This week’s post is by Brandon Adent, a deacon at Redeemer Church. He likes music, words, and words about music.

Hey Redeemer,

I have the honor and privilege to get to serve you as a musician, and I love it.

No matter how many times I’ve been through the songs in a given week, there’s something unique and special that happens when we all sing these songs together, and that’s a major reason I love serving the way I do.

I just love hearing you sing. There’s a couple reasons for that, but one in particular that I really want to highlight.

Up and Out

When we gather to sing, we do so in a few “directions”. I mean, they all resolve “up”, but there’s a few ways to get there.

First, as I mentioned, there’s a direct “upward” orientation to our singing; we sing directly to God, praising Him for who He is and thanking Him for what He's done.

Second, there’s an “outward” orientation. This is when people that don't know Jesus get to overhear our praises, not just in the words of the songs we sing, but in how we sing them. Hopefully, they get to hear changed hearts in raised voices, hearts that cry out “Abba, Father” (Gal 4.4-6). Hopefully, they see the goodness and grace He has extended in the gift of His Son and join their changed hearts and voices to ours as family in Jesus.

Singing Inward

In addition to “upward” and “outward” singing, there’s an “inward” orientation to our singing as well, where we get to encourage our sisters and brothers in Christ in our praise to God.

The Apostle Paul writes in the letter to the Colossians:

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. (Colossians 3.16)

One of the main reasons I love hearing you sing, from the platform or not, is that we all get to hear “the word of Christ” dwelling in us richly. On the surface, we're "just" a bunch of people singing. But united in our songs and praises to God, when we consider the Holy Spirit moving in our hearts and causing us to worship Him, we realize that something profound is occurring in the ordinary.

I get to lift my voice with you to sing and hear that God is holy, holy, holy, whose glory sinful people can’t see apart from Jesus.

I get to sing and hear where your hope is built, and on Whom you stand and are secure, though we’re prone to wander and leave the God we love.

In the midst of my frailty, I get to sing and hear of God’s amazing grace, that He would bear my cross, that He’d lay down His life so I could be set free.

I get to hear about the cross, the empty tomb, the risen and ascended Lamb, His victory over Satan, sin and death. That forever He is glorified, forever He is lifted High.

And when things don’t seem to be going so well, I know that before His throne I have a strong and perfect plea.

All these things remind me who God is, who I am, and what He’s done for me in the gift of His Son.

Our singing gives glory to our Father in heaven, and strengthens and encourages us until either when His Son returns or our time on this planet is done.

All that said, thank you.

Thank you for singing. It is deeply encouraging to me as I try to figure out what it looks like to love and serve Jesus.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I really like to hear you sing.

 

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7 Marks Of A Deeply Deadly Sin: Not all sin is the same. While every sin places you under the wrath of God, and while any sin is sufficient to create an eternal chasm between God and man, not every sin is identical. In chapter 9 of his work Overcoming Sin and Temptation, John Owen wants you to think about that besetting sin in your life to consider if it is an “ordinary” sin, or if it is one that is particularly deadly and that, therefore, requires something more than the usual pattern of putting sin to death. The deadliness of a sin is not related so much to the category of that sin, but to how deeply-rooted it is in your life, and to how you have responded to God as he has revealed it to you.

Preparing For Sunday Worship: We count preaching as significant, so we expect our pastor will prepare his sermon before he enters the pulpit. We consider worship songs important, so we expect our music teams, pianists, and organists will appropriately prepare before sitting down at their instruments. We believe our engagement in corporate worship is essential, so we should also expect to prepare even as we expect the pastor and musicians to prepare for their participation in the Sunday morning service. How can you prepare for worship? Here are a few ideas.

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The State Of Theology: New Findings On America's Theological Health: Earlier this year, Ligonier Ministries commissioned a survey of 3,000 Americans in partnership with LifeWay Research. The survey quantified Americans’ theological knowledge and awareness. A combination of true and false statements was used to test participants. The survey addressed core doctrinal topics and issues, such as the Bible, salvation, God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, sin, the Trinity, man, hell, and the nature of the church. In our desire to serve the church in fulfilling the Great Commission, these findings help to point out common gaps in theological knowledge and awareness so that Christians might be more effective in the proclamation, teaching, and defense of the essential truths of the Christian faith.

The Evil In North Korea: That brings us to the most important thing we can do as Christians. “The real business of your life as a saved soul,” Oswald Chambers wrote a century ago, “is intercessory prayer.” If, as Asia specialist Minxin Pei observes, “No modern authoritarian dynastic regime has succeeded in passing power to the third generation,” then the Kim dynasty isn’t long for this world. Perhaps our prayers can push it over the edge.

One Trait That Set Apart The Earliest Christians: But in the second century, as Christianity emerged with a distinctive religious identity, the surrounding pagan culture began to take notice. And it didn’t like what it saw. Christians were seen as strange and superstitious—a peculiar religious movement that undermined the norms of decent society. Christians were, well, different.

