May 3 It's religious Music.

May 3

It’s Religious Music

Ps 28:7 …and with my song will I praise him.

Billy Soles was starting to get on my nerves. Well, not so much Billy as the music he was playing. When you are in the Army and sleeping in a large barracks room with 18 other soldiers you learn to put up with a lot. But on that Sunday afternoon most of the other guys were out of the barracks and I was trying to write a letter.

“She was knitting socks for her son in Korea, when she learned her son had been killed. So she sat there with a tear in her eye and continued to knit socks for some other boy in Korea”. All the songs he played had the same tragic themes and were sung in a country style. My patience ended after two or three hours of listening to twangy voices that turned one syllable words into 10 syllable words, as in ha-er-ar-er-ar-er-ar-er-ar-t,  for heart.

“Billy stop playing that hill-billy music.” I said as I turned to get something from my wall locker.  Suddenly my head was slammed into my locker door about 5 or 6 times. Billy’s grip on my neck finally loosened as he growled with indignation, “That’s not hill-billy music. That’s religious music!”

So I know first-hand it is a risky thing to criticize other peoples taste in music or meddle with what they think is religious. So please do not read our meditation for today as critical of your musical preferences or your religious practices. My poor old brain doesn’t need any more heading banging.

Much of the “Christian Music” of today seems to me to be little more than the world’s rock and roll with Jesus sprinkled on top. But then I am an old guy and old people usually are opposed to “modern” ways. However that does not explain the change from God centered lyrics to egocentric lyrics. The old hymns praised God.  “What a friend we have in Jesus”, A Mighty Fortress is our God”, “Praise Him”, are but a few of hundreds of hymns that praise God.  

In contrast, when I have been able to hear and understand the lyrics of heavy metal “Jesus” songs it seems they are egocentric. When lyrics follow some version of “Let me tell you about me. I was so deep down and I was confused and I was miserable etc. etc. I looked for happiness for me but I could find none for myself, so I was at the end of my rope, so here is what I did. I found Jesus. Now I am happy, my life is wonderful and I wish I had found Him sooner.”   

Perhaps it is my age, but that does not seem to be a song that glorifies God, focuses on Christ, but is a sort of musical biography about the star of the show “Me”!  We live in an increasingly egocentric society so it is little wonder “Christian songs” follow the same theme, me, my, mine, I.

That also explains why other lyrics talk about “Me and Jesus are buddies”  or variations of that theme. What a shallow way to think of the Christ. Sometimes when I read the phrase in the Bible ‘the LORD Jesus Christ” I mentally substitute “the Jehovah, Savior, Messiah” to remind myself that while he walks with me and talks to me our relationship is not that of buddies. It is more like the fellowship of a sovereign God who has rescued a sin cursed soul by his matchless grace and then guides me on my way.

OK enough of my thoughts. Let us see what scripture says about praising God. (And yes, I know there are no verses that say rock and roll are evil)

Ps 40:3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

Here we see that effective praise of God has positive results. People see it, grasp the concept of a Holy God (fear) and trust in the LORD (Jehovah).

Ps 69:30  I will praise the name of God with a song,

and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

Here we see a song that praises God, not self, and leads to making God appear larger in my life to those around me because of my thankfulness to Him.

Ps 107:8 Oh that men would praise the LORD

for his goodness, and for his

wonderful works to the children of men!

Here the object of praise is for God’s goodness, and for God’s wonderful work. Not much room for egocentricity here.

In addition to wrong focus of praise songs there are the songs that are not even about Jehovah God. Years ago the Beatles had a popular song I have heard Christians sing. “My sweet lord”  where the background singers repeat Hallelujah several times and then about the middle of the song change to Hara-chrisna, guru-vishna, guru-brahma etc. Pull up the lyrics on the Internet and you may be shocked.

Also there are some still popular hymns that are doctrinally incompatible with Biblical truths.  Such as “We’ve a story to tell to the Nations” where Christ’s return is dependent on the world becoming “good”.   

The devotional thought for today is that we should be mindful of the words we use when we praise God in song. Some songs that seem to do that actually are praising something else. It is easy to sing something because the tune is catchy, and not because we agree with the message. Ever catch yourself singing some catchy tune from a commercial?  It also happens with songs that do not reflect our Biblical values.

Even when we sing songs with Biblically centered messages they can still be misunderstood. Such as the young boy who asked if they could sing the song about Gladly, the cross-eyed bear!

Let us praise God today for his wonderful works to the children of men!  (Ps 107:8)  It is not our catchy tunes but our words of praise that God wants to hear. Let us sing with the understanding of the words, who we are praising, and be sure the words express what is in our hearts.

Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly

in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one

another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

   

May 2 Pure Religion

May 2

Pure Religion

Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

He smoked cigars, chawed tobacco, drank whiskey, told dirty stories and cussed with the best of them. He also claimed the faith of his grandfather, an old time Baptist preacher. Eventually his wife left him about the same time he and his female secretary were terminated from their positions. 

Oh dear, I had wanted to give you an example of someone who had been spotted by the world, but I now realize I gave you an example of a guy who just dove head first into the manure pile of sin.

Our meditation for today is to think about what we as Christians should be doing. Most of us think in terms of “don’ts”. Don’t get drunk, don’t cuss like a drunken sailor, don’t … don’t… don’t.

To be fair we also have a list of do’s. Do go to church. Do read the Bible. Be nice to people. Say our prayers.  Say grace before we eat. Yep, that pretty well covers it.

The Christianity practiced by a vast majority of people in America has become pretty comfortable. In addition the super spiritual may even go to a men or woman’s retreat, attend an all-night gospel sing, or leave tracts in gas station bathrooms. But is that the Bible description of pure religion, active faith, and God pleasing conduct?

Today I want us to look at two aspects of pure religion as James talks about it.

Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.  

The opening words of this verse start with a premise that pure religion, that which starts out as white as snow, and has not become defiled, soiled, or dirtied, consists of helping those in need. The verse identifies widows and orphans. Those who no longer have a husband, and those who no longer have either mother or father. In the times in which James wrote, there were no government subsidies, no welfare check, no food stamps, no free medical, the only food pantry was what could be gleaned from a field.

We often hesitate to help people who for all we know are “working” the system. I once worked with an organization who put everything in a box that a family would need to fix a turkey dinner for thanksgiving. One of the men who delivered them to needy families said he asked a lady where she wanted him to put the box, and she said just line it up with the other boxes she had received. He said the family had several boxes of gifts and food. They definitely were not “afflicted”. 

But that does not allow us to ignore what James is teaching. In his day widows and orphans were the most afflicted. Today we may know widows and needy children who could use both caring visits and help with whatever their affliction is. The word “visit” in the text is way more than a 5 minute chat. Just throwing money in a jar for some needy cause on a store counter is not what this verse is requiring.

The second requirement of Pure religion is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.  The idea here is that of not allowing the ungodly world culture from getting a toe hold on us. Not a spot of it. The first psalm has the progression of sin in our lives.

Ps 1:1 ¶ Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,

nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  

If you listen to and follow the advice of the ungodly, they will eventually include you in their circle of friends who stand around and talk together, which will lead to sitting down with them and becoming scornful, and disrespecting the same things they do.

So the verse says we must follow the advice of the Bedouin desert dweller who saw the nose of his camel coming into the tent and hit the camel’s nose with a tent stake. He explained “If you do not keep the camel’s nose out of your tent soon the whole camel will be inside your tent!”  We need to become more sensitive to those “spots” of the world that bombard us daily.

For today may we consider what pure religion is. What exactly should we be doing to conform to what God has instructed in this verse in James?  Who do we know who are really afflicted? How can we help?  

Finally let us consider to what degree the world culture has spotted our faith. To what degree have we been conformed to this world (Rom 12:1) How has our pleasure driven, entertainment society impacted both our churches and our own minds. We cannot keep ourselves unspotted from the world if we do not know the source of the spots on our spiritual well-being and our outward testimony.

May God richly bless you as you think about our devotional focus for today.

Pr 10:6 ¶ Blessings are upon the head of the just: