Dress, and other odd reasons for false confidence

13 09 2011

Reading Phil 3 today.  This jumped out at me:

For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh   -Phil 3:3

I don’t worship by my flesh. I worship by the spirit of God and I glory in Christ Jesus.  This seems like it’s detached from what we do in America, but I don’t think it is. Paul is saying that those who are of the circumcision think they have some extra access to worship God because of their physical circumcision. This is just funny to think about. They think because the end of their penis doesn’t have the extra skin from birth, that they have extra favor with God. Weird. But to give them credit, it made sense in their day. It was a sign of a covenant between them and God. But what about now? Paul says that WE are the circumcision(the people who have a covenant with God) because we worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus.

It’s all about who is “special” to God. Who gets his attention. Who he notices more. Who he favors. Who’s “in”.

And we are still concerned with this today. And there is nothing wrong with wanting to be near to God and wanting his favor.  It’s how we go about getting it that can get twisted. See, the jews of the day followed all the religious laws and thought that they were earning favor with God.  What about today?  What do we do to earn favor with God?

The first thing that comes to mind (because I lead a worship service every week) is church clothes. There is nothing wrong with signs of honor, I do it everytime I go on a date with my wife, but there IS something very wrong when we genuinely believe God sees or favors us more because of our clothing.  We are coming before the God of the universe. Do we really think that a collar on our shirt or a crease in pants is going to earn us enough points to enter into his presence.

No way Jose. Ain’t happenin’.

He’s God. He’s holy. You can’t come before him just because you cleaned up a bit. And without the blood of Jesus, you would be utterly consumed in His presence (and not in a good way).  Thinking our clothes or hair is going to somehow earn us favor or even saftey in the presence of God is like jumping into a shark tank with your “briar proof” jeans. It just ain’t gonna cut it.

But “It is we who are the circumcision [figuratively], we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh” that can enter into his presence freely.  James 4:6 says that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. That’s why that 20 something that just came to Christ (you know the one, he doesn’t know that the “F” word is not an acceptable adjective anymore) encounters God in incredible ways while the prideful, albeit nicely dressed, church folk seem to struggle to hear from God at all.

So in the end, it’s not about dress or not dress. That’s just an example. We strive to earn God’s favor in countless other ways: work, language, good deeds, being nice, etc.  But what God is after is a heart change. A humbling before the incredible work of his son Jesus and a realization that only be His sacrifice do we have access to God.  And only by the Spirit of God can we worship the father at all (remember John 4?).

So, today I don’t want to feel like I need to measure up to come before God.  I want to worship by the Spirit of God. I want to glory in Christ Jesus, not myself, because, lets face it: I don’t have all that much to glory in on my own. Oh, but in Jesus, nothing is impossible. He can use me and mold me and give me an incredible destiny. Thank You Jesus.


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Categories : Bible Teachings, Teachings on Worship

2. It’s too loud

6 05 2011

Don’t have a lot of time this afternoon, so I’ve decided to address the glaring, yet simple complaint with today’s worship music: “It’s too loud”

I think this one can be summed up in 2 words: BAD MIX

I’ve been in traditional Easter services where the Orchestra is pushing 110 Db and the entire senior community is present and loving it!  So, I think we can say with confidence that when people complain about a 4 piece band running 95Db that the real issue isn’t volume, it’s the mix*.

I have run sound enough to know that when the average person complains about the mix, they generally don’t say things like, “I’m suffering from listening fatigue” or “The cymbals seem harsh, can you roll back the highs a bit” or “The vocals are way out front. Anyway to get them back in the mix.”  Nope, it’s will almost always, “This music is too loud” or, more specifically, “The drums are too loud!”

So, if your a senior or worship pastor:
Invest in some great FOH engineers. Acoustically treat your room. Isolate your gear(you can’t run your rig like The Edge unless you have 10,000 people in your venue). Invest in good equipment. And I promise you this: it will go a long way in unifying your church in terms of music.

If your a congregation member:
Administer some grace, churches aren’t run on elaborate budgets (at least yours probably doesn’t), and it’s likely your leaders are doing their best.  And in the meantime, feel free to offer constructive,  heartfelt, criticism and loving, authentic encouragement. (And try to do more of the latter than the former).

What do you think?  Do you agree? Do you disagree?

*This is a general statement. Sometimes, it’s just TOO LOUD!


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Categories : For Worship Leaders, Teachings on Worship

Issue 1: It’s too repetative

2 02 2011

The reason I want to start with this one is because I think it’s the one I hear most frequently.  It’s generally something like:

“God gets it, we don’t have to sing the same thing over and over”

“There isn’t any depth to these new songs. It’s just the same words over and over”

“The older music is where we learned our doctrine as a kid. What are kids learning these days with these songs?”

My wife actually brought up the best response I have heard to these objections: “The angels are incredibly repetitive, no one ever criticizes them.”  In case your not familiar with this scripture, she’s referring to Revelation 4:8-11 where it says that the living creatures and the elders before the throne sing essentially the same thing ALL day and night.

Wow. Talk about repetitive.

Would we say to those creatures before the throne: “God gets it. Move on?”  Of course not. The reason they sing isn’t to help God understand his Holiness.  And it’s not even to help THEM understand something about God. Get this:

Their worship is ENTIRELY based upon his worth.

They’ve never been healed, restored, freed or delivered. Never have they had a prayer answered or a request fulfilled.  The nature of God’s Holiness and Glory dictate their unceasing worship.  It’s as if every line they sing isn’t enough to express his worth.

And so for us, should we sing the same thing ALL day and night?  Of course not.  Would he be worth it?  Absolutely.  In the same way that there is nothing wrong with long, theological songs, there is nothing wrong with long, repetitive songs. We have examples of both in scripture. Why in the past 20-30 years have we seen the worship culture become saturated with repetitive music?

We’re inundated with information.

I get information fed to me from my computer, my phone, my friends, the newspaper, my tv, and advertisements just about everywhere I go. This wasn’t the case when the great Hymns were written. It was an event to get the local paper. People we looking for ways to carry information and songs were amazing mediums.

Today, I think we have a generation that is so inundated with information that when they go to music, they aren’t looking for more information, they are looking for passion and experience.  Which brings us to next week’s issue: “It’s too emotional”

*feel free to post thoughts in the comments section


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Categories : Bible Teachings, Teachings on Worship

4 Common Issues With Today’s Worship Music

26 01 2011

Over the next few days/weeks, I’d like to address some common concerns and misunderstandings with todays new worship music.  If your a young worship, I know you deal with these. If your an older believer, there’s a chance you have thought one or all of these things. Things like: “Todays new music is too loud” or “Why are the songs so repetative.” (I’m also tossing the idea around of doing a “4 common issues with older music” but that’s for another day) I’d like to address these common issues for 4 reasons:

1. These are generally complaints that divide our generations in worship, which is not God’s heart. At all. As Bob Kauflin has said: “When we segregate our worshippers because of music, we perpetuate the idea that music has more power to divide us than the gospel does to unite us.”  Very challenging

2. If we never address these things, countless believers will continue to walk into church with a heart to worship and walk out discouraged or upset. This shouldn’t be so.  I think misunderstanding and communication are at the root of our problems here.

3. Unity has always been the precursor for outpourings of God. Look at the church right before pentecost: unified. And in Acts 4, even after persecution: unified. It’s almost as if unity is the vessel that allows the church to host a mighty move of the Holy Spirit. And I think that is what most of us really want.

4. I’m hearing some of this in my own congregation and I would love for those of you reading who are a part of riverside to be able to hear my heart, even if we haven’t gotten a chance to talk personally.

So that’s it. I’ll have a new post up in the next few days.  I’d love for this to be a conversation, so feel free to comment. Good or bad.

Cole


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Categories : Songs and Music, Teachings on Worship

What is a worship leader? Part 5

13 07 2010

So far we’ve talked about the role of a corporate worship leader as a teacher and as a prophet. Today, we will be talking about the role of:

EVANGELIST!

