More than a Song

To be with God is greater than we can possibly imagine. Is that it? Is that flippant sentence all that I can say? No my friends. I, along with many other brothers and sisters, went to see a concert last night. I went in feeling normal. Feeling drained of spiritual energy from lack of time spent with the Lord, feeling down on myself for failing in certain areas of my life because I was not letting God's grace flow over me. Feeling strangely numb to all that, my heart hard and calloused by a life not living with God continuously, being fed scraps of food on weds. and sundays. God definitely had plans for that night. I am not going to say that it was a concert, meaning musicians and instruments put together in song, that changed my heart. Rather it was the God who is the source of all change that challenged me in new ways.

It started off with a guy name Shaun. This man said the words that I had also been feeling for the past 9 months. Worship is not singing. Worship is not music. We cannot worship God with singing alone. The struggle I have had with worship started when I came to Jam. This struggle was more within myself than from any of the kids. I asked a question to the kids one knight after feeling desperate for some type of emotion from the "worship". "What is worship?" And as I asked that I realized that I had no answer myself. What is worship to the God almighty? What does that look like. Time and time again I kept coming back to the verse Romans 12:1-2, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any long to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." I kept being drawn back to that verse. Worship is sacrifice. It was so hard for me to call the time we had as a group worship because I knew it wasn't. Not that I'm saying that Jam shouldn't have a time of singing but that time was and is not a time of worship. Unfortunately I don't think that it is only Jam and I that has a problem. One powerful thing that Shaun Groves said last night was that when people were asked to set up, they could barely find 12, but when it was time to sing the place was sold out. At church for our 4th anniversary, we had about 12 people to set up but when church started the place had about 1000 people in it. Now I know that all those people couldn't have helped if they wanted to but why didn't they want to? Why did only about 2% of the church volunteer? Worship is sacrifice and the best way to sacrifice is to serve. Read Dan's blog for more on the service aspect. But my thing is that we as American Christians think we can come and sing and get our worship dosage for the day! I do the same thing! I equate worship with the time that is spent in church and at Jam. The time spent singing is the time spent worshiping. How messed up is that? Worship is not an event it is an attitude. I would think singing is the least important part of the big worship picture. God is so much bigger than a song. The church in America is in trouble! We are 5 minute Christians. 5 minutes in the morning, 5 minutes per song and 5 minutes in prayer! What happened to spending time with God?

Singing is a time where we can come and express to God how great He is corporately in a way that couldn't be done during the week. It is the culmination of a week's worth of worship, not a time for worship. We need to stop compartmentalizing our lives. I'll leave you with this song by Ross King, think about the words and what they mean for us as a church.

Clear The Stage
Ross King

Clear the stage and set the sound and lights ablaze
If that's the measure that it takes to crush the idols.
Chuck the pews and all the decorations too
Until the congregations few then have revival.
Tell your friends that this is where the party ends
until you're broken for your sins you can't be social.
Then seek the Lord and wait for what he has in store
and know that great is your reward and just be hopeful

Cause you can sing all you want to.
Yes you can sing all you want to
you can sing all you want to
And don't get me wrong, worship is more than a song.

Take a break from all the plans that you made
And sit at home alone and wait for God to whisper.
Beg Him please to open up his mouth and speak
And pray for real upon your knees until they blister.
Shine the light on every corner of your life
Until the pride and lust and lies are in the open.
Then read the word and put to test the things you've heard
Until your heart and soul are stirred and rocked and broken.

Cause you can sing all you want to.
Yes you can sing all you want to
you can sing all you want to
And don't get me wrong, worship is more than a song.

Anything I put before my God is an idol.
Anything I want with all my heart is an idol.
Anything I can't stop thinking of is an idol.
Anything that I give all my love is an idol.
We must not worship something that's not even worth it.
Clear the stage and make some space for the one who deserves it.

Cause I can sing all I want to.
Yes I can sing all I want to
I can sing all I want to
And still get it wrong, worship is more than a song.

And you can sing all you want to.
Yes you can sing all you want to
You can sing all you want to
But don't get me wrong, worship is more than a song.