 “I will give thanks to You, O Lord among the heavens,
I will sing praises to You among the nations, For your steadfast love is great, Is great to the heavens, And Your faithfulness, Your faithfulness, to the clouds! Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, Let Your glory be over all the earth! Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, Let Your glory be over all the earth!” We would probably refer to this praise song as “an oldie.” The funny thing is until many of us read Psalm 57 this week; we may not have grasped just how much of “an oldie” it is! It is not just a song that was written in 1977 – the Holy Spirit through His servant David gave it to us. What may tend to astound us a little is the music studio in which it was written. ------------------ There he sat in a dark cave, wondering what possibly could be next. What had it been – 4 or 5 years he had been on the run? A fugitive from justice – at least the royal excuse for justice at the present moment. He could hear his own breathing – as well as the breathing of a small band of men who were with him in the place where light would not betray their presence. What would today bring? Another close call with death – another sprint up the side of a mountain with our pursuers barely out of sight? It was a lonely existence and often a frustrating one. But before his thoughts could turn to another thing there was a noise at the entrance of their hideout. Silence – absolute silence had to be observed. Did someone see them come in? Did they not cover their tracks well enough? Even worse – were these their final moments before a flood of battle-hardened warriors would begin what would be literally the fight of his life? No it was only one person – wait – it was one very recognizable person from his attire. The king was entering the cave – and remarkably – he was alone. It was soon evident that he was there to relieve himself. A lone soldier silently came to his side and whispered in his ear. “David – this is it – you can end all this now. God has led your enemy right to you where you can strike him down.” The stealthy voice was hushed as David took only a moment (but it felt like a year) to know what he should do. “This is God’s anointed!” He thought, “How can I stretch out my hand and kill him without guilt? He moved as if a small wisp of wind and cut just the corner of Saul’s garment off of the robe. Soon Saul was finished and began to depart from the cave. David waited a few minutes and then followed him. His men crept behind him to see what would happen. David called out to Saul and apologized. APOLOGIZED! What was he doing, his men thought! He isn’t going to kill him? He’s apologizing – and he’s giving away our position! We’re all dead men now! But soon after they heard Saul weep and apologize to him! What an amazing thing to see and hear. What a strange day it was. That night they sat around the fire and David pulled out his lyre. They loved when he did this – for few if any could write and sing like their captain. What prayer would he weave with his music and words tonight? This was a new one – and from what he said – it about today’s events in the cave. “Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge Until destruction passes by.” Sounds right – sounds like what we’ve been going through – that is for sure! But David continued with more. I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me. He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me. Selah. Our captain is so good at telling the story! We were praying too! It is truly amazing how he turns to God in every situation. It is amazing that he looks to Jehovah to deliver him – and – us! Reproach? Yeah – Jehovah needs to do a little reproaching and rebuking! We are being trampled. The thoughts of what he just sang ran wild in their heads as he went through a little break from singing and the music played by itself. A flourish of music seemed to be leading to some kind of revelation. “God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.” Send love and truth? What we need to be asking for is a few more soldiers – no – a lot more soldiers! Maybe even a batch of angels! “My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows And their tongue a sharp sword.” As I turned and elbowed a buddy next to me – we both had that look in our eyes. Yeah – David – tell it like it is! Lions – yep – they’re like lions – fire breathing lions – with teeth like spears and arrows! Absolutely David – their tongue is like a sword – a very sharp one! We braced ourselves longing for a little more judgment talk! We wondered how God was going to deal with our persecutors? This was going to be good! “Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.’ Looked at my buddy and shrugged. Where did THAT come from? He’s started praising God. We were kind of used to this. It was like one moment he is concerned – maybe even a little mad. Then – boom – it’s like God does something to his heart and his tone changes. You know - It’s like he sees something we don’t. Almost like God was in the midst of all this mess. Kind of like – no matter what God is still in control of it all? Whatever the case – it may be disturbing – but it sure is amazing and enlightening! They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down; They dug a pit before me; They themselves have fallen into the midst of it. Selah. YESSIR David! It was like they were hunting us with a net and a pit! Right again! Our souls were bowed down too! And its about time for someone to knock them into their own pit. Then – there is was again – that flourish in the music that meant a conclusion – or maybe some kind of insight. Oh how we loved how he did this! “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens And Your truth to the clouds. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth. There he goes again – praising and worshipping God. Was hoping for fire and judgment – but he turns to God and wants to awaken the morning. Thanks? Praise? Love? Truth? Boy - how he views things so very differently than us! Oh – and there it is again – that same chorus. Be exalted above the heavens – Let Your glory be above all the earth. Not exactly what I was expecting after that harrowing experience! Then it was done – the song was over. Like all of his songs – this one left us thinking – wondering – considering things. “You know – there is something about these songs,” I thought. Strange – but the more I hear them – the more I trust in God. The more any situation becomes Jehovah’s situation. The more I see God ultimately in control – no matter how bad or how good it gets. Then there is also that steady drum beat of everything being for God’s glory. I looked over at my buddy one last time before I lay down to sleep. “Eh – pretty good song,” I said. “And weird as it may seem – it makes me want to trust God right along with him.” As I turned my head and lay on the ground I thought of the words of the song I just heard – and drifted off into a restful night’s sleep. My last conscious thoughts were – “With a God like that – doesn’t matter what your situation is – a man can sleep peacefully at night.”
