When my studio was still open I enrolled in several professional organizations.  The one dearest to my heart was the small group here in the county.  We met seven times a year, had our business meeting, followed by a lively program one of us, or sometimes all of us, participated in, then a country potluck lunch that had us all trying to keep our eyes open as we taught that afternoon.

            Keeping the membership up was a constant battle.  We talked to our friends, invited neighbors, even advertised in the weekly paper.  The results barely kept up with the attrition of old age, relocation, and moms going back to work.  Oh, everyone got a kick out of the programs.  No one turned down a free lunch.  But when they found out they would have to work on fundraisers and projects, suddenly everyone was too busy. 

            Some of them paid dues, but never showed up, thinking that was at least a monetary help.  Eventually we decided that if that was all they would do, we would not approach them the next year to renew their membership.  Our state and national affiliation dues were charged per capita, and our miniscule local dues barely covered them.  What we were about wasn’t fun and games and good food.  Our stated aim was to help keep music programs in the poor rural schools and provide scholarships for worthy students to help with the costs of private lessons.  If a member did not have the same interests, he really didn’t belong anyway.

            Isn’t it that way with the Lord’s body?  Too many are on the rolls in name only.  Oh, they may come, but not for the reason the scriptures give.  Assembling with the saints is not about entertainment; it’s about provoking one another to love and good works, Heb 10: 24, 25.  It isn’t about showing off our talents and receiving praise; it’s about edification and giving God praise, 1 Cor 14:26.  It isn’t about whether I approve of what went on or who is there, it’s about communing with the Lord, Matt 26:29.  It certainly isn’t about judging others, their clothing, their words, their actions; it’s about realizing that the Judge of all is watching my worship and deciding whether or not it is acceptable.

            If all I do is sit there waiting to be catered to, or even uplifted for that matter, I have not fulfilled the real duty of meeting with my brethren no matter how many times I sit on that pew, or how long.  Walking in those doors places an obligation on me to act, not react.  Claiming membership means I need to get busy, not be served.  Putting my name on a roll means I do more than put my check in the plate. 

            Eventually my little organization no longer invited members in name only to re-up.  What would happen if the elders did that in the church?  But here is a more sobering thought—the Lord is already doing it.  Is your name still on His list?

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done… And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:12,15.

Dene Ward

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            That is exactly what our lungs are—hot air balloons.  Most of the time we only use a small amount of their capacity.  That is why taking a deep breath can have such a profound effect.  We are not used to having that much oxygen in our systems all at once.  I have heard that when a person actually begins to use his lungs to their capacity, those who have not smoked in years are suddenly expelling it.  It sat at the bottom of their lungs all that time.  I don’t know if that is true, but I would not be surprised.

            When teaching voice lessons, one of the biggest challenges is to teach people how to breathe, and then how to manage all that air.  Taking a deep breath will not accomplish a thing if you just whoosh it all out with the first note you sing.  If you take too big a breath, you will not be able to control how much you let out at once.  Because you have filled to capacity, the minute you apply any pressure at all with your diaphragm, you will lose close to half of it on the first word.  It is far better to fill to about 90%--you will still have far more than you are used to having.  You will also have the ability to mete out what you need and sing all the way through a phrase without gasping for air in front of your audience.

            When I thought about that, suddenly I understood a word I had been ignoring in one of those oft-quoted passages:  for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, Matt 12:34.  We usually just say, “You can’t speak what you don’t feel,” which may be true, but it is possible to have things come out in ways you never intended at all. 

            I remember riding to a gospel meeting with another couple many years ago.  I was in the backseat with the other woman, while Keith sat up front with the man.  Motion sickness can hit me at the drop of a hat.  I tried to be polite and actually look at the woman whenever I spoke to her, but that looking back and forth to the side, all that scenery rushing past behind her head, along with the larger sense of lateral sway in the backseat, was taking a toll on me.  Finally I said, “I’m sorry.  I just can’t look at you any more; it’s making me sick.”

            You see what I mean.  Sometimes the bad things that come out of your mouth are perfectly innocent. 

