15-5

Skillfully combining God's Word

Good music is important in a church, but it means nothing unless it is combined with God's word. You see our churches can't be led by the Holy Spirit unless they are grounded in the Word of God. When we are committed to the Bible we will study, proclaim, and apply God's truth both in our Sunday morning services and in our Monday-Saturday lives. Many people will go to one church because they like the music, and another because they like the teaching. They have separated 'Spirit-led worship' from 'Word-fed' preaching. But "The Word and the Spirit were never meant to be separated. In fact, God's Spirit is the one who inspired God's Word."

2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness."

Without God's word we can't know if what we are doing is inspired by God or if it is just something that makes us feel good about ourselves. Think about it, without the Bible, "we wouldn't know who to thank, who to obey, or who to serve. We wouldn't know how to worship Him. But God does reveal His character, nature, and promisees to us, and we respond with gratefulness and obedience. We respond with worship. At least that's the way it's supposed to work."

Throughout the Bible, worship is centered around God's word. So it is worth asking why worship today can be focused on "sensory experiences, inward feelings, and subjective encounters. True worship is always a response to God's Word."

So how can we makes sure that the Bible is central as we lead this church in worship?

By treasuring the Bible. Bible reading should be a highlight not just of our services, but of our everyday lives. Psalm 119:97 says, "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day." "When we treasure God's Word, others will know it. Visitors to our church won't have the impression that the Bible is an optional extra or simply a handy reference book. They'll hear in your voice and see in your eyes that God's Word is your joy."

By singing the Bible. It has been said that 'we are what we sing,' so we need to make sure that we sing God's word. One way of doing that is singing songs that directly quote the scripture. We did that just last week when we introduced the song, 'Your Love Oh Lord.' It also means that the songs that we sing that don't directly quote the scripture are in line with what the Bible has to say. They need to be 'substantive, theologically rich, and biblically faithful.' "A constant diet of shallow, subjective worship songs tends to produce shallow, subjective Christians." All of that being said, that doesn't mean that a simple song can't be profound. Every song we do doesn't need to require a theological degree to understand it, but it must proclaim the truth of the Bible. Another thing we have to be careful of is choosing songs based on the music instead of the lyrics. Great music can make terrible lyrics seem good. On the other hand, terrible music can make great lyrics seem bad. We must choose our songs based on the lyrics and make sure that the music supports it well enough that people will want to sing the truth of the Bible. The songs must be clear, and easily understood by people today.

Nick Page wrote this:
"Worship songs are not solely vehicles for personal expression, they're invitations to corporate worship. If you want to write stuff that only you can understand then keep a diary, otherwise you have to cut the rest of us some slack; you have to help us understand." "The bottom line is this: Sing God's word. Lyrics matter more than music. Truth transcends tune."

Read the Bible. As we plan our services, we have to make sure that God's word is being taught each week. Reading scripture corporately is a great way to reinforce what people are reading during the week, and for some of them, it may be the only scripture they get! It also shows that we are not just making up things and trying to tell them how to live their lives. "People should be aware that the words they are hearing from us aren't ours, but God's."

Show the Bible. We put scripture up on the screens so that people can read along with us as we read the Bible. Other times we ask them to read it out loud in a call and response. Again, this gives people the chance to understand the theme of the day and also realize that "everything we do is under the authority of God's word and is meant to draw attention to His revelation rather than to our creativity or efforts."

Pray the Bible. Spontaneous prayers are great. However praying and calling on promises that God has made to us in the Bible can transform our prayer life. What if we spent time praying through the Psalms rather than merely reading them. Take Psalm 23 and apply it to your life, and pray about it. Over time your prayer life will look much different, it will be much more in tune with the way God thinks. When we pray corporately and we pray using the Bible, it gives our congregation a good example of how to pray.

"A faithful worship leader combines the Word of God with music o magnify the greatness of God in Jesus Christ. We don't need music to hear God's Word. We don't need music to worship God. But the Bible connects music to worship often enough to persuade us that music might be an important aspect of our relationship with God." As we make music together, let's remember to combine it with His word, and let's remember who we are making music for.

Enjoy the Journey