Self-help or Christian?

Sometimes I think I’m getting old and stubborn. Or maybe old and increasing inflexible. But I suppose I’ll leave that to you to decide. What brought this bit of self-examination on was a session the faculty at Gateway had recently with our accreditation advisor, Dr. Charles McNeeley. We were dissecting each word in our mission statement and objectives for the college when Dr. McNeeley brought up a point that, despite our careful wording, we sometimes had a tendency to overlook or worse, assume. His point was this: in all that we do as Christian instructors, we must always be careful to emphasize that without Jesus Christ, you are lost. Notice he didn’t say, “without GOD you are lost,” rather he specifically used the name of Jesus Christ. He told us it had to be all over every policy, every manual, every objective, every syllabus. In essence, it must permeate everything we do, say and write. Dr. McNeeley further pointed out that Muslims believe in God, Jews believe in God, DEVILS believe in God – and have the good sense to tremble! But they do not speak the name of Jesus Christ. This is the important difference.

What really got the wheels of my mind rolling was Dr. McNeeley’s final comment that he notices the lack of the name of Jesus in our music. I guess I’ve never thought about this until I considered that “God” is really a very generic term – used by myriad religions to represent myriad beings. So why do we leave Jesus’ name out of our music? Is it just because it doesn’t rhyme well? The syllables do not work out right? In reading through the lyric inserts in some recent CD’s I’ve purchased for myself or CD’s I am reviewing for this website, I not-so-shockingly discovered that many of them did not use the name of Jesus AT ALL!!

A deeper issue…..

Maybe I just think about this too much, but I have noticed that the definition of “Christian Music” has broadened quite a bit in the last few years. Many new Christian CD’s now contain music about life – what I call “self-help” music. This “genre” of music has exploded in much the same way that the self-help book genre has. Although I believe there is nothing wrong with writing a positive message about life, I don’t like to have to guess if the artist is singing to God, if God is singing to them or if they are singing to their significant other. Make sense? Of equal concern is what will those who know nothing of the Christian message think about the CD? Is the message too vague for the average listener to interpret? If you consider the music of Steven Curtis Chapman or Mercy Me, among others, you know exactly what they’ve had to say, where they are coming from and what they believe. Is it important to consider music from both the believer’s and unbeliever’s viewpoints? (As a side note, I don’t particularly care for the words “believer” and “unbeliever,” but will use them for lack of a better choice.)

Who are we about?

Dr. McNeeley later pointed out to me Ephesians 1:11-12, which states:

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

I think the bottom line could be simply stated as this: It’s not about us. This scripture talks about HIS will and HIS purpose and the fact that we are “for the praise of HIS glory.” This could be the only criteria we need with which to examine our music. There should be no compromise in our message for fear that we might offend a certain audience or better attract another. And this brings me back to the vagueness in the message of much of the music labeled “Christian.” Let there be no question about who is receiving the attention – the glory from the music we sing, whether in a congregational worship service, group or solo. Does it make us feel good or lift up Jesus Christ?