Life of worship
For a last few weeks we’ve been talking about living the LIFE OF WORHSIP. And today we gonna continue with this topic. If new here, we are studing the book of Romans. Currently we’re at the chapter 12. At the beginning of this chapter we are presented with the concept of a “living sacrifice” — a spiritual service of worship that is acceptable to God.
Question
Did you ever asked yourself a question. What does God want’s me to do? What is the will of God for my life?
If you never thought about it. Well… you probobly should. It is an important question. Once you know the answer life start to make so much more sense. And honestly the answer is not complicated.
We are about to uncover the secret and sacrid truth, so I’ll need your full attaention. Let this truth soak in, and it will revolutionize your life.
Are you ready?
God desires that your life be a song of love to Him.
What?
God desires that your life be a song of love to Him.
But, I don’t understand. I am no singer. And what does it even mean?
Example
Yeah, I know how that feels. Many years ago, when I was very yang and naive. I was looking for a secret of singing. I wanted to sing good. Actually, I wanted to be really good. And those days predate youtube and white spread of information. So, I had to digg in into forums and dodgy websites searching for the answer “How to become a good singer”. And you would not belive how much rubbish is out there. Hours of my life and liters of tea were waisted on that endless search. But then, one day, luck was on my side.
I found a training programm! It looks very promising. Looks legit! I hit download and start waiting.
Serveral following ours felt endless. But, now I have it. The secret tool that will unlish my voice!
I had to wait until I was home alone. And finally, I can go into my room. It is dark hare, because computer monitor is the only source of light. House is so quite, the only noises are from computer cooler spinning. I can hear my heart pounding in my chest. My palms are sweaty, because I’m so nervouse. What if it’s yet another fake?
Few moments of hasitation and then. I sit down and pressed the play button. Music starts to play, and after a short into the vocal coach finally starts speaking. I’m all ears for what he says. And…
“Keep your throat relaxed and open, so air flows freely and your voice can resonate.”
WHAT?
“Raise your soft palate slightly”
WHAAAT?!
“Gently bring your vocal folds together without squeezing, letting them vibrate freely.”
WHAAAAAAAT?!! Is that it?? That is what I was looking for???
Generally speaking yes. In a nutshell it is the recepe for a great sounding voice.
Luckly, the program included hours and hours of vocal excersises for practice, with the examples to follow.
Bridge
You know, both, our christian life and singing. Is not about knowing a “secret formula of a success”. Some sort of a hidden knowladge that avalible to only a few. No, it’s about excersising the right thing day after day. Because, you know, one thing that sets professionals apart from ammatures, is that professionals keep practicing day in and day out. They are working out, they are consistently building their voice.
Living a life of worship is about practicing, excersising or as it put in Philippians 2 “working out out selvation”.
Before we will dive into our scripture for today, I’d like to preface this by saying everything that we gonna talk about assumes that you are born again, filled with spirit, follower of christ. Because, otherwise, without the help of the Holy Spirit, it will be extremely hard if not imposibble to live the life of worship. But above all it will be prettey much pointless in regards of eternal life. Because again, selvation and forgiveness is not by what you do, but by faith and faith alone.
With that being said let’s start reading:
Romans 12:9-21
⁹Love must be free of hypocrisy. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor,¹¹not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;¹²rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,¹³contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.¹⁶Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.¹⁷Never repay evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all people.¹⁸If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people.¹⁹Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written: “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.²⁰“BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM; IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.”²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Love first
We all know all this. Some might say that it is christianity one o one. And that’s right. It is one of the fist things you learn as a christian. Basic christianity. And we don’t need basics. We are quite advanced in our walk with the Lord and therefore we need an advanced stuff. Right?
Let’s go back for about 15 years and 2000 kilometers. Back into my dark room. Where yanger version of me having my first vocal training session. And let’s learn something new together. I will teach you probobly one of the most powerful excersises for singers and speakers, anyone who uses their voice as an instrument.
Place your index fingers about an inch away from the corner of your mouth and gently push in and up. Relax your lips and do this BBBBB. Like a motorcycle engine. Be careful not to spit on the person in front of you though. You gotta relax your face. Otherwise it’s not gonna work. Comon, try it BBBBBB. Easy. But so powerful. 15 years later. I still do it. And not only me. Think of your favorite singer. It is almost garanteed that he does this excersise too. Every day of his life, until the end of his singing careere.
Excersising
Do you see where we are going with this?
Our live is like a song we sing. Are you a good singer? When was the last time you practised excersises for your “spiritual voice”?
