Author: Faithful Stewardship

DiM | “Dear Younger Me” by MercyMe

Faithful Stewardship 3 Comments

disapproveCCM Edition.

June 21, 2016. Today we’ll be taking a look at “Dear Younger Me” by MercyMe which currently sits at #19 on the20theCountdownMagazine.

I got frustrated with the song during the discussion of the lyric. This song spends most of its time, first couple of verses and even the chorus, building up to a climactic lesson or point. From the very beginning, we know there’s supposed to be a lesson, that cliche of “If I could tell the my younger self one thing…”. The artists relied on a bridge to bring the lesson home. It is almost good… almost. We’ll get to that point in the discussion, but this song could have been rescued were it not for the overwhelming self-focus in the problem and in the proposed solution.

MercyMe VEVO

 

Lyrics (via MercyMe)

Dear younger me
Where do I start
if i could tell you everything that I have learned so far
then you could be
one step ahead
of all the painful memories still running thru my head
i wonder how much different things would be
dear younger me

dear younger me
i cannot decide
do i give some speech about how to get the most out of your life
or do i go deep
and try to change
the choices that you’ll make cuz they’re choices that made me
even though I love this crazy life
sometimes i wish it was a smoother ride
dear younger me

if i knew then what i know now
condemnation would’ve had no power
My joy my pain would’ve never been my worth
if i knew then what i know now
would’ve not been hard to figure out
What I would’ve changed if I had heard

dear younger me
it’s not your fault
you were never meant carry this beyond the cross

you are holy
you are righteous
you are one of the redeemed

set apart
a brand new heart
you are free indeed

every mountain every valley
Thru each heartache you will see
every moment brings you closer
to who you were meant to be
Dear younger dear

Discussion

So who is the artist talking to? Well, the obvious answer is “himself”. The secondary target audience is anyone who has done some introspection and reflection and had the thought if I knew then what I know now. I think that idea has crossed everyone’s mind at one point or another, how we answer the question or go about answering that question is what tends to vary the most. I’ve come to the point now where I understand how the Bible describes sin and the corruption of our flesh that whenever these thoughts come to mind, the simple answer is always, “I’d not have believed myself, and would have simply gone on sinning”. We don’t get to go back and try to undo or redo anything, and we don’t need to. We have something much, much better. We have the Cross, the Gospel of God’s Grace, the promise of Forgiveness and Salvation, the Hope of Eternal Life in Christ Jesus. It is Finished.

Verse 1. Nothing particularly profound or particularly Christian in this verse. It is asking honest questions. That they are honest doesn’t make them good questions. For example, there is a hint in one of the questions that somehow we might be ahead in life if we had extra information. I don’t think that’s true for the Christian. We don’t sin due to lack of knowledge, we sin because we are sinful. The artist isn’t explicitly addressing sins of the past, and I find that troubling. Popular evangelicalism doesn’t know what to do with sin, doesn’t know how to describe it in light of the Gospel. So what normally tends to happen is sin gets treated as mistakes of the past that are now gone. That’s not completely wrong, but it’s missing the reality that as long as we continue living in this fallen world, sin is what our flesh will crave. We are born into the corruption of Adam, and our flesh bears that mark until the Resurrection, when we’ll finally be rid of this sinful flesh and granted new bodies. Our hearts and minds (flesh) bear many scars inflicted by our own sinful desires and the sinful desires of others. The song seems focused more on regret, guilt, and condemnation… so it is dealing with the hurt of past sins without naming the enemy.

Verse 2. Again, this song builds slowly. But here we see something that looks like a throw-away piece of advice, that almost seems awesome. Granted, we’ve still not seen anything in the song that is particularly Christian, but if we make that assumption based on the band and the CCM marketing model, who is out there preaching “how to get the most out of your life“? Most of popular evangelicalism is, the celebrities who preach themselves and life-tips (Greg Surratt, Craig Groeschel, Rick Warren) instead of Christ and Him Crucified. The guys making up their own creeds (Joel Osteen, Keith Craft) and rejecting Biblical orthodoxy (Andy Stanley), and just reading themselves into every possible scripture, including the ones plainly talking about God (Steven Furtick). At this line in the song I got my hopes up thinking, “wow, this song is rejecting that man-centered drivel and is going to point us to Christ”. Sadly, that thought didn’t pan out. The artist then talks about going deep… by questioning if we should really change anything in the past since those past mistakes are part of what makes us who we are. Well, great. So, going deep is to question whether or not past mistakes were really mistakes or building blocks for who we are now? /sigh. That’s not deep, that’s self-justification. At this point, I’m glad the artist isn’t clearly naming sin as the enemy, because that would make this turning point in the song very bad. As it stands, this turn in the song makes it very surface-level and thin… like wondering if I would have finished my degree according to plan right out of high school or if I’m better off having failed at college and struggled for years before joining the Army. That’s not deep… it’s self-centered, self-focused conjecture that can either lead to a self-pity-party or a self-love-fest or vacillate between the two. So far, we’ve seen nothing in the song that separates it from secular humanism. The song is further downgraded in impact when the artists claims to love this crazy life, he just wishes sometimes it was a smoother ride. Who doesn’t want a life with less pain and fewer bumps?