            But Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”  Aha!  I looked up that word.  It’s a nice long Greek word, also translated, “remain,” as in something that remains over and above what is needed.  In Matthew 14, Jesus fed 5000 people with five loaves and two fish.  He not only fed them, but he fed them so abundantly that they all ate and were filled and they took up that which remained (that long Greek word) of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full, v12.  The word is also translated “exceed,” “enough and to spare,” and “abound,” as in the grace of God…abounds to the many, Romans 5:15.  How much grace do you want God to give you?  I hope he gives me more than just barely enough, and the use of this word proves it will be plenty.

            So what comes out of my heart is what I stuff it with, what I cram in there every day, filling it to the brim and overflowing.  And, just like when I take too deep a breath and the pressure from my diaphragm makes too much air gush out all at once, when I am under pressure, what I have crammed into my heart is what will come out.  Is it bitterness for what I have had to endure?  Anger at God for the trials he allows?  Resentment of everything and everyone because of how my life has turned out?  Or is it love, humility, kindness, generosity, contentment, and faith?  

            Whatever it is, there is no denying what I have been storing away when all of a sudden it bursts upon the scene in a gust of hot air. 

Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.  The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.   When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.  The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth.  The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for the lack of sense, Prov 10:10, 11, 19-21.

Dene Ward

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A few weeks ago, Satan finished what he started three years ago and stole my identity.  I have packed up the last of my teaching supplies: sheet music, collections, method books, assignment notebooks, theory books, technique books, concerti, history notebooks, listening labs, computer disk theory games, stickers, rhythm instruments, home made music bingo games, magic slates with grand staffs permanently imprinted on them, even my old textbook How to Teach Piano Successfully.  I have sent them on to a young piano teacher in Ohio, who is just starting out.

            I had a weepy moment or two.  This part of my life—35 years worth plus all those years learning--is definitely over now.  There is no going back; I simply cannot see the music any longer.  But I am happy to know that these things will be put to good use—that other little children will learn with them, and that a young preaching couple will have a bit more coming in to help out with a skimpy income.  But for a moment the large empty space under my piano made me feel invisible. 

            I am no longer the piano and voice teacher in Union County. 

            I no longer open my doors every afternoon to excited little faces, making sure that grubby little hands are washed before touching the keys, but still picking up every ailment my students brought my way, including parvo once, for goodness sake!  It must have been all the hugs. 

            I am no longer playing at weddings half a dozen times a year.  I am no longer meeting with my fellow teachers once or twice a month, serving as association officer or chairman of this committee or that. 

            I no longer take a dozen students to various competitions, crying with them for their losses and cheering for their wins.  I no longer spend hours on themed spring programs, gathering up suitable music, matching it to each student’s personality, then working out the details, including skits and grand finales. 

            I no longer present high school seniors in debut recitals with formals and tuxes, long-stemmed red roses, and a glittery reception afterward. 

            Satan has stolen all of that from me with this disease.

            It could have been a real problem for me.  I could have sunk into a depression difficult to come out of.  Then I remembered my real identity.

            Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God; and we are, 1 John 3:1.

            Listen my beloved brethren did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him? James 2:4.

            But you are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, 1 Pet 2:9.

            He has granted unto us precious and exceeding great promises, that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, 
2 Pet 1:4.

            The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him, Rom 8:16,17.

            I still have my identity, and so do you.  It’s the one that counts, the one that Satan cannot steal, the one that will last forever.

Dene Ward

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            One afternoon many years ago we stopped at an Olive Garden restaurant for a late lunch.  It was about 2:30, and it would be our only meal of the day. The place was nearly empty, so we were seated at a nice table and an eager young waitress, her order pad and pen held at the ready, came to serve us.

            “We’ll start with bruschetta,” I said. 
            “Huh?  Oh!  You mean brush-etta.”
            No, I thought.  I meant what I said, “Brrroo-skeht-ta.”

            Now, you must understand that I had been teaching Italian aria and art song for a couple dozen years at that time.  My students regularly stood before judges who marked them down on mispronounced Italian, so I had studied everything I could, constantly referencing an Italian pronunciation guide, and checking with other teachers who had sung opera.  I knew exactly how to pronounce “bruschetta.”

