13 February: Tuesday Refocus

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”- John 13:1-5

“…the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

Jesus is both servant and savior. Not one or the other, but both at once. This has always been true of His identity even before he took on flesh and stepped into the world. We behold the servant savior with piercing clarity at the cross. But even in the waning hours before the cross, Jesus continues to serve His disciples - a meal, praying for them, sharing with them, and washing their feet. The One who empties himself by taking on the form of a servant performs the act of the lowliest servant - stooping to washing the feet of the cowardly and fearful, the deniers and the betrayer.

Father, on the eve of this Lenten season, may we behold the servant savior with piercing clarity. In Jesus name, amen.

Beholding,

AB

21 May: Liturgy + Set List

• GOD SO LOVED

  Call to Worship: Psalm 17:15

  This verse follows a chapter where the Psalmist is crying out to God. Crying out to God for rescue from his pursuing enemies. Often we can think when we follow Jesus that our lives should be comfortable and easy, and what we see in this passage and throughout the Psalms, and throughout Scripture, and in the life of Jesus, obedience to God does not always mean my life will be easy or comfortable. What we really need is not different circumstances, what we really need is to behold the face of God, and live. To be satisfied with God and God alone. That is my hope and prayer for you and me this morning, that we would behold the Lord and live.

• CHRIST BE MAGNIFIED

• I STAND AMAZED (HOW MARVELOUS)

  Sermon: Mark 8:1-21

  The Apostles’ Creed

• The Lord’s Supper

• BEFORE THE THRONE

  Benediction

Entertainment | Worship

Last week I wrote about dealing with blank faces. How outward expressions are not always an indication of an internal reality. And how worship leaders may be tempted to try and elicit a response from those gathered corporately. As I was writing that post, I was reminded of this quote from one of my favorite authors:

’The church that can’t worship must be entertained. And men who can’t lead a church to worship must provide the entertainment.’ - A.W. Tozer

Maybe like me, when you think entertainment the first thing that comes to mind is high production value. A very attractional church model: the band is good-looking, the lights, loops, and lasers rival what could be seen at a mainstream concert, and the music is highly produced, and executed flawlessly. This is a service that is more concerned with playing than participation. And to some extent, this model does represent a form of entertainment over leading in worship. But to define ‘entertainment’ this narrowly would be unfair. Because at the core, entertainment is more concerned about passive engagement than high production value.

Regardless of the production value, we entertain rather than lead worship when we are not concerned about engaging our hearts and minds to behold and respond to God. We entertain when we get up and sing, rather than lead people to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice. We entertain rather than lead when we are more concerned about being in our own private worship moment with God, instead of inviting the congregation to engage through song and Scripture. We entertain rather than lead when we choose songs and keys because they sound good, not when they serve the people well. We entertain rather than lead when we are only concerned for smashing a service, rather than deeply forming the people of God. We entertain rather than lead when we do not understand what it is to lead God’s people in corporate worship.

People will default to entertainment because worship is costly. People will default to entertainment because they do not understand that true worship is the right response of our whole lives to God’s revelation of Himself. People will default to entertainment because they have not been led, truly led, by worship leaders who desire to provide the words and environment to respond to the beauty of God as revealed in His Son, His character, His Word, His creation, and His people.

If we want to be worship leaders who lead people in worship rather than provide them entertainment, we must first be worshipers before we are worship leaders. We must be led by the Holy Spirit, to behold Jesus, and to live our whole lives in worshipful response to Him.

April 27: Tuesday Refocus

‘Grant me never lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, the exceeding wonder of grace.’ - Valley of Vision

The more clearly I see my sin, the more it becomes eclipsed by the beauty and glory of Christ.  The more clearly I see Christ, the uglier my sin becomes.  When we see these two extremes, we can say with the prophet, ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’ (Is 6:5). Like Peter, we find ourselves at Jesus’ knees saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’ (Lk 5:8)

The more we behold the beauty of Christ and the ugliness of our sin, the more we are awakened to the deep grip of Grace.  This is the place where wonder and worship flow.  This is the place that breaks our illusions of self-justification.  This is the place where we must return again, and again, and again.

Lord, forgive how casually we see our own sin - those things which sent you to the cross.  Forgive how flippantly we view your glory and holiness.  Give us eyes to see You, for Your glory, and our good, amen.

Looking,

AB