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We think the author sort of gets it right, but seems confused. In addition, it saddens us that the author cannot bring himself to quote or reference any Scripture.
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Aiden W. Tozer once said, “Christians don’t tell lies–they just go to church and sing them!” This is one of those quotes that jolts us to the core once it is properly understood. Without context, however, many people misunderstand what he is saying because they immediately begin to think of hymns and worship songs with bad theology, and there are plenty of song lyrics we sing that should cause us to scratch our heads, such as:
“Like a rose, trampled on the ground, you took the fall and THOUGHT OF ME ABOVE ALL.”
“So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss.”
“And in His presence, our problems disappear.”(Are these theological statements? No, they are poetic expressions of ideas. Are they false? Well, probably not. Certainly they might be a hyperbolic or inelegantly expressed, but we should allow a measure of artistic license for songwriters, just like we would for pastors whose rhetoric sometimes comes up a little short.
So, did Jesus, as He hung on the cross, think of those He would save? We would say yes.
Ro. 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1Jn. 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us."A sloppy wet kiss" is certainly hyperbolic, but in its essence is true. God in His lavish love came to earth as a man, and because of Jesus' death and resurrection the Kingdom of heaven has come to earth. Heaven certainly touches earth.
Do "our problems disappear" in His presence? It certainly seems so as we worship and focus on him.
2Co. 4:16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.We conclude that though some of these lyrics might leave something to be desired, they are not heretical.)
These types of lyrics certainly need closer scrutiny, but what Tozer was really getting at is the fact that we often sing songs that do not coincide with our true spiritual state. (We would say that all of us always sing songs that do not coincide with our spiritual state in Christ. The author thinks that we fall short of the lyrics of songs because of our sin, but actually, we don't realize how high we've been called, or fully we've been saved. Our songs and our attitudes are what fall short.)
We often sing:
“I am a tree bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy”.
When, in fact, our hearts are hard and unmoved by the cross as we sing. Or we will sing:
“Where You go, I’ll go
Where You stay, I’ll stay
When You move, I’ll move
I will follow… “
when we plan on going out to live like the world on Monday. We could go on and on exposing lyrics we regularly sing, that we often have no intention of living out in our actual lives or are contrary to the state of our hearts. (Maybe it is a problem that we sing things we have no intention of doing. Or maybe we shouldn't make promises to God and break them. Or perhaps we have good intentions but fail.
But should we not sing about things if there's the slightest possibility of failure or coming up short?)
This is no small matter in the eyes of the Lord. He desires truth in the inward parts (Psalm 51:6). There should be integrity and sincerity in all that we do and say, especially when it comes to worshipping the King of Kings. Jesus pointed this out when he said:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. -Matthew 23:27-27.
If you read this article and think, “I’m glad I don’t do that,” as if you somehow escape unscathed, you have completely missed the point. We are all guilty of this. We all fall short, and none us can worship God properly in our strength. (Waaait. Subject change. First the problem was us singing things we had no intention of actually doing. Now the author has turned to worshiping according to the flesh. The two are not the same.)
It is important that the Christian life be one of constant repentance. This should also remind us that it is usually better, in our worship, to sing about God and what he has done instead of singing about ourselves, but even that would portray a truncated picture, for as Michael Horton says,
“The Gospel is not about you, but it is for you.”
Our songs should exhibit this fact as well. The Gospel does impact us and changes our hearts, but we should never forget the fact that even our worship is tinged with sinfulness. (The author's thesis has been that we sing songs and then fall short of the things we sing. Now he acknowledges that this is inevitable because we are imperfect beings.
But in actual fact, we are new creations [2Co. 5:17]. We cannot justify the idea that our worship must be tinged with sinfulness, if we are worshiping in Spirit and in truth [Jn. 4:24]. Either we worship according to the Spirit, or we are not worshiping at all.
We believe God is pleased with our sometimes-broken worship. He doesn't see our sin, because it was completely taken away by the cross [Col. 2:14].
The author engages in false humility by suggesting the tinge of sin is carried up to God.)
This recognition of our sinfulness should direct us even more resolutely to praise Jesus, (No, the recognition of our salvation and how wonderfully we've been saved should make us praise Jesus.
But more to the point, our worship is because of who He is. Worship is about the glory and majesty of God. We bow low before the Creator, Savior, life giver, in-dweller, Judge, and King. That is proskuneo.)
who offers us forgiveness and continues to beckon our sinful selves (How can we be sinful if we've been forgiven? We are to put to death the flesh [Ro. 8:13], not perversely celebrate it. It is a false humility to grovel like dogs when God has made us sons [Ga. 4:6] and co-heirs with Christ [Ro. 8:17]. Certainly we still sin, but that is the Old Man [Ro. 7:17], not the new creation.)
to approach the throne of grace with confidence. However, as we approach Him, we must always remember that the “throne of grace,” leads us to three important truths.
- It is a throne, so we should not approach it flippantly or without sincerity.
- It is a throne of grace in the sense that we do not deserve to approach it at all. (If we have access through a new and living way [Heb. 10:20], why should we think that we are not worthy in our newness of life in Him?) None of us are worthy and we must approach it in repentance.
- It is a throne of grace in the sense that, though we are unworthy to approach His throne, that is the very reason we need to draw near. It is here we find the forgiveness we need and the underserved (sic) favor we so desperately desire.
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