            I had learned some lessons the hard way.  I remember one especially embarrassing and painful occasion at state contest.  I don’t recall the exact word, but somewhere in it was the letter sequence “g-i-a.”  I had the student pronounce that as two syllables:  “jee-ah.” 

            “That’s not quite right,” the judge said, as nicely as she could.  The i turns the g into a j.  After that, it has done its work, and is not pronounced.  The syllable is simply “jah,” not “jee-ah.”

            Since we’re into Italian food at this point, Let me illustrate it this way:  parmagiana reggiano cheese is pronounced “par-ma-jah-nah reh-jah-no,” NOT “par-ma-jee-ah-nah reh-jee-ah-no,” and that chef named “Giada” is “Jah-da,”  NOT “Jee-ah-dah.”  Pay attention sometime when she says her name herself. 

            Now here is my point:  who should I listen to about how to pronounce Italian—a college student moonlighting at a chain restaurant or the voice judge, a woman who has sung on the operatic stage many years longer than that waitress has been alive, singing Italian for hours at a time, and who can even translate it?

            How do you choose whom to listen to?  Who gets your vote for the one to take advice from?  Is it someone your own age who has as little experience as you do?  Is it perhaps someone older, but whose only qualification in your mind is that s/he is “fun” and “cool,” and a whole lot more so than the other old fuddy-duddies?  Is it someone who gives you the answers you want, who makes everything easy, even things that are not and should not be easy? Is it someone who makes you laugh?  Is it someone who speaks in “bumper sticker?”  Or is it someone who has experienced the ups and downs of life and come through it sane and faithful, someone who may not be able to keep an audience’s attention but can tell you from a heart of concern exactly what you need to hear—whether or not it’s what you want to hear?  Most important of all—is it someone who knows the Word of God inside out and has stuck with it even when it made his own life difficult, who tells you what God says, not what he thinks or feels?

            Mispronouncing Italian is no big deal in most of our lives, but mispronouncing the Word of God can cost you your soul.

Listen to advice and accept instruction that you may be wise in your latter end, Prov 19:20.

Dene Ward

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            I have read those headings in the book of Psalms for years—“To the Choirmaster”--but it has only been recently that it dawned on me that in the Old Testament specially trained Levites led, and usually sang, in the Temple worship.  If Romans 15:4 means what it says about learning from the Old Testament, we have the perfect authority for song leaders in our worship services today.  Song leaders—choirmasters.  The entire church, of course, is the choir now, but even non-musicians need a leader.

            My own father was a song leader in the church for nearly as long as he was a Christian.  All that stopped him was his health—he could no longer get enough breath or stand up long enough or wave his arm high enough to continue those last few years.  He had a clear tenor voice in his youth, not the easiest part to sing.  He knew and had led songs from a dozen hymnals.  Not only did he lead in the church, but he sang at funerals and weddings as well.  He always sang.  I do not remember a time when he was outside working on a sick car or a chugging lawn mower or a broken shelf that he was not singing—hymns, mind you, nothing else.

            We moved a few times in my youth, but even when we stayed in one place for a few years, it was not unheard of for a preacher from another congregation to show up on our doorstep asking him to consider changing his membership because they needed a song leader.  And he usually did.  Leading the song service was his bailiwick and he fulfilled it better than any man I have known before or since.  Why?  Because he viewed it as God meant it to be viewed—service to Him.  When he died my mother buried him with a Bible in one arm and a songbook in the other.

            As a music education major in college, I took classes in choral directing.  Guess what I learned?  Hardly anything new—I had learned it already from my daddy.  What I got was a new appreciation for a man who had set about to be the best he could be for his God.  Let me share a few tips with you.  Some of the details come from my choral directing professor, but the concepts I saw every Sunday of my childhood.

            1) If you call yourself a song leader, then be one--lead!  That means a host of things as you will see below.

            2) Your job as a song leader is not to show off how well you can sing by singing the most difficult songs in the book.  It is not your chance to sing your favorite hymns. Your job in the church is to enable the group to worship God in song, according to their ability.

            3) That means you need to know your group.  If you have an untrained group, few among them who know anything about music, don’t lead songs that a professional choir should be singing.  Don’t specialize in songs that require a roadmap and a compass to figure out what to sing when.  Don’t major in modes and polyrhythm.  If you do use some of these songs, then be realistic.  Untrained ears will never manage the blue notes in “Sing and Be Happy.”  Don’t be arrogant about it, as if all these ignorant people are beneath you.  A lot of them can probably do things you can’t do.

            If you have a predominantly older group, lay off the syncopated music.  They simply don’t get it.  Anyone listening on the side will think they are hiccupping as one manages it here and there, but 90% sing it straight.

            Another thing about older groups—they do not have the breath capacity of younger people.  Don’t sing songs so fast they have no time to catch a breath.  They may all pass out on you, but more than that, they simply won’t be able to worship God, which is what you are supposed to be helping them do, not hindering them.  Good leaders do not insist on what they want to do.  They do what is best for the group they are leading, whether it is what they want to do or not.

            4) Remember—this is not about you.  If you are a bass, resist the temptation to sing only low songs or to pitch them lower.  If you are a tenor, try not to pitch them too high.  Either way, you will completely fail in your mission—enabling the whole group to sing, not just you.  In fact, it is entirely possible to injure voices by having them sing a poorly pitched song.  If you cannot sing a song where it is written, then you probably ought not to be a song leader.

            5) And if you claim to be a leader you must of necessity do three things:  stand where you can be seen, beat a clear pattern, and sing loud enough to be heard.

            If you use a pattern, people need to see it in order to stay with it.  For those who do not understand the beat, or if you do not beat a pattern, they must be able to see your mouth.  That also means you shouldn’t be asking people to stand very often, particularly if you have a lot of elderly folks.  Yes, they have the option of staying seated, but guess what they see when everyone else is standing?  A row of backs—you will be hidden behind them.  How can they possibly follow you?

            As to the pattern, don’t get too elaborate.  The point where the beat actually occurs (the ictus) must be obvious, and at the bottom of the pattern, not at the top.  If you draw so many curlicues in the air that no one knows where the 1, 2 and 3 are, don’t get upset if they lag behind—it’s your fault.  

            And they do need to hear you.  If you can’t sing loud enough, stand in front of a microphone.  Don’t get “humble” and think it makes you a better servant of God not to be heard.  Leaders of necessity need to be heard—any kind of leader.  If all you do is start the song, you may as well sit in the pew.  (And if you are in the congregation, then monitor your own voice and do not try to out-sing the leader.  There is more than one way to usurp authority!) 

            6) This is worship to God, remember?  That means you should give some thought to your selections.  Would you ever walk into a Bible class, sit on the front row, scribble down a few passages and expect to teach a good lesson?  Your song service should do one of two things—either complement the sermon of the day, or teach its own lesson.  Some preachers like the songs to match their sermons; some don’t.  If he does, call him and find out what the lesson is about.  If the latter, then choose a topic yourself, or maybe a line of thought, and choose songs that teach about that topic or lead the singers in a logical progression of thought that will edify them.  Both of those take preparation.

            I could probably go on.  Just reminiscing about things I heard my daddy say over and over has already made this a bit long, though.  Here is the key--this is about your service to God.  If you remember that, you cannot help but be the best song leader you can be.
    
I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise, Heb 2:12.

Dene Ward

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            Even non-musicians have a general concept of time signature, or meter--how many beats are in a measure.  Everyone taps their toes to music.  Musicians take that a step further—where is the pulse in a measure?

            Let’s see if I can make this sensible to non-musicians.  Every measure has beats of equal time, sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes four or more—that’s what you tap your foot to.  But each beat is NOT equal in quality, in how strong it is.  The first beat of every measure, no matter what the meter, is the strongest.  In triple meter, it is the only strong beat, so we count 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, etc.  That means that while there may be three beats in the measure, there is only one strong pulse per measure.  We would never count 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3, with each beat receiving the same stress.  Just try counting the two different methods a couple of times and feel the difference.  

            Now imagine you are watching two couples doing a waltz, the quintessential triple meter composition.  The first couple, using the first method with only the first beat accented, will appear lighter than air, swirling around as that first (and only) strong beat propels them forward to the next measure and the next and the next all around the dance floor.  The second couple, using the every-beat-gets-a-push method might as well be marching, complete with army boots.  When one of my fellow students in choral directing either could not feel the difference himself, or could not get the choir (his fellow conducting students) to perform it properly, our professor would insist that he use a rolling beat pattern.  You “roll the gospel chariot” but with your right hand only, feeling beat number one at the bottom of each roll, in effect a one-beat pattern.  If the choir cannot see you beating out each beat in the measure, they are less likely to stomp on each beat, and more likely to sing with a forward motion—singing horizontally with a forward impetus toward the next measure and the next, instead of vertically, stomp, stomp, stomp on each word of the song.

            So now you have had your music lesson for the day, what of it?  Just this:  sometimes we go through our lives as Christians plodding downward with all our momentum lost on each step, instead of joyfully waltzing our way along the road to Heaven.  It becomes all about following the rules for the sake of following the rules, instead of becoming someone new, living a life with purpose and a destination in mind. 

            Do you know how fast to sing a song in triple meter?  You should be able to sing four measures in one breath without gasping at the end of those four measures.  Sometimes with our plodding along I forget the first word of the phrase before I even get to the last.  It isn’t about going faster; it’s about singing with understanding. When you sing with the proper accent in the proper place it’s much easier to pay attention to what you are singing and edify yourself and everyone else, the whole point to singing in the first place.

            And when we just plod through life we tend to lose purpose as well.  1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2. Would you even notice if you stopped in the middle of a measure?  And in life would you even notice if you lost sight of the goal?  Suddenly the point of it all slips away from you and all this plodding becomes more than you can bear.  When you keep rules just for the sake of keeping rules, or out of habit and tradition, you lose your sense of purpose, and hope and joy goes flying out the window along with any meaning you thought your life might have had.  If something does not change, you will eventually give up.

            Keep that lilt in your life.  Know why you are doing what you are doing.  Your faith must be your own, not something handed down through the generations.  Your worship must be real, not rote practice.  You must become someone else, not the same old person who just happens to sit somewhere special every Sunday morning.  That sense of direction will lighten your step and propel you to a place you want to be.  And you can enjoy the trip itself a whole lot more.  1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3…

I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore, Psa 16:8-11.

Dene Ward

            
Quite a few of you are probably scratching your heads and saying, “There is something not quite right about that quote.”  Look at good old Col 3:16 and many versions have …teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.  
 
I was doing a study of all the “one another” passages recently, and discovered, to my great surprise, that this passage is NOT a “one another” passage.  All those other passages, like greet one another, 1 Cor 16:20;   confess your faults to one another, James 5:16; and love one another, 1 John 3:23, use a completely different Greek word from this one in Colossians.  
 
The word here is simply a pronoun, in this instance much better translated “yourselves.” The other word involves reciprocal action—both parties greeting, confessing, loving or whatever else in all the passages where it is used.  The pronoun in Colossians does not.  In fact, in many cases it is a singular pronoun, herself, himself, itself, yourself. If any would follow me let him deny himself, Mark 8:34; let man examine himself, 1 Cor 11:28; he
humbled himself and became obedient, Phil 2:8.  If you check those out, you will see that reciprocal action is not a necessary element of that pronoun.  In fact, as a scholarly brother recently pointed out in one of our Bible classes, the assembly of the church is nowhere in sight in the context of Colossians 3:16 so there can be no thought of reciprocation. All of this applies to Ephesians 5:19 as well.  Same word, same type of context.
             
So that’s interesting, and something you might not have ever realized before.  What of it? Just this—we have so often pigeonholed certain acts into the assembly that we may have missed out on one of God’s greatest teaching devices.  I am supposed to be teaching and admonishing myself, day in and day out, by singing.  Think for a minute:  how did you learn your alphabet?  Is there anyone out there who did not sing those letters to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star?”  How did you learn the books of the Bible, the twelve apostles, the twelve sons of Jacob? (Shhh!  Don’t tell, but if I want to get those twelve sons in birth order and make sure I do not leave someone out, I still have to sing that song!)
             
God knew a long time before modern educational theory and saturday  morning Schoolhouse Rock that you can learn by singing. Not only can it help you memorize a list or a scripture, but a song can get you safely through a temptation. It can cheer up a depressed moment.  It can make you realize exactly how blessed you are. Some of those words we sing can even shame us into better behavior.  
 
It isn’t just that we are allowed to sing in places other than the assembly.  It is
that we are told to. Paul, the writer of Colossians, followed his own instructions.  What did he and Silas do while languishing in stocks in a Philippian prison, not sure what the next day might hold?  They prayed and sang hymns to God. So turn off that radio, get that iPod out of your ears, unless of course, you have chosen spiritual songs to listen to and sing with all day. Teach and admonish yourself in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Don’t lose out on the hours of teaching that God intended us all to have.
 
Let my lips utter praise, for you teach me your statutes. Let my tongue sing of your word, for all your commandments are righteousness, Psa 119:171,172.

Dene Ward

Those piano competitions I spoke of last week are fun and uplifting. It is wonderful to hear the future stars of the concert stage make two full days of
beautiful music. Which does not mean it was an easy weekend. 90% of the
performances we heard were mechanically and technically perfect. Memory lapses were rare and finger slips even rarer. So how do you choose a
winner?
 
Actually, at the end of each session when our panel of three compared notes, we had all picked out the same three or four that distinguished themselves above the others: pianists who played with feeling; who made the melody sound like someone singing; who understood how to shape phrases, not just separate them; who had the musical ear and technical ability to voice their chords; students who played the non-melody hand so far in the background it was as if it were in another room; who knew the difference between a Mozart
forte and a Beethoven forte; who understood that rubato meant a roportionate
time-stretching like the lettering on an inflated balloon, not just a rush followed by a drag. In short, the winners were those who played not only with perfect mechanics, but with artistry as well—they put their hearts into it.
 
God’s people seem to have had a problem with that for a long time. The prophets were constantly reminding them that while God expected absolute obedience, form worship was not acceptable. If perfect mechanics were all that mattered, he could have created a world full of robots to fill the bill. I hate, I despise your feasts and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies, God told Israel. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and your meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts, Amos 5:21,22. Why? Because it was a mechanical following of ritual. All during their “worship” they were saying, When will the new moon be gone that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small and the shekel great, dealing falsely with the balances of deceit; that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat, 8:5,6. Their religion did not affect their hearts and certainly not their everyday lives.
 
Jesus dealt with their descendants, not only by blood, but in attitude. Were the Pharisees right to require exact obedience to the Law? Jesus said they were: The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. All things whatsoever they bid you, these things do, Matt 23:2,3. He even praised what we might consider petty exactitude: you tithe mint, anise, and cumin…these things you ought to have done…Matt 23:23. But like their ancestors, their heart was not in it. Hear Jesus’ whole indictment: Woe to you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint, anise, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith; but these things you ought to have done, and not left the other undone.
 
Correct mechanics are important. A lot of folks in the Bible learned that the hard way. But our hearts are more important, according to Jesus. It is easier to just go down a list and do what we are told than it is to monitor our hearts and keep them in line—but God has never had much truck with laziness either. I didn’t give out any prizes for mechanical playing those weekends at the university. What makes us think God will give them out for mechanical worship?
 
“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, and ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:6-8 
 
Dene Ward

As a former adjudicator for a couple of different teaching organizations, I spent several spring weekends judging competitions at the University of North Florida. Being a piano and voice teacher, my students were often in similar competitions. A young man once questioned me on the wisdom of this. Wasn’t I creating undue stress on my students? Didn’t I think that this emphasis on competition would take the joy of music away from them? 

I could go on and on about that one, but suffice it to say, I would never have done anything that I believed harmed those children. I never forced any of them to participate in any competition, but I can make this observation from over 30 years of teaching: the ones who never competed never advanced as
quickly, and always quit after two or three years—no exception. The others made rapid progress and the majority of them stuck with it long enough to give a senior recital. 

That spurred thoughts of the negative and positive aspects of “judging” in the scriptures. Usually all we hear is Judge not that you be not judged, and usually from someone who is doing something they ought not to be doing. There are many more occasions where we are either specifically told to judge or to do something that requires making a judgment.       
 
Mark those that are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them,  Rom 16:17.

If a man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness…Gal 6:1.

Shun profane babblings for they will proceed further in ungodliness, 2 Tim 2:16.

Believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits whether they are of God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world, 1 John 4:1.

 Making judgments is essential to protecting those we love and saving those in error. I could go on and on, filling up page after page with scriptures like these. Sometimes judging is required. The trick is to do it properly. Jesus said in John 7:24, Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. If I read the context of most of those passages above, I will see the guidelines the Holy Spirit has carefully laid out in how to judge righteously. 

Being quick to judge others’ lives when I do not know the facts, when I am judging only by “how it looks,” and when I have never been in their shoes, flies in the face of the love I am commanded to have toward others. In that case, Judge not that you be not judged fits me to a tee. But using the excuse “I don’t want to judge their situation” when someone is lost in sin, is a cop-out that will not please the Father who watches over us.

Deliver them that are carried away unto death; and those that are ready to be slain, see that you holdback. If you say, Behold, we did not know this, does not he who weighs the hearts consider it? And he who keeps the soul, does he not know it? And shall he not render to every man according to his work? Prov
24:11,12

 Ordinarily, I stay away from The Message. It is a paraphrase that takes far too many liberties with the scriptures; but I must say, I like its interpretation of the above, with my own added phrase—if he can paraphrase, so can I! “Rescue the perishing; don't hesitate to step in and help. If you say, ‘Hey, that's none of my business,’ [I don’t want to judge], will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know-- Someone not impressed with weak excuses.”

So there it is—I must judge, but carefully, wisely, righteously. 

Dene Ward

I had a piano student once who tested my patience often.  One day she hopped off the bench, ran to the window, and looked out.  “Mom’s back,” she announced.  “I told her to come back late so I would have time after lessons to play on the swing!” 

I looked at her and said, “It’s not the child’s job to tell the mom what to do, it’s the mom’s job to tell the child what to do.”  She looked at me like I was from another planet.  I am happy to report that the story ends well.  She learned some discipline and respect for authority, and we developed a good relationship.

But this little girl was right in tune with the times.  How often have you heard someone say, “I just can’t believe in a God who would…?”  Seems they forget who is the Creator and who is the created.  People have been making a god to suit themselves for nearly as long as there have been people.

That is one reason Jesus was rejected.  He didn’t suit their idea of a Messiah.  They wanted worldly might, worldly wealth, and worldly status.  He was a poor man with no army, who constantly talked about humility.  They came to Jesus and said, “Show us a sign and we will believe.”  What had he been doing but showing sign after sign? 

One of my favorite people in the Bible is the blind man of John 9 whom Jesus healed.  He is also one of the bravest in the Bible.  The rulers questioned him again and again.  “How are you able to see?  Where did this man come from?”  They even brought in his parents and accused them of pretending their son was born blind.  These men were so desperate to find a way to discredit Jesus that they were coming up with absurdities.  Finally the man looked at them and said, “Here is the amazing thing—you don’t know where he came from, yet he opened my eyes!”  And this man, whose life was really just beginning, was thrown out of the synagogue, ending any sort of normalcy he might have ever had.  I think I know who one of the 3000 on Pentecost was.

Are we any better than those hardheaded rulers of Jesus’ day?  Do we try to make the church into something other than God intended?  What we usually want is a social club with rules of our own making, including what to wear, what to say, and how loudly we can say it.  What God wants is a dynamic group of believers, whose minds are on the spiritual world not the physical; who understand the severity of God’s judgment and believe it is not only their mission to make sure they are saved, but to try to take others with them; people who understand that their worship must include a life of service to others, and who put the unity and good of the body before their own likes and dislikes.

Being a child of God means we don’t tell God how to do things; He tells us.

Woe to him who strives with his Maker!  A potsherd among potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to Him who fashions it, “What are you making?” Does your work say, “He has no hands?” Woe to him who says to his father, “What have you begotten?” or to his mother, “What have you brought to birth?”  Isa 45:9,10

But now, O Jehovah, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you the potter, and we are all the work of your hand.   Isa 64:8

Dene Ward