Worship is a dialogue, or at least it should be a dialogue between us and our God. It is initiated by Him, but what he reveals to us about Himself during worship requires a response. Some may say, “Well I don’t like the offering at the end of the service. It’s always been in the middle of the service. That’s where it belongs.” There is no right or wrong time in the service to take up the offering, but I would suggest that there are better times. If you follow the pattern of worship set up for us in Isaiah 6 where the prophet has his face-to-face encounter with God, the flow of worship happens this way…

1. Isaiah sees God for who God is;
2. Isaiah sees himself for who he is;
3. Isaiah responds with a commitment of all that he is to do all that God asks.

That third part of the conversation, to me, is where the Hymn of Response and the Giving of Tithes and Offerings fit. We are committing to God, first, our lives during the Hymn of Response, and then His Tithe and Our Offerings during the Offertory. This time of musical meditation is a great opportunity to continue the idea of giving ourselves to God, just like we have the opportunity to do during the Hymn of Response.

So what are you thinking about during the Offertory? Let me offer a suggestion: Take the theme of that day’s sermon and continue to apply it to your heart and life during the offertory. Think on how you might be able to make a renewed commitment of your life this next week to God. Think of how you might be able to truly “give yourself to God” during the next week. Nail it down…again. Don’t focus on the music unless it is helping you make that renewed commitment. Perhaps the text of the song they are playing does play through your mind and helps you to solidify the commitment you are trying to make. Or perhaps that music just gives you another moment to be still and know that He is God.

“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him…” Psalm 37:7a

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:10

“Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” Zechariah 2:13

Be still…these verses say it so well in the midst of a culture that is in far too much of a hurry. Hurry to work and hurry to school. Hurry to church and hurry to the closest restaurant to beat the Methodists to the front of the line.  Hurry, we live with it all the time. When was the last time you took some TIME to just be still?

Perhaps that is the greatest reason to have a prelude. Perhaps that is why we began having them in the first place. Perhaps, somewhere back down the road, even before iPod touch and Droids, Microwave dinners and drive-through fast food, someone decided things were getting way out of hand when it came to our rushing into God’s presence without taking TIME to quiet our souls, or at least refocus them on the God who is Holy.

It’s not just some incidental music to underscore our conversations. The purpose for the prelude is to turn our attention away from one another and toward God. There really should be no conversations taking place during the prelude except those that happen between us and God in our hearts and minds as we turn our attention to Him.

It is meant to give us TIME to still our minds and turn our attention away from the noise that surrounds us in our busy world to focus on God. So, this Sunday as the prelude begins wherever you worship, please take advantage of that TIME to focus your minds and hearts on God. Turn off the cell phone. Yes, you can live with it in the OFF mode for one hour. The sky won’t fall and the world won’t end. Get your mind off of Sunday dinner and onto feasting on God’s goodness and loving Him with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength. He wants to meet us there every time we gather for worship.

Won’t you join me in seeking His presence this Sunday beginning with the very first note of the prelude?

Several questions were raised in an article I recently read about “Worship Discipleship.” Please be aware that this term “Worship Discipleship” is not referring to the idea of using the worship service as a means of building disciples of Christ. Instead it is referring to the process of helping believers to learn about the place of worship in the life of the believer. Some of the questions raised were:

What is worship?
Why do we worship?
What are the historical roots to our Christian worship?
What theological principles undergird our worship practices?
Who is worship for?

The above order is the order in which the questions were posed, but I would like to deal with them in a different order that I think will be a better help to inform our thinking about worship. So let’s consider these same questions, but in this order:

What is worship?
Who is worship for?
Why do we worship?
What theological principles undergird our worship practices?
What are the historical roots to our Christian worship?

In this first installment of Worship 1O1 we will talk about the first question: What is worship?

