Ministers of what?

Ok, ok. I was on a roll and then I suddenly stopped blogging. Well, that’s what happens when you’re plagued with a cold and then a mountain of work with just a few added responsibilities of being the best man in a wedding. So, I’ve had to forego some of the blogging, but I do need to do a little bit of catch up. I have several things I’ve wanted to write about, but I’m going to address an issue I’ve mulled over for months now. What exactly is the substance of the music ministry? I think our answers will make a huge impact.

Since the mode of proclamation for music ministers requires so much time and effort (i.e., music), it’s easy for us to get caught up in the means. But the truth is that we are ministers of the word, not of music. If the focus of your ministry is on the details of notation, it is time to reorganize your priorities. I’m not trying to diminish excellence; not by any means. I believe that you convey much about the importance of your message in the care you use to communicate it.

However, proclamation of the word is the center piece of Christian worship. This does not mean that everything is less important than preaching. It means that everything should be preaching. This concept of proclamation should permeate all of our activities in worship.  In essence, we should be seeking to saturate the music and liturgy from top to bottom with the word.  If this is true (and it is), then this has some serious ramifications for us.  It means that we need to be well-versed in scripture.  It means that we need to take great care to choose content that says what we want it say and not just sound the way that we want it to sound.  It also means that our musical standards should be sky-high because we are proclaiming the gospel.  We are proclaiming the word.  Imagine if the King of Glory were to walk in to your church service and the fanfare sounded like a middle school band camp?  I realize that there can be limitations to our talent level, but I think more often those are imposed by an insufficient view of the importance of what we have been called to.

This sounds like I’m arguing both sides, and I am.  The problem for many of us is that the pendulum swings too far in a particular direction.  Honestly, we need balance.  We can’t just say that the pastor is responsible for the word and we are to focus on the music.  That would be say that your music ministry is not a ministry at all.  We as ministers should be going to great lengths to provide a balanced diet of scripture in what we sing, say, and pray.  However, if we believe that the content of the songs and liturgy is our only focus, then we aren’t conveying the grandeur of God’s glory that we are privileged to communicate.

Most of this has been written out of a desire to see music ministry live up to it’s full potential.  And to clarify, we’re not supposed to be competing with the preaching ministry, but they should be working in perfect compliment.  While the preaching ministry has the ability to expand on concepts and make them applicable, God has gifted us with music that can accomplish so much.  We can sing his praises, but we can also teach and admonish one another.  We sing the beautiful words of psalms and hymns and they get tucked away in our brains to be recalled later; a luxury that preachers don’t so often have. Music ministry is a weighty task that takes our full effort to do rightly.  Our expectations of our ministries should be high and well rounded.  Anything less is a disservice to God and the people of our congregations.

Persistent Training.

This is a continuation of last week’s blog, ‘Pervasive Worship.’ Now that we have an understanding of our essence as worshipers, we must look at what it takes to stay on the path of faith. As Christians, it’s easy to fall into this mystical belief that once we’re saved, the work is done and we just go on spiritual autopilot. Everything is downhill from here. You can ask anyone who knows me well, I am truly disturbed when someone tells me that everything will just work out. Especially when it comes to spiritual matters.

It may be true to some extent, but that is definitely not what the bible says about our sanctification experience. Paul tells us that we are to work out our salvation [Phil. 2.12-13]. We’re not to work FOR our salvation. That’s impossible and it’s already been accomplished. If that’s why you’re being “obedient,” stop it.

However, as a follower of Christ, it is by God’s grace that we get to share in the experience of being sanctified; that is being made like Christ. We will prove to ourselves our salvation by working it out through faithful obedience. Paul tells Timothy to be in the Word of God and in prayer. This will train us to be godly. “While bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come [1 Tim. 4.8].” So we’re not just being godly for some arbitrary characteristic, but rather this gives us assurance (not to mention other very important reasons, but those aren’t the subject of this blog). We can see the hope of Christ’s work in our own lives. It is for the sake of this hope that we have been charged to fight the good fight of faith and take hold of our eternal life that we have been called to.

So what does that mean? How do we work out our salvation? We train ourselves for godliness. We should be exhausting ourselves in pursuit of Christ. We pursue righteousness when we are deepening our relationship with God through the reading of his word and prayer. We pursue holiness when we put our sins to death; when we flee from our temptations. We pursue love when we desire God and when we put others before ourselves. We pursue faith when we put everything we consider of worth at the feet of Jesus. In doing these things, we will see Christ in our own lives. We will get a clearer understanding of the debt paid on our behalf. We will hear the call louder and louder to fervently preach the gospel and to serve the people around us.

When we fail to do these things, we forfeit the best that God has for us.  This world is full of evil that wants to rob us of our faith.  That’s why Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God [Eph. 6.13-17].  It’s hard enough to be a minister without having doubts about our own identity in Christ.  Your ministry will rise and fall with your personal spiritual race.  And not because being a good Christian earns you blessings.  There may be some truth to that, but it’s at God’s discretion.  What is impossible is to make wise and righteous decisions boldly without being firmly planted in the truth you’re preaching.

---

Sources/ Suggested reading:

Whitney, Donald. Personal Spiritual Disciplines. Grudem, Wayne, Systematic Theology, Ch. 38: Sanctification.

Come On, AT&T.

I have never been more disappointed in a large corporation than I was this summer when I realized that AT&T would not be offering internet tethering for the iPhone, like providers do everywhere else in the world.  This isn’t because I’m a giant nerd (I am, but that’s not why).  It’s just upsetting that there are so many loyal customers who pay ridiculous amounts of money to have an iPhone and the one little thing they could offer to really make it worth it, they can’t handle giving away.  Why?  Because it’s not lucrative enough?  AT&T makes an estimated 60 million dollars a month in additional revenue from iPhones [gigaom.com, April 2009].  And if they don’t start being a little less selfless and a little more loyal to their customers, they’re going to be kicking themselves when they lose their exclusivity contract.  Droves of people will flock from AT&T to whatever carrier has the best network (Verizon) or whoever offers the best value (T-Mobile).

But this made me think about how I am in my service for Christ.  Especially inside of the church.  How many events and service projects do we plan around getting people in the seats?  Can we serve in a context that doesn’t seek to fill our pews, just purely for the sake of doing Christ’s work?  I think more and more frequently, we see these service opportunities as a promotional opportunity.

I could go all into the root of this problem.  I could probably spend a year beating up the church and myself in the process.  But I feel like that would be really pointless (at least for now).  However, I do want to say something about the ramifications if we don’t change our way of thinking.  People will always be drawn to what features we’re promoting.  If we promote our church, people who are drawn to us will leave as soon as someone else offers something better.  But if we are honestly just serving people in the name of Christ, people will be drawn to a Savior who is endlessly selfless and merciful.  What does this mean for your church numbers?  Who cares.  That’s God’s business. [Matt. 6.1-4]

But I’m not writing this letter to the SBC or some other governing body.  I’m writing this to you, because servanthood is about the individual follower.  Don’t misunderstand, the church exists to care for people, but if the attitude of Christ isn’t endowed at a personal level, the institution of the church can not instill it.  This would be like expecting your marriage license to make you love your spouse.  I say this all because it’s my problem.  And it’s difficult to deal with, but by God’s grace, I will learn to serve for the sake of Christ, not with ulterior motives.