Earlier this year I got a chance to spend the day with Bob Kauflin who directs the worship ministry across the Sovereign Grace network of churches. The entire interview was posted on Resurgence earlier this year but we broke it up into smaller pieces and are posting a chunk a day for the next week. Bob has had a big impact on my life and he will on yours as well.
Here’s a quick update of some of what has been going on in my world over the summer…
After a crazy year I have been taking some time off with the family the last few weeks. We were able to get in a camping trip, a little time at a place near Leavenworth, WA and about a week on the Oregon coast. The hours have really counted up in recent months so it has been good to get some time away, enjoy my family and take stock of things.
This week we also had our annual elders retreat. It was only a couple nights but it was a joy to spend time with my fellow pastors and their wives. We have a tremendous team of guys and praise God for how he has brought us together. Truly nothing in all creation besides Jesus could bring together such a different mix of men.
I am also looking forward to the month of August as I am sharing the preaching duties with Pastor Bubba Jennings at the Ballard campus as we preach through the book of Jonah. It’s going to be a great 4 week series as we look at Jonah’s story and how it challenges us to confront our own idols and love the city where God has placed us. Bubba is preaching chapters 1 & 3 and I have 2 & 4. I will post the sermons here in addition to our main mars hill website so you can check it out.
Lastly, I am actually writing this from our nation’s capitol, Washington DC (actually suburb north of DC called Gaithersburg). Joel Brown and I are out for the bi-annual Worship God Conference. The conference is put on by my dear friend Bob Kauflin and Sovereign Grace Ministries. If you haven’t heard of Bob’s blog Worship Matters I highly recommend you check it out. I have gotten acquainted with Bob over the last year and he has become a friend and a bit of a mentor to me. He is a wise man who has been a worship pastor for many, many years, raised 5 kids to love Jesus and now serves in leading Sovereign Grace’s worship ministry across their network of churches. I got to spend a day with him earlier this year during the Resurgence Text and Context conference and was able to record an interview. We posted the whole thing on the Resurgence site but we have now broken it up into small pieces and will release an interview a day during the Worship God conference. Joel and I will also be posting our thoughts as the conference continues.
Soul sickness
When I meditate on this Psalm and consider the theme of pain and anguish, I’m reminded of times in my life of emotional / psychological dis-ease (“My soul also is greatly troubled”). Despite my personal good health, I have not always been well in my heart and in my mind And at the risk of stretching the original intent of this psalm and importing my own subjective experiences into the text, I believe The Spirit of God is faithful to convict me of sin and grow me in grace.
Going beyond the immediate scope of the Psalm
While this Psalm seems to point toward objective illness that isn’t necessarily correlated to specific sin, I can say for myself that my “troubled soul” is almost always self inflicted. I’ve read this Psalm many times over the years. And though I don’t recall meditating on it specifically, I have in effect, prayed “Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love” And God, in his graciousness, while not exactly delivering me from pain, has faithfully lead me through it. In a nutshell He is in the process of saving me from myself. (more…)
According to Broyles many of the Psalms were written objectively for a community. So the question to keep in mind when reading Psalm 6 isn’t necessarily a subjective point of view as in: “‘out of what circumstances was the psalm written’ but rather ‘for what kind of circumstances is it appropriate?’”.
The theme
The overall theme of this psalm centers around waiting on the Lord while suffering through the trials of ill-health. Though the psalm seems to focus on physical sickness “I am languishing / my bones are troubled” emotion and mental health may be in view here as well “my soul also is greatly troubled”. First, this psalm is a request to receive love instead of wrath. Second there’s a plea for healing and third that God would rescue him from death so that His praise can continue as a witness to the living “in Sheol who will give you praise?”
Jesus and Psalm 6
After meditating on this chapter I wonder if Jesus prayed Psalm 6 in the garden of Gethsemane. (Mark 14, Luke 22) It’s just a guess but this prayer would certainly be appropriate. A bed flooded with tears, troubled bones, it all seems kind of hyperbolic. But consider the weight that Jesus carried. He knew he would have to bear the sin of the world alone, become sin on our behalf (2 Cor 5:21) and face the most horrific of deaths. The beating and crucifixion that Jesus endured is hard to even imagine. But to be separated from the Father with whom Jesus had enjoyed perfect communion for all eternity…that’s unfathomable. And yet Jesus’ words in Luke 22:42 “not my will, but yours, be done” could very well have been followed by Psalm 6:8-10.
“Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping. The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD accepts my prayer. All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled; they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.” (more…)
Introduction
Psalm 5 is a song of lament where David cries out to God as he is falsely accused by his enemies. There are five stanzas (small groups of verses set apart by a space) that alternate thematically between finding refuge in God (stanzas 1, 3, 5) and the hope of judgement and justice done against his enemies (stanzas 2, 4).
Groaning to God…
David’s song begins with a deep, heart wrenching request for God to hear his prayer. Depending on your translation he asks that God consider his groaning, sighing or meditation. Spurgeon makes a great observation here:
“There are two sorts of prayers—those expressed in words, and the unuttered longings which abide as silent meditations. Words are not the essence but the garments of prayer.” Treasury of David, Ps 5 (more…)
In case you hadn’t heard, the Reach Records Unashamed Tour blazed through town a couple weeks ago. A few days prior to the concert, as an added bonus, Lacrae and Tadashi came to visit and closed MH Sunday services with this jam. The congregation was a little stiff but it was a great performance nonetheless.
Here, Pastor Tim interviews RR founder and artist Lecrae as they discuss what it means to faithfully articulate the gospel to hip-hop culture. Stay tuned for additional interviews with Trip Lee and Sho Baraka.
As Mars Hill has grown, it has gotten harder and harder to follow up with our nearly 20 bands and give them feedback on how they are doing. We have setup our Campus Pastors as the resident ‘Worship Pastor’ at their campus until another worship pastor rises up, and they interface with their respective Band Leaders, but most of their time is spent syncing on very big picture campus vision and relational/spiritual issues. This leaves a gap on the practical side and we are seeking to find new ways to review a band in a really pragmatic way.
Our Band Development Team created an online review form that allows trusted people to offer encouragement and constructive criticism to bands in order to help in ongoing growth/development of a band once they’re consistently playing on a Sunday.
Pastor Tim, Campus Pastors, a variety of Campus Production Managers (tech guys!) and I will go to this online form after worshiping in song with one of these bands and comment on a variety of things - from leadership ability and musicianship to the quality of the songs being sung.
Hopefully this document can be helpful to spark ideas to other churches out there who are looking to improve the quality of their time spent in worship together. I welcome your ideas, thoughts, and comments here.
Just like in the third Psalm, here we find David in distress yet again. He is experiencing fierce opposition from his enemies who taunt and deride him. David was no stranger to such opposition, to enemies who desired his death and the death of his people, the LORD’s people. And so here we meet David, not stressed, but peaceful, trusting fully in God.
Righteousness
It’s God’s righteousness David first appeals to, and he does so with a powerful confidence, “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!”
Here, righteousness isn’t limited conceptually to wisdom but also includes justice, vindication and rescue. (Isa 54:17, Jer 23:6). It recognizes God as author, witness, maintainer and rewarder. It’s rich with imagery of God who hears, judges, and acts. It implies perpetual presence and attention to every detail. David’s understanding of God isn’t confined but expanded, and multiplied by the testimony of God’s past mercies in the recognition that “You have given relief.” And so, with unwavering confidence, trusting in the author of righteousness, he throws himself humbly before the Father. (more…)
Learning how to be more like Jesus through the Psalms?
Psalm 3
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My first reaction to this Psalm was: Who are my foes? If I’m really honest with myself I don’t really have any ‘foes’ to speak of. Not in the David against Absalom/Nation sense anyway.
There isn’t anything inherently wrong with this approach, but if Christ is the center of the scriptures (John 5:39-40), we have to look deeper…seeing Christ here allows me to have the perspective that God intended when He inspired David to write in this situation.
Finding rest
Being freed of his anxieties, the Lord allows David to rest. This is a calm reminder to us all that true rest and peace comes from God (Matthew 11:28-30; Ephesians 2:14). We often pour ourselves out in an effort to find comfort in created things, but nothing created ever lasts (Isaiah 40:6-8). In thinking about this I realized, true worship - living every aspect of our lives in full submission to the Father’s will - IS comfort and rest and peace and all things that we most deeply desire.
Godly fear is wisdom
Looking at Jesus’ example, ‘The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom’ has new meaning (Proverbs 9:10), because if you fear God you needn’t fear anything or anyone else, and in wisdom you start to see the world through His eyes. God is sovereign over all and with complete trust in Him, fear of creation no longer exists. Wisdom is when the fear of the Lord begins and the of the fear of creation ends.
Doxologist Content