ConneXus Blog

By Julia Fowler, Worship Arts Pastor

Based on the book The Unquenchable Worshipper by Matt Redman

"The great thing about writing worship songs is that you can plagiarize the Bible and, instead of getting sued, you actually get encouraged!"

King David is actually a perfect example of what Redman is talking about in this chapter.  In the book of 2 Samuel chapter 6 we're told about how the Ark of the Covenant is final brought to Jerusalem by King David's men.  Several times throughout this chapter David's responses to the Ark's arrival seem totally undignified; he dances, sacrifices a bull AND a fatted calf.  Verse 5 says he and the whole house of Israel celebrated "…with all their might before the Lord, with songs and with harps, lyres tambourines, sistrums and cymbals."  David wasn't thinking about his position or appearance before men.  He goes on in 6:21, 22 to say…"It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD.  I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes…"  Could we ever dare to be this bold?

"One of the Hebrew words for praise, hallal, means to be clamorously foolish or mad before the Lord.  (That's where we get our word "Hallelujah.") In a "reasons to be passionate" competition, the church of God should come an easy first; yet too often we find ourselves lagging way behind in this area.  Isn't it time we saw a bit more holy mayhem in our worship?  I'm pretty guilty of this myself, to be honest.  I could blame it on my personality, but deep down I know that isn't the whole story.  Now and again comes a glimpse of a greater freedom in worship." --Redman

Are there times when singing just doesn't feel like enough?  The undignified actions of King David were overflow of his love for the Lord.  He had reached a place in His worship where words and songs were simply not enough.

William Barclay once wrote, "Love does not stop nicely to calculate the less or more;  love does not stop to work out how little it can respectably give.  With a kind of divine extravagance, love gives everything it has and never counts the cost.  Calculation is never any part of love."

Luke 6:45 Jesus tells us: "Out of the abundance of the heart [the] mouth speaks."

As lead worshippers, it is NOT our responsibility or even our goal to try and impress or to hype up praise or physical responses from the congregation.  In fact, it's an offense to distract attention from God.  Lead Worshippers must point as sensitively as possible to the Lord and never to themselves.  "Good leaders are those who lead strongly enough so that people follow but not so strongly that they themselves become the focus. As leaders if we are doing anything during worship that distracts, we are robbing God of the focus: (let the Holy Spirit guide you to truth in this area!)  God's throne room allows no room for the proud.  If we're to usher others into that place of holy beholding, we need to make sure there's nothing in us that, deep down, still wants to be the center of attention."

PRAYER:

O God, bring us to that place--worshippers and worship leaders alike - where we are so caught up in loving You that we care very little about our own status or reputation, or those around us.  Bring us to a place where we so find You in worship that we lose ourselves in Your wonder, love and praise and we become...undignified.