Do we as worship leaders usher people into God's presence?

My friend from Re:Train wrote this blog for the ReSurgence on Wednesday Dec 29. His name is Joel Brown, the pastor of Worship Arts at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.  I've got to have many meaningful conversations with this dude and his insight is very humbling.  I know that too often I have thought of myself, as a worship leader, doing to job of "leading people into the presence of God" but that would be giving myself too much credit! I know I, and many others I know, mean well when they say that statement.  We understand that there is only ONE mediator between God and man and that is the God-Man Jesus Christ, but what is the job of a a worship leader if it isn't leading someone "into" somewhere? Simple: Show them, or remind them, or sing about, or proclaim, or lift high the name of the guy who does: Christ Jesus.

Here is his blog post (here is the link to the actual blog post if you would rather read it from there)


Gentlemen, We Are Not Mediators
Anyone who’s been a worship leader at a church has heard, at some point, “Your job is to bring the congregation into the presence of God!” Or maybe, “Take them into the throne room!” Grab the latest magazine on sacred music and you’ll find the idea of worship leader as presence-usher littering the pages. But where does this idea come from? Is it even biblical?


Presence isn't a place
The word "presence" appears in Scripture 173 times. About half of those are referring to the physical place where God dwells. This was particularly true in the Old Testament, where God shows up in places like the tabernacle or the temple.
The New Testament teaches us that in Christ, God has wonderfully chosen to bewith us. Emmanuel came (Matthew 1:23) and ever since, his presence is no longer made manifest by a specific location (John 4:23-24, Acts 17:24-25) or mere mortal (Hebrews 4:14-16; 9:23), but God’s presence on earth is in the life of every believer through his Holy Spirit.

Jesus, the mediator
Because Christ is perfect, and by his blood has reconciled us to God (2 Corinthians 5:18), he can appear before a holy and righteous God on our behalf.He is the mediator, not us.
You want to bring your congregation before the throne of God? Great. Show them the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18), and by faith, the Spirit will take them there. The Holy Spirit is the conduit through whom we experience God’s presence, and Christ is the place whereby we are made most aware of his presence. In his book, Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God, Bob Kauflin says it this way: “Christ is how and where we meet with God”.

But in heaven, we'll sing in-tune

God is present in a special way when we sing together—we are in a sense practicing for heaven, and nowhere else can we collectively see and hear one another worship Christ at the same time. But God’s presence is not a place we go.It is a Spirit we welcome.

“Sometimes when we sing, the power of music and truth combined can dig deeply into our hearts to make us realize that God is with us, but it wasn’t the singing that made him appear. He was there all along.
”

Everywhere we go, the Spirit of the living God is with us—leading us, guiding us, and allowing us to be in the presence of God without being blown to smithereens.
When it comes down to it, if music could take us into God's presence, "God would have sent us a musician rather than a saviour." –Vaughan Roberts

Does Your Blood Ever Boil? (Psalms for the Simple: Psalm 5 (5/150))

There is a "church" in our area that claims to be an "inclusive spiritual community." It is a church that has thrown out the truth and replaced it with a lie that all paths lead to God and no one should claim that their "path" is the only way. It's called universalism.  This church's leader has defamed the name of Christ in the pursuit of inclusivity and creating a large social gathering where he can stand up in front of them and teach that there is no penalty to sin, and that anyone who says there is or claims an exclusive "way" is the culprit of religious "brutality" and is the reason why there is pain and suffering in this world. 
There is a whole heap of wrong in this teaching based on it's logic alone, not to mention that it is directly opposing to God's word.  Their largest argument is that God's word is handy but not anything more than that. Well, for those of us enlightened and unblinded by the Holy Spirit,  God's word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Psalm 119). You can seen then how difficult it would be for me to feel "welcome or included" when from the pulpit every weekend is a message attacking what I believe and cherish and know as absolute truth. Instead this church has felt the need to "educate" the community that exclusive claims, but more specifically, Christian exclusive claims are brutal and shouldn't be making anyone feel guilty anymore.  
They don't just limit this to the pulpit, they utilize what other churches are typically made fun of: their church sign statements. My favorite cheezy church sign was always the one that said, "Sign's broken, message inside." This church doesn't have cheezy statements, they have very offensive statements that specifically bash Christian teaching. For example: "God is a verb, YOU are the noun" (excuse me while I throw up a little...) 
All this to say, my blood boils when I see the Word of God spit on, and when the name of Christ is defamed. I get so angry sometimes thinking, "is there something I should do to stop this!?" I want to take a sledge hammer to their sign sometimes, but that would only give them "material" to bash Christianity again. It is not worth minimizing the Glory of God for my own selfish and fleshly want for retaliation and vengeance. Psalm 5 is God's way of saying, "you may have your bullies, but I am God, remember?" 
Verses 1-3 ( and also Psalm 4 which precedes this)  act for David similar to what I just did above.  "God, please hear me because my enemies are overbearing... hear my groaning, I'm so tired of how they take my honor and your name and make it to be shame." 

But notice what David writes after this (God's inspired word through David):
 4     For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; 
evil may not dwell with you. 
⁵ The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; 
you hate all evildoers. 
⁶ You destroy those who speak lies; 
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 
⁷ But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, 
will enter your house. 
I will bow down toward your holy temple 
in the fear of you. 
⁸ Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness 
because of my enemies; 
make your way straight before me. 
⁹ For there is no truth in their mouth; 
their inmost self is destruction; 
their throat is an open grave; 
they flatter with their tongue. 
¹⁰ Make them bear their guilt, O God; 
let them fall by their own counsels; 
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, 
for they have rebelled against you. 
¹¹ But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; 
let them ever sing for joy, 
and spread your protection over them, 
that those who love your name may exult in you. 
¹² For you bless the righteous, O Lord; 
you cover him with favor as with a shield. 

It is almost as if David stopped himself, talking himself down, if you will, by proclaiming that evil and wickedness cannot be in the presence of God. God looks out for those who he saves, who he has poured our his abundant love on.  The bullies; those who replace the truth with lies, they have it coming to them, it is just a matter of time. David knows that they have chosen to rebel, and he knows what happens to them based solely on who God is and his holiness. 
David finishes with a great bit of encouragement in 11 and 12.  We, who take refuge in the Lord are covered with God's favor and his shield. God blesses the righteous and we are righteous ONLY because of Christ Jesus and believing in Him and his atoning sacrifice on the cross. 

So next time you feel like getting revenge or retaliation on the bullies in this world who are trying (yes TRYING) to defame the name of Christ.  Sit back and relax.  It's like you are holding pocket aces and they are sitting across the table trying to beat you with a 2 and 7 off suit and bluffing.  They will spit and sneer and try to get you to fold, but you know that it is just a matter of time before the cards are played and they lose miserably.  (please don't read into this analogy too much, it's meant to be a simple way of saying that they can't win) 
The truth is, it really is just a matter of time.  As followers of Christ in the face of the world, we are called numerous times to "wait" on the Lord and he will renew our strength (Isa 40:31).  We combat injustice and untruth with the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5): Patience, and Self-control being two key fruits pertaining to this.  It really is just a matter of time when we will be in the presence of the Lord and Philippians 2:9-11 will play true even to the leader of this truth killing church: even he will bow the knee someday and recognize that Christ is Lord. In that day, it will be too late for him, but it is not too late now.  I pray that for him and for the people who are following his teaching that they quickly realize the error of their teaching and repent, recognizing Jesus Christ as the ONLY way, the ONLY truth, and the ONLY life, but encompassing all of that: HE IS OUR ONLY WAY TO BE RECONCILED TO OUR HOLY GOD, if we receive this gift of his sacrifice for our sins by faith. Have you done that?

Lord, please work a miracle in this community. We know that your fame will be superior and that you will not stand to see evil prevail.  Work in us Lord and empower us to show the Love of Christ so powerfully that the message coming from false teachers will be muted. We ask this in the only name that has authority, the only name that has dominion over all, the only name by which we are saved: Jesus Christ the Lord, amen.