Heart attitudes – Page 7 – Worthily Magnify

Are You a Worship Diva?

Last Saturday as I was driving to church for our afternoon rehearsal and evening service, I was listening to an interview with Ricky Gervais (creator of “The Office”) on National Public Radio’s show “Studio 360”. At the very end of the interview, Ricky was asked what he thinks about his critics. His answer was striking. Here’s what he said:

“I’ve only ever tried to do one thing – and that’s please me and no one else in the world. I don’t care if anyone else likes anything I’ve ever done. I don’t care about critics. I don’t even care about the audience that I never see. I only care – did it turn out exactly as I wanted it? And if it is, I’ve won. You’re bulletproof. I don’t care about ratings or awards. I don’t care about box office. I’ll do this until someone says ‘you can’t have any more money to do stuff. No one cares. Everyone hates you.’ Bob Dylan said: ‘a man can consider himself a success if he wakes up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between he did exactly what he wanted.’ And that’s what I do.”

In other words, “I don’t care about pleasing anyone else other than me. I’m happy as long as I can do exactly what I want to do.”

I might be tempted to laugh at Ricky’s brazen self-centeredness if it weren’t for the fact that I think the same exact thing from time to time. Or every day.

I want what I want, I want to do it the way I want to do it, I want it to go exactly like I want it to go, I want to be pleased with what I did, I want to win, I want to be bulletproof, and I don’t want to hear any criticism.

That’s the flesh talking – which is why we can all recognize its voice as not being Ricky Gervais but just our sin nature. It’s ugly and it’s toxic. We need the Holy Spirit to fight it. And for those of us who lead worship, if we don’t fight it, we can quickly become worship divas.

I want to do the songs I want to do. I want them to sound like I want them to sound. I want the service to go exactly the way I want. I want a nice office and I want an impressive title. I know what I’m doing and I don’t need anyone’s suggestions or criticism. I’m happy when things go my way, and I like when I look good. As long as I can do what I want to do then everything is fine.

We all have that diva inside of us – Paul calls it “the works of the flesh” in Galatians 5:19 – and the only way to keep it from being let loose is to “walk by the Spirit” (5:16). Every week, every day, and especially every time I stand before a congregation to lead them in singing, I need the Holy Spirit’s help to keep me from wanting to get my way. With the Spirit’s help I’ll want his way.

Worship divas exist to serve themselves and their ego for their glory. Worship leaders exist to serve their church for God’s glory. Which are you?

Get Off Your Perch

This morning I was asked to spend an hour leading and teaching on worship for a women’s retreat in Bethesda, Maryland. And this evening I’ll be sharing the same teaching with my church’s men’s ministry. It makes for a long day and a lot of hearing myself talk and sing, but having gone through the songs and teaching once this morning, I feel prepared and excited about this evening.

Over the last week or so I’ve spent a good deal of time preparing for the hour-long teaching I’m giving twice today, and I’ve been freshly reminded of my pride in one particular area (and it’s a safe bet a lot of worship leaders struggle with this too): thinking that teaching is easy.

Maybe it’s because I listen to a lot of sermons (sometimes three or four per weekend) and I can start to think it can’t be all that hard.

Maybe it’s because I assume that since I can choose, arrange, and lead a 25 minute block of songs with reasonable skill then it must mean I can give a 25 minute talk. Right?

Or maybe it’s because I think that if God has gifted me in one area (music) then I must be gifted in other areas (teaching).

Whatever the reason may be for thinking that teaching is easy, the problem with all of them is the same: arrogance.

Teaching is not easy. It is a serious responsibility and burden that God calls serious people to take seriously. Flippant worship leaders who sit on their perch Sunday after Sunday thinking otherwise are mistaken. And I’m afraid I might be sitting on that perch more often than I’d like to admit.

So my encouragement to myself and to other ways is to pray for your pastor, pray for those who stand before you to teach God’s word, be gracious and understanding towards them, and don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because you’re a worship leader it means you’re also fully equipped to teach. Maybe you are. But maybe you aren’t.

