In a post at entitled “Devotions Aren’t Magic” Jon Bloom writes,
We know that [devotions aren't magic]…But still, we can be tempted to think that if we just figure out the secret formula—the right mixture of Bible meditation and prayer—we will experience euphoric moments of rapturous communion with the Lord. And if that doesn’t happen, our formula must be wrong.
He then lists five reasons daily devotions are crucial to progress in the Christian life even if our devotional experiences seems rather ordinary.
- Soul Exercise
- Soul Shaping
- Bible Copiousness
- Fight Training
- Delight Cultivation
I encourage you to read the entire post for Jon’s explanation of each point.
Over the past week I’ve been working my way through Christ-Centered Worship by Bryan Chapell. The subtitle, “Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice”, is a concise summary of the book’s message that the Gospel itself ought to shape the structure of our worship gatherings.
Chapell concludes a chapter entitled “The Mission of Christ-Centered Worship” with the following comments about the connection between worship and mission.
The gospel narrative does not simply form the structure of our worship; it simultaneously stimulates mission on behalf of the One we worship. The story of Christ-centered worship is the story of the God who has come to redeem his people. As we retell his story in our worship, our hearts are moved by his love and we want to tell the world of it. We intuitively know that more glory will come to the One we worship if more people worship with us. As our worship resonates with the message of his love for us, our hearts resonate with love for him and his purposes. More and more we come to understand that our worship is part of God’s mission to make known his Son to our hearts and to the world (135).
Worship motivates mission!
Mark Jackson, one of our elders at Grace Bible Church in Escondido, CA, has started a new blog named “Worship God”. As the blog’s title indicates Mark will be focusing on issues related to the worship of God; particularly music in corporate worship.
Be sure to add Mark’s blog to your feed reader.
Last Sunday we sang “Not What My Hands Have Done” by Horatius Bonar in preparation for hearing the morning’s sermon from Romans 5. The lyrics have been running through my head all week so I wanted to share them here.
Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul;
Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God;
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load.
Your voice alone, O Lord, can speak to me of grace;
Your power alone, O Son of God, can all my sin erase.
No other work but Yours, no other blood will do;
No strength but that which is divine can bear me safely through.
Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God, not mine, O Lord, to Thee,
Can rid me of this dark unrest, And set my spirit free.
I bless the Christ of God; I rest on love divine;
And with unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt; I bury in His tomb
Each thought of unbelief and fear, each lingering shade of gloom.
I praise the God of grace; I trust His truth and might;
He calls me His, I call Him mine, My God, my joy and light.
’Tis He Who saveth me, and freely pardon gives;
I love because He loveth me, I live because He lives.
This past Sunday at our church’s internship meeting we discussed various worship related issues. One of the questions that came up was what to do when you feel like you can’t sing the lyrics of a hymn/song during the corporate worship service.
Jim Newheiser, who was leading the meeting, helpfully suggested that you first ask whether your issue with the song is one of preference or doctrine. There’s a difference between simply not liking a hymn or worship song because of its tune, for example, and not liking the song because you believe it doesn’t teach sound doctrine. Jim encouraged us to put aside preferences when necessary. However, if we believe the song isn’t teaching correct doctrine then we must not violate our conscience.
What do you do when the lyrics of a hymn or song are so vague or unclear (but not clearly false) that you can’t sing with conviction? There are a few songs (though not many) we sing at our worship services that contain lyrics I can’t sing with conviction because I’m not sure what the words are communicating.
For example, do you think the following line is a proper/true description of Jesus Christ?
“You are the love song we’ll sing forever”.
I’m not asking whether that line makes you think of other things that are true of Christ, but whether the statement that Jesus is a “love song” is true on its own.
I’ve tried hard not to be a stick in the mud over this line, but I simply can’t bring myself to sing it. It’s not clear to me what it means for Jesus to be a love song and I haven’t come across anything in Scripture that would shed some light. I haven’t scoured the entire Bible over this lyric though so please let me know if I’m missing something!
What songs/lyrics do you have a hard time singing and why (keep it civil)?
