Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Psalms for the Simple (7 of 150): Refuge

Psalm 7 is one of the psalms that I think provides the most comfort for those who struggle with the fear of man.  I can relate well to the fear of man because that has been the thorn in my flesh for most of my life. When I hear of something that someone said about me that isn't true, like slander or mockery, it really tears to my heart. Why? I want to be liked! I want to be someone who EVERYONE likes and I have worked hard to try to make it that way. Unfortunately, that goal will absolutely NEVER happen.  Not everyone will like you, not everyone will be on your side.  Not everyone will support you or will be an asset for your mission.  And our challenge, as those who struggle with a fear of man is to GET OVER IT! Who cares what that person thinks of me!?
Easier said than done, I agree, however the bible says "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe." ~Ps 29:25
So what do we do when we face slander in our lives? What do we do when something is said of us and is spread of us that isn't true? What do we do when someone seems to be out to get you and you don't know why and they don't stop? Psalm 7 gives us a great insight into the heart of David who is struggling with that same problem and comes to his conclusion: find refuge in the Lord, NOT man!

Under the title of this psalm it tells us that this was a song of David in response to the words of Cush.  I briefly tried to research what happened, or what Cush said, but came up empty.  But based on the psalm, it would seem that this bully Cush decided to slander David in some way that really hurt David to the core.
So David responds in anger and as king lashes out with his army to kill Cush! Right? No.  David turns to the Lord as his refuge and brings his concern and problem to the feet of the Most High.
Vs 1-2: "O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver."
If you've ever been bullied in your life, and not just as a child in grade school, but even in adulthood, you know exactly why David described it like a lion who is tearing his soul apart.  Undeserved and unprovoked torment and slander is most painful! But we can learn from David's example here and approach the throne of God with our concern and have him search us and cry out for deliverance.
Notice in verse 3 that David, before moving on into praying for God's revenge, prays first for the Lord to reveal to him any fault of the matter. "Am I deserving of this? If I did, even unintentionally, let my enemy overtake me." David is quick to take blame and repent of something HE DIDN'T DO! He just wanted to make sure, before the Lord, that he was innocent of the slander against him. That's a man right there. Living up to something that maybe only the Lord knows you are at fault for and taking the punishment. However, the Lord determines that fault, not the other party.
David then opens up his mouth the praise of a God who stands up for the righteous, who protects the upright in heart, and lays waste the wicked man.
At the end of his reflection, David worships the Lord (vs 17).  How often do we bring our complaints to the Lord and expect him to fix our problems, but are so angry about the situation that we fail to worship the guy who we are appealing to to help us!? We ought to give thanks everyday for the grace and faithfulness of God for even waking us up in the morning! Let us also bring our concerns before the Lord, but remember him as our Savior and king, the ruler of all, the creator of all, the epitome of righteousness, the only name worthy of praise and glory.

If you are reading this and have experienced slander, or maybe are in a work situation with someone who just plain bullies you.  The LORD is your refuge, not the approval of that person. The LORD is your refuge, not the ceasing of that slander.  The LORD is your refuge and give thanks to him for the ultimate vengeance on your part by Him!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Conclusion: Jesus as our Worship Pastor


I want to close simply and quickly with a thought about our Savior.  Jesus is the worship pastor for worship pastors.  When in doubt turn to the author and perfecter of your faith. Wake up every morning calibrating your heart in the light of Jesus, then you cannot help but have a pure and biblical motivation. Preach the gospel to yourself. It will keep you humble knowing constantly that Jesus is still the hero, not you.  He is the mediator between God and man, and ultimately without him, our jobs are pointless: we can never lead someone into the presence of God as a sinner.  Jesus is our worship pastor who leads us as the ultimate prophet being the voice of God. He leads us as the ultimate king providing the greatest, yet surprisingly simple structure of honoring God found in his word, the bible. And he leads us as the ultimate high priest who can sympathize with our weakness yet was without sin (Hebrews 4:14-16). Always hold fast to your Savior knowing that all of the strategies, philosophies, and methods discussed in this study would be a fleeting futility apart from Jesus as its foundation. When he is your focus, you will be able to adequately cultivate a culture of worship in yourself and reflect that upon your congregation. I finish with the words of Psalm 113:1-3
Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the Lord is to be praised! [1]


[1] The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ps 113:1–3.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Worship Pastor as King (cont.)


Auditions and Applications
To lead in a kingly fashion, begin to form processes and procedures for auditioning perspective volunteers. Construct and work closely with your senior pastor on all aspects of this job, but particularly on the fine print of these applications so as to be able to draw out the necessary information from an applicant on where they could best be used in your ministry or perhaps another ministry in your church. For auditions, be sure to have another ministry leader or staff apart of the audition. This will protect you from the possibility of accusations as a response to a declination to be on the team. Never audition alone and allow the other person to provide input so as not to give the impression that you and you only run the show in pride.
           
Planning Tools
You should have your services planned out with plenty of time for your team to be comfortable with the music.  This does not mean that you can’t make last minute changes or allow the Spirit to take you on a worship tangent. What it does mean is that you have a venue by which your team has access to recordings, charts, sheet music, etc so that they can be prepared and competent with the music. There are many different venues to choose from, but with modern technology and resources available on the Internet, I’d suggest ministries such as Planning Center Online,[1] to upload service plans and schedule volunteers in advance. As a general rule of thumb, I have found that it works best to have your volunteers planned out at least 1 month in advance and your services planned out at least 2 weeks in advance. I have used Planning Center Online for a few years with success.
           
            Rehearsals are opportunities
If you have a worship ministry with musicians whose caliber merits a necessity for a midweek rehearsal, then there is no question that you should have one. Striving for excellence is not an idol if you do it for the purpose of bringing the Lord the most pleasing offering of praise you possibly can.  Rehearsals are also perfect opportunities for you to cultivate and disciple your team! Spend the first 20 minutes of a rehearsal going through a book of the bible or the latest book on worship together.  Take time during the rehearsals to have pointed discussions regarding the reason why you are doing a particular song that weekend or perhaps enlighten a newer volunteer with the process of song selection and how you order your worship set and maybe even accept suggestions. Use rehearsals as a venue to grow your team’s unity, your church’s culture of worship, and discipleship focused on the personal ways in which your team functions as worshippers outside of Sunday morning. 
           
           
Train with the humble mindset of replacing yourself
Lastly involves delegation and leadership strategy.  My friend Andi Rozier once told me in his British way, “Mate, your purpose in ministry is to work yourself out of a job.” Hopefully what he meant by that was not a disrespectful statement of hoping I would leave, but rather a very biblically sound and wise statement of the minister’s purpose. This concept ultimately goes back to the discussion of discipleship but now in terms of structure and leadership in the specific ministry that you oversee.  Just as the goal in discipleship is to make disciples who will then ultimately make disciples, your job in ministry is to lead in a way that the people you are leading will inevitably be fully resourced and capable to lead.  To put it in a simple, yet drastic way, would the ministry that you oversee significantly be hurt and fail if you were die tonight? If you answered yes to that question, you should take this as a challenge to restructure your workload and delegate and provide more responsible opportunities for your volunteers so that you are in essence leading the future leaders of the body of Christ. This means that you are constantly looking for the opportunities to train people in the specifics of what you do and how you do them and give them the opportunity to practice!
Do you allow anyone else to be the worship leader on a Sunday morning? Or do you make sure that you are the front man every Sunday and when you’re gone they have a prayer service with no music? You should be seeking out people who have the skills and abilities necessary to lead worship and pour into those people! Train them in the philosophy of your worship ministry based on the study and research you’ve done on biblical forms and functions of worship! Include them in the process of planning.  Give them feedback and critique them so that they improve in this wonderful task we have as worship leaders!
Work, knowing that you could be gone tomorrow. Who knows, you might actually, in doing so, see the Lord leading you to take on a different role in the church and give you the opportunity to actually install someone you trained to take your current spot? That is a privilege! Don’t hold so tightly to your position that you fail to respond to the leading of the Lord. In all of that, make sure that you are prepared to exit that position and that your ducks are in a row so that the bride of Christ, the church, is not hurt in any way. That is called ministry leadership stewardship and it is also called effective shepherding.