Hymns

What Does Jesus Mean by Love?

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments 
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. John 15:14-15 ESV

The phrase, “I love you Lord” often used in the lyrics of our worship songs and hymns, though not unknown, was one rarely used by the disciples of Jesus, or even of the Lord Himself. Peter, Matthew or James didn’t get up in the morning saying things like, “Good morning, Jesus. I love you!” Most of the time the disciples were too busy asking questions about what they were to do next or arguing about who was the most important among them. Jesus Himself also spent most of His teaching talking about the Kingdom of God and showing love rather than just talking about it. That all sounds foreign to us who have spent a generation being told we must tell the people around us that we love them on a daily basis. Now, of course, the Bible also tells us that, “God is love” (See 1 John 4:8). At issue is not whether we really love God or not, but on what that love ought to look (and sound) like. Jesus tells us in today’s verse that love, doesn’t just mean saying, “I love you, I love you, I love you.” Love means laying down our lives for Jesus, and for each other, just as He gave His life for us. On the cross as God was revealing the deepest meaning of love through Christ, He didn’t once say, “I love you.” Instead, Jesus promised eternal life to a thief, offered forgiveness to his killers and asked His disciple John to take care of His mother. The lyrics of this week’s hymn do start out with “My Jesus I love Thee” but they also go much deeper into the what and why of that love. In his sermon this Sunday our pastor mentioned that we often gloss over the commands of Jesus and that we forget that He commanded many things. (He counted 38 commands of Christ). The kind of love that mattered to our salvation was a dying love, that chose the nails, the crown of thorns and the cross over comfort, freedom and popularity. The words that we sing about loving Jesus, loving God and thanking Him for Heaven are all great, but they must be coupled with a love that is too deep for words. The love of God is a message that can only be written with the ink of our actions. So, as John tells us in his letter, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18 

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree
I love Thee for wearing
The thorns on Thy brow
William Featherstone 1864

The Battle is Not Done

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

Yesterday, being Father’s Day, I chose to sing “This is My Father’s World,” at Discovery Villages. This is not only one of my favorite hymns, but with war raging, both in the Middle East and Ukraine, it is easy for our hearts to become anxious. We close our eyes and imagine the bombs bringing down buildings. What was once only a distant possibility, has become a daily nightmare both in Israel as well as Iran. Along with military targets, innocent men, women and children are buried under rubble, others are fleeing for their lives, wounded and terrified. “Where is God in the midst of all of the chaos?” the world asks. That is when the assurance of the final stanza rings loudest, “Though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” This hymn rings true to our hearts, not only because of the poetic mastery of the hymn writer, but because it is a reflection of a deep truth of scripture.

Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10

Now we may not all be in the middle of a warzone, but every believer has their own battles and battle scars to prove it. When we are in the middle of the worst, we need to remind ourselves that God has not fallen asleep at the wheel. No matter our situation, God remains firmly in control of both our lives as well as the affairs of earth. But we like children riding in the backseat, want to know, “When are we going to get there?” In my experience, God rarely tells us the answer. Instead, He helps us to learn how to trust Him, even when we don’t get filled in on all the details. Whatever you need to trust Him with today, why not take a moment to be still, and then pray, “God teach me to be still. In the middle of this battle and help me to trust you with every detail of my heart!”

What’s Right with Contemporary Worship – Remembering the Blood

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments 
The Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”
1 Corinthians 11:23b-25 NLT

Every hymn has an audience in mind. For example, “Holy Holy Holy” sings to God, while “Amazing Grace” addresses the church. Some hymns invite us to the altar, others offer comfort. Some rejoice in the promises of God while others teach us to weep over sins. God loves to use different expressions of worship to reveal Himself at different times, in different ways to different people. The most important aspect of our worship is that God should be glorified. In today’s song, “Thank You Jesus for The Blood” by Charity Gayle, her lyrics remind us of the primary focus of the Gospel: The Blood of Jesus Christ.

No one loves singing the old hymns more than I do. Some weeks I get to sing them for several small meetings at various nursing homes in our community. Some of their favorites are, Love Lifted Me”, “Mansion Over the Hilltop” and “In the Garden.’ While all of those are wonderful songs, none of them is more Biblically focused than today’s song. Even, “Amazing Grace” doesn’t mention God till verse four and “Holy Holy Holy” gives no mention of the cross. In His final meal on earth, Jesus commanded us to remember His coming sacrifice by breaking bread and drinking from the cup, which represent His Body and Blood given for us. What greater words can we sing than those of today’s song that tell of God’s greatest gift of love to us!

Thank you Jesus for the blood applied
Thank you Jesus it has washed me white
Thank You Jesus You have saved my life
Brought me from the darkness
Into glorious light!