Let's sing hymns!

I just got back from the community hymn sing at Southern Seminary. Keith and Kristyn Getty, who wrote the contemporary hymn "In Christ Alone", co-led the evening. It was a wonderful time filled with heartfelt hymn singing from children of God in this local community. I must give a hearty "amen" to the Gettys' passion for hymns. They gave two reasons, I'm sure there's more, for why it's good to sing hymns. One is that hymn singing is a tool for teaching people our faith. We sing what we know. Second is hymns can be sung in every generation. Saints of old have written theology and emotion-filled hymns centuries ago and we still sing them today. People like the Gettys are writing hymns, not targeting the contemporary pop culture, but for everyone, young and old.

In this CCM (contemporary Christian music) generation, people forget that singing is also a means of teaching. Someone has once told me that the criticism on CCM has been too harsh. Her point is, what is wrong with people expressing their feelings through songs? That's a valid point. People are entitled the right to express their emotions through songs for sure. However, in my personal opinion Christian music has swung too far to the side of emotionalism. When we sing, we are bound to have emotions (hopefully). But what is stirring these emotions in us? Lines like "I worship You" "Lord, I love You", "I praise You, Lord" can be repeated numerous times in a song. But who are you worshipping? Who is this God you are giving praise to? Why do you love the Lord? You can be singing those lines again and again and feel the emotion of "worship", and yet never have a firm grasp of the God who is the Creator of heaven and earth, the sovereign King, all-wise, etc. You can keep "praising" Him because that's what Christians are supposed to sing and say, or because you feel the emotional urge to praise, and yet never realize the gravity of the sin Christ bore on the cross and the severity of the penalty He undertook, that is, separation from God the Father. You can sing of your love for the Lord. But do you realize His love for us that is so severe and holy, that He even gave His only Son for us?

We do not teach the congregation enough through singing. Songs in a worship service are not just there. They are supposed to be there so people can be fed spiritually with God's word throughout the service. Oh I hope to see that the songs that stick in people's mind are ones that are filled with God's truth that provokes genuine affections within us for Him, for who He is.

It's Easter season. There are tons of songs out there remembering and celebrating the cross, death of Christ and His resurrection. Here is a hymn written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend that has deeply touched my heart and reminded me of the gospel of Christ. May it encourage you to look to Christ, meditate on His love ultimately manifested in the cross.

The Power of the Cross
words and music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

O, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day;
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

(chorus)
This the power of the cross;
Christ became sin for us.
Took the blame, bore the wrath,
We stand forgiven at the cross.

O, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awsome weight of sin.
Every bitter thought,
Every evil deed
Crowning Your blood-stained brow.

(chorus)

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life
Finished! the victory cry.

(chorus)

O, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death,
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love!

This the power of the cross;
Son of God slain for us.
What a name, what a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

God's immutability and our mutability

For seminary students, sleep sometimes is underrated. I need my sleep. Yet my procrastinating nature is keeping me from it by doing things such as writing this post at 2am when I should be frantically writing a paper due at 1:30pm.

Anyway, allow me to share a verse with you that came to me during core seminar this past Sunday. "For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, o sons of Jacob, are not consumed." - Malachi 3:6

God is immutable. He does not change in His holiness, righteousness, justice, faithfulness, etc. That is great comfort for me. He remains just, and He will punish evil. At the same time, He remains faithful to His promises. I can have confidence in His faithfulness that He will not one day decide to remove the pardon for sin achieved through Christ and send me back to where I deservedly belong.

At the same time, I am thankful for my mutability. I was dead in sin, but now I'm alive in Christ. I delighted in evil and worshipped idols, but now I hate sin and seek to worship God alone. I was blind, but now I see. I was lost, and now I'm found. Amazing grace...

contemplating on a little book

One of the most amazing experiences studying at the seminary is being convicted of my sin and brought to awe and worship of God while researching for a paper or sitting in a lecture. who would've thought that one could be brought to tears praising God reading a seemingly dry theology textbook (Doctrine of God by John Frame did it for me)?

I'm reading John Owen's The Mortification of Sin for a research paper. sure enough, it happened again. it convicts me deeply, for it feels as if he was writing exactly to my sinful heart. how often do we think that we've had victory over sin, while in truth we were simply diverting one sin to another outlet. examining my own life, I have been focusing on battling against impatience and discontentment. I've been fighting it because it brings discomfort to my soul, because it causes anguish within me. am I fighting it because God hates it that I distrust His perfect plan and that I put my fleshly desires before His sovereign and good will? am I truly fighting it? or am I simply filling my life with futile activities in an attempt (either conscious or subconscious) to rid the empty feeling?

the lust and sin will be within us until we die or Christ returns. how boastful would we be if we thought we could reach completion by completely mortifying such lust and sin in us! always be on guard, diligently examining our own heart and mind, searching out the root of sin that could erupt into adultery, fornication, idolatry, hatred and heresies if we let it.

have I depressed whoever is reading with such a gloomy path of mortification of sin? sometimes I depress myself contemplating on my inability and constant failure to fight sin. but Owen reassured again and again his readers that he wrote, not for unbelievers, but for those who "did not receive teh spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!'. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." that same Spirit who bears witness that we are children of God, is the same who is the only author for the work of mortification of sin. He only is sufficient for this work. I'll let Owen's own words encourage us.

"This renewing of us by the Holy Ghost, as it is called (Titus 3:5), is one great way of mortification: he causes us to grow, thrive, flourish and abound in those graces which are contrary, opposite, and destructive to all the fruits of the flesh, and to the quiet or thriving of indwelling sin itself."

I did it

after much lamenting over not being able to comment on people's insightful posts, I finally broke down and got me a blog. I don't know what to write at the moment, since nobody is reading. so I'll stop now.