Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 041
Proclaiming Worship
2 Chronicles 5:13
In unison when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice accompanied by trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and when they praised the Lord saying, “He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting,” then the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud.
The Content of Worship
We pay so much attention to the environment of worship that we tend to forget the content of worship. Worship should have a good environment (crisp sound, excellent in every way), but you can do all of that and still not have the right content in worship. In this Scripture, they sang about the goodness of God and the loving kindness of God. I don’t think they sang just those words. I believe they sang, “The Lord is good and here is what He has done…” This is the opposite of introspection. This is proclaiming the victories of the Lord. When people come together and they are struggling, we proclaim the Word of God and stir up their voice.
One Voice
This Scripture says they sang with one voice. That’s corporate worship.
I had a conversation with someone who was very advanced, so to speak, with regards to worship music. After a Sunday service, they asked me what I thought of the worship that day. My answer was, “Which one?” The worship leader was confused, as their understanding was that there was just one service that day. My perspective was that there were about eight. There was a great atmosphere and the music was wonderful, but there wasn’t corporate worship. There were different people at different points in the service doing their own thing. None of the things they were doing were bad or out of order, but it wasn’t corporate. There was a group of people watching a highly animated group of people do different charismatic responses in worship. I believe that what they were doing was genuine and sincere, but it was not corporate worship.
Relationships
One of the songs they sang, that I would never sing again, had the lyrics, “I don’t need anybody but Jesus.” That is true, of course, but again we are trying to promote corporate worship and this is discounting the relationships that people have in the body.
We get a lot of our theology from worship. I think we’ve sung about ourselves so much and we’ve talked about how we feel, that we have indoctrinated people into thinking that the corporate service is about ME. Instead of first being about Him and secondly about me. People act out what they believe. We have taught them, without realizing it, that they are the center of the worship. They are acting out the things we have practiced.
What to Sing About
We need to sing about the exploits of God. Sing about the gospel. Sing about the message. Sing the Word of God.
When you go through the Scriptures, there are so many songs that we can learn from. In Exodus 15, Moses sings about God being his strength, his song, his victory, his salvation. He sings of exalting Him and praising Him. He sings about God bringing down his enemies. That is corporate worship. That is proclaiming the message. Calling people to victory.
When we sing songs about how we feel, not everyone can sing that. Not everyone is feeling the same thing. When we sing songs about who God is and what He wants to do, anyone, no matter their spiritual understanding or what they are currently going through—can join in and sing. They can sing in faith. As the old saying goes, “I’m not going to let what’s wrong with me stop me from praising what’s right with Him!”
O magnifythe Lord with me!
Let us exalt His name together.
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
