By Nick Parson Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing, and perfect will. In today’s culture we are bombarded by many outlets that tell us how we should look, who we should be, or how we should perform. Today I wanted to share and speak on what culture feeds us musically and are we as Paul says in scripture, are we “offering our bodies as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God…not conforming to the pattern of this world but being transformed by the renewing of our minds.” I’m not here to debate whether you should listen to Christian music vs. secular music. I am here to enlighten on whether we understand the music we are feeding ourselves, both lyrically or contextually, does it really give true and proper worship to God? To say that music does not have an influence on us or what we allow to occupy our minds can sooner or later determine someone’s speech and actions. Take for example, if someone struggles with pornography which is derived from lust in their heart, would it be OK for that person to feed themselves access to certain media outlets or anything with a sexual content that could tempt them to visually look at pornography or act upon it in some way. Another example would be maybe someone who struggles with appearance and works out all the time to make sure there body looks a certain way. On the surface it could be perceived as some sort of vanity but deep down the root sin could be people pleasing and that person looking to receive affirmation from others by their appearance. In this case it maybe not be good for that person to seek out the gym all the time and probably add in how stringent they are on their diet either. Yet we can sometimes overlook music we listen to. We can justify it by stating, “I don’t listen to the lyrics, I just like the beat.” However even if we just like the beat or tempo to a song, I’m pretty confident you would still know the lyrics or the chorus to that song. Another statement we can say is, “I listen to the clean version of it.” Yes the so called “bad words” may be edited but it does not mean the entire content is honorable either. A lot of the music that infiltrate our airwaves still have the same tone to it such as chasing the opposite sex, drugs, what you should have, how you should look, bitter breakups, revenge, getting away to some fantasy place, all about you and no one else, etc… Let’s take a look at the lyrics/content from a few hit songs this past year and really think about what these songs invoke.
By all means I am not immune to the catchy songs or beats as well, but it is a constant battle to really ask myself in dependence on the Holy Spirit is if this is what I want to feed my soul, my head, and my heart. In this spiritual warfare do we as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, “take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ” or in Colossians 3:2, “set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth.” The enemy is constantly trying to fill our minds and keep us conformed to the pattern of this world so we may not ever see God’s good, perfect, and pleasing will starting with Jesus Christ who is God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will for our lives. As it states in Proverbs 24:33-34, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.” See if we don’t take captive even the music we feed ourselves, we just begin to develop a pattern of allowing music to form our thoughts and actions. As we understand God, His Character, and His Word, we begin to understand that God created music to worship and glorify Him. Both the Old and New Testaments address music and strongly support its use in worship. Music is a communication tool, and God has given us many creative musical tools, outlets, or genres to honor Him. What does God’s Word say then about how to respond to music, Philippians 4:8 is a great guide which states, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” If we should be thinking about such things, surely those are the things we should invite into our minds through music and lyrics. In conclusion, when evaluating what we feed ourselves audibly I’d ask you again to really think about what you’re listening to and what feelings and thoughts it invokes. Is it something that is considered praise worthy and draw you closer to God or does it invoke distorted thoughts about appearance, performance, status, or sexuality, maybe really process it on whether it should be avoided. I’ve included a resource from the series done at Watermark called “Head Heart Hands” which discusses bringing our thoughts under the Lordship of Jesus in the midst of the world’s marketing campaign to control the real estate of our minds. In addition check out the lyrics from Lecrae’s song “Nuthin” which talks about the repetitiveness that is infiltrating our music industry that feeds us poison.
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by Steven Nguyen We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19 Well, it’s Valentines Weekend, Happy Valentines. So, we are going to hear a lot about how husbands should love their wives like Christ loves the Church and how wives should submit to their husbands out of reverence for Christ. We as singles are going to be listening to one of the many sermon series on dating to see why we are missing out on another Valentine’s Day without a significant other. Today, I’m going to be awesome and talk about Biblical Counseling. As many of you know, I am in the process of becoming a Chaplain Candidate in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. In this process the Lord has steered my focus in seminary towards Biblical Counseling. In this process, the Lord has now put on my heart to now share and to teach how we can best be ministers of reconciliation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Paul would teach us in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. The fuel in which we are to love and to care for others is first and foremost our love for Jesus Christ and understanding the love that He has shown us through the cross. Before we begin I want to say that we cannot change or save anyone. We cannot make a person do what the Lord would will us to do. It is not our job to change or save anyone or to remove an individual from their circumstances, but to point them to the One who can and is able to save and transform, who is Jesus Christ. In counseling our posture is always love and building a relationship that shows the Lord’s work in Jesus Christ and the will of the Lord in Scripture is central in all that is done and said. How does this loving counseling relationship look like? These concepts and teachings come from Instruments in The Redeemer’s Hands by Paul David Tripp, Pg. 125-159.
Entering a person’s world, you are listening for emotional words (I’m angry, I can’t stop crying.), interpretive words (This shouldn’t happen. I guess I’m getting what I deserve.), self-talk (I’m such failure.) and God talk (I thought I was doing what God wanted.). Tripp states, “As you listen for the four things listed above, look for a theme to emerge. Then grab hold of that theme, meet the person in the midst of that struggle, and incarnate the loving Lord she or he may be unable to see.” God has never left that person but circumstances can blind a person to the God who is there. Incarnate the love of Christ, Colossians 3:12-17 captures what it means to incarnate the love of Christ. Colossians 3:12-17 states this: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” We are to incarnate Christ in this counseling relationship for it is protection for you as Galatians 6:1 teaches us to restore those who are caught in sin yet we should restore him yet keep watch on ourselves for we also can be tempted. Tt offers a living example even though we are fallen, the person who is seeking help should be able to experience real love, compassion, gentleness, forgiveness, forbearance, kindness, and humility. It gives evidence of what the Lord can do. We as ambassadors are living proof of God’s transforming power. It keeps Christ central in that we offer people hope in Jesus Christ and not strategies. Identify with suffering, in Hebrews 2:10-12 states, “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.” Tripp states, “God sends people my way, not only so that they will change, but so that I will too. The Wonderful Counselor is working on everyone in the room. God repeatedly uses the difficulties of a ministry relationship and the revelation of his redemptive glory to challenge, deepen, and strengthen my faith. Because I have a front row seat to the heart-transforming work of God, I minister to others with greater hope, expectancy, and courage.” Accept with agenda. God’s grace is always grace leading to change says Tripp. He goes on to say, “Since God’s purpose is that we would become “partakers of his divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4, change is his agenda. As we offer people a humble, patient, gentle, forbearing, and forgiving love, we must never communicate that it is okay for them to stay as they are. As long as a vestige of indwelling sin remains, change is God’s call.”[1] I pray that this encourages you and blesses you to consider what it would look like to counsel with those who may come to you asking for help. I pray that the Lord would work mightily through His church to continue to redeem a people for Himself and that His body, the Church would be a source of blessing, love, and compassion in a fallen world where we are all wounded from the battle of sin. Take heart, Jesus has overcome the world. The salvation of the Lord has been offered to the world through His death on the cross for sin and in His resurrection and is free to all as a free gift of God through faith in Him. May our hearts continually sing as we counsel and love those who come to us, “O come to the altar, The Father’s arms are open wide, Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.”[2] [1] Tripp, Paul David, Instruments in The Redeemers Hands. Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing. 2002. [2] Elevation Worship- O come to the altar. |
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