This word, much like the word prophecy, get’s thrown around a ton.  There are “evangelical Christians” and there are “non-evangelical christians”.  Some churches hire full time evangelist. Some don’t.  So, I just want to put a few things out there that are for sure.

1. An evangelist is in the 5 fold ministry setup by the early church (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers; Eph 4:11) Kris Valleton at Bethel church on Redding California did an excellent teaching on the 5 fold ministry several weeks ago. You can listen to it on their PODCAST.

2. An evangelist in the widest sense of the word is simply a “bringer of good news.”  Any news. It’s primarily become a religious word, in the same way that salvation or apostle are words we generally associate with the church. Don’t believe me?  Try calling your wife an evangelist next time she tells you some good news.  And as Jesus often did, he took this common word and redirected it toward it’s ultimate meaning.

Today we are using the term “evangelist” in this widest sense of the term. While some who lead worship may be called to the office of evangelist, everyone is not.  So, how are we as worship leaders operating as evangelists?

Our praise declares God’s good news – Whether it’s specifically about the Gospel or not, when we sing we are declaring good news to a broken and hurting world. Now, that’s not to say we are to sing and worship solely for the purpose of declaring good news to others. Worship is, in and of itself, an end. All of creation is moving toward a day when the primary activity of life will be worship. However, God in his goodness uses our times of declaration and praise as a tool to draw people to Himself. I love the picture that Ps 126 gives of this. The Psalmist says:

When the Lord brought back the captives from Zion, we were like men who dreamed
Our mouths were filled with laughter and our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations: “The Lord has done great things for them”

Praise declares good news. I long for the world to see our worship and understand not only that God has been good to us, but that the essential truth that HE IS GOOD.  This world needs a renewed understanding of that.

Worship and Adoration draw peoples attention to God’s beauty –  When someone is amazed by something, you are never tempted to redirect your attention to them, you ALWAYS want to see what they are so impressed with. You don’t walk down the street, see a group of people circled around something and say, “Man, that group of people, they are awesome.”  No.  You want to know what the heck they are circled around.  The same is true in our worship.  When we are enraptured and enthralled with is beauty and goodness, we direct others attention toward him.  I hear people say that we should tone down worship to accommodate seekers.  I want to say this gingerly……

That’s crazy

The world is burning through “things” that are temporarily impressive, but leave them empty and unimpressed, but Jesus is unendingly glorious! What better way to point them toward the one they were made to worship then by unashamedly being caught up in his beauty and glorifying Him?

We could go on and on, but we can end by saying, though our worship and praise are an end in and of themselves, God continually uses worship, worshippers, and worship leaders as tools to bring the good news of Jesus to our world.

Amen

Cole


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What is a worship leader (part 4)

1 07 2010

If you want to start this series from the beginning, go HERE.

The past two days we’ve talked about the role of a corporate worship leader as: teacher. We said that the songs we sing become the truth we believe. We need to know the word in order to pick our songs. We also said that we need to teach on the encounters we lead people into.  People need a biblical foundation for their experiences. I think it was Integrity’s president, Michael Coleman that said, “We want to lift up the experiences people are having as they encounter the Lord, and put a biblical foundation under them.”

Today, we’ll be talking about a role that I think is one of the most essential in being successful as a corporate worship leader.  Today, we’ll be talking about the role of :

Prophet

I know this word has a good deal of baggage with it, but I don’t really want to get bogged down in semantics.  So, as a hyper-condensed, non-exhaustive definition, let’s just say prophecy is hearing and speaking out God’s words.
(For a couple examples read….the old testament)

So, how does this relate to leading corporate worship?  Worship leaders should be continually  sensitive and aware of God’s presence and voice during times of worship. The Holy Spirit is ultimately our leader and our ability to hear and speak out what He is saying is crucial to staying in line with Him.

