Worship Matters - Part 3

This is the third installment on a series of posts that involves some of our staff (pastoral and worship) discussing Bob Kauflin’s book “Worship Matters”. We actually made a little more progress this week by getting through more than 1 chapter. We finished off the first section of the book (Chapters 1-5) entitled "The Leader". Chapter 5 deals with the life and character of the leader. This chapter echoes the message from Bob’s close friend, C.J. Mahaney, in one of his talks entitled “WATCH YOUR LIFE”. This chapter also reminded me of my father’s life verse, 1 Corinthians 10:31 - So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Chapter 6 begins the second major section of the book called "The Task". This began the most vigorous discussion of the meeting. There was a resounding stir of strong opinions as we began this section. Kauflin begins by asking some difficult questions about the significance christian culture has placed on the role of the worship leader, and why it’s important to gain a biblical grasp of what the task really is. He finishes Chapter 6 by stating his extremely well thought out definition of what a worship leaders task is. This definition then becomes the basis for this section of the book. Each chapter takes one line of the definition and expands on it. The chapters are short (3 or 4 pages) and basically expand the statements for further clarity on the subject. We finished up our meeting by working through the first line of the statement in Chapter 7 - A FAITHFUL WORSHIP LEADER. This chapter, again, elicited strong opinions on the topic. Below are my personal thoughts on what we discussed and insights I have gained for personal growth and corporate edification.

• My life on the stage and my life off of the stage should be a true reflection of each other. People should not be surprised at how I live privately away from the spotlight. My actions, my parenting, my work ethic, my recreation should be in rhythm with my actions, thoughts, and words when I am leading worship.
• Purity is of utmost importance when leading others in worship - “God wants our worship to be sincere, not hypocritical; willing, not forced; wholehearted, not distracted. In other words, pure.” (page 47)
• “Wordly musicians can make great music on stage and live totally decadent lives - and no one thinks twice about it. Worship leaders don’t have that option. God wants our conduct to be an example to others. If the way we live doesn’t back up what we proclaim on Sunday morning, we’re not only deceiving the church - we’re misrepresenting the God we claim to be worshipping. I don’t ever want people who see me lead worship publicly to be surprised by the way I live privately. It’s not my songs that define my worship, it’s my life.” (page 45.)
• Accountability is HUGE! We must have others in our lives that know how we spend our money and treat our spouses and what we do for recreation - so that they can point out sin issues in our lives that we don’t always see - or just avoid altogether.
• We realized that while we as leaders understand that worship shouldn’t be compartmentalized during a worship service - ie, worship is singing, not teaching or giving etc. - we are battling against our christian culture. We have “worship concerts”, “worship artists”, our local christian radio station now plays “worship music” and the latest “worship songs” constantly - people walk into church inundated with what our christian culture tells them - WORSHIP HAPPENS WITH MUSIC. We all agreed that we MUST become very intentional when on stage about communicating the flow of worship throughout the service - our language has to change to begin to combat outside influences on our own local community.
• One of our pastors expressed conviction when Bob reminded us that the PASTOR is the worship leader. He is the one that God will hold accountable for what happens on that stage - not just his message, but every element that is used from beginning to end. Our pastors have in NO WAY abdicated that responsibility - it has been delegated to us and it is overseen by them and they are involved in the planning aspect from beginning to end - but this thought carries a greater weight as we move forward.
• Worship Leaders MUST gain a biblical perspective on their roles in the local church - stop assuming what your role is or placing more significance on it then it should have. Find out what God says you should be doing and do it.
• The goal of the worship leader is to serve his local church, not to write the next song that travels around the world and is sung by millions. Write the next song that helps your church become a more biblical community of believers. If God opens doors for more people to be served by that song then give Him glory for it - but don’t pursue it! Our culture is addicted to celebrity - we must not be! We are not called to be rock stars - we are called to be servants. We are not called to make millions - we are called to make disciples. We are not called to a career - we are called to a lifestyle. We must move our gaze away from the crowds and onto the cross!

Book Review - "In My Place Condemned He Stood: Celebrating the Glory of the Atonement" - Packer & Dever

"In My Place Condemned He Stood" by J.I Packer and Mark Dever brilliantly unpacks the doctrine of Penal Substitution. Understanding the cross of Christ and what happened at Calvary is the cornerstone of the faith that we hold. When we come to understand what took place on that hill upon that tree we are driven to our knees in humility and our hearts burst forth with gratitude and fresh love for our Savior. This book accomplishes that task.

My reading and comprehension skills were put to the test as I worked my way through the sound theological arguments that Packer describes. He is a much higher intellectual being than I am and I found myself having to re-read sections often to fully grasp the logic, reasoning and doctrine being presented, but it was well worth the repeating! This book is not a new work of new thoughts, but a collection of 4 works brought together in one book -3 contributed from J.I. Packer and 1 from Mark Dever. There is also an annotated bibliography included at the end that instantly increases ones "BOOKS TO READ" list on the subject of atonement and penal substitution. I would highly recommend this book - while academic in places - it clarifies the biblical view of salvation and the work of Christ at the cross. THIS IS ESSENTIAL - you mess this up and you are no longer building upon rock, but upon sand. Below are some quotes from the book that I found to be helpful.

• "a gospel without propitiation at its heart is another gospel than that which Paul preached." - Packer, pg 32

• "The wrath of God against us, both present and to come, has been quenched. How was this effected? Through the death of Christ. 'When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son' (Rom.5:10). The "blood" - that is, the sacrificial death - of Jesus Christ abolished God's anger against us and ensured that his treatment of us forever after would be propitious and favorable. Henceforth, instead of showing himself to be against us, he would show himself in our life and experience to be for us. What, then, does the phrase "a propitiation...by his blood" express? It expresses, in the context of Paul's argument, precisely this thought: that by his sacrificial death for our sins Christ pacified the wrath of God." - Packer, pg. 34

• "Redeeming love and retributive justice joined hands, so to speak, at Calvary, for there God showed himself to be 'just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.'" - Packer, pg. 41

• "The notion that the phrase 'penal substitution' expresses is that Jesus Christ our Lord, moved by a love that was determined to do everything necessary to save us, endured and exhausted the destructive divine judgement for which we were otherwise inescapably destined, and so won us forgiveness, adoption, and glory. To affirm penal substitution is to say that believers are in debt to Christ specifically for this, and that this is the mainspring of all their joy, peace, and praise both now and for eternity." - Packer, pg 77

• "(When man justifies the wicked, it is a miscarriage of justice that God hates, but when God justifies the ungodly it is a miracle of grace for us to adore [Prov. 17:15; Rom. 4:5].)" - Packer,pg.89

• "God has reconciled us, dealing with the barrier of hostility between himself and humanity by means of Christ's death (2 Corinthians 5)." - Dever, pg. 107

There are many more that I left out - you will have to read the book!!!