Tag: worship leaders

Songs about God's Love are Cheap

So many of the songs about God’s love currently being written and sung are cheap. They are mushy without being hardy. Like milk-bloated cereal, they drip with emotion but fall flat on substance. Such cheap love songs act like God is our cosmic girlfriend. God is not a girlfriend; God is God.

Cheap love songs typically talk about how great God’s love is for us, full stop. They fail to consider how God’s great love becomes great for us. Biblically, we know no great Godly love apart from an angry God. If God was not angry, he would be bad lover. If he didn’t grow wrathful over idolatry, murder, lying, jealousy, gossip, and sleeping around, then his love would be cheap. He’d be like the pathetic girlfriend whose identity is so bound up with male affection, that she just takes a beating. But God stands up for himself, for his infinite glory and beauty, and says, “I will not be abused. Those who treat me poorly must suffer the consequences of failing to honor the God who is infinitely honorable.” And so he pours out his righteous wrath and anger by putting to death his enemies or by putting to death his own Son. Because God is angry and just; his love is deeper than we will ever fully comprehend.

In order to understand God’s love, we must understand his anger. God’s anger inevitably leads us to the cross where justice and mercy meet in perfect, soul-wrenching, Christ-crushing, sin-forgiving, life-giving, love-flowing harmony. For those that hope in Jesus, the anger of God against our unrighteousness is mercifully diverted from us onto His beloved Son. As a result, God preserves and promotes his justice and humanity’s joy where anger and love converge, at the cross. The purpose of God’s anger is to display the depth and character of his eternal justice and his love for us. When we understand that God’s love is God’s because of his justice and anger, only then can we begin to comprehend how great a love he has for us.

So how do we write worship songs that speak of God’s great love, not cheap love? Three suggestions:

  1. Contrast God’s great love with his great wrath. The more we see God’s just wrath, the more we see how great his love is to save us, “a wretch like me.”
  2. Show how God’s love is ours in the death of his Son. Text after biblical text ties God’s unfailing love to the sacrifice of his Son.
  3. Articulate the greatness of God’s love alongside the magnitude of his glory. Reveal that God’s love is just one aspect of God’s many splendored glory.

New Gospel-centered Worship Songs

I’ve posted on Andy Melvin’s Human Engine Waits album before. Due to the album’s depth and creativity, we our church decided to do a three song/sermon series on it. We’ve worked all of these songs into our worship “canon,” which has been a delight. The sermon audio and manuscripts can be found here.

Similarly, our very own Nate Navarro has written a number of tunes that bring the gospel, mission, and community together like few, if any songs do. We sang “Community Song” again today, which has become a Austin City Life stirring standby. Here are the lyrics:

we’re a community of the broken, your love is changing us, your love is here
the love of Christ can heal the broken, bring us together and wipe away our tears

we’re a community of the forgiven, the past is gone and today is here
the love of Christ can offer forgiveness, heal our hearts and redeem our wasted years

hallelujah God is with us
hallelujah grace is here

we’re a community who wants to love you, love our neighbors, let your love shine
the love of Christ can change this city if it can change a broken heart like mine

Four Thoughts On Worship

Last night I led our Worship Team in a short devotional based on 1 Peter 4:7-11. I shared four main thoughts:

God-glorifying Worship is Christ-centered Worship
According to Peter, our gifts, our service, our love, our prayers, our hospitality all exist in “order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” To glorify something is not to make it bigger than it is, but rather to demonstrate it’s inherent centrality. It is the difference between magnifying through a Telescope and a Microscope. How do we magnify God? Through Jesus Christ. We do this in two key ways: Creation and Redemption. As artists and technicians we can approach God because he made us in Jesus (Col 1; Heb 1). We can worship God as artists and technicians because Jesus has bought our spot with his blood. We do not merit God’s presence in any way; it is a gift of himself to us. All things in through and for Jesus. Creation & Redemption. We worship because we were made and remade through him. His once for all sacrifice secures our spot as worshippers.

You are Not Your Gift
A Gift is a gift; it isn’t you or yours. The gift is a stewardship, something given for the good, the service of others. Its not really yours…if anything its theirs; it belongs to the Church. Your spiritual and musical talent is something given to you by God. You didn’t earn it. It is a stewardship. You are honing your gift, employing it in the service of the church, just as people with the gift of service are serving you in set-up. The gift is for the good of the church. The gift isn’t you, though it is your expression. I am not my sermons, though my preaching is an expression of me. I am constantly working on not seeking praise but seeking criticism so that I can serve our church better with God’s word. It is a gift given for service, for the good of others, for worship. You are not your gift. Your significance does not fluctuate with how well you set up, play an instrument or run sound. Your gift is not about you. Lead from your significance in Jesus not for your significance. Lead in the Strength that God supplies. This word “supplies” is used of a choral leader, of abundantly furnishing a chorus for a drama. God is rich in strength to supply others-serving, Christ-centered worship. These musical undertones remind us that worship comes from God in rich supply. God is more committed to his praise than we are and is disposed to lead us, fuel us in worship leading!

Love Covers a Multitude of Technical Difficulties
You guys seem to love one another, to really be striving for unity and mutual concern. Everyone helps out with set up and tear down. There seems to be very little grumbling or complaining. This is a wonderful expression of Jesus in you. Cultivate it! I have read of horror stories of division between the technical people and the musical people. Where people get really edgy and irritable that they have to turn their amp down or monitor up. You aren’t above this. So it’s important that you cultivate love for one another, show hospitality to one another without grumbling, keeping the centrality of Jesus in view in all things. We need to create a space in our Worship Teams that fosters kind, thoughtful ciritique and encouragement. If your identity is wrapped up with your music, then you will be slow to give encouragement and unreceptive to critique. The more your identity is wrapped up with Jesus, you will be able to consider your craft critically. You are all equal in Christ and different in function. Everyone doesn’t lead or set up. But you can all arrive at the same time and help unload equipment. In setting up and tearing down we need to practice hospitality. This means that those responsible for set up should serve without grumbling and those who play should play without grumbling. You are all equal in Jesus. To believe anything else is to believe a lie. Band should help unload. There is no higher tier of artist.

Worship Begins with Prayer

Worship starts with prayer, with confessing our inability to worship Christ on our own. With confessing that all things are in through and for Jesus, including worship. Worship is not something we manufacture; it is the giving of God himself to us. We have things backwards. Practice, practice, practice and pray for five minutes. Let’s be aware that worship is fueled by prayer. The end of all things is coming. Let’s pray for God’s presence not for musical perfection. Let’s pray that our church would be full-time worshippers, not Sunday service singers. Let’s pray that worship would result in mission, the making of more worshippers in this city.