When it comes to corporate worship, that’s a really dangerous phrase. As God’s people, music has always been an integral part of our corporate worship. The songs we sing have lyrics. And those lyrics have meaning. With our song lyrics, we are simultaneously learning and proclaiming something about God. The question is, what are we learning and what are we declaring?
Colossians 3:16 tells us, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
It is important that we analyze the lyrics we sing. Are we faithfully admonishing each other in truth with the words we sing? Do the words we sing evoke in us awe and reverence for the God of the universe? Do they convey the gratitude in our hearts for the grace God has extended to us in the gospel – the person and work of Jesus Christ?
Questions like these are good starting points when considering a song for the King’s Chapel catalog. Let’s take a look at the newest song in our collection, “Living Hope” by Phil Wickham.
Listen
[youtube id=”u-1fwZtKJSM”]“How great the chasm that lay between us
How high the mountain I could not climb
In desperation, I turned to heaven
And spoke Your name into the night
Then through the darkness, Your loving-kindness
Tore through the shadows of my soul
The work is finished, the end is written
Jesus Christ, my living hopeWho could imagine so great a mercy?
What heart could fathom such boundless grace?
The God of ages stepped down from glory
To wear my sin and bear my shame
The cross has spoken, I am forgiven
The King of kings calls me His own
Beautiful Savior, I’m Yours forever
Jesus Christ, my living hope”
It’s not fun to think about our lives before Christ, but when we do we get a glimpse into the marvelous grace of the God we worship. We were separated from him by the infinite chasm of our sin – disobedience and failure to uphold God’s holy standard. There was no amount of good works or right living that we could do that would bridge the divide. Sin puts us so far away from the top of the mountain of God’s righteousness that our feeble attempts to climb it don’t even come close. The reality of our sinful condition leaves us desperate for more and longing for relationship with God who created us in His image.
But God in his great mercy (Ephesians 2:4) pursues us and draws us in. The Spirit of God accomplishes his transforming work in us by changing our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19). And the truth that the Holy Spirit impresses upon us is the gospel, that Christ came down from the glories of heaven to live sinlessly. He fulfilled God’s law perfectly, something we couldn’t do. He went to the cross of Calvary to suffer the punishment we deserved. The King of kings was crucified as a common criminal to bear the weight of our guilt and shame to the glory of God the Father. On the cross, Jesus uttered, “It is finished.” There’s no ambiguity in his cry. The work of reconciling us to God was accomplish for us by Christ. We can take great comfort in knowing that, “the work is finished, the end is written.” And our response to such incredible news should be repentance of sin, turning to Christ, and singing “beautiful Savior, I’m yours forever. Jesus Christ my living hope.”
“Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Jesus, Yours is the victory!”
1 Peter 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Our hope is rooted not merely in Jesus’ atoning death, but also in His glorious resurrection from the grave! The empty tomb is, as Pastor Lou has said, “the proof of purchase.” The empty tomb shows that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and hell. As we live a life riddled with trials and struggles our living hope is the living Savior. Our identity as children of God and co-heirs with the risen Christ gives us sure hope in the midst of uncertainty. We have an inheritance that is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for [us]” (1 Peter 1:3-5). We look forward to eternity with our triune God!
As we look back on where we’ve been and how God redeemed us through Christ’s atoning work (1 Corinthians 15:1-11), our response should be praise and adoration!
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope!