A while back, my eldest son Luke, started listening to music that was outside of my narrowly varied tastes.  I was immediately suspicious and concerned.  What was he getting exposed to?  Was it going to deceive and feed his flesh or would it open his eyes to see Jesus Christ, high and lifted up?  I was surprised and encouraged to find a solid message of gospel behind a hiphop/rap style that wasn’t my typical venue.

After the Music Stops brings a strong message and challenge to the listener.  Lecrae Moore is a christian rap artist out of TN with a heart to bring Jesus Christ to the culture and a desire to do it like ‘the men of Issachar (1 Chr 12:32) who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do’.

He isn’t new, nor is his music; but his comments on this GodTube video caught my attention as I consider the hype and misappropriation regarding ‘relevance’ in the culture and especially in the church. 

In a visible role such as a music artist, how should you direct people to see Jesus Christ and not yourself?  As a preacher, teacher, youth pastor, youth ministry leader, worship leader – how should you direct those with their eyes and ears on you to ‘taste and see’ Jesus Christ above all?

Paul and Barnabas didn’t escape the temptation for glory…”Hermes!!!  Zeus!!!”  The crowds wanted to deify them as gods, ‘the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men’ (Acts 14:11).  Their response?  ‘they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things?  We also are men of like nature with you, and we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living God,…”

Delivery men…that’s who we are (sort of…think messengers, ambassadors, earthen vessels).  What’s the name of your mail carrier-person?  Right!… you likely don’t know nor would you necessarily.  It isn’t the messenger but rather the ‘message’ he brings that matters primarily.  We do matter (sort of…again, think biblically, hear Paul’s concerns in 1 Cor 1).  We are to be the reflection of the gospel message…that is how we deliver it…reflected and spoken.  Yet it is not us and our commentary that has power, but rather the Word of God…the gospel spoken and lived out through us; we should resemble the Gospel.  We preach Christ crucified…  Christ – the wisdom and power of God.

In this, I would consider ‘relevance’ a good thing; not because it’s pragmatic, but because it is Truth – objective…propositional truth.