Overcoming The Original SIN

My friend Troy Mitchel recently presented a message on Audacious Faith. He started with a passage from Joshua Chapter 10. In this story Joshua was in the process of routing an army and needed more time to finish mopping up. So, he asked God to make the sun stand still in the sky.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being.

Next Troy said something that I though was very profound. He talked about confidence, and this is what I want to focus on. Here’s what he said…

Praying audacious prayers and walking in bold faith takes confidence. Healthy confidence is born out of genuine humility. Confidence without humility is arrogance and humility without confidence is weakness. Both are biblical and are equally essential for a life of faith.

I believe one of the common struggles for most worship leaders is balancing the tension between confidence and genuine humility.

There is a BIG difference between the expectations placed on an artist who does sacred music than the one who does secular music. In secular music the artist is supposed to perform. The focus is purposely directed at them with the intention of showcasing their talent. Humility is not a trait that is considered necessary in the world of pop culture entertainment.

However, for the church musician performance is a dirty word. We won’t even call it a stage, what we do on the “platform” is NOT performance it’s service. To understand this we have to go back to the beginning and examine the original sin. I’m not talking about Eve. The original sin came before the apple, it’s the sin perpetrated by the father of all destruction.

- PRIDE -

Satan's original sin is pride; the iniquity that is found in him is that he does not want to be God's servant. He does not want to do what he was created to do. He wants to be served. There are millions who have chosen to do just that; to serve him. They have listened to his lies and chosen to follow him. Eve believed the lie that she would be like God. The reason Lucifer tempted her with that was because it is the very thing that he wants -- to be God.

I attended a class at Saddleback church called

Everything I Know About Leading Worship

I Learned From An Irish Rock Star

By Aaron Niequist

This is the part that stayed with me:

Bono wrestles with, understands, and can articulate the nature of praise. This is an excerpt from his introduction to the book of Psalms, entitled “Elvis, the Bible, and Me” (New York: Grove Press, 1999):

“Anyway, I stopped going to churches and got myself into a different kind of religion. Don't laugh, that's what being in a rock ‘n’ roll band is, not pseudo-religion either...

Show business is Shamanism: Music is Worship; whether it's worship of women or their designer, the world or its destroyer, whether it comes from that ancient place we call soul or simply the spinal cortex, whether the prayers are on fire with a dumb rage or dove-like desire...

the smoke goes upwards... to God or something you replace God with...

usually your self.”

The struggle for the sacred musician is to overcome the trap of pride.

Bono gives us a perfect explanation of this problem; every performance is an act of worship. The question becomes what is the focus of that worship? Are you lifting praise to God or are you allowing the limelight to shine on you?

Humility is the hinge point for success in authentic worship. My friend Troy nailed it. “Confidence without humility is arrogance and humility without confidence is weakness.” The thing we need to strive for as leaders in worship in this understanding that there is always a tension between these opposing forces.

You have to learn to get out of the way and allow the focus of your praise to be vertical, pointing ever upward toward God. Every note, every solo, every gesture and phrase - needs to be directed heavenward. We cannot allow ourselves to over step the bounds of our purpose. We are leading our people into the presence of almighty God in worship. This is a holy calling and should never be taken lightly.

One of the true blessings of being a worship leader is that we get to witness something that is normally only seen by God. We get to watch His people worship. If you are doing it right this is a humbling experience because you realize that you are an instrument of the Holy Spirit.

I believe this was the trap that led Satan into his sin of pride. He desired the worship of both angels and men. This is what we see every day in popular culture. Satan has inspired entertainers to hijack our worship.

This is an absolute act of idolatry and is the inspired action of the universes biggest megalomaniac. Satan wants to be worshiped as a god and if he can distract us from giving our devotion to heaven by pointing us to things of this earth then he has succeeded at least partially in his goal. By doing this he has taken the sacred and made it profane.

As a sacred musician - a worship leader - we have to rid ourselves of pride. The first step in any recovery program is to recognize that you have a problem. So start with some earnest time in prayer and contemplation.

Read Psalms 139 and follow David’s example.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

Ask God to reveal to you anything that may be hindering you from giving your utmost for His highest. And never give up on your calling!

<>< Amen ><>