Attitude Check? Praise the Lord.

Psalm 150

Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven! Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness! Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp! Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals. Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!

As an assistant youth pastor, one of my favorite parts (if not the favorite part) of my job is leading worship. We have a youth worship service every Sunday morning, do a short worship set before Wednesday night small groups, and tend to salt and pepper all of our events with worship whenever possible.

As much as I love leading people in worship, it can be physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding; and sometimes, I just don't feel up to it. But, over the years, I've found that I can respond to my lack of feeling in one of two ways. I can say, to myself, either:

A. "I don't feel like leading worship, but I'll push on and do my best."

or

B. "I don't feel like leading worship, so I can have even more confidence that God is the one leading worship."

It is incredibly humbling to see the vast difference that my team and I experience when I choose B instead of A.

Have you let God work through you this week, or have you tried to do it on your own?

Joy: A Call to Worship

Matthew 2:9-11

After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

As we look at the first of four passages emphasizing the characteristics of "joy" that should be evident in Christ-followers, there is one question that I want to ask about it: "How does joy display itself here, or how is joy embodied?"

It appears to me that the by-product of joy (Greek: 'chara') that the wise men experience is worship. But, it is not just worship that the wise men experience, it is a specific type of worship, a worship that costs us something.

I can say, that as a church staff member, I get to witness many of my coworkers worship in this way. For many staff members, it is clear that their vocation is an extension of their worship and it is evident how God blesses the time and comforts that they give up to serve Him in their jobs.

Is that a type of worship that you experience or witness regularly?

The Mouths of Babes

Matthew 21:12-15

Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.' " The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.


Perhaps one of the more famous stories regarding Jesus is the story of him clearing out the moneychangers in the temple. This story is one of my personal favorites. Why? Well, I believe that the vast majority of people that make a habit of sitting in a pew on Sunday morning would call this angry Jewish man a sinner if they did not already know that it was Jesus.

This story serves many purposes, but one is to show us that, as followers of Christ, there is such a thing as righteous anger. Also, this story turns the church's policy of saving face on its ear.

For me, this week, there is a more important element to this story. As we read the story, we see that Jesus, the Christ, completely unleashes on the moneychangers and essentially mops the floor with them. However, the scripture says that it was not until the religious teachers (read: hypocrites) saw the children praising His name that they became indignant.

This is just one story that illustrates the power of children's praise. As I watch the children of Cokesbury praise their God, I can't help but think how depressed Satan must be that another generation of God's children are fearless in praise and constant in prayer.

I have been truly awed.

The World's Greatest

Matthew 18:1-6

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.


Typically, I have the opportunity to lead youth in worship twice a week. However, this week, I have been leading our Vacation Bible School's worship sessions. If anything has struck me, it is the intense humbleness of children.

Children do not care how they sound when they worship; their worship is a worship that originates in their hearts and not in their mouths. When we lead youth services, we keep our amps in a closet at a reasonable volume. At VBS, we have our amps on stage and we keeping finding ourselves reaching for the volume knobs as the children's worship is dwarfing the sound coming from our amps.

I am truly honored to be taught by children.

Faith Like A Child

Matthew 11:25-30

At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.


In this passage, Jesus speaks of the idea that children could have access to more knowledge than their older, wiser counterparts. For us today, and even more so for Jesus' original audience, this seems a bit absurd.

However, tonight, I have witnessed this very thing. This year, 'Find The 01' has the privilege of leading worship for Cokesbury's VBS. It was evident from the stage that the children in the congregation knew something that our youth and adults seem to have forgotten: the simple fact that God loves us and gave up his son for us.

Worshiping with the children tonight took me back to seven years ago when I was first cutting my teeth in worship ministry by leading children's worship once a week. I believe that the blessing of leading those children gave me a clearer picture of what child-like faith truly is; and that God-given faith is what has carried me to the place that I am now.

Thank God for his children and for the truth that they know.