Whose Opinion Matters

Musings – Whose Opinion Matters?
I’m afraid it’s an occupational hazard that people will give me their opinions about our worship services. Sometimes these comments are gracious and encouraging. Sometimes they are downright selfish and petty. The emotional bruises left by the latter are hard to ignore and sometimes take me a few days to recover from. I have come to realize recently, however, that the encouraging remarks can be dangerous as well if I view them in the wrong perspective. I am grateful for people whose deep thoughts take my thinking deeper. My quote file sometimes helps me refocus. Here are some that I pondered today:

The Scriptures allude to just about every approach to worship there is: organized, spontaneous, public, private, simple, complex, ornate or plain. Yet there is no comment anywhere about any one way being preferred over another. Rather, it is the spiritual condition of the worshiper that determines whether or not God is at work. (Harold Best)

God is not impressed with our worship until our hearts are moved and impressed by Him. (Kelly Sparks)

To pretend homage to God and intend only the advantage to myself is rather to mock God than worship Him. When we believe we ought to be satisfied rather than God glorified, we set God below ourselves and imagine that He should submit His honor to our advantage. (Stephen Charnock, 1628-1680)

What does God say about our worship? Surely, this is the toughest and most basic question to be asked, but curiously it is often the last question we ask. If we think about our worship at all, usually we think in terms of, What do I want from our worship? or, What do MY PEOPLE want from our worship? without daring to be so bold as to ask, What does GOD want from our worship? (William Willimon, Biography and Bibliography)

Bobby Sanderson’s list of questions I cited a couple of weeks ago included “Can God use what I don’t like?” Sure He can. Case in point: The Holy City has never been on my list of personal favorites. I sang it last Sunday morning because the focal text for the sermon was from Revelation 21, and I knew that it would touch some of our members deeply. Rick Warren reminded us at the beginning of his book, “It’s not about you.” It is about God. Do people’s opinions matter? Sure they do … but God has the final word.

That’s enough to think about for now …

From 4/19 - A Place for Everyone

I just got Kyle Matthews’ new CD in the mail yesterday. I have listened to it in the background while working to dig out from under the mountains of music that have piled up during the renovation and Easter music preparation. One song has caught my attention more than any other. Based on Luke 14:15-24 and John 12:32, the words go like this:

Went to a church that was on a mission
They try to stamp out sin
But since they’ve thrown all the sinners out
Now, nobody can go in

Chorus:
Is no one looking for a place for everyone?
Isn’t anyone looking for a place for everyone?

Went to a club with a long tradition
They raise the social bar
Now they know who they won’t let in
But they don’t know who they are

(Chorus)

Bridge:
Jesus warned us, if we lift him up
We might not like what we find
‘Cause when perfect love is lifted up
It draws all humankind

I dreamed I died and joined the millions
There at the Pearly Gates
But when they saw who’d gone in before them
They turned away and said, “No, thanks”
They turned away and said, “No, thanks”

(Chorus)

In case you're wondering, here are the scriptures that inspired the song:

When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom ofGod.” Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, `Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, `I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, `I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Still another said, `I just got married, so I can’t come.’ The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, `Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ (Luke 14:15-21, NIV)


And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself (John 12:32, NASV)

Kind of reminds me of what Jim Somerville said during the revival about us ranking visitors as to whether they were “good prospects” or not. It’s not for us to say. Oddly enough, Kyle’s new CD is entitled “What Shall We Say?”. That’s enough to think about for now …

From 4/05 - Stop Evaluating … Start Experiencing

Sometimes God chooses to inspire me by allowing me to read how He has inspired someone else. It’s OK. When God inspires me, I’m happy to share. I’ve found that others are as well. This message comes via the WorshipIdeas.com e-mail bulletin that I get periodically. Another WorshipIdeas.com subscriber sent it in.
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Bobby Sanderson, Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church of Columbus, Mississippi, was impacted when he read an article about worship. In that article, the author said, “I wish I could get my people to stop evaluating worship and start experiencing it.” Sanderson says that he began asking himself some hard questions:

1. Is worship about God or is it about what I like?
2. Do I seek God’s presence or the comfort of being with friends and doing what is familiar?
3. When is the last time God “blind-sided” me and spoke in a way I did not expect?
4. Am I so contemporary I lose the transcendence of God?
5. Am I so traditional that I forget God’s relevance?
6. Do I see myself as part of an audience giving approval/disapproval to worship leaders?
7. Can God use what I don’t like?
8. Am I more into music than the spoken word?
9. Do I ignore the command to sing just to get to the “message”?
10. Do I leave worship with a clear sense of what I’m supposed to do?
11. Is the style of worship more important than the object of worship?
12. Do I love His presence as much as the songs I sing and play?
13. Can I worship Him when it’s hard work and my joy is running low?

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That’s enough to think about for now …

from 3/29 - The Power of the Cross (2)

Last week I introduced Keith Getty and Stuart Townend’s new hymn “The Power of the Cross” to you. I was listening to a recording of it this afternoon that had Keith Getty talking about it a little bit before the music. He said they went through some 18 stanzas before they got it boiled down to the 4 that we have. In an article about the hymn, they gave three goals they had when writing the hymn. The first I shared with you last week. They wanted the hymn to provide the church:

1) An opportunity to remember His sufferings
I remember hearing a family friend say once that Baptists are, as a whole, so afraid of Holy Week that we don’t do good Friday services because we would have to leave with the thought of Christ still on the cross on our minds and wouldn’t get to celebrate the resurrection until Sunday. Folks, I think it’s healthy to do that. When we rush through to the resurrection, we fail to contemplate what our sin put Christ through. Getty and Townend also hoped to craft:

2) A hymn teaching what Christ’s sufferings achieve on the cross “When we talk of the Father’s plan and the Son’s sacrifice, we should not think of the Father laying on the Son an ordeal He was unwilling to bear, nor of the Son extracting from the Father a salvation He was unwilling to bestow. It is true that the Father gave the Son. It is equally true that the Son gave Himself. We mustn’t speak of God punishing Jesus or of Jesus persuading God the Father. We must never make Christ the object of God’s punishment or God the object of Christ’s persuasion. For both Father and Son are subjects, not objects – taking the initiative together to save sinners.” (John R. W. Stott)

3) A hymn which explains what Christ’s sufferings on the cross mean for us every day as we live:
In their own words: “All of it. Every thought, deed, word, the very disposition of my sinful heart is forgiven completely through the cross and resurrection. Not through my own effort, not through any strength in me, not through any man-made plan but wholly through the power of the cross.”

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

That’s enough to think about for now …