The typical song set in any church is five to seven songs. There’s nothing spiritually intrinsically good or bad about that amount. The truth is that sometimes more than seven songs are sung during a service, but seldom are there less than five songs sung in church. I have been known to lead in only four songs, but I want to draw your attention to a very famous song set that only includes two songs. These songs are the greatest songs for worship and yet you may have never heard them. They are found in Revelation 15. The titles are “The Song Of Moses” and “The Song Of The Lamb”. That’s it. Two of the greatest songs for worship that you won’t hear in church this Sunday are the ones that will be sung before the very presence of God.
“Great and marvellous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED” (Revelation 15:3,4).
I always hoped that one of my songs would be so powerful that it would be sung in heaven. Funny how my pride would desire such a thing when the greatest songs have already been written and are waiting to be sung.
In actuality, this is one song with two titles. It is a most beautiful song because it is about who God is. God is the subject. Notice the many references to Him. God’s works, God’s ways, and God’s worthiness make this the greatest worship song. No wonder there were no other songs sung in this meeting. When you sing of his greatness, why do you need any other things to sing about?
Also notice how often the word “Your” and “You” are used. In a day that is so self absorbed, it is telling that this worship song does not include the word “I”. Incidentally, the first letter in idolatry is “I”. Worship is about the Creator who had no beginning and has no end. It’s like the comparison between a lit candle and the sun or a drop of water and the ocean. Worship is about God and not about you or me.
The temptation is to focus on things that surround the throne like the scene found in verse 2 but that would be missing the point. The old phrase applies here: “That would be to miss the forest for the trees”. God, the great and marvellous One, is the subject of worship. He is the one who is so wonderful that He eclipses everything else.
Have you ever worshipped with others and found yourself being tempted to focus on the beauty of the lyrics, the beauty of the music, or the gifts of the singers and musicians? You are not alone. When something wonderful has happened, humanity has quickly forgotten to worship the one and only God of love. A case in point is a healing that took place in Lystra. Acts 14 records the miraculous healing of a lame man. Instead of the focus being on God, people began to exalt Paul and Barnabas. To their credit, they corrected people by saying, “You should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them” (Acts 14:15). Sadly, the people still wanted to worship them with sacrifices (Acts 14:18).
The most insidious trouble that we may face in any time of worship with others is not a wrong note by a guitar player or a song that is sung too fast. Our battle is to keep the focus of worship where it aught to be – on God.
He is great, marvellous, the Almighty, righteous and true in all of his ways. He is the King. He alone is holy and guess what. We are not.
Whether it is a song set of five, seven, or just two, worship of the Creator is about who He is and absolutely nothing else. We appreciate your Comments