As Christmas draws near, our thoughts fix upon the greatest miracle of all time. The eternal Son of God proved He loved us enough to become human so He could provide for us a perfect Savior and King.
Angels awestruck in adoration. Baby born in a Bethlehem barnyard. Christ cradled in a cave. God gooing among goats. Magi marching towards majesty.
And what of us? Can we resist the competition of bargain shopping at Target long enough to soak in the wonder of this incarnation? Can we pause to ponder the unfathomable love of a God who would rather die than be without us? Can we stop decorating for just a moment to hold our hand to our mouth in breathtaking disbelief that we are the recipients of such amazing grace simpy by believing it's true?
Christ-mas. The worship of Christ. O come let us adore Him each and every day.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Friday, May 26, 2006
Is Worship for God, or for Us?
It's very popular right now to make the point that "worship is not about us, it's about God. It's not for us, it's for God." Let's examine that idea.
First of all, are we to presume that God has a favorite style of music? Does He prefer hearing hymns, rock, hip hop, bad karaoke? Does God enjoy drums and shouts and clapping? I hope it's obvious that since God created music, since God thought up the concept of notes on a scale and rhythm and words of praise, that He delights in ALL of it. Every creative expression of the raw concepts He devised brings joy to His heart.
Second of all, are we to imagine that God would be pleased more if we offered up to Him a form of worship that He enjoys, but we did not? Would God "make us" serve Him with spinach and broccoli worship, in terms of music style, because that's His preference, if we hated it ourselves? Would the pain of giving up our human preferences in music style for His divine preferences somehow honor Him more, just because it's more difficult for us to concentrate and focus on worshipping Him in that moment of discomfort? I say no. Obligatory, forced worship is not the kind the Father of Lights would demand from those He loves so much.
Given these first two premises, that God loves it all, and that He delights in knowing that we actually enjoy the very act of worshipping Him in singing our praises to Him, it is true that worship is "not about us"?
If you mean that our musical selections should not be based only on "what style of music we like to hear" I'd say yes. That is one factor, but not the ONLY criteria. The MOST important criteria is that the elements of our worship honor and glorify God, that they help serve to open up our hearts to God, that they aid us in focusing our full attention on God, that they support the goal of seeing ourselves in light of the reality of God so He can effectively shape our character, our wills, our thoughts and feelings, to mirror those of God, so that we are incrementally formed, conformed and transformed into the image of Christ.
So the first question we must ask is: Does this element or style of worship help to move us toward surrender and submission to God? Does it motivate us to think more highly of God, and inspire us to live more obediently in holiness? Does it invite us to lay our burdens down at Jesus' feet and experience His peace and joy in the midst of trials? That is crucial. But that's not all. The second question is, does this element of worship (i.e. song, or prayer, or Scripture reading) so capture our heart so that we want to repeat the experience? Is it in harmony with our aesthetic sense of what is beautiful and wonderful and true? Does it lift our spirits, or deepen our devotion, by virtue of our "enjoyment" of it?
What? Enjoy worship? I thought it was all for God, not me?
No. I think it's both. It's for God first, and me second. If my purpose for living is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever (or as John Piper says, glorify God BY enjoying Him forever), then why not start doing that NOW? The worship elements we leaders choose for our congregation to engage in should never feel like "pulling teeth" to them. If it's too difficult, or painful, or awkward, or confusing, or just plain bad quality (of music, responsive reading selection, prayer, whatever), then we leaders are making a mistake by using it. (Our options are endless, so why not choose what's best to accomplish our goals?)
In other words, if the congregation doesn't "enjoy it", but rather "chafes at it", they won't be fully engaged in it, and their hearts won't be captured by it, and as a result, real heart-based worship will not be able to readily occur. And when that happens, haven't we just wasted people's time? Worse, by their simple response of "I didn't like that; it was bad, or painful to me", haven't we unncesssarily left them with a "negative taste in their mouth" regarding worship? I think so. And I think that it constitutes a failure on our part as leaders, a failure to lead our people into the rich pastures and still waters of soul-refreshing worship that connects our hearts with God. Why? Because God's people didn't want to do it/sing it/pray it. Why not? Because we focused only the first criteria -- not the second as well.
That's why God calls for skillful musicianship in Psalm 33:3.
