i am an offering

Do you view your interactions with others as an act of worship to God?  The Bible is full of commands of how to treat each other.  Here’s just one of many examples,

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:25-32

In your relationships, do you worship God by choosing to:

• Build up instead of tear down? (Including building up and not tearing down even when you’re not with the person you’re talking about?)
• Pray for people that you’re struggling with instead of complaining about them?
• Forgiving and asking for forgiveness?
• Have compassion for those who don’t know Jesus instead of judgment?
• Resolving differences in your family before the sun goes down?

Let’s worship God by how we chose to respond in our relationships.

How do you speak to people you come in contact with?  Do you think about the fact that even little things we say can have a huge impact on people?  Paul has two specific ways of worshiping God with the way we speak to people.  The first is how we speak to outsiders, or unbelievers:

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Colossians 4:5-6.

“Seasoned with salt” is in interesting phrase.  It refers to salt being a preservative.  We are to use our speech to preserve a good attitude towards those we come in contact that don’t know Jesus.  We don’t answer them in judgment or condemnation, but with an answer full of grace.

The second way we can worship with the way we speak is to everyone:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29.

Does what you say to others fit the occasion?  Is it something that is good for building up?  Do you realize that when you gossip about someone not only are you solidifying your bad attitude toward them, but drawing others into that same attitude?

Let’s worship Jesus by honoring Him with everything we say today.  Find a way to build someone up today!

This past weekend I had a great comment from Rocky and I wanted to spend this week giving a response to it. This was part of the comment:

My freshman-in-college-Christ-following-want-to-do-something-bigger-than-the-church son is an excellent guitarist and has the potential to be an excellent worship leader. He has led worship a few times at our church youth. I try to encourage him by telling him that there is no difference between him and Chris Tomlin, Lincoln Brewster, etc, except the experience (and probably a manager/producer).

But I also tell him that even though a Texas-sized dream is good, there is nothing like the local church when it is running right. (view the rest here.)

Lee McDerment, worship leader of Newspring Church, just mentioned on Perry Noble’s blog an 8th thing that every worship leader should know. He said, “The church is God’s dream, not your worship album!” I have to wholeheartedly agree with this.

Ephesians 4:11-13 (and several other places in Scripture) talks about gifts given to believers. Music is not mentioned as a spirtual gift, but the purpose of spirtual gifts and (I believe) the purpose of using music to glorify God are the same, as it says in verse 12,

for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.

What really is the purpose of a worship leader?  Is it to write worship songs?  Is it to make people more aware of God’s presence?  I believe it is to equip “the saints for work of service,” and “the building up of the body of Christ.”

All of the major worship songs written by “major worship leaders” were written to “the building up of the body of Christ.”  So many of them come out of a need within their own church, or a response to something that was taught in their own church, or a response to something that God did in their heart while at their own church.

God desires to build up the church.  Not as a physical building, but as a congregation of believers who proclaim His name.  As local worship leaders, we have the incredible privilege of being involved in the nitty-gritty building of that church.  We see the good, the bad, and the ugly.  We see the need for a certain song to be written to address something going on within the church.  We see people’s hurts, joys, fears, concerns, and everything in betewen.  It’s very hard to see these things from a national platform.

Lee also said,

“When you place God’s dream in front of your dreams it’s amazing what can take place.”

Well said.  Every worship leader that I know of that is recognized on a national stage wasn’t necessarily looking for that recognition.  They honored God as local worship leaders, and God blessed their ministry beyond what they could imagine.  Let’s do the same.