What in the world is Tuesday anyway? If Monday’s the beginning of the week, Wednesday’s the middle of the week, Thursday’s the day before Friday, Friday’s the beginning of the weekend, Saturday is amazing, and Sunday is a day of rest – then what in the world is Tuesday?
Deep thoughts on a day that gets shortchanged.
What does your Tuesday hold for you? How will you capture it and redeem it for God’s glory? Share!
Sometimes all it takes is a little teaching and a lot of passion to help someone understand and embrace something. Enjoy Benjamin Zander in this fantastic TED talk video on music, passion, leadership, and more. It’s twenty minutes but well-worth the time spent. (RSS readers, if you can’t see the video, click here to visit the site and watch.)
Also be sure to visit worship leader and songwriter Brian Wahl’s website to read his thoughts on how this translates to leading worship within the congregation. I believe he made some fantastic parallels.
Question: Is there anything in your leadership or love of music that “flipped the switch” or “made it click” for you? Click here to leave a comment.
The central theme of our Christian faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus. In his time of prayer before the whole saga began he said in Matthew 26:39, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” This selfless act of service is the ultimate act of worship. Most people think of the cross as a great act of worship and it was, but the purpose of the cross was not worship. The purpose of the cross was redemption.
The real act of worship was found in the words “?yet, not as I will, but as you will.”? That simple phrase shows us the greatest act of worship anyone can ever give: obedience!
As a worship leader, I sing songs of worship to the Lord all the time. Simply sitting around the house I am often singing worship songs, or listening to a new worship album. However, this, while it is an act of worship, does not reach the Father’s heart as much as obedience.
Jesus himself told us to be obedient before he modeled obedience to us. He says in John 14:15 that if we love him, we keep his commandments. What does it mean to keep his commandments? Keeping His commandment means obeying him.
As Christians we need to live a life of worship. We often equate worship with songs and music. When we do this, we miss the most important act of worship. We are willing to worship God as long as it doesn’t require work. Singing is simple: practically everyone does it whether it is public or simply while in the shower, but obedience is work. Obedience requires discipline.
To be obedient you need to know God. You need to know his word, and the things he has asked of us. Jesus was being tested on his doctrine by the Pharisee’s when they asked him “What is the Greatest Commandment” He responded to them, “Hear Israel, The Lord your God is one God and you shall love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” Then he shared the second greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We can sing all the songs we want but if we aren’t able to follow these two commandments we are missing the point of obedience as an act of worship. Now, I know there are more commandments than simply these, but we have trouble with these.
Think about this: James said, “True religion is to love and serve the widows and orphans.” How are we as worshipers helping those in need? Obedience is the key to worship. If we can learn to be obedient with our lives all other forms of worship will be increased.
If you are looking for a practical example of this I would recommend looking at the band Gungor.* A long side of his music ministry and creativity in his worship music, his local church community Bloom in Denver, Colorado is actively involved with Child Sponsorship, and programs to rescue women from sex trafficking.
(*Editor’s note – Gungor is a little out-of-the-box for a lot of the audience reading this blog but they are doing some incredibly artistic work while still holding on to Biblical teachings as well as challenging Christian artists to not be molded into mainstream Christian pop culture. You might disagree with some of their methods, but know that they are impacting a lot of people greatly for the kingdom of God.)
Also the International house or prayer sponsors orphanages, disaster relief programs, homeless shelters and soup kitchens
True worship is actively intertwined with justice. We as worshipers need to be not only musicians, but obedient servants.
What practical acts of obedience have you seen through others?
Mathew Reames is a Servant of The Lord. He is currently Serving as a ministry intern in Lawrence, KS. He is a missionary, worship leader, and blogger. You can read his musings at http://matreames.tk
I hear the screams of my little one from behind the closed door as I wait for her to come back to the hospital room to where she’s been admitted. “Stop! No more! I want to go HOME NOW!” are the words heard through frantic tears and cries as the nurses try three times to get in an IV.
I want to come home, too, my precious little one, and I know your mommy feels it even more. But we’re here. We’re here for you. We’re sacrificing our desire to be at home and relaxing so that these doctors and nurses can help you. We’re sacrificing luxuries that money could buy to make sure we pay whatever it takes to care for you.
I wish you could understand. Even though you are the only 3-year-old I’ve ever met that can lay comfortably in a hospital bed for two days and only ask “Can we go home” a few times I know your little mind doesn’t truly comprehend what’s going on or how much we cherish you.
The countless hours spent preparing your medical equipment, the countless times we’ve cleaned up after you’ve gotten sick, the amount of money we’ve spent to make sure you are strong; it’s all worth it because you are ours. Your mommy and your daddy love you more than you could ever imagine and hopefully you’re at least getting a little glimmer of that love that someday you’ll understand.
And that’s when I think of my Daddy. My Heavenly Father who says, “I’m allowing you this season of your life so that you’ll grow and learn. I’m teaching you patience so that you’ll be able to look back one day and understand. I’m allowing trials to strengthen your faith. I love you even more than you love your daughter because you are mine. I sacrificed more than anything you could ever dream of. For you.”
I hope that I can realize that the sacrifices I make for my precious child are nothing compared to what God has done for me. I also hope I can realize more and more that because of what He did for me, my sacrifices for her mean everything. They mean that someday she’ll begin to see an accurate picture of who her Heavenly Father is through me. It’s a monumental task and one in which I will fail often. But today my prayer is this, “Let me be to her what You are to me.”
Love to you, my beautiful daughter, from Daddy.
Love to you, my precious son, bought with the blood of the One that gave everything for you, from Daddy.
This post is part of the How to Be An Offering weekly series posted every Wednesday. I would love to hear your stories of sacrifice and how you are living a life of worship. To participate, write a post and link directly back to this one in your post. Leave a comment with the link as well. If you are on Twitter, use the hashtag #livingsacrifice.
We recently visited one of the congregations in our Association during a quick weekend trip to Minneapolis, MN. During the worship service we were introduced to songwriter and worship leader Brenton Brown’s new ?”Joyful (The One Who Saves)”? which incorporates the beginning words from the hymn “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” and melody from the Beethoven’s ?Ode to Joy? from the his 9th Symphony.
I had heard a preview of the worship song when Brenton gave us the opportunity to listen online when the album was released and enjoyed it. I liked it even more in a congregational setting. Continue Reading…
Ryan is a follower of Christ, husband, father of three, and Director of Worship & Creative Arts at Living Word Free Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
