The foundation of worship: God’s love and our response

Have you ever thought about how ludicrous it is that God loves us? God’s love for us is mind boggling. The fact that God would came and save us through His Son’s death. God almighty, the being that created the sun with words, came to earth and died for us. God, who is completely pure, with out one blemish, no faults, came to a broken people full of sin and saved us.

This is ridiculous. God created the earth. He made things which we consider to be beautiful; Roses, puppies, grasses, mountains, hills, water falls, and the seas. He crafted beings that are vastly more capable of inhabiting an untamed world then we are; the bear, the fox, the wolf, the hawk, the mountain goat, the dolphin, the blue whale. Creators that grab our imagination, amaze us, and even terrify us. God made them. Every mountain, every tree, every blade of grass, every bird, every beast, every fruit fly, God owns.

The truly absurd thing is this same God came to earth and died to save us from our sins and save us from hell. This is the fist and fundamental basis for our worship of God. Our worship is a response to the fact that God came to save us. The second reason we worship God is married to the first and again is a response. Not only did Jesus death save us from hell, but Jesus’ death opened our way to receive help in this life.

By dying on the cross and taking our sins Jesus made us pure. This allows us to receive aid from God. God is willing, because of His son’s death, to come into us and fix our problems. The dug addict, the alcoholic, the prostitute, the liar, the sexually impure, the proud, the manipulator, the murder, the thief, can all find forgiveness and the power to change. (Remember: Jesus tells us in Matthew 5.21-30, that if we do something in our hearts we are just as guilty as those who have physically done the act.)

To be blunt we are all vile. We all have dishonesty in us. We all have some lust or some coveting. What is amazing is that God has taken away our guilt and given us the power to be pure. This is amazing. This, combined with the first, forms the biases of worshiping God. We were died in sin and then God came and saved us!

Love Come Down (Oh the Compassion of Our God)

We will always be amazed, that You have loved us,

That You found us in the our shame and still You loved us,

That You took all our disgrace, made us Your witness,

That You took away our shame, and gave us names

Love came down and found us there,

Where we were lost and helpless alone and scared,

Jesus came and set us free,

Oh the compassion of our God,

Oh the compassion of our God.

In every language it’s the same, the story ever told,

A family bought by blood, and united by Your love

In every nation and every tribe, in hearts in every race,

There is thankfulness for life, there is love because of grace

Seven Hebrew Words for Praise (Part 2)

2. shabach (shaw-bakh’) – (verb)
to address in a loud tone…
to commend…
to glory…
to praise…
to triumph…
to praise with a shout…

Psalm 63:3 - Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify [shout to] you.

Psalm 117:1 - Praise the LORD, all you nations;
extol him [shout to him], all you peoples.

Remember the shout at Jericho! (Joshua 6)

15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak
and marched around the city seven times…

16 The seventh time around,
when the priests sounded the trumpet blast,
Joshua commanded the people,
"Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! …

20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted,
and at the sound of the trumpet,
when the people gave a loud shout,
the wall collapsed;
so every man charged straight in,
and they took the city.

LORD, I will praise You with a shout, in a loud tone.

Not a yawn, not a whisper!

Give me boldness to praise you,
and not be preoccupied with what others will think.

There are times to be still,
and other times when we are right to SHOUT our praise!

Seven Hebrew Words for Praise (Part 1)

1. halal (haw-lal’) – (verb)

to praise… to shine…

to make a show… to boast…

and thus to be clamorously foolish…

to rave… to celebrate…

This is the most commonly used word for praise,

found 165 times in Bible,

131 times translated as “praise” or “glory.”

In Psalm 150, every time the word praise is used, it uses this VERB:

1 Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

Here we are instructed to praise God in a clamorously foolish way.
To praise him with a blast of the trumpet.

Exuberant praise.

Extravagant praise.
None of this hands-in-the-pocket praise!

We are urged to praise Him with the tambourine and dancing.

It’s a celebration, after all!
Christ has risen from the dead and defeated the power of our enemy.
Celebration is appropriate!
Why wouldn’t I dance and make a show for my Master, my Leader, my Lord?
When I go to hockey games, I yell (that’s what Canadians do).
Why would I be forever silent and timid at church?

We are commanded to praise Him with a clash of cymbals.

Not with soft and dainty cymbals.
Loud clanging cymbals!

Worship Albums "Reviewed"

A caveat as we begin this site: the concept of "reviewing" music is a common one. Any popular music magazine or website will give their opinion on new albums, giving the pros and cons and generally ranking the quality. This gives the reader an idea of whether or not they may be interested in buying that music. And yes, I realize the previous two sentances are exceedingly self-explanatory. Bear with me.

This blog will not be entirely different, in that music "reviews" will appear here. It's an easy post to write, and if I feel strongly about some music, I want to share it for others to hear. God speaks to me through a lot of songs, and I'll write my thoughts, opinions, emotions, and spiritual reactions to good worship music.

But the one thing that I promise to try and avoid is critiquing the lyrics/music/spirit of a particular song or album. Worship music is totally different than any other kind (even contemporary Christian music). Worshipful music is written in the attempt to lead people into God's presence, to soften the heart of the hearer, to draw the singer into a deeper understanding of who God is. To criticize someone who is thoroughly attempting to please God in worship would be a dangerous decision (and selfishly, I'd rather not be criticized for my admittedly beginning-stages of song-writing).

Even the simplest melody and most cliched words, when written from a right heart, are pure and beautiful and profound to our creator. Far be it from me to call something unacceptable that God finds pleasing.

Stay tuned, as I'll review some of the albums that speak to me the best over the next weeks and months.