My favorite song for the start of a worship service is also this month's Song of the Month:  "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy."  Maybe you're used to thinking of this as a song of invitation.  And it probably has been used most often at the end of a sermon or evangelistic service, sung while waiting for people to come forward.

But for me, this old hymn is a powerful reminder that I come to worship the same way I first came to faith.  I come, not because I have anything of value to offer Him, but to receive the grace He offers me.  Repentance and faith are at the heart of worship.

Sometimes, I think that I need to worship really well, so that God will be glorified.  Sometimes, I think my sins are to deep and shameful, and so how can I possibly glorify God?  Sometimes I think that if I lay all of my sins on Jesus, that's too much of an imposition.  Surely I should try to have some little island of righteousness that I can bring to the table.  Jesus may be buying the meal, but can't I at least pay the tip?

But this song claims that when we come and cast everything we have on Him, when we "venture on Him, venture whollly," we in fact glorify Him.  The invitation is this:  "God's free bounty glorify."  Though God atones for our sin at great cost to Himself and out of great love for us, His ultimate purpose is to display His glory.  Psalm 106:6-8 tells us why God saved a sinful, unbelieving Israel by the Red Sea:  "for His name's sake."  1 Corinthians 1:30-31 tells us that God has saved us "so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

It is my prayer that focusing on this song in the month of May will encourage us to boast in the Lord Jesus Christ by trusting in His merit and none of our own.

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and power.

Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,
God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh.

View Him prostrate in the garden;
On the ground your Maker lies.
On the bloody tree behold Him;
Sinner, will this not suffice?

Lo! th’incarnate God ascended,
Pleads the merit of His blood:
Venture on Him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude.

Let not conscience make you linger,
Not of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.

Words by Joseph Hart, 1759