Chorus. So what is it that the singer knows now that he didn’t know then? It has something to do with removing the power of condemnation, and it would have provided a sense of worth greater than joy and pain. That sounds fantastic, but what is it? What would you have told your younger self sooner to have all of these powers (or maybe told your younger self if your deep thoughts concluded it was worth avoiding some hardships)? We get one more teaser toward the end of the chorus that suggests that if he’d known then what he knows now it would have been easy to figure out what he would have changed if only he’d heard (may need a chart that sentence out on a piece of paper and colored markers, lol)…

Bridge (the answer). It’s not your fault. WHAT?!?! That’s the big payoff, that it’s not your fault? What is not your fault? Your sin? Your sin is your fault. You are born in it, born into it, born a slave to it, it comes from within you, it is in your heart, it influences your speech, your thoughts, and your actions, it is yours. The message of the Gospel is NOT that we are victims of injustice, it is that in our guilt and shame God stepped in to pay the price we owe but could not pay in our place so that in Him we might be saved and made righteous.

In fairness, I’m the one that has been trying to understand the lyric from a Biblical Christian perspective. The song hasn’t been talking about sin directly. The next line mentions the cross… oddly. you were never meant carry this beyond the cross. To give this single line/thought its best construction, completely removed from the rest of the song, this could be a wonderful thought reinforcing the Truth that Christ died for your sins and has forgiven them all. Once you’ve been absolved by the blood and body of Christ Jesus, It is finished is what He spoke on the Cross, and It is forgiven is what remains of your absolved sin. That is glorious good news, Gospel. Sadly, the song hasn’t been building to this truth of the Gospel. I do believe this is intended to provide relief to the weary believer who struggles to find assurance of his salvation. That is a prevailing source of torment for the majority of professing Christians in popular American evangelicalism whose focus is always on works and self-examination, a form of Christianity that is foolishly looking to progress beyond the Gospel of Jesus Christ into human perfection under the LAW. The Gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t something only unbelievers need to hear… Christians need the Gospel preached to them continually also, Christians need to hear that their sins are forgiven constantly because we sin constantly and are constantly in need of forgiveness.

1 John 1:5-10 (ESV) | Walking in the Light

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Now, regarding the issue of picking up old regrets, and listening to the condemnation of the enemy concerning sins we’ve already been forgiven of, that’s why we need our brothers and sisters in Christ speaking life into our lives. No, I’m not talking about “positivity” I’m talking about the Truth of the Gospel. I need to hear a brother in Christ say to me, “yes, we’ve committed the sin of idolatry in the past… but that sin has already been absolved, there is nothing more that needs to be done there, Christ has forgiven it, you need to let it go” (words my pastor spoke to me over some ice cream). I need to hear that. You need to hear it also. When the struggle is internal, you need to look to the external, objective Word of God to build your faith. Wallowing around in the mire of introspection won’t build your faith, it will distract you from God’s Word. If this was intended to be the central point of the song, it wasn’t build up well and there is no acknowledgement of the Law, no clarity in the Gospel, and what’s worse, the song simply ends in a blanket of positive affirmations and promises without a tether to Christ and Him Crucified.

you are holy
you are righteous
you are one of the redeemed
set apart
a brand new heart
you are free indeed
every mountain every valley
Thru each heartache you will see
every moment brings you closer
to who you were meant to be
Dear younger dear

Every promise pointing to how great “me” is… I’m now going to be who I’m meant to be. In the end, this is a motivational song that any secular humanist could relate to and agree with and never be convicted of sin or made aware of the Gospel. Are these fragments all part of actual promises in the Bible? Yes, they are. But they’ve been divorced from Law and Gospel and applied blindly. The focus is on the self, not on Christ. Throughout the whole song, the focus is on the self. The cross gets a small mention.

Conclusion

If this was a song intended for secular airplay, just part of everyday musical art being performed to pay the bills, it would make for a cool, positive song. I’m used to ignoring bad theology in secular songs. However, this song is written by Christians for a Christian audience, so it’s bad theology is central to the song and it cannot simply be ignored.

