As 2018 draws to a close, I want to thank everyone who has supported this work and shared it with friends. This year was tough for me, vocationally, and 2019 looks to be just as tough if not more so. I humbly ask for your prayers in this regard. I also ask for continued patience for new material on the site.
I regret not being able to produce much in the way of new DiM work in 2018. I recognize this has created a gap in coverage of Top20 CCM analysis, my hope is that the DiM work will serve as a motivation for more active discernment within the Body of Christ regarding the lyrical content of popular “Christian” music. I’ll continue to try to keep the DiM Archive going to catalog what we’ve seen in CCM and to try to assess where the industry is going in the future. It is my hope that more Christians will take up this work and discussing it with their congregations, friends, and families. It’s important biblical discernment work.
I also wanted to do a lot more CTT work in 2018, but I was unable to follow through with that desire. I don’t know if 2019 will allow me more time to work on these posts, but I do have a couple of series I’m working on and hope to have published in 2019. I’m planning on working through the various doctrines I had to let go of as God the Holy Spirit led me out of the deception of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). I also want to take some time laying out how I was drawn from Pentecostalism to the Lutheran Confessions. It was by no means a quick or smooth transition.
I have other projects I’d like to pick up but they’ll likely have to wait until after 2019, the LORD willing. In closing, I’d like to offer up a prayer from the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians.
Ephesians 1:2-23 (ESV)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christas a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
It has been a long time since we’ve done a “Friday Sermon” post. Today, I thought it would be nice to share a lengthy lecture by Bryan Wolfmueller, pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Aurora, Colorado. Pr. Wolfmueller gave this lecture last year around the time of Reformation Sunday as a guest speaker at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Cheyenne, WY.
Given in honor of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, this lecture takes on many of the popular ideologies that stand against the church in our days.
If you’d like to see the handouts discussed in the video, click here.
Lecture on the Combat of World-Views, Bumper Sticker Theology, and the Anti-Catechism
I hope you enjoy this lecture and find it helpful.
October 30, 2018. Today we’ll be taking a look at “Reckless Love” by Cory Asbury which currently sits at #5 on the Top50 chart at Billboard Top Christian Songs. Today’s song comes to us via a subscriber’s request we cover it. My apologies for the delay in getting around to this one.
This song is aimed at bestowing warm fuzzies and a swollen sense of self-esteem as one who is being chased by the “reckless love of God”. But is this a Biblical depiction of God’s Love? Is this the focus of the Gospel? Let’s examine the song’s lyrics and the artist’s defense of it.
Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me
You have been so, so good to me
Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me
(chorus)
O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
O, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah
When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me
You have been so, so good to me
When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me
You have been so, so kind to me
(chorus)
O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
O, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
Okay, so let’s begin with the word choice in the title and primary refrain, “reckless love of God”. Is reckless a suitable word for describing the love of God? No, it isn’t. At its core, the word falls into the scope of irresponsibility and failure to plan. While I understand the desire of an emotional artist to play around with words and their meaning in service to their art, I cannot abide applying the word reckless to an Omniscient (all-knowing) God who saw the ending from the beginning, Who Is the Alpha and the Omega. I do get that this is an attempt to romanticize the sacrificial nature of God’s love for us that He would die for our sin, but this word choice undermines the clear way that God has revealed His plan of Salvation for us throughout Scripture. Recklessness stands in opposition to planning. It’s a poor word choice for conveying truth; instead, the writers were going for an emotional appeal. Several have taken issue with this word choice, so I am not the first, and Cory took to his Facebook page to issue a defense of this word choice.
Ugh… I get nauseous reading through that. What we get here is an overreach in describing God in human terms, much like we get from the ancient Greek and Roman gods. Cory really misses the mark in the second paragraph where he describes God’s love as almost childlike –what?– no. Cory is employing hyper-romanticized language to describe a Gospel he doesn’t understand. Notice how he closes that second paragraph, He simply gives Himself away on the off-chance that one of us might look back at Him and offer ourselves in return. Not. The. Gospel. God wasn’t taking a gamble at the cross. He knew then and still knows everyone who will come to saving faith, He knows who He is rescuing. He also knows who will reject Christ, God the Son, our Lord, and Savior. God knows. We’ll discuss the attempt at using the Parable of the lost sheep to justify this “reckless” view of God’s Love later. For now, this write-up demonstrates a synergistic view of salvation that paints God as a pining lover rather than the Sovereign God of all Creation.
In the screen capture, I highlighted the notable support from “Georgian and Winnie Banov” Facebook account. These aren’t folks you want supporting your post. I don’t have time to dig into these two, but Chris Rosebrough of Fighting for the Faith has covered Georgian Banov several times.
Let’s work through the lyrics of the song now, beginning with verse 1.
Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me
You have been so, so good to me
Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me
We see this allusion to God singing over us often in this sort of music. In this case, I think comes from a misreading of Zephaniah 3. The verse being used is v17, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” But notice the “will” in there. This is a prophecy pointing forward to the Day of Salvation. Israel looked to this as the day they would return to Jerusalem, we look to it as descriptive of Christ’s Return. In this case, we only need to look to the previous verse for the words, “On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem…”. Read through the whole prophecy in the link provided above and you’ll see that this is prophetic of a promise of the great celebration on the Last Day. Lord, come quickly.
As for the lines about breath, it’s romanticism removed from a clear communication of Truth. Yes, the very life that animates our bodies from conception come from Adam and the breath that God breathed into him, but at the same time, we are born dead in the sin of Adam.
Ephesians 2:1-3 (ESV) 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.
So the line in the first verse is unclear in its use and thus unclear in its meaning. The Lord has been good and kind to us all, in sending His Son, Jesus to atone for our sin. John 1:29 (ESV) “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
Chorus. Now we’re back to the problem of the whole “reckless love of God” thing. But let’s look at the reference to the Parable of the lost sheep.
Luke 15:1-7 (ESV) Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
This is a wonderful parable of how all of heaven rejoices when one comes to saving faith in Christ Jesus, repenting of sin. This isn’t recklessness, this is love. Love doesn’t need a ridiculous modifier such as “reckless”, and insisting upon using such a modifier belies a lack of understanding of Love. Jesus “receives sinners and eats with them”, by His Grace, Mercy, and Love. Also, notice the punchline of the parable, “I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Jesus is rebuking the self-righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes. To attempt to use this parable to justify depicting God’s Love as “reckless” is… well… reckless. It’s an exercise in missing the point all for writing a romantic love song.
Verse 2. There is merit in attempting to convey that we were once hostile to God, so let’s highlight that point.
Romans 5:1-11 (ESV) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
But there is a line that infuriates me in this verse, “When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me“… ugh. Jesus didn’t die on the cross for our “felt worth” or self-esteem, our problem was far more grave and perilous… we are guilty of SIN. Being an enemy of God is no small matter and we are born children of wrath. We shouldn’t be sugar-coating these Truths of our sinful condition, we should be preaching them clearly.
The song closes out with a string of emotive promises lacking clear direction. Romanticized appeals to being pursued by God and his “reckless” love. The emphasis is on the wrong actor, the emphasis is on us as though God is still being reckless to win our affection (remember Cory’s comment on Facebook, He simply gives Himself away on the off-chance that one of us might look back at Him and offer ourselves in return). In over-cooking the ‘romantic relationship’ narrative, the song makes the error of ignoring that the Salvation won by Jesus at the cross has already taken place in time and space. Jesus declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The Scripture shared above has declared this as the pinnacle of God’s Love for us, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Conclusion
This song is a cheesy love song posing as gospel. The focus is on the wrong thing, us rather than our Savior and His finished work on the Cross. Cory’s defense of his wording in the song is probably the clearest evidence against it, he doesn’t rightly understand Law and Gospel. This song is meant to scratch itching ears and swell up self-esteem rather than clearly proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sin. The focus should ever and always be Christ and faith in Him alone.
Romans 16:24-27 (ESV) 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.
October 11, 2018. Today we’ll be taking a look at “Who You Say I Am” by Hillsong Worship which currently sits at #2 on the Top20 chart at 20theCountdownMagazine.
This is a song by Hillsong Worship, who recently declared themselves to be a denomination. This song does have nuggets of the Gospel, which we will point out in the discussion of the lyrics; however, the song’s focus is still on glorifying “me” and “who I am”. Because of the Gospel nugget, this song lands in the middle category. Let’s give it a listen and then work through the lyrics.
