A Man With Leprosy
A man with leprosy came to him (Jesus) and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: ”See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
Mark 1:40-45
…as a worship leader, the stage has this gigantic pendulum swing that has the potential to be of utmost glory to Christ, but like everything else in life also has great potential to TAKE glory from the One who is truly deserving. at least for me, whenever i see, say, a christian on stage (it is obvious that every christian has their own struggles or “thorns in their sides” if you will), immediately i assume that the struggle of this particular christian must be pride considering he/she is continually the center of attention. not only is that wrong on my behalf considering I am a worship leader, i desire to lead my family in the purest state of worship and i desire to be looked upon with trust and respect while leading (keeping in mind that the original mindset violates Matthew 7:2 (For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.) which would never allow the above desires to take place) BUT if this is the mindset of me while in a crowd, i cant help but assume that there must be at least one other individual within the crowd that looks upon that same person on stage as i do AND while i am am leading WHICH puts a lot of pressure on the worship leader to be mindful of his/her pride. …hmm…seems to be exactly opposite to where i desire a night of worship to go.
in the very first verse given at the top, Jesus heals this man and it is obvious that…well…Jesus did it. directly after the healing Jesus presents His will to the man. Jesus seems to have two specific things on His mind that He desires to be a response of this happening (and we may not understand why, but we do KNOW that Jesus’ will is by far the best way). ONE, He explains that He does not want the man to tell anybody about what just took place, and TWO, He seems to have a very specific priest (maybe priests) on His mind that He wants this man to show His glory to. the man obviously did exactly opposite of what Jesus warned him NOT to do, but that part is not what i want to write on. at the moment after the healing and after Jesus delivered His will to the man, i placed myself in that man’s shoes. (STOP…i will get back to this)
as a worship leaders who know the potential mindsets of their followers, the pendulum of the stage, and our desires to be completely SELFLESS in worship, PRIDE is our biggest fear. Not only is pride the thing that caused the devil and 1/3 of God’s angles to be cast from the presence of God (which is about the least glory you can bring to Him), BUT as a worship leader on stage, we are completely exposed to a given number of people and if pride were to be revealed…well…that would be detrimental to our reputation and to our ministry.
the theme i seem to be discovering among worship leaders is that they FEAR pride, because of all this.
now, satan LOVES fear. if pride is something you are fearful of having in your life, dont you think satan’s goal of taking your eyes off of Christ could best be achieved by accusing you of being the essence OF pride? not only would you be doused in guilt, but your spiritual eyes would be completely consumed in the thought of your pride (which would fulfill satan’s desire to take your eyes off of Christ).
back to where i stopped when i placed myself in the healed man’s shoes. Christ showed compassion on me and healed me from leprosy. right now He just commanded me not to tell anyone, but a specific person(s). He told me specifically to go and show this priest what He had done to me. i cant help but think that if i were in the same mindset that i was (fearful of pride), naturally i would feel like this would be a great opportunity for my pride to flourish, or maybe that i would be accused by the great accuser of my pride directly after Christ commanded me to go. ”well, i dont want to be prideful, so if i stay away from talking about what Christ did to ME, then pride cannot exist in me”. congratulations david, your ears have yet again managed to tune themselves to the one who lies and by doing so have strayed clear of what could have been a powerful situation considering it was exactly where God wanted you to be which means all scenarios were exactly as they needed to be and the timing was perfect, BUT, hey, at least your pride is safe (whatever that means).
AHH! worship leaders, RISE UP! take a stand against what is wrong! if the Lord Himself has called you into a place that leads others to Himself through your presence on stage, through music, or any kind of leadership, than THIS, my friend, is EXACTLY where you are going to be most effective for kingdom growth and where you will bring the most glory to the name of Jesus Christ. the Lord is ruler of your heart and is the only One who has the ability to bring any kind of growth or transformation to it, so if pride takes any sort of reign in your heart, then it needs to go, BUT you have been given no power to do so. this means that that area of your heart is already being worked on by the Lord, if you have invited His Spirit into your heart and you are remaining in Him, so there is no need to be mindful of your sin. He has given us a way to over come evil. Romans 12:21-Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. this verse explains that good is the only thing that can overcome evil, and God is the only thing that is good, so if we take our eyes off of what is evil (pride) and place them onto what is good (God) evil naturally flees. THIS is EXACTLY what worship through music needs to look like. not worrying about failure, or how your pride has potential to kick in, but to step out onto that stage mindful of your anointing the Spirit has given you, confident that the stage is where the Lord has specifically called you, and prepared to point to Christ in everything. (Romans 9:17-For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”) your job is to lead people into His presence. period. is that even possible to take someone to a place you dont know how to get to? imagine a place that you LIVE in…you have been there for YEARS…you know it like the back of your hand…you would know how to get there with your eyes closed. this doesnt come from luck, or hope, or desire…it comes from REMAINING in this home. if you make Christ your home and remain in Him…to lead people into His presence would be like turning around. oh…that might be prideful of me to think that I have the ability to lead millions into His presence you say? deal with it…if the Lord has called me there, He is in me, and i am obedient…i (Christ in me) is unstoppable…that is just how it is. satan doesnt want us to have the understanding of how powerful we (Christ in us) are when we remain in Him. dont let him accuse you…allow Christ to change the world through you.
my challange to you is this: to challange eveything you have ever been “taught” in life about church (or anything for that matter) and lean it up against truth (His word) and see if it remains standing. if it does, walk in it…if it doesnt, turn from it and seek what the truth really is.
we only have a given number of days on this planet to Glorify the name of Jesus Christ…there is no time to be thinking about what others may think about what i do or to bask in my own desires. what if we could remain mindful Christ’s will and could give a rip towards what pleased this body and mind? what if we were not driven by our emotional and physical “needs”, but were completely driven by what the Lord says to do in His word with the understanding that all the other “needs” are naturally fulfilled through doing so? dont just read this. think about it and ask the Lord to challenge you…if you dare…
thats the beauty of a leader driven by Christ…
