True Worship: Humility

     So I am writing a Character study on John the Baptist and I was extremely convicted by one of the passages that I read. "And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have borne witness, behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him.' John answered and said, 'A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him....He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:26-27, 30 NISB) The phrase that stuck out and convicted me so much was "A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven." (v.27) The humility of John's response here astounds me and it revealed to me so much of my own spirit and lack of humility. John had been part of an active growing ministry within the Judean wilderness preaching repentance. His influence was great, even so that even Jesus recognized that he was greater than all the prophets. Even after his death, John still had a following as can be seen in Acts. He is mentioned in all four gospels and in Mark is referred to as the beginning of the gospel. He was the forerunner of the Messiah that Isaiah and Malachi prophesied. Yet, he knew his place. His life was a life devoted to worshipping God and he knew that God had come to earth. When Christ began his ministry, John's was fulfilled. It was not about him, it was about Him. This is why he said, "I must decrease, while He must increase." (v. 30)

A couple of things stuck out to me personally through these passages and a few other things I will share later. One, I tend to want to make things happen. There is a tendency within me to want to make something happen. Here is where God convicted me first. I can try and make things happen all day, all night, all week, all year, all my life, but if God does not give us the ministry it won't happen. Things can work out but we are to know who ultimately allowed it. Two, my heart is usually in the wrong attitude. I can put on a face and say all the right things like "all glory goes to God", yet in my heart I desire the recognition and the adoration. I honestly struggle with that. That may put me in a place where I never get asked to lead worship again, but I believe every lead worshipper deals with the same thoughts and desires. I am just being honest about it. John's whole attitude was not about personal gain, when the ministry started turning towards Christ, John knew his place. "I must decrease, while He must increase." 

      "The Hebrew term (shaha) is most widely used Old Testament word for worship. English Bibles understand the expression in a variety of ways, including: bow down (low or deeply, Gen. 18:2; 47:31), prostrate oneself or do homage (Isa. 49:7), or worship (Gen. 24:26; Exod. 12:37). The literal meaning of the verbal root is the act of falling down and groveling or even wallowing on the ground before royalty (2 Sam. 14:22; 1 Kings 1:16) or deity (Exod.34:8; 2 Sam. 12:20; 2 Kings 19:37)....Thus worship springs from an attitude and posture of humility prompted by the recognition of one's rank or standing in the order of God's creation (Ps. 8:3-8). More importantly, genuine humility is the sacrifice acceptable to God (Ps. 51:17). The Lord turns his face and extends his favor to the humble and contrite of heart (Isa. 66:2) The God of heaven and earth abases the proud, but he saves the humble (Job 22:29). For this reason the prophet Micah exhorted the Israelites "to walk humbly with your God" (6:8). Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of humility before God, for "he humbled himself and became obedient to death"(Phil. 2:8) (Hill, Andrew E. "Praise from the Tabernacle". Michigan: Baker Books, 1993, 6-7. emphasis added)

      I was reading a chapter out of Bob Kauflin's book, "Worship Matters", and Kauflin was talking about how he didn't even realize how much was desiring adoration and praise for what he was doing. How he battled thoughts of depression and anxiety for no reason. Now, I was relating with him so much and not just with worship services but with my worship as a way of life. I desire so much to be successful and have security for my future family and be able to teach the Word of God or write songs for Worship, but if I just write songs to have popularity and money and financial stability, its still worship but not the right object. Writing songs of worship should be an outflow of the heart to solely our God and not for the recognition of our fellow peers. My life should be that of one that lives in true humility knowing my place before my Creator. Allowing what He has done for me bring me to a place of humility to where all I can do is love to do the things of God. I can't say that I am always in that place. I know I wasn't today. That is the beauty, though, he has saved me from that pride and freely gives me the mercy and grace to come back into right fellowship with Him which brings me to want to worship Him correctly. We cannot truly worship God nor lead others to truly worship God if we do not truly know God according to His Word. I would venture to say many "worship leaders", including myself, rely on emotions and what "think" we know about God to be our understanding. This is half hearted and I would dare to say doesn't fully please our God. A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven...He must increase, and I must decrease.