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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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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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

Discipleship and Worship

10 11 2010

Praying and studying this morning and came across a familiar passage that the Lord seemed to highlight for me in light of my new job at Riverside.

“But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of You.” – Phil 2:17

Mind you, I am no expert on the Jewish sacrificial system, but a drink offering was essentially a liquid (typically wine or oil) poured out on an altar before the Lord as a sign of thanks and worship.  And I love the picture that Paul draws here, not just between himself and God, but between everyone involved: Paul, the Philippians, and God.  Paul says that he is a drink offering and that the sacrifices/service of the Philippians is the alter. How amazing that Paul’s discipleship is an offering to the Lord. How beautiful that the fruit of those disciples is an offering as well.  I long to model this in my life. That my life would be an offering to the Lord, poured over the fruit of those I disciple.

Today, no matter who you are, can I ask you this?  Where are you pouring yourself out? Work? Sports? Money? Retirement? Hobbies? Those things are fleeting.  Pour yourself out for what matters. Pour yourself into discipling your kids and loving your wife.  Find a person younger than you and speak into their lives and their walk with the Lord.  Befriend that neighbor and pour yourself out to see them come to know our precious Jesus.  How our world would be changed if we poured ourselves out for others!

Cole


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New Songs

9 09 2010

Here are a few songs that are really working for us right now: (click funny icon for chart download)

Our God – Passion

Love Came Down – Brian Johnson

Holding Nothing Back – Tim Hughes (I’ve linked to the Jesus Culture version though)

Open Up – Cole Jennette (Admittedly, this seems a bit vain, but I believe in this songs and it’s been really powerful)

Hope this helps you guys (and gals).


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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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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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Zamar

23 04 2010

Zamar – to make music or play an instrument

Did you know that this word is used 35 times in the book of psalms?

So many times, I get to an instrumental bridge of a breakdown in a song and I feel a sense of loss from the people I’m leading. And not just my folks at SUMC. This is pretty much across the board. There is a sense that words are the only way to express our gratitude to God, but I think the word of God has something different to say about that. I especially like what Ps 149 says:

Let them praise his name with dancing and make music[zamar] to him with tambourine and harp. -Ps 149:3

I am a worship leader. Not many people would disagree with that (well, I don’t think they would anyway), but what about my band? The team that leads WITH me? Are they leading people? I think so. And the word tells us so. In Ps 149 there is a call to make music and dancing that celebrates our God. Pull out a good dance album and give it a listen. Are they a ton of words? Nope. But it makes you want to dance. It FEELS celebratory.

I had a really amazing night a few weeks ago and was on my way home. I honestly just wanted to dance (and I am a terrible dancer). I flipped through the stations on my radio for something that emulated my mood – joyful, excited, celebratory. I tried the christian stations with no luck and I didn’t even waste my time trying the country station! You know what the ONLY song on that emulated my mood?

It was that Ke$ha song: Tik Tok.

Do I endorse the message of this: NO!

But when that chorus hits, it was EXACTLY how I felt. It was high energy, celebratory, and FUN! In that moment, I wasn’t looking for words, I was looking for music that communicated THAT emotion.  There was nothing else that did.  I used to get so frustrated with teenagers when I would DJ for parties because the music they brought me had horrible lyrics. They said they didn’t care of know what the lyrics were, all they cared about was the music. Only now am I beginning to understand what they were talking about.  Not that I condone the music, but there is an honest tension between the “feel” of a song and the lyrical content.

Music can communicate beyond what even lyrics can. Take a band like Maroon 5. Their music is SO fun. The lyrics: not so much. But we listen because what what our mom’s told us growing up is true: “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it”

We are Christians are in need. We are need of musicians who know how to use their instruments not just to emulate Coldplay, but who can interpret scripture, hymns, and new songs. Musicians – take up your commission from the word and learn your craft. We need you to do what you were made to do! Make music that says something without a word. We need it so bad!


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Public Products and the Private Process

16 04 2010

Amazing Quote: I can give you a lot of things, but I can’t give you my history with God. – Bill Johnson (not exact)

Embarrassing Story: I had the privilege and honor of being disciple by and working under Aaron Keyes: one of the most gifted and anointed worship leaders around.  He was and is a person that I respect and look up to.  Anyhow, one of my responsibilities in working for Aaron was to lead worship at Grace when he was on the raod. One week that I was scheduled to lead, I also accidentally scheduled myself to lead at a Wednesday-Friday camp.  Rehearsals were Thursday nights.   Oops.

So, what did I do?  Cancel the camp and focus on my primary responsibility? Nope. I thought to myself, “I could do both.  Aaron cancels rehearsals when he has conflict. I’ll do the same. I’ll play the camp AND play on sunday. Win win!”  I promptly e-mailed the band, tagging Aaron and Carrie (our worship and arts director), to let them know the I was canceling rehearsal because of a prior engagement and to be practiced up for Sunday.

How do you think that worked out?  Not so well. I think every person who was in ANY form of authority over me at the time made sure to rebuke me for that little incident. And I’m grateful. It wasn’t fun, but I learned something incredibly important from that experience.

Lesson:  We can’t have the public product without the private process.

I didn’t get this.  I saw someone I wanted to be like, (Aaron) so I copied what he did.  I acted confident with my band, got camp gigs, taught while I led worship, and cancelled rehearsals when it my schedule had conflicts without asking anyone.  What I forgot was that for Aaron, his confidence in his band was because He had spent countless hours developing himself as a musician.  His camp gigs were products of God’s favor on his life. His teaching in worship was an overflow of his walk with Jesus.  He could cancel rehearsals because he was a strong enough leader to make a sunday rehearsal work, and he didn’t have to ask anyone because He had been given that authority in response to his skill and faithfullness.

Have you ever seen a worship leader quote a teaching moment from a worship CD word for word?  I have. More than once.  Have YOU ever done that?  Guess what. I have. And it’s not based in bad intentions. It’s good that we want to be like people who are like Jesus, but the reality is, even Jesus spent time in his quiet place to be able to operate in the power and authority of the spirit (See Wilderness Power post). If Jesus did it, we will have to do it as well.

Who do you respect and want to be like?  Instead of imitating their public product, (stage energy, speaking style, confidence, “swagger,” etc) find out their private process is (time in the word, prayer, practice, study, etc) and imitate that. Because we will never experience the product without the process. (If you want a funny biblical example of this, look at the Jews that tried to be authoritative like Paul and rebuke a demon: Acts 19:13-16)


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