My bottom line is, while it is true that some aspects of worship require true sacrifice (such as tithing), when it comes to music worship and the heart-engagement that is taking place to connect our hearts with God's, I think that our Father God most enjoys receiving praises from His children in a form that we, as God's people, most delight in freely giving Him with joyful, surrendered hearts. In my view, there does not need to be any contradiction between the two.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Unity in the Body Really Matters
Is Christ divided? Paul asks the question in 1 Corinthians 1. How ludicrous. Christ is not divisible. And as born-again believers, our common identification with Christ, our unity with Christ, makes us "one" with every other true Christian.
So when we live with anger, bitterness and unforgiveness toward one another, we are not only sinning against each other; we are also sinning against Christ. Our visible unity and love for each other is the final apologetic that broadcasts to a watching world that Jesus Christ IS the true Son of God, because how else can anyone explain such loving unity amidst diversity? (see John 17) At the same time, our visible disunity and lack of love for each other broadcasts the opposite message: that Christians are no different from Muslims or Buddhists or Atheists. Our disunity causes unbelievers to stumble into justifying their continued disbelief. People go to hell partly because those on their way to heaven don't act like real Christians.
In Acts 9, on the road to Damascus, Christ asked Saul, "Why are you persecuting Me?" Whenever we hurt someone who is part of Christ's Body, or rail on someone who has been redeemed by His blood, we are hurting Christ Himself.
All our bragging about "who's right" stops at the cross. All of our over-confidence about the correctness of my viewpoint and the moral superiority of my choices, all the side-choosing and sloganeering of "I am of Paul, or Apollos", of "I am wiser, or more virtuous, or more connected", all falls dead at the foot of the cross (1 Cor. 1:26).
What things really matter when determining "with whom can I have fellowship?" Moral purity matters. Theological truth matters. Embracing diversity (as opposed to uniformity) matters. These are things Christians must talk about with each other, face to face, with each one surrendered to the authority of the Bible under the Lordship of Christ. These are legitimate issues to debate and discuss (without fear of disrupting an artificial, superficial "peace"). But most of the issues that divide us are not things that really matter. Most of the divisions about preferences are unnecessary and futile, a waste of time. Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:23 - "Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels."
The path from disunity to unity is strewn with land mines and heartache. Taking that path requires that we die to ourselves. But that's OK. My Lord says that's part of His agenda for transforming us to become more like Him.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God (Matthew 5).
So when we live with anger, bitterness and unforgiveness toward one another, we are not only sinning against each other; we are also sinning against Christ. Our visible unity and love for each other is the final apologetic that broadcasts to a watching world that Jesus Christ IS the true Son of God, because how else can anyone explain such loving unity amidst diversity? (see John 17) At the same time, our visible disunity and lack of love for each other broadcasts the opposite message: that Christians are no different from Muslims or Buddhists or Atheists. Our disunity causes unbelievers to stumble into justifying their continued disbelief. People go to hell partly because those on their way to heaven don't act like real Christians.
In Acts 9, on the road to Damascus, Christ asked Saul, "Why are you persecuting Me?" Whenever we hurt someone who is part of Christ's Body, or rail on someone who has been redeemed by His blood, we are hurting Christ Himself.
All our bragging about "who's right" stops at the cross. All of our over-confidence about the correctness of my viewpoint and the moral superiority of my choices, all the side-choosing and sloganeering of "I am of Paul, or Apollos", of "I am wiser, or more virtuous, or more connected", all falls dead at the foot of the cross (1 Cor. 1:26).
What things really matter when determining "with whom can I have fellowship?" Moral purity matters. Theological truth matters. Embracing diversity (as opposed to uniformity) matters. These are things Christians must talk about with each other, face to face, with each one surrendered to the authority of the Bible under the Lordship of Christ. These are legitimate issues to debate and discuss (without fear of disrupting an artificial, superficial "peace"). But most of the issues that divide us are not things that really matter. Most of the divisions about preferences are unnecessary and futile, a waste of time. Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:23 - "Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels."
The path from disunity to unity is strewn with land mines and heartache. Taking that path requires that we die to ourselves. But that's OK. My Lord says that's part of His agenda for transforming us to become more like Him.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God (Matthew 5).