling clarity. I could see the nuances of every scene and people’s faces became extremely detailed. Isaiah said, “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted.” As we worship the Lord by lifting up His name and exalting Him, we begin to see Him more clearly. His revelation crystallizes our view of who He is and who we are. Isaiah received an awesome and terrible glimpse of God enthroned in worship. He saw seraphs and heard them calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The sound shook the doorposts as smoke filled the temple. God was revealing Himself to Isaiah, and in that moment, Isaiah saw his own life clearly in the light of God’s glory.

Conviction
When Isaiah “saw” the Lord, it illuminated his own life. The exclamation, “Woe to me, I am ruined!” indicates the depth of Isaiah’s profound realization. “For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” is the response of a man who recognized God’s conviction. In this way, worship is sort of like a compass—it gives you context and a reference for where you are—True North. If you’ve ever been lost in the forest, you know that a compass is the instrument you use to: 1) realize you’re lost, and 2) find your way home. God’s holiness is our true north. We are convicted and convinced of our location, our position, if you will, on the map of our life with God. In the context of a divine confrontation such as this, we are faced with our own frailties. We understand our circumstances and see them from God’s point of view. We realize our sinfulness, our mistakes and failures. We recognize the futility of our own attempts at goodness and we are overwhelmed by the holiness of God in purity and righteousness. We begin to comprehend the chasm that lies between our nature and God’s and it is this chasm that sets us up for the most incredible miracle of all. It offers us the solution to God’s conviction in our lives. It reveals God’s plan to draw us near.

Cleansing
We have a nice lady in our church named Joyce who baby-sits our kids and does some house cleaning for us from time to time. My wife, Aimee, really appreciates this. However, I have noticed a strange phenomenon. She always prepares for the day of cleaning…by cleaning up the house! I often say, “Sweetheart, what are you doing?” To which she replies, “I can’t let Joyce see the house like this.” This sums up many Christians’ approach to worship. Worship is not the reward for repentance; worship is the very instrument through which repentance comes. Cleansing is the by-product of worship because as we acknowledge who God is in worship, He responds by making us holy. Isaiah’s dilemma is remedied when one of the seraphs bring a coal to cleanse his lips and takes away his sin. Isaiah witnesses an awesome revelation of God, recognizes his sinfulness and that of his people, and God’s immediate response is cleansing, preparing him for a very important task.

Commission
Do you know the first thing that happens after the seraph places the burning coal upon Isaiah’s lips? He hears something. He hears God asking a question, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” This is not a coincidence. When we worship, we put ourselves in a position to hear the Lord’s voice. As we are cleansed of all sinfulness, we are being prepared for wonderful works of service (Eph. 2:8-9). We become useful instruments in His hands to accomplish his kingdom agenda here on the earth. Worship let’s us in on God’s heartbeat. Worship fills us with His nature, His life, His ideas, and His plans. Worship empowers us to do great things because we’ve seen Him. We understand who He is and who we are. We are readied for a great commission because He has embraced us. This gives us the confidence and courage we need to then say, “Lord, here am I, send me!”

Clarity, conviction, cleansing and commissioning are the wonderful benefits of a worshiping heart. I believe in the value of the daily walk with the Lord, but I also believe in positioning ourselves to allow God to bring defining worship moments into our lives. I just want more of these moments!

Undone Worship

One of my favorite books is “The Unquenchable Worshipper” by Matt Redman. One of the best parts is when Matt talks about how true worship comes from letting go of yourself - especially when Matt shares the time he was running around the parking lot. (You have to read the book to understand) One morning I found this article on www.newlifeworship.com and Ross Parsley’s Blog (their worship Pastor). It spoke to me, and I hope it speaks to you.