If I could tell the younger me something, it would be to read the Scriptures with a Christ-focus, looking for how this passage is pointing me to Christ rather than constantly trying to see “what this passage is telling me to do”. As I wrote earlier, I made the bad choices because of sin. I am where I am today because of the Grace and Mercy of God through the working of the Holy Spirit, not by anything I did or realized on my own. What I know now is because the Holy Spirit opened my eyes, and there is nothing I could say to my younger self that would help the Holy Spirit do His work any differently. Believers don’t get “do-overs” we get something much, much better… we get It is Finished; You are Forgiven.

Hebrews 13:20-21 (ESV) Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

DiM | “What You Want” by Tenth Avenue North

Faithful Stewardship 2 Comments

disapproveCCM Edition.

June 14, 2016. Today we’ll be taking a look at “What You Want” by Tenth Avenue North which currently sits at #18 on the20theCountdownMagazine.

Wow, what a catchy tune this song has. I’ve mentioned before that I have a soft spot, musically speaking, for EDM (electronic dance music). Tenth Avenue North has done a bang-up job on the music track. It’s progressive with a breakbeat/house feel. Quite compelling, musically. The vocal work is also very nice. So how do the lyrics fair? Well, the theology pushing the song is a bit off. It presents a picture of Christianity one of choosing to follow Jesus rather than of being forgiven by Jesus. If you’re thinking “what’s the difference” I hope to explain that a bit below. For now, let’s give the song a listen and take a look a the lyrics.

Official Lyric Video

 

Lyrics (via KLove)

Every day I’ve been feeling the pressure
I always gotta know the plan
It’s a weight that I’ve tried to shoulder
I thought I could, but I can’t

And I’m so tired of chasing dreams
When I am wired to let You lead

You’re changing my heart
To what what You want
To love how You love
And that is enough
There’s no greater plan
That I need to know
You only ask me to follow
And want what You, what You want
And want what You, what You want
And want what You, what You want
And want what You, what You want

Oh, there’s freedom in this surrender
I feel myself come alive
And the burden feels like a feather
When I let my agenda die

And I get so tired of my own dreams
When I am wired to let You lead

So many leaders
You ask for followers
So keep on leading
‘Cause You’re my Father

Publishing: © 2016 Mike Donehey Publishing Designee (SESAC) / Fellow Ships Music (SESAC) / So Essential Tunes (SESAC) (adm. by Essential Music Publishing LLC) / Colby Wedgeworth Music (ASCAP) / Fair Trade Music Publishing (ASCAP) (adm. by Music Service, Inc.). All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Writer(s): Mike Donehey, Jason Ingram, Colby Wedgeworth

Discussion

Verse 1. In the first verse we have the singer stating a problem of being unable to measure up or keep up. We don’t have a lot of context, but the singer is letting go of the idea that he (we, by extension) have to always know the plan and shoulder the burden, but we can’t. Here is the question that needs to be asked… where is this pressure coming from? Placing my best construction on this song, I’d say the pressure comes from bad theology and false teaching. The message of the Gospel isn’t that you’re going to change your world, the message of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ already has by His death and Resurrection.

Pre-Chorus. So tired of chasing dreams? Good… because nowhere in scripture is the charge to chase our dreams, and Christ did not die to resurrect dead dreams, He died so that we might have Eternal Life in Him. When I am wired to let You lead *ugh*. If this were a finely polished radio program, you’d likely hear the sound of a needle scratching across a vinyl record. In what sense are we wired to let the King of kings and LORD of lords, the Alpha and the Omega lead? If our best construction is that the song is calling out bad theology, well… here we see it being replaced with more bad theology. While there is a narrow context within which one might rightly use the phrase “follow Jesus”, it’s not the center of our confession. The disciples literally followed Jesus and were discipled by Him directly, and we sit under their teaching preserved for us in the Written Word of God. Whenever we hear preachers today talk about “following Jesus” I’ve noticed it rarely ends with preaching Christ and Him crucified; instead the discussion normally ends in the Law, and sometimes not even Biblical Law. We’ll get to that in a minute, but for now let’s take a moment to see how Scripture talks of following Christ and what it means for us today.

Following Christ

1 Corinthians 1:10-17 (ESV) | Divisions in the Church

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

I like to start here to point out another problem with today’s slogan of “following Christ” or “being a totally committed Christ-follower”… it’s not pointing to the Gospel, it’s often intended to establish a sort of piety pecking order. It was taking place in Corinth in Paul’s day, and it remains with us today. Paul isn’t preaching against baptism here, he’s saying the focus is in the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We see this reinforced in his letters to Timothy.

1 Timothy 4:1-6 (ESV)  Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.

2 Timothy 1:8-14 (ESV)Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

The Apostle Paul had a laser focus on the preaching and teaching of the Gospel, the sound words and good doctrine of Salvation through faith, not because of our works, but because of His own purpose and Grace in Christ Jesus. False teachers will often point to the idea of “following Christ” directly, while surreptitiously inserting themselves and their machinations as intermediaries for explaining and even evaluating your walk or your level of commitment in “following Christ”. Naturally, you should be following them.

There is a context within which we might treat Christ as an example to be followed, and the Apostle Peter points us in that direction in his first epistle.

1 Peter 2:13-25 (ESV) | Submission to Authority

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

In His suffering. Or as the Apostle Paul put it, joining in Christ’s suffering.

Colossians 1:24-28 (ESV) | Paul’s Ministry to the Church

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

And we’ve come full circle back to the very center of the Apostle Paul’s focus for ministry, not in trying to imitate God, but in preaching Christ and Him crucified for our sin.

Getting back to the pre-chorus discussion, I’m struggling to find a corrective mechanic for the notion that we are wired to let God lead us. Our flesh is corrupted by sin, bent in on itself… it is wired to serve itself. The Spirit desires the things of God, but we remain simultaneously sinner and saint, with the war waging in our members. So, it’s difficult for me to find a clear way to correct this line, and it is the thought that turns the song into its chorus.

Chorus. With the chorus, I’ve pretty  much abandoned my attempt at giving this song its best construction. At best this is an attempt to say that the work of the Holy Spirit within us is to change our desires such that they align with God’s. The flip-side of that coin suggests that we block the work of the Holy Spirit by not letting Him lead. From here on out, the song lyric stays stuck in this “Jesus is my example” in a way that leans heavily toward “I will one day be like He is” and I just don’t find that a clear or helpful way of looking at the Christian Life. I think it casts a shadow over the substitutionary atonement and looks past the fact that our righteousness is not our own, it’s Christ’s righteousness which is granted to us. This is winds up clouding how we share the Gospel, leading some to buy into the lie that the lost will come to ask for the Gospel because of looking at our lives. But the truth is that we still fall short, and we cannot live up to this standard of living in a way that proclaims Christ without words. It is Christ who fulfilled the Law in our place, so we preach Him and Him Crucified in our place so that by Grace through Faith we might be saved. I know some might be thinking, “but what about good works of faith?” We do good works for our neighbors as an outflow of our having been forgiven by God. Our good works server our neighbors as the result of our having been set free from and forgiven of sin by a gracious and loving God. Good works flow from the Gospel, not the Law, though the Law identifies what is a good work (love God, love neighbor).

Is there something to be said about the need to desire that which God desires? Absolutely… and that is why we have the Word of God preserved for us in Scripture by God the Holy Spirit. This song doesn’t point in that direction, instead it is pointing to some sort of permission we need to give God to then simply overwrite our desires. That’s not the picture we see in Scripture. That’s why I’ve been pointing out Paul’s focus on the preached Word of God.

Verse 2. This verse is bent in on the self, in our feelings. The object of our faith is external to us, not internal. Your feelings will fail you, Christ’s Word won’t. The Truth of the Promise from God that by faith in Christ Jesus that your sins are forgiven you doesn’t wane simply because you don’t feel forgiven. I completely understand wanting to feel forgiven, but we need to submit our feelings to the Truth found in God’s Word, and trust in that. It is your feelings and emotions that fail you, and even lie to you.

Bridge. It’s just odd. It’s like the “Jesus is my co-pilot” trope where we treat our LORD and Savior like some meek introvert who won’t do ANYTHING without our permission. That’s not the Jesus found in the Scriptures, friend.

Conclusion

As much as I love the musical part of this song, I don’t like the law-heavy theology which demotes Jesus down from LORD and Savior to an example we can follow and even permit to lead us. If your picture of Jesus is the gentle shepherd with the lamb across His shoulders… remember that lamb is YOU. He’s carrying YOU on His shoulders because you got lost and He had to go get you. The shepherd doesn’t need nor ask the sheep’s permission to lead them. His sheep hear His voice and follow because they are His sheep. This song presupposes a seeker-sensitive ideology where unbelievers have within them a will to know God and it’s just a matter of grabbing their attention so that they can finally “let God be their God”.

Romans 16:24-27 (ESV) | Doxology

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Amen, Indeed.
In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

CTT | Trey Pearson and CCM

Faithful Stewardship 1 Comment

Last week, I saw the following headline from theBlaze pop up on my Facebook feed:

Christian Rocker Comes Out as Gay:
‘I’ve Tried My Whole Life to Be Straight’

Naturally, I was curious as to who this “Christian Rocker” was and wanted to know how the CCM Industry would spin it. After some searching, I realized that this poor young man’s crisis of faith had already published previously, and the community should have picked up on several warning signs. What we have here isn’t a sound Christian suddenly performing a 180º turn, merely the revealing of an unbeliever’s unrepentance.  Today, I want to focus your attention more on the Contemporary “Christian” Music (CCM) industry than on the man, Trey Pearson and his rebellion.

That article from the Blaze is mostly a rehash of the original interview posted here. The interview’s title is “A Modern Gospel”, but it isn’t a modern gospel, it’s a false one. Some heartbreaking quotes:

…“I’m gay, and one of the only people who knows is my wife.”…

…“Most of us reach at least one pivotal moment in our lives that better defines who we are. These last several months have been the hardest—but also have ended up being the most freeing months—of my life. To make an extremely long story short, I have come to be able to admit to myself, and to my family, that I am gay.”…

…“There is a weight that has been lifted, and I have never felt so free. I cannot even believe the joy and lightness I feel from being able to accept myself, and love myself, for who I truly am … but I have also lost some of the closest people in my life. I have felt betrayal by people I loved a lot, and cared so much about.”…

…“I’m starting over in so many ways. It is freeing, but it’s also starting out lonely”…

In the article, we see Trey fully fixated on himself while taking shots at Christians for not treating him the way he thinks he should be treated. Really, Trey? You’re leaving your wife. Your wife is no longer your wife, you’ve made her out to be merely part of what you’ve now decided isn’t the real you. Rather than resist sin, you’ve decided to identify by it, and expect others to accept your sin as something that should be embraced, celebrated, and even loved. The “joy and lightness” you’re describing now is no more substantial than the adrenaline high most get from doing something they know is wrong. This isn’t freedom, it is bondage to sin. This hedonistic gospel is no gospel at all. There is no life in it, only death. Let’s turn quickly to Paul’s comments regarding sin in his letter to the Romans, a rather hedonistic society in its day even by modern standards.

Romans 6:15-23 (ESV) | Slaves to Righteousness

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So you see, Paul points out the hard truth of the so-called “freedom” trey is currently experiencing… it’s a freedom in regards to righteousness, meaning that giving yourself over into slavery of sin is to rid yourself of all righteousness. We have no righteousness of our own, so we must become slaves to righteousness by faith in the Righteous One, Our LORD Jesus Christ. In denying the Law of God (specifically that sexual immorality is sin), he’s cut himself off from the very Gospel of God, forgiveness from the sin he refuses to acknowledge as sin. What we see here is a man who is still firmly planted in Romans 1.

Romans 1:18-32 (ESV) | God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Which leads us to the focus of this discussion here. Yes, Trey is in unbelief and I pray the Holy Spirit open his eyes to the Truth, that Trey’s hardened heart and stiffened neck against the Truth of God be softened. But Trey has a platform that the CCM Industry has built for him, and that our godless society is capitalizing on. Check out this troubling segment of the View.

A wife and two children, and all he can think about is himself and his passions. He put all of his faith into his ability to “be something he wasn’t”. Folks, that isn’t the Gospel. The Object of saving faith is NOT our ability to uphold the Law. The Object of our faith is Christ Jesus.

I will concede one point… in part. If the visible church keeps preaching sanctification as a choice we make, it’s teaching the wrong thing. The Law clearly pronounces homosexuality as sin. Abominable sin. As sinful human being, sinless perfection is outside of our reach and beyond our strength to attain in this life on our own. Repentance is a daily act of faith, not a one-time contract that relies on your sanctified perfection to maintain. We must encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ who struggle with same-sex attraction to continue bearing the fruit of repentance, just as we who struggle with heterosexually immoral temptations need to. Your secret addition to pornography is no less abominable than their same-sex attraction, in the eyes of God they are both sexual immorality, sexual sin, on par with Idolatry, and punishable by death. And they are both covered, paid in full, by the Perfect atoning sacrifice of our LORD Jesus Christ on the cross. Repent, and be forgiven in Jesus’ Name. Take up your cross, die to self, and follow Christ daily. There will come a day when at last we will be free of this sinful, fallen flesh, and we will be given new bodies in the Resurrection. Until then, the righteous live by Faith, not by their own works.

The CCM Problem

As I mentioned earlier, I found an older article from 2013 (Sojourners link) that should have raised several warning flags concerning Trey Pearson and the CCM Industry. That it didn’t indicates that the majority of the Visible church is sleeping or flat-out derelict in their duty to preach sound doctrine and to hold CCM (and themselves) accountable. If you have some time, read through the interview… it is quite telling of the problems within the CCM Industry and with Trey’s theology. These issues, even if Trey can’t speak for the entire industry perfectly, are clearly driving forces behind why so many of our DiM posts end up in disapprovals and warnings. The industry is deeply flawed, and the Church is blindly eating it all up. Let’s look at some of the more damning quotes in the SOJO article:

SOJO: What about the industry surprised you?

Trey: I have been in the industry for 11 years full time, so that’s a bit of a loaded question! I was pretty naive coming into the industry. I assumed everyone there was just trying to make great art, to glorify God. But it was more than that. I thought that what these musicians were doing was somehow sacred, distinct from the “secular” music that other artists were producing. That is what I had been taught as a teenager, by people that were really influential in my life.

I didn’t realize how much the industry was geared toward soccer moms, who support Christian radio. I didn’t realize how many people in the industry had really different views on what it meant to follow God, or just flat out didn’t seem to care. The Christian music industry has the same struggles with drugs, sex and power as the secular music business.  [emphasis mine]

The Christian Radio stations are inextricably linked to the Industry machine. Don’t be fooled. Don’t be lulled into the lie that they are simply dealing with the hand they are dealt from the recording studios. It matters who they target with their marketing for “business partners”, it matters that they claim to proclaim the Gospel while promoting and playing mostly ear-tickling pablum. Trey goes on to lament the art that is lacking in the CCM Industry.

The formula of CCM started with them knowing how to sell to the adult contemporary (AC) format. About a decade ago, worship music became really popular, and it has pretty much melded with that AC format. There are some slight differences at times, but it is all geared to be cool enough to make a soccer mom think that it’s edgy, and yet not be too controversial. What is intriguing to me is that you will almost never find someone making art in the rest of the music industry, trying to become an “adult contemporary” artist. You will see Top 40 [pop artists] cross over some of their songs to AC, but all the artists at the top of those mainstream AC charts right now are Rihanna, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Maroon 5, and Justin Timberlake. That’s a far cry from an industry that pushes young people into trying to make Christian AC music, that never ends up being about the art, but just fitting in the right formulaic words like “grace,” “saved,” “Jesus,” and trust me, they have them. And it never leads to good art. No offense to the artists that are ruling Christian music, but it’s just not at the peak of the creative music spectrum…

…Generally, only messages of certainty and positivity are promoted and accepted within Christian AC and worship music communities. It is next to impossible to create art that has transparency and honesty, expressing doubt, and vulnerability. You can see those things all throughout Scripture, but the system in place to sell albums has a very narrow view of belief that they want to promote to their consumers.

So, in these answers we are starting to see more of Trey’s theology, but we are also seeing that the CCM formula is centered on entertaining the Adult Contemporary market rather than on sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The standard isn’t God’s Word, it’s what they think they can get away with to be comfortably edgy and at least nominally orthodox (using the formulaic words he cited). Seriously though, Trey just included the Name that is above all Names in his list of “formulaic words” as a bad thing because it hinders art.

Do you see Trey’s theology emerging a bit here? Might you be inclined to guess at who he’s been listening to, and learning from? Any chance it’s a faithful exegete?

SOJO: Talk about the authors and others who started opening your eyes to other ways of thinking about God.

Trey: The biggest influence that made an impact on making me rethink the sacred vs. secular divide, and on understanding that everything is spiritual, was Rob Bell. He helped me realize again that everything that is good is from God. I stopped believing in Christian music or Christian events or anything else described as a “Christian” that didn’t seem intent on following Jesus.

I’m all for a group of Christians coming together to try to make an impact in people’s lives for the Kingdom of God. I just believe there are better ways to go about it. If you believe that everything that is good is from God, it starts to really change your perspective on how all of this works. Rob was sort of a gateway for me to other authors that have had huge impacts on me like Dallas Willard, N.T. Wright, Jurgen Moltmann, Walter Brueggemann, and many more. [emphasis mine]

There is a reason we call out these false teachers. There is a reason we need the ministries of Pirate Christian Radio, the Pulpit and Pen, the Berean Research, Wretched Radio, et al. The visible church is derelect in its duty to exercise Biblical Discernment, to mark false teachers, and guard the flock against the wolves.

Conclusion

I pray the LORD soften Trey’s heart and grant him saving faith and repentance. I pray for his wife and children, for that they might find Faith, Hope, and Restoration in Christ alone. I pray that the Church wake up and start taking their charge to keep the Faith, to keep the Word of God. Dear Christian, do the work of a Berean. Examine your doctrine with an open Bible, to see if it is good. Ensure that your local church faithfully preaches the Word of God, both Law and Gospel unapologetically. Exercise Biblical discernment in what you are listening to, purchasing online, and reading.. particularly those things that claim to be “Christian”. Hold your local CCM Radio stations accountable. They raise funds claiming to be a Christian ministry… is it true? Do they proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ? or are they merely an entertainment platform for a CCM industry looking to make a buck.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 (ESV) | Preach the Word

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

DiM | “Never Too Far Gone” by Jordan Feliz

Faithful Stewardship Leave a comment

CCM Radio Edition.

disapproveJune 7, 2016. Today we’ll be taking a look at “Never Too Far Gone” by Jordan Feliz which currently sits at #17 on the20theCountdownMagazine.

Let’s start of by acknowledging the wonderful Truth conveyed in the title of this song, “No one is out of reach of God”. We’ll discuss this in more detail, Biblically, during the discussion of this song’s lyrics because I think this idea is what the singer was trying to convey and it is probably the driving thought behind its popularity. If the Gospel of Jesus Christ were simply the fact that God loves you, this song would be awesome.

John 3:16-18 (ESV) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

While it is good news to hear that God loves us, that isn’t the whole Gospel. Sadly, this world has a very warped and twisted view of love, so simply saying “God Loves You” isn’t enough to convey the Gospel of Salvation.  We’ll also discuss this point. Let’s take a listen to the song and then dive into its lyrics.

Jordan Feliz VEVO – Lyric Video

 

Lyrics (via Air1)

I have loved you from the start
I have seen your hurting heart

And you feel so lonely
But you keep on hiding
Cause you feel so guilty
For what you’ve done but

(chorus)
There’s no distance too far
That I can’t reach you
There’s no place that’s so dark
That I can’t find you
Anywhere that you are
If you need proof
Take a look at these scars
And know I love you
Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter
Doesn’t matter what you’ve done
You are never, you are never
Never too far gone

You have run down every road
And you’ve lost your way back home

And you feel so dirty
You know you’re unworthy
Feeling undeserving
Of any love but

(chorus)
There’s no distance too far
That I can’t reach you
There’s no place that’s so dark
That I can’t find you
Anywhere that you are
If you need proof
Take a look at these scars
And know I love you
Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter
Doesn’t matter what you’ve done
You are never, you are never
Never too far gone

You will never outrun my love, my love, my love
You will never outrun my love, my love, my love
You will never outrun my love, my love, my love
You will never outrun my love, my love, my love

(chorus)
There’s no distance too far
That I can’t reach you
There’s no place that’s so dark
That I can’t find you
Anywhere that you are
If you need proof
Take a look at these scars
And know I love you
Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter
Doesn’t matter what you’ve done
You are never, you are never
Never too far gone
Never too far gone
Never too far gone

Publishing: © 2015 CentricSongs (SESAC)/Sony-ATV Timber Publishing, Open Hands Music (SESAC)/Colby Wedgeworth Music & Fair Trade Music Publishing (ASCAP)

Writer(s): Words and Music by Jordan Feliz, Jason Ingram and Colby Wedgeworth

Discussion

The Video. I don’t want to spend too much time on the video here, but I did want to point out that the video demonstrates an over emphasis on geographical distance. Our separation from God on account of our sin is far greater than what can be portrayed geographically. But I do think that it is helpful to remember that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for all people, all nations, all of the corners of the Earth.

Ephesians 4:4-6 (ESV) There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

While there remains within our flesh a devious, persistent, self-centeredness, a default view that we are the center of the world, even the focal point of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Truth is that the Body of Christ is identified in Him, not us. Sadly, neither the video imagery nor the song lyric come to any sort of conclusion or bottom line. For all intents and purposes, this could simply be another “We are the world“, only instead of people singing to each other, the singer is presuming to be voicing Jesus.

The Song. Well, this point didn’t strike me until about the third time I listened to the song on repeat. It suddenly dawned on me… he’s singing from God’s perspective, from Jesus’ point of reference… he’s putting words in God’s mouth. With so many of His Words available to us in the Written Word of God, why take the risk of ad lib? Then I started noticing the tone and tenor of the lyric… this is intended to be a love song from God to the listener. Sarah Young’s book Jesus Calling came to mind. Yep, this is something like that, only less mushy (thankfully). I’m worried about who the target audience is supposed to be. Is this intended for the regenerated, believing Christian who is doubting his own forgiveness in Jesus’ Name, or is this supposed to be to the mythical “seeking unbeliever” (we’ll get to that).

Verse 1. Okay, so to give this verse its best possible construction, it is a very thin/weak depiction of our sinful state. It barely touches the surface of the issue, focusing more on the emotional concept of guilt or shame. Yes, there is an emotional response to guilt and shame that most of us experience, and sometimes this emotional response can be triggered or manipulated wrongly (guilt trip). But when it comes to a conversation we might have with Almighty God regarding sin, it goes far beyond an emotional feeling. We truly ARE guilty. It’s a fact. There is no avoiding that fact. Our sin is why the Earth is corrupted, why everything in creation dies, and why this world will one day be brought to an end. Man-made climate change? yep, it’s found in Genesis 3.

Yes, God has loved us from the start and He knows every thought we’ve had and ever will have. He is God. In modern evangelicalism, we like to talk about God seeing our hearts because we like the notion of being okay deep down inside despite how we live, talk, even what we confess. I don’t want to belabor the point too much, but I did want to point out that this is often code talk for “getting a pass”. It’s what the secularists do when they say “he/she means well”. But our hearts aren’t good. In fact, our hearts are the source of our sin and defilement.

Matthew 15:16-20 (ESV) And [Jesus] said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

But if we are going to pull the intended meaning back away from sin and salvation, back to just the emotions, are we now saying that God will take away every heartache? That’s true in Eternity, but it’s certainly not something Christ has promised for us in this life. Finally, if this song is intended for the Believer, what is the source of hurt or the reason for the distance that’s going to come into play in the chorus? If the problem is a lack of faith or underdeveloped faith, it is most likely due to poor or even errant teaching… something that needs to be remedied with sound doctrine, not emotional-level platitudes.

Chorus. Yes, the love of God knows no boundaries. There is nowhere He can’t go to call His sheep to Him. I’d also like to make explicit that which only hinted at vaguely… there is no sin that Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice hasn’t covered. And here is where I get so frustrated with this song. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that you could feel loved; He died on the cross to pay the full price (the full-on Wrath of God) of your sin, that you deserve, in your place so that by His Blood you might be pardoned, forgiven, adopted as sons and daughters of the Most High God. Our guilt isn’t merely a feeling or perception, it is real and it is eternal. That is why God the Son (Jesus) stepped into our place and paid the price no one else could pay, so that we can have an eternal life we don’t deserve.

Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV) | By Grace Through Faith
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

And all of this He did by His design for His purpose, in keeping with the Law and the Prophets.

Isaiah 53 (ESV)
53 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
   and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors.

That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So you see, this is why I get frustrated when folks try to sum up all of the Gospel into “God loves you even when you don’t feel loved”.

Verse 2. So we’re back to Jesus wooing the listener, letting him/her know “I’ve seen all that you’ve had to endure…” all about the sinner, nothing of the Savior. A common defense for these songs is that listeners really felt emotional relief in hearing them, and that’s fine, but emotional salve can also be found in secular music, too. There is no lasting comfort in focusing on ourselves and our emotions/feelings, not when we have an opportunity to preach the Gospel (which is what these CCM radio stations claim to be doing whenever they’re asking for financial partners). But this verse ends up in a highly romanticized notion that the point of the Gospel is to let God love you even though you don’t deserve it? No. Repentance and Forgiveness of sin is what we need. Whether the target audience is a believer or an unbeliever, it is repentance and forgiveness we desperately need. Those who reject Christ and refuse repentance have deemed themselves unworthy of eternal life.

Acts 13:44-49 (ESV) The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.

Acts 18:1-8 (ESV) After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.

So, you see, there is more to the Gospel than the Truth of God’s Love. It isn’t His Love that fails, we reject Him because of our own sin, our own fleshly, guilty, transgressing hearts. And unregenerated hearts cannot choose or seek after Christ. It is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that saves, by God’s Grace, through faith, not by any of our works.

Romans 3:9-19 (ESV) | No One Is Righteous

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

So, by the time the second chorus rolls around the song has made its pitch and now focuses on building to the emotional climax… the zeal boost it was intended to be. I’d be more impressed by the reference to Christ’s wounds if they were presented as an objective, external indicator of the price He paid for our forgiveness. However, given the emotional focus of a love song being sung supposedly from God’s perspective, the song ends up just romanticizing the notion of His nail scarred Hands and Feet and pierced Side. Point to the cross, point to the empty tomb, point to a Risen Savior who has declared “your sins are forgiven”.

Conclusion

The song will likely serve as an emotional placebo, and I will no doubt lead many to feel like “this is just the encouragement I needed to get through my circumstance…” but this song doesn’t convey the Gospel. Yes, it is true that God’s Love is infinite, but that’s not the Gospel of Forgiveness, the Gospel of Salvation in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Jude 24-25 (ESV) Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge