The Big Diehl

My worship team is a really weird group of people if you think about it. Some of them are tall, some of them short. Some of them wear their feelings on their cuff, others of them are content never saying an extra word. Some would like to express their worship by jumping up and down, others would prefer to quietly meditate. Each of them have different musical strengths and weaknesses. Each of them have a significantly contrasting emotional makeup. My first inclination is to see differences as a weakness because we all tend to think others should be like us. Every time I really ponder on how everyone on the worship team is so different from everyone else I can’t help but say out loud, “Yea, I’m pretty sure I serve with the best worship team in the world.” (That’s no joke, I say that nearly every weekend).

I’m glad my worship team has figured it out. I hope we always remember the importance of unity on a worship team. In 2 Chronicles 5:11-14 there is an example of how the Holy Spirit totally knocked the Believer’s socks off when the worship team was in complete unity.

The number one destroyer of worship is a dis-unified worship team. Staying unified takes more work, but if we don’t do it - we’re kind of like the Amazing Precision Marching Band. Check out this video

I get bothered when Christians are lazy. When they’re lazy and stupid its even worse.

Many Christians are big whiners - but they’re “Godly whiners.” They whine about wanting God’s presence, they whine about wanting a revival, they whine about not seeing God move in church or in lives.

Yet they do nothing. That’s where the stupid comes in.

Somehow we have come to the conclusion that the lack of a revival is God’s fault . . . “why must He tarry?” That makes me sick when I think about it. Jesus is coming back for a glorious bride, not a whore! The lack of spiritual renewal is YOUR FAULT, if you do nothing.

If we don’t pray, seek God, or worship Him with our lives - we will not find Him. Do Something.

I hate long blogs, but this is long for a reason. If you’re interested in volunteerism, church ministry, or worship programs (OR IF YOU’RE ON A WORSHIP TEAM) - you ought to read the whole thing. It’s long on purpose.

I found one church’s Music Ministry “Code of Honor Pledge.” Anyone who is involved in the music ministry must sign the pledge and be willing to be held accountable to it. I thought this was interesting and wanted to share it here.

I pledge to keep the commandment Jesus said was the first and greatest — to love the Lord my God with all my heart (being submitted to His Lordship) and with all my soul (my will, emotions, thoughts, affections, and desires) and with all my strength (physical expression of my worship) and to love my neighbor as myself.

I pledge to walk in integrity and in love. I will not lie; I will not steal; I will not curse; I will not be a talebearer or participate in gossip. I will walk in integrity with my financial commitments.

I pledge at all times to place moral and ethical restraints on my life. This would include keeping myself from all immoral and illegal acts and communications. I will not engage in or attempt to engage in any illicit, unscriptural sexual acts, which shall include sexual intercourse with one who is not my spouse through ceremonial marriage and any homosexual activity. I will not live with a person of the opposite sex who is not my spouse whether sexually involved with that person or not. I will not participate in or view pornographic materials.

I pledge that I will not engage in other behavior that is contrary to Biblical standards of Christian living not listed above. I will not participate in any form of gambling either for money or not for money. I will not take any illegal drugs or misuse any drugs. I will not drink alcoholic beverages of any kind; I will not use tobacco.

I pledge to maintain an integrity of “openness” to God’s claims on my life, to do my utmost to know and follow His will for my life, to grow in my spirit in developing my own relationship with God, and to maintain relationships of accountability.

I pledge to attend rehearsals and services as required of me and to willingly submit to the leadership and follow all requirements with a good attitude. I recognize that among other things, the following are required of me: to turn in a volunteer application and await approval of my application before beginning to participate in services and outreaches; to be at rehearsal each week if I plan to sing or play my instruments in services that week; to stay for the remainder of service after praise and worship; to follow the dress code given to me for services; to be faithfully involved in a music cell group; to arrive at the times appointed before services to participate in prayer and sound checks; etc. I will commit to being flexible and maintain an attitude of humility and willingness to serve to the best of my ability wherever I am needed within the Music Ministry.

Is this overkill? Are they being too specific? The answer to those questions aside — I think the more important question is “Why are they being so specific?”

I am “for” Expressive Worship. One of the greatest things about expressive worship is the emotion that often comes with it. Emotion is most certainly a way that we can worship God (see the scriptures listed in the post prior to this). We worship God with our emotions, but we do not worship God because of our emotions. That’s an important difference. We should worship God whether we feel like it or not. Sometimes in our Christian walks, we have “high spots.”

I think all Christians can relate to the high spots.

Some Christians go on a missions trip, have an amazing God-encounter, and then come home and within a few days or weeks everything is just like it was before the trip. What a waste.

The most common example is probably church camp. I recently heard one young man refer to it as a “camp high,” where you have a massive God-encounter at camp and come home and everything goes back to the way it was before. He came back from church camp excited because he did not experience a “camp high.” He said he did not want a “camp high” because there was just emotion attached to it. He is not alone. I’ve heard this attitude over and over again — people don’t want a “high spot” because it goes back to the way it was and is surrounded on emotions.

Every time I hear that I feel sick. Seriously — I just puked a little bit in my mouth. That’s stupid, folks.

The stupid thing is NOT the mountain top experience. We should strive to give God everything we have and to have mountain-top, emotion-filled experiences. Mountain-top, emotion-filled experiences are all throughout the Bible. If we read through it quickly without chewing on it, we fail to realize the emotion that occurred in some of the Bible stories. When the Ark of the Covenant came into Jerusalem, David danced naked — certainly that was a result of emotion! There are numerous examples of the disciples’ emotional responses after their encounters with Christ in the gospels. People that were healed got up and danced and shouted about how they were just healed. Kings ripped off their clothes and and covered themselves with ashes to be humble before God — certainly there was emotion there. They all worshiped with their emotions! We should seek God-encounters and embrace the emotions that may occur with it. That’s not stupid.