Defining Worship Moments By Ross Parsley
After a night of rehearsing with our praise and worship team, I stayed late talking and enjoying some friends; discussing the wonderful direction of the Holy Spirit we were experiencing in worship. As people left one by one, I found myself there in the church auditorium alone. I turned off the lights and sensed that the Lord was in the room—and He was calling me. There, alone in the dark, I began to worship Him, simply, honestly, with no music, no trappings. I knelt on the steps, I walked down the aisles, and I laid down on the floor, seeking Him. As waves of the Holy Spirit came over me, I cried, I sang, I poured my heart out and He listened. At one point I realized I didn’t want to say anything because I knew that somehow, whatever I would say, would not be worthy of Him. It was a holy moment. I was full of awe and yet I felt as if I was home. I was overcome with wonder and yet wanted more. I was consumed with Him, His pleasure, His holiness and His purpose. It was a defining worship moment in my life.
The Bible is full of defining worship moments, instances that genuinely transform an individual. One of the most famous Biblical accounts of such an experience is found in Isaiah the sixth chapter. In examining Isaiah’s encounter with God, we find four marks of a defining worship moment.
Clarity
A couple of years ago I got a new pair of glasses. I had been using an old pair with a prescription from a few years earlier. My eyes had gotten worse and I had just started to notice. But it wasn’t until I got my new glasses that I realized how blurry everything had become to me. When I put on my new pair, the world came alive with sparkling clarity. I could see the nuances of every scene and people’s faces became extremely detailed. Isaiah said, “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted.” As we worship the Lord by lifting up His name and exalting Him, we begin to see Him more clearly. His revelation crystallizes our view of who He is and who we are. Isaiah received an awesome and terrible glimpse of God enthroned in worship. He saw seraphs and heard them calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The sound shook the doorposts as smoke filled the temple. God was revealing Himself to Isaiah, and in that moment, Isaiah saw his own life clearly in the light of God’s glory.
Conviction
When Isaiah “saw” the Lord, it illuminated his own life. The exclamation, “Woe to me, I am ruined!” indicates the depth of Isaiah’s profound realization. “For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” is the response of a man who recognized God’s conviction. In this way, worship is sort of like a compass—it gives you context and a reference for where you are—True North. If you’ve ever been lost in the forest, you know that a compass is the instrument you use to: 1) realize you’re lost, and 2) find your way home. God’s holiness is our true north. We are convicted and convinced of our location, our position, if you will, on the map of our life with God. In the context of a divine confrontation such as this, we are faced with our own frailties. We understand our circumstances and see them from God’s point of view. We realize our sinfulness, our mistakes and failures. We recognize the futility of our own attempts at goodness and we are overwhelmed by the holiness of God in purity and righteousness. We begin to comprehend the chasm that lies between our nature and God’s and it is this chasm that sets us up for the most incredible miracle of all. It offers us the solution to God’s conviction in our lives. It reveals God’s plan to draw us near.
Cleansing
We have a nice lady in our church named Joyce who baby-sits our kids and does some house cleaning for us from time to time. My wife, Aimee, really appreciates this. However, I have noticed a strange phenomenon. She always prepares for the day of cleaning…by cleaning up the house! I often say, “Sweetheart, what are you doing?” To which she replies, “I can’t let Joyce see the house like this.” This sums up many Christians’ approach to worship. Worship is not the reward for repentance; worship is the very instrument through which repentance comes. Cleansing is the by-product of worship because as we acknowledge who God is in worship, He responds by making us holy. Isaiah’s dilemma is remedied when one of the seraphs bring a coal to cleanse his lips and takes away his sin. Isaiah witnesses an awesome revelation of God, recognizes his sinfulness and that of his people, and God’s immediate response is cleansing, preparing him for a very important task.
Commission
Do you know the first thing that happens after the seraph places the burning coal upon Isaiah’s lips? He hears something. He hears God asking a question, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” This is not a coincidence. When we worship, we put ourselves in a position to hear the Lord’s voice. As we are cleansed of all sinfulness, we are being prepared for wonderful works of service (Eph. 2:8-9). We become useful instruments in His hands to accomplish his kingdom agenda here on the earth. Worship let’s us in on God’s heartbeat. Worship fills us with His nature, His life, His ideas, and His plans. Worship empowers us to do great things because we’ve seen Him. We understand who He is and who we are. We are readied for a great commission because He has embraced us. This gives us the confidence and courage we need to then say, “Lord, here am I, send me!”
Clarity, conviction, cleansing and commissioning are the wonderful benefits of a worshiping heart. I believe in the value of the daily walk with the Lord, but I also believe in positioning ourselves to allow God to bring defining worship moments into our lives. I just want more of these moments!

Another great article from Crosswalk - "Against the Music"

Yesterday, I commented that even Christian Media can become an idol... I thought about that for a second, and proceeded to write it. Then, God affirmed my thought with this article. It is a rather lengthy read, but well worth it. It is interesting for a "Worship Minister" to post this, but I agree with what Greg Gilbert is saying. We need to examine ourselves and our motives.

