The trumpeters and singers joined I N U N I S O N in unison, as with one voice, to ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ give praise and thanks to the LORD. -2 Chronicles 5:13 A devotional series for the choir, the worship leader, and anyone desiring to experience or lead in a deeper worship experience. [See the end of this file for more information on the complete series.] The In Unison series is written by David S. Lampel. #17 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ T O B E L I K E H I M We are called to serve and worship our Lord with excellence--the very best of which we are capable. We do this out of a sense of obedience, indebtedness, and thanksgiving. But how is this accomplished? How do we go about offering excellence to God? _________________________ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart--These, O God, You will not despise. -Psalm 51:14-17 NKJV All things begin with God--even the service and worship we offer to Him. We begin by approaching Him with humility and an open, broken heart. This is establishing our position in relation to His. As we proclaim His lordship, we confess our inability to live without Him; as we magnify Him, we diminish ourselves; as we establish His high and lofty plane, we comprehend its contrast to our own. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. -Romans 7:18 NASB Whatever beauty we offer up to God, must have its origin in Him. It is only through the blood of Christ and the indwelling Spirit that we even gain access to the throne; we are incapable of manufacturing praise out of our flesh--it must be God who energizes the worship process. Likewise, striving for excellence in our service devoid of the energizing motivation of the One for whom the service is rendered, is nothing more than "striving after wind" (Ecclesiastes 2:26). It is empty effort, offered for unholy reasons. Look to the example of Christ, the epitome of excellence. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! -Phil 2:6-8 NIV _________________________ There are those who denounce excellence as nothing more than showing off. But when we understand that Biblical excellence can only exist in an atmosphere of contrite humility before God, we understand that when we strive for holy excellence we are no more "showing off" than was Jesus, when He debased Himself to become the ultimate servant and sacrifice for man. _________________________ "Humility is the one response I am still capable of making even when I am at my worst, even when I'm in the midst of struggle. It is an admission of my weakness and dependence. The Holy Spirit responds to this admission. He comes in and empowers me to respond to the current struggle in His favor. "Humility sets the stage for the Holy Spirit's direction and empowerment. Once our old natures have been subdued, reason and truth can have a voice. As we humble ourselves, God can quit resisting us and begin to hear us instead. "Prayer and worship are the language of humility. It's the language God responds to. Worship is also a part of our response, for to worship God is to offer our being to Him in acknowledgment of who He is. Pride and worship cannot exist together. Worship cleanses and prepares us for what comes next." (Jim Petersen, Lifestyle Discipleship: The Challenge of Following Jesus in Today's World, NavPress, 1994) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Supplement to #17 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? [19] And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD?" -2 Sam 7:18-19 "What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this." -Ezra 9:13 A song of ascents. Of David.My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. [2] But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. -Psalm 131:1-2 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." -Isaiah 6:5 I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. [24] Correct me, LORD, but only with justice--not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing. -Jer 10:23-24 When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. [2] There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. [3] The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. [4] When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, [5] because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." [6] So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. [7] That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. [8] For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, `Go,' and he goes; and that one, `Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, `Do this,' and he does it." [9] When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." [10] Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well. -Luke 7:1-10 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. [10] But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. -1 Cor 15:9-10 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. -2 Cor 3:5 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. [13] Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, -Phil 3:12-13 _________________________ A certain king had a minstrel whom he commanded to play before him. It was a day of high feasting. The cups were flowing and many great guests were assembled. The minstrel laid his fingers among the strings of the harp, and woke them all to the sweetest melody, but the hymn was to the glory of himself. It was a celebration of the exploits of song which the bard had himself performed. In high-sounding strains he sang himself and all his glories. When the feast was over, the harper said to the monarch, "Oh king, give me my pay; let the minstrel's fee be paid." Then the monarch replied, "You have sung to yourself, pay yourself. Your own praises were your theme; be your own paymaster." The harpist cried, "Didn't I sing sweetly? Oh king, give me my gold." But the king answered, "So much the worse for your pride, that you should lavish such sweetness on yourself. Go away, you shall not serve in my train." If a man should grow grey-headed in the performance of good works, yet when the last it is known that he has done them all for himself, that he may be honored by his works, his Lord will say, "You have done well enough in the eyes of men, but so much the worse, because you did it only to yourself, that your own praises might be sung, and that your own name might be extolled." (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon (Shaw, 1990), p.338.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright Information --------------------- All original material in IN UNISON is Copyright (C) 1995 David S. Lampel. This data file is the sole property of David S. Lampel. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this data file must contain the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright (C) 1995 David S. Lampel."). This data file may not be used without the permission of David S. Lampel for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold. This includes all of its content. With the appropriate copyright notice, this file may be used to enhance or supplement personal or church devotions, newsletters, journals, or spoken messages. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture is from the New International Version. NIV quotations are from the Holy Bible: New International Version, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission. NASB quotations are from the New American Standard Bible (C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Unison was originally written for Music Ministers and Choir Directors to use in conjunction with their weekly rehearsals. It was syndicated in printed form, camera-ready for inclusion in choir newsletters or to be read to the choir as a devotional. It has also been used by Pastors and lay-leaders in many capacities. In Unison is evangelical, and speaks from the position that the choir does not perform for its own pleasure--nor for the pleasure of the congregation--but is, instead, a "prompter" leading and demonstrating the corporate worship for the pleasure of God. Each choir member--as well as every other leader standing on the platform--is responsible to do everything to point the congregation upward to God. In Unison also encourages individual and corporate excellence, based on the premise that after His sacrifice for us, our Lord deserves nothing less. Most issues of In Unison consist of two parts: * The main article has been written to be the "public" portion--either re-printed for each choir member or read to them during a devotional time. * The Supplemental material (accompanying most issues) has been included for the director or leader to use as background to further his or her own study. There is a total of 19 issues making up the complete In Unison series, representing by the following outline: 1. With One Voice 11. Because He Deserves It 2. Up Words 12. A Longing to Be Near Him 3. Loving One Another 13. Excellence: Beginning 4. Demonstrating Praise 14. Excellence: The Debt 5. The Spirit and the Flesh 15. Excellence: For the Prize 6. Three Little Words 16. Excellence: Why? 7. Obeying Our Parent 17. To Be Like Him 8. A Fragrant Offering 18. In Spirit and Truth 9. Worship the King 19. Honesty 10. His Wish, Our Desire ------------------------------------------------------------------- In Unison is distributed free-of-charge, without obligation, in service to our Lord and to His glory. Reader opinions are always welcome, as are insights into the published material. Send all comments to the address below. We always appreciate hearing when someone has been edified by this work. ------------------------------------------------------------------- To receive the complete series via e-mail, inquire with questions, or comment on the material send your request to: "dlampel@dlampel.com" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ David S. Lampel "For from Him and through Him Winterset, IA USA and to Him are all things. dlampel@dlampel.com To Him be the glory forever. Amen." (Rom 11:36) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/in.unison: inu-017.txt