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DiM | Modernity and Tradition are Irrelevant

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Presentation1Today is “Discernment in Music” day here at Faithful Stewardship. As this is a new feature here at Faithful Stewardship, I wanted to make clear that this is an exercise in Biblical Discernment, not in favoritism or piety. Traditional Hymns do not “get a pass”; modern music isn’t preemptively condemned. To demonstrate this, we’ll be looking at a Hymn that seems a bit confused and a modern hymn that is absolutely phenomenal in my view.

I’d like to take a moment to remind everyone that there is plenty of room to agree/disagree on issues of taste or flavor. Personally, I find the sound of an organ to be most unpleasant, especially if it is front and center in the music. That’s a matter of taste. I’m not here to tell you what you should like or dislike. My purpose here is strictly to look at the lyrical content of these songs and to determine their Biblical soundness. Whether or not you still “like” a song that has been demonstrated to bear little-to-no Biblical value, remains between you and the Holy Spirit. There are secular songs that I enjoy hearing, but I know full well the lyrics are not in any way Biblically sound. One such song I have mentioned before is “I’m feelin’ good” by Michael Bublé. However, that I like to listen to that song is a far cry from me considering “Christian” and would in no way serve as an endorsement of that song being played in a Praise and Worship setting. Similarly, songs labeled “Christian” need to be tested for conveying a Biblical Message. A “Christian” song being elevated to “Praise/Worship” status most definitely be tested/scrutinized according to the Scriptures. We dare not engage in public confession of false doctrine/teaching or misguided praise and worship.

Hymn 1: Christ, or Else I Die

Link: http://hopehymns.bandcamp.com/track/christ-or-else-i-die
Words: William Hammond, 1745
Music: Drew Holcomb
Arr: Tim Johnson and Matt Patrick

Lyrics
Gracious Lord, incline Thine ear;
My request vouchsafe to hear;
Hear my never-ceasing cry;
Give me Christ, or else I die.

Wealth and honor I disdain,
Earthly comforts, Lord, are vain;
These can never satisfy:
Give me Christ, or else I die.

All unholy and unclean,
I am weighted by my sin;
On thy mercy I rely;
Give me Christ, or else I die

Thou dost freely save the lost;
In Thy grace alone I trust.
With my earnest plea comply;
Give me Christ, or else I die.

All unholy and unclean,
I am weighted by my sin;
On thy mercy I rely;
Give me Christ, or else I die

Thou hast promised to forgive
All who in thy Son believe;
Lord, I know Thou cannot lie;
Give me Christ, or else I die

All unholy and unclean,
I am weighted by my sin;
On thy mercy I rely;
Give me Christ, or else I die

The problem with this Hymn, is one of confusion. Beginning with the Title and the closing line of very stanza, “Give me Christ, or else I die“, we have an odd declaration that sort of rings of a “give me liberty or give me death” vibe (though that famous quote dates back to 1775, while this hymn was written in 1745). If the statement being made her is “Without Christ I will die”, we have a doctrinal problem with this statement. If we are speaking of physical death… all die, with or without Christ.

Hebrews 9:24-28 (ESV) 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

If we are speaking of spiritual death, then we are speaking of it in the wrong order. Without Christ, we are already dead.

Ephesians 2:1-7 (ESV) 2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 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— 3 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. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

One might argue “artistic license” to keep it “singable”, but I give no license for changing truth for the sake of a melody. Now, the audience of this song is God the Father. So, the entire song is an appeal to God, “give me Christ, or else I die”. Well, then… so is this the song of a believer or an unbeliever? I matters not, really… since God has already given us Christ. We saw in the Hebrews verse already that Christ died once… was given to us once. He declared, “It is finished“. But let’s look also in John 3

John 3:16-21 (ESV) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 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. 18 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. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Christ was already given, all that remains is that we believe in Him. Now, if we took the first sentence (first to lines) of every stanza, we’d have a solid hymn (thought it wouldn’t have the same ring). However, with the inclusion of the closing phrase, what remains of the hymn is total confusion. It is an old hymn, but it wasn’t always an old hymn. At one time, it was cutting edge. When we exercise discernment in the lyrical content of modern songs, understand that the same method holds true and should be exercised regardless of when the song was written.

Now, the folks over at TGC (The Gospel Coalition) launched a project a while back to write Gospel-centered Praise and Worship. I do not simply accept that every song they write is sound, but I applaud the Gospel focus in the endeavor. After hearing the hymn above, I then heard the following hymn (modern hymn written in an older style), “Not in Me”.

Not In Me

Words and Music by Eric Schumacher and David L. Ward, “Not In Me” Songs for the Book of Luke by The Gospel Coalition. ©ThousandTongues.org
Source: http://www.wogmagazine.com/2013/06/not-in-me-by-the-gospel-coalition/

No list of sins I have not done, no list of virtues I pursue,
No list of those I am not like can earn myself a place with you.
O God! Be merciful to me. I am a sinner through and through.
My only hope of righteousness is not in me, but only you.

No humble dress, no fervent prayer, no lifted hands no tearful song,
No recitation of the truth can justify a single wrong.
My righteousness is Jesus’ life. My debt was paid by Jesus death.
My weary load was borne by Him And He alone can give me rest.

No separation from the world, no work I do, no gift I give
Can cleanse my conscience, cleanse my hands,
I cannot cause my soul to live.
But Jesus died and rose again. The pow’r of death is overthrown!