Against Music*
Greg Gilbert
9Marks Ministries

I think the entire evangelical world ought to put a moratorium on any kind of instrumental music, and just chant psalms in their worship services--for the next ten years.*

I’ve been amazed since becoming an elder in a local church just how dependent many Christians are on a certain style of music, or certain level of excellence in music. How many times have you heard someone say, for example, “I just can’t worship in that church.”? Or “I just don’t feel like I’m connecting with God there.”

Of course there can be a lot going on there, but I think that many times if you press in on statements like that, what you find behind it all is not very far removed from “I don’t like the music there.” People don’t put it that starkly, mainly because if you do it sounds silly. But I think that’s a lot of what people mean when they say, “I can’t worship there.” The reality is that a single flat-back piano just doesn’t gig their emotions as much as a full electric band does. They don’t get that “transcendent feeling,” so they get discouraged and end up saying they “can’t worship.”

I wonder if the whole “excellence in praise and worship music” phenomenon we’ve seen over the past few years--for all the good it’s done--hasn’t also had some less-than-desirable effects on young Christians. I wonder if it hasn’t created a generation of functional mystics who gauge their relationship with God by emotional experience rather than the objective reality of redemption.

When I was a sophomore and junior in college, I went to a few of the Passion conferences when they were held in Texas. Those were formative and amazing experiences for me. John Piper “Reformed” me in one earth-shaking sermon from Romans 3, and that has--in one way or another--shaped the trajectory of my life ever since. And the music was excellent--truly wonderful in every way. We sang loud, hands in the air, eyes closed and full of tears sometimes, and I believe I worshipped God through it all.

But then I went back to New Haven, Connecticut. The praise bands were gone, I didn’t have a group of people who’d gone with me and shared that experience, and the churches had a piano and thirty people singing Isaac Watts hymns. That forced me to learn how to stoke the fires of worship with truths and words, and not just with excellent music. I’ve learned how to be emotionally affected by the excellent words of hymns whether they’re played and sung “excellently” or not.

There’s a whole generation of young people out there now, though, who aren’t emotionally affected by words, whose fires are only stoked when those words are accompanied by great rhythms, skilled instrumentation, and a certain well-recognizable mood that typically accompanies Christian “praise-and-worship.” And the result is that you have young people church-hopping around town, and one of the main criteria of their shopping is “the worship,” by which more often than not they mean “the music.” You have young Christians feeling discouraged because--despite the fact that they sit under faithful preaching of the word Sunday after Sunday--they say they haven’t “felt close to God” in so long. Maybe there’s something important going on there. But there’s also a good chance, I’d argue, that they just haven’t had a good endorphin rush since the last conference they attended.

I am really afraid that we’ve managed to create a generation of anemic Christians who are spiritually dependent on excellent music. Their sense of spiritual well-being is based on feeling “close to God,” their feeling close to God is based on their “ability to worship,” and being able to worship depends on big crowds singing great music.

Just as bad, think about how many church fights and divisions are rooted in disagreements about music. People leave churches because they don’t like the music. Christians who believe exactly the same things about Jesus worship in different buildings next door to each other because they can’t countenance one another’s musical style. Churches split because one faction wants “contemporary” music and another wants “traditional” music. It’s not the words that are at issue; it’s how the words are sung, and to what instrumentation. The thing even has its own name--the “Worship Wars,” which when translated with a little honesty is really “the Music Wars.”

The bottom line, I suppose, is that it would do every Christian well to do some honest heart-searching about what makes them feel “close to God.” Can you feel close to God just by reading or saying the words, “In Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”? Would you be able to function in a church that’s great in every way except the music? If not, you probably need to give some thought to whether your spiritual life is dependent on something it should not be dependent on.

*I'm being facetious with the title of this article and the call for a moratorium on music, of course. The Bible tells us to sing. God gave us music precisely because it affects our hearts and emotion, and that is a good thing. But every good thing can be and will be misused by sinful humans. My sense is that "excellent music" has become something of an idol. No, we don't worship it. But a lot of people need it to worship, and that may be just as bad. Music is a part of our lives as humans; in a certain way we'll always depend on it. But as I see it, there's ample anecdotal evidence out there to suggest that for many Christians, the dependence has become unhealthy.

_________________________________________________

Greg Gilbert is senior pastoral assistant at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. and contributing writer at 9Marks Ministries and the 9Marks blog, Church Matters. After graduating from Yale University, Gilbert earned his Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he served as the director of research for the president’s office.

