My Hands: What Do I Practice?
We've all been in worship services where those leading were genuine, but if we are honest, were not very skillful. In fact, they were down right distracting. As a musician this is about as bad as it gets because we start having thoughts like, 'well I would have done it this way' or 'that wasn't a very good transition.' While our attitudes are not right, there is something equally wrong with leading worship that way. What is lacking in those moments is skill. "Rightly understood and pursued, skill can mark the difference between ineffectiveness and fruitfulness in our leading." There are some things that we need to remember about skill. First, that it is a gift from God that is to be used for His glory. It is easy to think that because we work hard at our craft, we should get all the credit when we succeed. But we have to remember that it is God who blessed us with the ability to play and sing in the first place! C.J. Mhaney says, "All gifts from God are intended to direct our attention to God and create fresh affection for God."
Skill must be developed. 1 Chronicles 25:7 says that the musicians who worked at the tabernacle were those "who were trained in singing to the Lord, all who were skillful." Just because we are 'doing it for God' doesn't mean that we should do it well. In fact, we should be working harder than anyone because we are singing and playing to the God of the universe! Many performance majors are required to practice 3 to 4 hours a day! I'm not suggesting that you have to do that, but if you want to get better at what you do, you have to practice! Even if it is only 15 minutes a day, it will pay off over time. All of that being said, we have to remember that skill doesn't make worship more acceptable before God. "While God values skill, He doesn't accept our worship on the basis of it." So many times we struggle when we miss an intro, forget the words, or play a wrong chord. Other times we think that it was the best service ever when everything goes smoothly. Remember that God isn't judging our worship on the sound of our music, but by the attitudes of our hearts. We will never impress God with our musical abilities, so just get over that now. Psalm 51:17 says that what God is looking for is "a broken and contrite heart" that recognizes our weakness and puts our faith in Jesus.
We should allow our skill to be evaluated by others. Not just by anyone, obviously asking someone who has no clue about music what they thought about the modulation from F to G that occurred in measure 52 will do you absolutely no good! We need the eyes and ears of those on this team to help us. Gracious feedback from each other is invaluable. When you are giving feedback, make sure you do it in a way that encourages people to continue to work on their skill.
Sometimes we value skill too much. When we do this it can become an idol. We should work really hard to make sure that when we play or sing we are doing the best job that we can possibly do. But "God wants us to realize that the point of our practice isn't to receive the praise of others. It's to bring Him glory."
Once we have a right understanding of skill, it can be very helpful. It helps us focus on God. "The more comfortable I am with practical aspects of leading, the more I can think about the One to whom I'm singing. I focus on developing skill so I'll be able to focus more on god. We want to get to the place where, musical, administrative, and leadership issues become second nature as a result of rehearsal, repetition, and careful planning." Again, God can use us even when we are not at our best. However, our lack of skill can be distracting to others and ultimately take the focus off of God. When that happens, we are not doing all we can to help everyone join us in worship, even if we are worshiping God. Skill helps us serve the church. When we get to the point where we do not have to think about every little detail, our faces show it. We are free to express praise to God by the look on our faces because we aren't having to think about the coming key change, and that will serve the people we are leading.
Some might say that we are talking about being perfectionists here, but that is not the case. Our goal (as John Piper puts it) is "undistracting excellence." "It's a proficiency that doesn't draw attention to itself but rather points away from itself."
As we lead others in worship of God, we have to remember that this requires more than a sincere heart and good intentions. It does require skill. Skill requires work, time, and preparation. However, we can not worship the pursuit of skill. God wants us to be skillful, but He wants us to use that skill to produce genuine worship that affects our entire lives.
Enjoy the Journey
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
My Mind: What Do I Believe
We say we love God, but do we really know Him? God doesn't just call us to love the idea of Him, but to 'love the truth' about Him (2 Thessalonians 2:10). We can sing, play music, dance, kneel, and raise our hands, but "there is no authentic worship of God without a right knowledge of God." With that thought we come to a couple of words that people dread: Theology and Doctrine. "Sadly, doctrine and theology rank fairly low on the popularity scale these days. But biblical worship is impossible without them." Theology means 'the study of God,' so every Christian is a theologian. Some are good theologians, and some are not so good. Whether or not we are good theologians depends on whether our view of God lines up with what the Bible teaches or not. Doctrine means 'what is taught.' "The study of doctrine isn't opposed to studying the Bible; it is studying the Bible. It's how we find out what God is like, what He wants us to believe, how He wants us to worship Him. So that means we need to be reading. We need to be studying. Because we'll be learning about God for the rest of our lives."
"I've met guys who don't read theology books because they don't want their understanding of the Bible to be influenced by anyone else. What they're saying is: 'God couldn't possibly use another person to help me understand His Word more clearly.' That's ridiculous. I need all the help I can get. So do you." Charles Spurgeon said, "He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves he has no brains of his own."
What was the last non-fiction, theological book that you read? Our reading needs to go beyond best-sellers, novels, and music magazines. We need to take advantage of other people's ideas, even though sometimes we might disagree with them! That is where our study of the Scripture will be our guide.
There are a few misconceptions about doctrine and theology that Kauflin points out:
1. Studying this Stuff Shouldn't Be So Hard: "Studying doctrine and theology is hard. Becoming a good theologian is harder than learning a new riff, and initially not as much fun." But "there are no shortcuts. Only a grace-movitvated, steadfast, lifelong pursuit of the god who created and redeemed us for His glory."
2. We Know God Better Through Music Than Through Words: I understand that many of us musicians prefer playing music than reading a book or listening to a sermon. Music stirs the emotions and helps us retain the words that we sing. The problem is that if we are bad theologians, we will not know if what we are singing about is grounded in Scripture or if it is just a clever tag line someone made up! For that we need our Bibles. We need good theology. "Good theology helps us keep music in its proper place. We learn that music isn't an end in itself but rather a means of expressing the worship already present in our hearts through the new life we've received in Jesus Christ."
3. Theology and Doctrine Cause Problems: Some people say they aren't interested in theology because it only causes divisions. But "when we're dodgy about our theology, we're really saying we want our own Jesus. But our worship isn't based on people's personal opinions, ideas, or best guesses about Jesus. Nor should we base our understanding of Him on anyone's individual experiences. He has a name, a particular history, and a specifically revealed body of teaching. god has theology; will we sharpen our own biblical understanding to find out what it is? Will we worship the Son of God, the Redeemer, the second person of the Trinity, the Alpha and Omega, our High Priest, sanctifier, and the intercessor and seek to understand what all this means?" Does doctrine divide the church? "Yes and no. Sure, Christians often disagree over doctrinal issues of secondary importance. Given the degree of sin that still remains with us and the enemy's desire to separate us, that's no surprise. But divisions have also protected the church. The New Testament warned us that false prophets and teachers would infiltrate the church's ranks. Many of the most precious truths we live by were more clearly defined as a response to heresy. The result has been clarity and agreement on foundational truths from God's Word that the church has cherished for centuries. Truth has often been tested and confirmed in the fires of controversy and conflict." The truth is that "theology and doctrine make life simpler. They protect us from reading verses out of context, restricting our diet to our favorite passages, and making decisions based on impulse rather than truth. They put meat on concepts we tend to use mindlessly like glory, gospel, salvation, and love. They help us understand what we're actually doing every Sunday. What complicated life is not doctrine but ignorance of doctrine."
As we learn more, we must be careful that we do not become too proud of our knowledge and start looking down on others who do not study like we do. "The more we study God, the more we should realize that what we know will always be dwarfed by what we don't know. If we are arrogant because we use big theological terms or have memorized more verses than our friends, we've lost sight of the God we claim to know. As Paul remind us, that kind of knowledge 'puffs up, but love builds up.' Good theologians are increasingly humbled and amazed by the God they study. Instead of causing problems, doctrine and theology rightly applied will solve problems. They inform our minds to win our hearts, so we can love God more accurately and passionately."
"Mind and heart belong together. Strong, passionate desires for God flow from and encourage the faithful, thoughtful study of God-His nature, character, and works. We're deceived when we think we can have one without the other. God intends us to have both. If our doctrine is accurate but our heart are cold toward God Himself, our corporate worship will be true but lifeless. Or if we express fervent love for God but present vague, inaccurate, or incomplete ideas of Him to those we're leading, our worship will be emotional but misleading-and possibly idolatrous. Neither option brings God glory. My prayer for myself and every worship leader is that we'll become as familiar with the Word of Truth as we are with our instruments. Hopefully even more so. If we do, there's a strong possibility people are going to walk away from our meetings more amazed by our God than by our music. And that will be a very good thing."
Enjoy the Journey
We say we love God, but do we really know Him? God doesn't just call us to love the idea of Him, but to 'love the truth' about Him (2 Thessalonians 2:10). We can sing, play music, dance, kneel, and raise our hands, but "there is no authentic worship of God without a right knowledge of God." With that thought we come to a couple of words that people dread: Theology and Doctrine. "Sadly, doctrine and theology rank fairly low on the popularity scale these days. But biblical worship is impossible without them." Theology means 'the study of God,' so every Christian is a theologian. Some are good theologians, and some are not so good. Whether or not we are good theologians depends on whether our view of God lines up with what the Bible teaches or not. Doctrine means 'what is taught.' "The study of doctrine isn't opposed to studying the Bible; it is studying the Bible. It's how we find out what God is like, what He wants us to believe, how He wants us to worship Him. So that means we need to be reading. We need to be studying. Because we'll be learning about God for the rest of our lives."
"I've met guys who don't read theology books because they don't want their understanding of the Bible to be influenced by anyone else. What they're saying is: 'God couldn't possibly use another person to help me understand His Word more clearly.' That's ridiculous. I need all the help I can get. So do you." Charles Spurgeon said, "He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves he has no brains of his own."
What was the last non-fiction, theological book that you read? Our reading needs to go beyond best-sellers, novels, and music magazines. We need to take advantage of other people's ideas, even though sometimes we might disagree with them! That is where our study of the Scripture will be our guide.
There are a few misconceptions about doctrine and theology that Kauflin points out:
1. Studying this Stuff Shouldn't Be So Hard: "Studying doctrine and theology is hard. Becoming a good theologian is harder than learning a new riff, and initially not as much fun." But "there are no shortcuts. Only a grace-movitvated, steadfast, lifelong pursuit of the god who created and redeemed us for His glory."
2. We Know God Better Through Music Than Through Words: I understand that many of us musicians prefer playing music than reading a book or listening to a sermon. Music stirs the emotions and helps us retain the words that we sing. The problem is that if we are bad theologians, we will not know if what we are singing about is grounded in Scripture or if it is just a clever tag line someone made up! For that we need our Bibles. We need good theology. "Good theology helps us keep music in its proper place. We learn that music isn't an end in itself but rather a means of expressing the worship already present in our hearts through the new life we've received in Jesus Christ."
3. Theology and Doctrine Cause Problems: Some people say they aren't interested in theology because it only causes divisions. But "when we're dodgy about our theology, we're really saying we want our own Jesus. But our worship isn't based on people's personal opinions, ideas, or best guesses about Jesus. Nor should we base our understanding of Him on anyone's individual experiences. He has a name, a particular history, and a specifically revealed body of teaching. god has theology; will we sharpen our own biblical understanding to find out what it is? Will we worship the Son of God, the Redeemer, the second person of the Trinity, the Alpha and Omega, our High Priest, sanctifier, and the intercessor and seek to understand what all this means?" Does doctrine divide the church? "Yes and no. Sure, Christians often disagree over doctrinal issues of secondary importance. Given the degree of sin that still remains with us and the enemy's desire to separate us, that's no surprise. But divisions have also protected the church. The New Testament warned us that false prophets and teachers would infiltrate the church's ranks. Many of the most precious truths we live by were more clearly defined as a response to heresy. The result has been clarity and agreement on foundational truths from God's Word that the church has cherished for centuries. Truth has often been tested and confirmed in the fires of controversy and conflict." The truth is that "theology and doctrine make life simpler. They protect us from reading verses out of context, restricting our diet to our favorite passages, and making decisions based on impulse rather than truth. They put meat on concepts we tend to use mindlessly like glory, gospel, salvation, and love. They help us understand what we're actually doing every Sunday. What complicated life is not doctrine but ignorance of doctrine."
As we learn more, we must be careful that we do not become too proud of our knowledge and start looking down on others who do not study like we do. "The more we study God, the more we should realize that what we know will always be dwarfed by what we don't know. If we are arrogant because we use big theological terms or have memorized more verses than our friends, we've lost sight of the God we claim to know. As Paul remind us, that kind of knowledge 'puffs up, but love builds up.' Good theologians are increasingly humbled and amazed by the God they study. Instead of causing problems, doctrine and theology rightly applied will solve problems. They inform our minds to win our hearts, so we can love God more accurately and passionately."
"Mind and heart belong together. Strong, passionate desires for God flow from and encourage the faithful, thoughtful study of God-His nature, character, and works. We're deceived when we think we can have one without the other. God intends us to have both. If our doctrine is accurate but our heart are cold toward God Himself, our corporate worship will be true but lifeless. Or if we express fervent love for God but present vague, inaccurate, or incomplete ideas of Him to those we're leading, our worship will be emotional but misleading-and possibly idolatrous. Neither option brings God glory. My prayer for myself and every worship leader is that we'll become as familiar with the Word of Truth as we are with our instruments. Hopefully even more so. If we do, there's a strong possibility people are going to walk away from our meetings more amazed by our God than by our music. And that will be a very good thing."
Enjoy the Journey
Thursday, November 04, 2010
My Heart: What Do I Love?
As worship leaders, we face many challenges. However the greatest challenge that we face is our own hearts. "For years we've read about or experienced firsthand the 'worship wars' -conflicts over music styles, song selections, and drums. But far too little has been said about the worship wars going on inside us. And they're much more significant." What it comes down to is this: "Each of us has a battle raging within us over what we love most-God or something else."
We have to take a careful inventory of our lives and see if there are any idols that we need to get rid of. "Idols are all around us. Can you spot them? They come in different forms. Material comforts. Financial security. Sensual pleasures. Musicians have their own special idols. New gear. Electronic gadgets. Hip clothes. The most powerful idols are the ones we can't even see. Things like reputation, power, and control. As Christians we're sometimes like the people described in 2 Kings 17:33: 'they feared the Lord but also served their own gods.' We fear the Lord externally, doing all the right things on Sunday morning-singing, strumming a guitar, lifting our hands-yet actively serve false gods throughout the week. We profess to love the true God but actually love false idols. It's a condition that God, in His mercy, is committed to changing."
In the chapter Bob Kauflin talks about the struggles that he has gone through with this. He says, "I'd been in a relentless pursuit of glory. I relished hearing my name mentioned, reading my name in print, and being commended by others for my wisdom, my musical gifts, my parenting, and my care-even my humility. I bristled inwardly when someone questioned my integrity, gifting, or planning. I tried to avoid any kind of criticism ad worked hard to persuade others that I was an exceptional (but humble) Christian, pastor, and worship leader. I wasn't depending on a Savior-I was searching for an audience." Now that is a pretty powerful admission, and I think that if we are honest with ourselves, most of us have been there or are there right now.
One thing that we have to understand about worship is that "worship isn't primarily about music, techniques, liturgies, songs, or methodologies. It's about our hearts. It's about what and who we love more than anything." We have to understand that we can be leading others in worship of God and worshiping something else in our own hearts. Do we love God more than anything else? "While it's simplistic to say that worship is love, it's a fact that what we love most will determine what we genuinely worship."
"God wants us to love Him more than our instruments and music. More than our possessions, food, and ministry. More than our wife and children. More than our own lives. That doesn't mean we can't love anything else. Or that we shouldn't love anything else. But we can't love anything in the right way unless we love God more. Our desires will be out of whack. We'll look to temporary pleasures like concerts, video games, and sports to fulfill eternal desires. We'll love things that aren't as worthy as God to be loved."
"How do I know what I love the most? By looking at my life outside of Sunday morning. What do I enjoy the most? What do I spend the most time doing? Where does my mind drift to when I don't have anything to do? What am I passionate about? What do I spend my money on? What makes me angry when I don't get it? What do I feel depressed without? What do I fear losing the most? Our answers to those questions will lead us straight to the God or gods we love and worship. That's why as worship leaders our primary concern can't be song preparation, creative arrangements, or the latest cool gear. Our primary concern has to be the state of our hearts."
Isaac Watts wrote:
"The Great God values not the service of men, if the heart be not in it: The Lord sees and judges the heart; He has no regard to outward forms of worship, if there be no inward adoration, if no devout affection be employed therein. It is therefore a matter of infinite importance, to have the whole heart engaged steadfastly for God."
Is having your heart engaged steadfastly for God of infinite importance to you? It is to God. And when it becomes infinitely important to us, we are starting to grasp the heart of leading worship.
Enjoy the Journey
As worship leaders, we face many challenges. However the greatest challenge that we face is our own hearts. "For years we've read about or experienced firsthand the 'worship wars' -conflicts over music styles, song selections, and drums. But far too little has been said about the worship wars going on inside us. And they're much more significant." What it comes down to is this: "Each of us has a battle raging within us over what we love most-God or something else."
We have to take a careful inventory of our lives and see if there are any idols that we need to get rid of. "Idols are all around us. Can you spot them? They come in different forms. Material comforts. Financial security. Sensual pleasures. Musicians have their own special idols. New gear. Electronic gadgets. Hip clothes. The most powerful idols are the ones we can't even see. Things like reputation, power, and control. As Christians we're sometimes like the people described in 2 Kings 17:33: 'they feared the Lord but also served their own gods.' We fear the Lord externally, doing all the right things on Sunday morning-singing, strumming a guitar, lifting our hands-yet actively serve false gods throughout the week. We profess to love the true God but actually love false idols. It's a condition that God, in His mercy, is committed to changing."
In the chapter Bob Kauflin talks about the struggles that he has gone through with this. He says, "I'd been in a relentless pursuit of glory. I relished hearing my name mentioned, reading my name in print, and being commended by others for my wisdom, my musical gifts, my parenting, and my care-even my humility. I bristled inwardly when someone questioned my integrity, gifting, or planning. I tried to avoid any kind of criticism ad worked hard to persuade others that I was an exceptional (but humble) Christian, pastor, and worship leader. I wasn't depending on a Savior-I was searching for an audience." Now that is a pretty powerful admission, and I think that if we are honest with ourselves, most of us have been there or are there right now.
One thing that we have to understand about worship is that "worship isn't primarily about music, techniques, liturgies, songs, or methodologies. It's about our hearts. It's about what and who we love more than anything." We have to understand that we can be leading others in worship of God and worshiping something else in our own hearts. Do we love God more than anything else? "While it's simplistic to say that worship is love, it's a fact that what we love most will determine what we genuinely worship."
"God wants us to love Him more than our instruments and music. More than our possessions, food, and ministry. More than our wife and children. More than our own lives. That doesn't mean we can't love anything else. Or that we shouldn't love anything else. But we can't love anything in the right way unless we love God more. Our desires will be out of whack. We'll look to temporary pleasures like concerts, video games, and sports to fulfill eternal desires. We'll love things that aren't as worthy as God to be loved."
"How do I know what I love the most? By looking at my life outside of Sunday morning. What do I enjoy the most? What do I spend the most time doing? Where does my mind drift to when I don't have anything to do? What am I passionate about? What do I spend my money on? What makes me angry when I don't get it? What do I feel depressed without? What do I fear losing the most? Our answers to those questions will lead us straight to the God or gods we love and worship. That's why as worship leaders our primary concern can't be song preparation, creative arrangements, or the latest cool gear. Our primary concern has to be the state of our hearts."
Isaac Watts wrote:
"The Great God values not the service of men, if the heart be not in it: The Lord sees and judges the heart; He has no regard to outward forms of worship, if there be no inward adoration, if no devout affection be employed therein. It is therefore a matter of infinite importance, to have the whole heart engaged steadfastly for God."
Is having your heart engaged steadfastly for God of infinite importance to you? It is to God. And when it becomes infinitely important to us, we are starting to grasp the heart of leading worship.
Enjoy the Journey
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