Worship is…Recognizing and Expressing God’s Beauty

Dear Worshippers,

We continue our journey through the core values of our worship this week with the eighth value, Recognizing and Expressing God’s Beauty. 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.

There are a myriad of ways that God’s beauty is expressed in His creation. Whether the grandeur of nature or the magnificence of His creatures reflecting His grandeur, there are a multitude of ways that God expresses His beauty to us. When we recognize that beauty as a revelation of something about the Creator that is worship. When we engage in beautiful expressions that are intended to reveal the beauty of God, that is worship as well. So in both the revelation and the response we worship. Worship is…recognizing and expressing God’s beauty. 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:

Oh, worship the Lord in the holiness!

Tremble before Him, all the earth. Psalm 96:9 [NKJV]

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27:4

⁴ For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.

⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.

⁶ Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary. Psalm 96:4-6

Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant. Psalm 135:3

Praise the LORD.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him! Psalm 147:1

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

The beauty of God is unique, for it is perfect. The saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, does not apply to Him. While beauty is a matter of opinion with regard to the creation, not so with the Creator. He is beauty. Then again…

For the unredeemed soul, the holiness of God is a dreadful thing. For the redeemed, it is beautiful. The passages above from the Psalms and from Philippians give very clear instruction that our response to God revealing Himself as beautiful should be worship. It delights the soul, and ultimately is the one needful thing in the life of the believer.

Probably one of the weakest areas in evangelicalism is the use of the arts to convey the beauty of God. Certainly, we use music in our attempts to do this, but for a number of reasons we have neglected the visual and graphic arts. There is a new era developing however in the Church in which we are recapturing some of the talent that has been forsaken or poured out in other pursuits. May God be glorified in all our talents as we seek to express His beauty.

Stay tuned…NEXT WEEK…Worship is…Engaging the whole person.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

Worship is…A Spiritual Discipline

Dear Worshippers,

We continue our journey through the core values of our worship this week with the seventh value, A Spiritual Discipline. 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.

When we are for worship there are an infinite number of thoughts going through our heads: Where is so and so? I am so tired. Thank you Lord for another day. Does anyone even notice that I am here and I am crying? I sure don’t like that song. I am not praying in a small group, no way. I wish I had more to give You Lord. Not matter what may be on our minds as we gather for worship, we must bring it all and place it at the foot of the cross. We must fix our eyes on Jesus. We must train ourselves to give Him glory, for worship is…a spiritual discipline. 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:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as

living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1-2

…train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. I Timothy 4:7b-8

The first passage is one of the most common scriptures used when anyone talks about worship. In view of God’s mercy we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. This is one of the primary scriptures to consider when thinking about whole life worship. That is to say we do not offer ourselves one Sunday morning, then climb down off the altar and live for ourselves until next Sunday. However, the probably with a living sacrifice is that is exactly what can happen.

This is where the spiritual discipline aspect comes into play. Recognizing that we have offered ourselves to God, we keep ourselves before God in this most life-engaging act of worship. While this is the only appropriate response of the redeemed soul to mercy of God, that does not make it easy. This is where the second passage comes to life.

We must train ourselves in this. While again this is the response of the entire life, our focus has been on corporate worship in particular. So how does this come to bear on that value. If we train ourselves, as unpleasant or at least demanding as that process is, there is promise for this present life and the life to come.

I have often half-jokingly teased people about being in choir because it prepares you for heaven. While I do not think we will be in one eternal worship service as our minds might conceive of it, their will be worship in heaven. If we engage ourselves now in this discipline, it will be to our advantage somehow in eternity. But not only then, now as well.

And what does this training look like. Well, it must include doing things that we know are good for us: getting up and going to church when we do not feel like it, praying in small groups when the opportunity comes, giving of the “first fruits” of our labors to the Lord, actively listening to what God is saying, actively saying things in response-in word, in song, in deed among a myriad of other things.

I encourage you to discipline yourselves to worship…it does the body good…pass it on.

Stay tuned…NEXT WEEK…Worship is…Recognizing and expressing God’s beauty.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

Worship is…Transgenerational

Dear Worshippers,

I am going to keep prayer before you, but for now a respite as we resume the series on the Core Values of corporate worship in our church. If you were not at church last week when the brochure containing them was distributed I have attached it for you convenience. Please read it and familiarize yourself with the Scriptures that teach these values which the Elders have embraced and adopted…

We continue our journey through the core values of our worship this week with the sixth value, Transgenerational. 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.

When we are for worship we are a diverse group. We represent different church backgrounds, neighborhoods, ethnic groups, nationalities, cultures, career paths, family make-up, etc. One of the greatest spans we cover is that of generations. Though there are a number of opportunities for the respective generations to gather together within the life of the church, we believe that our corporate worship should be Transgenerational, or across the generations. 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:

One generation will commend your works to another;
they will tell of your mighty acts. Psalm 145:4

…¹¹kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,

¹² young men and maidens,
old men and children.

¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

¹⁴ He has raised up for his people a horn,
the praise of all his saints,
of Israel, the people close to his heart.
Praise the LORD. Psalm 148:11-14

¹⁷'In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
¹⁹I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
²⁰The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
²¹And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.' Acts 2:17-21 [Joel 2:28-32]

¹²I write to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
¹³I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
¹⁴I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one. I John 2:12-14

In the first two passages the Psalmist is describing corporate worship or instructing in it’s practice. In the Acts passage, which quotes Joel’s prophecy, Peter is declaring the prophecy to have been fulfilled in the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. That same Spirit is at work today. And in the passage from I John, we read the words of a letter that were meant to be read to the church when it was gathered for worship, obviously across the generations.

When we gather for worship, we must appreciate the fact that we are approaching the Lord with members of other generations. I say appreciate because it is important that we are more than simply sensitive to this fact. We must gather with the expectation that the Lord desires to speak to us through those other generations, through aspects of worship that may be more meaningful to them, and sometimes directly through the members of those other generations. The Lord is so gracious to help us understand the timelessness of worship as we gather to worship across the generations each week, but this is only one of the ways we reach beyond ourselves in worship to see more of God.

Stay tuned…NEXT WEEK…Worship is…a spiritual discipline.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

Changes

Dear Worshippers,

For the last several weeks I have been challenging you to enter into a deeper life of prayer. I have asked you for a commitment to a prayer ministry for the worship life of our church, but really centered around knowing Christ better. I have been discouraged that so few of you have responded, but I took that discouragement to the Lord. I believe He has showed me a number of things.

Prayer is not for a few but for all of us. Jesus’ call to prayer in Matthew 9 was not issued to just the spiritual giants, but to all of us. We all need to be praying, and then going and serving. Prayer must be our first work , or all of our other work will be for naught. Let us pray.

This is not a guilt trip but a conviction course. I am not trying to guilt you into praying more. Jesus taught that the Spirit would come to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment [John 16:8]. If you are feeling guilty for not praying, that is not from God. If you are feeling convicted to pray more, that is. It is not my words that bring conviction, but the work of the Holy Spirit.

Change is not a simple thing. What I am feeling compelled to ask you to do will require some changes in your life. You can not continue to spend your time the same way. You can not continue to practice the same set of spiritual disciplines. You must make some changes. That is no easy task. Jesus’ teaching of self-denial and cross-bearing demonstrate this.

It was this last one that really hit me today, first on a personal level and then broadening to include the ministry we share.

How are your resolutions going? A month into the New Year many people have long forgotten the resolutions they made, which likely would have required some changes in their lives. While mine was not a resolution, I have committed to more systematic prayer as I desire to grow in my relationship with Christ this year. I have failed in one area of this endeavor because I have not made the changes in my living to facilitate it.

I wonder how many of you are not willing to commit to pray because you are afraid you do not have the abitily to make the necessary changes in your life to fulfill the commitment? I want to encourage you to submit to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to amaze you with His ability. I am praying for a revival in our church. Will you be a part of that? Will you join me in prayer? Become an InterCessor today!

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

NOTES

♪ CHOIR – Join us this week as we are continuing work on the Easter musical “I’ve Seen Jesus”. Click here to hear some clips and read a brief description.

♪ ORCHESTRA – Upcoming Schedule We play next this week, 2.10 and then follow the forthcoming schedule. EASTER schedule is attached. Click here to hear some clips and read a brief description of it.

♪ DVD’s – I have them for “There is Peace…” for those of you who would still like one. At the office and with me on weekends.

January 2008

Dear InterCessors,

Thank you for answering the call to prayer. For a long time the leadership of the Alliance has said that prayer must be our first work. This ministry, a broad group of people praying collectively for the worship life of our church, will ensure that we keep the main thing the main thing. I believe we can move mountains. I believe Jesus gave us great authority that we too often fail to exercise. Thank you for being willing to “get in shape”, or rather to assist the worship life of our church to do so, through your prayers.

This is the commitment I would like to ask you to make. I am calling the InterCessors to spend 2008 as follows.

1. Praying everyday through a monthly prayer card (3-5 minutes)

2. Waiting on the Lord following this to hear His voice (1-2 minutes)

3. Praying on Sunday morning for the worship experience of the church gathered.

4. Praying the rest of the week for the worship experience of the work dispersed.

Eventually I would like to add a fifth phase, possibly later this Spring once the team is a little larger

5. Praying once a month during the service with other members of the team for God to reveal Himself and His people to respond.

Just reply that you would like to be an InterCessor and I will add you to the list for monthly updates.