A time to worship. A great subject.

Steve Brown:
A time to worship. A great subject. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Steve invited our friend Pete Alwinson to do the teaching this week. Pete is a former pastor, founder of ForgeTruth.com and the author of Like Father Like Son.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. And guess who’s here today? It seems funny, that you’re not sitting down to answer questions the way we do every Friday. Pete Alwinson is here, and he’s one of the voices of Key Life. Jeremy is our producer. And to show you how much I’m into a habit, The first thing I wanted to say to Jeremy is did you get any question from the phone lines? And then I realized we’re not doing that today. We’re going to talk about a great subject. We are, and you know this, in the midst of what is called worship wars. And I asked Pete to teach us about worship and its connection with the Psalms. And so, this week we’re going to spend time talking about worship and its connection to Scripture. And we’re all going to learn a lot of good things. So, Pete, let me pray for us and then we’ll get down and do this thing. Father, we come into your presence, to worship. And when we do, we realize that’s the reason we were created. Father, that’s because you are the only one worthy of our worship. You are good and kind and gentle and gracious and merciful. But you’re also omnipotent and omnipresent and omniscient and sovereign and the ruler of all that is. So, if you had never even been kind to us, you’re still God and you’re worthy of our worship. We pray that this week that you would remind us of that fact. Father, you know everybody who’s listening to this broadcast. You know the hard places and the soft places, the laughter and the tears, and you are a God, a God we worship, who is sovereign and loving and good all the time. And Father, we pray for the teachers on this broadcast. They call us reverands, and we’re not. Forgive us our sins, and we would see Jesus, and Him only. And we pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Pete, this is, and this is why I want you to teach us. We’re, we, it’s interesting in America, and everybody’s been touched by the fights we have about worship. You know, some people that say it’s an abomination to sing any song that was written after the 17th century, by old white males. And others saying, those are old, they don’t work anymore, so we’ve got to do it again. So, we’ve got contemporary music, and then we choose upsides and get out our swords and our guns and we fight about it. And when that happens, I believe Jesus blushes. So, it’s time to get some solid teaching. And I expect that from you this week on the broadcast.

Pete Alwinson:
Oh, no pressure there.

Steve Brown:
So, let’s talk. Tell me a little bit about worship. What’s your favorite kind of worship?

Pete Alwinson:
Well, you know, I was raised in the church and I’m an old guy now and both of us have been around the block a few times.

Steve Brown:
That’s true.

Pete Alwinson:
And so, I grew up with the old hymns. And I remember as a little boy in church rustling around and my, to keep me still, my mom said, you don’t have to sing, but you have to read the words as we sing. And so, that was actually incredibly smart because it kept me engaged in what was going on at a very young age. And so, I did, I read, listened to the words, and then I enjoyed singing. And so, I would say that church, growing up, was a good experience for me and not a negative experience for me.

Steve Brown:
It was for me, too.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
I still remember those. Did you know that Martin Luther, in his devotional time, took two things with him? One was the Bible and the other was a hymn book.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. Yeah. I believe it. And so Steve, you know, I’m not an expert in worship. And so, we’re going to be doing a great dialogue back and forth and we’ll share what we both learned this week. But I guess a good place to start would, there’s many places that we could start. But let’s try to figure out a definition of worship because, you know, Romans 12:1 and 2 says.

I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, acceptable, and perfect.

It’s acceptable worship. And so, all of life is really worship in one definition of worship.

Steve Brown:
Why don’t you begin by reading one of the Psalms, and that’d be a, that can’t hurt.

Pete Alwinson:
Can’t hurt.

Steve Brown:
It’d be a good place to start this week long discussion on worship and the Psalms.

Pete Alwinson:
Let’s start off with Psalm 1. And what I think we need to understand is that the Psalms really are the songs of Jesus, as Tim Keller talked about in his devotional on it. They really are the songs of the church. It’s the hymn book of both Israel and the church.

