Our Rising Sound » theology

John Piper interviews Rick Warren on doctrine

Kyle — Sat, 28 May 2011 03:10:52 +0000

What an incredible blessing it was to watch this long and rich interview. Rick has taken a lot of shots about his doctrine from the reformed side, so it was so awesome of Piper to sit with him and let him share his heart on the gospel. Rick is a solid solid guy, something tells me reformed church bookstores will probably start stocking Purpose Driven Life after Piper gave it his stamp of approval. Here are some of the takeaway quotes for me:

“Christians often want to excuses God from things he doesn’t need excusing from” -Rick on the sovereignty of God

“I wish those who believed in the doctrines of grace were more gracious.” -Rick on his observation of the reformed culture

“I believe in the five solas” & “I believe in the doctrines of grace[Calvinism]” -Rick

Enjoy.

Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) sings how the church misses the gospel on homosexuality

Kyle — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:50:00 +0000

I recently heard for the first time Justin Vernon’s (Bon Iver) song “Sides” and it is incredibly moving. It’s a story of a gay guy coming to the church hurt, coming each Sunday and finally confessing his past trauma (beaten up) and sexual sin. The priest turns the guy away saying he can’t help him and that his beating was him “paying for his sins.” Sad. Frustrating.

The good news of the gospel is that payment was made for us on the cross. The good news is that in Jesus we not only have forgiveness of sin but he intercedes for us and has sent his Holy Spirit to work in our hearts to change us, no matter how deep or pervasive the sin. Old desires die, new ones come to life. Regeneration.

This song is a good reminder of how not to do it, and how way too many do. I’m not saying this song does a good job of communicating the gospel in response to the church, it doesn’t, but it does expose how bad of a job we often do.

Lyrics

Why I don’t read blogs that just ask questions

Kyle — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 18:29:23 +0000

There are a few reasons and I’ll expand on them below

Most of the time the questions have already been asked numerous times, for anyone paying attention the questions aren’t anything new
The argument is that the value of *having* conversation is really high but in reality the actual value *of* the conversation is very small because it never advances past everyone tossing their opinion in the mix
It drips with fear of man when every other sentence is “I’m not saying I agree with this position or the other…I’m just asking.” Very often I think that reveals some pride where we’re afraid to offend anyone or disagree because then someone might think less of us or we’ll lose some twitter followers, blog readers, fans, etc… Rubbish

We have to be confident enough in the gospel, in who we are as sons and daughters of Christ that we aren’t afraid to speak and act confidently in what Christ has called us to and revealed to us. That means some may disagree with you, think you’re doing it wrong or have a poor or misguided understanding of scripture to name a few. If disagreement is devastating to you, then there’s a foundational gospel truth that’s unapplied which at its core means unbelieved.

Scripture calls us to test our faith (2 Cor. 13:5), test spirits (1 John 4:1), test words spoken (1 Thess 5:21), to operate in our weakness knowing Christ will be strong for His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:9-10). These all inherently carry a high degree of correction and failure. That’s ok! That’s right, that’s good! But here’s where the other side errors, some go beyond confidence in Christ and put all confidence in themselves and say “I don’t care what anyone else says, I’m going for it no matter what!” and they cast off all points of correction from others certainly, sometimes even scripture. That’s just as bad if not worse. We should be confident in Christ knowing we are loved and accepted, but also that we aren’t Christ, we sin, we make mistakes and desperately need the Holy Spirit working in our hearts and through others to convict, correct and empower us. When I read or hear something that challenges a belief of mine, I must test that belief to see that it holds up to truth. I’m skeptical of those that so casually walk away from challenges to their beliefs and positions.

I say a lot of bold things on this blog (maybe this post included) that cause a lot to disagree with me or even dislike me perhaps. My heart isn’t to be divisive or to be a trouble maker, but I’m not afraid sharing convictions and then of perhaps being corrected. It’s the only way to grow. I usually hate using sport analogies but in this case it’s applicable. To grow as an athlete you need to be challenged, tested, and learn from others better than you and wiser than you. We either get in the game or hang out on the sidelines pleased we aren’t able to be held accountable for any mistakes.

The loss of guts in the Christian community is a sad and damaging thing. We act like cowards afraid to disappoint and then like babies when someone dares disagree. I think the world would be much more inspired by a Christian community of bold believers who acted confidently, received correction humbly and gave glory to Christ for both.

Video: John Wimber teaches on worship

Kyle — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 18:48:30 +0000

Few have shaped my walk more so than John Wimber. It’s awesome to see his teaching in video again after so long. John teaches wonderfully here on what worship is and what our heart’s should reflect. Miss him.

Ted Haggard says the world understands restoration better than the church (Video)

Kyle — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:11:12 +0000

Take a look at this snippet from Ted talking about “restoration”. I’m gonna have to break this down in bites below.

Everybody knows everyone sins. The differentiation between the church and everyone else is that we should respond with restoration, healing, hope life to people’s sin condition.

Ehhhhh not quite. Everyone knows that everyone makes mistakes, yes. But far fewer people believe that we are sinners who willfully, passionately violate the word, will and call of our sovereign God. That distinction paves the way for a radically different perspective and definition of the word “restoration”.

What happened to me was, I saw Martha Stewart get restored, I saw Michael Vick get restored, I saw Tiger woods get restored, I saw David Letterman get restored by their organizations, none of which say they believe in forgiveness, love or restoration.

Now we start to see that when Ted says “restored” he just means “rehired“. None of the organizations Ted refers to views their employees actions as terrible sins that required repentance to God and a restoration back to Christ. They see mistakes that require a debt paid to society. The church should see sin that is a debt to God that can only be covered through Jesus’ death on the cross. HUGE difference.

I’m not even sure Ted’s points have technical merit. Pastor’s who cheat on their wives with assistants, get divorced, run out on any accountability and get rehired at another church are all over the place. Those stories are a dime a dozen. So if Ted is looking to the world as a model of restoration, I’d conclude the exact opposite, the church has learned a whole heck of a lot from the world in how we should restore. If the employee(pastor) is talented, it doesn’t matter if he’s repentant and humble, as long as it “benefits” the church they’ll get another gig.

Finally, the irony is not lost on me that the guy lecturing the church about restoration is the same guy that completely rejected the restoration plan he was on and rebelled against the leadership he had submitted to. But hey, might be just a coincidence.

OK I’m done. What do you think of Ted’s comments?

[HT POTSC]

Why I became more charismatic when I became reformed

Kyle — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 22:22:09 +0000

I was raised in the Vineyard church, my dad was a worship leader in the Santa Barbara Vineyard and then later planted a Vineyard as the lead pastor in Lompoc CA. I was groomed in worship by some very talented musicians and worship leaders inside the Vineyard. I observed how these guys led worship, how they structured their songs, how they played their instrument…I was a sponge.

As I began to lead worship in my young teen years I went for it with everything I had. But at that point all I really had was a catalog of experiences, frustrations and longings, some painful, some joyful, some hopeful, some confused. As I’d lead there would be tears, shouts of joy, the full spectrum of “Charismatic” expression. I was a passionate kid that loved Jesus, wanted to know him and wanted to experience all I could. In fact one of my favorite songs to sing at the time was “I Want to Know You” by Brian Doerksen. Unfortunately, that “want” didn’t transition from fanciful longing to devoted journey until I turned 24.

I moved my family to Phoenix in 2004 and God led me down a study of grace. I thought I knew what it was, but I had no idea. As I began to read scripture and see evidences of grace in places I never had before, a gospel context started to form. I started reading books by Piper, Keller, Packer, listening to Driscoll, you know, the usual reformed suspects. And truth of scripture started to resonate in me like never before.

I was broken deeply by the revelation of God’s grace throughout creation and in my life. I had been enjoying it unaware and abusing it my entire life without any realization of the cost.

At that point I was comfortable calling myself reformed. The entire Gospel story was coming alive to me, from creation, to the fall, to incarnation, to the cross and justification, his resurrection and our sanctification, and his return.

Now leading worship, singing the words I had sang previously, they came from such a deeper place. I was a basket case on stage a lot of the time and I was apologetic for it at first. I didn’t want to be a distraction but man, I couldn’t get through a song without crying. I was so broken, so thankful and empowered through the Spirit in such a different way, but I struggled to find my place. I didn’t know you could be reformed and charismatic. My experience with reformed guys up until that point was a bunch of old dudes who knew a lot about the bible but seemed otherwise unimpressed and unshaken by God.

Through guys like CJ Mahaney, Bob Kauflin and others I found out it was possible, dare I say, biblical to be both, to believe in all of scripture and practice all of it, how profound. So then I was comfortable calling myself a reformed-charismatic but truth be told, there weren’t (still aren’t) a lot of those types around, and even fewer worship leaders who called themselves that with an actual charismatic expression. As my theology grew, so did my expression and my passion and that seems perfectly normal to me. If my view of God is becoming clearer, his truth driven deeper and his word meaning more and more to me, wouldn’t my response to that grow? I’m confused by the all too often case of theology growing and expression shrinking.

It seems to me that reformed people should be the most charismatic people around.

But my observation in much of the reformed community is the more you get to know Jesus and His word, the less you are moved and the more dry and unexpressive you become. The common rebuttal to this is, “I love Jesus, but I’m just not an emotional or expressive person.”

I know we’re not all created the same way and there is diversity of expression. But if you are telling me you just aren’t an expressive person prone to any kind of emotional response, then you better not tear up at your wedding, or when your first child is born, or when a family member gets sick, or when they die. As big as those experiences are, they pale in comparison to the grandeur of our God.

If you’re moved by things on earth and not above, there’s a problem; it’s not that your heart is unaffectionate, it’s just unaffected by God.

My point here is not to attack anyone’s expression, I gave up a long time ago trying to evaluate someone’s heart based off expression. It’s an indicator, but not the only indicator. My point is to share why my expression has grown and continues to grow as I learn more and more about Jesus, what’s He’s done for me and what He continues to do every day of my life. I pray that the gospel never gets common to me, that when I hear it or sing it, I am moved. I want to be moved by the right things, and God is that.

Lessons from the Song of Moses (Part 5): “No empty word”

Kyle — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:26:42 +0000

In Deuteronomy 31- 32 we read about the final days of Moses’ life and how God would have him pass his leadership but also how he would deliver a parting revelation to the people of Israel. It’s all too popular for Christian songwriters to explain every song with the phrase “God gave me this song“, but this is one of the few cases in scripture where this can be said. God gives Moses a song to write for the people of Israel, for His glory and for the benefit of His people. In this blog series we’ll look at 5 lessons learned through the story of the Song of Moses. In Part 1 we looked at how worship songs are a response to God’s revelation to us. In Part 2 we discussed confrontative worship, in Part 3 we discussed knowing our churches inclination to idolatry and in Part 4 we discussed how our worship impacts and teaches our children.

For it is no empty word for you

Moses concludes his recital and teaching of the worship song to Israel and drives home the severity and importance of the words they are singing.

[45] And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, [46] he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. [47] For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 32:45-47 ESV)

What a powerful statement, stern warning but loving call to God. So many times as a worship leader when I’m singing songs that absolutely wreck me with truth and implications on my life and I look out and see blank stares I think this same thing, “don’t you know what we’re singing?” Not that I always fully grasp the implications of what I’m singing either, but by God’s grace I’m being transformed as his truth is revealed and takes root in my heart. Our worship, if just recitation of lyrics unmet by the gospel, is empty words, an abomination, a clanging cymbal. And the implications of that have to do with our very life.

If we sing about the cross, about Jesus paying the full price of our sin yet we continue to try and earn God’s love and our salvation through religious achievements…we sing empty words. (Eph 2:8-9)

If we sing, dance, lift our hands, prophecy, operate in whatever spiritual gifting we have but don’t love our brothers and sisters…we sing empty words. (1 Cor. 13:1)

If we sing in joy of God’s ministering to us and outpouring of grace and blessing in our lives but do not minister to the poor, the lost and broken…we sing empty words. (Matt. 25:45)

Oh how I pray that our worship in song would be full and align with our worship in life. That the Holy Spirit would regenerate and sanctify our hearts so that our song would be reflective of the work of Jesus in our lives. That we’d believe what we sing, and the implications of that belief would penetrate and close the gap in our orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Church this is our very life and we’d better worship like it.

Lessons from the Song of Moses (Part 4): “Unforgotten in our children”

Kyle — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:31:11 +0000

In Deuteronomy 31- 32 we read about the final days of Moses’ life and how God would have him pass his leadership but also how he would deliver a parting revelation to the people of Israel. It’s all too popular for Christian songwriters to explain every song with the phrase “God gave me this song“, but this is one of the few cases in scripture where this can be said. God gives Moses a song to write for the people of Israel, for His glory and for the benefit of His people. In this blog series we’ll look at 5 lessons learned through the story of the Song of Moses. In Part 1 we looked at how worship songs are a response to God’s revelation to us. In Part 2 we discussed confrontative worship and in Part 3 we discussed knowing our churches inclination to idolatry.

Unforgotten in the mouths of our children

The song of Moses is sandwiched in scripture with a couple statements about the impact of this worship song to the children(literal) of Israel. First as God gives his directive to Moses in the middle of Deuteronomy 31:21:

[21] And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.” (Deuteronomy 31:21 ESV)

Then after Moses writes and recites the song to the people he clarifies the importance of the worship song:

[45] And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, [46] he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 32:45-46 ESV)

So we see clearly that a very important purpose of this song is to deliver lasting theological clarity and purpose upon the children of Israel. This worship song was meant to confront Israel, turn their hearts back to God, and for this song of repentance and redeemed worship to be instructed to the kids to the point where they’d never forget it.

I love that the point of instruction for the father’s from God isn’t to have the kids watch them live in response to truth. No God has already bluntly revealed their own wicked hearts and inclination to false worship, instead God has them teach God’s truth to their kids. So both father’s and children are aligning themselves to God’s truth, the only true barometer of righteousness. With that in mind there’s 2 points I’d like to focus on:

1. The value of song in teaching our kids theology

It’s been said many times in many different ways that song has a tremendous impact on teaching and framing our theology. I don’t think there’s any denying that and depending on your background it may be that the only thing you know about God is what you remember singing. Whether or not that’s a good thing is another discussion, but the truth is that’s reality and we can’t ignore it. My Dad was a pastor for many years, all through my youth. I can’t remember many of his sermons but I remember almost every song we sung. What I knew of the gospel as a boy predominantly came from what we were singing, song is and was instrumental in my growth in the gospel.

The Song of Moses shows us that song is a gift from God, intended to glorify Him and teach us about Him. Thank the Lord for song but what an incredibly heavy responsibility it is and the church needs worship leaders that aren’t afraid of carrying it. Too often I hear worship leaders shirking that responsibility and excusing bad teaching in song through some belief that it’s just some kind of “musical venting”. Just something they “felt” a responsibility to release but somehow “felt” no responsibility to consider what it communicates about God. I love creative worship songs sung from different perspectives in different contexts, that’s awesome. But know that ultimately you are teaching something about God and it’s either truth and God glorifying, or a lie and destructive. We’re accountable for that worship leaders.

2. Look at me vs. look at Him

The way we live as parents is a huge influence on our children, but the way we use that influence is what needs to be considered. I’d much rather use my influence as a father to continually point my kids to Christ, his accomplishment and the work of the Holy Spirit instead of hoping my influence and works somehow regenerate their hearts. Now I’m not trying to shirk my responsibility as a father to mirror Christ to my kids. It’s absolutely vital we mirror Christ to our children, but we also must teach them about Jesus, pray for them to know Him, sing songs with our kids that teach them the truth about Jesus and make sure we are mirroring our own need of Jesus to our kids.

We can’t just drag our kids to church and hope that through some form of osmosis they are made into the likeness of Christ. A godly environment is important but it’s not enough, godly influences are important but they aren’t enough, Jesus is enough, Jesus is what needs to be taught and aligned to. And if we as parents mirror that truth to our kids, then we’re doing as God commanded Moses, for parent and child to look to God, worship Him and be changed by Him.

