Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day

Sometime we are able to express our worship by singing when we do not have the words to express our love and respect for God.

 

Worship in Spirit and in Truth part 4

Worship in Spirit and in Truth part 4

Have you ever pondered on the thought of why we include music in our public and private worship of God? Why don’t we just speak all our worship to God? Why do we music unto Him? Musicing unto God helps us to understand and express effectively who God is and what He does. In the act of musicing we are able to express our response to the claims of God upon our lives. Sometimes words alone can not fully express the depth of our response to God. So, we make music unto Him.

Genesis 1:1 states that “¹In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Colossians 1:16 tells us “¹⁶For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him:” Hebrews 2:10-12 further explains why we music unto God when it says, “¹⁰For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. ¹¹For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, ¹²Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.”

Verses 16-18 continues, “¹⁶For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. ¹⁷Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” Hebrews 4:14-16 caps it all off with these words, “¹⁴Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. ¹⁵For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

 

Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day

True worship is  our response to God as we honor Him  for  who He is and what He has done.

 

Worship in Spirit and in Truth part 3

Worship in Spirit and in Truth part 3

            This is what worship is all about. Because of the reality in our lives of the Scriptures yesterday we considered reasons why we worship. I want to further emphasize that we worship God for who He is, what He has done, and what He is doing now in our lives. We pray, we read Scripture, we preach the Word, we confess His name, and we also music unto Him. 
            We worship the Creator not the created things. Romans 1:25 tells us about what happened to those who worship created things rather than the one who created all things. “²⁵Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature [i.e. the created] more [rather] than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.” Music is a created thing. It is dangerous to worship music. As a matter of fact, it is idolatrous to worship music. Worshipping musical performance is the result of a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose of Church music in worship. The listener-performer phenomenon is a misuse of music in worship.

 

Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day

It is not always easy to find music that exalts God or that is complete truth, but if we are going to music according to the precepts of the Bible we must worship with both concepts in mind.

Worship in Spirit and in Truth part 2

Worship in Spirit and in Truth part 2

            Nick Page, in his book And Now Let’s Move into a Time of Nonsense, stated “Worship has become an event, an occasion, isolated and distinct from the rest of our life and from our real walk with God…Real worship stems from a conscious decision to live our lives in God’s way” (pp 26-27).  Worship is not about singing, or preaching, or testifying, or taking an offering and it certainly is not about the long laundry list of announcements we make. Worship is about acknowledging who God is and what He has done and what He does. We worship because:

God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. (St. John 4:24)

1. God has made it possible for us to be His children.¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²The same was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴In him was life; and the life was the light of men…¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. ¹¹He came unto his own, and his own received him not. ¹²But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (St. John 1:1-4,10-12)
2. God made us His children by adoption.  ¹⁵For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (Romans 8:15)
3. God sent His Son to redeem us.  ¹⁷For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (St. John 3:17)
4. God justifies us through His Son Jesus.  ¹Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Romans 5:1)Because of Christ, we can live without God’s condemnation.¹There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)
5. Nothing has the power to separate us from God.  ³⁸For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, ³⁹Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

 

 

 

Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day

It was an “Aha” when I figured out that worship was not about me. 

Worship in Spirit and in Truth part 1

Worship in Spirit and in Truth part 1

St. John 4:20-24 states, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain [Mt. Gerizem]; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” 

Can we truly say we know what we worship?    Sometimes musicians have a fundamental misconception of what worship really is. It is not a guy on the platform playing a pipe organ so big you have to wear a crash helmet to get down off the bench, or someone down on the floor wearing sandals and a Jesus t-shirt playing his guitar or banjo, or six Barbies with microphones singing in front of the congregation.

Quote for the Day

Quote for the Day

“The main form of philosophically developed theism believed in by most religious people in the modern world involves a God who not only created all of physical reality, but who also acts in the world miraculously.”  Philosophy for Dummies by Tom Morris, p. 239.

 

 

Christ Centered Music Philosophy is Different part 5

Christ Centered Music Philosophy is Different part 5

Because Church Music Matters, it must be philosophically accountable to God.  Since Christians do not exist in an absurd purposeless universe, all music making has moral purpose.  The fine arts do not escape moral purpose or the Lordship of Christ and furthermore, there is nothing purposeless in the life of a Christian.

Church Music Matters and so does all music in the life of a Christian (or a sinner for that matter).  It is not hard for many Christians to conceptualize the fact that Church Music Matters, but it is often very difficult for some Christians to understand how or why secular music matters.  Remember that it is one of the presuppositions of my writings is that when it comes to secular and sacred music it is not “either or” but rather “wise choices” of both.  A Christian performer or educator should also recognize that a thorough music philosophy must include a series of philosophical beliefs concerning the nature and value of the whole of music.  This “whole” of music must include wise choices of secular music as well as sacred music.  The whole of music must include every style of music that a Christian listens to or performs.