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Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless you this week with a heart that truly engages God in worship.
This past Sunday I mentioned our need to truly worship God. In a day when the word “worship” is often confused with singing certain kinds of songs, I feel the need this week to describe and define what I mean when I refer to worship. As you may have already noted, I used the word engage when referring to worship. You see worship refers to an entire lifestyle rather than just 20-30 minutes on a Sunday morning while the band is playing and we are singing. I was reminded this week that the first occurrence of the word worship in in Genesis when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah. Abraham said to his servant that he and the boy were going to worship God and then return. Here we get the idea that worship means obedience – even when that obedience requires great sacrifice and dedication. In Romans 12:1 we read that presenting our bodies as living, holy sacrifices to God is our logical and reasonable service of worship to God. In neither of these two references is singing or music even remotely a part of the worship God received. What He did receive though was a complete dedication and surrender of someone to Him. Romans makes it clear that such a total surrender is the logical and reasonable thing to do – if we are thinking rightly. So how does a Sunday morning worship service work into a proper view of worship. First of all I would have to say that just worshipping on a Sunday morning is contrary to Biblical worship. If we are not worshipping God all during the week, what we do on a Sunday morning can do more harm that good in our lives. Now I know that last sentence may have shocked some people. How can this be true? But this really does have everything to do with a Biblical definition of worship rather than a religiously cultural one. If worship is to be a lifestyle – then all we do every day can and should be worship unto God. If worship is to be a lifestyle – our whole lives should be spent seeking to honor and glorify God. This should show in how we surrender ourselves to God – and how we seek to live before Him no matter what we do. For the person who views worship merely as something we do as we sing on Sunday or when we hear “worship music” – worship becomes something divorced from an every day, every choice lifestyle. There is another Biblical word for that kind of “music-only-worship” . . . hypocrisy. You see when we do not live for the glory of God in all we do – all week long – and then show up on Sunday and sing emotionally charged songs to God – we are simply being emotionally driven hypocrites. True worship flows from all of life – not from the emotions we feel when really cool worship songs start to play – or – when we feel wonderful hymns move us in our hearts. When I pray that we will engage with God in worship – it means that we will truly turn to Him every moment of every day. If this has not been happening during the week – the best thing we can do on a Sunday morning is start the worship service by getting on our knees and engaging God in repentance and confession of sin. That will do more to incite true worship than any song in any style that plays. We desire to meet with God – to engage Him as we give our lives to Him. Out of that flows true worship. There are times when we begin singing that I am not in a position to engage with God through singing, praise, and adoration. I need to engage in admission of sin and confession of the same. Other times I need to engage in seeing the worldliness and deadness of my own heart – and cry for mercy and for His gracious reviving in my spirit. Some times I am in pain emotionally and need to cry out to Him to give me hope and heal my broken heart. And – to be painfully honest – some Sundays, I need to choose to sing praises – to honor – to adore – to magnify Him - as a sacrifice because I don’t have any emotion or excitement at all. It is a matter of choosing to do what is right – what is Scriptural as I offer up a sacrifice of praise simply because He is worthy of it. Precious saints of God, worship is not a matter of exciting or moving songs in the midst of a spiritually supercharged moment. Worship is a matter of choice – and that choice is one we make moment by moment. It is doing all that we do – whether we eat, drink, sing, work, play, or any other activity – and doing it to the glory of God! It is something we do every day of the week – every time of day – and every moment we live. What we experience on a Sunday often is just a culmination of how we’ve been worshipping all week long. So with that in mind – my prayer for you and for me is that we live a life of worship all week long – and that such a life culminates in a wonderful experience of worship corporately as we engage God on Sunday in a similar way that we’ve engaged Him every other day this week. Here’s to a lifestyle of worship to His glory.  What is happening in the realm of Christian music lately? There is a growing number of those who have been in the Christian music circles who are coming out as being gay. There is also a growing trend among others to come out in support of gay marriage. But possibly the most disturbing of these trends is that more and more of these individuals are not only commenting on these decisions, but are making some very bold “theological” statements about God – and how God views this sexual choice. So what is happening here? Why has it become more and more acceptable to the Christian music industry for these people not just to come out about their sexual choices – but also to begin airing their thoughts and views as acceptable?
It is almost becoming a common event for someone in the Christian music industry to affirm homosexuality openly. Vicky Beeching, the author of the song “Glory to God,” is the most recent to admit to this choice in her life. One slight difference with Beeching is that she has studied theology at Oxford. Beeching, who left the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) scene to become a television commentator, made the following comment about how she views God and the homosexual lifestyle. “I feel certain God loves me just the way I am, and I have a huge sense of calling to communicate that to young people.” This is the most disturbing aspect of this move within the industry. There is a growing acceptance of homosexuality and homosexual marriage – not in the world – but within what should be an industry that embraces evangelical biblical doctrine. As an example of this kind of thinking you only have to turn to comments made by the former editor of Contemporary Christian Music magazine, Matthew Paul Turner, who said the following about his support of gay marriage when asked why he voted against Tennessee’s marriage amendment. He made it clear that he did not believe that homosexual behavior was sinful. He said he might be wrong but in his own words said, “I'd much rather be wrong and pursue grace and open acceptance than right and be arrogant and cruel.” First of all please understand that I do not hate homosexuals. My heart goes out to them and desires for them to be saved and drawn out of this sinful lifestyle. Also understand when I say this, I say it knowing that God called me out of heterosexual immorality when I was saved. It is not that I consider myself or my views superior to theirs. I needed to be rescued from my sin, just as I am stating they need to be rescued from theirs. So I do not come from an angle that says, “Your wrong and I’m right.” I come from saying, “My behavior was wrong and God rescued me – your choice is wrong too and God wants to rescue you too! The reason I, or anyone for that matter, can say this is because the Scriptures teach that homosexuality and heterosexual immorality is sin. And here is where I have my core concern for the Christian Music industry. My core concern is that too often, the Christian music industry is far more interested about “music” than it is about “Christianity.” It is far too much about our experience than it is about the Word of God. This has been the case for several decades now. The unfortunate reality that we are seeing today is simply the fruit of an activity done more and more out from under the Lordship of Christ and the authority of Scripture. Early in the rise of Christian music this was not the case. The early years of Christian music was dominated by people who wanted to sing about God, about His Word (often singing His Word), and about how God had saved them. It was all about music that spoke often of God – openly of God – and radically about loving and serving Him. Now much of our Christian music could be about God – or – it could be about your girlfriend. Too often we find little focus on God and far too much focus on us – or honestly, on how God makes much of us. You might be wondering how all this fits into the current trends in the Christian Music Industry today? Here is where the problem lies – in the lack of a strong theological background in those making and producing it. Go back a few hundred years and look at those writing much of what we sang in the hymns. You will find among them people with very strong theological backgrounds. You will also find among them people who wrote songs to be sung in times of corporate worship than in a performance or concert. They also made much less money for what they did – therefore for many of them – theirs was a labor of love. Today, there is big money in the Christian Music industry. Their percentage in the music market is rising substantially. Thus entities like Word Music and others have far more “music industry people” than they do “church-loving, theology-driven song writers.” The difference you see is pretty amazing when it comes to God-centered, God-focused lyrics. It truly matters when people are passionate about their relationship with Jesus Christ. It truly matters when people are taught the Scriptures and taught so that they grasp sound doctrine. Where is the Christian music industry? I would submit to you that even though they can effect “some” change through their music, the real issue has much more to do with where the church is today. When the church is no longer living in radical obedience to God and His Word, this will eventually be reflected in its music. When the church is no longer standing fast in sound theology, it will be reflected in its theology in music, or the lack thereof). When the church is no longer standing for clear biblical morality, it will be reflected in those who minister (or in too many cases perform) through music. What we have here is not a problem primarily with the Christian music industry but with how the church’s heart is reflected in it. The Christian Music industry is simply reflecting where the church is in our day. The reason we are seeing the CMI (Christian Music Industry) struggle with moral issues is because the church itself is struggling as well. The church is struggling with these issues because it no longer lives with the Lordship of Jesus Christ as its rudder. This leads to a church that does not submit itself to Scripture as the absolute authority in faith and practice (which includes moral stances upon the Scriptures, rather than on the prevailing culture). There is a problem – but that problem in not in the CMI at its core. The problem is where the church is in our day – in desperate need of a revival of biblical Christianity. If you have read of the ongoing downgrade of biblical Christianity in the CMI – then step back and take a breath before calling down fire upon them for what is happening. There is a root to all this, and I honestly believe that it is the lack of biblical Christianity in the church. This root system will point us to a loss of our first love for Christ. It will point us to an abandonment of the Scriptures as authoritative and instructive to every aspect of our lives and culture. It will point us to the general malaise of apathy and hard-heartedness toward God’s Word, and indeed, toward God Himself. Saints, I realize that I sound like a broken record on this, but what we need is true revival where we address our own hearts first. If there were true revival where our hearts turned back to God – these issues would eventually be addressed because of the change happening in our lives as a result. May God do this work in us – so that what affects the church most is not music icons in search of fame and fortune – but men and women who love God with all their hearts, live according to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives, and submit to the moral, theological, and practical rule of Scripture in all that they do.  Calvary Core Values
Core Value #4 – Worship As we continue to look at the core values at Calvary Chapel we now want to address worship. First off I want to acknowledge that the public worship of the church and the music and style of it is quickly becoming a flash point for many churches. What is sad about this statement is that there is no universal music style that can be claimed by anyone as more “biblical” than another. Worship is solely about giving glory, honor, worth, and praise to God Himself for Who He is and what He has done. Worship is about singing to God out of love and obedience as we give Him the glory that He is due. Worship is singing about God to each other and the world around us so that their thoughts can be lifted to worship Him as well. But worship is about so much more than just music and singing. A Biblical view of worship recognizes an understanding of Romans 12:1-2 as absolutely essential. This passages reads as follows: “Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, acceptable, and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2, NASB) What we learn from these verses is that worship – a true spiritual service of worship to God goes way beyond what you sing on any given Sunday. It goes way beyond singing altogether. What we read here is that worship involves our entire way of living. Our entire bodies should be presented to God every day as living, holy sacrifices. When we live like that – giving all of ourselves to God daily – then we are doing what we should logically do. The word for “spiritual” in Romans 12:1 is the Greek word “logikos,” from which we get our word logic. The only logical way to live when we understand the gospel – is as a 24/7/365 sacrifice of worship to God. This is in everything we do – everything we say – even everything we eat, drink, or anything we ever do. We learn this in 1 Corinthians 10:31 – whatever we do is to be done to the glory of God. Therefore worship goes far beyond the 15-30 minutes we spend singing in a service. It is something we do with our entire lives as we live for the glory of God. Having addressed that worship is a way of life, I also want to address how worship is viewed when we gather together on a typical Sunday morning to worship God corporately. First off, our corporate worship should not exceed our private worship. Some come and worship on a Sunday morning nothing like how they are worshiping God during the week. What I mean when I reference private worship is what we are doing as we seek God during our time alone with Him each day. There is an inherent danger that comes with times of corporate singing. We sing songs that are celebratory – and that in themselves can incite us to excitement. But are we ever excited about God, about the work of Christ, about the gospel, about the work of the Holy Spirit, or about God’s faithfulness? I know this is a difficult question to answer – but do we even think about such things much during the week? Can we go a week with little or no thought to God, His greatness, and His glory – and then come into a worship service and find ourselves singing with great excitement and passion? There is something very wrong with that kind of picture and practice. God warned His people about public worship that does not match private devotion. In Isaiah 1 He asks Israel why they needlessly trample into His temple for “their” sacrifices and worship. He found it offensive that they were one thing in public worship – and yet quite another in private life. If we truly worship God – it should be that our public worship is little more than the overflow of our private devotion to God. If things regularly go beyond this – it is honestly not worship – it is hypocrisy. That is why at times I grieve over my own heart and its readiness to get all excited in a public venue – when my private devotion has severely been lacking. What should we do when this is the case? In Joshua, when Achan had sinned and grieved God, Joshua called upon him to “give glory to God” in a confession of his sin. You see, God was most glorified in Achan’s life, not in some public display that did not match his private life, God was most glorified when Achan stopped everything else and took the time to confess and repent of his sin. Saints, there may be times when the best worship service ever – would be little more than us stopping our usual routine – and gathering to a time of getting on our knees or faces and confessing sin in our lives. Let me make a few comments on music in worship. Unfortunately there are often as many tastes in music as there are people in a congregation. That is because what style of music you enjoy has far more to do with your personal tastes than it does any particular