I’m grateful that yesterday afternoon as I sat with a blank legal pad on my lap, lamenting the fact that I had 16 hours to go until I had to get up in front of the women in Bethesda and still had no idea what I was going to say, the Holy Spirit convicted me of my foolishness, and made it clear I needed to confess it and ask for help. I’m excited about what God has given me to share.

I also hope that I’ve learned this lesson… If not, I pray that God will keep pointing out my foolishness.

A Word for Worship Leaders and Those Who Listen To Them

I recently came across a blog post by JR Vassar (pastor of Apostles Church in New York City) titled “A Word to Preachers and Those Who Listen to Them“. And while it’s aimed towards preachers, I think what he says is applicable and helpful for worship leaders too. Here’s some of what he said:

Trust that there is a cumulative effect to your preaching. Not every sermon needs to be a home run. Just be consistent and over time you will see a lot of fruit from your preaching. You don’t have to “kill it” every Sunday; in fact you can’t. Very few people have the ability to preach a lights out sermon week to week. Just preach the Gospel, relax and trust that God will bring about fruit.

Define the win. If you have not defined what makes a sermon good, then you have no objective criteria by which to judge your sermons. Here is how I define the win: Was it text sourced, Christ exalting, gospel centered, and audience focused?
Text Sourced – did the sermon come from a text in the bible and was it taught in context? This requires a lot of study.
Christ Exalting – was Jesus the hero of the sermon? Did I preach in such a way as to move people’s minds and hearts toward him? Was he shown to be the One we need? Was he exalted as more than just an example or a model, but as a Savior? This is key. If we only present Jesus as a model for how we live, we condemn people. Jesus died the death he died because we cannot live the life he lived. So our preaching must put Jesus forth as Savior.
That is what I mean when I say Gospel-Centered. Was the Gospel presented not merely as the starting point for the Christian life, but the very track on which the Christian life is ran? As Dr. Tim Keller puts it, the Gospel is not the ABC’s of the Christian faith, but the A-Z of the Christian faith. We do not grow by getting beyond the Gospel, but by going deeper into it. Show in your sermon how the Gospel is the answer. If you are teaching on generosity, show your people how the Gospel liberates us from greed by revealing a trustworthy, generous God who sacrifices greatly to meet our needs. In fact, if your sermon is just as true had Christ not died and risen from the dead, you did not preach the Gospel, you gave advice.
Lastly, was it Audience Focused. You are not preaching to podcast land; you are preaching to a group of people who live in a certain place at a certain time who have certain idols. Study your audience and preach to them. This is the hardest part of preaching for me and an area where I need greater focus and growth. So, define the win or you will measure your sermon by the wrong things. You will be asking, “did the people like it and respond,” or “was it entertaining or engaging.” A wrong definition of the win brings about some critical losses.

For those that have to listen to preachers every week, I have two quick things to say:

Trust that there is a cumulative effect to your pastor’s preaching. Don’t expect him to hit a home run every week. It is impossible. Receive the sermon trusting that God will add it to the work that He is currently doing in your life and bring forth fruit. Your pastor’s sermons should be supplemental to the work God is doing in you through your own times in the word.

Define the win. Don’t judge your pastor on whether he is funny or dynamic or captivating. If your pastor is preaching the bible, exalting Christ, keeping the Gospel central and applying it to your context, then you have a great pastor and you should thank God for him. Stop complaining about your pastor’s delivery; pray for your receptivity. I hear people criticize their pastor’s preaching but never scrutinize their own listening. Maybe the problem is not what you think it is.

It’s a relief for me to know that there is a cumulative effect to my worship leading. And it’s a good reminder that I don’t have to “kill it” every Sunday – but rather be faithful in making Jesus central.

Thanks, JR, for such a helpful and convicting post.