The stupid thing is that people let their life go back to the way it was before. What a complete waste! The examples in the Bible of people who had mountain-top experiences — those experiences changed their lives. We need mountain top experiences — its part of life. When you have a God-encounter take advantage of it. Maybe there is emotion involved . . . there probably is! Who gives a rip? It’s a God encounter! Are there seriously Christians who are so intellectual that they will avoid a God encounter if emotions are involved? That’s sad, but its true.

I realize some people are more emotional than others. The emotion “standard” is not “jump six times, raise hands for 10 minutes, and shout during the songs.” That mindset is exactly why “emotion” has a sour taste to many Christians. The emotion “standard” is that we each appropriately express what is on the inside of us. I am “for” Expressive Worship, even if it includes emotion. The line is crossed however, when the emotion becomes the worship. We worship God with our emotions.

I am “for” expressive worship. Yesterday I talked about how worship is our response to God. We respond with our expressions. Worship without an expression isn’t worship at all!

I think the key to expressing our worship is to simply express what it on the inside of us; responding to our savior. There are many ways to express our worship to God. Let me list a few of them:

Sacrifice. (Rom. 12:1-2, Heb. 13:15, 1 Pet. 2:5, Psm. 51:17).

With Our Spirit AND Mind. (1 Cor. 14:15-17)

With Our Emotions. (Ps. 47:1, Phil. 4:4, Ps. 46:10, Hab. 2:20)

With Physical Expressions. Kneeling or bowing in worship or reverence (Phil. 2:9-10, Micah 6:6-8). Lifting hands (Lam. 3:40-41; Ps. 63:3-4). Dancing with joy (Ps. 149:3). These are just a few descriptions –I do not believe there is a limit to them at all. However it may be interesting to note the emotion that is involved with nearly every physical expression.

With Our Lives. “If you are not a private worshipper, you will not likely be a public worshipper. You may go to church, and go through all the motions. But you will not likely really worship. Trying to worship publicly, not having worshipped privately, is like the dry heaves: You are trying to bring up something you don’t have in you.” - Paul Faulkner.

The most important expression we can give to God should be seen by the way we live our lives. Let your life be an expression of worship. Worship cannot exist without an expression.

I’m not focused on what I’m against. I am for Expressive Worship.

Tomorrow I will make a post specifically about the “emotion” expression. I’m dedicating a post specifically to the “emotion” expression because I think its often misunderstood and misconstrued. I’ve been working on it for months, literally (so please read the whole thing!). I’m pumped!

I am “for” expressive worship. Seeing as I’m a worship pastor and this is at the core of my daily focus, I thought it would be alright if I do a few blog posts on the 8th thing that I am “for.” This is the first of three parts.

Worship is a relationship that takes place between us and God. Who is the instigator of this relationship?

John 4:23 says that God is seeking out worshipers. God is seeking us! Humans instinctively find some object of full spiritual devotion. At the point where the sought (that’s us) realize the unmatched worth of the seeker, combustion (our worship) will occur.

Because of this I believe that God starts the worship relationship. Worship is our response to God. Has God done anything at all for you? Does God mean anything to you? If he does, then respond to Him!

For you intellectuals out there, this “response” model can be seen all throughout the Psalms. I call it the “Why-How” model. Take Psalms 100 for example. The first four verses describe a response to the attributes of God in verse 5.

This isn’t about what I’m against — I am for Expressive Worship.

Let me share with you a few of my favorite song lyrics from an Aaron Jeoffrey song called “Leave a Legacy”:
“I want to leave a legacy
of a servant who believed
that the world could be changed by just one life.
I want to leave a legacy –
for years from now they’ll see
that I lived only for the cause of Christ.”

For years I’ve been inspired by this challenge. For several years I have lived my life so that when I died, people would remember me and my testimony for Christ. I wanted to live my life so loudly for Christ that my testimony changed lives even after mine was over.

I’m ready to step it up a notch.

When I leave this earth, what do I want to be remembered for? Nothing. I don’t want to be remembered on earth at all.

I want to leave my legacy in Hell!

If there is a man struggling with sinful bondage and I walk into the same room as him, I want the demons to fear what I might ask God to do.

When I sit behind a piano and worship, I want the devil to run.

When I get on my knees, I want there to be red alerts in Hell. I want them to reinforce the gate because of me.

I want to live so that when I leave this earth, Hell remembers me.

Don’t be a wuss. Kill the devil.

Total Devotion.
You’ve got control.
I’ve emptied out my heart, so you can make me whole.

A few days ago I was eating dinner at my house and those words sorta popped out of my mouth in a song. That’s all the song was - but I love the third line so much. Think about it.

We want to be complete. We want restored relationships, forgiveness, acceptance, approval, love, etc. etc. Because we’re looking for a blessing from God (which isn’t bad), we hang onto our pride. Before God can make us whole, we have to release everything. That seems like an oxymoron, eh? You lose something before you get what you want.

I can remember several times having drank a cup of milk, and then filling it up with ice water. It doesn’t matter how much of the milk I had drank — if I didn’t rinse the cup before putting in the water then my water would taste funky. It just doesn’t work. Before God can restore what’s messed up — we’ve got to be broken — we’ve got to be willing to allow God to mess us up inside.

Wow. This band is incredible. Michael W. Smith says they are the best thing he’s heard in a long long time. I agree with him. Check out their myspace and listen to their stuff — it’s awesome. Especially “Carried to the Table.” That one is really moving, at least for me.

“Worship is the humbling of self and exaltation of God.” - Ross Parsley