Doxology

Grace Life Church’s great friend, Jonathan Sims, aka “Jono”, wrote a wonderful hymn that we unveiled at the True Church Conference last week.  It is called “The Atonement” and is set to the tune of “Nearer My God To Thee”.  Due to the many requests for the lyrics, I’ve decided to post them here:

God made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for me.

Traded righteousness for filth, there on Calvary.

Counted Him as He were me.

Counted me and I were He.

God made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for me

Bore the curse of holy wrath that was meant for me.

Cursed is the One who hangs there upon a tree.

Beaten, bruised, and so despised.

Holy wrath now satisfied!

Ruined sinners Justified! There on Calvary

Far as east is from the west, sin’s removed from me.

Scape-goat led so far away, there on Calvary.

Separated from my sin.

Reconciled and born-again.

Far as east is from the west, sin’s removed from me

“It is finished,” Jesus cried, dying for His own.

Reconciling them to God, His blood did atone!

Long before the world began

God designed salvation’s plan

Christ, the Lord, the Spotless Lamb, dying for His own

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Forgive me if you’ve already seen this.  Just had to share.

Another tip:  Always include the word “broken”!

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Here’s yet another new Grace Life Video.  This one I wrote back in 2006 and integrated it into an original children’s musical I wrote based on “Pilgrim’s Progress” called “A Christian’s Journey”.  I adapted it for our adult choir and had them sing it in the Shoals Christmas Praise we presented last month.

Here are the lyrics:

This righteous Man of innocence

Laid aside His own defense

And bore the wrath and wretched sin

Of all who put their faith in Him

And then at the appointed time

When God the Father gives the sign

This One will joyfully present

The souls His grace caused to repent

And the Lamb will be the light

In the city of our God

Our faith will then be sight

And we will stand in awe

“Worthy is the Lamb!”

With one voice we will cry

The Lamb will be the light

In the city of our God

All creation cries to see

The day of righteous liberty

Then new life in full display

We hasten on the coming day

We will rule and reign with Him

No longer bound by fallen sin

The matchless glory of the King

Will completely cover everything

Worthy are You

Our Lord and our God

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I’m old school I guess.  I just can’t get into listening to Christmas music for Christmas’ sake until after Thanksgiving.  (I have to listen to Christmas music for church music’s sake during the summer but that doesn’t count.)  I was listening to a local radio station the other day and the old classic Andy Williams’ song “Little Altar Boy” came on.  In my mind, it captures the scene of a man who is desperate from possibly drunkeness or other addictive sins and runs to a Christmas Eve mass to find rest for his soul. I couldn’t help but be struck by the lyrics:

Little altar boy, I wonder could you pray for me?

Little altar boy, for I have gone astray

What must I do to be holy like you?

Little altar boy, oh, let me hear you pray

Little altar boy, I wonder, could you ask our Lord

Ask him, alter boy, to take my sins away

What must I do to be holy like you?

Little altar boy, please let me hear you pray

Lift up your voice and send a sing a prayer above

Help me rejoice and fill that prayer with love

Now I know my life has been all wrong

Lift up your voice and help a sinner be strong

Little altar boy, I wonder, could you pray for me?

Could you tell our Lord, I’m gonna change my way today?

What must I do to be holy like you?

Little altar boy, oh, let me hear you pray

Is there a song anywhere that captures a lost man’s desire to fix his own heart through improving his own performance?  Can you see the fact that the “singer” knows that he has not measured up to God’s righteous standard (“I have gone astray”, “take my sins away” “my life has been all wrong”)? Can you also see the “singer’s” knowledge of needing the righteousness of another (“what can I do to be holy like you”)?

Unfortunately, the “singer” never embraces the truth that he already has Another Who has already made the way for him to be “holy”.  Also, notice the “singer’s” false notion that the “holiness” of the altar boy was sufficient to save—God forbid!  Because the subject never turns savingly to look on the merits of Jesus’ meritorious work (even though he seems to in that he asks the altar boy to ask Jesus to “take my sins away”–a lost man must deal directly with Christ, not through another) we can glean that the subject’s self-assessment isn’t Holy Spirit-wrought conviction but is sorrow that leads to death (2 Cor. 7:10).  How unfortunate for all in this place.  Let us make sure this Christmas season to find someone who needs to hear the truth that they can indeed be “holy like you” but that “you” is the One and Only Savior, Jesus Christ.

Here is the song:

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If there’s one band out there I greatly enjoy, it’s Third Day.  And for full disclosure’s sake, we do several of their songs as congregationals at Grace Life Church, including “Your Love Oh Lord” and “Children Of God”.  However, I was a bit disappointed the other day when I heard this particular song on the radio.  It seems to be another in a long line of songs that just don’t say enough.  Much of that has to do with trying to be marketable to wider audiences.  But I wonder how much of it has to do with being ashamed of the gospel?

Here are the lyrics (you can listen to the song on YouTube here).

Well, late one night, she started to cry and thought he ain’t coming home
She was tired of the lies, tired of the fight, but she didn’t want to see him go
She fell on her knees and said, “I haven’t prayed since I was young
But Lord above I need a miracle”

(Chorus)
Well no matter who you are and no matter what you’ve done
There will come a time when you can’t make it on your own
And in your hour of desperation
Know you’re not the only one, praying
Lord above, I need a miracle
I need a miracle

He lost his job and all he had in the fall of ’09
Now he feared the worst, that he would lose his children and his wife
So he drove down deep into the woods and thought he’d end it all
And prayed, “Lord above, I need a miracle”

In your hour of desperation
Know you’re not the only one, praying
Lord above, I need a miracle
I need a miracle

Several questions I have about this song:

*Are they endorsing the fact that having this life’s problems is the main problem?

