Worship
by Todd Tunnell
What a privilege to come together and all enter His presence corporately. I have the privilege of leading our praise and worship time, most of the time. What an honor it is. I want to spend some time in this piece discussing our worship time.
First, let me say that corporate worship contains a time of praise and adoration to God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ (Acts 2:47). His people have always praised. He inhabits the praise of his people (Psalm 22:3). During this time we are both individually and corporately lifting up our hearts, thoughts, worries and praises to the Godhead. Some of the songs we sing are reflective and focus on our walk and work and life in Jesus. Some songs we sing are focused on Him personally and are prayer-like. I try, as the leader to blend these two types of songs into the assembly time because I believe we need both.
Second, let me say that our corporate worship is for the building up of one another (Hebrews 10:25). The assembly time is family time. This is God’s children all coming together to love on one another, check on one another in fellowship and unity. There is a Biblical emphasis on the horizontal nature of our assembly, one worshiper to another.
I think we can gather from these two thoughts that our worship time is not consumer time. The mindset of “what do I get out of worship?” is not a faithful mindset, but a selfish and inward mindset. A faithful mindset says, “How might I praise my God today?” “How may I encourage my brothers and sisters today?” How might I sacrifice to support someone else and the Lord’s cause today?”
I look forward to our next time together!
In love, Todd
First, let me say that corporate worship contains a time of praise and adoration to God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ (Acts 2:47). His people have always praised. He inhabits the praise of his people (Psalm 22:3). During this time we are both individually and corporately lifting up our hearts, thoughts, worries and praises to the Godhead. Some of the songs we sing are reflective and focus on our walk and work and life in Jesus. Some songs we sing are focused on Him personally and are prayer-like. I try, as the leader to blend these two types of songs into the assembly time because I believe we need both.
Second, let me say that our corporate worship is for the building up of one another (Hebrews 10:25). The assembly time is family time. This is God’s children all coming together to love on one another, check on one another in fellowship and unity. There is a Biblical emphasis on the horizontal nature of our assembly, one worshiper to another.
I think we can gather from these two thoughts that our worship time is not consumer time. The mindset of “what do I get out of worship?” is not a faithful mindset, but a selfish and inward mindset. A faithful mindset says, “How might I praise my God today?” “How may I encourage my brothers and sisters today?” How might I sacrifice to support someone else and the Lord’s cause today?”
I look forward to our next time together!
In love, Todd
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Great post and reminder Todd. I appreciate your thoughts towards worship. Your second point of very countercultural, which I agree with completely. We live in a society where we are tempted to asked ourselves in every occasion, how this may benefit us. We base our schedules and life choices on this question.
But as Kingdom citizens we are to not submit to cultural norms but live with Kingdom hearts and eyes. This applies to how we view our time of worship and participation within our church family. I am so thankful you are at Friendship and are willing to lead us into worship. It’s a blessing to our church family! Thank you.