The Unquenchable Worshipper is written by Matt Redman, author of the song “The Heart Of Worship.” By posting about it, I’m not only sharing it with you but it gives me an opportunity to really digest it and think about it.
Chapter Six - “The Unstoppable Worshipper”
In this chapter, Matt Redman gives some great examples of “unstoppable worshippers.” Here’s a sampling:
- Charles Wesley: In 1744, while holding a prayer meeting in an upstairs room, the floor gave way and 100 people crashed to the room below. Wesley’s response – he starts singing the Doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”
- David: When he defeated Goliath and when his family hated him for God’s sake.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Hanged for taking a stand against Hitler and the Nazi party, he left his cell saying, “This is the end – but for me, the beginning of life.”
- Paul: In prison for the sake of Christ, he prayed for more boldness in evangelism.
- Rachel Scott: Asked by the Columbine High School Shooters if she believed in God, her response was, “You know I do.” She was shot through the head.
- Stephen: who continued to preach as he was being stoned.
- And of course Jesus: Redman points out the likelihood that He and the disciples probably sang Psalm 136 after the last supper just prior to Jesus’ arrest. The Psalm repeats the phrase “His love endures forever” 26 times.
The real point of this chapter, however, is to contrast these amazing stories of boldness with our lack of boldness generally in worship. Redman tells a story from his youth, and I could tell several of my own. We are so worried about being labeled Jesus Freaks that our worship is stopped or stunted. According to Redman:
”Unstoppable worshippers are adventurous hearts, taking every opportunity to demonstrate the good news of God to this world.”
April 15th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
What I'm Reading, Worship |
no comments
The Unquenchable Worshipper is written by Matt Redman, author of the song “The Heart Of Worship.” By posting about it, I’m not only sharing it with you but it gives me an opportunity to really digest it and think about it.
Chapter Five - “The Unveiled Worshipper”
In Exodus, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai after a close encounter with God, his faced glowed such that the people could not look at him, so Moses would wear a veil. However, when it came time to talk with God again, the veil would come off.
Redman points out that this shows the deep revelation of God and how it changes those who experience it. “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
The main thrust of this chapter is in discussing the two “sides” of God – the awesome power and glory and majesty of God and the intimacy he calls us to and sent his Son to die on the cross to allow. “Far from competing with each other,” Redman says,
“intimacy and reverence actually go hand in hand. The Bible tells us that ‘the friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him.’ (Psalm 25:14) When the fear of the Lord meets the friendship, that’s when this mystery really kicks in. How can it be that the eternal God would beckon someone like me into His everlasting arms?”
Redman suggests some things about our worship that should change with this new perspective. Our eyes should be fixed firmly on Jesus instead of on how we are doing and what we have gained. We should prepare our hearts for the encounter with Almighty God as one would take the time to dress for a formal occasion, and finally, we should remember that there are times to reflect on who He is and bow down in worship or stand in awe of God.
Good quote at the end to sum it up:
“In an age of informality and irreverence, true unveiled worshippers recognize the ‘otherness’ of God and treasure the call to intimacy with Him. Transfixed by His glory and transformed in His presence, we become ever more like Him.”
April 11th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
What I'm Reading, Worship |
no comments
The Unquenchable Worshipper is written by Matt Redman, author of the song “The Heart Of Worship.” By posting about it, I’m not only sharing it with you but it gives me an opportunity to really digest it and think about it.
Chapter Four - “The Unpredictable Worshipper”
Drawing from the story in Mark 14 of the woman who anointed Jesus with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume at Simon’s house, Redman indicates that the woman was an unpredictable, untamed heart on a quest to see Jesus glorified. He makes the point that there should always be something fresh and surprising in our worship. Sharing a story of his own experience leading worship on one occasion, Redman says nothing seemed to be clicking when suddenly a secular song with a positive message popped into his head and he decided to play it. It turned out that this particular song spoke specifically to the circumstances of one particular person that night.
Redman is careful to point out that there has to be a balance between unpredictability and the desire to make sure that worshippers can keep up with what is going on. One helpful phrase he uses is to replace the idea of “worship leader” with “lead worshippers.” In the sense that the Holy Spirit is ultimately the worship leader (see Philippians 3:3), the human worship leader then “becomes more of a lead worshipper who tries to follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit and throw himself or herself wholeheartedly into worship as an example for others to follow.”
I think the main point I take from this chapter as a worship leader is to make sure that our worship service doesn’t fall into the rut of doing the same things in the same order each week. In planning a service, I should always be open to doing things slightly differently or adding new things once in a while to keep the service fresh. In addition, I should be flexible enough to go with the flow of what I am feeling at the time – I’ve certainly seen things happen in worship that were not planned and were obviously the work of the Holy Spirit.
Here’s my favorite quote from the chapter:
“A relationship with the living God shouldn’t just fade away or wear out like an old pair of shoes. It’s meant to be new every morning, just like the mercy it responds to.”
April 10th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
What I'm Reading, Worship |
no comments
The Unquenchable Worshipper is written by Matt Redman, author of the song “The Heart Of Worship.” By posting about it, I’m not only sharing it with you but it gives me an opportunity to really digest it and think about it.
Chapter Three - “The Undignified Worshipper”
The inspiration for this chapter stems from David’s life where the Ark of the Lord was being brought back to Jerusalem and David says, “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.” (2 Samuel 6:21, 22)
Here’s a quote from the beginning of the chapter:
“Here was a man of great stature (David) . . . Yet he led the way, ‘losing’ himself so publicly in his worship of God and so on fire with praise that it burned right through any inhibitions or pride. True worship always forgets itself.”
