wG09: the heart of worship

back in august, i started posting stuff from the worshipGod09 conference, hosted by sovereign grace ministries. it was truly a blessing to be there, and my intention was, and now is, to share some of that with you. you can find the main sessions audio here. i would highly recommend listening to all of them. they were great fuel for my soul in worship while at the conference, and i pray the Spirit's fire will continue to use them to burn for the glory of Christ.

over the next few mondays, i'll be posting the rest of my notes for the sessions. i tried to keep them concise, both so i could pay more attention to the actual speaker (many of them *cough piper cough* were very animated) and so that i wouldn't have to pour over pages of notes to remember what God taught me there. anyway, here is session 2, the heart of worship, by john piper:

"
-John 17: Jesus' high priestly prayer. loving, in and by its focus on Christ's glroy (v. 1-5, 24)

-2 Cor. 4: satan blinds us from the glory of God in Christ. Jesus sets us free to see it. this is the gospel. (cf. "a divine and supernatural light" by jonathan edwards, and "God is the gospel" by john piper)

-Matt. 15:18 - "these people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me." beware of this, specifically in your own life.

-OT is full of commands and instructions on forms of worship. NY is stunningly silent.

-proskunew - main word for worship in LXX (greek OT), is only Gospels and Revelation, not in the Epistles. why? Christ isn't there. worship is focused on the heart.

***-worship of the heart = experience of satisfaction of all that God is for us in Christ.
->"i don't write as one who has arrived, but as one who is desperately hungry."
-->i have seen it, tasted it, and desire it (which means i don't already have it)

-(1) Phil. 1 - defense of "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."
->death half: if you are so satisfied in Jesus that losing all in death is gain, He is glorified.
->life half: cf. Phil. 3:7-8, satisfied enough to count all else as skubala. "you must pursue your joy. God threatens terrible things if you are not happy."
-->Phil. 2:14 "do all things without grumbling" because you are satisfied in Christ and count all things as loss (like piper's lost Bible).

"my understanding of preaching is music without the music." piper's gestures are equivalent to jumping in music

-(2) come to worship not to give, but to get from God. come empty desiring His fullness.
->a deer brings nothing to the stream it thirst for except its desire
->rose story (scroll to the highlighted part at the bottom)

-(3) worship is an ends, not a means to another end.
->[jwr: don't use worship to do things, do things in order to worship]
->wife, or supper? playing ball with son, or mowing grass? where's your desire?
-->other things improve with true worship, but worship isn't done in that hope [primarily]

-Rom. 12:1 - explained by Matt. 5:16 : outward life comes from inward heart.
->how is God the focus in good deeds? they are done out of rejoicing in Christ.


[note: Matt. 5:11 only makes sense if that kind of persecution for Christ's sake is a confirmation of our reward in Him.]
"

this message helped balance piper's first message, by showing how our pursuit of our joy in God was not detracting from being God-centered, but rather is necessary for God to be glorified in us. this has been very helpful for me in understanding the seeming tension between the two. it is more-or-less piper's foundation for his view of Christian hedonism.

i hope you are freshly affected by the grace and glory of God today, and that you may pursue your joy in Him with renewed vigor.

c.j. mahaney on cross-centered songs

during the worshipGod09 conference (which i was blessed to attend back in august), c.j. mahaney and bob kauflin had an interview session on what they've learned from leading a church in worship together for the past 30+ years. i highly recommend listening to that session.

one bit that particularly impacted me was one of the reasons sovereign grace has so many songs about the cross and the gospel. below is part of c.j.'s response.

"we must never leave the impression during corporate worship that we do not need a mediator. There isn’t a moment where I don’t need a mediator. In light of the Father’s holiness and my sinfulness, I cannot approach him directly apart from Christ. It is quite possible for us to sing songs that are accurately extolling the attributes of God. But if the cross is absent, we leave the unintended impression that somehow I can approach the Father apart from a mediator—that I can experience intimacy with God apart from the One who died for my many sins."

this idea has significantly changed how i think and pray. i hope you take the time to meditate on this, and that it blesses you as well.

the prodigal

as i posted before, the guys at sovereign grace music released their sons and daughters album at worshipGod09. the songs are awesome, being musically well-crafted, lyrically poetic, and theologically informed. last time, i posted on "completely done", which you can now download for free from their website.

today i want to highlight on of the songs on the album called "the prodigal", a music representation of Jesus' well-known parable in Luke 15. the lyrics are as follows:

"You held out Your arms, i walked away.
insolent, i spurned Your face,
squandering the gifts You gave to me,
holding close forbidden things.
destitute, a rebel still, a fool in all my pride.
the world i once enjoyed is dead to me
no joy, no hope, no life.

where now are the friends that i had bought?
gone with every penny lost.
what hope could there be for such as i,
sold out to a world of lies?
oh, to see Your face again. it seems so distant now.
could it be that You would take me back,
a servant in Your house?

You held out Your arms, i see them still,
You never left, You never will.
running to embrace me, now i know,
Your cords of love will always hold.
mercy's robe, a ring of grace, such favor undeserved.
You sing over me and celebrate,
the rebel, now Your child."

this particularly hit me today, in repenting for sin in my life and asking forgiveness. with us mere humans, if someone sins against you, you may indeed forgive them, but there is still a wound there, especially for deeper sins, and it still hurts. with the Father, there is no talk of "you know, that really hurt Me". no, there is singing and rejoicing, "for this, My son, was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." oh, what a gracious God we serve, family. may His grace and mercy be evident to you today.

wg09: the God of worship

so the main sessions from worshipGod09 are now online. i would highly recommend listening to all of them. they were great fuel for my soul in worship while at the conference, and i pray the Spirit's fire will continue to use them to burn for the glory of Christ.

over the next few days, i'll be posting my notes for the sessions. i tried to keep them concise, both so i could pay more attention to the actual speaker (many of them *cough piper cough* were very animated) and so that i wouldn't have to pour over pages of notes to remember what God taught me there. so, here is session 1, the God of worship, by john piper:

"
-mindset [jwr: heartset] of flesh (or secular mindset, sm) (on self, my rights and desires as starting point) vs. Biblical mindset (Bm) (on God, His rights and purposes as starting point)

-take time to contemplate on the absolute existance [jwr: aseity] of God: unconditional, independent, before and without all things

-"if you were able to embrace all the universe with benevolence, leaving God out of account, you would be infinitely parochial" ~jonathan edwards
->"galaxies are God's pinky-work" ~jp

-what's the riddle/big problem of the universe?
->sm: solve man's problems, preserve his rights
->Bm: display all the manifold wisdom of God
***-Rom. 3:25-26 -> unintelligible to sm. hard even for many Christians influenced by the world

-below justification and reconciliation, the God-centered cross displays and vindicates His righteousness in the face of forgiven sins
->the cross must be God-centered before and in order to be for our sake (cf. 2 Sam 12:12-13) God passes over sins - how is He then a just judge
-->[jwr: i am uriah's murderer]
->to be righteous, God's glory must be rightly valued
-worship flavor: no one has ever been wronged by God
->God's God-centeredness is love, because the only eternal happiness is a happiness focused on the glory of God in the face of Christ
"i don't play games in the pulpit...bash their ideas, and pursue them"

-the reason that the cross is folly to the world is that it's the end of self-exaltation, and the beginning of human exultation in God's exaltation.
"

this session greatly helped me understand why God's God-centeredness is not egomania and is, in fact, love. it pointed me back to the cross, the blazing center of God's glory, and the greatest display of His love for sinners. it was also a real treat to finally be able to sit under piper's teaching live. he is indeed a presence on stage. it was a great kick-off to a conference which i hope will bear much fruit for a long time to come.

completely done

among great things from the worshipGod09 conference, sovereign grace music released their new album, sons and daughters, which all the attendees received sheet music for. we sang several songs from the album at the conference, which convinced me to buy the album. after listening through it a few times, i would highly recommend buying the cd. anyway, here are the lyrics to one of the best songs on the album, "completely done". may God bless you guys.

"what reason have i to doubt,
why would i dwell in fear,
when all i have known is grace,
my future in Christ is clear?

my sins have been paid in full,
there's no condemnation here;
i live in the good of this,
my Father has brought me near.
i'm leaving my fears behind me now.

the old is gone, the new has come,
what You complete is completely done.
we're heirs with Christ, the victory won.
what You complete is completely done!

i don't know what lies ahead,
what if i fail again?
You are my confidence,
You'll keep me to the end.
i'm leaving my fears behind me now.

the old is gone, the new has come,
what You complete is completely done.
we're heirs with Christ, the victory won.
what You complete is completely done!"

WorshipGod09

So i was at the worshipgod09 conference last week. it was fantastic. i plan, over the next few days, to post much on it, from stories to song lyrics to notes from the sessions. but most important, most joyful of all is this:

Jesus met me there.