Lessons from the Song of Moses (Part 3): “Inclination to idolatry”

Kyle — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 05:32:29 +0000

Know your church, know their inclination

In Deuteronomy 31:21 the Father reveals something incredible not just about his own nature(patience, mercy, love) but of ours as well.

“And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.” -Deuteronomy 31:21

Ouch! God is commanding Moses to write this song of intervention and confrontation because he knows their hearts, that not only do they worship other gods now, but their hearts are inclined to continue in idolatry. The Father’s heart for his people is laid bare. Despite his abundant mercy and goodness shown to the people of Israel, they’ll continue to give praise and thanks to other gods. God knows this about his people and out of a heart of mercy and love, he has Moses write a song that will identify and confront the inclination of His people and remind them of the truth of the only true God.

Moses as a worship leader has communed with God, received revelation and contextualized this song for this people. Moses appeals to their specific history(32:7-14), calls out their sin (32:15-18) and sings painful truth of God’s righteous anger (32:19-43). What makes that song so powerful is that it’s specifically convicting to that people because the language is directed right at them. Not a generalized people, with a generalized sinful attitude pointing to a generalized god in the sky. No it’s you people of Israel, committing idolatry and being called back to worship Yahweh. I think the global church suffers greatly from over-generalized, hyper-sanitized worship and this happens because of a few reasons in my view.

First, the momentum(NOT consensus) in modern worship and really with all gifts, is to emphasize its place and value in the global church at the expense of the local church. You get a lot of talented guys that hop from church to church and instead of submitting their gifting to the local church, they’d rather contribute their gifting to the global church. And now the gifting is pre-eminent and hell hath no fury like a worship leader scorn when his pastor/leader comes between him and his dreams of global reach and influence with his tunes. No I’m not blasting famous worship leaders, this isn’t a rant against CCM and no I don’t have any particular person(s) in mind. If you feel convicted great, if not, great. I have plenty of friends whom I love and support doing God’s work in the global church worship scene(not sure what to call it).

Second, we fear man tremendously and want as many people to like our songs as possible. We write for the masses and in doing so accomplish the seemingly impossible of writing for everyone but speaking to no one.

Third, worship leaders don’t commune with Jesus, minister to/pray with/serve along side their people as much as they think and their songwriting shows. Be part of your church body worship leaders, pray for them and with them. Be in community, love and serve your people. Only then can you see the idols, the struggles and the places where Jesus needs to be elevated where he’s been lowered.

Was that as tough to read as it was to write? Aye…

Next in series…Part 4: Generational worship

Lessons from the Song of Moses (Part 2): “Confrontative Worship”

Kyle — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:34:32 +0000

Worship songs should be confrontative

In Deuteronomy 31:19-21 we read God’s directive to Moses and God’s intended nature of this song and how it should be received by His people.

“Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness…” -Deuteronomy 31:19-21

God has seen Israel continually abuse his grace, worship other God’s, complain, be disobedient and unthankful, yet God is about to lead them into the promise land. God tells Moses, using very forceful language, to put a song in their mouths that will confront their wickedness, that will serve as a witness of himself when they undoubtedly turn away again. We must recognize that we are Israel, our church is Israel, we behave the exact same way.

What we need as a church body are worship leaders that respond like Moses. We must hear the calling of God, respond to the revelation in creative song and have the guts to sing against the sin we are engaged in corporately. We must put songs on the mouths of our people that confront our idolatry, that serve as a witness of Christ against our people because we love them. I don’t want to repeat myself on this point so you can read an earlier post I wrote directed at worship leaders called “Play Songs Your Congregation Doesn’t Like“. As worship leaders we can’t pacify our body’s idols with safe songs that don’t challenge anything in our spirits, if we do that we are petty entertainers, not leading worship of the one true God that won’t co-exist with our idols.

Foundational to that point is worship leaders must know Christ and must know the gospel. Sadly all too often passion and zeal are celebrated to the exclusion of wisdom and maturity. Paul describes us accurately at that point in Romans 10:2 “they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” We can’t confront idolatry if we can’t recognize it and we can’t recognize it if we don’t know the gospel. Where traditionally the reformed side has lacked passion and a sense of mission, the charismatic side has lacked maturity and a deep understanding of the gospel. Both are crucial to being an effective worship leader.

Worship leaders, I implore you as God implored Moses, put these confrontative songs on the mouths of your people. Interrupt their hearts and spirits and let your songs act as a witness for Christ. Know the gospel, know your people, know their idols, write about it, teach it to your people and sing!

Next in the series…Part 3: Writing in a local church context vs. Global church context

Lessons from the Song of Moses (Part 1): “Revelation & Response”

Kyle — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:35:07 +0000

Worship songs are a response to revelation from God

As the story begins we see how Moses was commissioned to write a worship song to God for the people of Israel. There are 2 key phrases in Deuteronomy 31:16-19 starting at v.16 and ending with v.19 that describe how this song came to be.

16 And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them.17 Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?18 And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.19 Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel.

We see that it all begins with God speaking to Moses, revealing something of his nature, heart, will and plan for His people as well as Moses himself. Then in verse 19 scripture says “Now therefore…”, highlighting the previous 3 verses importance as the basis for his commission to write this song. The song is born out of a response to God’s revelation to Moses.

When our songs don’t begin with revelation, with truth, we’ve set a trajectory for the song that is at the least misguided and possibly much worse. We can’t just know ourselves, our culture and the church, though all of those are important, we must know God. We must love God. We must talk with God.

As I read this story I’m struck that God has just told Moses that he is going to go die (31:14,16) and Moses doesn’t even respond to it. He only responds to the missional call, to God’s directive to “write this song”. I can’t imagine at that point writing a song that wasn’t all mixed up with myself. That I wouldn’t just emote on paper and have a convoluted mishmash of my life’s greatest hits, regrets, worries alongside a few lines of God’s prevailing goodness. The writing session for this song was ripe for emotionalism, but Moses stayed in the story. He didn’t waste this opportunity and talk about himself, but he humbled himself and talked about the eternal God, who saved these terrible group of people who have constantly betrayed Him and will continue to do so. He laid down a lesser truth(his story) for the greater truth(God’s story).

Songwriters, we need to begin with truth, with knowing God and His story and following His missional call to write. It takes a humble songwriter, a songwriter obsessed with God’s glory and filled with his grace, to be able to lay down a lesser truth for the greater truth. God’s gifted and sent many in the body on this mission to write from several perspectives and that collage can be a beautiful reflection of Christ or a distorted refraction if we and our songs aren’t rooted in truth and true to the missional directive of Jesus.

Next in the series…Part 2: Songs as a Witness Against Our Flock

Kill your dreams and let Jesus remake them

Kyle — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:28:11 +0000

Came across a tweet that touched on an issue I’ve prayed on, preached on, contemplated and wrestled with much of my life. The issue deals with dreams, desires and hopes in light of the gospel. The tweet said…

That little voice in yr head telling U 2 giv up UR dream…It’s a lie from hell.When you hear it.Chase Harder, Faster, Stronger

The person who tweeted it loves Jesus, serves Jesus, no doubt about that. This isn’t a condemnation of the person, so just put that to bed if you know who said this. Theologically bulletproof tweets are extremely hard to come by, 140 characters just doesn’t lend itself to it. I’m glad this was tweeted because it motivated me to blog on this subject which I’ve held in a draft state for some time now. Moving on. This phrase implies a few dangerous things in my view.

That all your dreams and desires must be good.
That we should rebuke any voice that tells us to lay down a dream or desire of ours.
That Satan’s lie would never be for some to actually achieve their dreams.

I can’t see any biblical reason to believe any of those things.

