Old Truth, New Music

Since I'm somewhat the "worship leader" (whatever that means) at our early service (I tend to think of myself more as a "worship facilitator," - again, whatever that means), I have the responsibility of picking out what music we sing and use in the service. I'm always on the lookout for good, God-centered music that exalts Christ and not just how I feel about him. Unfortunately, this is usually a difficult task, considering the terrible state that most Christian music is in. I find most of the songs to be simple, uncreative, and full of me-centered lyrics that, most of the time, offer up unbiblical representations of God and our relationship with him (in fact, I refuse to listen to Christian radio, since I think most of it is useless, mindless blather).

But this past summer I was introduced to a song called "Jesus, Thank You" that completely blew me away (and my conception of what modern worship music had come to be). The lyrics for the song are as follows:

The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend
The agonies of Calvary
You the perfect holy One crushed Your Son
Who drank the bitter cup reserved for me

Your blood has washed away my sin
Jesus, thank You
The Father’s wrath completely satisfied
Jesus, thank You
Once Your enemy now seated at Your table
Jesus, thank You

By Your perfect sacrifice I’ve been brought near
Your enemy You’ve made Your friend
Pouring out the riches of Your glorious grace
Your mercy and Your kindness know no end

Lover of my soul, I want to live for You

The lyrics of this song are completely Christ-centered, and praise him for his sacrifice as it is presented in scripture: the substitutionary atonement of the unrighteous through the just wrath of the Father poured out on his sinless Son. You don't hear about this kind of stuff in most modern worship songs. In fact, most songs with content like this don't exist outside of hymnals.

I then learned that the song was written, performed, recorded, and produced by a group called Sovereign Grace Music, an offshoot of Sovereign Grace Ministries. Sovereign Grace describes themselves as "...a family of churches passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are devoted to planting and supporting local churches, with a strong doctrinal basis that is evangelical, Reformed, and continuationist." Are you kidding me? Where have these guys been all my life?

It turns out that Sovereign Grace Music is a conglomeration of worship leaders and musicians from Sovereign Grace churches, and they are dedicated to writing traditional (in content, not style - in other words, you get the same firm theology and doctrine of the hymns in a more modern musical style) and reformed worship music.

I decided to investigate further, and I found their most recent album, "Psalms" to be an absolutely incredible piece of inspiring and worshipful song writing. In fact, every new song that our band worked into its repertoire this past fall was from Sovereign Grace Music. I've heard from several of the band members, and several people from the congregation who have loved the songs, and even asked for copies of the lyrics they could have for themselves, and where they could get copies of the music. In other words, the band and the congregation has eaten up the rich theology contained in the songs, as well as the modern musical format in which they are delivered.

As I have begun working to plan the next several months and the songs we will use in the service, the Sovereign Grace songs are dominating my preferences (we add a new song into the mix approximately every two weeks). As I have gone deeper into the Sovereign Grace library, I have been continually blessed and excited about the songs and lyrics that they have produced, and I can't wait to introduce and incorporate them in our service. Here's one of the newer songs (at least, new to me!) that I particularly appreciate. It's called "Let Your Kingdom Come":

Your glorious cause, O God, engages our hearts
May Jesus Christ be known wherever we are
We ask not for ourselves, but for Your renown
The cross has saved us so we
Pray Your kingdom come

Let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done
So that everyone might know Your Name
Let Your song be heard everywhere on earth
Till Your sovereign work on earth is done
Let Your kingdom come

Give us Your strength, O God, and courage to speak
Perform Your wondrous deeds
Through those who are weak
Lord use us as You want, whatever the test
By grace we’ll preach Your gospel
Till our dying breath

I love this song! Even if it weren't set to music, the lyrics alone present such rich biblical concepts, such as God performing wondrous deeds and using weak people to do his work so that HIS strength and glory might be the focus, all for the purpose of making his name known on this earth. What an amazing concept.

To top it all of, Nap Records - the label that produces Sovereign Grace Music (which is also an offshoot of Sovereign Grace Ministries, by the way) - describes their purpose in worship music thusly:

"The marriage of truth and creativity is what Nap Records is all about. Some of the lyrics on our albums might sound a little old-fashioned — we’re okay with that. The truth we sing has been around for a few thousand years, but hopefully in our music you’ll find the style a little more current. We want to use new music to bend the ears of our listeners to the old truth. Our goal is to get you to sing in your car because you like the song, but keep singing because you love remembering the cross of Jesus Christ even more than the style."

I can't think of a more noble goal in worship music. Kudos to Sovereign Grace for their desire to magnify Christ in their music, and kudos again. If you are in any way associated with the music or worship proceedings at your church (or know someone who is, or if you're like me and are fed up with the touchy-feely, "I want to hug Jesus" style of worship music that is so common nowadays, or if you just want to hear some good, quality, theologically sound worship music) I strongly recommend you check out Sovereign Grace Music. They provide free chord sheets and lead sheets for ALL of their songs (which I personally find to be a very humble gesture). All you need to do is download their music from iTunes or buy one of their CD's. Check it out!