*How are they defining this miracle?  Is it God drawing a soul into seeing the depth of their sin?

*Where is the preaching of the gospel in this equation?

*Does the songwriter understand the difference between God-wrought conviction and felt needs?

*Are they trying to say that the girl in the first verse is a born-again believer (even though she hadn’t “prayed since she was young”)?

*Could the song not have better clarity with the characters as to their lostness?

*I totally agree with the song in that God uses trials and hardships to get our attention but what is the miracle that the characters in the song found?

*How many of these problems listed in the song were self-inflicted?  The bible deals much more with change of behavior to see situations improve than it does supernatural intervention (especially if these characters are believers).

*Does this song just cater to a victim’s mentality?

I totally understand that people going through great trials calls for empathy from the Church.  However, overlooking an individual’s contribution to those trials is not being true to the Bible.  Believers should be holding one hand out to be held by the suffering individual while in the other hand presenting God’s solutions to them from His Word.  Having heart-felt emotions for those in dire circumstances and even doing service ministry to those in need is only a part of the healing.  Being reconciled to God through the gospel is the foundation for all healing.

All I ask is that Christian bands and songwriters be very specific even though the demands for artistic aesthetics are at play.  When writing songs that are expressly Christian, including a ministry element, then art is created for God’s sake and not art’s sake.  Fidelity to the revealed will of God as found in the holy scriptures is paramount paling in comparison to iTunes sales.

Brother Music Minister, I believe that this song is way too ambiguous to use in a church service.  I will keep listening to Third Day but will have to skip over this song.

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In today’s radio interview we talk about an example of a great newer song, “Blessings” by Laura Story.

Click HERE to listen!

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Here’s yesterday morning’s Tuesday With Tom on WSTS 100.9 FM.  Got lots folks riled up on this one.  Not trying to.  Just trying to contend for the faith earnestly (Jude 3)  In this segment I suggest five hymns that churches might NOT want to sing.

Click HERE to listen

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Here’s today’s radio spot with Monk and Catoe on WSTS FM.  Today we deal with a song that is actually filled with anti-gospel lyrics.  The show lit up their phone lines to say the least!  I tried to warn readers about this song a while back here.

Click here to listen to the show

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I touched on this issue in passing in this past Tuesday’s radio interview with Monk Boone and I thought it worth the time to unpack a bit more.  As pastors and music ministers, we are constantly looking for new songs to integrate into corporate worship.  Right now, I’m teaching three new songs to the Praise Team and when our Choir returns in a few days, I’ll begin teaching three or four new ones to them.  Currently, our Approved Song List has approximately 200 songs on it and have carefully been (and are still continuously being) tested against the veracity of scripture as to their acceptance on that list.

It’s hard enough to know enough of the bible to discern a song’s lyrical condition.  It’s one thing to write a song that is artistic.  It’s another thing to write a song that is artistic and biblical.  But another question that I see come up quite frequently is the spiritual condition of the song-writer.  With Ray Boltz’s admission of being a homosexual a few years ago this subject moved even more to the forefront.

Here’s the thing to keep in mind—lyrics are objective.  We can clearly evaluate how accurate or inaccurate they are.  A songwriter’s spiritual condition is not objective.  “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?” (1 Cor. 2:11)  There’s no way to absolutely know if someone else is truly regenerate.  We certainly have tests of saving faith given in God’s Word (especially in James, 1 John, and Jude) but nowhere are we to declare someone born-again.  Even when dismissing someone from church membership, Jesus did not say “declare them a publican and tax-collector” (which, in historical context, was pagan) but “treat them AS a publican and tax-collector” (Matt 18:15-18).  Scripture writer’s designation of folks being born-again (or terms in that vein) were almost always on a corporate level, not usually on an individual one.

What am I then saying?  I’m advising any pastor or music minister who is responsible for selecting a church’s repertoire to evaluate a song primarily on the biblical accuracy of the lyrics.  Then evaluate the song on the cultural appropriateness (if it’s stylistically distracting for a congregation, it probably shouldn’t be used).  If I had to worry about whether or not every hymn-writer of history or every current songwriter is truly regenerate, we wouldn’t be singing any songs—including the ones I’ve written!

Is there ever a time when we should avoid using a song—even though it’s lyrics are biblical—because of the songwriter’s spiritual condition?  Yes.  If, as in the aforementioned Boltz case, the news of the songwriter’s bold rejection of the bible is so well-known among your congregation as to cause congregants to stumble (Romans 14) then I abstain.  It makes no sense to force a congregation to sing a song while distracted by the open godless testimony of the songwriter and his association with that song.

However, those occasions are few and far between.  You can, I would say 99% of the time, be rest assured that this will not be the case in selecting songs for congregational singing.  To give an example, how many folks in your church even know that Robert Robinson actually turned from the faith for many years, even bordering on being a Universalist, before finally repenting and returning to orthodoxy late in life?  Every time you sing “Come Thou Fount” you are singing his work.  I’m not about to stop singing that song simply because Robinson had his major spiritual struggles.  What about William Cowper?  He attempted suicide three times!  Should I stop singing “There Is A Fountain” because of that?! God forbid!

With all of that being said, I wish more folks would just care that their song lyrics are biblically accurate….(sigh)

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Here’s this week’s installment of Tuesdays With Tom on WSTS 100.9 FM hosted by Monk Boone.  Today, I give my top five praise and worship songs that every church should consider adding to their song list.

Click HERE to listen to the show!

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