Calling it Out

Far too many worship teams, choirs, and entire music ministries are riddled with pride. Competition, territories, and non-negotiables abound.

“How come Sally gets to sing once every 2 weeks, but I only get to sing every 2 months?”

“This worship team is the only reason why people come to this service.”

“I have played trumpet on this team since long before this worship leader got here, and I’ll be playing on this team long after he leaves.”

“Our choir is what holds this church together. If we weren’t here, half the church would leave.”

“Don’t mess with our services They’re fine the way they are.”

“I’m the best guitarist in the church.”

I am increasingly convinced that one of my roles as a worship leader, and as someone who oversees the worship teams at my church, is to foster an atmosphere in which two things happen: First, pride is not tolerated, and second, pride is called out.

We talk about it. We laugh at it. We say how silly it is. We pray that God would point out evidences of it in our lives. We don’t dance around it and pretend it’s not there, while year after year it festers and grows and eventually chokes the life out of our ministry. We call it out.

Most of the time “calling it out” happens in an intentionally humorous manner. If God “mocks proud mockers” (Proverbs 3:34), then it seems to make sense that we would also view pride as deserving mocking. At our monthly meetings, or in rehearsals, I’ll just try to find ways to poke fun at my sinful desire to be the best, and good-naturedly joke with instrumentalists and singers in a way that encourages not taking ourselves too seriously.

Other times, I’ll call it out in a more serious way, since the warning that “God opposes the proud” (James 4:6) should cause us to take pride seriously. I want to communicate to the worship team three things: First, I struggle with this, and you all struggle with this; second, here are some specific ways we might be tempted to embrace pride as musicians; and third, here are some general ways we’re all tempted to embrace pride as sinful human beings.

Once you call it out – get it out in the open, name it, and expose how destructive and petty pride really is – you can explain why it can’t be tolerated.

The worship leader, choir director, or pastor who’s afraid to address the problem of pride is contributing to an atmosphere in which God’s glory becomes less and less of a priority. I encourage you to call pride out – most of the time gently, sometimes sternly, but always firmly.

Say No To Just Standing There

At our Monday night meeting, I encouraged my church’s worship team to “say no” to three things: (1) sameness, (2) winging it, and (3) just standing there.

For fun, I made up little stickers and handed them out at the beginning of my talk. It made everyone laugh and (hopefully) helped them remember what I said once they got home.

Here’s what I shared about not “just standing there”.

Fresh, creative, excellent, and well-rehearsed music will never change anyone’s life. Jesus will.

Good mixes, proper speaker placement, in-ear monitors, and skillful lyrics/video operation will never bring anyone salvation. Jesus will.

Our areas of giftedness can so easily become idols: things we look to for comfort, deliverance, help, and companionship. We consider them worthy of substantial time and/or money, and pour our lives out for them. Eventually they leave us empty.

We must never worship at the altar of relevance, freshness, music, technology, arrangements, or creativity. We worship the “Lamb who was slain”, who is worthy “to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:11). “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen!” (Revelation 7:10b, 12).

Your job is not to just run sound. Your job is to lead people in exalting the greatness of God in Jesus Christ.

Your job is not to just play drums. Your job is to lead people in magnifying the one who is “great and greatly to be praised”. (Psalm 145:3)

Your job is not just to sing. Your job is to lead people in encountering the glory of God.

Do we make it clear on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings that our passion is for the glory of God, and that our lives have been changed by the gospel?

When people look at us (and they are looking at us), do they see people who are in their position first and foremost to make much of Jesus? Or do they see people who are in their role just because it kind of seems like that’s where they should be… and they could take it or leave it… and they’re not really into it… and they’ll just let the worship leader do his thing…?

Please, in whatever area you serve during a service, don’t just stand there. Sing along, model physical expressiveness, engage with God, pay close attention to the reading and preaching of God’s Word, and “ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name, bring an offering, and come into his courts!” (Psalm 96:8)