Steve Brown:
It really is.

Pete Alwinson:
And it’s very well organized, even though to our Western minds it may not seem like it is. But Psalm 1 starts like this.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. And in all that he does he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners and the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Steve Brown:
Oh man, what a great Psalm.

Pete Alwinson:
What a great Psalm. Now, I wonder what the tune was that they had attached to that. We don’t know.

Steve Brown:
No, that’s right. But they sang it.

Pete Alwinson:
They sang it. And these were songs of Israel.

Steve Brown:
Yeah, there were times, for instance, the Psalms of Ascent, where they sang songs on the way to Jerusalem for the holy days.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
And even sometimes in the Psalms, there are little notes that are for the hymn leader.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. That’s right. And people, you know, set according to, and then it gives a Hebrew name that is a sort of a tune or a title of some sort. The Songs of Ascent, there are 15 of them from Psalm 120 to 134, and, and the Psalms of Ascent were sung by pilgrims as they traveled from all over Israel up to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. And some have said that there are 15 Psalms because there were 15 steps up to the temple. Well, who knows on that, but that’s an interesting.

Steve Brown:
I’ve never heard that.

Pete Alwinson:
15 Psalms of Ascent. And then there are Messianic Psalms too. Now, Psalm 1 sort of sets the stage for the whole, and there are several books. I think there’s five Books in the Psalms.

Steve Brown:
That’s right.

Pete Alwinson:
And so, Psalm 1 is the first one and it really talks about the godly man and the wicked man in a powerful way. But that, you can imagine, imagine if that was sung by a choir or sung by the people and how that would set the tone in a worship service around the temple area.

Steve Brown:
Oh yeah. Do you think it’s important, the tune they use?

Pete Alwinson:
See, but that’s where the worship wars are today, aren’t they?

Steve Brown:
They really are. It’s not so much the words.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
In fact, a lot of contemporary music is incredible theologically and Biblically. It’s just the drums.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. That’s right. And so, let’s talk about the worship wars. You know, I think that God ordained worship, clearly, for all of us, but that he didn’t set one particular style for the very reason that worship could, the worship of God could be flexible in every culture given cultural nuances and differences.

Steve Brown:
That’s right.

Pete Alwinson:
And so, the tune is not necessarily the point. But it is true that who, what was his name? It just escapes me, but he wrote a song, Why Does the Devil Have All the Good Music? You know, back in the seventies, you know, and the worship wars around tune, are not accurate, not good and divide us unnecessarily.

Steve Brown:
You know, our friend, both of us, he’s our friend Reggie Kidd, has written a wonderful book on worship, and it’s called With One Voice. But the interesting thing about that book is the different methods of worship, and he says it’s one voice.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
He says there’s Bubba, there’s Bach, there’s blues. And then he talks about but the voice of Jesus and of God’s people is central in the worship and everything else doesn’t matter.

Pete Alwinson:
That is absolutely crucial as we gather together. Next time we talk, I want to talk a little bit about personal worship too.

Steve Brown:
Alright. Listen, you don’t want to miss a bit of this. You know why? Because you were born to worship. You were called to worship. That’s what we do. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve Brown and Pete Alwinson. We have Pete with us all week for the series that we’re calling It’s All About Worship, a timely and timeless subject. Hope you’ll join us again tomorrow. Honor, what comes to mind when you hear that word? Well, when he recently chatted with Adam Ramsey on Steve Brown Etc. about honoring one another and the powerful impact it can have on our churches. Adam is a great guy, he’s one of our favorite guests. And we would love for you to hear this episode. So, we put it on a CD and we would be happy to send it to you for free. Just call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for the free CD featuring Adam Ramsey. And finally, if you’re blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Giving could not be easier. Just charge a gift on your credit card, or you can also include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely through text. Just text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950. And as always, if you can’t give right now, or maybe God’s not telling you to do that, no worries, but pray for us, would you? Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.