Jesus said this statement about himself time and time again in different ways, “I only do what I see the father do and I only say what I hear the father say.”(John 3:34; 5:17,19-23,26; 8:28,38,42; 10:30,32,38; 12:49-50; 14:7-11,24,31; 17:21)  There are a lot of reasons why Jesus was successful in his ministry, but the one who pointed to most often was his specific and continual obedience to say and do only what He saw the father doing and saying.  We need to follow his lead. Are we saying and doing as the fathers is saying and doing?

I read somewhere that the jewish day started at sundown. They didn’t begin by waking up and going. They began with rest and trust. Ps 3:5 says: “I lie down and sleep. I awake, because the Lord sustains me.”  We have a tendency in our modern world to be “goers” and “doers.”  To have lofty ambitions that drive us from sun-up to sun-down.  And though this isn’t the standard that Jesus sets forth, I see it regularly in worship leaders.

When planning a service, I’d like to suggest that we aren’t staring at a blank hour of time and crafting an experience from nothing. As a team, our worship times together should be genuine expressions of the Lords heart for that season, day, or moment.  As we plan, we ask, “Lord, what are you saying?  What do you want to say?”  For many of us, this comes down to us from our teaching or senior pastors.  When we receive the teaching for a day, we ask, “Father, what do you want your people to sing in response to this?”  It’s a huge burden to feel like we have to create experiences from nothing, but it’s a joy and an honor to partner with God to communicate his words to his people.

I think that’s enough for this post. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the practical side of leading worship and taking on the role of prophet.  How do we hear God in the midst of corporate worship?  How do we express what we hear?  What is and is not ok to do in terms of last minute changes in corporate worship?  Is being last minute even what being prophetic is all about?

Cole


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What is a worship leader (part 3)

30 06 2010

In part 1 we talked about the confusion that’s inherent in the term “worship leader” and the lack of a real biblical model for what worship leaders do today.

In part 2 we discussed that the songs we sing become the truth we believe. And as worship leaders, we need a strong biblical foundation in order to direct our song selection process.

Today, I want to ask the question, is it important for corporate worship leaders to be able to effectively communicate the word?  I think so. I once heard a very popular worship leader say that he didn’t think it was appropriate to teach during the music or in between songs.  I have to say I disagree. As worship leaders, we need to be able to teach on encounters and worship, AS we lead people into them.

There is a familiar story in Matthew 16 where Jesus is praying with his disciples and Peter says, “You are the Christ of God.”  Jesus then tells Peter: “…this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”   Peter had encountered the Father, but was unaware. Jesus had to give him a clear picture of what had happened.

I think this principle translates to corporate worship.  As worship leaders, we need to be able to teach people about their encounters with God WHILE they’re having them.

Example: In the bridge of a worship song, the congregation begins singing a new song to the Lord and the Glory of the Lord begins to especially fill the room.  Amazing moment.

A teaching worship leader can point to Ps 22: that God inherits the praise of his people and that the word used for praise there is “tehilla,” or “new song.”  Everyone can leave that gathering knowing that God had inhabited their praise.  They have a biblical understanding of their experience.  Not that ALL encounters or times of singing are as cut and dry.  God is not about formulas, but teaching in that moment is crucial to give the worshippers a biblical understanding of what is happening. In the same way that Jesus had to tell Peter, “See, Dad told you that” we can open up the word while leading our songs and say, “THIS is what God is doing.”

Cole


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What is a Worship Leader (Part 2)

29 06 2010

Yesterday we talked about the shortcomings of term “Worship Leader,” specifically as it applies to modern day church music directors. We said that it implies other things are not worship and that worship is isolated to a Sunday morning church segment. In light of scriptures view of worship (singing and serving Hebrews 13:15-16), this can be a dangerous distinction for the church to make. Maybe a better term for what has become the common role in most churches would be corporate worship leader or worship pastor. (I recognize that the term “pastor” may or may not be a term designated for ordained individuals depending on the culture you serve in).

So, each day this week, we’ll talk about a different hat that worship leaders wear.

Today’s hat:

Teacher

It’s amazing to me when I look at the time allotted in worship for music, that there isn’t a stronger call for worship leaders to be theologically trained and grounded.  I remember fishing through job descriptions a a couple years ago while in transition. I don’t think I saw more than 3 job descriptions for worship leaders that included any emphasis on knowing and being able to communicate the word of God.  And there were a staggering number that said, “Performance experience required, worship experience a plus.”

Senior pastors – why would you want to hand over 30-50% of your gathering time to someone who is primarily a musician and a performer

Worshippers – why do you hold such high spiritual standards for your teaching pastors, but lack a concern for your worship leaders spiritual condition?

I think it’s imperative that we begin to raise the standard for those leading us in music. Weekly, they decide what songs the church will sing, and if not based on biblical wisdom, then what? Popularity?  Catchiness?  The songs we sing become the truth we believe.  As worship leaders, we need to know and love the word of God. It needs to flow from us naturally and consistently. It needs to be the lens through which we see everything and the filter through which we make our decisions.

But what about the ability communicate the word as a teacher? I began to include that on this post, but I think we’ll jump into that tomorrow. Felt a little long to put it all in one post.

Cole


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What is a worship leader? (Part 1)

28 06 2010

Before I came to a methodist church, I had a pretty isolated view of what a “worship leader” was. Isolated in the sense that I only understood it in the context of the last 10-15 years. (I didn’t care much about worship leading when I was 10).  I remember one morning at my production meeting, someone informed me that our associate pastor was leading worship at the traditional service.  The problem was, I had never even heard this person sing or play music, but that’s not what they meant.  Depending who you are, this may or may not come as a shock, but there was a time in the recent history of the church when “worship leaders” didn’t exist in the sense they do today.  Worship wasa broader term and a worship leader didn’t inherently imply music.

I think there is something wise and biblical we can glean from this understanding.  Bob Kauflin quotes Don Carson on worshipmatters.com as saying this:

To call a person a worship leader takes away the idea that teaching, preaching, listening to and devouring God’s word, and applying it to our lives, we are somehow not worshipping.

So true. Teaching, preaching, learning are all aspects of worship

So, modern day “worship leaders,” what are we?  How to do we fit in the midst of biblical church leadership?  Is there a specific anointing for those leading music in the church?

This week, I’ll be taking a look at this.

Cole

(Thanks to Bob Kaulfin at worshipmatters.com for his incredibly blog entries and resources on this topic)


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To The Glory and Praise of God

26 05 2010

Whenever someone we respect tells us how or what they pray for, we listen intently.  Why?  Because it’s a snapshot of what they really value.  In Philippians 1:9-11 pauls tells us what his prayer for the Philippian church is:

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in the knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ — To the glory and praise of God.

There is so much amazing truth here, lets focus in on this last line: “To the glory and praise of God”

While the process is always incredibly important, I think is something to be said about understanding the end goal of anything we do. Without an end goal, we struggle to answer the “why?” question.  I bumped into a old friend of mine a while back who was cooking at a local waffle house. We got to talking and I asked him, “So what’s going on with you?”

“Not much, just working here until I can afford a car.”

“Gotcha”

“yeah, I need a car so I can get a better job”

“Sure”

“And if I get a better job I can get a better apartment”

Do you see how this conversation perpetuated itself?  There was really no end in sight. And after every statement I thought, “So that…….”

You want a nicer car….so that…….oh, sure, so you can get a better job….so that…..oh I see, so you can get a nicer place……so that…….

It never really ended.  There was no “thesis” if you will.

Paul makes it clean what the end goal or “thesis” of  Christians is: the glory and praise of God.  That’s it. Everything is working toward that end. You are filled with his life and are blessed…..so that He is glorified.

You are persecuted, but your faith remains strong…….so that He is glorified

You remain “pure and blameless until the day of Christ“……..so that He is glorified

We reach someone with the glorious gospel of Jesus and that are saved/transformed/and made alive…………so that He is glorified

I’m passionate about praise and worship, not because I like music or even because I like singing to God(though I really do), but because I firmly believe it’s the end goal of all that we do as believers. It’s ALL for the praise and glory of God.

Cole

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