Tag: apostle paul

Sing Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs to One Another (Ephesians 5:15-20)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
By Bible Art

Be careful, then, how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (New Revised Standard Version)

It’s unlikely I need to tell anyone that the days are evil. The world is upside-down and topsy-turvy with injustice, waywardness, and narrow partisanship. In fact, there is a lot of similarity to the Apostle Paul’s time. Maybe that’s why Paul exhorted the church not to drown their sorrows in a bottle of spirits, but to be filled with the Spirit.

Perhaps, because of the times we live in, you don’t feel much like singing. You might not be finding much in your life right now to sing about. Yet, maybe singing is the very thing we need.

An inebriated person says and does things that they would not typically say or do when they’re sober. The Apostle’s point about being filled with the Spirit is that, instead of doing and saying foolishness, we are to be so filled with God that we do and say wisdom that we wouldn’t typically do and say, if not filled with God. 

Without the fullness of God’s Spirit, we end up mumbling, not singing; worrying, not making music in our hearts; complaining and arguing, not giving thanks. Half-filled Christians can only practice a half-hearted Christianity. And they’re only half-baked in their service and devotion to Christ.

Why sing? 

Because singing is part of being filled with the Spirit of God. Singing happens when we experience God’s overflowing grace in our lives through the blessings of being chosen, adopted, and redeemed into God’s new community. (Ephesians 1:3-11)

Music is powerful. It’s not only a means of expressing praise and commitment to Christ and each other, it is also a powerful means of remembering.

For example, when we first teach kids the alphabet, we teach it in a song. Trying to teach letters in a rote fashion doesn’t work well for pre-school kids. But words set to music is why we can still remember words from old TV shows, because those words were set to a catchy tune (alas, the lyrical theme from Gilligan’s Island will forever be in my head).  Music is why an Alzheimer’s patient doesn’t remember her daughter’s name, yet can flawlessly sing all four verses of Amazing Grace.

Singing is an offering and a sacrifice of praise to God (Hebrews 13:15). And singing is also a vehicle whereby we are taught, encouraged, and built up in the community of believers. We sing to God, one another, and even to ourselves.

Christian music, then, is to be both a means of praising God and a practice of encouraging each other. We accomplish this through singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

Sing Psalms

The word “psalm” helps us rightly think of the biblical book of Psalms. Singing the psalms is an ancient practice, going all the way back to the Israelites singing psalms in the temple and synagogue. The early church maintained this practice, especially as a means of being faithful to praying without ceasing. 

However, over time, medieval congregations began neglecting the practice. In fact, European congregations eventually gave up most singing altogether. Almost all the singing was done by church choirs and professional musicians employed by the king (there was no separation of church and state) to write, compose, and perform in worship services. 

Five-hundred years ago, during the Reformation, Martin Luther reinstituted congregational singing. He gave music back to the people. One of the results of this change was putting the book of psalms to song – the Psalter.  For many Protestant denominations, the Psalter became the primary means of singing. The Psalter chiefly set prayers to song. It was both a means of expressing prayer to God and learning Scripture.

Singing Hymns

There have always been hymns in the church. Yet, it was not until the Reformation that hymns began to be written and sung by congregations. For the Reformers, hymns were used to teach sound doctrine and theology, as well as a means of confessing the faith together

A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he, amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
does seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal. (Martin Luther, 1529)

Singing Spiritual Songs

Spiritual songs are the present day equivalent of praise and worship choruses, or what some refer to as contemporary songs. These are songs purposefully designed to be emotional expressions of praise to God and to give powerful testimony for what God has done or is doing.

Remember When You Sing…

  • Psalms are used to pray and learn Scripture.
  • Hymns are used to teach us sound doctrine and confess the faith together.  
  • Spiritual songs are an important way of expressing praise to God and being encouraged in the faith. 

Therefore, church music is to serve as both a revelation from God, and as a response from God’s people.

There are two important deductions from the Apostle Paul’s exhortation:

  1. A variety of songs is inferred and expected
  2. Their use is commanded

The reason worship style seems always to be a controversial topic is because everyone has their personal preferences. And yet, if we are to be faithful to today’s New Testament lesson, we will do more than focus on what I want. 

Truth be told, we are selfish people when it comes to music. We want what we want, and we don’t care what somebody else wants. And we’ll persist in that self-absorbed spirit until somebody calls us on it… That somebody is the Apostle Paul. Scripture calls us to encompass psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs – all three of them – in our worship.

I have an old friend who is an accomplished church musician and worship pastor. I once asked him how I can lead a worship service among such a variety of preferences concerning music. He answered my question with a question:

“How highly do people, including and especially your musicians, value the unity of the church? Do they love each other so much that they can allow for a wider range of style, and do so without vocally complaining about it?”

My friend went on to say, “When I arrived at one church as their pastor, some people were in a rather bad habit of saying very openly, ‘Oh I hate that song,’ or, ‘If I hear this song one more time I’m walking out.’ What I tried to do was teach people that this is not the most loving or mature approach; and it does little to build up the rest of the Body of Christ.”

If a group of people are being faithful to Scripture, and doing their best musically, then – if the music seems lifeless, dull, or strange to us – the real issue isn’t style but our hearts.    

A heart filled with the Spirit of God will speak to others using the Psalter, time-honored hymns, and fresh new contemporary songs. The result is believers built up in the faith.

Gracious God, give us grace to take to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions about all kinds of things, including music. Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and harmony, so that as there is but one body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, we may from this time forward be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of peace; and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Illness of Our Era: What Is It?

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality BlogLeave a comment
Anxiety, by James Callaghan

Our contemporary society focuses primarily on a functional existence. In our pragmatism, we care a great deal about production, the things we can do and produce; and we are attentive of how we appear to others. Western culture is enamored with all things of the outer person that others can see, touch, hear, smell, and taste with physical senses.

The outer person is important. The way in which we present ourselves to the world does have meaning and significance. Yet, so does the inner person.

The Inner Person

I believe the inner person, the true self, the soul, is just as vital, if not more, than the outward displays we give to others. On the inside is where our motives and intents come from. The core of self is of utmost importance; it is the place where our inherent worth is found.

Being aware of this inner person (which I use interchangeably with “soul” and “true self”) gives us a guide for ordering our outer self – our activities, work, and relationships.

If we are unaware of what’s happening deep within us, or pay little to no attention to the soul, our outer person becomes a false self. A gross disconnect then occurs between how we think and feel within, and what we choose to display for everyone.

In paying attention to the inner person, we will likely find that there is a lot of anxiety within us. Anxiety may even transform itself into a despair of self and/or the world.

The Anxiety Within

This anxiety, however, is not all bad. It certainly can lead us to a struggle with life, an experience of strained relationships, and a crippling fear of what will happen. Yet it can also help us become in touch with the soul, and enable us to gain an awareness of what is happening within and what to do about it.

It is my firm understanding and unshakable conviction that if we are to learn anything at all about healthy functioning in this world, it must begin with learning about one’s self – the true self, the inner person, the soul.

Knowing Ourselves

“Without knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God.”

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol.1

As we commit ourselves to the journey within, we come to discover our place in the cosmos, and the image of God that is inherent in us. We come to know ourselves as integral to creation.

If we never gain this sense of humanity and of the divine, then we lose our special perspective on reality, and of the vital interconnectedness we have with God and others. Separateness then replaces the unity and oneness which exists. As a result, the person lives without a sense of their true place or function in this world.

Feelings of isolation and estrangement take over. This profound experience of disconnection with God, people, and even self creates a powerful sense of anxiety. Fear becomes a dominant theme. Unconscious emotions and desires drive the anxious person. A belief that my conscious self is all there is to me is a path of denial that leads to abject misery.

Knowing ourselves – before we know anything else – must be our pursuit. Failure to do this is perhaps why we live in such an era of worry, pessimism, and fear.

Addressing Our Fears

Have you ever felt that there is no one to whom you could turn to in your time of loneliness and despair?

Is there a time when you felt as if you were in a deep dark hole of quiet anxiety?

Did you ever brood over your situation in life so much that all of your courage melted like ice cream on a 100 degree day?

Was there a season in your life where you felt the world could not understand your grief?

Has God ever felt aloof to you, with your prayers seeming as if they were bouncing off the ceiling?

Depending upon who we are, the self believes that if I am right enough, help enough, achieve enough, unique enough, know enough, plan enough, party enough, lead enough, or withdraw enough, then I will relieve this bothersome anxiety and fear within me and can get on with life.

Others may seek solace in the finite things of this world. But that approach only exacerbates the existing problem. Believing that freedom from an ethereal illness can come by having more of something you can see only increases the despairing feelings.

Any sickness of the soul must be addressed by means of infinite resources.

The Need For Integration

If we lose ourselves, we are fragmented and in need of integration. The work needed is to bring our spiritual internal parts into a unified whole. This then puts us in a position to experience the grace and peace of God. Indeed, the process itself becomes the divine mercy and settled rest.

We tend to hold onto what we are afraid of experiencing. This very problem often becomes the solution. Our anxiety has the potential to lead us toward the grace of God, or away from it by self-conjured solutions and/or coping mechanisms.

Rather than holding our anxieties and fears close so that we can keep an eye on them, we need to let go of them. This is accomplished by actually feeling our feelings. By holding our emotions loosely, they can express themselves and then fly away.

If we never experience anxiety, worry, discouragement, fear, depression, or despair, then we internally see no reason whatsoever to pursue transformation of life – to go after that which is immortal and invisible.

The Apostle Paul’s Struggle

At the end of a frustrating litany of anxiety over his inability to control the trajectory of his inner self, the Apostle Paul concluded:

So I find it to be a law that, when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched person that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:21-25, NRSV)

Sin presupposes itself through anxiety. And anxiety awakens the awareness of needing freedom and deliverance. Worry is not our master. Anxiety has no authority over us. Fear merely exists for us to pay attention to something.

In Christianity, that something is a someone: Jesus. Christ is the Deliverer from sin, death, and hell. The oblivious and lonely darkness we find ourselves trapped within has a way out, or rather, up. A divine hand reaches from above to snatch us from our inky hole.

If humanity never had a need of God, people would not know themselves. They would fail to realize that there is immortality in their very souls.

Taking the Journey Within

It takes bravery to engage in a journey within, down into the core of one’s being. It’s neither a vacation nor a weekend adventure. The path unfolds slowly over time; it is circuitous, and often frustrating. Yet, when we find the incredibly bright blue diamond at the center, we immediately know every part of the journey was worth it.

The illness of our era is that we are soul-sick with anxiety, even despair, and most of us don’t know it. But why?

Like a cancer lurking unaware within the body, the years of ego construction has smothered the image and likeness of God within.

Anxiety becomes the initial symptom that something is askew with us. We’d better get checked out and find what the root problem is.

Are you up for the discovery of yourself, and thus, of God?

I Want To Know Christ (Philippians 3:7-11)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
Jesus Christ and the Apostles, by Nikolas Martínez Ortiz de Zarate (1907-1990)

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (New International Version)

Whenever someone asks me what my favorite portion of Holy Scripture is, I reflexively turn to these verses in our New Testament lesson for today.

I resonate with these words from the Apostle Paul to the Church at Philippi, because they match what I truly believe, and how I really feel about Jesus.

We go through a lot of loss in this earthly life. We experience hardship and adversity. We grieve and lament.

Some of the losses in this life, we are okay with, or at least, we come around to being okay with them after a bit of time. Yet, there are other losses that are heartrending.

On the flipside, there are many gains we experience in this life. Some of them we worked very hard for, and others came to us as gifts.

Oftentimes, our gains and our losses are inextricably bound with each other. Something we consider precious is lost. We may even choose to set aside or give up something we have – we allow it become lost – so that we can gain something even better.

At other times, the process of gaining, losing, then gaining something good was not purposed by us, but by God.

And, to me, that’s probably the best sort of good there is.

Another way of putting the matter is: We must let go and accept how something or someone is, before we can experience what a truly good life really is.

Jesus, by Ghanshyam Gupta

Allow me, or please indulge me, as I frame the Apostle’s words in my own sort of language:

Anything in this life that I have achieved; anything I have come to possess; any sort of position or title I hold or have held; any kind of identification I have, or prestige  I have gained, is of no value. In reality, it’s all rather worthless.

If you will let me take it even further, compared to having an authentic, real, and experiential relationship with Jesus as my Savior, my Lord, and my Friend, everything else is like a bunch of garbage. That’s how much I value Jesus. There’s no other thing, no other relationship, that comes remotely close to knowing Christ.

It isn’t so much that I found Jesus, but that he found me. So, I have a faith that’s got nothing to do with keeping up appearances or rule-keeping, or keeping ahold of anything. I have the life that is truly life.

But, oh my, there is so much more to experience and to know with Jesus! I want to experientially know the power of Christ’s mighty resurrection. I  want to be like him, and participate with him, as if Jesus were living his life through me.

And, I must tell you, I know that this sort of life means suffering. But I also know that this suffering puts me in solidarity with my Lord – which is exactly where I want to be.

I only want to live up to who I’m supposed to be in Christ, to be my true self, and not some faux Christian living according to mere rules and regulations. The only thing that counts to me is faith expressing itself through love.

I understand that I took a lot of liberties with the text, and elaborated on it in order to make it my own. But, truth be told, we all need to find ways to make scripture as our own.

We all must let go of some old ways and unlearn a lot of things, in order to discover new life and be united with Christ. Everyone needs to learn from the past, so that we can live a new life here in the present.

If you don’t like my words, that’s fine. You aren’t under any obligation to read them. Yet, I do believe we have an obligation to Holy Scripture, and specifically, to ingest it as if it were the best meal you’ve ever eaten.

Indeed, we end up experiencing a lot of losses in this life. Yet, with Jesus, we will never lose him, because he will never forsake us. Christ is our eternal gain. He’s alive, always living, so that we need never be concerned about him not existing anymore.

That’s my faith. That’s what I trust in, or rather whom I put my faith in, and my trust upon. It’s all about Jesus. Anything less will not stand the test of time, nor of satisfaction in life.

What will you do with Jesus?

Christ isn’t going to strongarm you into the kingdom of God. But he will doggedly go after you, and be a pester pup in your ears and an ever-present sense in your heart.

You might as well go ahead and consider him, or perhaps reconsider him, like you’ve never done before.

After all, you’ve really got nothing to lose.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end. – The Nicene Creed, on Jesus Christ

Waiting with Hope (Romans 8:22-25)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Art depicting cracked earth, a dry riverbed, white plastic shapes, a lack of life and the red glow of fire. The figures are separated, lacking any real connection. By artist Chris De Hoog

For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering.

We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) (New Living Translation)

Salvation is not only personal; it’s also cosmic.

That is, freedom from the power of sin, death, and hell is not only for an individual person, but this deliverance is for all of creation, for the entire earth.

So then, all of creation – not just people – long for and groan for the advent of Christ. My oak tree in the backyard longs for it. My dog whines for it. When it rains, the sky is wondering how long it will have to keep up its tears.

Together with the entire cosmos, we look forward to the complete fulfillment of our inheritance as God’s creation, as God’s creatures.

Since that is true, it is Christians who need to see the privilege and responsibility of conducting ourselves with unity, harmony, and non-violence. We are to live this way because we are foreshadowing the end of the world’s story.

There is a day coming when there will be no more malevolent and selfish posturing for power and control. No more oppression and victimization. No more injustice.

And we have the chance to begin living that way now, and not only in a future time. We get to do this because of Christ.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t suffer anymore. Presently, along with all creation, we have pain like that of a woman in childbirth. This is no papercut inconvenient pain; this is “I hurt like hell” pain. That sort of pain has us awaiting the redemption of our bodies.

I work as a hospital chaplain. Every day, I see suffering, some of it unimaginable. I listen to stories of people longing for healing, and grasping at hope. And I hear plenty of groaning (both the actual physical groans, as well as the more quiet internal sighs and groans).

I say to you: The human body is not meant to be destroyed. Our physical selves are not destined for elimination. No, our bodies are meant to be redeemed; they are meant for salvation. It will not always be this way!

So, we hope.

The Christian has the confident expectation that not only is the soul redeemed, but the body, as well. We can enjoy spiritual salvation now. But we must wait for the physical deliverance. There must be patience on our part until Resurrection Day.

The Apostle Paul was calling on believers to hope. Five times he said it in only two verses. Paul was emphasizing the need for spiritual endurance because we have not yet arrived.

In case you haven’t noticed, we aren’t in heaven; this isn’t a renewed earth; people around the globe are not all presently singing kumbaya together.

Therefore, it is imperative that we live with the tension between the “now” and the “not yet.” It’s a weird existence, this Christian life. But, in reality, we exist in the paradox of being saved now, and not yet being saved.

Another way of putting this is that God’s adopted children have not yet received their inheritance.

But that doesn’t mean we’ve been left to ourselves. We have the first fruits of our salvation: the Holy Spirit.

We presently, right now, enjoy a real and significant portion of God’s freedom and deliverance. We have God’s gift of presence. There is the continuing presence of Jesus Christ with us, the blessed Holy Spirit.

And this divine presence is what today helps us to endure and hold onto hope. By holding this future hope, we learn to accept, cope, and transcend our circumstances through love.

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Romans 5:1-5, NLT)

The very suffering which we so often try to avoid and get out of, becomes the means of connecting us with Christ and with others.

The problem becomes the answer.

The Spirit groans with our own spirit, and we all become connected together.

I point out, however, that not everyone wants this sort of connection. There are many people who want nothing to do with solidarity.

Some folks want to remain in their own little huddle or small world; and they take offense at anyone outside of their group who seeks to understand and connect with that group’s suffering.

Although everyone’s pain and suffering is unique – and no one can fully know another’s sorrow – that does not mean solidarity and connection are impossible, or undesirable.

I don’t need to have cancer in order to connect with a cancer patient. I don’t have to become victimized to show genuine empathy and extend competent comfort. Yet, sadly, some persons only want connection and consolation from a certain person or group.

But I say to that: Who are you to tell God whom God can love you through?

To suffer is one thing, because we all must suffer in some way. But to compound your suffering by your own volition is another thing altogether.

You deserve better than harming yourself through cutting off help.

It could be that today is the day you reach out to that person you know will be there for you. Or, perhaps now is the time to quite putting off making space for prayer and reflection.

Whatever it is that you need to do, it’s okay to do it, without putting it off until tomorrow.

Lord Jesus Christ, by your patience in suffering you hallowed earthly pain and gave us the example of obedience to your Father’s will: Be near me in my time of weakness and pain; and sustain me by your grace, so that my strength and courage may not fail. Heal me according to you will; and help me always to believe that whatever happens to me here is of little account if you hold me in eternal life. Amen.