i am an offering

I had a meeting this morning with some dear friends of mine who are also partners in ministry at Living Word.  They gave me a lot to think about - particularly some things concerning this blog.  I need to take a breather and step away from posting for a little bit - so you might not hear from me for a while.  In the meantime, let everything you do be a living sacrifice to God so that He may be glorifed in every way.

Today’s post was going to be on the importance of being healthy as a worship leader (both physically and spiritually) but I need to put that on hold.  Look forward to those things tomorrow.

Today, however, I wanted to ask a question: How does your example (especially in ministry) affect how others worship God?

Desiring Invisibility is Much More Possible than Actually Being Invisible.

When we get up to lead worship, my hope is that our prayer and desire is to disappear so that God will be made more clear in people’s minds.  We study about who He is so we can give an accurate picture of the God we’re worshiping to the people we’re worshiping with.  We study encouragements from Scripture so we can encourage those who are worshiping with us and make them feel at home and welcome in God’s presence within the church.  But if we do all of those things and make unwise decisions or run over those we’re working with (even unintentionally) - we will not disappear.  Try as they might to get past the distraction that they see in us, the people that we’ve hurt or misled or ignored won’t be able to see anything but our mistakes.  Even if they put the best construction on things that they possibly can - in the back of their minds they’ll remember what happened.  As much as we want to disappear and make God the only thing visible through us, we’re always in the spotlight - faults and all.

A dear friend of mine in ministry and I just had an email exchange where my friend openly admitted that there was a struggle because of the way some parts of the music ministry was being handled.  My friend was very courteous and gracious (and very right, I might add) in addressing an issue that needed to be addressed.  I hope that I responded with humility and as much grace and courtesy as my friend showed me, but it got me thinking:  What we do affects how others worship God.

As much as we’d like to be invisible, it’s just impossible.  And as mature as many people within the church are to be able to forget about faults for a while and just worship God - more than likely even a small issue will nag at us when we see someone in leadership who we’re struggling with.  Even more so if it’s someone you see every Sunday or multiple Sundays (in the case of worship leaders and pastors.)

We Can’t Attain Perfection - But We Can Discipline Ourselves with Humility

We could spend our lives trying to make sure we never hurt anyone.  That would be impossible.  Even something that we feel wasn’t a big deal in the least could be a huge stumbling block to someone.  We are human, and we will fall.  But, God calls us to humility in everything we do - including our relationships.  He also calls us to think of others much more than ourselves.  Philippians 2:3-4 says this:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

It goes on to talk about having the attitude of Jesus - God Himself coming down to earth in the must humble form possible: the Creator of the Universe becoming a human.  Not just a human, but a human that came to serve us!

We can pray for humility and pray that we can look out for others’ interests much more than our own.  In everything we do, let’s do it as Peter suggests:

Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever.” 1 Peter 4:11 (emphasis added)

Let’s live our lives as worship leaders (especially in ministry) “so that in all things God may be glorified.”

Do you have an accurate picture of who you are and your abilities? Do you think you are the absolute best at something and no one can do it better? This is something that we will struggle with as Christians. We are naturally bent towards pride. Thankfully, though, when we trust and obey the Holy Spirit, we now have the ability to join in His nature and join in the fight against pride. It’s not an easy task, but we fight every day.

Worshiping God by Having a Correct Understanding of our Gifts

Part of learning to worship God is learning that God has stamped His nature on us through the Holy Spirit and beginning to realize when we do things that are contrary to His nature. How do we join in God’s nature, being able to fight our natural tendency for pride? Paul shares this in Romans 12:

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” Romans 12:3-5

My Struggle

It’s interesting that I have been enjoying and living by verses one and two of this chapter but never really thought about these verses until recently. I’ve come to examine my heart and really think about the fact that yes, I might be a little prideful at times. It has required a shift in my thinking, constant dependence on God, and prayer for forgiveness and grace every time I realize that I’m being prideful.

How about you? Are you cultivating a heart of humility, thinking of yourself “with sober judgment” and putting others first? Let’s take the journey together.

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.

When it comes down to it, the church is all about relationships.  It began with humanity’s perfect relationship with God in the Garden.  That relationship was broken by sin, causing us to enter into a relationship of struggle with sin.  Because of God’s love for us, and His desire to restore relationship with us, Jesus did exactly that on the cross.  Now, God calls us to relationship with other people, both for the purpose of evangelism (intrudocing others to a relationship with Him) and fellowship (strengething others in their relationship to God.)

As local worship leaders, we have every oppourtunity to build relationships in both ways.  Here are some ways we can do that:

• Pray for your ministry participants by name.
• Meet with voluteers and encourage them.  Ask them how they are doing and if there is any thing they are struggling with, both personally or within the ministry.
• Teach volunteers to become leaders and them let them lead.
• Enjoy and respect your relationship with your pastor and other authority figures in the church.  Learn from them.
• Do some fun stuff with your volunteers every once in a while.  Forget about rehearsal.
• Befriend musicians in the community and share Jesus with them.
• Mentor those on your team that are from Middle or High School.

Enjoys these opportunities to build relationships.