Speaker: Greg Froehle

Passage: 1 Peter 2

WHY WE WORSHIP

Well, good morning, good morning. Good to see you all. I said this in the first gathering, but it is such a privilege and an honor to worship alongside of you. It’s been over a year since I’ve worshiped with you from this perspective, and it’s just such a beautiful thing.

But I’m here today to talk to you about worship. We’re going to take a little break from our Titus series. I do know about other things, but not enough to really teach on it. So, I’m going to stay in my worship lane. 

I’ve been prepping this talk for about a year, which is, frankly, too long. It’s just enough time to have it kind of all sorted out, everything I want to say. And then a bunch of new ideas come in, and then you try to fit them in, and then you reorganize and refresh and revise and rethink and overthink. And then before you know it, you’re standing in front of a bunch of people trying to do it. 

So, don’t expect this to be like a super clean, refined, polished, punchy teaching. In fact, I feel like it’s more like spin class, like we’re going after it. I’ve never taken a spin class. I’ve heard it’s horrible, but let’s go. Let’s do this. 

This is more just me in all the messiness that it might contain, sharing my heart with you, sharing a vision, I believe, from the Lord about where we’re meant to go as a worship community, to encourage the beautiful things that are already taking place every time we gather, but to bring a unity and a clarity where it may be lacking.

It’s hard to hit a target that you don’t know is there, right? So, I want to give a little bit of a direction and an understanding as we build this culture of worship. We’re building something, and unless you’re intentional, what you’re building may not turn out, right? 

And I want to do that because I want us to all engage in our worship times, in our gatherings, together with a sense of empowered identity to answer the question: what does it look like when we come together in worship? What’s supposed to happen? What does God prescribe or command our worship to be? What does it mean to minister to the Lord? 

PRIESTS MINISTERING TO THE LORD

Have you heard that phrase, ministry to the Lord, or the priesthood of all believers? So, fun fact about me, I am actually named after a Catholic priest. Greg Tolis was a dear friend of my parents in their young adult life. He was a pastor, a mentor, a friend to them. He actually married them in their wedding ceremony. He wrote a song for them and sang it at their wedding. 

So, in some way, worship ministry was kind of always in my future. He actually passed away relatively young because he had cystic fibrosis, which is a lung condition, and the doctors would routinely marvel at the fact that not only could he get up and speak during mass, but he could also sing. They were like, That shouldn’t be possible. But there he was. 

And while I was named after a priest, I never felt that pressure to follow into that vocation. Though on some level, when I was young, I must have had some measure of resistance to it because when I was four years old, my parents were talking about preschool, and I misheard them and thought they were talking about priest school. 

And I didn’t know a whole lot about what a priest was or what they did, but I knew that they didn’t get married and they didn’t have a family, and so when my parents were talking to me about preschool, I was like, No, Mom and Dad, I don’t want to go to priest school. I want to be a dad. And I am. So, it all worked out.

But yeah, so, in some ways, even from an early age, maybe I was running away from the calling of being a priest. But wouldn’t you know it? Here I am. I am a priest. I. Me. And so are you. You are all priests unto the Lord. 

And if you didn’t know that, now you do. And I want to attempt, in the next little bit of time, to dive into what that means, both theologically and practically, so we can step into your authority and your identity as priests before the Lord, because I believe this is so essential. 

Once we grab hold of this, this will change how you pray. This will change how you worship. This will change how you live your life. The fact is, we are all priests ministering to the Lord. 

There are worship leaders in a church setting to help facilitate that encounter by pointing our attention to Jesus, but I liken it to being like a waiter in a restaurant, where it’s like you set the table, you attend to the needs of the table, but then you stay out of the way. 

If you’ve been to a restaurant, you know the only thing worse than an inattentive waiter is an overly attentive waiter, where they’re just there, and they’re like, You need anything? You’re like, No, I just want to have dinner with my wife. Thank you. 

So, we’re all, each and every one of us, here to minister to the Lord. And there are leaders to bring unity in some semblance of structure, but the desire, the goal, of any worship ministry, I believe, is to lead people through the doors of thanksgiving and praise into a relational and intimate encounter with the Triune God. 

