Cracking the Worship Ministry Code

My pastor was talking with me the other day about a tuition centre in Singapore that causes the students who enroll there to score well in the Singapore mandarin (Chinese) language exams even if they are weak in the language. They have figured out what the Ministry of Education is looking for at every level of the exams, and so they focus intensively on those areas. In other words, that tuition centre has cracked the code for the Singapore Chinese examination system.

What that centre has done for Chinese exams is what I have done for worship ministry. I have cracked the Worship Ministry Code.

To some people that sounds like no big deal. I am sure I am not the first to have cracked it. Maybe I am just the first to express it this way and really explore what it means to worship ministry and our Christian lives. When I interact with other worship leaders online, I find that many of them from other countries have cracked the code also, just that many of them don't give the Scriptural backing for what they do and why it works.

So when I say I cracked the worship ministry code, I am not saying that I am the only one or that I am the best worship ministry teacher around, OK?

To some other people, this claim is the very heights of presumptuousness. They believe that worship ministry is complex, difficult and requires very detailed leading and guiding from the Holy Spirit for every step and every nuance. Even worse, they believe that the Holy Spirit will often be leading them to do weird or flaky stuff to prove their obedience to him and to show how little they depend on formulae, principles and techniques.

These people usually unsubscribe from my emails after some time, because they disagree with me so much. And that is fine with me. I am here to serve those who find value in what I teach, not to irritate and provoke those who think differently!

How can we be sure that we can crack the worship ministry code? How can we know that worship ministry can be simple, straightforward and easy to teach?

1) God is consistent

That's very important, because worship has to be pleasing to God. If God is inconsistent, in other words, he keeps changing his character or his requirements, then there is no code to crack. In such a case, worship ministry would be complex, difficult and require detailed and nuanced leading from the Holy Spirit every step of the way. And we can have no assurance that we can get it right this time, even though we may have got it right many times before.

Heb 13:8 (NIV) - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

And because God is consistent, we know that what pleased him before in the Bible will please him now. We can be confident that the prayers he answered before are the same ones that he will answer now. We know that what he esteems and values in times past are what he esteems and values now.

And we can think, pray and act accordingly!

2) God is consistent in accepting us

Not only is God consistent, he is also consistent in accepting us. If God is harsh, demanding and unmerciful, there is still hope that we can please him IF we meet up to his high standards and requirements. But the Bible reveals that God is consistent, faithful in showing us mercy in spite of our sins and transgressions.

Mal 3:6 (NIV) - "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

3) God desires that we meet him in worship

God isn't putting up with our praises and worship. He isn't enduring it, hoping that we will get it over and done with as soon as possible. He finds it pleasing, that is, he enjoys it.

Psalm 69:30-31 (NIV) - 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.

Because he finds it pleasing, he has made it possible for us to worship him acceptably, through Jesus Christ.

Heb 13:15 (NIV) - Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Important point though: our worship is not automatically accepted through Christ, because some believers choose to make their status in Christ of no effect. They do so by trusting in their own works to make them acceptable before God, rather than the finished work of Christ.

Gal 5:4 (NIV) - You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

So we can say that offering God an acceptable sacrifice of praise is easy. All we need to do is to surrender our pride and self-righteousness…

Conclusion:

When we put all those factors together, we end up with a theology that makes meeting God in praise and worship something natural and simple for us as believers. So if praising God acceptably is natural and simple, why should facilitating praise and worship not be natural and simple too? Why do people in worship ministry want to make things more complicated and difficult than how the Bible teaches it?

Those who have read my book Invisible Worship Musician know that the first five chapters are about the myths and misunderstandings common in worship ministry. I realize now that I had to explain all those factors so you can understand that not only is there such a code for worship ministry, but that it is very simple to find, understand and make use of.

And once you have cracked the worship ministry code, everything else (how to choose the songs, how to lead the worship, what should the musicians play) flows very naturally and logically from there.

But it all starts with the right theology, knowing that God wants us to encounter him in praise and worship and that he has made it possible for the meek and humble to approach him easily. And if you truly grasp this, you find yourself growing in boldness and confidence in your prayer and worship life.

And that's always good!

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!