Hey everyone. Lots of ground to cover this week, so I'll keep it relatively short and give you my two biggest take-aways from the week.
1. Praise is prevalent. What a great reminder that we were created to praise God and glorify him. As Moore said on page 25, "it is every believer's most natural response to God's power and grace."
Think about it, we're all wired to worship right. We go to concerts, ball games, broadway plays, and we stand and cheer, clap, shout, sometimes cry. We're just wired with an innate sense of worship. However, what happens to us is that we trade worship of the Creator for worship of created things. (Don't hear me say going to those things and cheering is bad, we just have to have priorities in place)
I said it last week, and I'll say it again, the best definition of worship is that it is a RESPONSE. Worship is our response to what we value most. That’s why worship is that thing that we all do. It’s what we’re all about on any given day. Because worship is about saying, “This person, this thing, this experience, this whatever is what matters most to me…it’s the thing I put first in my life.”
We were all created to worship, and we all worship something.
And this is why this is so important for us to get right…we become what we worship. Whatever you worship, whatever you put first, you become obsessed with. Whatever you become obsessed with, you imitate. And whatever you imitate you become. In other words, whatever you value most will ultimately determine who you are.
I pray that as a team, we put Jesus first. I pray that he becomes our obsession.
2. I had never heard about Perfect Praise before this week, and I still need to do some more thinking about it, but I truly appreciated his requirements for perfect praise: a worshipful and passionate heart, approach Him as little children, and have total dependence on God.
My confession is that every day I struggle to give God perfect praise, including days when I have to stand on stage and lead other people. I need to work on this, and want to come to a place where I worship him with a full heart, and a dependence, humility, wonder and awe that I see in children's eyes.
I'll finish with a quote from a guy named Bob Kaughlin. I'm reading his book right now, and he makes this statement that blew me away:
"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." Amen.
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As I was finishing day 1, I had a couple of thoughts. They go in two directions.
First:
There is part of me that thought that it would be boring to be in Heaven if all we were going to do was stand around and chant. But that's not what it is all about.
Additionally, it seems like God prepares us while we are on earth for the worship in Heaven. If it is (and will be for us) natural to worship there, why is it not natural for us to worship here? Or, at least why is it not practiced like it is natural? The more I practice worship, the more natural it becomes.
And that brought me to my second thought:
I wonder what other characteristics of worship in Heaven I miss in my worship. And, I latched on to the communal nature of the worship (after the living creatures . . . the elders bowed down; the repeated use of "then"; they sang together). Too often I see worship as what I am doing (singing, praying, serving, etc.), rather than what we are doing.
After not posting anything last week I figured I should put something in this week.
This week, I was struck by the concept that "praise is prevalent..."
In particular, I soaked in the idea that "Praise to our holy God is so important that heaven itself never stops praising him." I have had the tendency to relegate praise to a corporate setting. I have to recognize that praise is ongoing and never-ending...it is up to me to join in.
I also keep coming back to this idea: Praise Is Inevitable. I remember an obscure chorus I first heard Mercy Me sing way back in 1998: "Ain't no rock...gonna cry in my place..as long as I'm alive I'll magnify his holy name..."
Praise IS going to happen. And as Moore says, while God expects the rest of creation to praise him, he desires it from his people.
I'm also interested in learning more about the concept of perfect praise.
I'm loving this study!
I found myself this week thinking about the ways I am both comforted and comfortable with praise. I know that praising through music and singing can lift my heart and make me feel closer to God--that's how I'm wired, I guess. I also know that I am more comfortable praising God at Cherry Hills with my "family" there. I'm not afraid or embarrassed to raise my hands or clap while singing. I admit, though, that I'm more reserved in other churches where I'm not sure what's "normal", and I think I would be too embarrassed to do something like raise my hands while singing at a stoplight in my car, as one example stated this week.
The question for myself is, then, "Why?" If we all are truly one family in Christ, why do we feel afraid that someone will be offended by our acts of praise, or even just think it to be odd? That is something that I thought about with each type of praise that was discussed this week--vocal, audible, and visible. I have to work on letting go of my self-conscious feelings and not being afraid to be real with my praise. I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but I've been learning a lot about areas in which I can and need to grow.
-Jen House
I found the study this week good and hard.
It was great to be reminded that praise should be a natural, ongoing, and persistent part of our life. I often think about (not often enough) doing everything for His glory.
I was greatly challenged by the direction from the study to practice some of the vocal/audible forms of praise. I am normally a rather reserved worshiper. This is by personality, learned experience and skill. A quite house in the morning while others are still sleeping did not make me want to jump up and shout.
It is good to be reminded that we do have many resources at our disposal to praise God!
- Joel Morton
First of all, thanks so much to Brian for setting us all off on this journey together. I am REALLY enjoying this.
The part that got to me the most this week, somewhat unexpectedly, was the daily praise on day 3 where we were encouraged to physically kneel and then raise our hands. I do both of these on a regular basis, but I'm not sure if I have ever done them both at the same time. Apparently, this makes all the difference.
The immediate image that I got was my oldest son, Anthony. When he was a toddler and wanted picked up, he wouldn't say anything, he would just hold his hands up, stretched wide, not altogether unlike Jesus on the cross. The thing is, he's 16 now and still holds his arms out to me the same way when he wants a hug, even though he's only an inch shorter than me now (and the wingspan is a bit wider).
So as I'm on my knees lifting my hands, I imagined myself as a child like Anthony holding my arms up to my Daddy. And for the very first time, I think I finally understood what it means to call God Abba--Father. I've said the words "Our Father" countless times, but now I get it, and I feel closer to Him than ever before. THAT'S what praise is all about!
Awesome stuff everyone. Scott, thanks for sharing that with us!
As I considered my past attitude toward praise, and the one I have as I continue to grow in the Lord, I see that praising Him is something I find myself needing to do. I long for it and find it bursting out of me. Most of the time I'm alone, in my car, singing along to my favorite worship songs, or praying with my favorite pastor, but I'm praising Him. What this study reminds me and I notice is when I have sin I'm facing or have struggles with my husband or frustrations at work or whatever, my praise is so much further from that "perfected" model that Jesus described. This made me really want to think about that and clearly lay it all before Him and clear my heart, mind, and motives before I bring Him my praise.
I, too, am really digging this study. It's great know that you guys are all doing this right along with me :)
This week was interesting. I was really moved, as am always, when reading the early chapters in Revelation. Seeing Jesus in the glory that is to be revealed is a awesome picture (emphasis on the word AWE) and I think when we can rightly understand who Jesus is; worship, praise and adoration come as involuntary responses to His greatness visibly, vocally and audibly. I only hope to experience a portion of that kind of worship here on earth. Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come (repeat).
I have been following these posts and thinking about them. Thanks.
Just so folks don't think I am a troll here, I have known Brian since we were both troublemakers in Mrs. White's Sunday School class as wee ones.
Also a little context of where I come from before I start with my comment. I am a high church, smells and bells fan. I love liturgy, and "traditional" services. That does not mean I have no respect for other forms. After all, worship is not for us but for God. I am theologically liberal, but realize that Grace is a mystery and I have no place to judge or condemn ones theology unless it is truly in conflict with the Gospel. Then I have a duty to speak the truth of the Evangel. So, enough about me.
Having not read any of this book, I have a question about the definition of praise. It seems to me that the working definition leads to a warm fuzzy feeling for us. That praise makes us "on fire." My question is this: Does the definition of praise and worship in this book allow for brokenness? Does it allow for someone to just be? Does it allow for one to come to worship and leave worship burdened?
The way I understand worship is as act of obedience to God. We come to God warts and all. If we come away "on fire"...good. (I know that phrase has not been used, but bear with me) However; If we don't did we fail at Worship? I think the mystery of Worship is that even when we come with heavy hearts and we may leave with those burdens, the mere act of being present allows God to begin to transform us. It allows for the embers within us to burn and continue to burn. Even if we do not "feel" better, God is at work. As those embers continue to smolder we begin to let things go. The Psalms are full of examples of this.
