O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!
My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honours of Thy name.

This morning as I sat at the piano for a short devotional time I picked up the hymn book and on turning a few pages in was once again drawn to read the following words of John Wesley as he lays out his Directions on Singing.

1. Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.
2. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.
3. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a single degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.
4. Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, then when you sung the songs of Satan.
5. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.
6. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
7. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.

All these directions are really helpful, yet personally for me Wesley’s pinnacle, point 7, greatly provokes and stirs me. I truly believe that as we raise our voices in this way, with “an eye to God in every word we sing” that not only will the other points follow more naturally and our sung offering have an all the more beautiful and authentic ring about it, but more importantly the unheard sound of our hearts will be swelled to a mighty crescendo of uncontainable praise that will bubble over into the realms of the visible and audible.

As the current Chapel gathered family we have the backdrop of such rich heritage, yet many of us are carrying in our hearts and even regularly now saying that “the best days are yet to come”…

Dare I say that although the past has seen Westminster Chapel known and defined, in many way rightly so, by its preaching, I believe that, by God’s grace, right now and on into the future are days of a more visible multi-faceted church emerging. And a key part of our church family’s expression and witness will be the beautiful facet of our corporate worship. I believe we will see a fresh wave of authentic songs and sounds being released as we give ourselves all the more to honour and worship God in spirit and truth. Furthermore, I believe as we give ourselves to singing spiritually that there will be a fresh spirit of worship released amongst us that will see ‘ceilings’ that have long restricted us, broken through for good as we enter new land, venturing ways we have not been before. Want to join me in being a people who increasingly sing spiritually?

How would you personally respond to the question that Bob posed to Mark Dever and then further extends to you?

“When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.”
1 Corinthians 14:26

In the run up to Christmas we often find that our diaries get booked out with parties. Like myself, I am sure when you are invited around to a friend’s house party you might ask “Is there anything I can bring?”, as you want to play your part in making the celebration one to be remembered.

I’m equally sure you’d recognise the usual responses to that question might include “No problem we have everything covered, just bring yourself!” or “Thanks for asking, could you possibly bring….(fill in the blank)”

Likewise, and as Paul exhorts the believers in 1 Cor 14:26, when we gather together each week for the corporate expression of our worship in response to the divine invitation to “Taste and see that the LORD is good” we each have something to bring, an important part to play. This cannot be separated from the very health and life of the church.

With this in mind, I want to stir you with three short thoughts that might help you to prepare to join in the corporate celebration each week and that I believe could see our times of corporate worship come all the more alive with the voice and “suddenly” of God.

Is there anything I can bring?

In the first place I would encourage us to start by always asking God what He wants us to bring. This in itself expresses our dependency upon God, that we are hungry for the life and ministry of the Holy Spirit in our midst and need Him to speak and communicate the very heart of God to save us ‘going through the motions’ of dead religion. You see, God is a speaking God and He is looking for those who are available to be used to express His love, to bless and build up the church family and further to communicate His truth and love to the hurting people of our city. On our part, this is about humbling ourselves, having a heart attitude of making ourselves available and being willing to be used as instruments of God’s grace. How exciting does that sound? Does that put a fresh view on coming to church on Sunday?

As you sincerely ask this question of God I know that you will certainly hear one if not both of the following responses:

Just bring yourself

I truly believe this short phrase is foundational to being authentic in our Christian worship. I believe God asks us always to “just bring yourself”. In that I mean not to come with a mask on, not to act as we think we should or other people might expect us to act. Not to leave our troubles, the realities of life at the door and enter a time of ‘unreality’ as a form of escapism. Rather, I believe God primarily asks that we live out our worship, including these corporate celebrations, in the reality of everything that is going on in our lives. He is seeking those who worship in Spirit and in truth, those who will praise him when all is bright and cheerful and also when there is ‘pain in the offering’, when the storms of life seem overwhelming.

It certainly can be a challenge to come as you are, ‘warts and all’, as it is easy to fear rejection or criticism. Yet if we come with open honest hearts then God can far more easily minister to us and even minister through us to others, often without us realising how. It is difficult to make yourself vulnerable before people, but if we do so the rewards will be great.

If we want to see more breakthrough in our corporate worship, more release of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, I would firstly encourage us to come ‘as we are’ before our God!

The important thing to remember is that even if God’s response is to ask you to bring a gift, it is always implied that you are coming as yourself!

Could you please bring…..

You might find in response to your question that God asks you to bring something for the building up of the church family. From 1 Corinthians 14:26 we find a list of gifts that are often exercised in corporate settings, and I would encourage you to be bold in seeking and asking God to give you gifts that will minister to the body. Further to this list He might ask you to do other things as we gather, maybe to look out for the stranger and make them feel welcome, to see a need and give in faith to meet that need, to bring a personal word of encouragement, to get alongside someone and to affirm them, even to give a warm smile and friendly hug!

So if God asks me to bring something what should I do? It is quite simple really, our part is to be faithful and bring whatever is asked of us, in the same way we would if asked by the hosts of a party.

The challenge to us here is not to limit what we could possibly bring. Maybe you are the person who would be completely fine with being asked to ‘bring a bottle’ but if asked to ‘bring a dessert’ would find yourself in a panic. Maybe you’d be concerned about people comparing your offering with the usual star dessert maker who never fails to create the most wonderful dishes for everyone’s enjoyment.

Is it the same for you with the bringing of spiritual gifts at church? Do thoughts such as ‘Who am I to bring this?’, ‘I can’t do that!’, ‘How will that be a blessing?’ run through your head? Well let me take this opportunity to encourage you that the pressure is off! If we come with love in our hearts and an attitude of true humility, being true to what God is asking us to bring, then we play our part and bring honour to God.

Of course we are all human and can make mistakes by bringing something corporately that is wrongly timed, that we have not fully heard or understood, or may just be way off the mark. However, my personal approach to this is that in the loving and safe environment of the church family, any such mistakes are ultimately an opportunity to learn.

Therefore, I would encourage you with all my heart to press on, and with a holy fear of God in your heart and with an ever increasing love for your brothers and sisters seek to make yourself available to be a channel of blessing to the church.

So let’s celebrate….

So from this time on let’s all be provoked to seek God for His gifts to bless and build up the church, making ourselves fully available and willing to act and share as directed. As we commit to love one another in this way, and in doing so honour God, He alone knows what could happen in our midst!

I invite you to join me as I briefly visit such a memory…

Authentic worship

Allow me to take you back some 20 years to a school hall in Faversham, Kent on a Sunday morning. I was aged around 10 and attending a church meeting with the rest of my family: a weekly event.

A good 100-150 people were joined together in raising their voices in singing praise to God and I was somewhat involved, usually when the tune caught my attention, but also somewhat distracted looking forward to getting out to play footie with my mates once the service had finished.

All of a sudden, I became aware of something that stopped me in my tracks, completely arrested my attention, and began to shake me to the very core, leaving me completely undone inside.

From what I remember, the church were singing a song about the cross and in one of my partly engaged glances around the room I became aware that my Father, in the row behind me, was on his knees with arms raised, stretched out to God with tears streaming down his face as he wept. He was obviously deeply moved.

As a young lad, this shook me! Here was my Daddy, my tower of strength, my hero; a man who to me had it all together; my giver of wisdom, my provider, my protector, suddenly here on his knees, humbling himself; visibly undone as he had something of a fresh encounter with the person of Jesus Christ at the foot of the cross.

Daddy becoming undone started to undo me. The undeniably real expression of worship that I was not only witnessing but being caught up in at that moment began to underline, highlight, ring around with a red pen, set in bold typeface, that all the things my parents were teaching me were more real and important than I had ever realised. I saw that this life of worship was more than just a matter of a salvation decision, rather something that, in the words of Issac Watts, “demands my soul, my life, my all.”

Although I know not the detail of what dealings God was having with my Dad that day, I know that I came in touch with authentic worship. That worship left an indelible mark on my life: it shook me, it undid me before God and has shaped me ever since.

Why do I share this personal memory with you?

I want to encourage you all that whether we are living out our faith and lives of worship at home, in the workplace, or as we gather together for corporate worship, that when we are authentic, there is always a release that comes to others. It begins to shake up those who have found themselves ‘going through the motions’ or who have not to this day encountered Christ.

If I may make a short appeal to our men and fathers, not that this does not apply to our precious women, but as writing I feel a strong burden for our men. As men, we have a responsibility and important part to play in setting the culture and environment of worship in our families and church family. Like me, I am sure that you long for your children, wives, girlfriends and wider family to encounter God in fresh and real ways.

We must each ask the question of ourselves: are we truly leading in authentic worship? When was the last time that we gave ourselves in full abandonment in worship to God?

Please understand me: I am not saying we should all be weeping or jumping around for joy all the time – after all we should not be measuring things on mere externals alone. I do, however, pose a serious question: are our lives lived out in authentic worship where we don’t switch on the limiting breaks of respectability and reservedness in our responses to God?

As we give ourselves fully in worship to God, not only will he undo us inside, but increasingly we will find that this bubbles up into external expression. We may find tears flowing and joy uncontainable welling up within us. This may well find its expression in dancing, the desire to shout aloud, the time to be completely still and quiet, the need to get on our knees or even our faces to lay prostrate before our awesome God.

I truly believe that as we give ourselves in the authentic worship of God in all aspects of our lives, that we will find not only our current church family shaken and shaped, but we will see a legacy of a white hot generation of authentic worshippers rise up from our midst. These worshippers will carry the gospel forward to see our nation and the nations won for Christ.

I believe this can flow from our personal heart response to God, starting right now!

Will you join me in being, by the grace of God, courageous to lay aside our cultural constraints and reservedness to live and model lives of authentic worship?