My God is merciful to me and merciful in Christ alone.
My righteousness is Jesus’ life. My debt was paid by Jesus death.
My weary load was borne by him, and He alone can give me rest,
And He alone can give me rest.

Great song. The first verse echos Ephesians 2:1-9. We were all dead in sin. Our salvation is by Grace through Faith, not by works so that no one can boast. Solid verse. The second verse addresses piety and good works as not being our assurance of Salvation. Our assurance is in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ, not in our own which echoes Romans 3:21-31 well. The next verse echoes the previous verses, but I’d like to include Romans 8:1-11. The final verse echoes the same truths throughout, but also notice the references to rest. There is much to be said of entering God’s rest, but a good place to see it condensed a bit would be Hebrews 4:1-10. For the sake of this song, let us look at the concluding verses:

Hebrews 4:9-10 (ESV) 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.

Conclusion

I absolutely loved the second song (Not In Me), lyrically. I’d love to hear it performed in every popular musical style imaginable (provided the music doesn’t drown out the lyric). Wonderful song. The first song, is confused. I think the writer sacrificed accuracy for poetry, and I’d rather not sing it. It isn’t so wrong that I’d levy a formal complaint with the pastors or elders, but if asked, “what do you think about this song” my reply would be simply, “I think it’s a confused song”.

Today, I wanted to refute the notion that I simply rejected all things new and grant preferential treatment for “sacred” hymns. There are good hymns that sound great, there are good hymns that sound awful (to my ears at least) and there are confused hymns and other hymns that are just biblically unsound. I will not actively seek those out, because I’m not trying to create lyrical punching bags here. The goal of these posts is to practice Biblical discernment in music. From here on out, my focus will be on what is currently “popular” within Christendom, because that is what we are consuming in large quantities. Let us make sure it is spiritually healthy food.

Jude 1:24-25 (ESV)
24 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, 25 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,
Jorge

Why This List Should Just Go Away

Faithful Stewardship 1 Comment

nopeI see this Internet Meme or Poster passed around on Facebook and included in Blogs and church marketing campaigns and it always grieves me. It popped up again twice this week, so I’ve decided it’s time to debunk this message. Now, I am certain that many of you have “liked” or “shared” something of this sort before in social media or in email. I’ve seen it and refrained from commenting on it before. My desire here is not to condemn anyone for sharing something that they thought was good or helpful or even accurate. At first glance, it seems like a good thing, right? I mean, how could encouraging folks that they aren’t beyond God’s reach possibly be bad? I think that such an approach to this meme is innocent enough, but once you look at the details, I think you’ll realize that nothing with these types of errors and falsehood could ever be considered “good”. In fact, there is no redeeming this concept, it is fundamentally flawed in its approach and execution.

I chose this particular iteration because it took the route of placing in a Scripture reference as “fine print” as if to say that the poster is Biblically accurate. We’ll get to that a little later, but I want to address the heart of the problem with this poster first.

Do You Seriously Think God Can’t Use You?

Okay, so right at the start, we are in a bad spot. The person who is thinking, “God can’t use me” needs to be corrected in their thinking. The Bible isn’t about us, it’s about God. The Gospel isn’t about us, or our potential, or whether or not God can use us. So, the person to whom this poster is speaking is already suffering from false doctrine, and a poor understanding of the Gospel. Our salvation isn’t dependent upon what God can use us for… it is wholly and completely dependent upon what Jesus Christ did upon the Cross for us. That He bore our punishment as the final atoning sacrifice so that in Him we are free from our sin, free to serve God, free to love Him.

Genesis 1:1 (ESV) 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

John 1:1-3 (ESV) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

We serve a God who created everything out of nothing. Whatever He does, He does by His Will, for His purpose, for His glory. That we get to play any part is by His Grace and Mercy. He doesn’t need anyone or anything to bring about His Purposes.

Another problem with this premise, is it is born out of this “God sees potential in you…” or “God has a destiny for you…” false Gospel narrative. It comes from the notion that God has planned some level of greatness for each Christian. This is heavily marketed to Youth Ministries. I suppose the desire to inspire and motivate young Christians to be faithful to God and to have a desire for good works is a good desire, but this method is abusive. Not everyone is called to be a patriarch or a revolutionary. In all of the Bible, only one person got to be a Moses, a Joshua, a Peter. Moreover, God isn’t limited to only using heroes of the faith, or believers for that matter… He used King Cyrus to restore Jerusalem after the Exile… a pantheist! There are millions of faithful followers of Christ whose names never made history, and that’s okay, so long as their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. The truly frustrating part about this point is that the “fine print” passage of scripture resolves all of this bad teaching if it would just be given proper attention in full context. So, Let’s look at what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1 (we’ll underline the portion that appears on the poster).

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (ESV)
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 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. 27 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; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

The real question isn’t about how many failed people God has used before, it should be about whether or not you believe your sins are covered by the Blood of Jesus. Who are you to question whether or not the blood of Christ has the power to cleanse you of your unrighteousness? Either you’ve accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ or you haven’t. If you have, accept what the Bible says of you, and “let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord”. If God had ruled anyone out due to their sin, we wouldn’t have the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV)
2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 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— 3 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. 4 But God, being rich in mercy,because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The answer to “can God really use me” isn’t “well, He’s used a lot worse”. The answer to that question should be, “…if it were about who can be used of God there wouldn’t be anyone left, God would have judged us all long ago. It’s not about what we can do for Him, it’s about what He did for us.”

