One of the distinguishing characteristics of Sovereign Grace Ministries is that in our family of churches we continually seek to serve one another through prayer and support. It was so encouraging to see so many people become excited to learn who I was and where I was from. "We've been praying for Redemption Hill Church and all of it's members!", I heard countless people say.
I'm so grateful for the time I spent in Orange County. I met many new friends and saw lots of old friends. I got to see California beaches and experience perfect weather for a week. I learned some very practical skills that will help me as a musician, songwriter, and worship leader. But I'd like to share about what I learned of God himself.
The main theme of the conference was the Trinity. I actually wondered if they were simply running out of creative themes when they decided to go with this one. But before the first session was over I realized that there was far more to see here that would directly apply to corporate worship. Without writing an entire book, I thought I'd share three tangible things I took away from WorshipGod: Triune.
1. The Trinity makes grace sweeter than ever before.
God the Father has, for eternity, always been in fellowship with God the Son, nevertheless he still regards me in spite of my sin. God didn’t create man out of any sense of loneliness. And when man sinned against God, severing the cords of a beautiful relationship, he didn’t need to restore us to perfect communion again. God already had perfect communion with his Son. Yet, the Son's life was freely given so that communion with the Father would be restored to us. Even while we were still dead in sin (Romans 5:8), the Spirit breathed new life into us. This is not a picture of a glory deprived deity, seeking worshippers for his own fulfillment. This is a picture of an infinite and triune God who shows sinners love out of his abundance. I can’t believe that something so unlikely could be true. But it is!
2. The Trinity informs the way that I understand God’s family.
In his book "Delighting in the Trinity", Mike Reeves says:
"The most foundational thing in God is not some abstract quality, but the fact that he is Father."
Before he was 'Creator', before he was 'Ruler', he was 'Father', in loving relationship with his Son (John 17:24). And this is so important for us when we ponder our salvation. You and I are not just accepted citizens, we are adopted sons and daughters, receiving the status of Christ the Son himself.
God cares about family more than anyone. It’s no wonder the New Testament is filled with familial language like “father", “son", “brother”, “sister”, “mother”. God wants us to see that this salvation we have is more intimate than we could imagine. We are called into the family of God!
3. My heart can’t contain the wonders of the Trinity.
As the end of the conference grew near, I began to feel as if someone had handed me a live grenade, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with it. The Trinity compels us to look at the christian life afresh. Indeed all other doctrine hinges on the doctrine of the Trinity. But there is still so much mystery that surrounds the triune God. When I began to ponder these things, It didn't take long for me to realize how inadequate I was to respond appropriately. My heart could only hold so much. Here I stood with 600 other worshippers, singing these glorious truths and thinking to myself: "I'm not able to wrap my mind around this, much less my heart". But before I started to mope over how limited my understanding was, Bob Kauflin gave me some hope with these words:
"We don’t have to fully understand the Trinity before God hears our prayers and songs.”
We don't have the capacity to love God in the same way that he loves us. But this does't stop us from being reconciled to the Father, through union with Christ, by the work of the Holy Spirit. Until the day we die, and for a million years after, we will be singing about the grace and the mysteries of the the triune God.
I highly recommend that you check out the recorded audio from the conference by clicking here.
