08/29/2021 Weekly Material Critique/Summary Chapters 5-6 Weekly Theme Reflection for Chapters 5-6 “Worship with Understanding”: Cultivating God’s Presence while understanding Music Theory
I Corinthians 14:15 [verses 14, 16 & 17] (kjv) 14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. 16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? 17 For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. We must remember that GOD is a spirit. The word of GOD instructs us to worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). “In Spirit” indicates something that is not seen with our natural senses through our eyes, ears, nose month or fingers. The preceding verse number 14 gives the illustration of praying in an unknown tongue. Tongue representing an unknown language. If you pray in the spirit in an unknown language, then you would not know what you are saying in your prayer, thereby rendering your prayer “unfruitful”. If you do not know what you are praying for, you will not know whether your prayer has been answered. So verse 15 asks, “What is it then?” When we pray, we must pray in the spirit, but also with understanding. The follow-up verses, 16 and 17, add more clarity and context. As I paraphrase “Else…how shall those present, who are unlearned say Amen or “so be it” as you give thanks, because they do not understand what you said”. You gave thanks, but no one else is edified (uplifted, enlightened, instructed)
When we worship, it is not about us. Our worship is for GOD’s glory. In particular, corporate worship, is about edifying the body of Christ, God’s people encouraging them, uplifting them, enlightening the, instructing them as we go before the throne of GOD, glorifying him.
Keeping our scripture at 1Corinthians 14:15 in mind, our worship must be genuine and honest. We must personally evaluate our relationship with GOD, and our love for him. There cannot be true worship without obedience. So in our personal evaluation of our love for GOD, we must ask ourselves if we obey GOD. As imperfect beings, there are times when we will fall short, and choose to follow our will, instead of God’s will. We could be harboring bitterness, envy, anger, unwholesome desires, pride or any number of “thorns” we have to contend with. In his wisdom, GOD has provided for our forgiveness and redemption of those short comings, in Jesus Christ. All we have to do is confess and repent.
As we express our love to GOD we so often get caught up in serving GOD and not actually loving GOD. What comes to my mind is the example of Mary and Martha in Luke chapter 10. Martha was busy working and serving Jesus and the others, while Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. Martha even asks Jesus to get Mary to help her. In response Jesus tells Martha “Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” They both love Jesus, and trust him. Both told Jesus “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” So, they know he has the power to heal. If you have read the book about the five love languages, you will readily recognize that Martha’s love language is acts of service, while Mary’s love language is quality time. Both love languages are important in our worship, but we need to be aware of what drives our worship, in whatever form it takes, that it is not driven by pride, arrogance, or selfishness.
Note: Martha was serving the needs of others, ahead of her own need. She was grieving the death of her brother Lazarus. Mary was grieving as well, but chose to sit at the feet of Jesus to be consoled, verse 33 says she was crying.
It sounds a little bit like an oxymoron, and I really had to think about it, but on page 55 of “Exalt His Name”, the author says “Honest Worship involves a Genuine, Unselfish Expectation of Love from God”. Hmmm, so my worship must be genuine, unselfish, and expect love from God? 1. Genuine refers to something that is true and authentic. I get that. My worship must be true; must be what it seems to be. 2. Unselfish means that I must be unselfish in that I am willing to put others needs ahead of my own. 3. Expectation tells me that I must believe that something will happen. Happen, namely, Love from God.
My take-away or understanding, in the context of this study is that our worship must be honest, authentic, in the spirit. Our worship must be spurred by unselfish motives, as we understand that worship is not about us, but about the needs of GODs people and to Glorify GOD.
08/29/2021
ReplyDeleteWeekly Material Critique/Summary Chapters 5-6
Weekly Theme Reflection for Chapters 5-6
“Worship with Understanding”: Cultivating God’s Presence while understanding Music Theory
I Corinthians 14:15 [verses 14, 16 & 17] (kjv)
14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?
17 For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
We must remember that GOD is a spirit. The word of GOD instructs us to worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). “In Spirit” indicates something that is not seen with our natural senses through our eyes, ears, nose month or fingers. The preceding verse number 14 gives the illustration of praying in an unknown tongue. Tongue representing an unknown language. If you pray in the spirit in an unknown language, then you would not know what you are saying in your prayer, thereby rendering your prayer “unfruitful”. If you do not know what you are praying for, you will not know whether your prayer has been answered. So verse 15 asks, “What is it then?” When we pray, we must pray in the spirit, but also with understanding. The follow-up verses, 16 and 17, add more clarity and context. As I paraphrase “Else…how shall those present, who are unlearned say Amen or “so be it” as you give thanks, because they do not understand what you said”. You gave thanks, but no one else is edified (uplifted, enlightened, instructed)
When we worship, it is not about us. Our worship is for GOD’s glory. In particular, corporate worship, is about edifying the body of Christ, God’s people encouraging them, uplifting them, enlightening the, instructing them as we go before the throne of GOD, glorifying him.
Weekly Material Critique/Summary Chapters 5-6
ReplyDeleteKeeping our scripture at 1Corinthians 14:15 in mind, our worship must be genuine and honest. We must personally evaluate our relationship with GOD, and our love for him. There cannot be true worship without obedience. So in our personal evaluation of our love for GOD, we must ask ourselves if we obey GOD. As imperfect beings, there are times when we will fall short, and choose to follow our will, instead of God’s will. We could be harboring bitterness, envy, anger, unwholesome desires, pride or any number of “thorns” we have to contend with. In his wisdom, GOD has provided for our forgiveness and redemption of those short comings, in Jesus Christ. All we have to do is confess and repent.
As we express our love to GOD we so often get caught up in serving GOD and not actually loving GOD. What comes to my mind is the example of Mary and Martha in Luke chapter 10. Martha was busy working and serving Jesus and the others, while Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. Martha even asks Jesus to get Mary to help her. In response Jesus tells Martha “Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” They both love Jesus, and trust him. Both told Jesus “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” So, they know he has the power to heal. If you have read the book about the five love languages, you will readily recognize that Martha’s love language is acts of service, while Mary’s love language is quality time. Both love languages are important in our worship, but we need to be aware of what drives our worship, in whatever form it takes, that it is not driven by pride, arrogance, or selfishness.
Note: Martha was serving the needs of others, ahead of her own need. She was grieving the death of her brother Lazarus. Mary was grieving as well, but chose to sit at the feet of Jesus to be consoled, verse 33 says she was crying.
It sounds a little bit like an oxymoron, and I really had to think about it, but on page 55 of “Exalt His Name”, the author says “Honest Worship involves a Genuine, Unselfish Expectation of Love from God”. Hmmm, so my worship must be genuine, unselfish, and expect love from God?
1. Genuine refers to something that is true and authentic. I get that. My worship must be true; must be what it seems to be.
2. Unselfish means that I must be unselfish in that I am willing to put others needs ahead of my own.
3. Expectation tells me that I must believe that something will happen. Happen, namely, Love from God.
My take-away or understanding, in the context of this study is that our worship must be honest, authentic, in the spirit. Our worship must be spurred by unselfish motives, as we understand that worship is not about us, but about the needs of GODs people and to Glorify GOD.