I guess, my issue (and remember I have not read the book, and, thus, don't know if these questions are addressed) is that the author is suggesting that praise and worship immediately affects us. That there is an immediacy to the results of Worship. Does the book allow for the mystery of tranformation?
Sorry if this is rambling...at work and this response has taken an hour to write.
Justin Thornburgh
On Day 4 this week, we read about vocal ways to praise God. Moore said that one of the ways to praise God is to tell others what He has done in our lives. I have shared this with a few of you already this week but I wanted to make sure I tell all of you so that God gets the glory.
A lot of you have prayed for my dad for the past two years after he hurt his back at work and then had surgery. Last year, he lost his workers comp case which meant he received no compensation. Two attorneys told our family there was no reason to appeal the case because there was a very little chance that the outcome would change. My dad decided not to appeal but then out of the blue his attorney decided to file the appeal. An appeal usually takes a minimum of 18 months.
This past week my parents received a letter saying they had won the appeal and my dad is to receive back pay and a settlement and this happened in 12 months! When I received the call I also practiced another form of vocal praise: shouting. This is a form of praise that I don't use often but my heart was bursting with thanksgiving and praise for the amazing thing God had done.
So just like the 80 year old woman in the story Moore told, I want to testify to God's faithfulness.
Michelle
Justin,
You raise some good points that deserve to be answered.
Rest assured, this study isn't advocating worship/praise as the warm fuzzies. And I hope we never become a church that teaches that either.
The working definition of worship that I use is: "worship is our response to whatever we value most" and set in the context of a Sunday morning gathering, I would say worship is "our response to God." Our response to who He is and what He has done to redeem us and buy us back.
In addition, I don't think the book or our church would ever advocate just showing up and acting like life is perfect. Christians are notorious for doing the "How you doing?" and getting the answer "fine" as someone's world is actually crumbling apart.
The church exists so the broken can be healed, and the oppressed can be given favor and love. It would be unbiblical to say to someone, you should be fine because darn it you're at church.
I think it is also absolutely fine for people to come and wrestle with God and what they hear his Word saying to them. They will not have everything figured out in 1 hour, 15 minutes.
That being said, whether our world is falling apart, we are grieving the loss of a job, a loved one, a relationship, etc. God still deserves our praise and our response to him should still be worship.
One author says this, "Don't let what is wrong with you worship what is right with God."
Taken out of context that can sound harsh, but I believe this. I believe no matter where we are in life, God wants and deserves our praise - He is worth it.
You bring up one other good point - that the Psalms are filled with Laments. In fact, a majority of the Psalms are lament Psalms. And the truth is we don't know how to lament very well in the American church (just look at the lack of lament songs). However, I think every single lament Psalm has a turning point in it where the poet looks back to God, and responds to him as being sovereign and in control.
This may not mean raising our hands, clapping, shouting, etc. But it does mean engaging our heart (worshipping/praising) with the God of the universe who loved us so much he sent His Son to take our place on the cross.
Thanks for the reply, Brian. I agree with what you are saying. Our definition of worship is similar, I think. It is our response to God, but I might add that it is not just in "worship" or prayer, but worship is also our actions outside of the deigned times. Worship is a verb, and thusly when we give a hand to one in need or are present with the sick or are living the great commandment we are worshiping. It moves beyond us and affects those around us.
I like what you say. Especially, "The church exists so the broken can be healed, and the oppressed can be given favor and love. It would be unbiblical to say to someone, you should be fine because darn it you're at church."
That is what worries me about some churches. Just gives me a chill down the spine, when one hears that because you are at church you will be blessed (and by blessed they mean socio-economically)...the prosperity gospel. The PG seems to be what is going through some circles.
Re: Lamentations and the Psalms. I agree with you about the lack of Lamentations. I am looking forward to reading a book by our (now on sabbatical to finish it)dean of students, as she has spent most of her academic career exploring Psalms of Lamentation and their healing power.
The psalms do all have a turning point, and I pray that those who suffer are able to be transformed by the Holy Spirit in such away that their laments can turn to praise. In the mean time: Come as you are. Sit. Pray. Cry. Be held by friend and stranger. Be present and open yourself, even if just a wee bit, to the mystery of Grace.
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