““The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick;”
Jeremiah 17:9 NASB1995
… so why do we constantly appeal to it?!?!
Here starts a frustrated rant against shallow excuses for worship songs that are taking over the church.
Strap in.
The songs our church sang this morning felt like one of those memes: “I made a bot listen to 37 million hours of Christian music and this is the song it wrote…” At one point a line was “I breathe you in” and “Your face, my secret space” and I’m wondering what the heck?!?
Yes, salvation, the gospel, and everything Christ has done for us, all of it can be very emotional, but when it comes to appeals pathos is really the cheapest and most shallow. It’s favored by politicians, and who wants to be like them?
Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.”
Isaiah 1:18
Let us REASON together! Christianity doesn’t mean leaving your brain at the door!
What do I mean by “reason together”? How about how ALL CREATION POINTS TO GOD?!? Creation is designed, and more complex than anything made by human hands:
““But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? Does not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food? Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding.”
Job 12:7-12
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”
Romans 1:20
“For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods, In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”
Psalms 95:3-6
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”
Hebrews 11:1-3
Great so now we can have both pathos AND logos appeals. How about appeals to authority (ethos)? Well, how about the Bible?
The Bible claims to be the inspired word of God, infallible, truth:
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17
“So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
2 Peter 1:19-21
“Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.”
2 John 1:9
“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
Isaiah 40:8
““Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
John 5:24
“They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
1 John 4:5-6
“But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”
Matthew 4:4
“For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness— nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”
1 Thessalonians 2:3-6, 8, 13
I could talk about that 1 Thess verse all day. “We did not come to you with flattering speech or with the pretext of greed… we didn’t seek glory from men”… looking at you, Hillsong. Looking at YOU Joel Olsteen. Quite frankly if you are making bank off of God’s church, something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. But that’s a study for another day. Let’s get back to why we need to distance ourselves from emotional appeals.
The church has the ability to use all three rhetorical appeals, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Any rhetorical argument is strongest when it can appeal to not only emotions, but logic and authority too. Is appealing to emotions wrong? Not by itself, but when compared to, say, cults who are only using emotional appeals, that appeal becomes suspect… And we are supposed to be different!
WHY is music an emotional appeal? It’s not JUST the lyrics, music can be emotionally moving and even somewhat hypnotic. Why do you think music is present in everything from movies to advertisements?
What happens when someone curious shows up to church. They get caught up in the music. Everyone around them is swaying and emotional. The music makes them FEEL something, this must be real! They convert, and yet have no logical reason as to why and no authority to fall back on!
The first time that budding new faith is tested and all those feel good emotions are left at the church, they are totally defenseless and have no logic or authority to fall back on. Why do you think so many people resent the church? They FEEL deceived.
Y’all, we have SO much more to offer than just fleeting feel good feels in the moment. We don’t have to play on people’s feelings of guilt/loneliness/helplessness to get them through the door or to stay in the seats. That’s what charlatans do. That’s what grifters do. There is SO MUCH MORE to God, the Bible, and Christianity!
“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
2 Timothy 4:1-5
They will want their “ears tickled”. They will want to hear from teachers who will AFFIRM them and who will accept their earthly desires. We are not here for that. We are here for SOUND doctrine. We are here to reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
We are told to not forsake the assembly, to come together to teach, comfort, and strengthen one another. We need to get past seeking emotional highs and start seeking deeper knowledge of God through His word, and building one another up as knowledgeable Christians.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
Hebrews 10:23-25
I’m sorry if my rant turned into a ramble, but what gets ME excited isn’t the musical fluff. It’s God’s word! The Bible is our sword, our only offensive item in the armor of God, and it’s, well, a downright miracle when you study it for yourself. We need more focus there. We need to encourage one another in good works. We need to look forward together as our time draws closer to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We need to be in our Bible, teaching, instructing, rebuking, exhorting, and building one another up in righteousness. We need to stop filling the pockets of grifts and buying their licensed prepackaged sterilized tiny little church in a box excuse for worship! That’s not worshiping God. That’s not ministry. That’s fleecing God’s flock and lining the pockets of men who are seeking glory from humans under the poorly veiled pretext of greed.
Training to be Batgirl 