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Consider II Cor. 9:6-15, one of the New Testament’s key passages on the theme of Christian giving.

6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
9 As it is written: “He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.”
10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God,
13 while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men,
14 and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you.
15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Paul is in the process of collecting money to aid the poor believers in Jerusalem (8:4; cf. Gal. 2:9-10). The Corinthian Christians wanted to do their part (II Cor. 9:1-2). And in the apostle’s instruction to them there are many important principles presented, relating to Christian giving in the Church Age.

1) In vs. 6 there is the law of the harvest, that reaping is proportionate to sowing.

2) The motive of the giver is not to be legal obligation or forced necessity, but a personal decision reflecting the joy of the Lord in the heart (vs. 7)

3) The power to give comes from God Himself. “God is able” (vs. suggests the potential is there to receive all that faith will trust Him for. And He is involved in our giving, both in providing the means for us to give, and then multiplying the effectiveness of the gift.

4) On receiving the gifts of obedient Christians, the receivers will be prompted to express gratitude to God (vs. 11-13). Like the cycles in nature (cf. Ecc. 1:7), what God gives us returns to Him with praise and thanksgiving (vs. 11, 12).

5) The receivers will be encouraged to pray for the givers (vs. 14). Their focus will not be simply on the money, though surely it will be welcomed, but on their kind and generous brothers and sisters in Christ.

6) Generous giving causes us to reflect on the greatest gift of all, God’s Son who came to be our Saviour (vs. 15; cf. Jn. 3:16). It is a basic principle: Greater than the gift of material things is the gift of one’s self.

7) We can never out-give God. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” And what is this indescribable gift? It certainly involves all the “riches of grace” (cf. 8:9; Eph. 2:7-9; Rom. 6:23), in other words, all that is involved in our eternal salvation. However, since “he who has the Son has life” (I Jn. 5:12), it would not be wrong to see God’s gift as personified in Christ (cf. Rom. 8:32).

In the words of the hymn by William Walsham How:

We give Thee but Thine own,
Whate’er the gift may be:
All that we have is Thine alone,
A trust, O Lord, from Thee.

And we believe Thy Word,
Though dim our faith may be:
Whate’er for Thine we do, O Lord,
We do it unto Thee.

Three Important Things You Can Do At This Time of Year

Dear Friends:

Life moves fast. If we don’t take the time to chronicle the providences of God, we forget them. If we don’t take the time to say thank you to those who have invested in our lives, we actually cultivate a spirit of ingratitude in our own hearts. If we don’t stop and make sure that we have a spirit of forgiveness toward others, we grow bitter, we lose the capacity to move victoriously into the future, and our prayers are hindered.

Here is a little practice that I was taught and would like to share with you. Each year, during the last week of December, I would encourage you to do the following things.

I. Outline and Chronicle the
Many Providences of God
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. (Hab. 33:2)
First, using simple bullet points, outline the key events for every week of every month of the year. Take the time to do the research which will help jog your memory and allow you to make an accurate record. I find that reviewing bills, blogs, journals, newspaper headlines, letters, and even organizing my photographs chronologically are enormously helpful tools. Those individuals who were faithful to journal or keep a diary will have little problem reconstructing key events. Give yourself a good week to reconstruct your own outline of the year. Also, by making this a family project, you will not only build your list with greater speed and precision, but (in the hands of a loving patriarch) the very act of chronicling the providences of God in your life is a blessed tool for family discipleship.

Every family will have a different set of priorities directing what they should record. In addition to recording the key events and providences of the year chronologically, I try to take the time with my family to record some of the following information on separate bullet lists:

Where did I/we travel?
What were the most important sermons I heard this year?
What books/articles did I write?
What significant household projects did we accomplish in 2009?
What were the most important meetings of the year?
What special friendships were made this year?
Which children lost teeth, and how many?
Who grew in physical stature, and how much did they grow?
Who learned to read this year?
What diet and physical exercise regimen did I maintain to honor “my temple”?
What books did I read? Did we read as a family? Did my children read?
What Scriptures did my family memorize?
What loved ones died this year?
What were the great personal/ministry/national tragedies and losses of the year?
What were the great personal/ministry/national blessings of the year?
What were my most significant failures/sins for the year 2009?
What commitments have I made to overcome sin in 2010?
What significant spiritual and practical victories did I experience?
In what tangible ways did I communicate gratitude to those who have blessed me and invested in my life?
What are the top ten themes of 2009 for my family?
II. Say ‘Thank You’ to
Those Who Have Invested in Your Life
[I] cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. (Eph. 1:16)
Whatever happened to the man who first opened to you the words of life from the Scripture? Where is the comrade, coach, or instructor who believed in you and helped you to accomplish a great goal? What about the Bible teacher whose careful handling of the Word opened up new vistas of understanding? Where is the friend who stood with you through thick and thin? Most importantly, what have you communicated to the mother who carried you in her womb, loved and nurtured you, or the father who labored to provide for and shepherd you?

When was the last time you responded to their investment in your life with gratitude, blessings, and even money? Jesus reminds us of those ungrateful recipients of blessing who simply went their way without demonstrating gratitude (Luke 17).

Before the year ends, make a list of two types of people: The first list are the names of people whose life, ministry, or personal investment in you have deeply touched you and changed your life. (In my case, the list includes parents, pastors, and even some teachers from the early years of my Christian walk that I did not meet until much later in my life, but whose books and tapes were crucial to my personal discipleship as a young Christian.) The second list should include those people who played the most significant role in your life in 2009.

