Instruments of Worship

Work and Worship | Ep. 5

• Casey • Episode 5

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It’s no secret that classical musicians have many, many different plates to spin simultaneously.  Life can be hectic and stressful at times, but King David (Psalm 27:4) and the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) will remind us that only ONE thing is necessary.  They will show us how we can lay all our burdens and busyness at the feet of Jesus and instead worship and adore Him.

To help engage our hearts in greater worship to Him, check out these songs that relate to this episode!
 
- Psalm 27 (One Thing)
- Nothing Else
- King of My Heart
- QUIET
- I Love You, Lord
- You Are My All In All
- Give Me Jesus 
- Be Thou My Vision (Lord You Are)
- Come Thou Fount (Above All Else)

Three resources to help you go deeper...

Worship: The Reason We Were Created - Collected Insights from A.W. Tozer

Martha and Mary - Charles Spurgeon

How to Worship Jesus Christ: Experiencing His Manifest Presence Daily - Joseph S. Carroll

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SPEAKER_00:

Hi friends, my name is Casey Rinkenberger and I am so excited to welcome you to the Instruments of Worship podcast. This is a podcast dedicated to encouraging and equipping classical musicians to lift high the name of Jesus with their instruments, but also their lives. It's no secret that classical musicians have many, many different plates to spin simultaneously. And if you're a musician, I don't even need to tell you what they are, you already know. Life can be so hectic and stressful at times. But King David and the of Mary and Martha will remind us that only one thing is necessary. They will show us how we can lay all our burdens and our busyness at the feet of Jesus and instead worship and adore him. Before I begin, I want to shout out three resources that have really aided in my preparation this week. The first one is titled, Worship, The Reason We Were Created, Collected Insights from A.W. Tozer. A.W. Tozer was a 19th century theologian, pastor, teacher, and writer who has written many prominent books. He never shied away from provoking the church towards greater worship of our God. The second is a sermon given by Charles Spurgeon on April 23, 1865, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England. This was a sermon on the story of Mary Martha found in Luke 10. And the last is a book called How to Worship Jesus Christ, Experiencing His Manifest Presence Daily. And this is by Joseph S. Carroll. All three resources will be linked in the description of this episode. So if you'd like to dive deeper into this topic, feel free to check those out. And without further ado, here's episode five of Instruments of Worship. So one of the unique aspects of being a musician that is what inspired today's episode is the concept that a nine to five is very forward to us. Typically we have multiple sources of income, between gigging, teaching, playing in different symphonies, bands, choirs, whatever it may be, and even picking up odds and end jobs, not to mention the amount of time we spend practicing, auditioning, researching, traveling, organizing logistics, all while trying to balance a life outside of music and investing in the things that matter most, like friends and family. Musicians have so many plates spinning at once, and we can easily lose sight of the main thing. So what I mean by that is that you may remember a couple episodes ago, I talked about how we were made to worship. This is a quote by A.W. Tozer. He says, Jesus was born a virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilate, died on the cross and rose from the grave to make worshipers out of rebels. He has done it all through grace and we are recipients. So he makes the point also that Jesus wasn't born of a virgin, didn't suffer under Pontius Pilate, died on the cross and rise again just so that we don't drink, we don't go to the theater, fill in the blank, whatever it is for you. He didn't do that just so that we would be perfect now, but he did it so that we can enjoy relationship with him, accept his grace and worship him. Another verse that helps kind of explain this concept is Psalms 27, 4. And we get to see David's passion behind this. He says, Joseph Carroll says, In that book that I mentioned earlier says, the one thing that David wants is to behold the beauty and the pleasantness of the Lord. Everything else is relatively incidental. Being a great leader, being a great king, being a great preacher, being a great psalmist, only one thing really matters. The intimate fellowship with his God. To be a true worshiper of God is his passion. So it's just very convicting to think about this. Can we truthfully say that in our lives, being a great musician, a great student, a great friend, a great parent, being well liked, being commended, being trendy or being successful are all secondary to being a worshiper of God? Or have they slipped into the center of our hearts? Have they consumed our love? Some of those things are not even all bad things, but they can become ultimate things if we're not careful. So that's what brings us to the story of Mary and Martha today. We get to see an example of these two different types of hearts in Mary and Martha, both the worshiper, but also the worker, the person who doesn't have worship as the heart of everything they do. So the story can be found in Luke 10, 38 through 42. And I'm just going to read that whole thing now. it says as jesus and his disciples were on their way he came to a village where a woman named martha opened her home to him she had a sister called mary who sat at the lord's feet listening to what he said but martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made she came to him and asked lord don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself tell her to help me Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. So in this passage, Martha is described as distracted with all her preparations, worried and bothered about so many things. And that can so easily be the classical musician. Is that you? Is it me? At times it can feel like our work is constant and we can't leave it at work like some are able to do. It travels with us everywhere we go. It is never ending and it can be so burdensome. So many plates are spinning and some of them even start to fall and shatter. We try to carry the load on our own. We work even harder and it gets even worse. Maybe some of you just need to hear what Jesus says to the one who worries. I'm going to exchange a few words in this passage so that it's directed more specifically to the classical musician, but the meaning is still the same. So Matthew 6, 25 through 34 says, Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than concerts and the body more than appearances look at the birds of the air do they not so Or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not So do not worry, saying, So just take a deep breath, classical musician. Maybe you're starting a new semester and you're already overwhelmed and just terrified at all the things that are on your list that are to come this semester. Maybe you're taking an audition soon or sending in audition tapes for festivals. Maybe you have a competition coming up or you're subbing at a new orchestra soon. Maybe you are overwhelmed by your teaching load or maybe you are stressed about finances. I encourage you to come with up with something, even physically hold that something in your hand and then release it to the Lord. Lay it at his feet. Lay all your burdens at his feet and just leave them there. Psalm 55, 22 says, cast your burdens on the Lord and he will sustain you. And this is the example that we get from Mary because she knew that the Lord wanted her to just come and sit with him, to adore him, to worship him, to give him her worries and to just be in his presence. It was all taken care of. She knew that was the heart of Jesus. Opposite to Martha, Mary is described seated at the Lord's feet, listening to his word. She chose the good part, the only thing necessary, and that was worshiping and adoring her king. This is the heart of Christ. He is after our hearts before he is ever after our obedience. Charles Spurgeon writes, Going back to that passage in Matthew, he provides and sustains the birds of the air and the flowers in the fields. the fish in the sea, and even just every cloud that passes by. If you look at creation, you just think of all the things that the Lord is constantly sustaining and providing for. It's beautiful. So how much more will then he provide and sustain you? And we can know for sure that he will. This is a promise in his word that we can cling to. So maybe that's what you need to hear today is to lay your burdens at his feet, leave them there and enjoy being in his presence. There are also other lessons that we can learn from Mary and Martha. The idea that only one thing is necessary and whether you're a classical musician or maybe you're in some other field, we can so easily be distracted. And we can sink our roots into all the wrong things. Sometimes we're not grounded in worship first and foremost. We're grounded in selfishness in ourselves. Have you ever heard the phrase, if the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy? And that is because the devil knows that he can divert your thoughts and your affections and your attention away from God to just seemingly other important distractions. So we have to combat the devil in his schemes. There are oftentimes many things in our life that just seem more pressing than being a worshiper, right? But only one thing is necessary. So let's try to figure out what he means by that. Martha probably would have said that the one thing that was necessary was to get the house spotless. Everyone fed with food that was delicious and perfectly cooked and served in beauty and with grace. We don't know. She may have wanted to do this so badly as a service of worship, but it's also very likely that she had her self-image in mind and wanted to make herself look good. Either way, Jesus knew her heart and he knew she needed to be reminded that it's the heart of worship inside that matters, not outside. any of the external. We get so distracted by all these external things around us that we're producing, whatever it may be. But that's where the devil will scheme. That's where he'll distract us. We need to remember what really matters and that is our heart of love and worship for the Lord. Maybe we stress over the same things that Martha did. We may stress over audition results or performances or our schedules or our reputations. Like I said, the list never ends and I know you know what I'm talking about. And maybe it's It's because we want to serve God, but it's also very likely that it's because we want to make ourselves look good to others and to ourselves, to please ourselves. Charles Spurgeon says, Do not, I pray you, neglect the spiritual for the sake of the external, or else you will be throwing away gold to gather to yourselves iron. You will be pulling away the palaces of marble that you will build yourselves hovels of clay. So obviously he's comparing these two things of if you work like Martha did for external pleasures, external reward, then you're building up clay, iron, some of these not as great sounding elements. And you're sacrificing what could be palaces of marble and gold, right? Of things that really matter to the individual. spiritual, the internal. So just think about what would you say for you? Have you possibly neglected the spiritual for the sake of the external? Where is your priority at in that? I encourage you to think about what is the one thing at the center of your heart. Is it yourself or is it him? Are your roots dug deep into what you can do to serve self or are your roots dug deep in the satisfaction of Jesus and God and who he is? Do you look for comfort, security, approval, affirmation, pleasure, attention, control? all to be found in yourself, in your playing, in your success maybe? Or do you find all those things fully satisfied in him? In describing Martha's selfish heart, Charles Spurgeon says, We also want our work to show well as our work. We like those who see it to commend it. And if none commend it, we feel that we are heartily done by and are left to work alone. Now, to the extent in which I think of myself and my service, I spoil it. Self must sink. and Christ be all in all. John the Baptist saying must be our motto. He must increase, I must decrease. For Jesus's sandals, we are not worthy to untie. Too much work and too little fellowship will always bring self into prominence. Self must be prayed down and fellowship