The Image of True Worship

It has been said many times that worship is all about bringing glory to God. And this is absolutely true. So often our hearts veer off the road and worship becomes only music, but when it is true we know better than that. Pastor Jack Hayford tells us in his book, The Reward of Worship, "True worship of God is more than an exercise of religious ritual; it is a human expression of a proper value being placed on the Person being worshiped and the personal cost of the practice of worshiping Him." True worship happens when the Lord's worth is declared.

It goes beyond habitually singing songs of praise; it is living a life that glorifies the Father. John 3:30 is a great verse of what worship needs to be, "He must increase, but I must decrease." God is to be lifted up and we are to be bowing down on the ground. We do such a good job at failing at that idea. In our sinful beings, we find it difficult to put the true God over our gods on earth like money, sex, or self.  Society tells us the opposite, it tells us we must increase, and God must decrease. But Romans 12:2 tells us not to be like the world. 

True worship will transform us into God's image and mold us into what He wants us to be. Worship will reshape us, and it will alter our character. It frees us from the strength of sin and it allows us to live for Christ daily. 2 Corinthians 3:18 uses the words, "From Glory to Glory." This is us being transformed to walk in the fellowship that God always had for us. True worship will change our entire beings. We will become new creatures that long to serve our God and love His people. 

True Worship Makes a Beautiful Butterfly

When we are engaged to what true worship is and should be, we will be transformed into a more Christ-like image. True worship will lead us into the presence of God. God is always present in our lives, Matthew tells us, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." (Matthew 18: 20) But when we worship Him the way that He deserves to be worshipped, we will feel His presence manifest itself to us. We will know that God is here and He is please with what is going on. This is the kind of worship that Christ calls us to. A worship that will transform our minds, but more importantly, it will transform our hearts. 

We can look at the caterpillar and how it transforms into a butterfly. The caterpillar initially looks nothing like the butterfly that is becomes. But when it goes into its cocoon, it is changed. The caterpillar isn't working extra hard to become a butterfly, this is how God designed it. But after time, a beautiful butterfly emerges from the cocoon because God made it to transform. 

God has made us to be transformed as well. When we are led into authentic worship of God, we are entering our cocoons. We can try as hard as we want to control our worship, but that won't effect our transformation. I am reminded of Heimlich, the caterpillar from the Pixar Movie "A Bug's Life." Throughout the movie he wished he would become a beautiful butterfly. There is a scene where he puts some leaves on his back and proclaims, "I am beautiful butterfly!" But that doesn't, change the fact that he still is not a butterfly. He is trying to control his transformation. It isn't until the end of the movie that he enters his cocoon and he emerges a beautiful butterfly! Just like Heimlich, transformation of our hearts will not happen until we give up control, and allow the Holy Spirit to do what it meant to do. So as we experience His presence and allow the Holy Spirit to flow through you, we are being transformed and we will emerge from our cocoons a new creature that looks more like Christ. 

Paul tells us in his letter to the church in Rome, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind..." (Romans 12:1-2) His words tell us that when we present ourselves as sacrifices to God, it is how we worship Him. This transcends our worship as only music, but our worship is our lives and everything we do that brings glory to God is our worship. And we can't let the evil in this world distract us from what our true purpose is. We cannot allow the world to make us something ugly. We must rely on the Lord to transform us into a beautiful butterfly.

Well Thats Something You Don't See Everyday

In Exodus 3, we see the story of Moses and the burning bush. This was such a profound situation and it shaped much of the bible. The importance of this cannot be stated enough. So we have Moses is just doing what he does, he was keeping the sheep of his father-in-law. He is walking them through the wilderness, and the Lord decides it is time to speak to Moses. So all of a sudden, Moses past this bush that is set aflame. It was no ordinary fire, for the bush itself was not show the effects of being on fire. But this was God showing Moses a miraculous sign so to command him. God said to him, "Moses, Moses!" It is important to understand that Moses was not a bold or brave man, so he was probably scared to the point where he might need a new robe. But Moses musters out, "Here I am."

God says to Moses,” Do not come near! Remove your sandals, for this is holy ground." This is a really important thing for God to say, and it means so much more than just take off your shoes out of respect. In that day, Moses would have likely made his sandals himself. They were things that he worked to make. So God is not telling Moses to just take his shoes off, He is telling him to step out of what man has made, and step into God's presence. Moses is stepping from the presence of men to the presence of the Lord.

God told Moses that He had seen the afflictions of His people, the Israelites. He saw their suffering under oppression. God tells Moses that He will deliver Moses' people out of the land of Egypt and into a land of promise. But Moses, not being a bold man, is afraid of the task at hand. "Who am I?" he pleads with God. He doesn't see that God has chosen him and will work through him. God calms Moses and tells him, "I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain." 

So God comforted Moses by telling him that He will be with him. It seems that often we are afraid of what God has commanded us to do just as Moses was. Even when God told him that he would be with him, Moses was still frightened. I feel that way a lot to. I know that God's plan will be done and everything will be okay, but it is the overwhelming uncertainty of how that will all happen. It takes big faith to do what Moses did, and we need to have big faith that our God will deliver us from evil as well.

God's Presence in Our Worship

The reasons we worship corporately and personally are many. But the main purpose should be to bring glory to God. We lift our praises to Him through our songs, our works, our lives. Anything that we do that glorifies Him is our worship. We hear the prayer from worship leaders often, "Please God enter in our presence here today in our worship." But God is always present. In our worship, God's presence is becoming manifested for us, which means it is being made apparent. God awaits for us to invite Him into our presence because that is when He will make us see that He has always been there. "God is present whether we ask Him to be or not!" This challenges the idea that our worship makes any difference in God's presence or not. God's presence can be placed in three parts, His awesome presence, His abiding presence,  and His amazing presence. When we understand these, we will have a better idea of what God's presence means to our worship.

God's awesome presence is best understood if trace what the word "awesome" means. "Awesome is the contemporary adaptation of the word "awful," which originally meant "full of awe," not "horribly bad." So His presence will be a place filled with awe. And it will be overwhelming because it is so immense! In Psalms 139, the psalmist cries out, "Where can I flee from your presence!" There is no place free from the presence of God. His awesome presence should give us a feeling of being humbled, because He is everywhere we must give an account for all we have done. 

God's presence is always abiding in us. His presence remains with us always. His presence will give us comfort as in Hebrews 13:5, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." When we worship Him, we are making it clear that that his abiding is present. In our worship, we know that in his omnipresence and awesomeness that He will never stop loving us.

God's presence is amazing! The church in the Acts felt the church shake after they worshipped and called on the name of the Lord (Acts 4.) This is more than just the church making dramatic calls to God, but these worshippers are declaring their love for Christ and He is responding by His amazing power. When we worship this way, it moves us from reverent to intimate worship. When we call upon God in our praise, we see His manifest presence and power.

The Worship Leader and the Pastor pt 2

Pastors and worship leaders have the two most influential positions in the church. The relationship between these two people is rather unique. There are things that the pastor needs to make clear to his worship leader, and there are things the worship leader needs to say to his pastor. When both parties ask these questions, they become the foundation of their relationship. Worship leaders need to make it clear to their pastor that they are there to be part of a team. It cannot be about money, and it cannot be about status. The worship leader needs pastor to believe in his ability to lead the church. And the pastor needs to implement a day of Sabbath into the worship leader's schedule. 

Worship leaders need to ask that their pastor provide the resources they need to lead. That includes financial resources and administrative resources. The worship leader also needs adequate time to be creative. Another resource that the worship leader needs is for the pastor to teach him and grow him spiritually. The pastor should be a leader, a brother, a friend and a spiritual father to the worship leader. It is so important for a pastor to be able to teach his worship leader so that they can continue to grow. The pastor needs to a father figure who will keep the worship leader by his side and protect him in times of need.

The worship leader needs a pastor who isn't going to lower the biblical bar for them. He must hold the worship leader to the same standards as everyone else or hold them to higher standards. Worship leaders need the pastor to love them enough that they will insist that they live like disciples of Christ. The pastor must keep them focused long enough to remind them that they don't worship "worship," they worship God. Worship leaders need their pastor to keep them anchored and challenge what they believe. Pastors must keep worship leaders accountable for their sin. The most important thing a worship leader needs from his pastor is for him to keep the fire burning in him. He needs the pastor to keep him going and growing for Christ.