After Resurrection Musings

One problem with trying to understand the prophets:  the sequence of events and themes isn’t always clear. After I looked at Isaiah 53, the next logical step would be to look at Isaiah 54. Here is what caught my attention.

Isaiah 54:9-10 (NIV 84) - "To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you. 

If the punishment for all my sin and transgression has been borne by Jesus on the cross, then logically speaking, God has no more reason to be angry with me ever again. I believe this applies in the sense of my relationship with God being secure. Of course my fellowship with God is NOT secure, and should never be taken for granted. If I choose to ignore God, neglect my prayer time and let dust gather on my Bible, I am out of fellowship with God. 

Imagine, not hearing the voice of God, being deaf and blind to the leading of the Spirit, while being weak in the inner man because of not feeding on the Word of God. That is a very dangerous state to be in these last days!

Isaiah 54:11-15 (NIV 84) - "O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. All your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children's peace. In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. 

So what or who is this afflicted city mentioned here?

On one level, it refers to the city of Jerusalem. We see the LORD speaking to Jerusalem in both Isaiah 51:17 and in Isaiah 52:1, and he does not address any other group of people until the start of Isaiah 55. That means that Isaiah 54:11 refers to Jerusalem. 

For us this can refer to the physical city of Jerusalem, or also the New Testament church

Hebrews 12:22 (ESV) - But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect 

One mistake to watch out for – do not let the spiritual meaning negate the physical meaning. There will be people who think that this prophecy can apply to the spiritual Jerusalem, therefore it does not apply anymore to the physical Jerusalem. That would be like saying because this verse: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh“ (Gen 2:24) applies to Christ and his church (Eph 5:33) it does not apply to our earthly marriages. And Eph 5:33 shows that idea is clearly not Scriptural. 
  
Two thoughts from this passage:

1) Move beyond an individual-based faith to a community-based faith.

Our individual, personal faith-walk with the Lord is the foundation. We need to seek God for our own lives, to see his working in our day-to-day experience, to experience his promises fulfilled for us. If not we end up like some people I have seen, who spend more time praying for the church than for themselves, sound very spiritual and mature, and yet fight losing battles with their problems and addictions in their personal lives. 

But after that foundation is laid, we must swiftly move on to praying for the community also. We can find many prophecies for Jerusalem in the Old Testament and prayers for the churches in the New Testament. If spiritual maturity is defined by how much the Bible reflects our lives, attention and priorities, then ignoring the community (Jerusalem or the church) is a clear sign of immaturity.

So pray! Pray for yourself, pray for your local church, and pray for the church at large. No one with a Bible and an internet connection can ever say “I don’t know what to pray about”, it’s handed to us on a silver platter by modern technology. We have no excuse!

2) Pray for Jerusalem

When I set out to regularly pray for Jerusalem, I soon realized that there were many Scripture passages I could use. The above passage from Isaiah 54 is only just one example. Just casually reading through the book of Isaiah yields many prophecies for Jerusalem (and Zion) for us to use in our private prayer time. But if you are wondering how to get started, here’s a simple answer.

Psalm 122:6-9 (NKJV) - Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:“May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls,Prosperity within your palaces.”For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say,“Peace be within you.” Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek your good.

Pray that Jerusalem will experience the shalom of God, the peace, prosperity and well-being of God. And pray that there will be justice in Jerusalem, because the purpose of shalom is to order and establish his kingdom, the nation of Israel, with judgment and justice. In other words, shalom, judgment and justice will show the world what the rule of Christ truly is.

Isaiah 9:7 (NKJV) - Of the increase of His government and peaceThere will be no end,Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,To order it and establish it with judgment and justiceFrom that time forward, even forever.The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

I’d better stop here before I get carried away by the Scriptures again. If so I’ll never stop writing. Chew on all this sharing for now, I need to go back to praying. Be blessed! 

How to Change Your Spiritual Wardrobe

For those of us who like everything listed out neatly, here are the two lists in Colossians 3.

What To Take Off

• sexual immorality
• impurity
• lust
• evil desires
• greed (= idolatry)
• anger
• rage
• malice
• slander
• filthy language
• lying

What To Put On

• compassion
• kindness
• humility
• gentleness
• patience
• forgiveness
• love

The driven, task-oriented amongst us will probably print out the lists, put them up somewhere they would see every day and make them their New Year Resolutions. From experience, only the very disciplined amongst us can make it work. And for the rest of us, we will find it very frustrating, because we are not doing things the way God wants us to do them.

