SING! How Worship Transforms Your Life, Family, Church (review)

 A book that makes you want to sing praises to God can’t be bad. I’m sure I interrupted my reading a few times to burst into song! Sound lyrics attached to suitable and complementary music can settle on a Christian's heartstrings like rows of nightingales on telephone wires. Keith and Kristyn Getty hit all the right notes. Their lyrics are Biblical, and their tunes are apt.

As hearing the gospel in your native tongue speaks to your head and then your heart so does hearing your own (Scottish/Irish) culture’s music. It was upon hearing Celtic strains in some of their songs that the Getty’s songs first struck a chord with me. Yes, I am eclectic enough to appreciate all good church music wherever it’s from, but the Getty stuff has me singing to the Lord with gusto.

Solid lyrics with good tunes are extremely important. For good tunes with unsound words can wreak untold damage to churches and to the whole of Christendom. Arius, a fourth century heretic knew this all too well. He cast his poisoned bread upon many waters. “Arius… composed several songs to be sung by sailors … and by travellers along the high road … which he adapted to certain tunes, as he thought suitable in each separate case, and thus he seduced the minds of the unlearned by the attractiveness of his songs to the adoption of his own impiety.” Philostorgius, Epitome, (Bk. 2 Ch. 2). Christians carry home with them much more than sermon points. What they sing in worship also lodges in their hearts. The Gettys (‘scuse the pun) get this.

Whether you’re an exclusive-psalmodist who doesn’t believe in any  musical accompaniment or whether you’re all electric guitars and drums, this book will help give you a handle on what’s happening with church music in Christendom beyond your own wee corner of God’s vineyard. The Getty’s have made a worthy contribution.

One of the surprises for me was when I read the following: “To write songs for the church is a beautiful, fun (sometimes), and laudable activity. But most songs that are written (in the case of songs we have written, at least 95 percent) never should be heard. We estimate that Keith has written or recorded five hundred to a thousand tunes per year for the last seventeen years, in order to come up with what is a relatively small handful of songs that we’re pleased with and known for. Kristyn has countless journals and Word files and scrap pieces of paper with lyrics that never made the cut.” pgs. 135-6.        

THEOLOGY IN THREE DIMENSIONS (Review)

One would expect to see God’s fingerprints and footprints all over His handiwork. By giving us, if you will, a God’s-eye view of things, John Frame, by his “Triperspectivalism”, shows us how creation reflects the triune God. Each member of the trinity of perspectives is looking inward from each one of the three points of an equilateral triangle: Situational Perspective, Normative Perspective, Existential Perspective. As per the equal ultimacy of the One and the Many, each perspective is equal to the others. No perspective lords it over the others. Thus, Triperspectivalism.

The book provides a helpful glossary at the end of each chapter. “Situational Perspective. A perspective of knowledge in which we focus on the objects in the world. Normative Perspective. A perspective of knowledge in which we focus on the world as a revelation of God’s will. Existential Perspective. A perspective of human knowledge, focusing on our internal experience in close proximity to God’s presence.” Thus, Triperspectivalism focuses on objects in the world, while understanding the world as a revelation of the will of God, while internally experiencing a God’s-eye view, processes this knowledge in God’s presence.

The equilateral triangle contains the objects, from the whole of which, God’s will can be seen by focusing on our experience under God’s watchful eye. The word “theology” in the book’s title, “Theology in Three Dimensions” lets us know that we are studying God and His creation in light of Scripture.

I hope I have not anywhere misconstrued any of Dr Frame’s teachings in this brief review of his book. I have merely tried to summarize them. Forgive me if I’ve misunderstood or mistakenly misstated anything. Our God is most gracious and He is triune. Theology in Three Dimensions has helped greatly to deepen my knowledge of Him, His creation, and me.     

ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA (Review)

It was good to read about the man and the mission in its historical context. 

This book very much helps us see how we arrived at the Christology we uphold today. Athanasius of Alexandria did the Lord’s Church a great service by taking his stand against the teachings of Arius. In today’s terms, it’s the difference between the Biblical Christ and that of those who deny His eternal deity. 

Barnes allows us to see our champion’s flaws which, thankfully, were far outweighed by his tenacity. Who would have thought that one letter in the Greek alphabet could have caused so much pain and suffering? Yes, there was a lot more to it than that. Barnes in this well researched and brief study keeps Church history interesting.  

UNDERSTANDING

                                                                    Understanding

One of the things that Christians have trouble understanding is Christ’s kingdom. Are the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven synonymous? And are they the same as Christ’s kingdom? ‘Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world”’ (John 18:36). Is His kingdom on earth or is it somewhere else? It can be confusing for some. Jesus’ disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables. ‘He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables’ (Mark 4:11). So, to understand Christ’s kingdom, one must understand the kingdom parables. This means that there are two kinds of people: Those with understanding and those without, i.e., ‘those on the outside.’ Scary! Who does not want to be in Christ’s kingdom?

Our understanding is deepening already. Those already in the kingdom are given understanding of the parables. The others remain outside. His disciples understood. This means that Christ’s kingdom already was on earth. The others just heard stories about mustard seeds, leaven, lost things, talents, a pearl, hidden treasure, workers in a vineyard, sheep and goats and a whole lot more. They see only the road and miss seeing the rail track that runs parallel to it. They see only a closed clam and not the precious pearl within. Like the whole Bible, the parable (and therefore the kingdom) remains closed to them, unless as was the case with Nicodemus, the Lord opens their eyes to see it and enter in (John 3).

Now, here’s where it gets subtle in our own day. Christians do not have to physically die to enter the kingdom of heaven. We are already in it! And like leaven, we are to be involved in spreading its influence throughout the whole earth. We do this by first understanding and then spreading the Gospel. Planted on earth, the kingdom like a mustard seed becomes a large tree in volume. We invest and multiply our talents through Gospel obedience. We work in His vineyard treading the grapes of Gospel vintage. We dig in His fields and uncover His hidden treasure. Sadly, this all sounds like so much nonsense to those still outside the kingdom, those whose understanding remains darkened. Again, Jesus to His disciples: ‘And He answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand”’ (Matt. 13:11-13). The old adage applies here, ‘There are none so blind as those who will not see.’ That’s derived from this warning, ‘“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not. Do you not fear Me? declares the Lord. Do you not tremble before Me?”’ (Jer. 5:21-22a; cf. Mark 8:18).

The secret of the kingdom? The kingdom parables teach spiritual truths by using earthly analogies. However, ‘The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit’ (1 Cor. 2:14). Spiritual does not mean other worldly. Jesus says, ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth’ (Matt. 5:5). We’re to pray, ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt. 6:10). Understand His kingdom includes His Earth (Ps, 2:8).