There’s a song called The Earth is Yours by Gungor and it’s had me thinking quite a bit lately of a verse I’ve always heard used as motivation for worshiping God. It’s in Luke 19, verse 40 and says, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Most have probably heard the story. Jesus is riding into town on the colt of a donkey. People are throwing their cloaks and palm branches down before Him. The disciples break into song. And the religious leaders still don’t get it. The creator of the universe is riding into their town, and they miss it completely. They say, “Jesus, rebuke your followers!” Verse 40 is His response to them. If His disciples hadn’t praised Him, creation would.
It was not a question of when and if creation would praise Him though. As the above song so aptly mentions, when the trees twist in the wind, and when the ocean is writhing in a storm, it shows the awesome power of God. The whole of creation is shouting His praises as loudly as they can. So the question isn’t when or if creation will praise Him. It’s a question of when His followers will. When will we put down our pettiness and do as John 4:23 bids us? When will we worship Him in spirit and in truth? When will we remember that worship isn’t and can’t be about us? It isn’t about our likes or dislikes. It isn’t about our preference for contemporary or traditional music. It isn’t about what gives us goosebumps. It isn’t about us. All those things can help us get in the spirit of worship, but they have little to do with our heart. The heart is our own choice. Will we do our best to out-praise the mountains, oceans and trees? Will we praise Him from our heart? We must choose whether we are going to just sing words on a screen, or whether we are going to forget about everything that bogs us down, and worship our creator with everything we are. That’s what it means to worship Him in truth.
Tag: worship
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writhing
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stereotypic
I should be going to bed, but my head is still going too fast. Maybe by the time I’m done here, it will slow down. A comment on someone’s Facebook post this morning sent my brain into full gear. The issue at hand was why Christian bands charge money (or perhaps charge too much sometimes) for albums, concerts, etc. The individual had some very strong feelings about this, and felt it was wrong for Christian’s to be charging for praise music. I chewed on that for a bit, and while I am a bit in agreement with that sentiment, there were some definite issues with the way the person presented the argument.
Certainly, there seems to be a proliferation in recent years of Christian bands pumping out praise/worship albums. Often, I wonder how many are genuine? How many are in it for the money? How many are doing worship albums because it seems to be a ‘sure thing’? One would hope that the ‘superstars’ who make it big are putting the extra cash to good purposes, but that is between them and God.
All that aside, the comment on Facebook was based on two things: All Christian bands sings praise music, and all Christian bands charge for their music. It also made a correlation to secular artists, and showed disgust for Christian bands making money off their music just like secular bands. To be clear, many ‘Christian bands’ don’t even sing decidedly Christian music. Some tackle the same issues that secular artists do. Some like to write love songs, just like secular artists do. Is it wrong if Christian bands have certain things in common with secular artists? I would hope not. Also, not all Christian bands charge for their music either. Have a gander at noisetrade.com to see artists (Secular and Christian alike) that are trying to do things a little differently.
To say that Christian bands, or rather, Christian artists shouldn’t make money from their music is a bit odd. I’m a Christian. Am I not allowed to make money doing my job? Is it a surprise that some Christians have chosen musical artistry as their occupation? Going back to the core of the idea even more, what about praise music? Shouldn’t that be free? If it’s all about God, how dare we put a price tag on worshiping God? However, consider this: The original ‘worship leaders’ in the Bible were the Levites. A division of the Levites were set apart by God to lead His people in praising Him. They didn’t just do this on Sundays, or during special celebrations. This was their job, and it was handed down from generation to generation. And they received compensation for this (gasp). A portion of the sacrifices (meat, grain, etc.) and offerings was designated to be the portion of the Levites. They were also given housing, and property to own. God made sure the people that were in charge of leading worship were well provided for.
Coming back full circle then. Is it wrong for Christian artists to make money from praising God? No. In fact, it would be splendid if the church would support these people better. Unfortunately, it seems to have trouble enough supporting those that preach and teach the word of God, and those that are given the task of leading worship have a hard time not being lambasted for not catering to every whim of the church (who are we supposed to be worshipping?).
To make sure my intent is clear, I didn’t write this to make the person on Facebook look silly. This is an issue I’ve stewed on many a time and struggled with in my mind. His comments on Facebook simply made my mind revisit this topic, and this time it gained some traction in the right direction. I wanted to help those who have wrestled with these questions too. Hope this helps.
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struck
As many of you might have noticed, I’ve been sick lately. Normally, that’s not blog-worthy, even if it is a rare occassion. However, this morning was the first time I had been to church in three weeks. I was up front playing guitar with the worship team and started to sing along with one of the songs (sometimes I’m concentrating on the guitar too much to sing), and that’s when it struck me. I missed this. Yes, I missed church, and yes, I missed playing guitar for worship, but the thing I missed the most was just singing to God. My throat had been so raw for the last two weeks, that I hadn’t been able to sing (I tried once, and it was a pathetic sound).
Then something else struck me. I wasn’t the only one. God missed it too. The ruler of the universe; the creator of everything; the omnipotent God who controls everything. He missed my worship. God wants, desires, even longs for the worship and adoration of his treasured creation, mankind. And yes, I know, worship is more than just singing and music, but for me, that’s the way I worship God best. When I lose that, I feel like a part of me has died. This morning, though, it was revived, and wow, did that feel amazing. Yes, it even drove me to tears as all these thoughts came rushing at once. I just had to share that with all of you.