Axe Heads

In 2nd Kings 6 there's a story that God led me to about 3am one Sunday morning before I was scheduled to lead worship. Elisha and the other prophets that he hung out with needed to build a bigger meeting place. They went down to the Jordan river to cut logs for the structure. The text reads: "As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water." He cried out to Elisha for help because the axe was borrowed and he would have to work off the debt to repay the owner. He directs Elisha to where it fell in, Elisha tosses in a stick where it went in, and the axe head floats up to the surface and is recovered.

That's the end of the text. No explanation, no "moral to the story"-nothing. The writer of Kings moves onto a completely unrelated event. Huh?

Later that morning while trying to get through our rehearsal and sound check, everything went south, especially the avioms. We were all getting frustrated. As we met in the green room I realized what the story of the axe head meant.

We have tools, the strength and physical capacity to wield them effectively, abilities to create or fix things. We have plans, directions, set lists and arrangements. But in those moments when things go wrong we watch our "axe head" sink to the bottom and we don't get it.

The point is, no matter how good we are at swinging an axe to cut logs and build something for God, He's the only One that can make that heavy lifeless iron axe head float! Its the spirit that brings life and energy and excitement to worship. We need to give it all to and for Him-above all else- and remember that He will always come through when we cry out to Him and let Him reign!

Is it any wonder that musicians refer to their instruments as their "axe"?

More Than a Lyric

I want to touch briefly on something that Bob mentioned in his last post:

"...allow yourself to truly comprehend the contents of the music".  

When is the last time you let your mind meditate on the words of a particular song? Do you really know what you are singing and why you are singing it?  

For instance, a song that we do a lot here is "Reign In Us".  Have you ever stopped to ponder the first verse? 

You thought of us before the world began to breathe 

And you knew our names before we came to be

You saw the very day we'd fall away from you 

And how desperately we need to be redeemed

Within that first verse we see several theological assertions made, including: Doctrine of Election, God's Omniscience, God's Eternal Nature, Man's Depravity, Redemption, Grace, Mercy.  The following passages come to mind: Romans 5, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" and Ephesians 1, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless... In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace".  

As we reflect and meditate on a song, allowing the lyrics to draw us to their source, we are drawn into a natural state of worship and awe.  

The next time you are scheduled to be on worship team, whether you play an instrument or sing, in addition to doing a run through of the songs, take one of the songs and use it as a part of your regular time of worship with God. You will be blessed and in turn a whole congregation will be blessed.

Our Damascus Road

In 1 Thessalonians 5, the Apostle Paul wrote:
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."


If Paul had to choose the most significant moment in his entire life, I would be that he would choose Christ's appearance to him and his subsequent conversion from a legalistic leader of Judaism to a servant of Jesus Christ.  This was the one event that helped to create and shape Paul's world view, or rather the lens through which he sees and experiences everything in his lifetime.  


Paul understood that because of his life as an enemy of God and the violent persecution of His people that he was deserving of God's wrath.  Instead, God chose to truly demonstrate His power by dramatically changing Paul's life instead of destroying him.  


If you really, truly look at all thirteen epistles that were authored by Paul, there are two themes that are weaved throughout the text as a result of Paul's changed world view: he believed that the primary mission of the church was the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (this one is a discussion for another day), and Paul also desired to help others to a place where they might experience the same generous mercy that God had shown him on the Damascus Road.


So how did this dramatic change in Paul's life manifest itself?  The Apostle became fully aware that God deserved to be glorified in all of his thoughts and all of his actions; Paul knew that God deserved our continuous worship, not just on a particular day of the week or for a few designated hours in a day.  


It is almost a sort of misnomer to refer to our weekly gatherings as "worship services," since our meeting together on Sunday mornings should simply be an extension of worship that continues on from throughout the week.  I know that I'm guilty at times of not even worshiping when I'm on stage playing in the band, and certainly even more guilty when I'm doing my day-to-day activities.


It is my hope that as the leading worshipers here at LGCC, this blog would help provide ideas and concepts to ponder about and to pray about throughout the week.  Paul wanted all believers to experience God's grace and mercy so that they might be compelled to live a lifestyle of worship, because that is what worship is: a lifestyle.  It isn't a set of songs, or simply going to church.  It is living a life that constantly realizes that God is truly awesome, merciful, and gracious and therefore worthy of our unceasing worship.


I truly hope that this blog and whatever words are written will help to stir up your hearts whenever you read it, and I hope that it will help spark discussion of the theology of worship during rehearsals.


My practical challenge to you (and to myself) is this:  don't think of worship as something that can be turned on and off with the flip of a switch.  Practice your music and know it as best as you can for rehearsals and for Sunday mornings.  Wean yourself off of constantly staring at the lyrics or the chord chart and allow yourself to truly comprehend the contents of the music.  Worship music are prayers to God set to music, and that is not something that is to be taken lightly.


I am honored to be a part of a community of musicians such as this, and I greatly look forward to being able to encourage and to be encouraged by all of you to truly live a lifestyle of worship.

Toward Unceasing Worship

To the Worshipers at Living Grace:


We should always pursue worship with excellence.  If you've been in my office, you might have seen my little desk frame that says: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might".  That's from Ecclesiastes 9:10.  How are you doing with this? Are you giving your time in the Word, time in prayer and time in praise your whole might?  Are you giving your time at work, time at school, time with friends and family your whole might? Are you pursuing a godly, worshipful life with "Carpe Diem" passion, not for the sake of living for the day or moment, but for the sake of glorifying the One who brings the moment and the day? Pursuing and Worshiping God with excellence doesn't mean just technique or outward manifestations, but with desiring justice toward others, forgiving others as He has forgiven us and with a humble heart of surrender that acknowledges our need for God (Micah 6:8).


The prayer, desire, hope, heart and passion of the lead worshipers is that we would all be driven toward an outpouring of our love and affection for God and that this passionate worship would be infectious to the congregation.  That we would model worship that isn't just about going through a setlist on Sunday morning, but is more about our response to what God has been teaching us the week prior to Sunday morning gatherings. God desires nothing less than our unceasing worship.


To help promote this theology of worship, we are establishing this blog towards fulfilling the vision of LGCC's worship ministry: "to provide excellent and meaningful corporate worship experiences which ignite a passion for worship – a lifelong and daily relational pursuit with God - in the hearts and minds of the church community." Gil, Bob and myself will be providing nuggets of Biblical truth as it relates to our worship, and more specifically, as it relates to our participation on the worship team.  We will do our best to not make it burdensome to read the posts as our desire is for the whole team to participate in this study of the theology of worship together.  We encourage comments and discussion! 


We'll make it easy for you to find the blog by incorporating it into the church's public and private website, planning center and by sending out announcements when there is a new article.  If you're into RSS feeds, please subscribe. You can also subscribe and receive notifications via email by simply clicking onto the "subscribe by email" link.  If you're an iPhone addict, there's many apps for subscribing to blogs.  Check out this one: http://itunes.apple.com/app/free-rss-reader/id290537970?mt=8


Stay tuned in for more about Unceasing Worship!