The Most Neglected Part Of The Pastor's Job Description: The most significant yet unused disciple making resource we have in our churches are the older, faithful women among us. It’s to our shame if as pastors we don’t have a strategy for investing in them and seeing them invest in others. But it will be for our joy and for the church’s strength if we do.

photo credit: Chris Smith/Out of Chicago via photopin cc

The Following Blog Post is written by Brandon Adent:

Popular references to Easter abound these days. Bunny-shaped chocolate is on sale at the grocery store, alongside the plastic ribbon grass that seems to cling to every crevice in the house. 

Most people don’t know where the bunny came from. Or why we color eggs, hide then, and hunt for them. Springy colors make sense to us… it’s the time of year where the dark of winter surrenders to the light of the spring.

We love spring. Especially in Bellingham. The return of the longer days and warmth of the sun give us a lot of joy.

And yet, there is a greater source of joy. The book of John talks about Jesus as the Light of the World, which shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome.

And on the day that Christ bodily rose from the grave, the Light stomped the head of the Darkness into the ground.

PAID IN FULL

To put the events of Good Friday (the day Jesus, the Christ, was crucified) and Easter Sunday into modern terms, let’s frame the discussion in terms familiar to many of us.

 Say you’re a college student without money for anything but Ramen noodles (10 for a dollar, in case anyone is curious), and a friend and family member offers to take you to Costco to get anything you want. You go to the store on your shopping spree, and your friend or family member pays the bill.

In order to exit the store, you must stand in line ready to show your receipt to an employee as proof that you’ve paid for everything in your cart. Once the employee marks your receipt as valid and complete, you are free to go about the rest of your business.

Similarly, paying the bill is a bit like Good Friday. With His blood, Christ paid for the wrongdoings and offenses of all who would trust in Him, and gives them His perfect standing in exchange.

Christ’s resurrection is like the receipt. By His resurrection, we know that our sin has actually been dealt with, for death cannot hold the sinless.

Moreover, the use of the receipt goes beyond departure of the store. Say your friend bought you a flat-screen TV, and when you plugged it in at your apartment or house, it didn’t work. The receipt gives you the assurance that you will be adequately cared for until you are satisfied with your purchase.

If you are in Christ, He has paid for your soul with His blood. And His resurrection is the proof-of-purchase. You have been adopted into His family (Gal 3, Rom 7), and there is nothing that can separate you from His love (Rom 8).

Because of this assurance, you can live courageously in the new life that you have in the knowledge that His grace is sufficient for you.

NEW LIFE IS YOURS

Because of the assurance that your sentence has been paid in full, you have a guarantee of new life in Christ.

You are a new creation; the old has passed away and the new has come (2 Cor. 5.17). You have been raised from death by the same power that raised Christ from the dead (Eph 5.4-6).

This means you actually can live differently! God has changed you from the core of your being, and is slowly molding you into Christ-likeness. Sure, we’ll struggle with sin, fear, guilt, and shame. But He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. (Philippians 1.6)

 DEATH IS AS GOOD AS DEAD

Your newness isn’t just relegated to your soul. Because of the resurrection, you have assurance of bodily resurrection, just as Christ was raised.

Paul addresses this very topic in 1 Corinthians 15. Amid disputes of whether the dead will rise again, Paul repeatedly and emphatically states that if Christ Himself was not raised from the dead, that we have no hope either in this life or the next.

Thankfully, Christ has been raised from death, showing that He indeed possesses power over it. As death could not hold Him, neither will it hold you.

This means that you don’t need to fear death. Certainly, the prospect is unnerving. But if we know that we are Christ’s in both life and death, and that He is sovereign over both, we don’t need to live in fear or anxiety over what happen today or tomorrow.

CELEBRATE THE GOD WHO LIVES

This next section may seem a bit odd: I’m going to quote a Christmas song.

Without Easter, there is no Christmas. If Christ had not come to live perfectly, die sacrificially, and rise triumphantly, He would not have come. Charles Wesley knew this when he penned the great hymn “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!”

Hail the Heav’n born Prince of Peace

Hail the Son of Righteousness

Light and life to all He brings

Risen with healing in His wings

Mild He lays His glory by

Born that man no more may die

Born to raise the sons of Earth

Born to give them second birth

The appropriate response to the risen King is worship. We bow our lives to Him, confessing our need and despising our old ways in the light of His grace.

This response should resound in every area of our lives. One ways we respond is by gathering corporately to hear what He has done and respond in gratitude in prayer and song. This is a weekly celebration, not a one time event, to serve as a frequent and tangible reminder one what He has done for every people of every tribe, tongue, and nation. But Easter provides us a particularly special occasion to gather and remember what God has done in us and what He means to do through us.

If you would, join us as we gather this Easter Sunday in the name of the resurrected Jesus.

photo credit: Untitled blue via photopin cc