If don’t know any, the today is your day. Our scripture contains a few of them. Excersises that will teach you how to turn your life into a vocal melody of love for God.
We gonna look at 3 basic warm ups.
Exersice #1
#1 Practicing Love(Verse 9:).
First exersice is a simple warm-up — we start by exercising true love. It easy, it’s safe. It is a good starting point. Remember, in singin you end where you started. If you start with poor technichue, your voice not gonna sound nice. Your singing not going to be beautiful, so solid foundation is important!
But what should I do?
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
⁴Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.⁵It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong *suffered,*⁶it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;⁷it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
That’s a good place to start. Practice this twords your kids, your wife, your friends, parats. Annoying neighbours. etc.
But remember is is you who should be patient, kind, not jealous. Not them.
But it’s not all. Second part of verse 9 says Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. That is also very important part of this worm up. Choice that we need to make daily. To guard our heart. Not to give the room to the enemy. Because, frankly if we let evel snick into our heart, then it is only a matter of time for our actions to catch up. It will rouin our spiritual voice.
Exersice #2
#2 Stretching. We need to stretch our vocal chords. To increase our vocal range.
Verses 10–13 call us to extend our love beyond the boundaries of our family. We should learn to treat our church as one.
Every church is a family… a slightly dysfunctional one, but family nonetheless.
At least that’s what they say…
Me and you, we are called to respect one another. In a genuane way of course. Even if we are not respected back.
We are called to work hard for the Lord. For the sake of his kingdom. Together. Even when things do not go well.
We are called to be devoted to prayer. As a family, as a church. And it is so for a reason.
They say that:
“Prayer is the powerhouse of the church”
Let’s ask ourselves. How much power we produce? Can we produce enough power to light up entire city(the one on the hill), or tiny LED unit is all we capable of, you know, bright enough to see the trail your on, but invisible from a couple miters away?
I think we can do better that this!
Verse 13. Contributing - emphasises our care for one another. Active and practical participation in one anothers lives and needs. It means that we should be open, we inviting people to come to us for help. Showing our genuane care for one another. Second half of the verse is about practising hospitality. The word “practicing” is actually qute strong in original language. N the verse 14 the same word translated as persecute! We should activly seek, we should persue people with hospitality. Showing our love in action, not just kind words.
When was the last time I practised hospitality? When was the last time I helped someone in church with their needs? Do I even know about their needs?
Please, be your own judge.
We also called to provide emotional support to one another.
Romans 12:15
¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
Which implies that one should be willing to share about his highs and lows. And the other should be willing to listen, to empatize. Not advice! but listen. To be ready to cry together. Or laugh together. Even if you are on the low yourself. And that’s no easy job. That’s one skill to master.
Unfortunately we tend to start advice people instead. Or make it about ourselves. And that’s not it. Weep with those who weep. That’s all there is to it.
So, when did you last time cried with someone from your church? Did you ever?
Exsercise #2: Stretching our hearts and include our church.
Excersise #3
Exercise #3 — arguably the hardest one — is learning to let go.
Did you know that many amateur singers, myself included, often tense up? We often engage muscles that don’t actually help us sing — in fact, they resist. Muscles like our swallowing muscles, facial muscles, and the muscles in our throat.
And in order to release your voice, you shoul learn to relax them. You should learn to let go.
Verses 14, 17, 19 - all tell us about that.
As we learn to sing with our spiritual voice. We also tend to tense up. We have natural reactions that prevent our voices from singing freely. Our reaction to injustice.
Because we all crave justice — at least when it comes to our own sense of justice. When someone treats me unfairly, my whole being tenses up — and I want them to get a dose of their own medicine. And it is qute natural reaction. We used to it. But if we want to sing well, we should learn to let go.
In the moments like this we are called to move in the opposite spirit. We are called to bless, instead of cursing. To step back and not to take our own revange. We are called to be at peace with all people, if only possible.
It will truly realsea our voices. Unleashing our ability to sing the song of love to the Lord.
DO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL
And for me the verse 21 is a great summary of all of this.
Romans 12:21
²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
In real life, two negatives don’t make a positive. It’s only true for matematical problems. When it comes to real life. Poor technique will ruine your voice. Only with a proper technique you can sing a beautiful song.
Conclusion
Maybe today was your first vocal training session ever. Today we leared 3 basic principles:
- Warm up
- Streatch
- Let go
These three must be practiced throughout our entire lives, enabling us to offer the song of love to our Lord.