How ARE We Supposed to Change?

1) Think About Godly Things

Colossians 3:1-3 – Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (NIV)

I remember the days I so wanted to live a God-pleasing life. I had been a believer for years before that, but because I was not in fellowship with other brethren and didn't have a proper devotional life, I was convinced that it was unrealistic and unattainable. But I still wanted to try anyway.

I wasn't too sure I could follow the instructions in the Bible, but I decided that the least I could was KNOW what the instructions were. So I just made it a point to read the Bible daily. At that time I didn't know the power of reading the Bible aloud, but even then the 15-20 minutes each time, done 2-3 times a day, was enough to start changing my mind into thinking that obeying God wasn't that unrealistic and unattainable after all.

And let's face it, that was a very necessary first step!

2) Know God

Colossians 3:10 - … and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator (NIV)

In verses 9-10, Paul tells us since you have take off our old self (and its habits) and put on the new self by being renewed in knowledge in the image of our Creator. This tells me that I ought to put less attention less on changing my lifestyle and more on knowing the God who created the new me.

Consider the following:

Lev 20:26 - You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. (NIV)

Knowing the holiness of God will spur us into holy living. Notice how God uses himself as an example for us to follow?

Deut 10:18-19 - He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. (NIV)

And in the New Testament, we are told to imitate God:

Eph 5:1-2 - Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. (NKJV)

But how can we imitate God unless we deeply and intimately know him? We need to meditate on his wonders and his deeds (Psa 77:12). When we do, and realize that we are his children and thus carry his DNA in our spirit, we then begin to find ourselves living as his children would.

3) Recognize that we are the chosen, holy and dearly loved

Colossians 3:12-14 - Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (NIV)

This is the earlier step, Knowing God, and carries it a step further. When we know God and how much he loves us, it becomes easy to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and so on. Why? Because we know God is like that, and he has treated us thus. And that makes it reasonable for us to do likewise.

Conclusion:

All these steps may seem simple. They are. But don't let the simplicity deceive you. They require us to put in consistent and regular effort to renew our minds. We used to live in the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Eph 2:2) and so it will take time and deliberate effort to change our thought patterns and emotional habits.

It's not an easy journey. But I can assure you that you will find joy and delight in it as you know you please God in your thoughts, words and deeds. Shall we continue this journey together?

Be blessed!

Pub Musician, Worship Musician?

Can someone who is playing at a pub or a rock band also play in the worship team?

The question seems to boil down to whether playing in a pub or rock band disqualifies someone from playing in the worship team. I've done my own pub-band time and other secular gigs as well, so here are three things that I'd look at when it comes to this issue.

Alcohol – Does the person have a problem with alcohol abuse? If so then he/she ought to avoid the pub environment in the first place.

Eph 5:18 - Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit (NIV)

I have no problems with believers drinking alcohol. If the Bible does not prohibit it, neither should I. But the Bible DOES prohibit getting drunk. So if we are talking about a believer who plays music at a pub and he or she consistently gets drunk, then I'd think twice about letting this person play on the worship team.

Secular music – I also have no problem with believers playing secular music. The Bible does not prohibit it, neither should I. But the Bible does speak out against confusing the sacred with the secular. Consider this passage:

Eze 33:31-32 - So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. (NKJV)

The reference to secular entertainers in Israel shows that they did exist in those days. In this passage, God says that ignoring the word of a prophet is like treating him/her just like a secular entertainer. The Bible does not condemn secular music, but it does tell us not to treat the Word of God in the same way, as mere entertainment.

The Believer's Word Life – And that refers to both the time the person spends in the Bible and his spoken words.

A secular pub is usually an unedifying place. The Bible does not give us a definite order to avoid all unedifying places, in fact we are told that the whole world is under the control of the evil one (1 John 5:19). So that means that we cannot totally avoid unedifying places. But we CAN keep ourselves from being polluted by the world (James 1:27). And that is what we should aim for.

So if a pub or rock musician wants to play on the worship team, my first question is this: has he or she been polluted by the world? The fastest gauge of that is his or her speech, because the mouth speaks what the heart is full of (Luke 6:45). If the believer has been polluted by the world, his or her speech will usually be the first to go haywire.