1. By nature and choice our dreams and desires are wicked

We are born with a heart that does not hold Jesus as our deepest desire or our most precious treasure. Out of this sinful heart we choose to dream about many things above the glory of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah says this well in Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

We need Jesus to save us, for the Holy Spirit to intervene and to regenerate our hearts. In regeneration we find that what we used to love (sin) we now hate and what we used to hate (God) we now love. This regeneration completely tears down our old hearts, desires and dreams and it’s good and right and mercifully so. By God’s grace we lay down all those dreams of ours at the foot of the cross and through regeneration we see what God puts back into our hearts. Our dreams change, our desires change and what we’re now called to is all for God’s glory and not our own.

2. That little whisper could be the Holy Spirit

Though after regeneration, we are still in the process of sanctification and in that process we have conflicting desires. Sometimes we’ll dream about things that aren’t Godly, that don’t glorify Jesus but attempt to bring glory to ourselves. Elijah in 1 Kings 19 is surrounded by hurricane winds, an earthquake and a fire but it says the Lord was in none of those but found in a “low whisper.”

That little voice inside your head telling you to lay down that dream may be the merciful call of the Holy Spirit to repent and return to what God has called you to, and not what you’ve been dreaming about. In fact Romans 1:24 shows that one of the worst things that can happen to us is for God to give us over to our own desires. God save us from our fleshly desires.

3. Satan’s lie is that you should get some glory too

Tim Keller breaks this down for us in his book Counterfeit Gods:

“Most people spend their lives trying to make their heart’s fondest dreams come true…We never imagine that getting our heart’s desires might be the worst thing that can ever happen to us.“

Satan’s lie might not be always telling you to lay down a “dream”, it may be the lie is encouraging you to accomplish what you dream. In order to find out we better put it into gospel perspective. Is this dream or desire planted by God? If not planted by God has it been redeemed? Does it exist to bring God glory or you glory?

Only after we’ve prayed on those questions and have some clarity of response can we discern whether the voice in our head is a loving call home or a deceitful encouragement to sin. Let our prayer be that God would save us from our dreams, regenerate our hearts and implant dreams that will give God glory.

What dreams of yours have you laid down at the cross and what has Jesus put back in your hearts in exchange?

5 ways worship music can be like bad hotel art – Part 5

Kyle — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:44:51 +0000

In Part 1 I discussed how dangerous it is for our worship to be uninspired and in Part 2 I talked about how often our worship music can be cheap and its impact on the gospel. In Part 3 I discussed the prevalence of the fear of man in our often safe worship music. In Part 4 I discussed the importance of being pureposefully and missionally original. For the conclusion of this series I’m going to discuss the danger of our worship being inauthentic.

5. Inauthentic

There are 2 primary ways our worship can be inauthentic, one way is how our worship presents or describes our object of worship, Jesus. Another way our worship can be inauthentic is in our engagement and life with Jesus in worship. Bad art will take some vague idea and attempt to represent it in the cheapest way possible to achieve an intended emotional response from viewers. Neither the artists engagement or representation of the object of art is authentic it’s just utilitarian. I’m going to use 2 definitions of authentic to illustrate this idea.

Authentic Jesus

def. authentic: conforming to fact and therefor worthy of belief

If our worship is not conformed to truth, the person and work of Jesus, then what we are singing is not worthy of belief and shouldn’t be sung. Our worship can lead us and others astray from the gospel by either being generously vague or acutely false. And honestly there are great examples of both in popular CCM worship. John Owen wonderfully said,

“We must not allow ourselves to be satisfied with vague ideas of the love of Christ which present nothing of his glory to our minds.”

And I love how Bob Kauflin puts it,

“If most of our songs could be sung by Buddhists, Muslims, or Hindus, it’s time to change our repertoire.” -Worship Matters

We have to be careful about crafting songs that are vague and presenting an inauthentic view of the very specific and clear demarcation of Christ and anything other than Christ. Our job as worship leaders is to point people to Christ, not an “elevated idea” or even an idea about Christ, but Christ himself. If you’ve read any previous posts in this series or any other posts on this blog really, you’ll know how I value creativity. I think there are many ways to creatively point people to Christ and imagery, poetry and the arts in general can be used in a way that present clearly, the authentic Jesus. So I’m not saying art = vague, both simplicity and creativity have the same potential to miss the mark, use them both with wisdom.

Not much needs to be said about acute false statements, descriptions, ideas of Christ in worship. They exist unfortunately, and they always will until Christ returns. This is typically what separates worship pastors and music leaders, entertainers and shepherds. A pastor seeks to lead the congregation to Jesus and remove every obstacle in that journey including bad lyrics, but a entertainer seeks bring something of themselves to the people in the context of church, but not Christ. Don’t be an entertainer.

Authentic Worshippers

def. authentic: genuine; undisputed credibility; with authority

In other words, believe and live what you sing and sing what you believe and live. Paul urged the Colossian church to “walk(live) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work…” How careful we should be singing something we don’t believe or have no evidence or fruit of believing in our lives. Our religion is so transparent at times that we get used to operating in it without even seeing it.

Our worship should be saturated with humility and repentance when we start singing things we know we struggle to believe or live out. This is why I seldom make it out of a worship set without crying. Glorifying God for who he is in worship forces me to see the separation in sin, the short comings in my life, and moves my heart and affections more towards Christ. Being an authentic worshipper doesn’t mean having it all together it just means we are continually asking Christ to knit and hold us together in him. It means that not one word escapes our lips where the cost hasn’t been counted because we’ll have to give an account for every word, every word that we sung but didn’t mean.

I pray that all of us as worshippers would be authentic, that our hearts would be genuine in our praise, confession and words of adoration.

5 ways worship music can be like bad hotel art – Part 4

Kyle — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:27:37 +0000

In Part 1 I discussed how dangerous it is for our worship to be uninspired and in Part 2 I talked about how often our worship music can be cheap and its impact on the gospel. In Part 3 I discussed the prevalence of the fear of man in our often safe worship music. For part 4 I’m going to discuss another aspect of worship that can turn it into bad hotel art — unoriginality.

4. Unoriginality

This is a delicate topic because in some ways our worship is intentionally unoriginal. We are singing the praises of an unchanging, everlasting God, who gave us the greatest revelation man will ever know 2000 years ago in the cross and chose to make his word known through scripture that should never be added to or subtracted from. So at some level we certainly shouldn’t be looking for anything new there, that content remains the same. But the methods of delivery continue to change and that must be purposefully and missionally original.

Let me define the phrase “purposefully and missionally original” as it relates to worship.

Someone who’s inspired and informed by the gospel through the Holy Spirit to reach a specific people with the message of Jesus in an effective way through music and the arts.

The art in my hotel room was copied all over the country or all over the world, no thought was given to the different contexts it might be displayed in and if there might be a more effective art piece in different areas. The thought being if it worked in Beverly Hills it must work in Omaha, or Denver, or Miami, or Puerto Rico. Seems silly right? The culture, the idols worshipped, language used in those areas is so different.

But how silly are we in the church when we say the same thing? If it works in Australia at Hillsong, it must work in Phoenix, or in Santa Barbara. We attempt to carbon copy the missional expression without doing any of the evaluation or prayer to see if that expression would be effective in our mission field.

Being purposefully and missionally original requires worship leaders to find how best to use music and the arts for the people in their mission field through prayer, study and practice, for the glory of Jesus Christ. All being attractionally unoriginal requires is a CCLI license and a few hours of band practice to cover the latest CCM hit.

I’m not saying that Hillsong or Tomlin won’t work in multiple churches, locations and cultures, I’m just saying don’t blindly assume they will. And then perhaps you can find an arrangement that better suits your church rather than just ripping the cd.

Let’s be purposefully and missionally original.

Jesus Culture, we have a problem…your lyric

Kyle — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:45:46 +0000

Earlier I posted a video of a new song from Jesus Culture called “Burning Ones.” I really dug the vibe of the song and thought the melody was really cool. This past week I started evaluating it to see if we’d do it in service and step 1 of evaluation was writing down the lyrics. Verse 1 was kind of innocuous.

Here inside your presence I’m taken by the wonder of You
Here inside your glory we give our lives wholly to You

Moved on to the pre-chorus which was a simple “Holy, Holy are You” which was good and all. But then I hit Verse 2…

Your love it burns inside our hearts are satisfied by You
Your love is our reward it’s why we ask for more of You

What?!?! God’s love is our reward? Let’s look at the definition of reward to make sure we are on the same page here:

reward: “a recompense for worthy acts or retribution for wrongdoing” or “fair return for good or bad behavior”

It seems entirely ridiculous to me we’d have to dive into this much for us not to see the foolishness in this line. This isn’t extra-biblical this is entirely contra-biblical. It violates the core of the gospel. I don’t like to rant, but folks this line is simply not truth, and I’m shocked and saddened that it would be sung. Here’s what the gospel says about our reward for our actions:

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So our just reward for our actions and fair return for our behavior is death, not God’s love. But the glory of the gospel is the cross, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”. We received grace instead of what we deserved, death. Here’s how God’s love really works:

Romans 5:6-10 “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

We did not and cannot earn God’s love, repeat, we did not and cannot earn God’s love. 1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.” We can keep plowing through scripture, there is no shortage because it’s the entire narrative of the gospel.

I don’t know Chris Quilala, I don’t know Kim Walker, but I believe they are Christians brothers and sisters who love Jesus and I don’t mean to bash them. In fact I bet you if I asked them, “do you think you earned God’s love or did he love you first, while you were a sinner?” That they’d answer, “no, I didn’t earn it.” Which is why I’m so puzzled that they’d sing just the opposite.

I’ve tried to think of any context that line works in and I can’t, I just can’t. Working in the second half of the line only confuses me more, “that’s why we ask for more of You.” I haven’t a clue what this line means. If anyone has an explanation by all means step in here in the comments and let me in on it, I truly feel like I’m missing something.

5 ways worship music can be like bad hotel art – Part 3

Kyle — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:25:42 +0000

In Part 1 I discussed how dangerous it is for our worship to be uninspired and in Part 2 I talked about how often our worship music can be cheap and its impact on the gospel. For part 3 I’m going to discuss how safe our worship music can be.

3. Safe

The ugly art on my hotel room wall was meant to be as inoffensive, innocuous and unspectacular as possible. It’s vanilla, bland, no rough edges and probably shown to a panel of people making sure they see nothing that could possibly be misconstrued as inappropriate or offense. Hmm this is reminding me of about 90% of the Christian music I’ve heard, despite us writing for and singing about Jesus, the most offensive and divisive person in all of human history.

Music

Many would argue that our worship music should be safe, that the music should be as broadly appealing as possible. I understand the argument and even agree with the intention, but I don’t believe having a band play bland music accomplishes the desired goal. Safe, bland, plastic worship music may not offend your congregation but it certainly won’t captivate them either. I much more appreciate strong reaction to music either positive or negative, as opposed to apathy.

If we’re reaching diverse people in our community you can imagine how much diversity you have in music taste in your congregation. I’ve found trying to have a single band appeal to all those tastes is a lesson in futility. In my church context we hope to present multiple bands that each excel in their music style and don’t play safe. In that collection of bands hopefully we show that Jesus is glorified in through many different styles.

But whatever the style, if the fear of man (congregation’s response) is the motivation in your music rather than the gospel and the passion gifted to you by God, and safety and refuge are found in human approval rather than Jesus, well that’s an incredibly dangerous position to be in.

Lyrics

A quite similar situation is found in our worship lyrics. It’s almost like we want our congregations to be able to zone out and sing without even thinking about what they are singing. Why else would we have such a narrow context in worship and use so much stale language to communicate the glory of Jesus? When I listen to a lot of Christian music it sounds like the words were written during their lunch break at work. I don’t often get a sense of toil, struggle and meditation in worship songs on what should be sung and how best to deliver it lyrically. You can’t read the Psalms and not hear the struggle and toil in those words and stories.

One huge reason for this is the sense that many songwriters have that as long as it’s from the heart it’s good. Spill our guts and God is glorified. Can we engage our minds in the process? Can we worship with all our heart and all our mind? You can’t read the Psalms and not see David’s mind spinning around the majesty of God, the metaphors that bring it to light, the examples found on earth, the implications of it on our lives. God is so rich and when we take the safe, well traveled path lyrically I think we’ve disengaged from the wonder of God in either our hearts or minds, and sometimes both.

Example

Your congregation is really struggling to deal with the recent diagnosis of cancer among members of your congregation and leadership and your pastor asks you to write a song about it. The safe thing is to sing about the goodness of God in heaven, God is the great physician and will heal, that we should cast fear aside and worship in joy. All true, but is there even a greater truth to be sung here?

The dangerous thing to do would be to sing of the goodness of God in cancer, sing of God as our healer and whether we are healed in the flesh or if we die that he’s healed our spirit and Jesus has reconciled us to the Father and that we fear nothing but God himself and worship in joy, but also through our pain, disappointment, sickness, success, failure, through all of it because we are obsessed with his glory.

Conclusion

Worship leaders, remember you serve the church and it’s not about you, it’s about Jesus. Serving them doesn’t mean gaining their approval though. Serve them by glorifying Jesus by singing about all of who God is. Do the music God has gifted you to play, given you the authority to play and given you a passion to play. Push yourself creatively in your music and lyrics to find new ways to tell the story of the gospel and majesty of Christ. Some people may hate your music, does that bother you more than compromising the conviction in your spirit? Some people may love your music, does that give you more joy that the smile of the face of God? Stop fearing man more than God. Stop seeking the applause of man more than the delight of Christ.

5 ways worship music can be like bad hotel art – Part 2

Kyle — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:05:09 +0000

Previously I discussed how our worship music can easily become uninspired or inspired by something other than the gospel and the person and work of Jesus. For part 2 I wanna focus on the cheapness of bad hotel art, how our worship music is very often cheap and how that impacts our presentation of the gospel. I will go through 3 reasons this happens, though there are plenty more and each reason below is probably worthy of its own post so hang with me.

2. Cheap

The value of the art hanging in the hotel is a direct product of what went into making it. What did it cost the creator of this art in time, effort and material? That value determined how much it sold for and to whom it was sold. What if each art piece was commissioned and an artist labored over each piece, meditated on what was required for the room, what would fit the context it would be displayed, what the audience needed to be presented with and how best to capture the beauty that was his inspiration? Well those art pieces would be much more valuable.

Worship leaders very often cheapen the gospel through our cheapened worship music and this happens due to a few reasons:

We don’t invest prayer and labor in our songs as on overflow of inspiration for the glory of Jesus and edification of the body, but instead seek the fastest route to receive our earthly payment.

For some the earthly payment might be an immediate emotional response. If you’ve been in church any length of time it’s not hard to perceive what people respond to in worship at an emotional level. There’s nothing wrong with an emotional response because it should be there, but it’s cheap if that’s the depth of the response and engagement, purely emotional. This kind of worship is very much like the seed sown on rocky ground(Matthew 13:20-21), it’s received immediately with joy but has no root in our spirits and when met with trial, fades away. I find this to be the evil, ripened, low hanging fruit in front of most worship leaders, especially those who serve in a charismatic environment.

Our earthly payment could also be industry success and respect amongst our peers, creative goals accomplished, the praise of our audiences, the list goes on.

We write music out of emotional desire and spiritual angst but never get around to presenting the gospel and the treasure…Jesus.

Our songs end up consisting entirely of supplication or even demands on what we want and what we feel. There’s not a problem with supplication and emotional expression as long as we don’t stop there, that should be prologue to the truth. We’ve presented the conflict but not the eternal truth in response and if we do that what’s the point? We’re just whining at the throne instead of worshiping and pointing people to Jesus.

If our worship songs do more to make the congregation empathize with humanity instead of see the splendor and majesty of Jesus than we’ve wasted our time and cheapened our worship.

We present a limited view of the character of God to suit the mood we wish to create and maintain in the church and worship service.

If our idol is joy, then we write and sing songs all about the joy found in Christ. But never sing about the cost paid for our freedom, the wicked deceit in our hearts and sin we must repent of. There’s bright lights, plenty of dancing and shouting, but never bowing, weeping and mourning.

Conversely we could idolize earthly dignity and cultural relevance and never sing for joy in the midst of trial and tribulation. Those in depression could walk in and engage in worship feeling comfortable in our somber presentation of the cross but never get confronted with the joy and victory in the resurrection.

In order for us not to cheapen our presentation of the gospel we can’t ignore aspects of God’s character just because it makes us or our congregation’s uncomfortable. If we do we’ve carved our own image of God and just in case you haven’t read the left hand side of scripture, it never ends up good for those that do that.

I pray that we labor over our worship songs for the glory of Jesus, that we’d present the gospel and our treasure Jesus in every song we sing, and that we wouldn’t carve our own image of God to worship but worship Him for all that He is.

5 ways worship music can be like bad hotel art – Part 1

Kyle — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:30:23 +0000

As I was sitting in my hotel room in Boulder CO this week I noticed the just awful art hanging on the walls. It got me thinking why on earth would the hotel put this kind of art up knowing full well how appalling it is? As I thought about it, I realized the reasons were exactly the same reasons why much of worship music can so easily become “bad art.” I want to dive into those reasons and like any average blogger I’ve divided those reasons up into 5 separate posts. First way worship music can become like bad hotel art…

1. Uninspired

The art in this hotel came from no deep well of desire or conviction, no sense of calling, honor or worship to anything great. It’s just something to get the job done efficiently and fill wall space.

As worship leaders very often in our own song writing or leadership we operate not from an overflow of the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts, but from a desert and dependence on our flesh and we end up filling space just the same. We fill that space in our hearts with idols and we fill space in worship sets with things that satisfy the flesh. We can end up doing nothing out of a holy spirit inspired conviction, thirst and desire to see Jesus glorified, but more to see that the obligation is met and that people are satisfied.

When leading worship becomes an obligation instead of an honor, we’ve likely either forgotten what Jesus has done or we hold the ultimate prideful, sin infested position that what he’s done is not enough to warrant anything better from us. Romans 12:1

“Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.”

Maybe we’ve lost view of God’s mercy, maybe God’s grace is no longer sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9) and something else is now inspiring us and motivating us. Idolatrous inspiration has a lot of deadly fruit, the least of which being bad art. If the gospel isn’t motivating and inspiring us, then our works are useless, they’re death to ourselves and at the least, quite harmful to others.

Inspiration and motivation is a heart issue, don’t fill space with idols, let Jesus ruin you and the gospel inspire and motivate all you do.

Matt Redman: “Too much romantic imagery” in worship

Kyle — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:13:51 +0000

One thing I love about Matt Redman is his passion for truth, for the gospel and for worship to be Christ centered. In this brief interview clip Matt discusses the over use of romantic imagery in worship songs and how that may negatively impact men in our church. I believe that to be true and to that point I remember attending one popular conference where at the end they played some worship song as people held hands and skipped down the aisle singing “we’re getting married”, an illusion to Jesus being the church’s bridegroom of course. It was one of the most uncomfortable worship moments of my life.

What are your thoughts on what Matt has to say here?

Worship leaders: Play songs your congregation doesn’t like

Kyle — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:22:50 +0000

I mean it…literally. I know playing songs your congregation doesn’t want to hear sounds like a horrible idea and flies in the face of many years of your contemporary worship training, but I don’t know when our job became more about pleasing man instead of Jesus. Now before you get all huffy, let me explain.

First, I don’t mean purposefully playing songs that your congregation doesn’t like stylistically. Although if people only worship Jesus when they hear a Chris Tomlin song then I’d say you have really big worship and idolatry issues to tackle and then maybe purposefully *not* playing Chris Tomlin is a good idea.

Secondly, I don’t think being a contrarian is a sign of leadership maturity. I’m not advocating simply doing the opposite of what other churches are doing, or constantly trying to throw off your congregation in worship simply because seeing them squirm makes you feel like you’re really doing God’s will.

Here’s what I am saying. As worshippers we are constantly battling idols taking the place of Jesus. Idols we’ve torn down will take new shape and present themselves as something new and more worthy and acceptable of worship. If anything takes our worship but Jesus it is idolatry, sin. Colossians 1:18 “And he[Jesus] is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” Our congregations worship a lot of things over Christ and we have to expose idols in our worship, tear them down and place Jesus above them as our focus of worship.

Probably not too many of you have any problems with the above paragraph, but here’s where it gets messy…

For the families that worship their own comfort, rest and individualism by showing up 30 minutes late do you think they want to sing about how there is no rest outside of Christ, that even in our sleep we toil, or that they’ve forsaken the gathering because they worship their individuality and comfort? Show them by singing that we only enjoy peace and rest in Christ because of the bloody, violent, death of Christ on the cross and that now they’ve been saved to community, the body of Christ, to sacrifice, serve and worship together.

For the college kids that show up right on time because they love the music, but spent last night partying hard, indulging in their sinful passions, do you think they want to sing about how they are slaves to sin, deserving of death and that unless they get a new heart in Christ their posturing in worship, the jumping, the singing, the Hillsong “woa-oh” chants are worthless clatter. That they worship themselves and can’t atone for their sins by singing loudly. Show them by singing that Jesus is their propitiation, that they are dead in their sins, but that there is life in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. That if they truly encountered Christ they’ve be given a new heart, and that they’d no longer desire to live a life of sin.

For the religious church couple that just walked in dignified, that has no reason to get uncomfortable because they were “saved” at a youth camp at age 10 and baptized in the pool so their salvation is secure. Show them by singing the psalms that our hearts cry out, our soul thirsts for Jesus, that we fall at the feet of Jesus and cry “Hosanna”, and that if they don’t, don’t they know even the rocks, even the pews they comfortably sit in, would cry out for Jesus. That their dispassionate hearts show they worship their dignity, which all through scripture is shown to be folly.

Worship leaders, don’t make yourself a petty entertainer. Don’t seek to satisfy your congregation’s idols. Lead your congregation to worship the real Jesus, show them who Jesus is, what he has done and if they get that, they’ll see themselves for who they are, repent and become new creations in Christ. Sing the songs their flesh doesn’t want to hear, sing the songs that wreak havoc in their hearts. Our worship should be a dance of repentance, praise and honor. Worship leaders, seek to have Jesus preeminent in all things, all things.

What songs are you playing now that challenge the congregation and confront their idols? Do you even think about that when choosing songs?

John Wimber’s worship theology: simply Christ centered

Kyle — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:59:17 +0000

I was literally born and raised in the Vineyard, my theology and love of Christ was largely formed by John Wimber, taught and applied through my dad. I didn’t know it as a boy but so much of who John was, believed and lived for was being instilled in my spirit. For the first 23 years of my life I was being discipled in the Vineyard as a son, then a worship leader’s son, then later a pastor’s son, then later as a worship leader myself.

And then my mom drops in my lap this book called “Thoughts on Worship” written by a collection of Vineyard worship leaders, edited by John Wimber with the first couple chapters written by John as well. After reading those first chapters written by John I’ve come to realize that much of who John Wimber was, or rather what he was believed to be, was formed by his critics and by the outliers in the Vineyard rather than himself, his theology, leadership and teaching. My heart felt glad reading the overflow of John’s heart and how Christ centered he was. I want to highlight a few of the portions here and examine them briefly.

John sets out foundationally that we worship the Father, through the Son by the Holy Spirit. John quotes from John 4:23 early on and uses it to clarify this foundation of worship:

Jesus was saying worship must be in keeping with God’s nature, which is spirit, and it must be rooted in truth, which is found in Christ.

A simple, yet profound and often missed exegesis of a scripture so crucial to our worship. John hammers home the point that our worship is “Christ centered” and our songs are both “to him and about him.” As his exegesis continues on this point John writes about deeply intimate worship and how our “expression in worship may be more exuberant and free” than we are comfortable with. But instead of diving into the biblical postures of worship, John points to the bigger heart issue.

Worship is not about personality, temperament, personal limitations, church background, or comfort. It is about God. We are called to do it for his benefit, not ours. Yet the irony is that we do indeed greatly benefit when we give ourselves to worshipping God.

I would substitute “glory” for “benefit” in the above portion, because “benefit” makes it seem as if God can be made better, or improved in some sense by worship and of course that’s not the case, God is complete, whole and perfect. But as John continues he makes it clear that’s not what he’s trying to say either.

This is not some kind of ego trip because poor old God has a bad self-image. He doesn’t need to be buttered up by the loving things we say.

John continues on in how “our praises enthrone God” and “as we acknowledge the greatness of God and His supreme position over all creation, we become aware of our own limitations.” In short the better view of God we get the more we realize how bad off we are and just how much we need Jesus. This truly is at the heart of the gospel becoming bigger and bigger to us as our intimacy with Christ grows.

Now John Wimber does something that might surprise some of you, he wraps up his “essence of worship” by quoting J.I. Packer. All my reformed brothers are now standing and clapping at their desks as they read this.

J.I. Packer says, “Worship in the Bible involves praising him for what He is, thanking him for what He has done, and desiring him to give Himself more glory by further acts of mercy, judgment and power, and trusting in him for our concerns for our own and other’ future well being.”

Dr. Packer has grasped the true essence of worship. As we interact with God, we will find ourselves more and more satisfied in him and less and less satisfied with the things that have attracted or enticed us.

Doesn’t the second paragraph sound a lot like John Piper’s Desiring God? I must admit I wasn’t expecting this, but loved reading it. John makes it clear what the heart and true essence of worship is, how it must be Christ centered, how expression comes from the overflow of the heart, how worship is for God’s glory not ours and how God is not a weak, wimpy God with a bad self image that we must prop up with praise. To me this should now be read as a pastoral letter from John to the church, admonishing them and reminding them of the truth. I don’t mean the Vineyard specifically because I’m no longer in it and I don’t pretend to know what is happening in it, but for the broader church. This strikes at the heart of Christ-less worship and idolatry in music.

But this should also be read as an encouragement in intimacy with Christ in worship and how that is done biblically in spirit and truth. Where our passion should be and what that ends up looking like in corporate worship, namely not a dry, emotionless, comfortable experience.

Much more could be said here, but I’d rather ask you guys what you think. Has any of this been eye opening as to who John Wimber was as a pastor? Does this surprise an of you that these texts came from the founder of the Vineyard? Question for the Vineyard guys, 13yrs after this was written, do you still see this as foundational truth in your worship theology or have other things replaced it?

John Legend sings about cheating Christians

Kyle — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:00:25 +0000

I’m a sucker for some R&B, I dig John Legend. But the thing about R&B is the lyrics are usually the most blunt, abrasive ways to communicate a story. Metaphors and poetic phrasing are of no use to the R&B community. They just go to the basest level of language to express themselves, which is certainly efficient if not tactful. How else do you explain “I wanna make love in dis club“? Tell me how you really feel Usher.

John Legend has this song called Number One, which is sung from the perspective of a cheating boyfriend basically telling his girlfriend to stop whining about him cheating, in fact the opening line is:

You can’t say I don’t love you just because I cheat on you

I always found the song grossly comedic and had a fun time singing it with my wife in the car in jest. But as I was singing the chorus I got convicted that I’ve sang this same chorus to God many times, with the same pathetically transparent BS that John sings with. Tell me if you’ve ever sung this to God during worship:

You know that I love You
There’s no one above You
I said it the last time, that this is the last time
Don’t make me over
Cuz I can be faithful
You’re my number one, You’re my number one

We carry on “struggling” in sin, willfully choosing ourselves over God throughout the week, walk in on Sunday and sing this weak love song claiming that “this is the last time.” We should stop making promises to God we have no intention or ability to keep. Matt Chandler addresses this topic of “white knuckle struggling” where in our flesh we just grit our teeth and repeatedly promise to never do it again. Only to fail time and time again. But as Paul said in Romans 9:16

“So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

How do I need to continue to rest in the Holy Spirit and to continually place myself in his hands to form me and shape me. I can’t do it on my own no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I want it. Religion is a tricky thing, it’s constantly at our heels, presenting itself as some new level of spirituality. Take me back to your heart Jesus, I have no righteousness in myself.

Letter to pastors: Stop complaining about worship songs

Kyle — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:41:40 +0000

Recently Jonathan Dodson wrote an article at Resurgence talking about why many worship songs about God’s love are cheap. Jonathan’s main complaint is against “Jesus is my boyfriend” worship songs that in his eyes paint at the very least a narrow and more likely inaccurate view of why God loves us. His contention is we must understand the anger and justice of God to fully understand his love and that God is almighty God, not our boyfriend. I agree 100% with what Jonathan says, I don’t think we know God’s love unless we understand grace and to understand that we need to understand justice and how it meets on the cross.

I also agree with Bob Kauflin when he talked about the importance of theology to musicians and songwriters. There are plenty of bad worship songs theologically, there are plenty I won’t play that are good musically but not lyrically. I think most can agree on that point, maybe not the specific criteria since our theology will differ, but at least that there are bad worship songs that shouldn’t be played.

But here’s the trend and attitude that’s bothering me as a worship leader, elder and songwriter and let me put this in big bold letters and address pastors directly.

Dear pastors,

1 song can’t explain every aspect of God’s character

If given the task to write a 4-5 minute worship song of God’s love I’m not going to be able to explain the full story of original sin, God’s wrath, the incarnation, death on the cross and resurrection. It’s just not possible to hit the entire story of scripture in a song. So please stop evaluating each and every song with the entirety of scripture and God’s character as the measuring stick. If given the opportunity you could find theological omission in every song ever written. And if we followed your critique we wouldn’t have any songs to sing.

I don’t have 45 minutes to go through each hermeneutic method, to explore the greek and hebrew texts and talk about the historical and cultural context inside my song. I know you do every Sunday at your pulpit as you should, that’s what we need you for, to guide, teach and encourage us theologically. But I as a worship leader and songwriter operate under different restrictions, many shared but many not.

Totality of the worship song rotation should bring theological context

Each individual song will only illuminate a very narrow aspect of God’s character, it will direct our worship in a way that seems theologically narrow when viewed in isolation. Just as if I took a 4-5 minute segment of your sermon it may seem theologically narrow. I know you guys complain about You Tube videos taking you out of context, yet you frequently turn around and do the same to your worship leaders.

Let worship leaders build a rotation of worship songs that glorify and exalt Jesus in different ways, all for who He is that together gives the body a faithful representation of Christ and his church. If you think you need a song that talks about justice, don’t tear down the songs about mercy, just have your worship leader write or introduce a song about justice. The problem isn’t too many songs about mercy and grace, it’s too few about justice and propitiation. (there aren’t too many poetic ways to rhyme with propitiation, that may be why)

In conclusion, elders, pastors, theologians, work with your worship pastors, encourage them, pray for them, give them ideas on new songs that will fill in the theological gaps of your worship. Stop making fun of all the songs and let’s write more good ones. Being a critic is cheap, being a faithful artist is challenging and worship leaders need your support.

Sincerely,

Worship Leaders

Presbyterian vs Catholic Church Sign Debate

Kyle — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:05:40 +0000

In the spirit of this political debate season we bring you the first annual Church Sign Debate. We have 5 questions we’ll be asking the Presbyterian and Catholic church, let’s get started. If you want to keep up on other news like this, subscribe to the RSS feed.

1. Do dogs goto heaven?

2. Does God love dogs?

3. Do Catholic dogs have the inside track to heaven?

4. Good point, do dogs have souls?

5. No rocks in heaven? What will we walk on?

Phew…I’m glad we got that all settled.

[via James]

Tim Smith interviews Lecrae – lyrical theology in hip hop

Kyle — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:07:21 +0000

Hearing a talented rapper talk about the need to fuse systematic theology and hip hop and train church leaders who have poor theology is just mind blowingly awesome. Lecrae discusses the difficulties in reach a hip hop culture so rooted in idolatry and sin. These are the kind of interviews that make me excited to be in the church. I posted video from Mars Hill Church a few weeks back showing Lecrae leading a song in the actual worship service which was amazing and powerful. I could tell from his lyrics he values scripture, doctrine and real hard truth and this interview is just tasty tasty icing. What a great interview, enjoy.

Pastor Tim Interviews Lecrae from Mars Hill Church on Vimeo.

Desiring God Conference: The Power of Words

Kyle — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:34:12 +0000

My pastor sent me the link to the upcoming Desiring God conference and I was blown away by the material. The full title is “The Power of Words and the Wonder of God.” The speaker list and topics are incredible.

Sinclair Ferguson – “The Tongue, the Bridle, and the Blessing: An exposition of James 3:1-12” This is going to be incredible. Some amazingly difficult scripture here.
Bob Kauflin – “Words of Wonder: What Happens When We Sing.” I love Bob Kauflin and have received so much encouragement from what he has to say. This session is going to be critical, foundational worship doctrine and man am I looking forward to it.
Mark Driscoll – “How Sharp the Edge? Christ, Controversy, and Cutting Words.” Are you kidding me? Set aaaand spike! This will be intense, Driscoll will bring the heat on this topic. There will be a firestorm on You Tube if they release video of this sermon, guaranteed.
Daniel Taylor – “The Life-Shaping Power of Story: God’s and Ours.” Never heard of Daniel Taylor, but this will be a good songwriting session whether he realizes it or not.
Paul Tripp – “War of Words: Getting to the Heart for God’s Sake.” – This is going to challenge the heck out of me. I’m scared to be in this session actually.
John Piper – “Is There Christian Eloquence? Clear Words and the Wonder of the Cross.” I’ve never heard Piper preach in person, I’m incredibly excited to get there.

Another part of this conference that will be awesome are all the panel discussions. I loved the Q&A sessions at Mars Hill Continuous Worship conference and I expect some great discussion with these guys.

In a strange way I think this conference will shape, assist, speak into, clarify, instruct, guide my leadership in worship more than any other conference I’ve been to. Even though this isn’t particularly about worship. I don’t know if you’ve realized that I’ve been posting a lot on that topic in this blog but lyrics and truth mean a lot to me in worship. I need to do a better job at building a community of worshipers (as Bob would say) by not just leading a rocking set but singing truth that unifies our body, glorifies God and promotes wellness in our souls by singing hard truth.

If this promo video doesn’t get you pumped, there’s something wrong with you, go seek help.

U.S. religion: even “Christians” see other ways to heaven

Kyle — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:47:18 +0000

There has been a lot of mention in various blogs about the recent survey report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. It was incredibly revealing, maybe not shocking though as many have seen the clear trends nationally and globally. But never the less, it was painful to be confronted with some of the facts. Here’s a few that caught my eye:

66% of Protestants believe there are other ways to heaven than through Christ
11% of Protestants who claim the existence of God is an absolute certainty, say it isn’t very important to their lives
27% of Protestants do not believe in hell

The survey results should be sobering for church leadership and certainly is for me. A professor from Rice University summed up the report in an article well by saying,

“The survey shows America is, indeed, 3,000 miles wide and only 3 inches deep.”

That is just a beautiful way of describing a horrific reality. It makes me examine what I’m doing as a worship leader to either contribute or combat this. Am I leading hundreds of people every week in singing a wide variety of songs that only go 3 inches deep? Do we sing songs that confront the notion that there is no hell, that there is a way to heaven besides Christ, or that Christ life, death and resurrection shouldn’t be that important to our lives? I sure hope so.

I think the important thing as a worship leader is to get prayerful and purposeful not just in our sets but in our leadership of our teams and songwriting. We focus a lot on unity, singability, melody which are all important, but what good is unity without truth? More specifically, essential truth. What the findings in this report tell me is not just that 66% believe in other ways to Christ, but that 66% feel comfortable showing up to church with that lie and aren’t confronted by truth.

I have no desire to lead such weak and sanitized worship that the flesh and lies of the enemy aren’t offended. In the coming weeks I’m going to start a series of posts on how our phrasing and word choices in worship lyrics can contribute to essential biblical truth. No ambiguous language, no vague interpretation, no confusing imagery.

If you have any examples of worship songs you feel do this I’d love to hear them in the comments.

Can we sing songs of worship to the Holy Spirit?

Kyle — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:33:58 +0000

Tim Hughes has posted an interesting question on his blog raising the question, “Can we sing songs of worship directed to the Holy Spirit?.” I think the question is more interesting in its choice of phrasing and inference then the actual answer to the question. We should all agree that we can’t sing any songs of redeemed worship but through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. And if we can agree that worship is a response to God rather than self instigated, than the direction of our worship becomes evident by whom we are responding to.

The question posed implies a dissection of our theological view on the trinity. But to me that question is working of an improper assumption that redeemed worship(I quite purposefully distinguish between redeemed/fallen worship) could be “directed”, employed, engaged in, taught or experienced by, to or through anyone but the Holy Spirit. Our model of a perfect life of worship is of course Jesus Christ and Luke 10:21 gives us insight into how Jesus worshiped in a trinitarian life:

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

The Son worshiping the Father, full of joy, through the Holy Spirit. Jesus was also full of and led by the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1-2). I don’t think we should be fearful of addressing the spirit of God we are to be filled with and led by. For it’s the same spirit that gives us the ability to worship the Father, Son and Spirit at all.

Tim does acknowledge this in his blog and points to more of a practical question of lyrical content.

“…can we sing ‘Holy Spirit, glorify Your name?’”

I don’t think we have any basis for removing worship of 1 part of the trinity. From a trinitarian view that would be to deny the worship of God entirely, and that my friends, I don’t intend to do.

Our Rising Sound » theology

John Piper interviews Rick Warren on doctrine

Related posts

Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) sings how the church misses the gospel on homosexuality

Related posts

Why I don’t read blogs that just ask questions

Related posts

Video: John Wimber teaches on worship

Related posts

Ted Haggard says the world understands restoration better than the church (Video)

[HT POTSC]

Related posts

Why I became more charismatic when I became reformed

Related posts

Lessons from the Song of Moses (Part 5): “No empty word”

For it is no empty word for you

Related posts

Lessons from the Song of Moses (Part 4): “Unforgotten in our children”

Unforgotten in the mouths of our children

1. The value of song in teaching our kids theology

2. Look at me vs. look at Him

Related posts

Lessons from the Song of Moses (Part 3): “Inclination to idolatry”

Know your church, know their inclination

Related posts

Lessons from the Song of Moses (Part 2): “Confrontative Worship”

Worship songs should be confrontative

Related posts

Lessons from the Song of Moses (Part 1): “Revelation & Response”

Worship songs are a response to revelation from God

Related posts

Kill your dreams and let Jesus remake them

1. By nature and choice our dreams and desires are wicked

2. That little whisper could be the Holy Spirit

3. Satan’s lie is that you should get some glory too

Related posts

5 ways worship music can be like bad hotel art – Part 5

5. Inauthentic

Authentic Jesus

Authentic Worshippers

Related posts

5 ways worship music can be like bad hotel art – Part 4

4. Unoriginality

Related posts

Jesus Culture, we have a problem…your lyric

Related posts

5 ways worship music can be like bad hotel art – Part 3

3. Safe

Music

Lyrics

Example

Conclusion

Related posts

5 ways worship music can be like bad hotel art – Part 2

2. Cheap

Related posts

5 ways worship music can be like bad hotel art – Part 1

1. Uninspired

Related posts

Matt Redman: “Too much romantic imagery” in worship

Related posts

Worship leaders: Play songs your congregation doesn’t like

Related posts

John Wimber’s worship theology: simply Christ centered

Related posts

John Legend sings about cheating Christians

Related posts

Letter to pastors: Stop complaining about worship songs

1 song can’t explain every aspect of God’s character

Totality of the worship song rotation should bring theological context

Related posts

Presbyterian vs Catholic Church Sign Debate

1. Do dogs goto heaven?

2. Does God love dogs?

3. Do Catholic dogs have the inside track to heaven?

4. Good point, do dogs have souls?

5. No rocks in heaven? What will we walk on?

[via James]

Related posts

Tim Smith interviews Lecrae – lyrical theology in hip hop