Stay Tuned

By Brian Anderson -
brian@christianbluegrassassociation.com
Stay Tuned (#2, February 2009)

Who Is The God Of The Bible?

Recently, I have been teaching through a series at our church entitled, "Who Is The God Of The Bible?" What I have come to realize is that many professing Christians do not believe in the God who has revealed Himself in the Bible. Rather, they have created a god from their own mind and they worship that God. Although they would never admit it, the god that they believe in is an all loving God, who exists to serve us and make us happy.

Now, admittedly, it is a lot easier to create your own god and worship that, than to come face to face with the true and living God and worship Him! The reason is quite simple - the God of the Bible is not tame. He cannot be confined to a safe place that we make for Him. He does things that we don't understand and don't make sense to us.

Would you like some examples? He hardened Pharoah's heart so that he would not let the people of Israel go. Then God brought judgment upon Pharoah and all his army by causing the Red Sea to crash in upon them and drown them (Ex.14:8). Why? To demonstrate God's power in Pharoah, so that God's name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth (Rom.9:17). When the children of Israel were coming into the land of promise, none of the cities they entered made peace with them. Why? The Scripture says "it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses" (Josh.11:19-20). In Romans 9 we learn that God loved Jacob and hated Esau before either one was born or had done anything good or bad. This was so God's purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls (Rom. 9:11-13).

You see, we can't put God in a box, domesticate Him, or stop Him from doing what He has decided to do. The reason we have such a difficult time accepting the God of the Bible is because we are the center of our own universe. And the truth is, that God does not see us as the center of the universe. He sees Himself as the center. In fact, God ultimately does everything for His own glory.

The reason God won't forsake His people is for His name's sake (1Sam.12:19-22). The reason God divided the waters of the Red Sea and led His people through them was to make for Himself an everlasting name (Is. 63:11-12). The reason God took from among the Gentiles a people and brought them into the church was for His name (Acts 15:14). The reason God gave grace and apostleship to some was to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake (Rom. 1:5). The reason God causes His grace to spread to more and more people is so that the giving of thanks would abound to the glory of God (2Cor.4:15). The reason God chose, predestined, redeemed, and sealed His people was "to the praise of His glory" (Eph.1:3-14). The reason God created all things was for His pleasure (Rev.4:11). The reason He forgave our sins was for His name's sake (1Jn.2:12).

This is the God of the Bible - the infinitely glorious Being who does all for His own glory. Now for us to worship any other god than the God of the Bible is idolatry. And for God to do the things He does for any lesser motive than to glorify Himself would be idolatry. God would be worshipping the creature rather than honoring and glorifying Himself.

What is the only proper response to this true and living God? Completely surrender to His lordship, worship Him, and live the rest of your life and eternity for His glory. Anything less is an insult to His greatness and belittles His supreme value! Unconditionally surrendering to God is not easy, because He is not always predictable, nor is He tame. But it is the only rational response to who He is and what He has done (Rom.12:1-2).

Let's determine we will not commit idolatry by creating a god of our imagination and worshipping it, but rather search the Scriptures to see who the true and living God is, and worship Him!

Honoring God With Our Music
“Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” (1Jn.5:21)

For this first Stay Tuned article, I thought I would discuss how we can honor God with our music.  This is and always has been a real concern of mine.  By nature I am a driven individual, and, left to myself, tend to become too preoccupied with my music, to the point of neglecting the Lord.  I began playing the banjo in 1977.  I soon began playing 3 hours or more a day, and sometimes 8 hours a day on weekends.  After a couple of years, I joined a full-time gospel bluegrass band, Gloryland.  During my one year stint with Gloryland, we played in churches and festivals throughout California, as well as throughout the western United States.  Fortunately for me, God was working in my life during that period of time, so that when I left the band and settled in Fresno, I decided to give myself wholeheartedly to serving the Lord and growing spiritually.  For me, this meant I had to make a decision. In my honest soul-searching before God, I had to admit that in some ways I had allowed my music to become an idol in my life.  It had often occupied the place in my priorities and heart that should have been reserved for Jesus Christ alone.  Thus, in order to serve God with my whole heart I decided I needed to set my music aside.  So, for about 20 years I rarely, if ever, played my banjo.  It sat in its case under the bed.  Instead of occupying my time with music, I devoted my time to my family and serving in my church. 

It has only been in the last 7 years, that I have felt the freedom to begin playing the banjo again.  However, I need to be very careful that my music doesn’t usurp Christ’s rightful place in my life. If I’m not careful, I can easily allow my music to take the dominant place in my thoughts and hearts – the place which Christ alone should have!  I suspect what is true about me is probably also true about you.

The very first of the 10 Commandments is, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex.20:3).  Our God is that which we serve and worship, the master-passion of our lives.  What is your master passion?  If Jesus Christ is not your master passion, then you have embraced another god above the true and living God of Scripture.

The apostle Paul describes the heathen as those that “worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom.1:25).  If our music is more important to us than our service to Christ, we are worshipping the gift over the Giver of the gift.  This is no light matter, but one we need to consider very carefully.  

Well then, how can we honor God with our music?  Here are three suggestions for you to prayerfully consider.

Realize that the ability to make music is a gift from God.  Therefore we should regularly thank and praise God for granting us this ability.  The next time you get out your mandolin, fiddle, banjo, dobro, guitar, or bass, take a few minutes to thank God for the gift of music.

Make a commitment that you will not allow your music to take priority over your service to Jesus Christ.  If you are practicing on your instrument regularly, but are not making time to read the Scriptures and pray, your priorities are out of balance.  If you can make time to be at jam sessions and bluegrass festivals, but can’t make time to be involved regularly in a local church, something is wrong.

Seek to use your music as a way to serve Christ and proclaim the good news of the gospel. I regularly play my banjo out in public. When a curious bystander comes close to listen, I’ll give them a smile and a gospel tract to read. Would it be possible for you to find other like-minded Christian bluegrass musicians, and form a band which could minister the gospel?  You could go to public parks, convalescent hospitals, and shopping centers. One of the benefits of bluegrass music is that it is possible to play without the use of a sound system, allowing you to be far more mobile than bands with electric instruments. You could sing Christ-exalting songs, speak a word for Him between songs, and distribute gospel literature to those that stopped to hear you. 

Well, hopefully that will give you something to think and pray over.  Truly, if Christ is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.  He is worthy of all of our worship, service, and labor.  Let’s dedicate our musical ability, our time, our energy, and our lives as a sacrifice of praise to Him!