We complete our journey through the core values of our worship this week with the twelfth and final value, Humility. As I keep saying, you may be surprised that none of the things the Elders have adopted as core values of our worship are necessarily music-oriented. Actually none of them deal with elements at all, but rather with the essentials of worship. They are more the why than the what of worship, if you will.
Humility. It has been defined as a modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc. Though it is listed last, it is certainly not the least of the values. One might say that for any true worship to occur, humility is a prerequisite. While I would agreed with that, we offer it here at the end because it is so important to not only start from this position in worship, but to maintain this position. A position of submission, meekness, unworthiness. When we consider God, we should assume such a position. With this in mind we offer that worship is… Humility. There are any number of Scriptures that speak to this value, but here are the ones we have adopted for inclusion in the philosophical document:
…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11
But Samuel replied:
"Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams. I Samuel 15:22
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
If our worship is to be all about God, where better to look for an example of how to live that way that to the person of Jesus Christ. The Philippians passage, believed by some to be a hymn that was known by the early church, clearly portrays the humble attitude of Jesus, and exhorts us to have the same. If He had such an estimation of the Father, we should as well.
The I Samuel passage affirms this as well by teaching that God wants more than just the outward trappings of worship, he wants the heart. A heart that is willing to obey and to heed the voice of God is a heart that is rightly positioned to worship. God is certainly interested in right responses to His glory, but He wants those responses to generate from deep within heart of the worshipper so that worship is not so much a series of actions as a way of life, like in the final scripture.
A worship lifestyle is pictured here: not only in the first two statements, but especially in the final one. “Walk humbly with your God.” Did you notice that this is a short list of things that Micah says “the Lord require[s] of you”? This is not optional. In order to do this we must have a proper understanding of Who He is, and who we are in the light of Him. This implies not only knowing, but ongoing relationship – walking with Him. And how are we supposed to walk? Humbly. Humility should mark our relationship to God, our living with Him, and this demonstrated through every act of worship, but especially when we gather.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
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