Heart Of the Artist Part 6:
Psalm 133:1 NIV
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live
together in unity!
The Artist in Community
The Church as a Colony of Artists:
Part of what God wants our churches to
be is a place that
harnesses the arts for His glory and nurtures artists.
Relationships Matter:
Even if you don't consider yourself to
be very relational, you need to
learn how to relate to, and get along with other artists.
If you want to have quality relationships, you have to
put in effort.
Be proactive about spending more time with people.
Teamwork:
Ministry is best done in teams.
The beauty of working in teams is that together we can
accomplish greater things for God than if we were on our own.
You belong on a team for these main
reasons:
1.
Your gifts
and abilities (Unique voice)
2.
Your
personality (Personal character – who you are)
3.
Gods calling
(Fulfilling God’s purpose)
When God calls you to be part of a team, He takes into
account who you are as well as what you can do.
No one is going to contribute to the cause and community of the
team in the exact same way that you do.
You're not indispensable but you are irreplaceable.
The Things That Kill Teamwork:
Besides the fact that we artists have a propensity to shy away from teams and
community, the “Evil One”
does everything he can do to disrupt teams. He'll
try to sow disunity; he'll try to undermine morale; he'll try to sabotage the
cause; he'll try to frustrate plans.
1 Peter 5:8 NIV
Be
self-controlled and alert. Your enemy
the devil prowls around like a
roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.
The 4 things that Kill teamwork:
1. Selfishness:
People who are focused only on themselves will miss the big picture.
We can sometimes get so focused on ourselves that we miss what's really
important. The Bible gives us
perspective on considering the needs of others.
others better
than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests
of others.
2. Grumbling and Complaining:
Grumbling and Complaining are usually a result of selfishness.
And many of us with artistic temperaments have a
tendency to complain and grumble whenever things don't
go our way.
Philippians 2:14:
Instructs us to - "do everything without complaining or
grumbling"
because like a cancer, a team or an entire church can be killed.
3.
Competitive Spirit:
Instead of competing with one another we need to learn
to cooperate and encourage one another.
Hebrews 3:13 NIV
But encourage one another daily,
as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
4.
Unresolved Relational Conflict:
A lack of unity can really hurt a team.
It's not easy for a team of
artists to achieve unity, because of the constant clash of
egos and personalities. If a
team of artists can dwell together in unity, it's a major
accomplishment.
Ephesians 4:3 NLT
Make every
effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves
together with
peace.
A Team’s Code of Ethics:
·
Reflect the core
values of a team.
·
Ex. Being on time
for rehearsal, Punctuality becomes a value statement.
Rehearsal
is of high value and it is important to show up on time.
It also shows respect for others valuable time on the
team.
Marks of professionalism:
·
Communicate well
·
Respect others
·
Practice leading
up to rehearsal and before Worship
·
Be on time
·
Be Christ-like
The success of this ministry depends upon our
willingness to become a
community of believers bent on teamwork and a full
devotion to Christ.
Good relationships really do matter. When we are not right
with
others on our team our worship can suffer. We must clear up a
situation with someone before we make our offering.
The Bible instructs us in this manner:
Matthew 5:23 MSG
This
is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place
of worship and,
about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a
friend has
against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend
and make things
right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.
If there is any sin you are
harboring, bring it to God before you Worship:
Hebrews 10:22 NIV
let us draw near
to God with a sincere
heart in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled
to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies
washed with pure
water.
Our Worship is
an offering of Praise to God.
It is part
of the reason we were created:
Isaiah 43:21 NIV
the people I
formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.
Let us Worship our Lord in
Spirit and in Truth:
John 4:23-24 NIV
Yet
a time is coming and has now come when the true
worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit
and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
God is spirit,
and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
When
we worship we can draw near to God when we are truly authentic
(worshiping
in spirit and in truth) in our praise of Him and our relationship
with Him. We
are not just singing words or exercising faceless prayer, we
are truly seeking to
focus our love on the one who has brought us to a new
life and a new hope.
In
many ways worship is to be for God’s pleasure where our gratitude is expressed
to
God for the gift of our new spiritual condition. We have been reconciled to
God.
We
are part of His family because of the great work that Jesus accomplished on
the
cross. We have the gift of eternal life. When we all come to the Lord in
corporate praise,
there can be powerful worship due to the fact that we are
connected by the Holy
Spirit.
Sometimes
individually however, we experience a disconnect due to the
condition
of our own heart.
If you are not experiencing
an intimate worship with God ask yourself theses questions:
·
Am I truly
spending time in God’s Word, meditating, praying and applying
His principles?
·
Am I being
sincere? Is my heart fixed on Him and undivided? Do I have
quiet time with God?
·
Am I fully
assured that only faith in Christ can bring me to God’s throne?
·
Am I coming
humbly, realizing I can draw near only because of what Christ has done for me?
·
Is there any sin
in my life I haven’t dealt with?
A great worship experience can
happen when we are united with our brothers and
sisters in Christ, worshiping
God in spirit and in truth. Within ourselves we must
give our lives totally to the one who led us to the abundant life.
The bible says this about true worship:
Romans 12:1 NIV
Therefore,
I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual
act of worship.
The
way we can do this is to allow Jesus to be the Lord over our lives. When we
offer our lives to
God and obey His Word to the point of establishing a new pattern of living, we
in essence have
abandoned our old sinful ways and are now living for God desiring to do His
will. We
have taken seriously the command to set ourselves apart to Jesus.
By
establishing a new pattern of living we have obeyed the
command to not conform
to this world:
Romans 12:2 NIV
Do not conform
any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of
your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God's
will
is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
When
we are transformed we are filled with the Holy Spirit who is our
guide into all
truth:
John 16:13 NIV
But
when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he
will guide you into all truth. He will not
speak
on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet
to come.
The
Holy Spirit will be our counselor, our teacher, and our conscience,
reminding
us of the truth of God’s Word:
John 14:26 NIV
But
the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom
the Father will send in my name,
will
teach you all things
and will remind you of everything I have said
to you.
So
with Jesus as Lord over our life we can fully access the fruit of the spirit,
embellishing
our Christ-likeness. (Love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness
and self-control -
Galatians
5:22-23)
With
all these fruits at work in each of us we can strengthen our team approach
to Worship
and continue to build upon the foundation of our Christ-centeredness,
edifying
our community of believers.
It is most important to
remember that when we lead others in worship
it is through our connection with the Holy
Spirit that will help us point
to Jesus as the truth the life and the way. All the attributes we
possess
when we are set apart to God can now be utilized
to help others not
only for spirit filled worship, but also to help them get
on the road to
becoming fully devoted followers of Christ. This is the mission
God
has given us.
Personal Questions to Ponder and to be
challenged by:
·
When working with
a Team am I self -focused or Team centered?
·
Do I compete with
others on the Team?
·
Do I believe the
enemy can disrupt the Team and am I helping by sowing
disunity?
·
Do I believe it
is important to clear up relationships that are broken and
am I willing to take
the first step?
·
Am I truly
spending time in God’s Word, meditating, praying and applying
His principles?
·
Am I being
sincere? Is my heart fixed on Him and undivided?
·
Do I have quiet
time with God?
·
Am I fully
assured that only faith in Christ can bring me to God’s throne?
·
Am I coming
humbly, realizing I can draw near only because of what Christ
has done for me?
·
Is there any sin
in my life I haven’t dealt with?
Blessings………………..Dave