I’ve lived with this definition for over 20 years. I’ve never found a better definition. It came from one of the first classes I took at Southwestern Seminary, Philosophy of Church Music. My Professor was Dr. Bruce Leaflblad and this is how he defines worship…

Worship is communion with God in which believers, by grace, center their minds’ attentions and their hearts’ affections on the Lord, humbly glorifying God in response to His greatness and His word. – Bruce Leafblad

Let’s break this down…
Worship is Relational between Believers and God.
The invitation to worship is not extended to unbelievers because they have no relationship with God. This does not mean that worship has no impact on them. To the contrary, it should have great impact on an unbeliever when they see believers whose spirits are truly attuned to the Spirit of God and who are worshiping Him in spirit and truth. But the very word communion has as one of its dictionary meanings, “Intimate fellowship.” That can’t happen when two persons have no relationship. Relationship precedes fellowship.

Worship is By Grace.
In other words, there is nothing that we have done to deserve the opportunity to come into His presence. It is by His invitation and at His initiative.

Worship is Loving God
My good friend David Walker has a habit of referring to worship as “Loving on God.” That should be the attitude of our hearts. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-38, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” When we center our minds’ attentions and our hearts’ affections on the Lord we are loving Him. When a man truly loves his wife he gives her his attention and he expresses affection for her. The same goes for a wife loving her husband. The Apostle Paul says this:
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.            Ephesians 5:22-32

Worship is an act of Submission.
…“humbly” glorifying God… We submit our will to His Will.
“Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Thou art the Potter, I am the clay…”

Worship is an act that seeks to Glorify God.
This takes our personal preferences and our personal critiques of worship out of the conversation. If I am not singing for my own recognition; if the motive, the affection of my heart is for Him, then what I do in worship will seek His Glory alone, not my own glory. All the glory belongs to Him…
“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.” Isaiah 42:8
“For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.” Isaiah 48:11

Worship is a Response to God…
…not to the music, not to the preaching, not to a vibrant testimony, not to a powerful prayer, but to God. The Holy Spirit can and does use all of those elements of our worship services to prick our hearts and minds, but the response is to God Himself, not just to the things we do.

Worship does not happen in rooms and is not contained in the singing of songs and the reading of scripture and the praying of prayers and the preaching of sermons. Just because you have sung songs and heard prayers and sermons and read scripture does not mean that you have worshiped.

Worship happens in and is contained in human minds and hearts. It finds its place of beginning there. It is to the human mind and heart that God is first revealed. It is the human mind and heart that must respond to that revelation. That response is prompted by the attitudes of adoration, praise, repentance, faith, and thanksgiving. Those attitudes express themselves in action, whether it is a response that calls the worshiper to the altar or a response that means a change of life as it is lived from day to day. God’s revelation demands that we do something with it. In the words of the old hymn writers… “What will you do with Jesus?” and “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all!”
If something does not happen in your heart and your mind during a service of worship, if you are not faced with the demand to respond to these attitudes of heart that can change life and that show up only in those who have truly communed with God, then have you truly worshiped? I would think not.

Worship is rooted in God’s Word.                                                                                                                              God’s word is the beginning point for any worship planning that I do. It should be the central guiding factor in determining what we do in worship and how we do it.

So, to restate the words Dr. Leafblad shared with our Philosophy of Chruch Music class so many years ago…Worship is communion with God in which believers, by grace, center their minds’ attentions and their hearts’ affections on the Lord, humbly glorifying God in response to His greatness and His word.

For a number of years I have honed my skills at keyboard improvisation and am pretty comfortable doing that. That’s when you take a melody that everyone knows and change the harmony around it or “dress it up” using your own unique style of playing. But while my improvistation skills have improved, my sightreading skills have not been as strong as I would like for them to be. Why? I haven’t spent time sightreading piano accompaniments or other piano pieces nearly as much as I have worked on improvisation.

In light of that I have been trying, lately, to really strengthen my piano skills, particularly in the area of sightreading and technique.  The only way to do that is, you guessed it, “Practice, practice, practice.” (After all, isn’t that how you get to Carnegie Hall?) I said that Beethoven is teaching me a lot. Well, I’m working on a Beethoven Piano Sonata that has some particularly difficult passages in it in terms of fingering patterns and have had to really break the passages down into bite-sized pieces to work out those fingering patterns. Once I have done that the section of the piece I am working on seems to fall together a lot more quickly. One day I’ll have that sonata learned, but not until I’ve put in a lot of hard work. Practice makes perfect.

