Worship Defined: Lead Me to the Cross

I want to paint a picture for you: hundreds of Christians standing in a worship center at some revival or another singing their hearts out to Christ. They are singing powerful, moving words. Unfortunately, many times, the words are not taken to heart. The meaning of the words they are singing are not resonating in their hearts.

This is a common problem that we come in contact with in corporate worship. At some point in high school, I asked God to not let me sing a single word that I did not mean in worship. This radically and beautifully changed my life. I am still struggling with meaningful worship, because it really does begin with the heart. It is a journey, and I am very excited about what God is teaching me about it. 

As a Church Music major, worship, through the form of music, is something very near and dear to my heart. It is how I express my feelings to God. I absolutely LOVE it. This is as much of a challenge to me as it is to those who read it-if anyone reads this. Through the next few weeks, or maybe even more, I will be attempting to define worship songs. I will go through hymns, contemporary worship songs, and fill in the gaps.

The first song I’m going to do is heavy. It popped into my Pandora station a few minutes ago, and I tried to ignore it. I couldn’t. I have wanted to do this series for quite some time, but have not felt it was the right time. I believe that now is.

So, here’s what’s going to happen. I will post a link to a Youtube video of the song I will be talking about and I encourage you to listen to it as you read this. It probably won’t sync up (I’m not that talented), but hopefully it will help you, and me, understand more completely the Biblical truths behind the lyrics.

Savior I come
Quiet my soul remember
Redemptions hill
Where Your blood was spilled
For my ransom
Everything I once held dear
I count it all as lost

These are the words that open up this powerful song. I’m going to try not to break it down word-by-word, but we’ll see how it goes. It is talking about the crucifixion scene; Jesus spilling His blood for our sins. He has paid for our sins; we are covered by His blood. The last two lines are a reiteration of Philippians 3:7-8.

Lead me to the cross
Where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees
Lord I lay me down
Rid me of myself
I belong to You
Lead me, lead me to the cross

This is the part that gets me a little emotional. I think Francis Chan says it quite well in his book, Forgotten God. “The Spirit will lead you to the way of the cross, as He led Jesus to the cross, and that is definitely not a safe or pretty or comfortable place to be.” At first, we sing in the chorus that we want to be led here. How many of us actually mean those words? I can say with all honesty, sometime I really don’t want to be led to the cross. It’s being associated with the person on the cross. If this were someone being executed in modern times, would you want to be associated with someone that is being given the death penalty? It is completely against this world and against your safety, reputation, comfort, and all that you cherish in this world to be associated with them. THIS is what we are called to do. THIS  is what we are singing that we want to do. We are also singing in this song the cry of Matthew 16:24, when Jesus commands His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him.

Jesus calls us to a life of complete and utter devotion. And this requires us to lay down everything of ours (Luke 18:29-30). This is RADICAL.

You were as I
Tempted and trialed
Human
The word became flesh
Bore my sin and death
Now you're risen

Oh, this is such a beautiful picture of the gospel.  Jesus was fully God and fully human, yet remained perfect. He sacrificed Himself for us, then rose again! This makes my heart oh so happy!

This is the main idea of the song. It is a powerful song, and absolutely beautiful. I encourage you (and myself as well) to focus on the meaning of lyrics as you sing praise unto our Savior, not just in this song, but in all of them. They are so powerful, meaningful, and beautiful!

I already have a few songs lined up for the coming weeks (who knows, maybe even days!) and I absolutely cannot wait to see what God will be teaching me through this journey!