Hymns4Him

John Piper first became well-known as a result of his 1990 book, “The Supremacy of God in Preaching.”  At the very beginning, he wrote the memorable statement that every sermon should be about God.  That seems so obvious, but when one listens to much preaching today, from both liberal and conservative pulpits, it is very disappointing to discover how seldom that is the case.   Sermons are too often about us: how we feel, how we should act, how our lives can be improved, how to do a better job raising our kids, or managing our finances, or overcoming anxiety.  It’s as if the pulpit has been turned into a psychologist’s counseling couch for a group therapy session!  The gospel of what God has done for us in Christ has been exchanged for a false gospel of what should do to make the world a better place.

What we often refer to as the sovereignty of God is what Piper meant by the supremacy of God.  And this perspective transfers inevitably from preaching into living, as our sermons ought to be helping us live more continually and consistently with a God-focused world and life view.  The more we hear about the greatness of God in the sermons that feed our souls, the more we will instinctively think about everything happening around us and within us with the realization that He is at the center of everything.  How desperately we need that reminder when the world, the flesh, and the devil keep trying to override that thought.

The theology of John Piper is nothing new or novel.  This God-centeredness fills the pages of Scripture as well as the annals of history, from King David to the Apostle Paul to St. Augustine to John Calvin to Charles Spurgeon.  We hear it and read it today in the publications of Al Mohler and R. C. Sproul and James Montgomery Boice and Sinclair Ferguson and Steven Nichols.  And in recent music we hear it from the writers associated with Getty Music and Sovereign Grace Music.

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Everyone knows about the work of William Shakespeare (1564-1616).  And everyone knows about the King James Bible (1611).  And everyone knows about John Milton (1608-1674) and “Paradise Lost.” But not everyone knows about the poetry of George Herbert (1593-1633).   All four were contemporaneous in the early seventeenth century, what some would regard as the glory age of the highest peak of the English language.  One example of the fine literary production of that period is verses from Herbert which are often sung as the hymn “Let All the World in Every Corner Sing.”

George Herbert was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England, about a century after the Protestant Reformation made its way to England.  His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognized as “one of the foremost British devotional lyricists.” He was born in Wales into an artistic and wealthy family and largely raised in England. He received a good education that led to his admission to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1609.  He went there with the intention of becoming a priest, but he became the University’s Public Orator and attracted the attention of King James I.  He sat in England’s Parliament in 1624 and briefly in 1625. King James I (1566-1625), who initiated the translation of the Bible popularly known as the “King James Version,” respected Herbert and considered appointing him an ambassador. The King died before these hopes were fulfilled, so Herbert pursued his original career plans.

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Note: This is a replacement for the previously issued and updated #71 – ed.

The blood of Jesus is precious to those who belong to Jesus.  It was His blood that redeemed us as it was shed for us on the cross.  It is the blood of the Lamb of God that we remember every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  It is the blood that was the price paid to ransom us from slavery to sin and to an eternity in hell, and has given us instead the forgiveness of all of our sins and the assurance of everlasting joy in the courts of heaven in the presence of our God and all his angels and saints.

There have been those who would argue for a Christianity without that blood.  But without the blood, there is no Christianity.  Had Jesus’ blood not been shed, we would be left with a religion just as useless as all the religions in history.  We would have a Jesus whose life was lived as a model for good, ethical living that we have to imitate as an example for our working our way to heaven.  There is no gospel in that, since our sins have rendered us spiritually dead and unable to follow even the most perfect example.  No, the blood of Jesus is absolutely essential to biblical Christianity, and to our eternal life.

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When the revision of the “Trinity Hymnal” (the official hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, published in 1990) was being developed, the committee wanted to include as broad a spectrum of theological topics as possible to be able to be sung in worship of evangelical Presbyterian churches.  They realized that one of the topics for which few hymns were available was that of infant (“covenant”) baptism.  They found a couple of possibilities, but thought it would be good to add to that with a fresh composition.

They commissioned Edmund P. Clowney to write a new hymn to be included in that section on the sacraments.  He was well-known to members of the revision committee from his ministry, including his seminary teaching and presidency, his authorship of books and articles, and some poetry as well.  His wife, Jean, was a member of the hymnal revision committee, and agreed to pass along the request for this, as well as a couple of other “commissions.”  The committee was delighted with his text for use on occasions when an infant was being baptized, “In Your Arms, Lord Jesus Christ,” and it is number 419 in the revised “Trinity Hymnal.”

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The Bible contains many descriptive images of the church.  In many people’s minds, the church today is not something that engenders admiration, much less a positive influence.  If not ridiculed for hypocrisy and pride, it is at least ignored by too many, or so it seems, by those on the outside.  But for those who understand her true identity, she is admired and loved for the beauty accorded her by the Lord.  After all, it is to Jesus that we should look for her true identity and character, not to those whom He has called to Himself and is in the process of sanctifying.

Among those images of the church in the Bible are such marvelous pictures of the church as Jesus’ sheep (the flock of His pasture over which He is the Good Shepherd), His Body (of which He is the Head), a temple (in which He is the chief cornerstone), and perhaps most beautiful of all, the church as his bride (for whom He is the Groom).  Some have identified as many as 100 images of the church in Scripture.  Many of these are found in the hymnody of the church, so that in singing of her, believers are acknowledging and celebrating her spiritual DNA. Several of these images are drawn together most lyrically in the hymn, “We Are God’s People,” written in 1976 by Bryan Jeffery Leech (1931-2015).

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One place where all true believers should be able to come together is at the Lord’s Table.  This can bridge the gap between denominations and ethnicities and social standing, as long as the pure gospel is honored and those who participate in worship in the observance of this sacrament (or ordinance, as some prefer to call it) are true saints (in the biblical sense) who have been “born from above” (John 3:3).  One of the things Jesus prayed for in John 17 in His “High Priestly Prayer” (that is the REAL Lord’s Prayer!), was that we might all be one, even as He and the Father are one.  The Lord’s Table is a holy place where that prayer, in part, can be seen to be answered.

There have been occasions in which this becomes a visible reality, as in conferences or on mission fields.  For some evangelical denominations, their annual national meeting, with representatives from churches across the country, often opens or closes with communion at the table.  At the triennial InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Urbana Conference between Christmas and New Years, as many as 18,000 college and university students have shared their love for the Lord and their commitment to Gospel missions by celebrating the Lord’s Supper together before going home.  And it’s not unusual in foreign lands for gospel-believing missionaries from multiple sending agencies to join together with nationals for combined worship that includes sharing the bread and wine. 

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Originally published as #71, this study has been revised and republished as #169. -ed

“God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions.”  So reads the answer to question number 11 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  What a wonderful truth this is!  It is what we find throughout Scripture and throughout history, and even our own lives. How many examples can we recall where we may not have seen it at the time, but now that we are looking back on events we can recognize that God was at work, controlling what was happening and all according to His perfect and complete plan?  In retrospect, we can see His fingerprints in what has occurred. That reassures us that whatever may be happing in our lives and in our world at any moment, it is all working out exactly according to plan … according to His plan, Him who “works all things according to the design of His will” (Ephesians 1:11).

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What greater theme can there be in our hymnody than the greatness of God?  That is the central truth in this hymn by the British hymn-writer Timothy Dudley-Smith, a retired evangelical bishop of the Church of England.  Author of more than 400 hymns, he was born in 1926 in Manchester.   He studied math and theology at Pembroke College, Cambridge.  After graduating in 1947, he began his ordination trained at Ridley Hall, Cambridge and was then ordained a deacon in 1950 and a priest in 1951.  That theological college was named after Nicholas Ridley, the sixteenth century bishop martyred during the reign of “Bloody Mary,” it is an evangelical training school for Anglican clergy.

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One of the lingering practices of the revivals and crusade meetings in recent centuries (like those of Charles G. Finney, Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and others) was the invitation hymn at the end of the service.  Best known among those, perhaps, was “Just As I Am,” sung at the conclusion of every one of Billy Graham’s crusades across the world.  In many churches with a revivalistic heritage it is expected that every service will conclude with an evangelistic invitation, and a hymn as people are encouraged to come forward to signify their decision to receive Christ as Savior.

While every true church is committed to evangelism and to inviting unbelievers to respond to the gospel, not every church is comfortable with this particular practice.  That is especially so when the words spoken by the pastor give the impression that the act of coming forward is proof that the person has been born again.  That is evident in the way in many such situations the person who has come forward is baptized on the spot and is immediately enrolled as a member of the church.  But rather than telling them that they are now saved (“and don’t ever doubt it!”), those churches in a Reformed tradition will prefer to describe such a person as “a hopeful convert,” needing time to see if they have truly understood the gospel and are showing evidence of growing in that conviction and the new lifestyle of the redeemed as they are discipled.

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One of the ways a Christian’s funeral service can testify to the promise of the gospel is through the hymns that are selected for congregational singing.  If we choose to do so, every one of us has the ability to testify to our faith in the Lord by meeting with our pastor and family members to plan our funeral service ahead of time.  That would include not only the location and leadership, and the scriptures to be read and persons to speak and the theme of the message, but also the hymns to be sung.  The best choices will not merely be songs that have been our favorites, but songs that best communicate the faith that has sustained us on our journey toward glory, hymns that are valuable, not because of their sentimental value, but because of the glorious truths we want everyone to remember, and especially that communicate the gospel that unbelievers need to hear.

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