I’m discovering that it’s the same in every discipline we undertake. I’m also working on losing some weight right now, but if I don’t “practice” the good habits that I know to be healthy then my weight loss really slows down to a crawl and maybe I even regain a pound or two. One day I’ll lose the weight, but not until I’ve “practiced” what I know to do. Practice makes perfect.

In my personal Bible study times I’ve found that I get a lot more accomplished if I study some every day rather than try to study for hours at a time on one day to “make up for lost time.” I’ve learned that’s one thing you just can’t do. Once time is lost, it’s lost. There is no “making up.” One day I’ll look back and realize how much I’ve grown in understanding God’s word, only if I “practice” the habit of daily Bible study. Practice makes perfect.

I also love to write and journal and I find that writing on a regular basis keeps me in a writing groove, but if I just wait “until I have time” I get writer’s block and the ideas don’t flow so well. One day I’ll finish that proverbial book that everyone wants to write, but only if I make time to “practice” my writing skills. Practice makes perfect.

What’s my point? The point is that regularly scheduled time spent doing the things that are important to you yield a lot more results than trying to get it all done at once and then not touching it for a while. Yes, practice does make perfect in so many ways. Indeed, when we “practice” the things that Jesus taught us to do in passages like the Sermon on the Mount then we achieve the end result of becoming more like Him. And isn’t that what we all are seeking? Practice makes perfect.

That prompts a question…how does one live an abundant, spirit-filled life? Practice, practice, practice!

Thanks, Beethoven! What a great lesson!

Think about it. We graduate from high school, go to college or enter professional life in some shape or form and the pressure to perform begins. There are performance issues on the job. Then there is the pressure to “keep up with the Joneses.” (Sorry if your name is Jones) You know the drill…gotta have that club membership, that new house, that new SUV, that boat…the list goes on and on. Or there is the attitude, “This job doesn’t pay enough money. I think I need a higher paying job so that we can afford the things we want.” 

Then there is the pressure of a culture that encourages us to be busy: civic clubs and church activities that fill a calendar to the brim, piano lessons and band, soccer and and softball, dance and gymnastics. It seems that we are teaching our children that a truly fulfilled life is determined by the number of days that we can fill up on our calendars, yet we so often burden our schedules to the point that there is not any margin and then we ask, “Why can’t life be simpler than this?”

Does it all sound familiar? No wonder there is no margin in our schedules or our bank accounts and precious little room for God. The phrase from Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God” is completely lost on us. Either we don’t know what it means, or we have at least forgotten.

Have we also forgotten that all of life is to be lived for Him and not for ourselves? Remember, “we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has ordained that we should walk in them.” That’s what Paul says in Ephesians 2:10 right after he tells us that we are “saved by grace through faith and that it is a gift of God, not of works so that no one can boast.” So we are saved to serve Him, not to serve ourselves.

Is there any help? I think so and I think we can find it in scripture. I think we will only find it when we stop trying to live up to what the world expects. I think we will only find it when we remember and then teach our children that all of life is lived for God and God alone. If we want to be a people who “don’t let the world press us into its mold,” as we are taught in Romans 12:1, then I think we need to listen to the heart of the prophet Micah. In Micah 6:6-8 we find these words…

⁶ With what shall I come before the LORD,
      And bow myself before the High God?
      Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
      With calves a year old? 
⁷ Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
      Ten thousand rivers of oil?
      Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
      The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 
⁸ He has shown you, O man, what is good;
      And what does the LORD require of you
      But to do justly,
      To love mercy,
      And to walk humbly with your God?

…And what does the Lord require of us…to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. Now that’s a recipe for simplicity that I can handle. What do you think?