The goal is to come face to face with Him, into intimate communion, into vulnerability and transparency, where there’s no fear, no insecurity. 

And I’d say my deepest longing for this body is to see us fully step into the authority that we have, to awaken an authority that you may not have even realized you have, and to live out that role and responsibility. 

And I don’t want to diminish the role of leadership. We need leaders. Leaders are good, but I’d love for leaders to be almost unnecessary because you’ve learned to lead yourselves.

1 PETER 2

So, all right. I’m mostly going to speak out of 1 Peter 2. I am going to read from the Amplified Version, just because I love the kind of expanded text that they use. So, 1 Peter 2, starting at verse 4. It says, “Come to Him [the risen Lord] as to a living Stone which men rejected and threw away, but which is choice and precious in the sight of God. You [believers], like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house for a holy and dedicated priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.” 

And then moving into verse 9, this is kind of our job description, this is who we are. “You are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A CONSECRATED NATION, A [special] PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies [the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections] of Him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light. Once you were NOT A PEOPLE [at all], but now you are GOD’S people; Once you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.” Thank you, Lord. 

So, looking at that first phrase, come to Him, I think it’s so important. It starts with realizing you are coming before the Lord. So, come before the Lord and bring yourself with you. Bring your whole being, fully integrated, undivided, wholeheartedly, your mind, soul, strength, heart. I said those in a different order than it’s in the Bible, but I got them all. Your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 

There’s a tremendous power when you bring yourself fully, and you know who it is you are bringing yourself before. And how do we know who we’re bringing ourselves before? Well, by learning about the Lord by studying Him. 

I love this quote from J. I. Packer. He says, “Theology is for doxology and devotion,” which means the study of God is for the worship of God, and a life lived unto Him. 

And so, I think one of the most essential disciplines towards this end is diving into Scripture, ingesting the language of the Psalms, to pore over descriptions of God, His character, His nature, His names, even the physical descriptions of Jesus in the Book of Revelation. Once you get those into your mind and into your heart, it’s almost impossible for worship not to even automatically pour out of you. 

THE ACTIVITY OF WORSHIP

And so, I’m mainly talking today about our corporate worship times on a Sunday morning. I do think it’s important to briefly note that worship isn’t just the songs we sing. Worship is a heart posture aimed at bringing pleasure to the heart of the Lord. Worship is a life lived in full surrender and full obedience to Jesus. 

But corporate worship and praise is a big deal in the Bible. It’s not just confined to a handful of songs in the middle of the book, written by some emo kid who was tending his father’s sheep. The Psalms are important, but I can’t get into all the examples of corporate worship and praise, but there are a few of my favorites. 

I just wanted to highlight Mary, the mother of Jesus, upon finding out that she is going to give birth to the Savior of mankind, her response is a song, a song of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. 

In the Old Testament, King Jehoshaphat sends the worship team into the front lines of battle when God promised them a victory that they wouldn’t even have to fight for, it was a preemptive celebration. 

Paul and Silas, we’ve heard this story. Paul and Silas were in prison, and late in the evening, they were lifting up praise and hymns and thanksgiving, and their worship actually shook the foundation of the prison. Their chains fell off, and the doors opened. They broke a prison with their praise. It’s crazy. 

In the book of Zephaniah, we see that God sings over us, which is such a wild idea– God sings and dances over us. And there are 150 Psalms. That’s significant. That’s a large percentage of the Bible. 

And all the way to the end of the book, in the Book of Revelation, there are seven songs contained throughout. And if you were with us for any of the study of Revelation, you would understand, yes? Seven. Of course, it would be seven. Why would it be any other number than seven? 

We don’t have worship just so our gatherings have a better vibe. This is a big thing in Scripture, and it’s of deep importance to the heart of God. And I’d say this: it’s a full-body activity in that it requires the full body of Christ, and it requires all of us physically. 

Have you ever had a conversation with someone where they’re like, Yeah, I’m just really excited about this vacation we have coming up, and you’re like, Oh, you’re excited? You should tell your face because I didn’t realize if it was not for the words that you were saying that you were excited. Thank you for that clarity. 

