8.21.11—The Choice To Worship

Below is a list of the songs we used for corporate musical worship at my church this past Sunday:

Open The Eyes Of My Heart- Paul Baloche
Our God- Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman
My Jesus I Love Thee- William R. Featherston and Adoniram Judson Gordon
The Solid Rock- Edward Mote and William Batchelder Bradbury
Faithful- Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Nathan Nockels and Ed Cash
Come Let Us Worship And Bow Down- Dave Doherty

Our meeting together began with a laid-back rendition of Open The Eyes Of My Heart, and then Kathi Bowman, one of our worship leaders here at MBC, read Ephesians 1:15-23, from which that song was inspired. A beautiful picture of the eyes of our hearts being opened to see the glorious hope we have in Christ. The passage ends with God putting all things under the feet of Christ and giving Him to the church as the head over all things, a great perspective to begin corporate worship to our sovereign King who rules over all.

Our corporate worship time in singing began by declaring how great God is by singing Our God. Here we have an excellent reminder of the awesome God we serve. He’s greater than all, higher than all, stronger than all, powerful over all, and yet He heals His people and redeems them. It’s also a reminder of our new creation status in Christ. If God is for us, who can be against us? Whom have we to fear with God almighty as our redeemer and friend?

Once a realization of the greatness of God is made known to people, our natural, immediate reaction is to realize how inconsequential we are. How truly sinful we actually are. Looking at an awesome, holy, perfect, almighty God reminds us how sin-sick we really are. We realize our need for a savior and our need for grace. That’s why at this point in our meeting we chose to sing two songs that show the immeasurable, lavish grace of God to immeasurably wicked people like us. Enter Jesus, God’s perfect Son, and His substitutionary death for sinners. My Jesus I Love Thee and The Solid Rock display this more beautifully than I could ever put it, so I’ll let them speak for themselves:

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me, and purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree. I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow, if ever I loved Thee, my Jesus ’tis now. I love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death; and praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath.  My Jesus I Love Thee

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. When darkness veils its lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil. His oath, His covenant, His blood, support me in the whelming flood; when all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.  The Solid Rock

We realize our need for grace, we realize that grace has been freely given in Christ to all who will take it, and our only response is to worship, valuing or putting weight in Christ and what He has done for us above all else in our lives. We continued our morning in just that way by worshiping God in the giving of our money and by singing about how faithful God has been, is and will be to us.

Our senior pastor Craig Jarvis spoke to us about our unique position as humans in that we have the choice to worship. Be it God, people, clothes, money, cars, homes, ideas, etc., we choose to worship whatever we value most. All other created things have no choice but to reflect the glory of God with their existence, but we do have a choice. You can listen to that sermon here. We closed our service in corporate musical worship by singing Come, Let Us Worship And Bow Down. Directly taken from Psalm 95, this song encourages us to go into our lives and exercise our God-given ability to worship Him above all else. It realizes our tendency to worship any and everything other than God most of the time, and declares our dedication to returning to the LORD God who saved us through the substitutionary death of His spotless Son on the cross.

Gathering To Edify

Worship isn’t about a particular style, it’s about Jesus. Jesus is our worship leader, and He doesn’t change. Frequently the word worship, though, is used or said without specifying the object. We always hear, “Let’s stand and worship.” But worship what? Worship is a transitive verb, meaning it necessarily requires an object to make sense. So who or what are we worshiping when we gather?

God, through Jesus Christ.

We could easily be worshiping the music itself, the building, comfort or a thousand other things. We’re good at that because we were born to worship. In Christian gatherings, however, we gather to meet with God and each other. We gather to edify.

To edify is simply to build up, to make stronger or to fortify. This is the idea that drives all of what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14. Here he mentions building up the body seven times. Paul is serious about edification, which means God is serious about edification; therefore, we need to take seriously building up one another when we meet.

When we edify the church by magnifying Christ, we glorify God.

There are many ways this happens—through songs, hymns, interpretations, preaching, reading scripture—but this has to be done to build others up. We also seek personal edification by building up others. There are two major priorities here: Love and Intelligibility.

Paul thinks love is such a priority that he takes an entire chapter (1 Corinthians 13) directly before this one to explain it. Frequently we are unaware of the severity of what Jesus has done for us to show His love for us. Not only is this great love intended to motivate us to display this kind of selfless love (1 John 3:16) to those around us but also to respond greatly to our Christian brothers and sisters because of our great God. Without love our message and edifying is meaningless. We can know scripture, theology and doctrine, be well-read and versed in just about anything, but without love it’s all for nothing. It’s literally  like banging the lid of a trash can. Pointless, meaningless, annoying and loud.

Intelligibility is a big priority in our meetings if we are to be building each other up. People need to know what we are talking about. Christian meetings aren’t a secret club with a code language. We need to explain what we’re gathered to do weekly clearly, and with as little Christianese as possible. We want believers and nonbelievers alike to understand what is going on so believers can be built up and nonbelievers can see and understand the greatness of God in Christ.

Check out Ephesians 4:15-16, emphasis added:

¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Our growth together comes from being rooted and grounded in Christ. We are to build each other up in the gospel. Colossians 2:6-7:

⁶ Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

We are to use the time in our meetings to glorify God and build up each other. Singing is to be done vertically as well as horizontally. It’s a proclamation of a truth about God in worship, and a way to build up others in attendance. We are to sing to God and to each other! In Colossians 3:16-17, when Paul talks about “singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,” he’s wanting the church, in that context, to sing to each other. Don’t read that without noticing that the singing is bookended by the gospel. Letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly, singing to each other, and then doing all things in the name of Christ. Beautiful.

Individually and corporately God wants to use our meetings to build us up in Christ. Preaching the gospel to ourselves and others is not a fad or trend that will fade away. It’s God’s eternal purpose for history and the future.

8.14.11—Songs That Put The Gospel On Display

Here are the musical worship tunes we sang this weekend at my church:

Rock of Ages- Augustus Toplady, Thomas Hastings and Mike Lang
Before the Throne of God Above- Charitie Lees Bancroft and Vikki Cook
My Savior’s Love- Charles Gabriel
How Deep the Father’s Love for Us- Stuart Townend
Show Us Christ- Doug Plank and Bob Kauflin
By Faith- Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend

I wanted to highlight a few of the lyrics to these tunes today. Each of these songs has a strong gospel theme to it, which as Christians is everything we have. Without the gospel we have nothing. No life, no hope, no peace and no God worthy of worship. Here at Medinah Baptist Church, we gather to worship God because of how great He is. His greatness is most excellently displayed in the sending of His Son to live the perfect life we should be living, die the death we deserve to die and conquer death in His resurrection, that we might be reconciled to God the just both now and forever. Therefore we gather to rehearse the gospel, to remember our Redeemer and our bold, righteous standing before a Holy God because of Christ’s finished work for us. Here’s how these songs help us do that, and why it matters what we sing in our meetings. Whether you know these songs well or have never heard them, take careful time to read these lyrical selections. They are astounding.

“Could my tears forever flow, could my zeal no languor (look that word up) know. These for sin could not atone, Thou must save and Thou alone. In my hand no price I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to Thee for dress, helpless look to Thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly, wash me Savior or I die.”  Rock of Ages

“Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea, a great high priest whose name is Love, whoever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on His hands, my name is written on His heart. I know that while in heaven He stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart. No tongue can bid me thence depart.”  Before the Throne of God Above 

“I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how He could love me, a sinner, condemned unclean. He took my sins and my sorrows, He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be! How marvelous! How wonderful! Is my Savior’s love for me!”  My Savior’s Love

“Behold the Man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders. Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life, I know that it is finished.”  How Deep the Father’s Love for Us

“Prepare our hearts, O God, help us to receive. Break the hard and stony ground, help our unbelief. Plant your word down deep in us, cause it to bear fruit, open up our ears to hear, lead us in your truth. Show us Christ, show us Christ. O God reveal your glory though the preaching of your word, until every heart confesses Christ is Lord.”  Show Us Christ

“By faith this mountain shall be moved and the power of the gospel shall prevail. For we know in Christ all things are possible, for all who call upon His name. We will stand as children of the promise. We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul’s reward. Till the race is finished and the work is done, we’ll walk by faith and not by sight.”  By Faith

Our sermon this week was given by our senior pastor Craig Jarvis, and you can listen to it here. An awesome proclamation of God’s Word from 2 Kings 7. Take these lyrics with you all week. Let them help you rehearse the gospel to yourself every day. There’s real power in rehearsing the power of God to yourself daily. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

Celebration And Transformation

Why do Christians meet regularly? Should we? What do we gather for? Hebrews 10:24-25 says this:

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Here the author of Hebrews charges his recipients, now us, to not neglect to meet but to do it all the more, as well as asks us to consider how we can stir up one another in love and good works, to sort of motivate and inspire those around us to love God and one another, and to do good works to display God’s glory and grace. That certainly could be a reason to meet and some elements of what we do, but so far this has nothing to do with a Christian meeting. Check this out:

¹²Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, ¹³not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. ¹⁴But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. ¹⁶But when one^[d] turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷Now the Lord^[e] is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,^[f] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:12-18 [ESV]

Focus on verse 18; it kinda sums up the preceding verses. Paul writes there that “we all”; this is strong new covenantal language. The old covenant was a fault-finding, scrutinous, unkeepable law, while the new covenant is freedom. No fronts, confessing to God himself, honesty without guilt, and as ALL share it together. “With unveiled face.” This contrasts what he wrote in verse 13 about Moses veiling his face. He covered his face; we don’t have to because of the cross. We can boldly approach the throne of grace (not condemnation) and actually make our requests known to God Almighty. Unbelievable. “Beholding the glory of the Lord.” We gather to display the glory of Jesus Christ. Period. We want to communicate that the gospel has taken over in our lives in a winsome, reverent, celebratory and exalting tone. We are beholding something far beyond ourselves each week, which happens through a constant redisplaying of Christ’s work for His people.

We want people to read the pages of God’s Word as Christ loving pathetic us by becoming righteousness (perfection) for us on the cross, and never as a righteousness we need to somehow fulfill. It only takes about 30 seconds to revert back to works of righteousness, so we need clear, constant and consistent gospel-saturated meetings and daily lives. Nothing else will change human hearts deep down for long. The amazing thing isn’t how slowly we change, it’s that we change at all!

“The work of God in the transformation of just one soul is more glorious than His creation of the entire material world.”  Ray Ortlund- Worship God 2011

“This comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” This change only comes from Christ. Those of us who are immensely privileged to be leaders and participants of worship at Christian meetings lead songs and say words that change by miracle. We do not change hearts; Christ does. The mere message of the gospel is Christ Himself speaking to the hard heart of sinful man. That means we need to cut each other some slack. Just back off, man. You are not the sanctifier; God is. Here are some good things to tell yourself here:

1. I’m a complete idiot.
2. My future is very bright.
3. Anyone can get in on this.

 
It has to be done on God’s terms though. All we can do is keep saturating everything we do with the gospel more and more, especially when we meet. Enter wholeheartedly into the one measly hour each week that we meet as Christians to celebrate and be transformed by the gospel. If we just come to be with one another, one another is all we’ll get. And that’s not enough. Not only will we not grow, we’ll likely grow angry with one another. Empty hearts are angry hearts. Christ-filled hearts are glorious hearts.

The ministry of the gospel is a message and a power from the borders of a higher world. What a privilege.

8.7.11—Standing In Blood-Washed Linen

Here is the musical worship set list from my church this weekend:

By Faith- Keith and Kristyn Getty
Let Your Kingdom Come- Bob Kauflin
I Will Glory in My Redeemer- Steve and Vikki Cook
Resurrection Hymn- Keith and Kristyn Getty
Let Us Love And Sing And Wonder- Daniel Renstrom and Mike Lang
Come Thou Fount- Robert Robinson (4th verse- Bob Kauflin)

Our gospel proclaimer this week was my boy Brannon Marshall. He’s one of the worship leaders at MBC. Click his name to check out his blog and this link to listen to his message. He preached on Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. It was fantastic.

Take a moment to read and think about this 4th verse to Come Thou Fount by Bob Kauflin:

O that day when freed from sinning
I shall see Thy lovely face
Full arrayed in blood-washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry
Bring Thy promises to pass
For I know Thy pow’r will keep me
Till I’m home with Thee at last

The thought of standing righteous before God in “blood-washed linen” has been running through my head for about a week now. Every time I think of it, it almost moves me to tears on the spot. At first I felt a bit too artsy, getting verklempt over a few lyrics, but as I continued to let it sink in I couldn’t think of a more appropriate reaction. And I think that’s just what it is—a reaction. A response to the gospel that is beyond our control. Once heard and understood by faith, the gospel penetrates and changes hearts more effectively and lastingly than anything or anyone else on earth. Within its message lies the power of God and everything we need for life and godliness. Within its childlike simplicity lies an eternal vastness of rich understanding that continues to inspire wonder, love and praise in us. Just when I feel like I finally have a grandiose portrait of the gospel and its usefulness in my life, I suddenly, through the reading of God’s Word or the singing of songs and hymns, unveil an endless new cavern of rich gospel truth I’ve never seen before. It’s truly too much for me to take in, and I often tell myself, before becoming overwhelmed by it all, “‘Tis mercy all immense and free, for O my God it found out me!” and “‘Tis mercy all let earth adore, let angel minds inquire no more,” and I leave it at that. David puts it this way in Psalm 131: “I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.” Instead of becoming overwhelmed with how this Love Divine could come to earth to die for me, I get lost in wonder, love and praise, finding my hope and joy in Christ, my soul’s reward, living as His ambassador here on earth.

This is the kind of reactionary-response worship we are aiming for at my church. It’s even more stunning that all these thoughts were inspired by a song. We aim to facilitate a corporate worship time that motivates and stimulates worship all week long. I am once again amazed at the power of God’s truth in music.