While the music was indeed grand, and the renewal of old friendships for most and the making of new friendships for some was indeed special, the thing that struck my heart was the fact that for many of those folks who sang in Youth Choir under John Dyer some 30+ years ago, the notes were still there. It really did not require a lot of effort on John’s part to put their music back together. The same was true for many of Laverne’s students. Her challenge was a bit different since her ministry among us spanned 30 years. There was almost a whole generation’s difference between the music that her early choirs sang and the music that the choirs in her last few years sang. Still, the notes were there for Laverne’s students on the music that they sang when they were in Youth Choir.

Why? Why was it so easy for these folks to pull this music together and sing? It is simply because John and Laverne were after the very same thing that I am after when it comes to Student Choir Ministry. They were building and investing in lives, not just musicians. They were more concerned about a teenager’s ability to live the life of a walk with God with integrity and wholeness than they were about whether this note was right or that crescendo happened. Don’t hear what I’m not saying. The music is important. There is nothing that gives us the opportunity to express praise to our creator that can touch the power of music. That’s why John, Laverne and I have chosen to invest our lives in using this tool to shape the lives of believers from chidhood through adulthood.

Every movie has a soundtrack. This is the music that accompanies the scenes of any great movie. When the scene is one of sadness and pathos, the music reflects it. When the scene is one of love or romance, the music reflects that emotion. When the scene is one of great tragedy you can hear it in the music. When the scene is one of joy and triumph, again, the music paints the picture. The music that we use in our choir ministry, whether it is the children, students or adults, is about laying a soundtrack for life that supplies us with the incidental music to accompany all that happens to us or within us. That’s why so many people who came back for the reunion requested that John include “Jesus, My Lord, My Life, My All” and that Laverne include “God Is Our Refuge” on the program. These songs have been sources of inspiration and strength when these former Student Choir members have needed a source of strength from which to draw. To go back and reflect on these songs has given so many of them quiet places of refuge when the world was crushing in around them. I know. I had the privilege of reading the many letters that were written to John and Laverne for the books of letters that we presented to them on Saturday evening. Many of these letters referred to a special song that had given solace and comfort, hope and encouragement along the way.

And now this faith is passed from one generation to the next. We are simply passing the faith along. Having these songs, often filled with the words of scripture, hidden in our hearts will enable us to say, “This is my song…” when we are faced with joy and triumph or adversity and difficulty. It will help us in the living of these days to honor God with all of our life. The music isn’t just for Sunday, it’s for life! Think about it.

That thinking has really come into play as I have thought about developing new choir officers for our choir. I want to find the right persons for the right roles as we develop leadership to set the pace for our choir in years to come. Why, you might ask, do we need officers for our choir? Why doesn’t the Minister of Music just call all of the shots? Because Proverbs 14:11 says, “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisers make victory sure.” We want our victory to be sure. We want all of our people on the same page. That’s why officers, the “many advisers” for our choral ministry, are vitally important.

The right people, with the right passion, in the right place at the right time. That’s what we’re after. I think that’s what Jesus was shooting for when he called his disciples. Think about it. Who comes to your mind first if I ask you to name the disciples? The list usually begins with Peter, James and John. They seemed to be the most effective leaders of the group, this group that Jesus said he would make into “fishers of men.” Peter, James and John understood the concept of becoming a fisherman because they were fishermen. Fishing was something about which they were passionate. It’s how they made their living. When Jesus began to look for people to become fishers of men he looked for people who understood fishing. He looked for people who not only understood it, but were passionate about it. Think of Matthew, the tax collector, one who was probably despised in the eyes of many of the Jews because of his position. This is one who would understand grace. The disciples needed to be avenues of grace. They needed some among their number who understood the hand of grace when it was extended. Matthew was such a one. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother was one who brought others to Jesus. In John 1:40 we find that he brought his brother, Peter, to Jesus.

Jesus sought out those to be his closest followers who could bring a variety of gifts and passions to the table. For us to be effective in ministry we need to do the same. Find the passion…find the need…match them with one another. What is your passion for ministry? What drives you on? Working out of that passion in an area of ministry that matches your passion with a need is where you will be the most effective.