Write a brief, meaningful letter to each of them. Be specific in your gratitude. Explain what they did for you and why it was important to you. Show them how they were God’s instrument of blessing in your own life. Pray over each letter, asking God to grant you rich insights on the character qualities of each individual and on the way those qualities changed your own life. Where appropriate, include a check or special token of appreciation that reflects your desire to show them, tangibly, that you recognize that you are in their debt. You cannot imagine the joy this will give to someone from your past who may think you have forgotten them. Give generously and without concern for getting a tax deduction. I strongly recommend sending money to your parents. Keep in mind that you will never be able to return their personal and financial investment in your life, except through your testimony of faithfulness, covenant keeping, and honor to the Lord.

Also, your children need to know the people who have blessed their parents. They need to see that Mom and Dad are grateful and generous. Share your letters with them. In our household, we ask our children to write to some of the people who have blessed Mommy and Daddy, because our children are the indirect recipients of these blessings on their parents.

This will take a day or two to complete. You may have twenty letters to write, but you will never regret saying “thank you.”

One last thought: One reason why Christians are often limited in vision, energy, and blessings is that, contrary to the Lord’s command, we are ungrateful, unforgiving, and bitter. Far too many who profess the name of Christ spend more time obsessing on those who have wronged them than rejoicing in those who have blessed them. Letters and tangible expressions of gratitude are not only pleasing to Christ, but an antidote to heart-sickness.

III. Forgive Those Who Have Wronged You
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19-21)
In the course of a year, it is possible to build up many offenses and personal grievances at others. Left unaddressed, these grievances fester and grow. They turn the heart black and the body weak. They foster a spirit of vengeance and misguided self-righteousness. The short of it is this: Unforgiveness leads to bitterness. Bitterness curdles the mind and the spirit.

Fresh starts and new years should begin with forgiveness for others. Having a genuine spirit of forgiveness towards those who have wronged us is a mark of biblical Christianity. It is an evidence that we have been redeemed, and that we are praying lawfully: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).

Successful Christians are men and women who are free from bitterness. They have learned the principle modeled by our Lord Jesus Christ who, while suffering death at the hands of people he had never wronged, was able to say “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:24).

I have a dear preacher friend with a sterling reputation who was once grievously slandered. When asked about the wicked actions of the slanderers, he replied something to this effect:

Oh you don’t understand — I am far, far worse than my detractors realize. They may have gotten a lot of the specific facts wrong, but I am just thankful they don’t know how bad my heart truly is. God have mercy on me a sinner.
This man had victory over bitterness.

My father is another man who always appeared to have victory over bitterness. In fact, from my earliest days to the present, I have watched lesser men “twist the truths [he’s] spoken to make a trap for fools.” [i]

Early in my life when I was still in government schools, I would listen to my own teachers criticize before my class the work my father was doing for the President to dismantle a government agency which was at war with the family. I read untruthful articles and saw derogatory comics on the pages of the Washington Post picturing him as a caveman for his “prehistoric” views. When my father was a leader in the Republican Party in Massachusetts, a gangster repeatedly threatened the life of his family. I remember being a boy and having my father shield me from homosexual picketers and protesters that would follow him and our family around at public locations.

Most painful and difficult for many to forgive is betrayal and dishonor. But that is a mistake. Betrayal and dishonor probably exist in the lives of most men. And why should any Christian be denied in their lives what past generations of Christians — and our Lord and Savior Himself — patiently endured? To our shame, most of us have been on both sides of that coin. From a son’s perspective, however, it is highly instructive to watch a father act honorably in the midst of such conflict. It has been a great blessing in my own life to observe my father nobly respond even in the face of barbs from former allies and friends, once loved and nurtured by him.

Eternally optimistic, Dad would always say: “Never be bitter. Life is too short. Thank God for your blessings. Press on!”

Bitterness comes from being unwilling to forgive. Bitter people are small people. They are unsuccessful people. They are people who cannot move forward. They are people who believe that the personal wrongs against them are so great that they — the offended — are entitled to do to their offenders what they pray the Lord Jesus Christ will never do to them: refuse to forgive.

Here is my recommendation: Think through every grief, minor and major, caused by others to you in the year 2009. Now add to the list any other personal offenses that continue to linger from past years. Write these down as bullets on a sheet of paper.

The first thing you will likely realize is just how many offenses are polluting your thought life and, probably, your spirit. This is a sign of latent bitterness. Bitterness will kill you. It renders you completely ineffective.

Now prayerfully walk through the list — bullet, by bullet. With each offense, remind yourself that the most despicable action taken against you by another utterly (and infinitely) pales in comparison to the least of your offenses against the Lord Jesus Christ.

And yet He has forgiven you.

Before 2010 begins, adopt a spirit of forgiveness towards your insensitive friends as well as your hateful enemies. Forgive your imperfect father for whatever it is you need to forgive him for (and pray to the Lord that your own children someday forgive you for your failures). Quit devoting untold precious hours to commiseration, mental replay of the wrongs done, and thoughts about just how badly you were wronged. Stop blaming everybody but you for your problems. Look to yourself. Once you start chronicling your own sinful attitudes and crimes against God and man, you simply won’t have time to worry about the wrongs done to you. You will stop being bitter, and you will start being thankful.

Wipe the slate clean. “Press on.” Forgive.

Conclusion
As 2009 comes to a close, take time to remember and to say “thank you.” Take time to examine yourself for bitterness. Forgive others. Finally, as you love God with all your heart, soul and might, trust Him, too. Really trust him. Trust God with all your heart, your soul and might. You and I can not solve every problem. What we can do is be kind, forgiving, and patient before the Lord. We can not “fix” everything that is broken. Only God can do that. In His time and His way, the Lord can not only bring peace, but He can give you the very desires of your heart as you seek Him with integrity. He can redeem the years the locusts have eaten, and He delights in blessing his faithful children. “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10:22).

It is appropriate that we stop and thank God at the birth of a new year. Remember that God gave man the stars on Day Four in part so that he could order and structure his life based on a clock/calendar system of days, seasons, and years (Genesis 1). He tells us to “remember” acts and to “number” our days. In Scripture, the formal act of remembering providences of God in our life is linked to hope, honor, and generational success (e.g., Psalms 44, 78, etc.). By February 2010, the year 2009 will be a distant memory. Strike now while the iron is hot. The opportunity to remember and to say “thank you” may never come again. And can you afford even one more day in which your prayers are hindered — because you were refusing to forgive? Trust the Lord. He is in charge: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5).

Doug Phillips
President, Vision Forum Ministries

Historical Hymn Issues

Over the centuries there have been a number of issues confronting the church with regard to sacred music. Sometimes these have aroused contention and rancour. But even when this has not happened, local congregations have needed to decide on what their policy will be. Here are several of the issues involved.

Issue #1 – The Use of Instruments
Nothing is said of musical instruments being used in the worship of the New Testament church. In fact, the early church fathers (Clement of Alexandria, Chrysostum, Ambrose, and Augustine) strongly opposed the use of instruments in sacred singing. This is in spite of the fact that extensive use was made of instrumental music in the Jewish temple (I Chron. 25:6-7, etc.) and we are told the heavenly courts will resound with music accompanied by “harps” (Rev. 5:8; 14:2; 15:2-3).

Israel had been more or less a homogeneous cultural unit, with some consensus as to the meaning of its music. The church, made up of many nations, is quite different. After Pentecost, believers had to be concerned with how their practices were being received and understood by a diversity of cultural groups. Since there is nothing in the New Testament that forbids the use of instruments in Christian worship, it is likely that in those times instrumental music had, for many, a strong association with pagan worship, or sensual activities that Christians wanted to avoid. In The Ministry of Music (p. 50), Ken Osbeck states that “instrumental music was associated with boisterous Roman paganism.”

Currently, most churches do not have a problem with instrumental music, if it appropriately and effectively supports congregational singing. But we must still be cautious of the danger of seeking to entertain, rather than edify, and of the possibility of secular associations tainting our music.

Issue #2 – Congregational Singing
Pope Gregory I (540-604) disapproved of congregational singing. In his time, much of the music of the church was turned over to the priests. As well, the formal liturgy of the “Mass” took shape. Attending church involved more observation than participation in singing God’s praises. There is some beautiful church music from the Middle Ages, but it was largely written for trained choirs, not the congregation. It took the Reformation to restore hymn singing to the people. This is an avenue of fellowship the people of God should carefully guard.

Issue #3 – Non-biblical Lyrics
One of the prominent arguments of an earlier time–along with whether to use musical instruments or not–was over what should be sung. Some said only Scripture should be sung by God’s people. Others said that newer songs could be used as well. (This debate actually continued off and on for over a thousand years.) To show how seriously this was taken, consider what happened to the bishop of Antioch, in 260 A.D. He was hauled into court, accused of “suppressing the chanting of psalms.” His defence was that he only meant to forbid the singing of new songs. On that basis, he was acquitted!

Isaac Watts, known as “the father of English hymnody,” finally convinced the church of his day that it was appropriate to introduce new hymns not directly taken from the Word of God. Since his day, thousands of wonderful hymns and gospel songs have been written, songs that have greatly blessed the church.

Issue #4 – The Use of Secular Tunes
In the early 1800’s, another controversy surfaced which has never been entirely resolved. A man named Joshua Leavitt published a hymnal in which the words were set to well-known secular melodies of the day. This is not the first or last time this was done. A number of hymn tunes we use are taken from secular sources. (Far fewer than some would contend, but most hymnals do contain a few.)

There is nothing inherently wrong with doing that. But one danger we must guard against is using tunes which are associated in people’s minds with lyrics or activities that dishonour God. In the words of one critic, Leavitt’s tunes were “current love songs, vulgar melodies of the street, the circus and the ballroom.” It was to combat this perceived drift into secularism that Lowell Mason and Thomas Hastings published several new hymn books for church use, with tunes that had been written specifically for use with hymns.

Issue #5. The Place of Traditional Hymns Today
I’ve been a pastor, and a church musician, for about 40 years. But in recent years I’ve observed a disturbing trend–the abandonment of the hymn book. It’s either left to gather dust in the pew. Or taken away altogether, replaced with songs projected on the wall. Mostly a multitude of simple choruses.

Well, something else was written on a wall, many centuries ago: “You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting” (Dan. 5:27). I just wonder if those words won’t be written one day about the modern church. Some of the newer songs are fine, of course. And they’d work if they were occasionally included in a service. But there are churches sing them exclusively–and repetitiously.

Among the reasons given for the change, we are told that hymns are so old fashioned, and out of date we can’t understand them. But most hymns are understandable with a bit of explanation. Maybe the lack of understanding comes from a lack of spiritual insight–or from a lack of proper education. Don’t capitulate, educate! We still study authors like William Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens. Why not study the work of our hymn writers? Truth is never out of date!

I don’t know what the practice of your church is, but I beg you not to discard the hymn book! It’s so important to our Christian faith. We need to preserve the wonderful heritage of sacred music that’s been developed by the church, over 2,000 years. And that means not abandoning the old songs. They’re a part of our history. They’ve comforted and challenged the saints for generations. Used with care, they can do so again.

~ by Robert Cottrill

Discovering the Songs of Christmas by Robert Cottrill

Discovering the Songs of Christmas
Meditations on Our Traditonal Carols and Christmas Hymns
Author: Robert Cottrill
(Book Excerpt/ Release Date: December 2009)

__________________

I.


A N T I C I P A T I O N


In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:1–3)

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

_____________________________





It Began As One Word

As with other hymns, the origins of our Christmas carols are varied and sometimes quite interesting. But few have a more unusual history than this first selection. It began as one single word! On occasion, I’ve asked a congregation to guess what they thought that word might be. They suggested such terms as Jesus, birth, manger, Mary, and Immanuel. But all are incorrect.

The carol is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (alternately spelled Immanuel). To trace the song’s beginnings, we have to go back about fourteen centuries to the early Middle Ages. Each day during the week before Christmas, churches of that era read what is called the Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise recorded in Luke 1:46–55. Before and after the reading, vocalists sang an antiphon, with choral groups answering back and forth. (This is called antiphonal or responsive singing.) The antiphon anticipating the birth of Christ consisted of a single word—a long, drawn out “O.” Known as the “Great O of Advent,” it was intended to express a hopeful yearning for the coming of the Messiah.

In most Bibles we simply need to turn a page or two to get from Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, to Matthew, the first in the New. But a great deal of time passed between them. Malachi prophesied concerning the work of John the Baptist (Mal. 3:1; cf. Matt. 11:10), but it was four more centuries before he came on the scene. Sometimes those years are referred to as the “400 Silent Years,” since it seems no inspired prophecy came from God during that time. No doubt the silence stirred a growing sense of anticipation among the saints. When would the Lord fulfill the prophecies given so long before? When would the Promised One come?

In Jerusalem, two who wondered and hoped for the coming Messiah were elderly Simeon and Anna. The Bible says Simeon was “waiting for the Consolation [the Consoler] of Israel.” And when he saw the baby Jesus he confessed that he could “depart in peace” because “My eyes have seen Your salvation” (Luke 2:25, 29–30). Widowed Anna lived in the temple complex, giving herself to fasting and prayer. When she saw the infant Jesus, she “spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (vv. 37–38).

A kind of spiritual hunger among the people of God was evident in Israel before Jesus was born. Faithful saints were waiting and looking earnestly for His coming. Their zealous devotion was later given voice in the Great O of Advent. In his book, Great Hymns, hymn historian W. J. Limmer Shepppard describes it as almost “a cry of distress.” (1923, 21) It expressed an urgent plea for deliverance from on high.

As time went by, various unknown individuals added other words to the “O” for each of the seven days it was used. Each became a unique prayer, incorporating a description of the Lord Jesus. “O Key of David, unlock the prison house” was sung on one day and “O Dayspring, come and give us light” on another. Finally, someone thought of combining the antiphons into a single Latin hymn. Then in 1851 John Mason Neale (1818–1856) translated the words of the song into English giving us the carol “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”


Neale’s great gift to the Christian church was his translation work. He brought to English-speaking Christians some of the treasury of Greek and Latin hymns from long ago. This one anticipates the Christmas season, saying in one stanza,

O Come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;

From depths of hell Thy people save

And give them victory o’er the grave.

The Lord Jesus was born to do just that! As the Bible declares, “O Death, where is your sting? . . . Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Cor. 15:55, 57). Through faith in the salvation purchased on Calvary we can be saved eternally.

The Welkin Rings adapted as Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

The Welkin Rings

The first time I walked through the crowded, pungent streets of Bethlehem, I was struck by the disparity between what I was seeing and "the little town of Bethlehem" I had spent my life imagining in pageants and songs. The harsh reality of God becoming a child in the midst of the cold and dark world I knew myself suddenly seemed a blaring proclamation: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. It is little wonder some of the most theology-rich hymns are Christmas carols. In a darkened world not unlike this one, two thousand years ago, God came in person.

Almost immediately after his conversion, Charles Wesley took to hymn writing as a way to capture the hope of God's nearness persistently stirring in his mind. Though a few of the words have long since been changed, one of his 6,000 hymns is a widely beloved declaration of the Incarnation. Seeking to convey in pen and ink a Christmas story both familiar to our hearts and startling in its wonder, Wesley wrote:

Hark, how all the welkin rings,
"Glory to the King of kings;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
Universal nature say,
"Christ the Lord is born to-day!"

The Christ child in the manger is forever an indication of the great lengths God will go to reconcile his creation, a savior willing to descend that we might be able to ascend. "Welkin" is an old English term meaning "the vault of heaven." In this dramatic word, Wesley illustrates the crux of Christian theology: All of heaven opened up for the birth of a king and the rebirth of humanity. The vault of God was thrown open to make way for the one who was coming and all that would come as a result of it.

Hail, the heavenly Prince of Peace,
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die;
born to raise the sons of earth;
born to give them second birth.

The Incarnation is the timeless reminder that God speaks and the world is moved. While the Christmas story reports the massive hope that God came near, the incredible signs of sanctification show that God has chosen to remain. Wesley saw this intimate connection between God's nearness and our likeness. Where God comes near, countenances are changed.

Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us thy humble home;
rise, the woman's conquering Seed,
bruise in us the serpent's head.
Now display thy saving power,
ruined nature now restore;
now in mystic union join
thine to ours, and ours to thine.

The startling hope of the Incarnation reorders the world we know.
Where there is despair, where there is joy, where there is need, Christ is living.
Where there is a heart that will prepare him room, a life is transformed in his image.
Come, Desire of nations, come; fix in us thy humble home.
These cries have been heard.
A savior was born.
The vault of heaven is open.



Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Is Your Church Music Junk Food?

There is a philosophy abroad that says we must keep church music current and up-to-date. I disagree, if what is meant is that we must make the music of God’s house as much like the music of the secular world as possible. Something is wrong if, in order to draw in the unsaved and communicate the gospel to them, we must descend to their level and incorporate the music styles of the world into our worship. God’s call to separation relates to our sacred music too (“sacred” meaning holy, separated). “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean” (II Cor. 6:17).

In The Book of Common Praise of the Anglican Church (1938 edition), author and hymn writer Robert Bridges makes the following comment:

If we consider and ask ourselves what sort of music we should wish to hear on entering a church, we should surely, in describing our ideal, say first of all that it must be something different from what is heard elsewhere; it should be a sacred music, devoted to its purpose, a music whose peace should still passion, whose dignity should strengthen our faith, whose unquestioned beauty should find a home in our hearts, to cheer us in life and death….What power for good such music would have!

It is not that we try to canonize the old hymns and reject outright anything written more recently than a century ago. Rather, we should develop biblical principles that seek the highest and best–of both old and new. The words of James Rowe, in the gospel song Love Lifted Me, come to mind: “Love so mighty and so true merits my soul’s best songs.” In her book A Handbook for the Church Pianist (Lillenas, 1964), Wilda Jackson Auld makes a similar point to Bridges.

The church must have her own music and it should never be a mere aping of the styles of Broadway…and modern music in general….Our best music is constantly endangered by an amalgamation with the bad, or even the pretty-but-weak….Let the church enjoy and exercise her right to exalted, masterful music suited to her high calling….Do let us guard our music from the taint of a cheap, over-rhythmic, weak, petty, cluttered imitation of the current fads….Beware when a majestic hymn, well sung or played, holds no thrill of enjoyment for you. This is analogous to the jaded appetite of the child who prefers a candy bar and a Coke to a well-prepared, well-served hot meal, even with dessert!

Food for thought in view of present trends!

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

The frail old woman sits at a table in her tiny room in Seattle, Washington. Before her is a small plastic organ–one such as a child might have. But, as she fingers the keys and sings, her poor surroundings seem to fade from view, her face shines with the light of heaven, and tears trickle down her time-lined cheeks. Perhaps in her mind she is seated at a majestic pipe organ in some ornate cathedral. The place does not matter. She is intent on worshiping her Saviour.

The woman’s name is Helen. In her nineties at the time described, and with little of this world’s goods, her faith sustained her. When asked, “How are you?” her frequent reply was, “I am fine in the things that count.” (Well said!)

Helen Howarth Lemmel was born in England, the daughter of a Methodist clergyman. As a child, she was brought to America, where she spent the remainder of her life. A gifted soloist, she gave concerts in many churches, and taught voice for a time at Moody Bible Institute. She moved to Seattle in 1904, and for three years was music critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Mrs. Lemmel also authored about 500 hymns.

She wrote a lovely song–both words and music–in 1918. Helen Lemmel was given a tract by a visiting missionary. The leaflet was entitled “Focused,” and in it was this exhortation: “So then, turn your eyes upon Him [Christ]. Look full into His face and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness.”

Mrs. Lemmel was riveted by those words. She says, “I stood still. And singing in my soul and spirit was the chorus, with not one conscious moment of putting word to word to make rhyme, or note to note to make melody.” The three stanzas of the song were added later the same week.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Saviour,
And life more abundant and free!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

The Definition of Worship

Years ago, I read a definition of worship that to this day rings with clear and magnificent terms.(1) The definition comes from the famed archbishop William Temple:

"Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose—all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable."

The more I have thought of that definition, the more I am convinced that if worship is practiced with integrity in the community of God's people, potentially, worship may be the most powerful evangel for this postmodern culture of ours. It is imperative in planning the worship services that church leaders give careful attention to every element and make sure that the worship retains both integrity and purpose. People come to church generally "beaten down" by the world of deceit, distraction, and demand. There is an extraction of emotional and spiritual energy that brings them on "empty" into the community. The church's task is to so prepare during the week that it is collectively the instrument of replenishment and fresh energy of soul. Even being in the presence of fellow believers in worship is a restorer of spiritual hope. We so underestimate the power of a people in one mind and with one commitment. Even a prayer can so touch a hungry heart that it can rescue a sliding foot in a treacherous time.

A few years ago, two or three of my colleagues and I were in a country dominated for decades by Marxism. Before we began our meetings, we were invited to a dinner hosted by some common friends, all of whom were skeptics and, for all practical purposes, atheists. The evening was full of questions, posed principally by a notable theoretical physicist in the country. There were also others who represented different elements of power within that society. As the night wore on, we got the feeling that the questions had gone on long enough and that we were possibly going in circles.

At that point, I asked if we could have a word of prayer with them, for them, and for the country before we bade them good-bye. There was a silence of consternation, an obvious hesitancy, and then one said, "Of course." We did just that—we prayed. In this large dining room of historic import to them, with all the memories of secular power plastered within those walls, the prayer brought a sobering silence that we were all in the presence of someone greater than us. When we finished, every eye was moist and nothing was said. They hugged us and thanked us, with emotion written all over their faces. The next day when we met them, one of them said to me, "We did not go back to our rooms last night till it was early morning. In fact, I stayed in my hotel lobby most of the night talking further. Then I went back to my room and gave my life to Jesus Christ."

I firmly believe that it was the prayer that gave them a hint of the taste of what worship is all about. Their hearts had never experienced it.

Over the years I have discovered that praying with people can sometimes do more for them than preaching to them. Prayer draws the heart away from one's own dependence to leaning on the sovereign God. The burden is often lifted instantly. Prayer is only one aspect of worship, but one that is greatly neglected in the face of people who would be shocked to hear what prayer sounds like when the one praying knows how to touch the heart of God. To a person in need, pat answers don't change the mind; prayer does.

Ravi Zacharias is founder and president of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.(1) Adapted from Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend (Thomas Nelson, 2007), ed. by Ravi Zacharias.

C. S. Lewis on Church Music

Musical Taste

There are two musical situations on which I think we can be confident that a blessing rests. One is where a priest or an organist, himself a man of trained and delicate taste, humbly and charitably sacrifices his own (aesthetically right) desires and gives the people humbler and coarser fare than he would wish, in a belief (even, as it may be, the erroneous belief) that he can thus bring them to God. The other is where the stupid and unmusical layman humbly and patiently, and above all silently, listens to music which he cannot, or cannot fully, appreciate, in the belief that it somehow glorifies God, and that if it does not edify him this must be his own defect. Neither such a High Brow nor such a Low Brow can be far out of the way. To both, Church Music will have been a means of grace; not the music they have liked, but the music they have disliked. They have both offered, sacrificed, their taste in the fullest sense. But where the opposite situation arises, where the musician is filled with the pride of skill or the virus of emulation and looks with contempt on the unappreciative congregation, or where the unmusical, complacently entrenched in their own ignorance and conservatism, look with the restless and resentful hostility of an inferiority complex on all who would try to improve their taste – there, we may be sure, all that both offer is unblessed and the spirit that moves them is not the Holy Ghost.

Musical Intention

It seems to me that we must define rather carefully the way, or ways, in which music can glorify God. There is … a sense in which all natural agents, even inanimate ones, glorify God continually by revealing the powers He has given them. And in that sense we, as natural agents, do the same. On that level our wicked actions, in so far as they exhibit our skill and strength, may be said to glorify Good, as well as our good actions. An excellently performed piece of music, as natural operation which reveals in a very high degree the peculiar powers given to man, will thus always glorify God whatever the intention of the performers may be. But that is a kind of glorifying which we share with the ‘dragons and great deeps’, with the ‘frost and snows’. What is looked for in us, as men, is another kind of glorifying, which depends on intention. How easy or how hard it may be for a whole choir to preserve that intention through all the discussions and decisions, all the corrections and the disappointments, all the temptations to pride, rivalry and ambition, which precede the performance of a great work, I (naturally) do not know. But it is on the intention that all depends. When it succeeds, I think the performers are the most enviable of men; privileged while mortals to honor God like angels and, for a few golden moments, to see spirit and flesh, delight and labour, skill and worship, the natural and the supernatural, all fused into that unity they would have had before the Fall.

This was taken from an essay entitled "On Church Music" by C. S. Lewis. It can be found in a current publication called Christian Reflectionspublished by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.; ISBN: 0802808697.

Break Thou the Bread of Life - (click to listen)

1. Break Thou the Bread of Life,
   Dear Lord, to me,
   As Thou didst break the loaves
   Beside the sea;
   Beyond the sacred page
   I seek Thee, Lord;
   My spirit pants for Thee,
   O Living Word.
   
   
2. Thou art the Bread of Life,
   O Lord, to me,
   Thy holy Word the truth
   That saveth me;
   Give me to eat and live
   With Thee above;
   Teach me to love Thy truth,
   For Thou art Love.
   
   
3. Oh, send Thy Spirit, Lord,
   Now unto me,
   That He may touch my eyes,
   And make me see;
   Show me the truth concealed
   Within Thy Word,
   And in Thy Book revealed
   I see the Lord.
   
   
4. Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord,
   To me, to me,
   As Thou didst bless the bread
   By Galilee;
   Then shall all bondage cease,
   All fetters fall,
   And I shall find my peace,
   My All in all.

Soul Music

Awake Early

Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.

Are you a morning person? Do you know others who claim to be night people? Whether a morning person or a night person, each of us must ask ourselves if our heart is fixed upon God.

David wrote in Psalm 108, "O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory" Whether a morning person or a night person, the one who knows and loves the Lord God can have an unperturbed heart when he sees the world reeling around him. Our hearts bow to sing and give praise with all our intellect, our skills, our resources, ourselves. It is the call to obey the command of the unperturbed heart that causes us to rise in the morning with a song on our lips. David, an early riser, not only resolved to sing and give praises to God with his lips, but he resolved to employ the use of musical instruments in that same melody of praise. He implores, "Awake, psaltery and harp." Not content with singing the praises of God alone, he will use the well-tuned strings of the psaltery and harp, and his flying fingers to accompany his vocal chords.