At the end of the chapter, Redman gives the warning that our undignified worship can not be about putting on a show. It must instead be an overflow of the abundance of love in our heart for God. This is important for me to remember as a worship leader, and the hardest to continue to do – point people to God without taking any of the attention for myself.
This is a chapter that is most foreign to my church upbringing. Worship for me was always done in a set order with little or no show of emotion (good or bad) even during the singing of hymns. Worship was …. serious. And this may not be an altogether bad thing. Worship can certainly go too far the other way and become a show meant for entertainment rather than an encounter with God. But I have always wondered why I can get so excited or emotional over a ballgame, but suppressed those emotions when they were in response to something much more important. And I must say, I have been very undignified during a ballgame many, many times. A little less there, a little more at church – I’m working on it.
One illustration Redman uses is the hymn “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing” by Charles Wesley. Here’s his quote from the book:
“When I first heard this hymn, I thought to myself, a thousand people singing to God isn’t that impressive. After all, we’ve probably been in meetings bigger than that. But then I discovered what Wesley was really imagining. He was picturing himself having a thousand tongues! He was saying, “I wish I had a thousand tongues, because if I did, I’d praise God with every single one of them.” In one sense utter foolishness, yet a beautiful picture of extreme worship.”
April 9th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Uncategorized, What I'm Reading, Worship |
no comments
The Unquenchable Worshipper is written by Matt Redman, author of the song “The Heart Of Worship.” By posting about it, I’m not only sharing it with you but it gives me an opportunity to really digest it and think about it.
Chapter Two - “The Undone Worshipper”
The inspiration from this chapter comes from Isaiah 6:1-5, where the prophet encounters the Lord Almighty, and in seeing himself in the light of God’s holiness exclaims, “Woe is me, for I am undone!”
Here’s a quote from the book:
“Of course, there’s a time in worship to be joyful, content, and even comfortable. But there also comes a time when God will make us distinctly uncomfortable. He puts us under the spotlight of His holiness, where we begin to search our hearts ever more closely.”
Redman makes the points that this worship attitude is a way of God refining us or disciplining us and that it is often quickly followed by the tenderness of God. He also recounts a story of his own life experience with a medical condition that God used to teach him humility as well as center him on what is really important.
For me, this is where worship really starts. I think it is fitting that this is the second chapter of the book, because until you have reached this “undone” place where you have allowed God to shine his light of holiness on your life and seen yourself from His perspective, true worship is impossible. When we see our sin vs. God’s holiness and then we see what God was willing to do for us anyway, how can we keep from singing his praise (as the song goes)?
Unfortunately, it seems many people either have never come to that place or have been away for so long that it is just a distant memory. These are the folks who think the preacher is preaching to someone else, who are obsessed with criticizing what someone else is doing, and then wonder why they don’t really know what an encounter with God feels like.
We must be undone worshippers.
April 3rd, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
What I'm Reading, Worship |
no comments
Due to an equipment malfunction yesterday, we were unable to record Pastor Charles’ sermon for upload here today. Instead, I’ve decided to let you share in a book that I’m currently reading. It’s written by Matt Redman, who is well known in Christian music circles for writing the song “The Heart of Worship.” Worship has become an interesting term for me in the past couple of years as we’ve started a new contemporary worship service at Glenwood. Having grown up attending “traditional” worship all my life, being exposed to a contemporary service has caused me to really consider what worship is all about. What does it mean to worship? Am I a “good” worshipper? When and how do I worship?
Chapter one of The Unquenchable Worshipper is entitled “The Unquenchable Worshipper.” Here’s a quote from the beginning of the chapter:
“But the unquenchable worshipper is different. From a heart so amazed by God and His wonders burns a love that will not be extinguished. It survives any situation and lives through any circumstance. It will not allow itself to be quenched, for that would heap insult on the love it lives in response to.”
Redman points out two biblical examples of unquenchable worshippers, Habakkuk in Habakkuk 3:17-18 and probably the best-known example, Paul and Silas in jail in Acts 16. He then uses fire as a metaphor to discuss how worship can be quenched. Fire needs three things to continue – heat, oxygen, and fuel. As a result, the three main ways to extinguish a fire is to cool the material with water, cut off the oxygen or cut off the supply of fuel. So it is with worship.
The trials and pressures of our lives can be like water to our worship fire. Redman points out that we face a simple choice almost daily. We can fix our eyes on the circumstances or cling to God and choose to worship Him, even when we are hurting. As he puts it, “Though overwhelmed by many troubles, they are even more overwhelmed by the beauty of God.”
Quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30) is how we can cut off the metaphorical oxygen from our worship fire. The point here is that we have to keep in step with God in our everyday lives if we are going to be an unquenchable, burning worshipper.
As noted, the third way of stopping a fire is to cut off the fuel supply. What is the fuel for our worship? The revelation of God. If we open our hearts, God’s revelation comes through creation, history, the cross, His Word. We provide fuel for our worship when we read God’s Word, pray to Him, go to church to share fellowship with other believers, and even get out into nature and see God’s power and beauty there. And this is certainly not an exhaustive list.
Redman finishes the chapter with a note about lament in worship and Psalms of lament. He points out that these are not criticisms of who God is, but praise even in the dark times based on an underlying faith and trust in Him. “Whatever trials lie ahead in this life, unquenchable worshippers are found with a song of undying worship on their lips.”
Next chapter: “The Undone Worshipper”
March 31st, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
What I'm Reading, Worship |
no comments