©9Marks. Used with permission.

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Wandering Worship - an article by David Jeremiah

A few months ago, I received this great article as an email from Crosswalk.com 

and I needed to share it. If you don't have a daily devotional time or book, Crosswalk.com is a great place to get something started. So, run over there and look around. I'll wait until you get back.

With the new year coming, it is good to re-examine where we've been, where we are and where we are going.Sometimes, after examining ourselves, we discover we've wandered off the path into some dangerous situation or pattern of life. One pattern that is very destructive is wandering away from God. It can happen very subtly. We can wander without even knowing it.

What do we do when our worship is no longer heart-felt?

What to we do when we are no longer bringing our very best to Him daily?

If you are feeling “Prone to wander..” like the old hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” says, and I know we all do at times, this is for you (and me).

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Is Your Worship Wandering?

by David Jeremiah

Our hearts and affections are fickle. Even as Christians we can wander off like dull sheep, following other bypaths, chasing other goals and gods, falling in love with lesser things. When we give our hearts to Christ, our old natures don't die. We're given new natures, but the old ones have not yet been eradicated. The moment we quit walking in dependence on the Holy Spirit, we're in danger of misplaced affections, of wandering after the world.

It Happened

It happened to Noah. After the Genesis flood, he became a farmer and vineyard keeper, and on one occasion became too attached to his wine. His resulting drunkenness created a family scandal (Genesis 9:20-24).

It happened to Abraham. Despite his faith in God, his love and concern for his beautiful wife Sarah drove him to deceit on two occasions (Genesis 12:10-20; 20:1-18).

It happened to Gideon. The Lord used him to lead Israel, but he took from them their gold, and "Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot with it there. It became a snare to Gideon and to his house" (Judges 8:27).

It happened to Samson. Here was a man whose birth was predicted in advance, who was dedicated to the Lord from infancy, and who was gifted by God with supernatural strength through the Spirit. Yet his passions continually led him astray.

It happened to David. The man who wrote, "O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth...," had a wandering eye that led him into adultery, murder, and cover-up.

It happened to Solomon. During an intense moment of worship, the young king beseeched God for wisdom, and the Lord answered abundantly. Yet Solomon wandered off, married foreign women, and when he was old, "his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God" (I Kings 11:4).

It happened to Peter, prompting Jesus to say, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men" (Matthew 16:23).

It happened to Demas, who, having accompanied Paul on his journeys, finally forsook him for this present world (II Timothy 4:10).

It even happened to the church of Ephesus, who had counted among its pastors Paul, Timothy, and John. In Revelation 2:4, Jesus said: "Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love."

It can happen to you and me.

What Happens When We Wander

The result is that instead of becoming more Christlike, we become increasingly like our new "god." But if we love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, and souls, we'll become increasingly like Christ, for we are "created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24, NIV).

How To Avoid Wandering

How can you avoid wandering from wholehearted worship?

Rededicate yourself to Christ each day. Just months before his death, missionary David Livingstone wrote in his diary: "Birthday. My Jesus, my King, my life, my All; I again dedicate my whole self to Thee."

Ask God to search you. We're expert self-deceivers, and we often don't know our own hearts. But the Bible suggests this prayer: "Search me, O God, and know my heart." (Psalm 139:23, KJV).

Replace wandering with wondering. Evangelist Gypsy Smith used to say, "I have never lost the wonder." Take time to relish the beauty of God's majestic creation.

Give your tithes and offerings. Where your treasure is there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21).

Pray for a blessing in attending church every Sunday. Train your mind to concentrate on the words of hymns and songs you sing, on the prayers offered, and on the sermons preached.

Maintain your personal devotions. It's hard to wander too far away when you're meeting Him day by day in Bible study and prayer.

Have you replaced your worship of God with a misplaced affection? A relationship? A goal? A hobby that's taken over your life? A house, car, boat, or some other "big ticket" item? Confess this to God, turn back to Christ, realign your priorities, and have no other gods before Him.

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David Jeremiah's words have already convicted my heart to re-focus where I am. It is amazing what we can fill our lives with... Music, Sports, Computers, TV and that is just a sampling of the accepted stuff.  Even Christian Music and Entertainment can distract us from God, if we let it.

 

He has to be our focus. 

He has to be our King. 

He has to be our God.

First.