Loves of a Lead Worshipper—Five Foundations
By Fred J. Heumann
Loves of a Lead Worshipper—Five Foundations
When Jesus was asked what was the “greatest commandment” of all, he replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30) That sums up all that we are called to be as believers in Jesus, and the primary focus of our lives. That why we’re here. As worship leaders, we’re called to assist others in that pursuit. Our own worship life doesn’t always reflect that. We‘ve got to get our “loves straight” in order to get our lives straight to be able to motivate and encourage others in expressing their love to God. We’re called not just to direct worship, but to model it as “lead worshippers.”
Let me suggest five foundational loves that should line up to make us effective in our ministry of worship to the Lord. (We’ll take up one this time; the other four we’ll cover in the following installments.)
KNOW THAT YOU’RE LOVED
1 John 4:19 tells us that “we love because He first loved us.” We are able to love Him and then others because of the love we have been shown. A. W. Tozer said, “We rise or fall with our concept of God.” Do you really understand who it is that loves you and the depth of that love? Most of us don’t.
You need to see Him for who He is, see yourself for who you really are, and then see yourself the way He sees you. You need to understand the truth, and then experience the reality.
See Him for who He is…
Our concept of who God is has been shaped more by movies and popular culture than how He has revealed Himself in His Word. Sometimes we project that God is just like our earthly father, whether good or bad. Or worse, we see God as having a split personality—cruel and judgmental in the Old Testament, sending lightning bolts whenever anyone stepped out of line; and as “gentle Jesus, meek and mild” in the New Testament, carrying lambs and hugging children. Both are distortions of the truth.
How has God revealed Himself? When He promised He would reveal His name (the essence of who He is), his character to Moses in Exodus 34:6,7, here’s what He said:
“And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."
The mention of justice is very important, but it almost comes across as an afterthought, doesn’t it? It’s really an extension of his grace and compassion. God could have said it any way He chose, and this how He did it.
How did Moses respond? “Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshipped.” (v. 8) (Wouldn’t you? The mighty God of the universe shows Himself to be totally unlike the “non-gods” of the surrounding tribes, and unlike what you had assumed…incredible!)
Moses reminded the Lord of this later when He was ready to judge Israel for lack of faith in Numbers 14! (v. 18) King Hezekiah used this to call the people to repentance and restoring the remembrance of Passover (2 Chr. 30:9); Ezra the priest recounted it in the dedication of the people in Jerusalem after the walls were rebuilt (Neh. 9:7); the Psalmists repeat it four times (Ps. 86:15; 103:8-13; 116:5; 145:8); and the prophet Joel calls the people to “rend their hearts and not their garments” and return to this gracious and compassionate God (Joel 2:13).
But the most telling of these accounts is found in the book of Jonah. He was called to bring a message of judgement to the city of Nineveh, but refused to go. We all know his experience of undersea travel in the underbelly as a result, and eventually he obeyed, begrudgingly. He was very angry when the people responded and actually repented! In Jonah 4:2, he explains his reason to the Lord for not wanting to go in the first place:
“He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”
Can you believe it?!
Do you think God was trying to communicate something through all this? As a friend of mine says, “God doesn’t stutter!’ But He does repeat Himself so we get the picture. He has also said, “I the LORD do not change.” (Mal. 3:6)
This is the God we serve—the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. He says so. How awesome!
See yourself for the way you are…
What about us? We are sinful and separated from this God, and in need of a Savior. We go our own way, which makes us the “living dead” as we walk the earth, and the eternally dead thereafter. But God’s love provided a Savior, a way we could see our sin dealt with by Jesus on the cross, and a way to new life by His resurrection. We are truly sinners saved by grace when we trust Him. That is a most powerful motivation to gratitude and celebration!
See yourself as He sees you…
As if being rescued by Jesus’ death and rising from the dead wasn’t enough motivation to worship, catch a glimpse of how God views you now—the passion and the intensity of the love that He is. You are valuable to Him; He gave His Son for you.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3)
“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)
The Song of Solomon also portrays beautifully a picture of this love—the love of God for his Bride, the Church. That’s us! In the book of Hosea, God has Hosea marry a prostitute and commands him to be faithful to her no matter what as a picture of His faithfulness and unchanging love for his wayward people. Amazing.
God delights in you, He sings over you; His love is everlasting. He is faithful even when we are unfaithful. It has everything to do with God, and nothing to do with you. Believe it.
Experience the reality
It’s one thing to hear these words; it’s often another to really know it in experience. “But I don’t feel loved, “ I hear you say. Others will say, “Take it on faith. You don’t get feelings.” I believe that God wants us to experience it by faith, to really “know” it. We feel so unworthy, and often revert to trying to earn the love of God by performance. When we’re measuring up, we feel love; if we fall short, we don’t feel love. The truth is we won’t ever measure up; we can’t. That’s grace.
Jesus knew the love of God based on who he was not how he performed. He spent the majority of his earthly life outside the public eye; his public ministry lasted only about three years. That’s the record we have in the Gospels. Yet before he launched into any sermons, chose any disciples, dealt with any Pharisees, healed any lepers or made any blind eyes see, he experienced the Father’s love. At his baptism by his cousin John, he heard the most affirming words of love any of us could. The heavens opened, and the Father spoke audibly to all those present: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22)
What a way to start out! The Father’s love is not dependent on our performance; it’s dependent on who He is.
Take some time away to spend with the Lord—you need to hear Him say the same thing over you, the proud Father saying to all those assembled, “This is my beloved son (or daughter) in whom I am well pleased.” You can’t earn that; He gives it to you freely! That was Jesus’ foundation for ministry, and it needs to be yours.
Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” (John 15:9) That love is yours. All you need do is accept it. That will inspire worship!
God wants you to really know this, not just be aware of it. Paul talked about this clearly in his letter to the believers at Ephesus. He prayed that they would really know the love of God. Hear it in the Amplified Bible, which gives us more of the full meaning of the original language:
“May you be rooted in love and founded securely on love, that you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints (God’s devoted people, the experience of that love) what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it>; [that you may really come> to know—practically, through experience for yourselves—the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge (without experience)…”
Ephesians 3:17-19 (Amplified)
I pray with Paul that you will know the love that surpasses mere knowledge without experience. Let God do this work in your heart. He wants to.
“May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.” 2 Thessalonians 3:5
(Coming, the last four foundational “loves”—about the Church, your team, your music and God’s glory!)
Fred J. Heumann
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