with Jesus must keep it down. That is full of so much. It's all so good. As musicians, our job is to put our work on display. right, whether that's teaching or performing. So there's a level that we do have to work, but are you working hard so that you can glorify yourself or others can glorify you? Oftentimes we want to work so we get the praise, but that will only bring despair and sorrow instead i encourage you to choose fellowship with your worthy christ where ultimate satisfaction is found mary chose the good part and that was fellowship love and worship of her king spurgeon says mary was filling up the fountainhead she was listening and learning feeding edifying loving and growing strong So she was being filled up and nothing and no one can take that from her. She was sitting herself at the feet of Jesus, which was like sitting under a waterfall, literally. And if she's constantly with Jesus, constantly being filled, she can never be empty. No one can take that from her, right? God is with us all the time. And so we can either choose to to worship in his presence throughout our day, or we can choose to worship ourselves and not think about him and just work for self. Spurgeon says, the way to get the revival is to begin at the master's feet. You must go there with Mary and afterwards you can work with Martha. In John 15, 5, Jesus says, I am the vine and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. It's not enough to live life separate from worshiping Jesus and just go to church on Sundays. It's a daily moment by moment worship and love in your heart to God. So, The idea of working and worshiping. How can we work as classical musicians but never sacrifice worship to our king? A.W. Tozer points out, You may reply, if we worship God, you do nothing else. But that only reveals that you have not done your homework. The beautiful part of worship is that it prepares you and enables you to zero in on the important things that must be done for God. He says the great worshipers were also the great workers. If we give ourselves to God's call to worship, Everyone will do more than he or she is doing now. Only what he or she does will have significance and meaning to it. It will have the quality of eternity added to it. It will be gold, silver, and precious stones, not wood, hay, and stubble. So I think what he's getting at is that the treasures of this world will fade away. So if all we're doing is working and working and working to build for ourselves treasures on this earth, it's not going to last. But what's done out of worship to the Lord will last. It will be much more valuable on this earth and in eternity. It's not giving up work, but it's being a worshiper first and then letting that guide your work. A.W. Tozer also says, I am of the opinion that we should not be concerned about working for God until we have learned the meaning and the delight of worshiping him. A worshiper can work with eternal quality in his work. But a worker who does not worship is only piling up work, hay and stubble. God is trying to call us back to worship and enjoying him forever, not just busy work. So deep worship and then doing his work, delighting and adoring, worshiping our king and then working for the Lord, not for self. So let's talk about how this might practically look in our lives. lives? How do we enjoy him? How do we worship him? How can we cultivate our love for the Lord? So first, I want to just give two examples. This book by Joseph Carroll. I'm just going to read some parts of it. It starts out by describing a missionary. His name was Hudson Taylor. And he was a missionary in China. And his son and daughter-in-law would travel with him when he got old. And they said that when he was an aged man, without fail, every morning just before dawn, there would be the scratch of a match and the lighting of a candle. And Hudson Taylor would worship God. That was the key to his life. It was said that even before the sun rose on China, Hudson Taylor was worshiping God. This book also talks about A.W. Tozer's worship life. And it talks about This author had an acquaintance that met up with A.W. Tozer, and he invited this acquaintance to meet with him in prayer. He said, I go and pray at the lake every morning at 530. You're welcome to join me. You don't have to. And so one day that man finally took him up on that. And he said he made his way very early to the lakeside about six o'clock only to find God's servant prostrate upon the sand, worshiping God. A.W. Tozer worshiped God and was one of the few men who preached consistently on the need to be a worshiper of God, telling the church in no uncertain manner that worship was the missing jewel in her crown. I know there are so, so, so, so many more examples than that that I could have shared, but I wanted to share those two, just simple reminders that these men who worshiped we think of that are so godly that were so smart that had all of these wise words to say that they cultivated that in their lives that spending time alone with the lord and worshiping him it's more that they not just read their bibles in the morning but that they worshiped him and it may not have been through song but just in their hearts they were worshiping and adoring him in the time that they spent in prayer and in the word and whatever their time with him really looked like. If you think about it in relational terms, we're in a relationship with God. How can you know and love someone if you don't spend time with them or you don't make time to spend with them? Let's bring back that verse that we talked about at the beginning. Psalms 27, 4. One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek. The first point is that through prayer, David asked the Lord for greater intimacy and for greater love for him. But the second point is that he had to seek it. It's not just going to pop up out of nowhere without cultivation. So let's first about talk about prayer. David asked for greater intimacy. So ask the Holy Spirit to soften your heart, to give you the desire to worship God above all else, if it's not already there, that you would enjoy him and find so much more delight in him, that your love for him would always grow. How pleased do you think God will be to answer those sorts of prayers? It's beautiful. And he just smiles when he hears those. Another aspect of prayer is being