One of the biggest reasons that I love them is because there is such a plethora of tastes available for me to sample. Now if you are just a meat and potatoes kind of person, I’m sure you were satisfied on Sunday. There were plenty of meats and several bowls of potato salad. Personally, I like to sample most anything. Yes, I do have my favorites that I gravitate toward, but I really like to sample this casserole and that salad, this cake and that pie. The tastes that are available for the palate are almost endless. If you like to have your taste buds tickled, there’s no better place to be than a covered dish lunch. Yep, I love covered dish lunches.

You know, when you stop and think about it, the musical makeup of our church is very similar in makeup to the menu at a covered dish lunch. There are many here who like traditional choral literature. These are meat and potatoes kind of folks. They can’t conceive of eating a casserole. Just give them meat and potatoes. There are also many who like the more contemporary flavors of our day. These folks live on the edge. You got a wild recipe for spicy wings or an Asian salad? They’ll take that. Then there are those who like Southern gospel. This is the fried chicken, butter-beans and banana puddin’ crowd.  There are some who like classical music. These folks look for those classic dishes. Is there a prime rib or London broil on the table. They’ll go for that instead of a casserole. Then there are folks who are like me…they like everything from Bach to rock. These folks are ones that say the plates aren’t big enough because they like a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Indeed, we are all different. I once heard it said that if we were alike one of us would be unnecessary. It is indeed the fact that we are all different that makes each one of us necessary…needed in the body of Christ. The Apostle Paul paints this picture for us in I Corinthians chapter 12 where we find these words…

“But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members sufer with it; of if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.”

I Corinthians 12:20-27, emphasis mine

So we are one body. Yes, we all have different tastes, but that is what makes our congregation ‘s offering of worship to God a beautiful thing. It’s like a tapestry of color and texture that, hopefully, we will continue to weave with a wider and wider variety of musical colors and textures…yes, everything from Bach to…(well, maybe not rock, but almost.) And that is not so that we are all entertained, but so that we  all will, at some point along the way, have a best vehicle to use to express our great love for our creator God and our great love for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So come to the table this Sunday and let’s see what’s there. Feast on it with me and together, let’s worship as one body as we celebrate our great diversity. By the way…what are you going to bring?

Music for worship, whether it is for the choirs, soloists or the congregation is chosen because it reflects the truth of God’s word about Himself that we are dealing with on any given Sunday. I start in selecting music for worship with the Word of God. That’s why the pastor’s preparation in advance is so important to our overarching worship ministry. Everything we do in worship should find its roots in the Word of God.

This has implications for a philosophy of ministry that incorporates choirs and/or soloists into the worship ministry. Choirs and/or soloists must see themselves as “minister musicians” in the worship experience. There are at least five roles that minister musicians can fill as they participate in worship. They can serve:

As a Priest – one who offers a song of praise to God on behalf of the worshipers

In Leviticus 16:32-33 we see a picture of the priest who would succeed his father as high priest being the one set aside to make atonement for the sins of the people. In essence he was presenting an offering to God on behalf of the people. That is what our choirs do sometimes in saying something to God in ways that our congregation as a whole cannot say it to God. We offer our praise to the Father on behalf of our congregation.

As a Preacher – one who proclaims a message to believers and the unsaved

In Romans chapter 10, verses 14 and 15 the apostle Paul says, “How can they call on one in whom they have not believed, and how can they believe in one of whom they have not heard, and how can they hear without a preacher…” Sometimes the “minister musicians” in worship act as a preacher, proclaiming the message of the gospel or of some other significant truth about who God is to both believers and to the unsaved.

As a Counselor – one who brings words of encouragement and hope to the hurting

In Colossians 1:27 Paul refers to Christ living in us as the hope of glory. In I Peter 3:15 we are encouraged to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us. There are hurting people all around us who need to have hope for the circumstances that they face. So many times a song like the medley of “I Must Tell Jesus” and “Blessed Assurance” that the choir sang a few weeks ago, helps us to act as counselors, encouragers of fellow pilgrims on the journey.

