Think over these things...
In my further thought of the effects of immaturity in the
western church, I have discovered how unhelpful and trapping most of the
Christian music genre is. I have nothing against contemporary worship songs (as
long as they are “God-centered” and not “man-centered”), but what I do have a
problem with are the songs on the radio that are not meant for corporate
worship within church gatherings.
Consider the following song; I’m sure you’ve heard it.
The chorus to “Remind Me Who I Am” by Jason Grey: “Tell me
once again who I am to you, who I am to you. Tell me lest I forget who I am to
you, I belong to you.”
This song is not meant to honor God, be in awe of God,
praise God, fall in love with God. Nothing. From reading the lyrics, the only
conclusion I can come to is that from listening to and singing this song it
subtly puts an entitlement to our value.
The song says, “God, tell me why I’m valued. I know I’m
valued; I just need to be reminded of it all the time, especially when I’m sad
and I think that life stinks.”
How is the edifying to the body of Christ? The song is all
about us!! All about OUR value, and not about how much we need to get over
thinking highly of ourselves and counting OTHERS more valuable then ourselves. "... Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reference and awe." (Hebrews 12:28)
Acceptable worship is being in awe of God; not constantly wondering if we have any worth.
These songs produce immaturity among believers because of
these reasons:
1)
We become more focused on ourselves and OUR
worth rather than presenting ourselves as living sacrifices. (Romans 12:1)
2)
We unnecessarily question basic doctrines of the
Bible. If you want to know your worth, read the Bible. The Bible says that the
ONLY reason you have ANY worth is because Christ died for you out of love and
clothed you with righteousness. (Isaiah 61:10, Romans 6:1-4, Galatians 3:26-27,
1 John 4:19) The Bible describes anything you do as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6),
and even Paul says that he counts everything he does as rubbish apart from
Christ (Philippians 3:8)
3)
The last reason is that this song and songs like
it are singing to people in trials or hard circumstances, so because of that
for some reason we need to be reminded of our value? No. This is the wrong
mindset. We rejoice in trials. Job understood that both good and bad come from
God (Job 2:10). Paul rejoiced through praying and singing to God when he was in
prison (Acts 16:25). And James teaches that the man that is steadfast under
trials is blessed (James 1:12).
Simply put, these lyrics plant a spirit of selfishness. It's all about ME. Christ died for ME. Now God needs ME to preach to the nations.
We need a spirit of humility, and die for one another; just as Jesus modeled for us on the cross (Philippians 2:3-8)
To avoid these consequences of listening to these songs, try
these few things:
1)
Stop listening to “Christian” radio. Instead buy
cds of good artists (Phil Wickham, Leeland, Chris Tomlin) that sing about how wonderful and perfect and glorious God
is, and that we are meant to serve Him.
2)
If you continue to listen to “Christian” radio,
look up passages that talk about what they are singing about. If they question
basic doctrines and make you doubt that they are actually true, look them up.
Study them. And God will give you understanding (2 Timothy 2:7)
3)
Keep in mind that just because “Christian” songs
are popular, doesn’t mean they’re Biblical. How many artists have gone to
seminary for Theology?
4)
Listen to Hymns. They have been tested for
hundreds of years for theology. Most if not all of the unBiblical songs have
been weeded out from the hymnals.
Very insightful, Richard. I'm encouraged by your attitude.
ReplyDeleteAs a guy who has been in Christian radio for a Long time (almost 30 years)I agree with some of your points. We try very hard to be sure our music is God centered and scripture based before anything else, That is job #1.
If I was programming the station for Me, it would be Praise and Worship - That's where "I" am at.
Yet we do play the song you mention, and for the "Body" as a whole, this song does have a place to minister. There are those who identify with the sentiment - We all have doubts and times of discouragement and we need to be reminded that there is more to our lives than what we feel at a specific time. We are all in different places in our walk - and for Christian radio to have a wide and real impact... it's tough to ignore those in another part of the journey.
I would have a tough time in my position if our entire playlist were 'Horizontal' music - people talking to people..but within the mission of ministering to the entire body ...I can deal with it :)
Thanks for the Blog post!
Love the thought provoking! I concur that much of popular "christian" music is self-focused and/or doctrinally shallow. I love your charge to go to the source and study the passages at the foundation for the tunes in our ears!
ReplyDeleteScripture is clear that we are to "fix our eyes on Jesus..." (Heb 12:2) and not on ourselves - in arrogance or deprecation, but with "sober judgement" (Rom 12:3).
That does not, however, eliminate the "horizontal" use of music in the Christian life. Consider Eph 5:19, "speaking TO ONE ANOTHER with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart TO THE LORD" (emphasis mine). This verse reveals both the "horizontal" as well as the "vertical" ministry of music within the body of Christ.
Consider also this OT/NT connection. David established the positions for tabernacle/temple worship. Among them, musicians and singers. In 1 Chron 25, David directs them to, "to prophesy with lyres, harps and cymbals...to the Lord". In the New Testament, Paul says, "one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation." Exalting proclaiming the truth about who God is, what He's done and what He has promised to to BOTH to the Lord AND to men. Vertical and horizontal.
Secondarily, you mentioned "The Bible says that the ONLY reason you have ANY worth is because Christ died for you..." One could make the case that we are also valued by God because He created us (i.e. Ps 139:13-18) - and that was speaking of a wondrous and glorious creation before any redemptive act at taken place in his life. One could say, we have value because of whose we are (initially by virtue of creation, ultimately by virtue of redemption) not who we are - in a sense.
Thank you for your comment! I was and am very challenged by your perspective on the issue. In reviewing my thoughts that I had written 2 years ago, I now realize that my view has changed. Perhaps I took too extreme of a swing to one side of the spectrum, rather than taking a balanced position. Upon review, i will have to edit this post to reflect my current view.
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ReplyDelete