{"id":31991,"date":"2022-09-10T15:51:59","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/4-reasons-to-plan-worship-around-the-word\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:51:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:51:59","slug":"4-reasons-to-plan-worship-around-the-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/4-reasons-to-plan-worship-around-the-word\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Reasons to Plan Worship Around the Word"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/div>\n<p><em>By Andrew H\u00e9bert<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If I\u2019ve heard these sayings once, I\u2019ve heard them a thousand times.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cPastor, why don\u2019t we ever sing such-and-such a song?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cPastor, I wish our music was more traditional.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cPastor, why don\u2019t we sing more of the songs we hear on the radio?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What is the rationale for singing the songs you do in worship? On what basis do you say yes to one song or no to another? For me, it\u2019s very simple.<\/p>\n<p>The songs we sing on Sunday are selected not based on a song\u2019s style, but on the text I\u2019m preaching.<\/p>\n<p>One of the first meetings I have on Monday mornings is with our worship pastor to plan the theme for the following Sunday\u2019s worship service. We determine the theme for the service based on the theme of the text I\u2019m preaching.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Our Monday Morning Meetings<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>We discuss the theme or themes of the text and then select songs to reinforce those themes. For instance, if I\u2019m preaching Romans 8:1, in which the theme of the text is that Jesus saves us from God\u2019s judgment, we might sing \u201cAnd Can It Be,\u201d a song that contains the lyrics, \u201cno condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him, is mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class='code-block code-block-1' style='margin: 8px 0;clear: both'> <\/div>\n<p>If I\u2019m preaching Ephesians 1, on the spiritual blessings we have in Christ, we might sing, \u201cIn Christ Alone.\u201d The song set may include songs written 400 years ago, or 4 months ago.<\/p>\n<p>The age or style of the song isn\u2019t important. Its message is important. And the message of the music is determined by the message of that week\u2019s text from Scripture.<\/p>\n<p>After the selection of music, we then plan other elements of the service accordingly, all of which will reaffirm and reiterate those themes. We may have a responsive reading or recite a portion of a creed or a confession.<\/p>\n<p>We may read another Scripture passage that coordinates with the message of the sermon\u2019s text. Even the arrangement of elements such as the Lord\u2019s Supper and baptism are carefully thought through to illuminate the gospel truths of that week\u2019s text.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve found there are a few benefits to organizing our services in this way. Here are four of them.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>1. It allows us to submit every part of the service to Scripture.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>My conviction about preaching is the text drives the content of my sermon. Thus, my preaching is text-driven. If I\u2019m committed to text-driven preaching, why would I not also be committed to text-driven worship?<\/p>\n<p>Why not allow the text for the week drive everything about that worship service?<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>2. It gives a sense of unity to the service.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Rather than having a sermon about one thing and music about something completely different, there\u2019s a unified flow to the entire service that drives home the themes of that week\u2019s text.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:1em\">\n<div class=\"centered-text-area\">\n<div class=\"centered-text\" style=\"float: left\">\n<div class=\"u004f6906ca56fa6ce39d042c7b33e4c6-content\">See also&nbsp; 4 Changes I&#8217;d Make If I Could Start Ministry Over<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ctaButton\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>If I strive to have a unified theme in my sermon, why would I not also work to prepare our worship service this way?<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>3. It allows the selection of songs to be determined by something objective (the text) rather than subjective (style preferences).<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>We don\u2019t make the selection of music and the arrangement of our services based on anyone\u2019s subjective preferences. Style is subordinate to substance.<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t always sing my favorite style of music. That really doesn\u2019t matter. At all.<\/p>\n<p>What matters is that we\u2019re singing songs that are God-centered. Style is secondary. I\u2019m not interested in tickling the ears of my congregation members or having my ears tickled.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, we don\u2019t pick music based on how it sounds, but on the message it conveys. This protects us from being self-serving or people-pleasing.<\/p>\n<p>The objective message of the text is what determines the particular songs we select on any given week.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>4. It allows thematic variety in our services.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>One of the benefits of preaching through books of the Bible is I\u2019m forced to deal with topics and themes I might not otherwise cover. Expository or text-driven preaching helps protect against hobby horses or soapboxes.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s such a refreshing panoply of themes and topics in Scripture. If I preach through books of the Bible, I\u2019ll eventually deal with all of them. This protects me against monotony.<\/p>\n<p>Many preachers are known for pounding one drum and one drum only. Allowing the text to drive the sermon gives my week-to-week preaching a healthy variety. This is also true of the song selection.<\/p>\n<p>We aim to find songs that work together with the text. This protects us from a \u201ctop 40\u201d approach in which we only ever sing songs with a similar style or a similar message. The variety of the music, both in style and message, is as diverse as the variety of the texts preached.<\/p>\n<p>The most important part of this approach is that by it, we seek to glorify God, submit ourselves to His Word, and do what we do intentionally. If worship is designed to show God\u2019s worth, then we want the music not to be about us and our preferred choices but to be about Him, driven by Him and His Word.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-profile-box square gb-font-size-18 gb-block-profile gb-profile-columns\">\n<div class=\"gb-profile-column gb-profile-content-wrap\">\n<h2 class=\"gb-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\"><strong>ANDREW H\u00c9BERT<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"gb-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\"><strong>@andrewhebert86<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"gb-profile-text\">\n<p><em>Andrew is a husband, father of four, and pastor of Paramount Church in Amarillo, Texas.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<ul class=\"gb-social-links\"><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"su-box su-box-style-default\" id=\"\" style=\"border-color:#000000;border-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"su-box-title\" style=\"background-color:#333333;color:#FFFFFF;border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px\">Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n<div class=\"su-box-content su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"border-bottom-left-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"one-third first\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"two-thirds\">\n<h2>Worship Essentials: Growing a Healthy Worship Ministry Without Starting a War!<\/h2>\n<p>Mike Harland<\/p>\n<p>  FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class='yarpp yarpp-related yarpp-related-website yarpp-template-thumbnails'>\n<h3>Related posts:<\/h3>\n<div class=\"yarpp-thumbnails-horizontal\">  3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Andrew H\u00e9bert If I\u2019ve heard these sayings once, I\u2019ve heard them a thousand times. \u201cPastor, why don\u2019t we ever sing such-and-such a song?\u201d \u201cPastor, I wish our music was more traditional.\u201d \u201cPastor, why don\u2019t we sing more of the songs we hear on the radio?\u201d What is the rationale for singing the songs you &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/4-reasons-to-plan-worship-around-the-word\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;4 Reasons to Plan Worship Around the Word&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31991\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}