alone. We saw it in those examples of A.W. Tozer and Hudson Taylor, but also in Matthew 6, 6, when Jesus is telling his disciples how to pray. He says, when you pray, go into your room and when you have shut the door, pray to your father who is in the secret place and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Joseph S. Carroll says, love can only be cultivated adequately in aloneness with the one you love. Again, in that relationship, if you're only getting to know people in group settings it's going to be hard there's going to be a limit to how well you can know them it's really in one-on-one time in that aloneness that you can truly get to know someone and therefore grow to love them more and i think that this means not just going into your room and shutting the door being alone physically but also even just mentally, alone from outside distractions. So the main one would be phones, but also just the other things that swirl around in our head of we need to find that settling of our mind, not thinking through the schedule for the day, not thinking through all the things that need to be done, but asking the Holy Spirit for help, of course, because this is not easy to do, to be alone and focused in your mind on the one thing that is necessary, and that being Jesus. In prayer, we also get to enjoy the Lord and to praise Him for who He is. It's a privilege that we get to talk to God. And Joseph Esquirel says, we enter into the holiest, into the very presence of God by the blood of Jesus to commune with him on the basis of his blood. He says, what did this do for my quiet time? It absolutely revolutionized it. Instead of looking at my watch and saying, I have 10 minutes to get through my prayer list. I simply knelt down and quietly meditate upon the fact that I was in the presence of the lamb of God and worshiped him. I love that line that his time with the Lord became something for God, not something for him. Oftentimes we go to God with our lists of this and that, and not that that's bad, but in a hurry, we skip over being in the presence of God and just communing with him like Mary remembered that that was what was important. So I would encourage you, maybe try something new. Maybe you don't pray at all, but maybe you do pray and your prayers are not structured with them being about God and not so much you. My pastor encouraged us at church one time to start in prayer by lifting God's name high before bringing anything up that has to do with you. And this really revolutionized my praying and it helped remind me of how great God is. And then that informs my prayers after that of I don't have to pray small prayers because I know who my God is and I remember that daily. Scripture may help you also. If you're at a loss for, what do I say? How do I lift him high? Here are some passages that might help you in this. Isaiah 6, 3 says, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Revelation 4, 11 says, Worthy are you, our God and our Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and because of your will, they existed and were created. Revelation 5 9 says, Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals, for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And the last one I just came up with was Psalm 86, 8 through 9. It says, So scripture is an amazing tool to help fill our hearts with praise. Maybe you could write it down, put it up around your house, memorize it, meditate on it. And when you pray those words and you believe them, it will transform your heart. Not just speaking. There's no power in just speaking them, but it will transform your heart if you believe them and if you let it. As I told you from my experience, this sort of praying really changed my relationship with the Lord in some ways. I decided that I was going to start walking in the morning. It's literally just a mile loop outside of our house on Monday, Wednesday, Fridays in the morning before my husband goes to work. And starting with lifting the Lord high, I would get through almost three-fourths of my walk. And I'd think, oh my goodness, I haven't even... gotten anywhere on my prayer list you know the the things that i want to pray for just rehearsing those truths about god you almost get swept up in it you know there's no better way to start your day so just going back we know david prayed and he also had to seek david knew very well he would never be able to achieve his objective unless he really sought for it nor will you My friend, nor will I, says Joseph Carroll. At the end of the day, ask yourself, what have you done with your time? How much time did you set aside to worship Jesus Christ? It will take some effort and it will take some discipline. It won't necessarily be easy, but. It's so, so fruitful. Like Mary, you can just picture this, her sitting under a waterfall and being in the presence of God and how much more satisfying that is than running all around working. And it's possible to work. It is. But worship being the first goal, the first priority that will then overflow into everything you do. Another analogy for this is it's like tuning our instruments. There's probably a reason that we start orchestra rehearsals with tuning our instruments before we play, right? It would probably sound pretty interesting if we start playing without tuning our instruments. And spending this quality time, really, with the Lord in worship in the morning will then set that as the pace for the rest of the day, right? If we don't tune our instruments, we're so prone to wander. We're going to get out of tune. We need the Holy Spirit's help. We need the time. to seek the Lord, be in his presence, worship him, to tune our hearts to his praise, and that will set the tone for the rest of the day. So I just want to thank you so much for spending part of your day with me. Make sure to check out the description for more worship songs that I hope will encourage your heart and worship and give you greater insight into some of the things that we talked about today. If you think you know someone who might be encouraged by this podcast, please send it to them and make sure to download, follow, and subscribe wherever you are listening. In the midst of this crazy world, remember that only one thing is necessary, and that is love and worship of our King. See you next month. for another episode of Instruments of Worship.