I think there is something essential about praise and worship and bringing it into the physical realm. I don’t have too much time to really dive into all the different pictures of the postures of praise in the Hebrew language, but let me just list the words. 

Praise carries these translations: bowing, shouting, dancing wildly, kneeling, raising hands, clapping hands, singing, playing an instrument. Even the idea of lifting your voice has this idea of it’s loud. Lifting your voice loudly with intention and direction. 

And we don’t want the physical form without the heart attached to it. We don’t want to just be going through the motions while completely disconnected from Jesus, but we also don’t want to have what’s going on in our heart be contained or restricted. It’s meant to lead us into some measure of physical response. 

And let me just say this: if you’re in any way shutting that down, you’re missing out on the commands of Scripture. And in some ways, you may be buying into this ancient Gnostic idea that all that matters is the spiritual realm, that my physical body is bad, or at the very least, doesn’t matter. So, it’s not actually necessary to bring a physical expression of worship. 

This isn’t just a mental activity. It’s again, our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And strength isn’t just an abstract idea of our inner will and determination; it’s our body. 

And you might be saying, That’s all well and good, but it’s just not me, that’s not my personality, that’s more for certain types of people, the more expressive people, the people that talk with their hands. The emotional people, the artsy people. 

And I think we view a lot of these postures that we read about– the dancing, kneeling, shouting, clapping– we view these as options. They’re like, Oh yeah, they’re tools in the toolbox. But I know it says that, but you don’t really have to do it, like, they’re not going to check, they’re not going to enforce it. 

But I think maybe we should go, No, no, no. Worship can only happen because you bring it. No one can force your worship, no one can lead your worship. But I believe opting out of what the Lord requires is a dangerous place to be. 

It’s in the Psalms. It’s not sing to the Lord, all you creative people. Shout to the Lord, you extroverted people, make a joyful noise to the Lord. Trained vocalists only. No, it’s sing to the Lord all the earth, and that includes all of you and beyond. 

And in some of the Psalms, it actually includes all of creation. It invites the trees and the rivers and the mountains to participate in the song. And if you think you’re better than a mountain, I don’t know how to help you. 

And maybe you’re saying, I’m more stoic, more reserved, more cerebral. And I’m not diminishing that. I think it’s good to be a thoughtful person, but I think there can kind of be this dichotomy where it’s like, Oh yeah, like the worship, the singing is for kind of like the emotional people, and the teaching is more like for the thinkers, and it’s all of it is for all of us. 

And I don’t want to come across as condemning or like, Hey, we’re doing this poorly. I just want to say what we’re seeing is beautiful. But I think there’s more that we can be stepping into. 

There is so much more, stepping into what’s beyond what’s convenient, beyond what’s comfortable. I think it’s essential to make sure that your own comfort isn’t becoming an idol, unknowingly. 

And I say this as someone who comes from Minnesota– yeah, you know, Minnesotans are lovely people, and there’s all types of different people in Minnesota– but especially where we grew up, there were a lot of German people, Swedish, Norwegian people. People not necessarily known for their expressiveness. 

And I say that with love to all the family at home, but it reminds me of a YouTube video I saw years ago, where Bethel Music was doing a tour, and they had a worship night at a church in Minnesota. And they were singing King Of My Heart, and you know the, “You are good, good, oh,” and they kind of got to the end of the song, they kind of brought it down. 

And Jeremy Riddle, the worship leader, he said, Hey, what if we sang this like it’s true? And the person behind the camera very flatly, very matter-of-factly, said, It is true. And again, in love, I feel like that was such a perfect representation of what church in Minnesota can be like, where he’s just like, What we’re saying, it is true. What are you talking about? 

I think what prompted him to give that challenge is, I believe that you believe this, but there’s some sort of disconnect between what you’re singing and how you’re singing it. And again, I don’t want to be overly critical, and I’m sympathetic to all sorts of personality types. I’m not necessarily always an extroverted person, unless I have to be. 

But if the Lord is asking you for something, and you’re like, But it makes me feel weird, it’s like your personal feelings need to fall into alignment with what the Lord asks for and is worthy of. 

And I’ll say this gently but firmly: don’t hide behind your personality or your church background to excuse giving the Lord such a meager offering. It’s not driven by emotion. It’s driven by a fascination with the Lord and an unshakable knowledge that He is worthy of your praise. 

God is not insecure. His power and His worth is not dependent on our willingness to declare that reality. He’s God, whether we acknowledge Him or not. But isn’t it better for us to fully acknowledge Him? 

So, you can ask yourself this question: is my worship fueled by my emotions or desires, or is it fueled by my obedience? So, that’s just the first three words of this passage, come to Him, bring yourself before the Lord. 

LIVING STONES

All right, I’m going to move on. Living stones. We are living stones being built up as a spiritual house. Sometimes I’ve heard people ask this understandable question, which is: if all of my life is meant to be worship, and if God is everywhere, why does it matter if I come to church on a Sunday morning? 

And this isn’t a come-to-church-more-often talk, though, for the record, even though I may be biased because I work here, but you should come to church, and good job, you’re here. That’s great. But it’s come to church with a deeper understanding and a mindset shift that is not just you individually. You are being built together. 

Have you ever walked down the sidewalk, and you see just a random stray brick, and you go, Something happened here? Like, There’s got to be a story to this. You go, Hey, little guy, where are your friends? A brick by itself is really not all that useful. But when it’s placed together with other bricks, it finds its design and its purpose. 

And this point is further reiterated in the Book of Ephesians, chapter 2, where it says, “You– all of us– are fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God.” There’s all this architectural language, “Members of the household of God, being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together, grows into a holy Temple. 

“In Him, you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” So, Jesus is the cornerstone. That means, everything we do, everything we sing, everything that happens in this place is built upon, directed toward, and in alignment with Jesus. 

In this language, this Temple language, this dwelling place language, this spiritual house language, if you study the overarching narrative of Scripture, you see there’s this theme that emerges that’s planted in the very beginning of Genesis, and it’s followed all the way through the Book of Revelation. And it’s this idea of God dwelling among His people, this idea of building a spiritual house for the presence of God is actually just a return to the original assignment. 

And when we see in Genesis, we see what was lost in the garden is being gradually restored to a place of communion and encounter between God and humanity, where God commanded people to work and keep the land.

The language in here was too fascinating to leave out. Work means more than just to prepare and tend the garden, it’s actually the same word that’s used a little bit later in the priesthood context. It actually means to worship or to minister, and to keep the land means more than just to keep it tidy. It actually means to attend to the environment. 

And so, we see this theme that’s initiated in Genesis and carried all the way through. We see its final culmination in the very last pages of Scripture. In Revelation 21, it says, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them.” 

So, we’re being built together into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. Now, what do priests do on a basic level? They attend to something, they carry out tasks, they attend to someone, they minister to and serve someone, they make offerings. 

And if you want to just simply summarize what is the priesthood of all believers? It means we have direct access to God through Jesus, that no longer do we have an intermediary human priest who offers sacrifices on our behalf. That was the Old Covenant. 

Now, why is that no longer needed? Because there’s a better covenant. There’s a better High Priest, Jesus, who offered a better once-and-for-all sacrifice of Himself. So, there’s a new priesthood that we are called into. We still have a priestly role before God to offer ourselves as a living, spiritual sacrifice we see in Romans 12.

And so, we attend to the Lord. I think it’s important to acknowledge the Lord doesn’t have needs. He doesn’t need us. If He did, He wouldn’t be God. But just because He doesn’t have needs doesn’t mean He doesn’t have desires. And in so much of what we do, we attend to the desires of the Lord. 

We bring ourselves before Him, and so much of that is our bodies, yes, but our attention, our focus, our affection before Him. I’d encourage us all to grow in a perseverance, in praise. A perseverance versus a momentary enthusiasm. 

VISION FOR WORSHIP IN THIS HOUSE

I think one thing I’ve observed in the three years I’ve been here is sometimes– not all the time– but sometimes we’ll start in on a song, and there’s a lot of praise and thanksgiving and engagement happening. And then sometimes, after like, five minutes, there’s a little bit of a deflating that happens. 

And then we move on to another song, and then just kind of like, All right, yeah, we got a second wind, and then it kind of, you know, and that’s naturally going to happen. There’s going to be kind of this wave. But I want to encourage us in this, to lean in, to press into, in a lot of ways, build up an endurance in praise. 

Have you ever had a conversation with someone where it’s just so clear that the other person wants it to wrap up as soon as possible? Does that make you feel loved? Does it make you feel valued? Or that anything you have to say is of any importance to them? Probably not. 

What we do when we gather isn’t meant to be efficient communication. And I don’t think relationships are built on efficiency. They’re built by nurturing and spending time with the one you love. We’re not just conveying information and then moving on. It’s not a transaction that we just move on to the next thing. There is patience required, and I think it’s important on some level. 

I think we can all grow in the passionate, exuberant, outward worship. But I think there’s also this discipline of learning how to sit in His presence without feeling like, Let’s move on. Learning how to sit and linger and lean in and actively engage your heart and mind in worship. 

And so much of that is the time that we devote to praise and worship, and so much of that is just the space that we allow. Sometimes we’ll get to the end of a song and we’ll allow for space. And I don’t know if everyone knows that, it’s usually an intentional space. 

I’m not saying we do it perfectly. There are some times where it’s like, This is getting awkward, but there is typically, like, we sing a song and then we kind of allow for some space. And that isn’t just like, Hey, they’re doing kind of a cool musical thing. Let me know when my part comes back in. 

It is meant to be a space for the church, the people of God, to sing to Jesus in their own song, in their own language, beyond the confines of the structure of a song, finding deep within us. That’s why it’s so important to ingest the language of the Psalms and other places. It’s like you find this language just spilling out of you. 

Songs are great. We need songs. We’re writing songs. Songs are wonderful. But there’s something essential at least eight times in all of Scripture, it has the challenge to sing a new song to the Lord, something that hasn’t been written, something that’s deep within us that’s just overflowing out of our encounter and our history with the Lord. 

And we leave space for the Lord to move. We don’t want to just offer up our voices, we want to make space for Him to speak in and through our gatherings together, where we actually yield to what the Lord wants. 

We don’t want to just say, Lord, have Your way, and then just kind of move on and go on our own way. We want to say, No, Lord, we defer to You. And so, we minister to people, yes, we minister to one another, we encourage one another. But our first and foremost highest calling is to minister to the Lord in our life and in the way that we worship. So, we are a holy priesthood, and we offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

Any of you heard the name John Wimber? The founder of the Vineyard movement. I remember seeing a teaching of his years ago where he said, “You know, sometimes people say to me, ‘I didn’t get anything out of worship.’” And he says, “Oh, well, you’re not supposed to get anything out of worship. You’re supposed to give something. It’s not for you, it’s for Him.” 

And he tells a story where he went to a six-year-old’s birthday party, and this girl had an older sister, and the older sister was becoming very irritated because all the birthday stuff said her sister’s name. And there were pictures of her sister, and there were gifts for her sister, and the cake was the kind that her sister liked. 

And the mom had to eventually be like, You know, it’s not about you, it’s about your sister. It’s your sister’s birthday. It’s her party. And I think even though it should be obvious, I think it’s worth saying worship isn’t for us. It’s His party. 

Now we can enjoy it. It’s not meant to be joyless. We worship like it’s supposed to be this beautiful thing. There is something invigorating and beautiful and just right about stepping into what you were born to do. We were created for worship. And God, in His goodness, blesses us in countless ways. But at the center of it, does it please You, Lord? Is it blessing You? 

And when I first heard that years ago, it was a big paradigm shift for me, that leading worship isn’t about giving a group of people what they want, whether it’s upbeat songs or slow songs or new songs or old songs or spontaneous or prophetic songs or hymns, whatever. Not that any of those things are bad by any means. Those are all beautiful. 

But it’s leading a group of people into giving God what He wants, and He’s looking for worshipers. And yeah, there are certain styles or songs or leaders that more than others, you might connect to, and they might unlock and awaken worship within you.

I’m not denying that reality, but I think it’d be easy as a worship leader to just choose songs that are popular, that make everyone feel good about themselves, they have a nice vibe, that would provoke an outward response that may look like a successful gathering, but never actually get anywhere near to the heart of God. There’s a danger in that. 

When we talk about acceptable and pleasing worship to the Lord, acceptable worship is the kind of worship that God asks for, and we don’t get to determine what that is; He does. 

So, we are chosen. That means we’re desired, loved, and valued. We are royalty. We share in an inheritance and carry authority. We are a priesthood. We have access to the presence of God. 

We are meant to be holy, consecrated, set apart, living lives of purity and repentance, a people for His own possession– that means fully His, undivided, not giving our love or allegiance to another. 

“And all these things are so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who brought you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.” Or other translations say that you may proclaim the praises of Him. This is for praise. All of this is for praise, public declarations of the character and nature and works of God. 

And I just want to say this: that I long for the day when the congregation consistently takes charge in worship, where we as the worship team are just riding the wave with you all. We’re doing something together versus trying to convince us to go somewhere where we’re not reliant on the energy of a leader or a song to determine whether we’re engaged or not. And that comes from cultivating a deeper spiritual hunger where we’re not deterred from passionate praise and reverent adoration, no matter what is happening up here. 

There are times where you might be like, You know, it’s a mess today, but I’m going to still praise the Lord because He is worthy of that. And I want it to just encourage, like, again, I don’t want to be like, Hey, we’re doing this poorly. 

There is a beautiful measure of what we are seeing and expressing as a people. And I just know that there’s more, there’s more of the Lord that we have yet to experience, both individually and corporately, and I think it’s so important that we just acknowledge. 

Now, I’m closing here. We are God’s people. Once we were not a people, but now we are God’s people. Once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy. We are the people of God. 

I think it’s significant that in Psalm 22, it doesn’t say that the Lord is enthroned on the praises of a worship leader or a pastor. He’s enthroned on the praises of His people. And in some ways, I understand the practical necessities of the stage and the floor, but in a lot of ways, I really hate how it, in some ways, reinforces the kind of performer/audience mindset, or it gives opportunity to kind of sit back and speculate or consume rather than engage and enter in. 

And again, we’ve seen glimpses of this. We see it all the time, where there’s times where there’s no separation between the worship leader and the worship team and the congregation, where we’re just a people after the Lord, fully aware of our role as ministers to the Lord. 

There’s times where you all are leading, where we are trying to end the song, and you just won’t let us. And I love that. It’s like my favorite thing when the PA speakers can’t keep up with the sound of the roar of the congregation, of the people pouring out praise to the Lord. 

And so, I just want to take that fire and just fan it all the more because I think that sound, the roaring sound of the people, really is a picture of Heavenly worship in Revelation. We don’t really see worship leaders. 

We see multitudes gathered around the Throne, and there are waves of response, where maybe one group is exalting the Lord, and then that inspires a response from other people. 

But it’s not individual leaders, it’s multitudes. It’s a people lifting up loud voices proclaiming together their love and adoration for the only One who is worthy. 

So, let’s stand, let’s pray. Lord, we love You. Lord, I pray that as we live this out, as You continue to reveal to us what’s in Your heart, that we would respond as faithfully and as obediently as we can, that as You bring us deeper into an understanding of who You are and of Your worthiness, Lord, that would prompt within us a fire that couldn’t be contained. 

Lord, that in our times, as we gather together as Your people, that there would be something beautiful and explosive about individual people who have spent time with You, then being built together by You into a place for Your holy presence to dwell. 

That is what we want. That is all we want. We want to see Your glory. We want to bring You honor and praise with everything we have. We don’t want to limit or restrict anything from You when we sing, You can have it all, Lord. We want that to be true. We want that to be fully true. 

And so, Lord, help this to be lived out in our everyday moments, in the corporate worship times, in our individual worship times, and just start walking around life, Lord, we love You. We love You, and we thank You. In Jesus’ holy name, amen.