Verse 1:
Who am I that the highest King
Would welcome me
I was lost but He brought me in
Oh, His love for me
Oh, His love for me
Chorus 1:
Who the Son sets free
Oh, is free indeed
I’m a child of God
Yes, I am
Verse 2:
Free at last
He has ransomed me
His grace runs deep
While I was a slave to sin
Jesus died for me
Yes, He died for me
Chorus 2:
Who the Son sets free
Oh, is free indeed
I’m a child of God
Yes, I am
In my Father’s house
There’s a place for me
I’m a child of God
Yes, I am
Bridge:
I am chosen
Not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me
Not against me
I am who You say I am
Publishing: Hillsong Music Publishing (APRA) (admin. in the US and Canada at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) Writer(s): Ben Fielding & Reuben Morgan
Discussion
Let’s open up with an acknowledgment of the Gospel Nugget in the song:
While I was a slave to sin
Jesus died for me
In this little nugget, we have Law (I was a slave to sin) and Gospel (Jesus died for me). This alone is enough to keep the song in the “middle category”. However, it is exceedingly frustrating that the rest of the song is so “me-centric” rather than focusing on Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Let’s build out this nugget with some Scripture:
Romans 5:6-11 (ESV) For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Verse 1. So, right at the beginning, we have an interesting question of “Who am I…?” This question pops up a few times in the Old Testament. The first is when God, speaking to Moses from the Burning Bush, calls Moses to rescue Israel out of Egypt.
Exodus 3:7-15 (ESV) Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
This was Moses trying to back down from the call because he’s a nobody in the eyes of Pharaoh. Notice that God’s response isn’t to tell Moses who Moses is, but who God is. Moses is type and shadow of Jesus Who would later come to rescue the Church (Israel) out of slavery to sin (Egypt). Another place we can look for the question of “who am I” is King David, who also prefigures Christ, decides he wants to build a House for the LORD (2 Sam 7). But the Word of the LORD come to Nathan and tells him to go and speak to David a Word of the Lord. The LORD tells David he will not build the LORD’s house, but the LORD will build his house.
2 Samuel 7:12-16 (ESV) When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”
Here we see the LORD speaking of His Son, Jesus, the Messiah… born in the City of David, descended of David. Let’s look at David’s response:
2 Samuel 7:17-29 (ESV) In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”
Notice that David understands that this isn’t about him, or who he is, but about God and Who He is. He believes the Promise of God through Faith in His Word. So when this song starts off with this question of “Who am I”, I’m hoping the answer to the question that will be pulled from the song will be along the lines of “it’s not about who I am, but about who God is.”
The song doesn’t really answer it, though. The song just winds up saying how great I am, I’m set free, I’m a child of God, I’m ransomed, He loves me… but the focus is all about “me”. This isn’t preaching a theology of the Cross; rather, it is promoting a theology of glory. Look at how great “ME” is thanks to Jesus.
Chorus. The Gospel nugget is in the chorus, and we’ve covered that. The Chorus is building up to the driving point of the song, I am awesome.
Bridge. This is the main point of this anthem, it’s all about self-affirmation. The mystical format of the song (emotional manipulation) sets up this bridge as the driving point of the song:
I am chosen
Not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me
Not against me
I am who You say I am
While each of these themes can be rightly preached, these are just ear-tickling soundbites set to an emotionally charged rhythm. We’ll look at how we might fill out the doctrine here a bit in our conclusion section, in an attempt to somehow salvage this “me-fest”.
Conclusion
While the song does contain a Gospel-nugget, the focus of the song isn’t the Gospel of Jesus Christ; rather, the focus of the song is “self-esteem” through soundbites set to a mystical form of music.
How would I correct this one? Well, I wouldn’t recommend replacing any Traditional hymn or doctrinally rich song with this “me” anthem in church, that’s for sure. But, if we understand that the answer to the question of “who am I” is ever and always, “I am a poor miserable sinner in need of God’s Grace and Forgiveness and Mercy”, then we can set our minds on Thanksgiving to God that isn’t self-aggrandizing. For this, let’s look at Paul’s opening in his letter to the Ephesians:
Ephesians 1:1-2:10 (ESV)
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
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.
Don’t look to “me” for the answer of “who am I”… Look to Christ and Who He Is and His finished work on the Cross for your sin and mine.
October 02, 2018. Today we’ll be taking a look at “You Say” by Lauren Daigle which currently sits at #1 on the Top20 chart at 20theCountdownMagazine.
Lauren Daigle is a gifted singer with an amazing voice. She could sing the menu at McDonald’s and keep my attention… and probably move me to order a meal as a result. It’s too bad she has been taught a version of “Christianity” that praises “me and my identity” rather than Christ crucified for our sin. This song falls into the category of “theology of glory” rather than a Theology of the Cross. I’m sure there will many who read this and try very hard to fix the theology of the song by eisegeting (adding to the text) the full preaching of Law and Gospel, but this isn’t about what we can turn the song into; rather, this is about what is in the song. Based on what we find in the lyric of this song, it falls well into the category of Disapproved.
I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I’m not enough
Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up
Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low
Remind me once again just who I am, because I need to know
You say I am loved
When I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong
When I think I am weak
You say I am held
When I am falling short
When I don’t belong
You say I am Yours
And I believe
I believe
What You say of me
I believe
The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me
In You I find my worth, in You I find my identity
Taking all I have and now I’m laying it at Your feet
You have every failure, God, and You’ll have every victory
Oh, I believe
Yes, I believe
What You say of me
Oh, I believe
Verse 1. I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I’m not enough So from the beginning we start with a presentation of the problem. Inner voices saying “I’m not enough”. Everyone can relate to this thought of “not being enough”… you don’t even have to be Christian to have these thoughts. Heck, even Nike plays on this theme… their solution “just do it”. Let’s see if the song gives us something more specific. Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up Is this a lie? Depends on what is being measured and by what standard. If you’ve read through some DiM, you probably know where I’m headed with this, so let’s finish out the verse. “Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low Remind me once again just who I am, because I need to know” Now here we get a typical minimization of the problem of sin as merely “a low” but greater than that error is the overall focus of the problem in the first verse and where the singer is turning for the solution. The focus of the problem is “how I measure up” being different from all of the lies being told her. She’s going to attempt to convey a gospel without acknowledging the truth… that we don’t measure up, that we aren’t enough, and if we were the sum of only our highs we’d STILL fall short of the Glory of God, which is the standard of the Law.
James 2:10-13 (ESV) For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Romans 3:21-26 (ESV) But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
We cannot move on to the Gospel by skipping the Law. The Gospel doesn’t invalidate the Law, it is the answer to the Law. The only answer.
Chorus. The chorus is a string of platitudes supposedly God’s affirmation of “me” despite anything I might think of myself, feel of myself, or am told about myself. The singer is leaving a lot of room for the listener to read him/herself into the lyric and finding “encouragement” in these platitudes… but, again, we’ve completely skipped what the Law has clearly revealed about us in our fallen, human nature.
You say I am loved
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.”
When I can’t feel a thing relying on emotion to discern truth is an error. At least, in this case, the song is indicating that our feelings lie.
You say I am strong When I think I am weak We don’t just think we are weak, we ARE weak.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (ESV) But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (ESV) For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
You say I am held When I am falling short Right back to emotional language. We’ve already addressed the fact of Scripture that all have fallen short due to sin. This isn’t merely a “past tense” situation… this is true “today” for Christians, we sin and fall short daily. Now, there is room here for a greater discussion of where Christians look for comfort. A careful reading of John 16 is a great place to look. Jesus is preparing the Disciples for what is about to come and already teaching them (and us) the role of God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit isn’t an emotion or a feeling, but a Person of the Trinity, Godthe Holy Spirit.
John 16:7-15 (ESV) Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
What remains in the Chorus is filler, emotional manipulation in mystical form (repetition of self-affirming platitutes) to a soothing score as if to communicate to the listener that “this is the answer”. The focus is “belief”, but not clearly belief in Christ the Son; rather, a belief in what the singer is saying God says of “me”.
Verse 2. This isn’t a full verse… it’s designed to add some thoughts and loop right back into the chorus. “The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me In You I find my worth, in You I find my identity” So the singer is reinforcing her proposed solution to the stated problem of the lying voices of doubt in myself. But this problem has been so poorly framed, that now we’re also jettisoning what Scripture clearly teaches to be true of us… that we’re sinners who fall short daily and we need to be forgiven of our sin. Typical of CCM, this song tries to affirm the listener’s “self esteem” without preaching Law and Gospel. Trying to share the Gospel while skipping over and even ignoring the Law doesn’t work… because the Old Adam (your sinful flesh) simply asserts its self-worship, the extolling of our own virtue, our own worth, with a thin veil of “this is how God thinks of me”. There is an errant view of Salvation at work here that ignores the simul (that we are simultaneously sinner and saint as Paul lays out in Romans 1-8). So that the Christian Life, rather than being a life of repentance, becomes a life of “meaning” or “worth”, that the point of being a Christian is finally “being someone” or “having value in God’s eyes”. Clearly these are by-products, so to speak, of Christ’s Saving work, but the focus of the Gospel is that Christ has paid the price for our sin, that He took our place on that cross to pay the full price of not only our sins before, but the sins we continue to commit in our weakened flesh (weakened by sin) until the Day of His Return, the Resurrection. This song’s focus is on “self-esteem” rather than on Repentance and the forgiveness of sin by Grace alone, through Faith in Christ alone. Self-esteem is what our sinful flesh is always craving, always self-justifying, always demanding… but a life of repentance is a denial of self.
Luke 9:23 (ESV) And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Bridge.Taking all I have and now I’m laying it at Your feet You have every failure, God, and You’ll have every victory Well, this is mystical language. We aren’t actually “laying everything down”, this isn’t like the Israelites bringing their sacrifices to the Temple. What does it mean to bring God “every failure”? Well, if CCM had a proper understanding and doctrine of Sin, this wouldn’t be less ethereal and could simply be phrased as “Confession and repentance of sin and receiving the Absolution (Forgiveness of sin)”. God has every victory already, so we see this wrong notion that somehow God cannot bless us *unless* we let Him. Revivalists and Charismatics have this very strange (unbiblical) notion of a God who cannot do unless we let Him. Again, this is a theology of glory, in our glory, our sacrifice, our surrendering of… well, really just emotions and doubts of our own self worth? The context of the song is off-center, the Gospel isn’t that Christ died on the cross so that we can have better self-esteem.
The song closes out with a refrain that I believe what God says of me… this is like Joel Osteen’s pseudo-creed of “…this is my Bible, I am what it says I am…” The focus of the Scriptures is Christ, not us.
John 5:39-40 (ESV) You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
Conclusion
It’s little wonder how this song made it to the #1 position on the CCM charts. It’s all about pumping up the listener’s self-esteem by saying how awesome God says the listener is. No Law, no sin, no confession, no repentance, just a declaration of how awesome the listener is despite how the listener feels, what the listener think, or what anyone says about the listener. Who’s NOT going to want to hear that message sung by such an amazingly beautiful voice? Sadly, the doctrine at play is self-centered and quite carnal. This message of self affirmation is one the world proclaims daily… and it is dying in sin and trespasses. In the very first verse, the artist talks about the lie of “not measuring up”… but nowhere in the song does the artist clarify the measuring standard or how far we truly fall short, or that we do so daily. When you avoid the Law you leave no room for the Gospel.
Romans 16:24-27 (ESV) 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.
I regret not being able to produce much in the way of new DiM work in 2018. I recognize this has created a gap in coverage of Top20 CCM analysis, my hope is that the DiM work will serve as a motivation for more active discernment within the Body of Christ regarding the lyrical content of popular “Christian” music. I’ll continue to try to keep the DiM Archive going to catalog what we’ve seen in CCM and to try to assess where the industry is going in the future. It is my hope that more Christians will take up this work and discussing it with their congregations, friends, and families. It’s important biblical discernment work.
I also wanted to do a lot more CTT work in 2018, but I was unable to follow through with that desire. I don’t know if 2019 will allow me more time to work on these posts, but I do have a couple of series I’m working on and hope to have published in 2019. I’m planning on working through the various doctrines I had to let go of as God the Holy Spirit led me out of the deception of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). I also want to take some time laying out how I was drawn from Pentecostalism to the Lutheran Confessions. It was by no means a quick or smooth transition.
November 2, 2018.
CCM Radio Edition.
CCM Radio Edition.
Faithful Stewardship 
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