BERNARD SHUFORD

“The Social Gospel” is regarded by most evangelical Christians as a distortion of the Gospel.  Largely it involves a misunderstanding of Christ’s commands regarding the poor and deciding that it’s more important to help people physically than it is to tell them that they are dying and going to hell.

It bothers me that in an effort to avoid “the Social Gospel”, (more…)

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Wow.

That’s God doing stuff through the people who follow Christ.

Awesome.

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• I am become as sounding brasse or a tinkling cymbal.
• But lay vp for your selues treasures in heauen, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, & where theeues doe not breake thorow, nor steale.
• For now we see through a glasse, darkely: but then face to face…

The sound of music holds so much power over our thoughts, over our emotions, and even over our actions.  Think of the awe of the simple notes of a trumpet playing “Taps” as a fallen soldier is laid to rest.  The rush of “Danger Zone” as an F-14 performs an airshow routine.  The memories that flood as “Amazing Grace” flows peacefully through a small mountain church.  The romance of any of a thousand love songs as a happy couple enjoys the first kiss as a man and wife.

Moments.  Hundreds of notes make up a song.  Many times, song speed is based on the duration of a “quarter note”, with those speeds varying from 60 beats per minute to 200 or more in some radical cases.

1 note, 1 second.

Sounding brass.

Hi-hat cymbals are often played as eighth notes, which means they are half as long as a quarter note.

1 note, one half second.

Tinkling cymbal.

These musical events are amazingly brief, aren’t they?  We marvel at how Paul used sporting events to illustrate the Christian life, but here is one that I think often escapes our inspection.

Life without love cannot impact for eternity.  The trumpet may be loud and the crash of the cymbals be impressive, but they are only for a moment.

Who can you impact for eternity?

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• And though I … understand all mysteries…, and have not charity, I am nothing.

If you can read 1 Corinthians 13 three times every day without serious life impact, you must really be on top of your game.  I don’t think anybody since Jesus could truly make such a claim.

All the knowledge in the world is useless without love.  There are a multitude of ways that I need to apply this to my life…

• Being right about doctrine doesn’t carry much weight if I don’t love God and love people.
• Being highly educated about church history doesn’t carry much weight if I don’t love God and love people.
• Picking apart the pastor’s sermon and telling him where he went wrong doesn’t accomplish anything if I don’t love God, love my pastor, and love people.
• Being the smartest Christian in my church doesn’t mean anything at all if I don’t love God and love people.
• Being the best pianist and knowing 10,000 worship songs doesn’t mean anything if I don’t love God and love people.

For those who say “charity isn’t equal to loving God”, I agree, but riddle me this…  If claiming to love God while not loving my brother equates to a lie, isn’t it fair to say that if I love God, I will also love people?

True charity, I would maintain, involves loving people AND loving God.

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