Still the key to his praise for God is not found in his voice or in the psaltery and harp. The key is found in his call to "awake" himself to the lively pursuit of praise to God. It is only when a thoroughly enraptured soul sings to God that his vocal praise is acceptable to Him. David says, "Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early" (Psalm 108:2). His praise to the Lord God will precede the dawn. The best and brightest hours of the day will find the psalmist heartily aroused to bless God. Not only will he awaken early to praise Him, but he will awaken every fiber of his being to praise God. Some engage in praise to God in a halfhearted manner; these sing in drawling tones, as if they were half asleep. They arise early to praise God but do not awaken their minds, their spirits, and their bodies in praise to God. Early risers who seek to please the Lord must make certain that they have awakened themselves thoroughly before they begin to praise Him, or their practice of predawn praise will be reduced to mere ritualism.

Having a time alone with God early in the morning is a blessed experience. But too often our prayer life early in the morning is burdened down with weariness, sleepiness, and a half-awake attitude toward God. When we have our morning devotions, we must be certain that we are wide awake and ready to meet with God. Then will our meeting with the Almighty be something enjoyable, something vibrant, alive, and awake.

Henry Ward Beecher relates an incident about a laborer on his father's farm in Litchfield, Connecticut. Of this laborer he said: "He had a little room, in one corner of which I had a small cot; and as a boy I used to lie there and wonder at the enthusiasm with which he engaged in his devotions. It was a regular thing. First he would read the New Testament, hardly aware that I was in the room. Then he would alternately pray and sing and laugh. I never saw the Bible enjoyed like that! But I want to bear record that his praying made a profound impression upon me. It never entered my mind whether or not his actions were appropriate. I only thought, 'How that man does enjoy it!' I gained from him more of an idea of the desirableness of rejoicing prayer than I ever did from my mother or father. He led me to see that there should be real overflowing gladness and thanksgiving in it all."

Is it any wonder that when David's heart was fixed upon God, he called himself to awaken early in praise of God. To have our minds ready, the psaltery and harp ready, but not ourselves ready is an affront to our early morning praise to God.

Let us always be alert, awake, and available to praise God early in the morning. Only as we are sufficiently alive to engage in a meaningful and enjoyable prayer life with God, will He hear us when we pray, "Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Thy glory above all the earth."

MORNING HYMN

Oh, the pure delight of a single hour

That before Thy throne I spend,

When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God,

I commune as friend with friend!

Be Still and Know that I Am God -

Full moon on a silver sea, throwing into sharp relief the luminous rocks. I sat in the antique rocking chair by the window, a cup of hot Postum in my hand, fascinated by the undulation of great swaths of foam on the ocean, almost fluorescent in the moonlight.

Stillness. Perfect stillness. It is a very great gift, not always available to those who would most appreciate it and would find joy in it, and often not appreciated by those who have it but are uncomfortable with it. External noise is inescapable in many places--traffic on land and in the air, sirens, horns, chain saws, loud voices and, perhaps worst of all, screaming rock music with thundering amplification which makes the very ground shudder.

I think it is possible to learn stillness--but only if it is seriously sought. God tells us, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10, NIV). "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength" (Isaiah 30:15, KJV).

The stillness in which we find God is not superficial, a mere absence of fidgeting or talking. It is a deliberate and quiet attentiveness--receptive, alert, ready. I think of what Jim Elliot wrote in his Journal: "Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."

This is not so difficult, perhaps, for a sports fan, eyes riveted on the game. For me, however, this quietness in the presence of God, this being "all there" for Him, though I treasure it and long for it, is not easy to maintain, even in the beautiful place where I live. I am easily distracted, more so, it seems, as soon as I try to focus on God Himself and nothing else. Why should this be? I think C.S. Lewis puts his finger right on it in The Screwtape Letters, which purports to be the correspondence between Screwtape, under-secretary to the devil, and his nephew, Wormwood, instructing him in the best ways to tempt the followers of the Enemy, God:

"My dear Wormwood: Music and silence--how I detest them both! How thankful we should be that ever since our Father entered Hell--though longer ago than humans, reckoning in light years, could express, no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise--Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile--Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples, and impossible desires. We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. We have already made great strides in this direction as regards the Earth. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough, or anything like it. Research is in progress."

C.S. Lewis died in 1963. Research in noise-making has made considerable progress since then, don't you think? To learn stillness we must resist our ancient foe, whose craft and power are great, and who is armed with cruel hate. There is One far greater who is on our side. His voice brought stillness to fierce winds and wild waves, and He will surely help us if we put ourselves firmly and determinedly in His presence--"I'm here, Lord. I'm listening." If no word seems to be forthcoming, remember "it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord," and "when He gives quietness, who then can make trouble?" (Lamentations 3:26, NIV; Job 34:29, KJV).

Silence is one form of worship. When the seventh seal was opened (in St. John's Revelation), there was silence in heaven for the space of half an hour. What would happen in our homes if we should try to prepare ourselves for those heavenly silences by having just one half-hour when there is no door slamming, no TV, no stereo or video, and a minimum of talk, in quiet voices? Wouldn't it also be a calming thing just to practice the stillness which is the absence of motion? My father used to have us try this every now and then. Why not try a Quiet Day or even a Quiet Week without the usual noises? It might open vistas of the spiritual life hitherto closed, a depth of communion with the Lord impossible where there is nothing but noise. Does God seem absent? Yes, for most of us He sometimes does. Even at such a time may we not simply be still before Him, trusting that He reads the perplexity we cannot put into words?

Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: Keep A Quiet Heart
Scripture Reference: Lamentations 3:26 Isaiah 30:15 Job 34:29 Psalm 46:10

Have we sold our soul for Rock 'n Roll?

One of the most openly Satanic bands in all of rock is Black Sabbath. They have actually given invitations during their concerts for young people to receive Satan. One of their albums, is truthfully titled, "We Sold Our Soul for Rock'n Roll". Their song N.I.B. (Nativity In Black) is one of the most openly satanic songs ever recorded. It is a love-song from Lucifer, in which Lucifer invites the listener to "please take my hand", the lyrics:

Some people say MY LOVE cannot be true
Please believe me, MY LOVE, and I'll show you
I will give you those things you thought unreal . . .
YOUR LOVE FOR ME has just got to be real . . .
Look into my eyes, you will see who I am
MY NAME IS LUCIFER, PLEASE TAKE MY HAND!"

Now surely, it's NOT POSSIBLE — no CCM group would EVER go that far and do a song by Black Sabbath? Wrong. . . The CCM group, Deliverance, on their album "What A Joke", have a song by satanist rockers — Black Sabbath — "After Forever!"

Here's a short list of some so-called Christian Contemporary performers who sing "worldly-secular-rock" songs.

Amy Grant "PLAYS" Joni Mithchell
Johnny Cash "PLAYS" Danzig, Beck, SoundGarden, et. al!
Petra "PLAYS" Argent (ditto KISS)
77's "PLAYS" Led Zeppelin.
DC talk "PLAYS" Doobie Brothers, Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, REM, et. al.
Audio Adrenaline "PLAYS" Edgar Winter
Point of Grace "PLAYS" Earth, Wind and Fire
Jars of Clay "PLAYS" Ozzy Osbourne
Rez Band "PLAYS" the Who, Jefferson Airplane
Holy Soldier "PLAYS" Rolling Stones
Rachel, Rachel "PLAYS" Kansas
Deliverance "PLAYS" Black Sabbath
MXPX plays Buddy Holly

Many, many more examples could be given. The Bible clearly commands us to "come out from among them, and be ye separate" and to "touch not the unclean thing" — CCMers not only "touch" it — they "honor" them by singing their songs!


Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the UNCLEAN thing; and I will receive you, 2 Cor. 6:17

Where is the CCMers "NEW SONG, even PRAISE unto our God" from Psalms 40?

Why did the same God that gave me, Fanny Crosby, and millions of others a NEW SONG, not do the same for them, as He promised on Psalms 40 and 2 Cor. 5:17? Acts 10:34 says, ". . . God is no respecter of persons". And I know ONE thing — GOD DOES NOT LIE!

In hope of eternal life, which God, THAT CANNOT LIE, promised before the world began; Titus 1:2

God is not a man, that HE SHOULD LIE; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Numbers 23:19

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become NEW. 2 Corinthians 5:17

1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.3 And he hath put a NEW SONG in my mouth, even PRAISE unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. Psalm 40:1-3

CHRISTIAN MUSIC IS A NEW SONG — NOT AN OLD SONG.

"When Christian music carries the beat, instrumentation, and exact sounds of the lost crowd, it results in confusion and shame... It is shameful to use musicians who in shallow songs daze instead of praise, who entertain instead of train... They transfer the worship owed to Christ to 'concert hopping', money-hungry entertainers who have never left, the world far enough behind to stop sounding like it..."(Shame, a tract by Dr. Hal Webb, pp. 2,4,6)

Edification and Entertainment - R. Cottrill

In our entertainment hungry age, there is a legitimate question as to whether some of what goes on in our churches, thinking of music in particular, is more geared to be entertaining and tickle the emotions than it is to be edifying. What’s the difference?

To Edify
Edification involves the building up, the strengthening and maturing of the individual. See Eph. 4:29, where “edification” translates the Greek word oikodome, and it has the sense of promoting Christian character: “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” This will always be balanced with glorifying God. That is, there can be no true spiritual edification from something that dishonours the Lord (cf. Phil. 4:8).

Further, it should be noted that what ultimately builds us up may not, at least in the beginning, give us pleasure. Part of the edifying work of God is to discipline us when we go astray. The end result will be beneficial, but the process is hardly entertaining! “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives….Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:6, 11).

To Entertain
Entertainment is different. The word “entertain” means literally to hold–that is, to hold the attention, to fascinate. It is similar to the word “amuse,” which means to cause to stare. With entertainment, there is a focus on the performance and the performer’s skill, and on the personal pleasure received from it. These qualities may tend to put entertainment in conflict with edification (and with worship).

Some would argue that it is possible to do both, to edify while we entertain. Maybe. But the two will always be in competition. And the higher the entertainment value the more difficult it may be to derive edification from the experience. As concerns sacred music, we might ask: Will the glorifying of man detract from the glorifying of God? And what is the danger of mistaking personal enjoyment for spiritual benefit (cf. Ezek. 33:32).

Archibald Brown was a contemporary of Charles Spurgeon’s in the nineteenth century. But his observations here sound like they would fit many churches today. He wrote:

It is only the past few years that amusement has become the recognized instrument of our warfare and developed into a mission….The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church of Christ that part of her mission is to provide entertainment for people, with a view to winning them into the ranks. The human nature that lies in every heart has risen to the bait. Here now is an opportunity of gratifying the flesh and yet retaining a comfortable conscience. We can now please ourselves in order to do good to others.

Ouch! If the shoe fits…!