J.I. Packer
said this about the word taste: “To ‘taste’ is, as we say, to ‘try’ a mouthful
of something, with a view to appreciating its flavor. A dish may look good, and
well be recommended by the cook, but we do not know its real quality till we
have tasted it.”[1]
What we
want more than anything else is for people to “try” God’s goodness and to know
Him as we have experienced Him. We yearn for others to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm
34:8a).
When David
said, “Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:3),
he expressed what should be the heart’s cry of every believer. We have been
entrusted to lead God’s people in praise.
1. Influencing others Christians
to worship God must be a high priority for us.
Let me introduce to hypothetical
Joe. Joe has never been to New Hope before, but this morning he chose to try
out our service. Joe is a young professional guy in his late 20s or early 30s,
successfully climbing the corporate ladder. He is a professing Christian with
an off and on commitment to church. However, Joe knows little about the Bible
and even less about biblical worship and praise.
Joe arrives
early to get a good seat. The first thing he notices is the bulletin and the
worship screen. He likes the atmosphere and makes a mental note that a
detail-oriented person like himself took a lot of deliberate care to create
this environment.
The choir
or praise band starts on time and they open with an upbeat song. Immediately,
Joe begins to enjoy the energy and the enthusiasm the choir exudes. They sound
and look great. Joe is impressed.
When Joe
walked in, he had no intention of singing along-it’s just not his thing. And he
was doing pretty well sticking to his plan until they started singing one
particular song; it’s an older hymn he’s heard before. The choir and
congregation are singing so loudly that it’s contagious. When the worship
leader says, “Come on, let’s all lift our voices together!” it seems like a personal invitation to Joe. He now finds himself
sound out some notes of his own. One might say he has been inspired to sing.
Joe has
sung so much today that he has surprised himself. Joe muses, “Singing can be
fun.” But then a light bulb comes on in his mind. The music leader shares a
verse Joe has never heard before: “Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, His praise in the
assembly of the saints” (Psalm 149:1).
“Ok,” Joe
thinks, “now I get it. We are supposed to be singing to God. We should be
talking to Him when we sing.” The very next song Joe closes his eyes and sings
the words straight to God. He’s never done that before. Why? He’s now been
instructed how to praise.
By the end
our service, Joe has been effectively influenced to sing and praise God. His
heart is warmed. How did this happen? Simply put, the Holy Spirit worked
through human vessels to bring him to the point of true, biblical worship.
Our goal should always be to influence others to
“glorify the Lord” with them (Psalm 34:3).
No comments:
Post a Comment