As a Pray-er – one who speaks a musical prayer to the Lord on behalf of the worshipers

Jesus gave us the very best example of this in his prayer for us in John 17. In scriptures like Romans 1:9; Ephesians 1:16; Colossians 4:12; and I Thessalonians 1:2-3 we see wonderful exhortations to pray for the saints and we see wonderful examples of people who did just that. When we sing a song like “Lord, Listen to your Children Praying” it not only helps us invite others to pray, but it invites God to listen as we do.

As a Worship Leader – one who encourages and exhorts the congregation to encounter God in worship

II Chronicles 5, especially verses 11-14, gives us a wonderful picture of this. It says that when the trumpeters and singers were in one accord making one sound with one voice to God, then the glory of God filled the temple so that that the priests could not stand to minister for the glory of God has so filled the place. O that God’s glory would fill our place of worship every Sunday. What a wonderful day it will be when God’s glory is so powerfully strong that we just have to stop and be still in His presence!

When we approach worship on Sunday, I believe that we should give God our very best. This idea goes all the way back to my childhood when I was taught that I should always look my best on Sunday, not for show, but because of the idea that if I am going to worship God, then I need to present myself to Him wearing the very best that I have.  If the best that I have is a new pair of jeans, OK, that’s what I wear. But I always wear my best. This idea may seem a bit superficial, and if the motive that drives us to dress up on Sunday becomes anything other than presenting ourselves to God, then it is quite superficial. If we wear the new suit or the new dress to be “seen by men” then we have our reward as soon as the new threads receive the compliment. The principle is the same as the one Jesus describes in Luke 18:9-14. In this passage Jesus told the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee and drew some clear lines of distinction between the two when it came to their public praying. The Pharisee, prayed to be heard by men. Being heard by men was his reward. He had no eternal reward. The publican, or tax collector, went home justified or made right with God, because the attitude of his heart was one of humility. The motivation for his prayer was not one of seeking to be heard by men, but only one of seeking to be heard by a forgiving and loving God.

This same principle applies to all that we do in  our corporate worship times when it comes to the music of worship. I must admit that I, like every other living, breathing musician, have an ego. All musicians do, whether they will admit it or not. The problem with ego comes into play in regard to worship leadership when and if we do what we do for the accolades of men, or even for the personal “high” that we get from making music that just sounds good. You see, the motive behind what we are doing is perhaps the most important factor in determining whether God receives the glory that is due unto his name. (I Chronicles 16:29, Psalm 29:2, Psalm 96:8 ) It’s not performance for the sake of performance that counts when we enter into a sanctuary to worship our Holy God. It is giving to God the glory due unto His name that counts. Does that mean we don’t strive for excellence in all that we do? Absolutely not! Our God is a God of excellence and he does deserve our very best offering, but not so that we receive any glory. The glory all belongs to him. We need to be very careful that our language when speaking of what we do in worship reflects the true intent of our heart, our motive: that we do it for Him. If there is any other motive, then God does not get the glory and we have become much less than lead worshipers, perhaps even much less than worship leaders.

Remember, worship is not the servant of our music. Our corporate worship times are not to become times of entertainment. The motive cannot be that we use our corporate worship times to give talented individuals an opportunity to be heard. No, worship is not the servant of our music, rather, our music is the servant of worship. A servant seeks the pleasure of his master. As long as the motive for our singing or playing music in worship is to serve the purpose of helping others and ourselves to meet God, and to seek the pleasure of God, then our motive is pure.

Pure motives behind our music mean that we are building with costly stones, gold or silver. Those works will stand the test of the refiner’s fire. Having the wrong motives behind what we do is like using wood, hay or straw to build upon the foundation that is laid in Christ. Those works will be burned up when they pass through the refiner’s fire. There will be no reward.

Here is the tricky part of all of this. Motives lie  hidden in in the depths of our hearts. I can’t judge anyone else’s motives, nor can you.  Only God can do that, and in due time He will. I Corinthians 4:5 says, “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.”

In all that we do as musicians in the church, let us remember to sing or play with the heart of a servant; with one motivation for what we do…the pleasure of our master, our Holy God, and His one and only Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.