Hymns: Here I Am to Worship

I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the very modern hymns.

Today’s song is Here I Am to Worship It’s from 2001.

I chose the year 2000 to distinguish between modern and very modern. So, this just barely fits into the category of very modern. I just fear that I’ll eventually run out of very modern hymns to write about, so that’s why I chose 2000. And for me, everything after 2000 feels modern. In Ireland, we changed our currency back in 1971. I did get used to the “new money” after a few months. Then, we changed to the Euro around 2002. It still feels new to me – especially the coins 😀.

Anyway, enough about me, let’s get to today’s hymn. It’s a funny title. Does it not state the obvious? What else would you be doing singing a hymn apart from worshipping? Yet, maybe it’s a reminder that the prime purpose is worship.

I’m sure that we’ve all been guilty of singing hymns without really being aware that we’re in the presence of God. We might be more interested in being among people, we might enjoy the music, or we might be just “ticking the box” of going to church. So, it’s good that this hymn encourages us to consider what we’re doing. And it’s not just about worship – ultimately, it’s about Jesus. The writer, Tim Hughes wrote the song after reflecting on Philippians 2, especially Christ’s humility and incarnation.

Philippians 2:5-11
⁵ Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross. ⁹ Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross!

If I had just committed a single sin, that would be enough to keep me out of heaven. You only need to break one link in a chain to break the whole chain. And if I had been the only person in the world to ever sin, Jesus would have still had to come and die for that sin. And why wouldn’t He? – given how much He loves those who repent and believe in Him? Was the cross an easy thing for Jesus to do? Would the fact that He was God make Him be able to turn down or turn off the suffering, despite the appearance? No! The whole point was to suffer and die for us.

I sometimes think of the following illustration. Let’s suppose that I was near an icy lake and someone warned me not to walk on the thin ice. I foolishly disregard their comment and go out on the lake. The ice breaks, I’m near drowning, and the person who warns me comes and saves me, dying himself in the process. The next year, would I walk on the thin ice again? – with the glad assurance that someone will come and save me? Surely not! When I see how much it costs others to rescue me, surely from that moment on, I would want to minimize any danger to others? And if my rescuer’s dying wish was that no-one should every walk on the icy lake again, would I not want to honour their wish?

That’s only a metaphor. Perhaps it isn’t a very good metaphor, but before I sin, surely, I should consider what it cost Jesus to die for sin. And, as the hymn says, I’ll never know how much He suffered – what it cost.

1 Peter 2:24
 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

Here are some other versions of today’s hymn: