"Behold these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence." (Psalm 73:12, 13)
Hence, the temptation is to turn to "crossover faith." Or, "This isn't working for me. Maybe I should not be so narrow-minded, so intransigent. Look at how_____ is doing. Maybe I need to take a second look at what I believe and how I live." The psalmist later, however, came to his senses and rejected such a notion, "I was so foolish....Nevertheless, I am continually You; You hold me by my right hand."
I wrote the other day about crossover music and the whole "crossover" culture. "Crossover" is defined as "The dilution of a music's distinctive qualities to accommodate to mass tastes." The "distinctive qualities" of What and Whom you and I are a part of is Jesus Christ Himself. He separates Truth from Fiction; crossover theology cannot do this. It is what Galatians 2:16 calls, "the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ...." Nothing could be more clear, and less "crossover." The whole issue is, regardless of my critic of 45 years ago, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." Crossover music in church gatherings and crossover living is just an attempt to win the lost by keeping the Name of Jesus in the "assumed" category. According to the Bible, the Holy Spirit does not work that way.
Crossover religion is sort of like Lot's. He negotiated with the Lord about to where he should flee. God said, "Escape for your life!...Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed." Lot replied, in typical "crossover" fashion, "No, wait; 'Please let me escape there'; after all, '(is it not a little [city]?)....'" Yet after Lot saw the mighty judgment of God upon Sodom, "Then Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountains...." I guess he realized that crossover living is not very safe after all, that his security place was not as reliable as God's.
The temptation to negotiate with the Lord Jesus a "crossover" life style is ever before us. Some of the temptations come in oh-so-nice fashion, look so much like the "real thing." Yet as is crossover music, is a crossover religion, "the dilution of [The Faith's] distinctive qualities to accommodate to mass tastes." No one in the world who observes such living in you and me is quite sure who we are and what we believe. When our worship honors Father by honoring Jesus, singing His praise, glorifying Father by Jesus' Name, when our life and life style is solely fixed on and in Jesus Christ, there is no confusion to "visitors" in our church gatherings, to neighbors, and to fellow workers as to who we are.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I reject "crossover." Amen.
Hence, the temptation is to turn to "crossover faith." Or, "This isn't working for me. Maybe I should not be so narrow-minded, so intransigent. Look at how_____ is doing. Maybe I need to take a second look at what I believe and how I live." The psalmist later, however, came to his senses and rejected such a notion, "I was so foolish....Nevertheless, I am continually You; You hold me by my right hand."
I wrote the other day about crossover music and the whole "crossover" culture. "Crossover" is defined as "The dilution of a music's distinctive qualities to accommodate to mass tastes." The "distinctive qualities" of What and Whom you and I are a part of is Jesus Christ Himself. He separates Truth from Fiction; crossover theology cannot do this. It is what Galatians 2:16 calls, "the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ...." Nothing could be more clear, and less "crossover." The whole issue is, regardless of my critic of 45 years ago, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." Crossover music in church gatherings and crossover living is just an attempt to win the lost by keeping the Name of Jesus in the "assumed" category. According to the Bible, the Holy Spirit does not work that way.
Crossover religion is sort of like Lot's. He negotiated with the Lord about to where he should flee. God said, "Escape for your life!...Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed." Lot replied, in typical "crossover" fashion, "No, wait; 'Please let me escape there'; after all, '(is it not a little [city]?)....'" Yet after Lot saw the mighty judgment of God upon Sodom, "Then Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountains...." I guess he realized that crossover living is not very safe after all, that his security place was not as reliable as God's.
The temptation to negotiate with the Lord Jesus a "crossover" life style is ever before us. Some of the temptations come in oh-so-nice fashion, look so much like the "real thing." Yet as is crossover music, is a crossover religion, "the dilution of [The Faith's] distinctive qualities to accommodate to mass tastes." No one in the world who observes such living in you and me is quite sure who we are and what we believe. When our worship honors Father by honoring Jesus, singing His praise, glorifying Father by Jesus' Name, when our life and life style is solely fixed on and in Jesus Christ, there is no confusion to "visitors" in our church gatherings, to neighbors, and to fellow workers as to who we are.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I reject "crossover." Amen.
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* Preaching in the Quest Church meeting this coming Sunday, July 21
* Please pray for our mission this Fall. We are now caring for Sarah's Mom and are seeking Jesus as to how to handle everything.
* Preaching in the Quest Church meeting this coming Sunday, July 21
* Please pray for our mission this Fall. We are now caring for Sarah's Mom and are seeking Jesus as to how to handle everything.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
