Ministry and identity, our humanity, Jehovah Witnesses, iPads and debt…. just a few items that caught my attention.

Your Ministry Is Not Your Identity – A first of two posts by Paul Tripp over at the Gospel Coalition on how pastors confuse their identity with their ministry.  This issue is more of a problem than realized.

We Are Not God – Tim Chailles quotes and talks about a John Piper meditation.

Pop Quiz:  A Practical Example Showing Why Doctrine is Important – I believe the majority of American Christians are ignorant of doctrine.  See if you can debunk these JW talking points on placing doubt on the deity of Christ.

Never Be An Early Adopter - Reasons as to why one ought to wait when purchasing cutting edge electronics.

Recession added debt, drained families’ savings – USA Today article on a U of M study.  Just a reminder of the importance of a financial plan.

More on the same-sex marriage conversation:

Evolution’s End? President Obama Calls for Same-Sex Marriage – Al Mohler’s thoughts on President Obama’s evolution of his decision on same-sex marriage.

North Carolina, Biden and Same-Sex Marriage – More on this topic from Ryan Anderson at the National Review Online.

A Proposed Compromise on the Same-Sex Marriage Debate – Justin Taylor reports on a compromise on this debate.

This is what has caught my eye: election results, working smarter and “The Avengers”

Reading the Tea Leaves – Doug Wilson over at Blog and Mablog gives us his $.02 following last night’s election results.

How to Work Smarter, Not Harder – An info graphic displaying some pointers in efficiency at work.

Maybe Everyone Who Bought a Ticket to “The Avengers” Deep Down Really Wants to Meet Jesus? – Love him or hate, Mark Driscoll has a knack in getting our attention.  Here is a cleaver little post.  (No, I have not seen the movie, but considering it.)

A Savage Attack – Eric Metasxas on the hypocrisy of bullying and redefining of terms.

For the past several weeks, I have been engaged in several discussions over at LinkedIn on the worship “wars” and the relevance of inter-generational worship.  We live in a day where we have more choices of indulgences than we can possibly keep track.  The same can be said for worship gatherings at local churches in which one can find multiple worship “venues” or “experiences” to appeal to the taste of the individual worshiper.

The problem I find is not that of musical style or genre, but when we place so much emphasis on the externals, we neglect the internal:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ~ Colossians 3:16 (ESV)

The one thing that is central in our teaching, singing and thankfulness is the “word of Christ.”  Paul’s intentional use of the Greek (enoikeó), translated here as “dwell”, emphasizes that the Word is to “be at home” or to take up residence in the life of the believer.  Not just to move in, but to do it “richly” (plousios).  Simply put, the truths of Scripture need to saturate the life of the believer in a way that it controls every thought, action and spoken word.  This dwelling takes place in the inner person, or the “heart”, which is the control center of one’s entire being.

What matters to God in the ones who are worshiping Him is the condition of the inner person, or as we often put it, the heart.  Jesus harshly condemned the religious crowd by quoting the prophet Isaiah:

    “‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
(Matthew 15:8-9 ESV)

 

Worship in which one’s heart is not consistent with Scripture is just done in vain.  That was the case with the Pharisees who were more concerned with their traditions.  The same can be said of our styles, venues and experience.  When these things begin to overshadow what matters most to God, an obedient and submissive heart, then our worship is in vain.  Worship in itself becomes the object instead of God (John 4: 23, 24).

Next time, I will continue with this thought as I specifically address the role of the Word in our public singing.