Quick tip: don't just listen to how this person talks in church. Drop by the pub when this musician is working, hide yourself one corner and pay careful attention to how he or she behaves when no one knows you are around. There are pub musicians I know who consistently shine forth as lights in a warped and crooked generation (Phi 2:15), even at the pub itself. I'd be honoured to have those people with me on the worship team anytime!

I'll also watch for this person's hunger for the Word of God. Why? Because if his or her heart has departed from the LORD, he/she will lose the hunger for the Bible.

Jeremiah 2:15 - My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (NIV)

And once the hunger for the Word of God is gone, the pollution of the world will come in very quickly. So does the musician in question skip church services? How is his/her personal time in the Word of God? I'd ask what was the latest insight he/she got from the Scriptures recently. If you see a panic-stricken expression on the face, that's a warning sign for you right there!

Conclusion: Every believer will have areas in life where they need help. A believer who is pub or rock band musician and who has any of the above problems is NOT a lesser person in Christ than we are. They just need help in those areas, just as we ourselves do in other parts of our lives. If a pub or rock band musician has problems with alcohol abuse and with being polluted by the world, then whether he/she is included on the worship team is a decision that is best made by the pastor in charge. Why? Because the LORD may use the musician's involvement in worship ministry to spur him/her to take God seriously. Because the ramifications are heavier than usual, it is best to leave this decision to God-appointed leadership who will pray and seek the mind of God on this situation.

Let me know what you think?

Why Look to David?

One thing I have learned the HARD way - don't head over to any worship forums for a 'quick' look just before bedtime. The questions and thoughts I get can have me so excited I can't sleep!

One recent example is this question Peter Goh brought up on Worship the Rock. He pointed out that many Christian leaders teach worship from the Old Testament models of worship, such as Levitical worship or David's materials instead of looking at the New Testament. In John 4:23 Jesus revealed that there would be a massive change in the nature of worship "... a time is coming and has now come (NIV)" so why look at the older models of worship if God doesn't think they are good enough?

John 4:23 (NIV) - Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

To start we first need to look at what it means to worship in spirit and in truth. I wrote about it in detail before but to quickly sum up, to worship in spirit is to relate to God on the basis of our relationship with him through our new birth (John 3:5-6) rather than what we can achieve out of our flesh (Phil 3:3). And to worship in truth is to realize that there is nothing for which we can claim any credit or glory for, since every good we have done, including our worship, all came from God and was done through God in the first place (John 3:21).

This is a simple definition of spirit and truth, looking at John 3 and letting Scripture interpret Scripture. We can also say that to worship in spirit and truth is to relate to God based on the new covenant. And the new covenant means that all our sins are forgiven (Heb 8:12) and therefore we have a very good reason for total confidence and boldness in approaching God (Heb 10:19-22). Therefore praising God is a very natural fruit of such revelation (Heb 13:15).

The contemporary worship scene is more influenced by the Davidic model than the Levitical model (many people aren't keen to go back to sacrificing animals) so for now let's just consider: Why Look At David? I'll give a couple of reasons.

Firstly, David had an understanding of God that far exceeded what the Scriptures available to him revealed. We can see him as being very much a new covenant worshipper in the following areas:

1) He saw himself as a son of God - He will call out to me, 'You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.' (Psalm 89:26, NIV)

2) He knew he needed the forgiveness of God and that God was willing to forgive - Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:5, NIV)

3) He knew that he had nothing in and of himself to offer God, and that whatever he had came from God in the first place - Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand (1 Chron 29:14, NIV).

People can argue over whether David was worshipping God in spirit and in truth. But what is obvious to us is that David, because of the faith he displayed in worshipping God, shows us very clearly how we ought to relate to God as new covenant believers. David was so confident in God that he believed his songs were more precious to God than even the animal sacrifices required by the Levitical priesthood.

I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs. (Psalm 69:30-31, NIV)

How many of us have THAT level of confidence when we sing to God? Or do we come to God with trepidation, not believing in the fullness of the finished work of Christ? Remember, without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). David definitely had the faith that pleased God. We would do well to learn from him.

Secondly, the New Testament points us towards the Davidic model of worship. We know that the whole of Scripture is God-breathed by his Spirit (2 Tim 3:16) and yet there are three specific parts of Scripture explicitly tied to the Spirit of God. They are

1) The Words of Jesus (the words in red) - The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. (John 6:63, NIV);

2) Old Testament prophecies - For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.(2 Pet 1:21, NIV); AND

3) The Psalms - be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph 5:18-19, NKJV).

And God considers the Psalms, the fruit of the Davidic model of worship, so important, that we are admonished twice (Eph 5:18-19, Col 3:16) to feed on them, to talk to God and each other about them. And we have a direct endorsement of the Davidic model given us in Acts 15:16, when James declared that the Gentiles (non-Jews) turning to Jesus is a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy announcing God's intention to rebuild David's tabernacle (Amos 9:11-12). If God likes the David model of worship so much that he wants to restore it, and even ties the salvation of non-Jews to its restoration, it must be something VERY important to God.

And that means it ought to be important to us also.

Disclaimer: I'll be the first to admit that there are problems with the way some people look at the David model of worship. I personally disagree with using the Davidic model of worship to justify a song-and-dance routine that is based on professional worshippers rather than the entire body of Christ. And that's because of 1 Peter 2:9 which teaches us that ALL of us are royal priests, called to declare God's praises.

But even though there are people who misunderstand the Davidic model of worship, there will always be something useful for us to glean from it (as from ALL Scripture, 2 Tim 3:16). And I believe that we will understand the Davidic Model more and more in the future, as we continue to humble ourselves before God and ask that he open our eyes that we may see wonderful things in His law (Psalm 119:18).

May God himself teach us from His word and make us fruitful in His service!

P.S. if you are not yet on my Invisible Worship Musician mailing list, get over to my page and get in now! I'm going to hold a special sale to celebrate my upcoming California ministry trip. Stay tuned!

Are Your Days Numbered?

Earlier this year I shared with you about my friend dying from cancer. As you might have guessed, losing a friend to cancer before she was even 30 hit me quite deeply. Couple of weeks ago I got the news that the lead singer of the first band I played with died in a diving accident. Two friends gone, within a year…

“So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12, NASB)

What does it mean to number our days? To count them? Try this test. Without taking out a calculator, how many days do you think an average human will live on this earth? If we take 80 years as a normal life span, it’s 29220 days (including leap years). 

That’s not that many, is it? When we start to treasure and account our days to God, the Scripture says that we will present to God a heart of wisdom. The NASB suggests that we already have a heart of wisdom, but some of us are not presenting (showing) it to God in our day to day living.

I personally hold some reservations about deriving any Scriptural interpretations and teaching solely from Psalm 90. Why? Because there are some verses in it that do not apply to us as New Testament believers. For example, verse 8 says “You have placed our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.” Does that verse apply to us today?

Hebrews 8:11-12 (NASB) “for all will know me, from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.”

We can see then that not all of Psalm 90 is applicable to us. But how about the admonition to number our days?

“Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil. Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17, Amplified)

In this passage, making most of the time, treasuring and making use of every day, is deemed wise. Whatever measure of wisdom God has given me has largely been the result of this attitude I hold, that everyday is precious and not to be wasted. Try it, it’s amazing how much clearer your thinking becomes when you begin to number your days unto the Lord.

Another practice that will help is journaling. It gives you a good snapshot of where you were before, where you are now, and probably where you will be in the future. You will start to see themes emerge more clearly than if you did not journal. You will also see more of God’s hand at work in your life, just because you decided that you wanted to remember them and took the effort and time to note them down.

One thing about the death of the lead singer of my first band (other than the fact that our reunion tour is gonna be postponed indefinitely) is that it also made me ask questions about what kind of legacy I want to leave behind in this world, and what do I want to invest my time into.

You all know that training people in worship leading is something very important to me. The death of my friend has given me that sense of urgency to codify and set down my worship teachings for people. So I’m officially announcing it to all of you now: I’m writing a book!

This book will explain all the foundational truths that make up my worship teaching. It will include Scripture teachings as well as technical explanations for musicians about how to play REAL worship music, music that really works in ministering to God’s people in worship. This book will take my 13+ years of experience in the worship ministry and distill it so that people can take it and run with it. Just so you know, the last two posts, Why Get Technical? and Worshiping the Heart will certainly be in the book. (In fact, I initially wrote them just for the book, but later decided to share them publicly.)

So pray for me, people, that God will give me the right words to use as I write this book. Pray also that I will use my time effectively to finish this book as soon as possible. Finally, pray that I will be led by the Lord in deciding what to include in the book. Thanks, everyone!