command of God. What I find is the following kinds of scriptural commands when it comes to worshipping God in song. - Sing to the Lord - Sing to Him, Sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders - Sing to the Lord all the earth - I will sing praises to Your name - We will sing and praise Your power - Sing to Him with a harp of ten strings - Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy - I shall sing of your strength - I shall joyfully sing of your lovingkindness in the morning - Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious - Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob - My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God - I will sing for joy at the work of Your hands - O come let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. - I will sing of lovingkindness and justice - I will sings praises to You among the nations - Let my tongue sing of Your Word There are 88 different times when we are called, actually many times commanded to sing to the Lord. Therefore, regardless of what style you may prefer, it is a given that we need to – no – actually we are commanded to sing to God. Often that singing is connected with joy – in fact more often than not it is connected with joy of God Himself or some work He has done that should be stimulating us to joy. And – how important this is – God absolutely is to be the focus of our singing. Just about every command that involves singing – calls us to sing TO Him. Therefore, we are absolutely, unequivocally committed to singing to God in our worship services. We want to work hard to make sure that we do not distract from this fundamental focus of worship as we sing. That is why we also make certain choices to make the vast majority of our singing – congregational in nature. It is also why we shun any kind of performance in our music. We want our worship teams and any individual who leads in worship – to focus themselves on God as they sing to Him. Their leadership is first by example as they themselves are worshipping God. Then we ask them to lead us as we join together with them to worship God. This is also why we want to be very careful about anything that might begin to turn our corporate worship into more of a concert than an opportunity for the body of Christ to give God the glory, honor, and praise that He is due. Some have made their stages very elaborate – using light shows and having different kinds of moving backgrounds behind the words that are projected on the screen. This, in itself, is not evil – but we avoid it because we do not want to distract from God being the focus. As your pastor I personally think that the more ostentatious we become in our staging, the more likely we are going to get away from worship being simply singing to God and telling Him how utterly magnificent, beautiful, majestic, holy . . . and the list can go on forever and ever! There is another reason why I ask our worship teams to remain low key as they worship God and lead us to join them in it. Jesus said in John chapter 4 that God seeks worshippers who worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Worship is something that is inherently spiritual. God forbade men making images of Him in the Old Testament. Any picture we try to make of God is going to fall infinitely short of Who He is. He is Spirit, He is everywhere at once, and He is infinitely present and powerful in the everywhere He is all at once. The more we make our worship something physical, the more danger there is in us falling into idolatry by making God less than He is. Thus the focus needs to be on the truth of Who He is – not on the show going on around the singing. Worship in Spirit and truth focuses on Who God has revealed Himself to be in Scripture. That is the greatest and most trustworthy revelation we have. That is why we put such a great focus on the Word of God in our worship service. Worship, true worship incites us to greater, grander, more glorious thoughts of God. These thoughts are driven by what God has said about Himself in the Word. This is also why we try very hard to sing what is Scriptural about God. That is hard to do – because too often we get more excited about the music than we do the lyrics. The danger that is once again inherent due to this is that we sing “really cool songs” or “very reverent songs” or “very moving songs” whose lyrics actually do not accurately represent Who God is scripturally. Worship that is not singing “truth” about God – is actually idolatry – since it is singing about who we would like God to be rather than Who He actually is according to His revelation of Himself in the Word of God. Too be perfectly honest with you as your pastor, I am concerned more and more that the songs of today are so theologically light – and more “this is how I feel.” The other concern I have is that too many of our songs are turning to how God is making much of us – rather than true worship which is us making as much of God as we possibly can. Worship is about God – living for Him – singing to Him – and as I just said at the end of the last paragraph – making as much of Him as we possibly can. We cannot overdo true worship – because we can never give God all the glory that He is due. But it is my desire as your pastor to encourage you first by example and then by precept to give everything you have, every day God allows you to live, and in everything you do to glorify God. Just as God says to us in His Word, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31) |
Biblical ArticlesMost of these articles are taken from the Calvary Courier, a weekly newsletter that is sent to the folks who attend Calvary Chapel Jonesboro. Due to the response to these articles, we've decided to print some of them which proved to be very helpful to God's people at the fellowship. 
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