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NASB | John 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 12:32 "And I, if and when I am lifted up from the earth [on the cross], will draw all people to Myself [Gentiles, as well as Jews]." |
Bible Question:
God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. "Double posting" is just one device we use to try to get a point across. The only purpose of this second of a "double post" is to encourage us to listen to each other. This is obviously hard to do. Those who want to lift up the name of Jesus will not listen because something tells them that they should. Can't we listen to them? Psalm 34:3 allows them to lift him up that. Exalting him and praising him are the same thing. “Exalt ”equals “Lift up”. It is the same thing. "Exalt" is the same as "lift up". The idea is to talk or sing about how great God is. And please don’t say we do not need to do that. Many scriptures encourage us to do that. Our brothers and sisters want to do that and here they tell their reasons. Their main reason is they want unbelievers to hear how great God is and to be attracted to him. That idea is soundly scriptural. Can’t we listen to them? I suggest that we need to read the passages cited and just think a little bit. Swift to hear. Slow to speak. That is what we are encouraged to do. The idea of lifting up Jesus is a scriptural idea. But it is not the kind of lifting up that Jesus was speaking of in John 12:32. Can't we just admit that? Lift him up. But use other scriptures. To insist that the idea is in contained John 12:32 forces us to focus on the cross and to rejoice and feel shame at the same time. It impels others to talk about crucifying him again and bringing him to an open shame. It causes one to wonder whether conversations like this do not bring him to an open shame. What if an unbeliever comes on to read his thread? What are they to think? And yet, some tell me that our 7-11 songs are not lifting up Jesus at all. (I only learned recently that that is what they call some of our songs, where we sing seven words eleven times and there’s no substance to it). "Lord, I lift your name on high". Does that mean that we are lifting his name on high? If I say, "I am preaching the gospel" does that statement constitute a preaching of the gospel? Contrast that with the psalms. Psalm 34:3 "O magnify the LORD with me". That is the call, only the call, the alarum, the alert. "Let us exalt his name together". That is only another alert. It is a "Get ready". Psalm 34:4 "I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears". Now, that is substance. That is praise. Now, we are lifting him up. Psalm 34:5ff "They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them". That is praise. That is saying good things about him. And do you wonder why we need to do it? It is first of all to give him his due. He says (Psalm 50:23) "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me". He is pleased with it. Not with empty words that say, "I am lifting you up". Lift him up with words that tell of the character he has and the actual things he has done. If you read Psalm 103, Psalm 104, Psalm 136, you cannot help but see that there is substance there. We need to have more than "I am singing, I am singing". Psalm 34:8 "O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him". This is where we invite the unbeliever to listen. It is his invitation to trust. It is the second reason we lift him up. We lift him up in song. That means we sing about his great deeds, and how wonderful he is. We want our unsaved neighbors to know that. That is one reason we lift him up. Please listen to them and do not accuse them of bad things. But they need to listen also. If it has not been said before, I say this here: Put some substance into the songs. Don’t just say you are lifting him up. Lift him up. Talk of the things he has done. Describe how wonderful he is. But I wonder if you will listen. You used to sing, "O Lord my God, when I with awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made. I see the stars. I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, How Great Thou art! ..." But you have abandoned songs like that for songs that say you are praising God when that is all they say. This is not a put down. It is the truth. And I am suggesting here that you listen. I am not suggesting that you listen to me. I am suggesting that you listen to yourselves. And listen to each other. |
Bible Answer: PART 2 OF 3 These songs were written and sung by Charismatics as a better way to express Real Worship from the heart toward God instead of empty vain ritualistism. Charismatics or Pentacostals, (I refer to those that believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as a separate and additional work of Grace available to those that are Born Again) believe that we should not let what people think about us hinder us from doing biblical things to express our enthusiasm for the Lord such as Lifting hands toward heaven as an act of faith and surrender. Not that we have to but that we want to. And so their music is also heart felt and expressive. Charismatics or those that believe that the Gifts of the Spirit mentioned in Acts, I Corinthians, Romans etc.. are still available for the church today as they were active in the church then (charismatic is a shorter way of saying that) believe that a Christian should be lead along by the Holy Spirit in worship. In a church that believes in the Leading of the Spirit a common experience is that you will be worshipping the Lord, maybe your eyes are closed maybe not, you might feel like (have the desire) to just lift up your hands toward the Lord and tell Him how much you love Him, and then at another moment you will sense you should be quite and listen to the Lord, and the Lord will just drop a thought or remind you of a scripture that you need.. at that time you are feeling the desire to be quite, you may suddenly notice that the song leader just started singing the song slower and lower, much quieter and he may be repeating the same phrase over and over, but it is the perfect thing to do at the time. The song leader did not communicate with you but yet, because you are all allowing the Spirit to control the flow of the worship service it seems as if he felt the same desire to be quiet when you did. You cant help but just break out in a smile and think “wow, God you are awesome” and as you allow yourself to be moved by the Spirit you experience God in more than just intellectualism. Intellectualism is great. And I bank everything on the written word. A person who has not experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit or does not attempt to operate in the Gifts of the Spirit will not understand the emotional worship of a charismatic church. They will see the repetition of a phrase as fluff. But there is another reason they might think so. It is more likely that they have not been in a charismatic church where this type of song was originated and seen it being sung in the setting of a group of sincere believers that are expressing heart felt worship and being lead by the Spirit. (and no I am not talking about Benny Hinn). But more than likely those that take offense to the repetition of chorus music are hearing it in a mainline denomination who have tried to make their music more “upbeat” and “modern” to attract a “younger crowd” and so they have instituted “traditional worship times” and “contemporary worship times” The difference being the music they are playing (and I say playing because many of their congregation do not sing just stand there) is borrowed from the charismatic movement. But now since they do not believe that the Gifts of the Spirit are still in operation today they do not operate in the same faith in those gifts as the charismatic church so they sing the songs with a different heart and mind. They sing them as though they are just words to listen to and learn doctrine from. Well then they might be disappointed, and certainly bored at any repetition. Why be repetitious when the Spirit is not leading you to. Then you are just making the poor congregation suffer a test of endurance. And if 90 percent of the congregation is reading their bulletins or standing there looking bored, the song “as the deer panteth for the water so my heart longeth after you” just does not seem to fit. The worship leader might mean it but the rest of the people act like they don’t have a clue as to what he is talking about. The reason is that you have a Charismatic born song that works great in a congregation that are charismatic, being sung in a church that does not believe in the gifts of the Spirit and for what? So they can get the congregation to worship the Lord with new fervor? No so they can draw a younger crowd. It is cursed. It will never work because the motive is wrong. It is flesh. CONTINUED ON NEXT POST |