We’re thinking a lot about how we do our church meetings, especially in light of our new 5-year plan/strategy at church.  Our pastor Kurt sent me links to a few videos from the Sovereign Grace WorshipGod Conference in August this year.  In the clip below, CJ Mahaney gets all emotional as he answers the question, why do we sing so many cross-centred songs?

I typed out my favourite bit too, because I think it is well worth remembering, as music leaders at church (he is talking about a quote from a book called Spiritual Depression: its causes and cures by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “have you ever realised that most of your unhappiness in your life is due to the fact that you’re listening to yourself rather than talking to yourself?").

from 6:12

I pray that everyone freshly realizes that most – not all, but most, now this is just sweet discernment that’ll set you free and make a difference on a daily basis – that most of your unhappiness, so when you’re unhappy you can assume this about your unhappy state and your unhappy soul.  Most of your unhappiness is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself rather than talking to yourself.  So you can transition from an unhappy soul to a happy soul, from a troubled soul to a hopeful soul by talking truth to yourself, by preaching the gospel to yourself.

Now if you’re a worship leader, here’s the pure joy.  Singing is a means of talking to yourself.  Singing is a means of biblical self-counselling.  So you have the privilege to lead people in a cessation of listening to themselves, and a celebration of talking to themselves and preaching the gospel to themselves so that at the end of the service, they leave edified, rather than unhappy.  And we do, we experience this every Sunday, do we not?  Most every Sunday, if you were unhappy at the outset of the meeting, you are happy at the end of the meeting.  Why?  Well it’s because we have been singing the gospel, and one can’t sing the gospel and cease listening without being freshly affected by the gospel. 

So what a unique gift singing is, and what a unique role and privilege you have to lead the church in this.  We are now, together, going to cease listening to ourself, we’re going to cease listening to sin, we’re going to cease listening to condemnation, we’re going to cease listening to legalism.  We’re going to cease listening, and instead we’re going to sing.  And we’re going to sing the gospel, and we’re going to sing gospel-centred doctrine to ourself and to God, and as we sing to the Saviour, we are going to be transformed in our souls.  And that is what you, as a worship leader, have as a privilege to do each and every Sunday.  What a privilege, what a joy.