Evangelical churches just aren’t what they used to be. In many ways things have declined. (Not in all ways, but in many centrally important ways.) It’s one thing for people to affirm the changes because they think they are improvements.
But what I just can’t understand are those who make the claim that nothing much has changed. Really?
-- When I traveled with a musical team from a Christian college, we often would not hold the microphones because that was considered too ‘Hollywood’ and worldly (remember worldliness?...it's in the Bible) – and the last thing we wanted was to draw attention to ourselves or for people to be more impressed by our talent or performing than they were with the message were singing about. Today? Jeeminy.
-- And we centered on the Gospel, and how important it was that lost, helpless sinners get saved. And we were clear what the Gospel was/is: we believed and learned from passages like 1 Cor.15:1ff. We knew that at the core of authentic, Biblical Christianity was the message of the cross, and that meant a full-blooded belief in the penal, substitutionary atonement of the cross. 'Christ died for sinners,' and 'in my place condemned He stood.' That message, that truth, was the only message that could finally bring peace and joy and hope and relief to hearts and minds and consciences convicted concerning the depth and danger of their sin. A song about Jesus Christ and Him crucified could melt us to tears – tears of quiet, overwhelmed wonder and joy and gratitude.
Today, lots of our worship songs focus on me as the worshiper, and on my activity of worshiping “I will give, you all my worship I will give, you all my praise…
I will worship, with all of my heart
YES I will praise you, with all of my strength
I will seek you, all of my days YES I will follow, I WILL FOLLOW all of your ways…
I will bow down, and I'll hail you as king Yes I will serve you, I will give you everything…
When I hear lyrics like that (repeated over and over), I have to admit two thoughts sometimes come to mind:
1. Alright, already….start worshiping then. Stop talking about and focusing on the activity and intention of worshiping, and start doing it. ‘Worship’ is a transitive verb – worship has an ‘Object’ -- God. We’re supposed to be worshiping God, which means engaging with the reality of who God is and what he has done (which is hardly alluded to in so many ‘worship songs’).
2. Those are some pretty dramatic claims being made in the song: I will follow all of your ways…I’ll serve you; I’ll give you everything. (And every single person in the room is being led to sing it: sinner, 'seeker,' saint...everybody.
This isn’t merely the language of aspiration; it’s a momentous promise made in God’s presence. “I’ll follow all of your ways…I’ll give you everything….” Really? Starting when?
Things have changed. It’s one thing to say believe and to claim that they’ve changed for the better. (In so many ways I just can’t agree.) But to not notice or to admit the changes – that to me just isn’t honest.
1 comment:
Ezeliel 33:31-32 "As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, 'Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD.' 31 My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. 32 Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice."
Matt.15:8 "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.'"
And if I recall corrrectly, Screwtape tells Wormwood quite frequently to allow,yes,encourage Christians to continue singing such heart warming songs and feeling good about their "walk" precisely to steer them away from keeping those promises being made.
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