Artistic License or Falsehood?

Now that we’ve settled that matter, we have a whole different problem to contend with. The laundry list of characters and character flaws that are supposed to demonstrate God’s ability to use us is filled with… well… falsehood. Some of them I’ll accept as Artistic License… but they are still presented in support of a false narrative concerning the Gospel and Christian walk.

  • NOAH WAS A DRUNK Really? Who writes this garbage? He got drunk once and became the first recorded victim of incestuous rape. Let’s look at what the Bible says about Noah.
    • Genesis 6:6-9 (ESV) 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
    • 2 Peter 2:4-10a (ESV) 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
  • ABRAHAM WAS TOO OLD Too old for what? Here we have a shifting sense of the point being conveyed. Are we now saying Abraham was too old for God to use him,ortoo old for Abraham to have a child? Even that is wrong, because he firstfatheredIshamel by Sarah’s slave. So he wasn’t too old for procreation. Even after God gave him the son of promise, Isaac, Abraham lived another 75 years… that’s nearly an entire lifespan for us now.
    • Genesis 17:15-21 (ESV) 15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
    • Abraham was making excuses and trying to get God to take Ishamel as the son of promise. God refused the request, but made it clear that Ishmael would become a great nation, just outside of His covenant.
  • ISAAC WAS A DAYDREAMER Seriously… whoever came up with this nonsense hasn’t read the Bible. Nowhere in Genesis 22-27 is there any indication of a proclivity for daydreaming, especially not in the sense that this is somehow a character flaw that God needed to overcome. The closest we can come is in Genesis 24 when Abraham sends for a wife for Isaac. In the past chapter, Sarah has died and been buried. This is important to remember since the bulk of 24 tells of events taking place far away from Isaac.
    • Genesis 24:58-67 (ESV) 58 And they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” 59 So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
      “Our sister, may you become
      thousands of ten thousands,
      and may your offspring possess
      the gate of those who hate him!”61 Then Rebekah and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebekah and went his way. 62 Now Isaac had returned from Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb. 63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming. 64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel 65 and said to the servant, “Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
    • So where is this Beer-lahai-roi? It is the place where the Word of the Lord came to Hagai, after Sarah had treated her harshly and caused her to flee. It is the name of the well and it means “the well of the Living One who sees me” (Genesis 16 (ESV))
  • JACOB WAS A LIAR I’ll concede this point as “Artistic License”. Yes, Jacob lied, and it didn’t go well for him. Still, Jacob was chosen by God as the heir of Promise over Esau while still in the womb. He lived a hard life, and wrestled with God and walked away with a permanent limp.
  • LEAH WAS UGLY That’s quite a stretch. We know only that her eyes were weak (or soft), and we know that Jacob’s desire was for Rachel. Now, she might have had a lazy eye or poor eyesight, the text doesn’t go into detail, but to say that this means she was ugly is a fabrication. It is also guilty of presenting a false notion that maybe it’s easier for God to work with pretty people, since this list is supposedly about the kinds of character flaws God has overcome so He could use certain people. Rank falsehood.
    • Genesis 16:13-14 (ESV) 13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
    • It just occurred to me that this might be an attempt to address those Christians who are crippled by ugly duckling syndrome (of which I was for a very long time). Is pointing to Leah really the answer to this false premise? Laban tricked Jacob by swapping daughters for the wedding, and then God opened Leah’s womb before Rachel’s because of Jacob’s treatment of Leah. This is the kind of garbage that comes from trying to inject human reason into Biblical historical narrative and then allegorizing it for today’s “hardships” rather than simply preaching law and Gospel.
  • JOSEPH WAS ABUSED First of all, Joseph was abused because his brothers hated him for giving a bad report of them and for sharing his dreams. Prophetic dreams, given to him by God. But this list isn’t about teaching Biblical truth (clearly), this list is someone’s human attempt to reach hurting Christians by twisting Scripture. All of it under a false premise that somehow we need to believe in ourselves that God can use us. That is a false Gospel. We need only believe in Jesus as the Christ, our atoning sacrifice, our Redeemer, who loved us enough to die on a cross for our sin.
  • MOSES HAD A STUTTERING PROBLEMUhm, No. This is a common myth. First of all, Moses was making excuses and trying to back out of God’s calling.
    • Exodus 4:10-17 (ESV) 10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” 13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” 14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. 16 He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. 17 And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”
    • Acts 7:17-22 (ESV) 17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another kingwho did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
  • GIDEON WAS AFRAID Yes, yes he was, and rightfully so. However, God called Gideon. I’ll give this one an “Artistic license” pass.
  • SAMSON HAD LONG HAIR AND WAS A WOMANIZER If we are going for the whole “Champions of old had major flaws, too” bit… Solomon wins in the category of womanizer. But are you KIDDING ME with the long hair bit? No really… (I confess, I’m more than a little frustrated by this list) how does this even fit into this list at all. Trying to reach out to the “long-haired hippy” crowd or the “pony-tailed biker gang” by having them equated with Samson? Let’s look at why Samson had long hair, shall we?
    • Judges 13:1-7 (ESV) 1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so theLord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. 2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, 7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”
    • His long hair was commanded by God. I’m going to close out this list with Scripture references only, and we’ll close briefly. Wow… what a horrible meme.
  • RAHAB WAS A PROSTITUTE Yes, before the Israel came and she served Israel. James mentioned her in his teaching James 2:24-26 (ESV).
  • JEREMIAH AND TIMOTHY WERE TOO YOUNG God chose Jeremiah as His Prophet, and Timothy had some of the best training possible since Christ ascended into Heaven. He was discipled by the Apostle Paul, and his Jewish mother and grandmother had taught him the Scriptures from a young age.
  • DAVID HAD AN AFFAIR AND WAS A MURDERER Yes. Internal inconsistency, for by then God had already used him mightily. What makes David special is his heart of repentance, a heart that was after God.
  • ELIJAH WAS SUICIDAL I can’t… ugh… no, this is false. We covered this recently in a CTT post, and you can read the account in 1 Kings 19 (ESV). He felt like he failed God and asked God to kill him (for his perceived error).
  • ISAIAH PREACHED NAKED … any research at all, here?… God told him to do this, just read the text. Isaiah 20 (ESV).
  • JONAH RAN FROM GOD Yes, he did. Because he didn’t want Nineveh to repent, for he knew God would forgive them if they did, and he wanted Nineveh to be judged. Book of Jonah.
  • NAOMI WAS A WIDOW How is this even on this list? This isn’t even remotely a character flaw or a sin.
  • JOB WENT BANKRUPT This is just… I mean I can’t… *sigh*. Book of Job. The steadfastness of Job.
  • PETER DENIED CHRIST Yes. Jesus warned him he’d do it, and it happened. He repented and was restored.
  • THE DISCIPLES FELL ASLEEP WHILE PRAYING Yes, they did… and then they fled when Jesus was arrested.
  • MARTHA WORRIED ABOUT EVERYTHING “everything” is a stretch. Jesus pointed out that Mary had chosen the better thing to focus on (Luke 10:40-42 ESV).
  • THE SAMARITAN WOMAN WAS DIVORCED Yes. But why stop there? She was a Samaritan, She had been married 5 times, and was currently sleeping with a man who was not her husband. And yet, God loved her enough to point out her sin and presented Himself as the source of life.
  • ZACCHEUS WAS TOO SMALL … that’s just petty, even for this list. Why even include him on this list? He was rich.
  • PAUL WAS TOO RELIGIOUS No, he was wrong. He persecuted the church with great zeal out of ignorance. He didn’t realize that Jesus was the Christ until Jesus met him on the road to Damascus. I hate that the seeker-sensitive crowd throws this out as an attack at those like myself who insist on taking everything to the Scriptures, but I digress… this pain is almost over.
  • TIMOTHY HAD AN ULCER Yes, and Paul encouraged him to drink a little wine for his stomach. You see, Timothy was trying to just drink water even though Paul taught at length about the food and drink laws no longer applying. Perhaps Timothy was struggling with religiosity? Let’s face it… we all will struggle with this from time to time.
  • LAZARUS WAS DEAD Yes, and his death was part of God’s plan to demonstrate His Lordship over death and the grave. John 11 (ESV)

This list is not only unnecessary (for the lost or the saved) it is wrong. Bible twisting is evident in the majority of the examples cited, and the aim of the meme shifts in odd ways as the list progresses. Just… stop. This is not what we, the Church, are supposed to be doing to God’s Word. This is NOT faithful stewardship of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is falsehood. This is wrong. In closing, let’s look to Paul’s encouragement to Timothy:

2 Timothy 4:1-5 (ESV)
1 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: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 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, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist,fulfill your ministry.

May the Lord bless you and keep you,
In Him,
Jorge

DiM | “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” by Hillsong

Faithful Stewardship 18 Comments

Today is “Discernment in Music” day here at Faithful Stewardship.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (ESV)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

Today, rather than wait for a song to play on the radio, I thought I’d start by looking at whatever was trending as a “top Christian song” on the radio today. According to Billboard Music, the top contender is clearly “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong United. In the interest of full-disclosure, I am not a fan of Hillsong Church.  I disagree with their theology (Dominionism, Chrislam, Presence, etc) and their ecclesiology (emergent, seeker-driven, leadership model, mega-church). I will do my best to evaluate the song on its own merits, but I wanted to state plainly that I’m fighting to suppress a strong bias. If I fail, please forgive me. The good thing here is that if you take objection to my analysis and do so biblically, you are also practicing discernment and the goal of this post can be met, even while we disagree on the “value” of this song. Let’s take a look at the lyrics of the song pulled from the AZLyrics.

“Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)”

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You’ve never failed and You won’t start now

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

[6x]
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

I will call upon Your name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine

Okay, so if you’ve read my “Discernment in Music” posts before you probably know that the first comment I will make about this song is that it’s lyrically vague. It tends to bounce a bit between focusing on the singer and the “You”. If this is a song about God, then it presents an odd uni-directional theme where God is only “out there” where feet may fail, or out upon the water. This is keeping with much of Hillsong and Bethel style theology where we always need to be “pioneering” into the unknown if we really want to know God. Is that Biblical? Not really, because God has gone to great lengths to present us with the Bible.  While we cannot hope to fully know God in this life, what He has made known of Himself is indeed knowable by reading and understanding the Scripture. This skewed theology suggests that living a quiet, steadfast life of prayer and submission to scripture is somehow less-than what we really need to be doing, or what God really wants from us. If it is a song of encouragement, I’m not clear on what we are being encouraged to do or to believe. If it is a song of worship, I’m not sure who or what is being worshiped. Because the song’s focus bounces between the singer and the “You”. Are we worshiping God for who He is or for what He is going enable me to do?

What Does Hillsong United Say About the “Oceans”?

I’m not surprised. Almost 8 and a half minutes of glowing generic and vague praise for the song, without any insight. They just wrote a song and were like “woah, God put His hand on it” and they love the song and love the reaction the song produces. Because it connects to people “no matter where they are on their spiritual journey” or “even if they aren’t on the spiritual journey yet but they might get drawn to God”. I find it interesting that the conclusion we get at around 7:50 is that “we need to step outside of our own understanding… and just know that, yeah, just gotta live the life of faith”. I’ve seen this a lot with Hillsong style music presented as worship… the lyrics don’t make sense and don’t convey a clear message. How does that Glorify God? How is it supposed to “draw people closer to God”? Does getting a cheer and joyful reaction from the crowd at the started of the song equate to people “progressing in the journey” (and seriously… why are we talking in such vague, mystical, terminology?). They wrote the song, but they can’t tell you what it means, or even why it should be considered a worship song. Well, this video was of no help. So, we’ll have to practice discernment at face-value.

Narcissistic Eisegesis of Jesus Walking on Water

But wait, isn’t the story of Peter walking on water? No. While Peter does walk on water (briefly), that is not the point of the story; therefore, I will not be referring to it in that light. Let’s start by reading the text.

Matthew 14:22-33 (ESV)
22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

So, the song starts with the singer placing him/herself in the place of Peter, but not at “You come walking to me on the water in the midst of a storm”, but “You call me out upon the water”. This passage is often taught from the false notion that it’s about Peter needing to “step out of the boat” and some pale allegory about how each of us will face a moment in our lives when Jesus will expect big things from us and call us to do the impossible, to walk on water and place our faith and trust in Him… believing for a miracle. That’s NOT the point of this story. This is a one-time event that takes place for a singular purpose… in verse 33, ” And those in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God“. Peter and those in the boat were worried that Jesus was a ghost. Jesus speaks to them to calm then down and Peter says, “Lord if it is you…” This is a special event, with a special message, one that points to Jesus NOT Peter. It is captured in Scripture for us to know that Jesus truly is Lord. If you are going to put yourself into this passage, you are one of the guests in the boat, who worshiped Him saying, “Truly Jesus is the Son of God!”. Scripture doesn’t record anyone else walking on the water. And why allegorize the story to dumb it down so that Peter’s walking on water (woah, that’s awesome) becomes as mundane as getting a promotion at work, or being found “not guilty” by a jury in a civil suit? No matter where we are, Jesus is with us. Jesus sent them across the water, and He stayed behind to pray; yet, while they were battling the unfavorable wind and waves, He appears, walking on the water, saying “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid”. And even when Peter, after compelling Jesus to prove who He was by commanding Peter to walk on water, doubted and began to sink, Jesus caught him. Peter didn’t get a second chance to walk on water… because us walking on water was never the point. Placing our faith in Who Jesus is, the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God is the point. This is a point that each of the disciples, including Peter, would be tested again, and fail again. Peter would end up denying Christ 3 times after the arrest of Jesus. But Peter was one of the first to believe that the Christ had risen, for he rushed to the empty tomb at the word of Mary Magdalene and the others.

Generic love Song in Vague Bible-Speak

Now, the second verse, and a bit of the refrain seem generally true-ish. Not really pointing to any scriptural truth or doctrine. But the problem here is that it is being presented as a worship song. The object of our worship, and the reason for our worship should be plainly identified. As I mentioned earlier, it’s not clear if God is the object of worship. If we assume the “You” is the God of the Bible, then we still aren’t clear if God is being worshiped for who He is or for what He will enable us to do. It suggests that unless He calls us out onto the water (step out into the unknown?) and do something radical, then we can’t trust in Him like we ought to, nor will our faith be strengthened. So does that negate the “I am yours and you are mine” bit from Song of Solomon? Can we rest in His embrace if we aren’t “walking on the waters”? This imagery only works if you buy into the notion that the story of Jesus walking on the water is actually what each of us must do as Christians.

Conclusion

This is a seeker-sensitive church band. They represent a brand, a theology, a way of doing church that isn’t prescribed in Scripture. So, when we listen to their music, we ought to pay close attention to what is actually being sung. We must take every thought captive, and that isn’t limited to the obviously sinful thoughts. Every. Thought. As far as the lyrical content of this song, I find it to be of no more Biblical value than the song “Feelin’ Good” by Michael Buble. This song is clearly “spiritual” in the “metaphysical” sense, but that doesn’t make it a good candidate for a Worship song to the Creator of the Universe, Jesus Christ. They are selling music, they wrote a song they hoped would sell and were greatly surprised by its reception in South Africa. They are very excited by the “energy” shown by the crowd whenever this song is played. I’m sure they are very excited that it’s been in the Billboard Hot Christian Chart for 47 weeks, and is currently #1. They are a band, they make their living by playing music. They also represent a HUGE church movement, one whose doctrine is highly questionable. My concern isn’t really Hillsong, but you and your walk in Christ. Is it a sin to like this song? I cannot make that determination for you, because it is so vague it is written specifically for hearers to apply their own meaning to the song (this is what is meant by “we want people to connect to the song”). If this song is your favorite, and you just find you are really “moved” by it whenever it is playing, check your doctrine. Know what it is you are confessing and praying and worshiping. Don’t mentally check-out and roll around in the “spiritual emotion” elicited by the song. That’s not worship, that’s a form of sensuality. The song isn’t outright pagan, but it is vague enough to support a pagan world view. The “you” could easily be directed toward a “spirit guide”, and now we have a real problem with the meaning of the song. It is a chart-topper because it makes people feel good, nothing more.

Jude 1:24-25 (ESV)
24 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, 25 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,
Jorge

DiM | “Always Been About You” Fellowship Creative

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Presentation1As I continue working out a blog schedule here at Faithful Stewardship, I heard a song on the radio this morning that I found rather catchy. I realized it had been a while since we last practiced discernment in music that gets airplay on Christian radio. So, I think a good topic for Tuesday posts will be a music review that we will call “Discernment in Music”. Some common reactions to my music reviews take the form of , “you’re really over-thinking these things…” or “you can’t restrict artists to only writes songs you approve of” or “you have a critical spirit”. Understand that this is an exercise in taking every thought captive… every…. thought. I don’t expect everyone to agree with my assessments, or to like them. If I’ve at least caused you to exercise discernment while listening to music, I’ve done my job.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (ESV)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

The song I heard this morning that caught my attention was “Always Been About You” by Fellowship Creative. If you listen to popular Christian radio, you’ve probably heard it recently. If your radio station hasn’t played it yet, there’s a good chance they will later (unless they’ve made a stance against certain ministries). Let’s take a look at the lyrics of the song pulled from the band’s website.

Always Been About You

Out here, the greatest love is bold
Out here, the greyest skies are gold
Out here, it’s all laid on the line
Out here, you’re always on my mind

And it’s always been about love
It’s always been about grace
It’s always been about hope
And it’s always been about faith 

It’s always been about peace
It’s always been about truth
Everything that’s ever been before
It’s always been about You

Out here, we’re running with the light
Out here, we’re breaking up the night
Out here, the lost are coming home
Cause out here, no one goes alone

And it’s always been about love
It’s always been about grace
It’s always been about hope
And it’s always been about faith 

It’s always been about peace
It’s always been about truth
Oh and everything that’s ever been
It’s always been about You

We will run for you
We will go for you
We will fight for you, you

We will run, we will run
We will go, we will go
We will fight, we will fight
With everything, everything

And it’s always been about love
It’s always been about grace
It’s always been about hope
And it’s always been about faith

It’s always been about peace
It’s always been about truth
Oh and everything that’s ever been
It’s always been about You

Now, as I said this song was very catchy. It is sung and performed extremely well. Great buildup of instruments, great backup accompaniment, just very well done. Now, the first verse starts off, well… oddly. I have no idea what “Out here” signifies. No clue. I was hoping the song would resolve it later, but it doesn’t really make it clear. I do have a thought about what this means, but we’ll save that for later, because I draw that opinion from outside the song. The chorus is very fun, and quite catchy. The idea that “it’s always been about love, grace, hope, faith, peace, and truth” is awesome and easily draws an “Amen”. The final “You” is assumed to be God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). Some Scriptures that immediately come to mind during the chorus are as follows:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV)
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Galatians 3:7-9 (ESV)
7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (ESV)
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

John 14:6 (ESV)
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The chorus of this song is chock full of Gospel nuggets. As the music played, my mind raced through all of the wonderful passages Gospel of Jesus Christ revealed in Scripture, and it put a smile on my face. As the song broke down into the bridge, I started to notice the song was a little unbalanced. If we will run for you, are we running for God (“you” is never clearly defined) or are we running for our brothers and sisters (“out here, no one runs alone”)? If we are fighting for “you”, what are we fighting against? By what means?

If this were a sermon, this would be an example of attempting to preach pure Gospel, while skipping over and avoiding Law. You see, until we come to grips with the reality of sin in our lives, and the debt that we cannot pay on our own, the Gospel rings hollow. This is why I’m not a big fan of the feel-good, “Just ask Jesus into your heart”. Instead, I believe it best to follow Peter’s answer after his first sermon (where he preached both the Law and the Prophets concerning Christ) in Acts 2:

Acts 2:37-41 (ESV)
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

You see, you cannot simply skip over sin and repentance. It has indeed always been about God, but before there was grace, there was Holiness. Adam was to obey. He sinned, and God’s Grace immediately took action, as He promised to send the Messiah to redeem His creation.

This song is not a sermon. If you were attending a concert, you’d be hearing several songs. In the context of a performance, depending on when this song was sung, another song might be dedicated to preaching the Law (calling out sin and the need for repentance). On the radio, you’ll hear this song on its own. By itself, it’s a really catching “positive” message in vague language.

Where is “Out Here”?

The Fellowship Creative is a band that serves as the praise and worship team for Fellowship Church, a seeker-sensitive Mega-church led by Ed Young. Fellowship Creative is to Fellowship Church what Jesus Culture is to Bethel Church. I mention this because it serves as a warning flag. In the vagueness of the lyrics, knowing the theology behind it is necessary for Biblical discernment. As for the “Out Here”, I believe it references their church, and their way of approaching church (seeker-sensitive). I believe it to be intended as an anthem for the seeker-sensitive model of church, where the goal of the actual church meeting is to attract non-believers into the building in hopes that they will embrace the message of Christ (while they skip/gloss over tough topics like sin and repentance). Now, if you are unfamiliar with Ed Young or the seeker-sensitive movement, I can understand if you think I’m “reading too much into things”. While looking through their YouTube channel, they had a video of themselves performing this song at the C3 conference in 2013 (C3 should serve as a warning flag, too).

No doubt an incredible performance and light show. I’ll admit, I thought “that’s cool” when I realized the band was up above the stage light screens. Such a grand display is great for entertaining the world. It’s what they do for each other and for themselves. However, when you take a vague song emphasizing a positive-only Gospel (no sin, no repentance) and wrap it in worldly showmanship, what you get is a great song that might as well have been a cooking recipe. The world often talks/sings about and extols love, peace, and a generic concept of “God”. But they don’t agree with the Biblical definitions of each. They don’t even accept the notion of absolute truth.

Do they have any good songs?

Yes. I quickly found a song on their most recent album that I liked lyrically. We still don’t have a clear picture of the sinful state of man and his need for a Savior, but at least we get more specific on what Jesus did for us.

The One I Need
This world, this beautiful world
Is still not enough for me; it’s not my home
Instead I fix my eyes on the Maker of earth and skies
My Savior, who came and died and rose for me

And I will give my heart to the One who took my place
And I will lift my voice to the Name above all names

Jesus, Lord of Heaven
I give my life to thee
All else, I surrender
You are the One, the One I need

My God, let nothing eclipse my view
Cause nothing compares to you; You’re all I need
At the cross, Your love rained over me
You’re more than enough for me; Jesus, you’re enough

And I will give my heart to the One who took my place
And I will lift my voice to the Name above all names

Jesus, Lord of Heaven
I give my life to thee
All else, I surrender
You are the One, the One I need

And I will give my heart to the One who took my place
And I will lift my voice to the Name above all names

Jesus, Lord of Heaven
I give my life to thee
All else, I surrender
You are the One, the One I need

Jesus, Son of Heaven
You left your throne for me
Forever, I will follow
You are the One, the One I need

Conclusion

This is a seeker-sensitive church band. They represent a brand, a theology, a way of doing church that isn’t prescribed in Scripture. So, when we listen to their music, we ought to pay close attention to what is actually being sung. We must take every thought captive, and that isn’t limited to the obviously sinful thoughts. Every. Thought. For Christians who are grounded in the Bible and have studied what the Bible says about sin, repentance, forgiveness, holiness, grace, love, mercy… this song can serve as a pleasant reminder of scripture. But so can any song on the radio that mentions faith, love, truth, grace. The sad part is that for an organization that calls itself the church and prides itself on reaching the lost… the song teaches nothing. It presents a half-gospel, one that implores the unbeliever to “accept Jesus” without acknowledging and repenting from their sin. That’s great for church attendance, in the short run, but it does the individual no good to only hear half of the Gospel. As with all musical artists, there are some songs that are good, others that are not so good. My concern isn’t really them, but you and your walk in Christ.

Jude 1:24-25 (ESV)
24 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, 25 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,
Jorge

What the Bible says about Sex

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marriageThere is a lot going on in the news these days regarding sexual immorality. The LGBTQ agenda has made huge strides against the Church in America. Sadly, there is a great falling away from Sound Doctrine in many so-called evangelical churches and denominations caving in to the world’s pressure to redefine sex, sexuality, identity and sin. I had planned a different topic for this week’s Bible Study, but I think we will spend our time looking at what the Bible has to say about sex. Many anti-christians start by attacking the Mosaic laws first, but I’d like to begin with something Jesus said as recorded in Matthew 19.

Matthew 19:1-9 (ESV) 1 Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

The heading in my Bible for this passage is “Teaching About Divorce”. Why did I choose to start here? Because I first wanted to point out that sex and marriage are linked and instituted by God when He created Adam and Eve.

Genesis 2:20-25 (ESV) 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

The union of man and woman is part of the design, part of our creation. God didn’t form men and women separately and then allow them to unite their flesh; He created them with this purpose in mind. Eve was formed out of Adam, and since then all men and women have been formed from the joining of one man and one woman. Sin has since perverted that, and we’ll get to that in a bit, but for now, know that in dealing with a legal matter, a test or question regarding the Law of Moses… Jesus went all the way back to creation and defined clearly the purpose of His creation. Remember our introduction to the book of John.

John 1:1-5;14 (ESV) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Okay, so Jesus is the final authority on the purpose of Creation. He is the Word of God. But we also have the written Word of God as inspired by God the Holy Spirit; therefore, every word in the Bible is authoritative. My goal here is to point you to the words Jesus spoke while He walked the Earth for those who place undue emphasis on the “red letters” (all of the letters should be red). Getting back to the passage in Matthew 19, look at what happens next as Jesus speaks with his disciples:

Matthew 19:10-12 (ESV) 10 The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

The disciples got the message loudly and clearly. You see, even in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, divorce had become an acceptable course of action. There was much more ritual involved then that what we have now, but the end result remains unchanged, it is sin. The breaking of God’s design. The disciples were correct in their assertion that since divorce was not a part of God’s design for man and woman, that if anyone might be considering the possibility of relying on divorce down the road, that it would be better for that man NOT to marry at all. However, Jesus makes it clear that not everyone can take that road. Why is that? Because the sin of divorce is not the only sin. Sexual immorality is a powerful sin that works evil within our flesh, and in-fact is part of our flesh from our birth as a result of the original sin. When Jesus mentions that some are “eunuchs from birth”, he is referring to those whose struggle is not of a sexual nature. I’m sure you’ve met people who just don’t seem to have that “sexual drive” that you have… and at times you’ve envied them or maybe thought ill of them. That is not to say they are “immune” to sexual sin, but that the drive isn’t there. In today’s sexualized culture, these folks are most often labeled “weird” or maliciously labeled queer/questioning, or now the world has developed a new attack called “gender confusion”. Regardless, my point being here that Jesus made it very clear that some are called and equipped to NOT marry. The Church has done a very poor job on teaching this truth from God’s word, for too long we’ve focused on Marriage and procreation as a Holy Sacrament. While it is the ONLY allowable context for sex, marriage in and of itself is not a prerequisite for serving God. We’ll explore this truth more. The next option (Jesus truly did cover all of the bases), is that some men are made eunuchs by the hands of men, and finally some choose to make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Some do so by choice. They choose, not necessarily to castrate themselves physically, but to forgo marriage (and sex) for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

Remember, however, that the very context of this conversation is under “teaching about divorce”. Once you’ve married, you are joined with your spouse in the flesh until death. So, Jesus is clearly saying if God has given you the gift and calling to go your entire life single without falling into sexual sin so that you can devote yourself fully to the kingdom of heaven, do it. Otherwise, understand that in choosing to marry, that decision is to be made permanent in keeping with God’s design for marriage… one man with one woman. Paul also teaches on the call to ministry and being a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom.

1 Corinthians 7:1-9 (ESV)  7 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

6 Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. 7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. 9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Here, the issue of marriage is presented as both a binding covenant, and a remedy for sexual temptation. That’s right, in the same light that Jesus taught His disciples, Paul is exhorting the believers who are single, if you lack self-control, better to be married (so that sexual intimacy can be enjoyed in its proper context without sin) than to fall into sexual immorality. Notice also that marriage is not an automatic remedy for sexual temptation. Paul first exhorts married believers not to deprive one another of intimacy so that Satan cannot take advantage of a lack of self-control. For if burning with passion as a single person weren’t bad enough, allowing sexual immorality to take place within the context of marriage burns up both spouses, for neither of them owns their flesh, but the 2 are made one flesh in marriage.

Paul is not anti-marriage. He is instructing the church, a persecuted church, on how to fulfill the great commission (Matt 28:16-20). I don’t understand why it is that we preach the Great Commission in our churches when the topic of “how to live a Godly life” is concerned, but regarding sex and marriage we reach back to Genesis 1:28 (ESV), “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth”? The earth is filled with sinners, slaves to darkness, and a world that hates God. The Great Commission is our commission, our duty, not just “the pastor’s”. Paul is simply being practical in his encouragement and instruction for believers. He explains himself perfectly in the following passage:

1 Corinthians 7:32-35 (ESV) 32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

So we’ve established the connection between sex and marriage as being integral in the very design of mankind at Creation. I also hope to have reduced the “necessity” of sex and procreation in light of the Great Commission and working for the kingdom of heaven. Sex is still a gift for those of us who lack self-control, but that gift is very specific and has very specific boundaries. There is only ONE context for sex that is acceptable in God’s sight and that is within marriage. The institution of marriage was set at creation, when God made them male and female.

So what about the notion of homosexual marriage? Unbiblical. God’s design for marriage, from the beginning and throughout scripture is for a man and a woman to become one flesh. The world does what it does, and it will be judged (again and finally). There is no room for the church to accept homosexual marriage. The world will sometimes try to make it about “love” rather than the sex. Irrelevant for 2 reasons. The first, as we’ve established, sex and marriage are inseparable. The second, because God is love. He defines love. Therefore, anything God declares to be sin cannot be called love, for God is also Holy and Just. I mentioned earlier that the LGBTQ lobby has developed this new concept of “gender identity”. It is merely an extension of the claim “God made me gay”. This new approach is to circumvent what the Bible says about homosexuality by making about “identity”. The logic follows that a person might have been born in the wrong body (God’s fault) therefore their sexual orientation shouldn’t be labeled based on their biology but how they self-identify. Clearly this tactic isn’t embraced by the LGB folks, but the QT folks are growing in number. These are all lies of the enemy.

Romans 1:16-32 (ESV) 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 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. 21 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. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 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.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 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.

28 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. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 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.

Yes, there are laws in the Mosaic covenant that we are no longer bound to for Jesus Christ fulfilled those laws on our behalf. The laws regarding sexual immorality remain, for they are nature’s laws, and God created them. The definition of sin has not changed. What was sin is still sin… in fact, under the new covenant, we now know just how inescapable our sin nature truly is, and just how much we need a Savior to atone for our sins that we might be made right with God.

Mark 7:20-23 (ESV) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Matthew 5:27-30 (ESV) 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Pornography & Sexual Fantasy = Adultery=Sin. There is simply no room for any church or any person to redefine sexual immorality. We dare not call evil, good. The Law remains to convict us of our sin, so that we might remain in the Grace of God, Jesus Christ. Let me be clear, unrepentant homosexuality is no more acceptable within the church than murder, incest, adultery, polygamy, or idolatry.  There is forgiveness at the foot of the Cross for all who repent. If we preach Gospel without the Law, we minimize the Gospel. We must preach both Law and Gospel so that the Holy Spirit can perform His sanctifying work on the Body of Christ by the seed of God’s Word being planted in our hearts.

1 Timothy 1:8-17 (ESV) 8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

May the Lord Bless you and keep you,
In Him,
Jorge