itunes, updates, and Saint Frank
There are a lot of new things going on here in the world of Matt Christenot. First, I just celebrated my one year wedding aniversary. No, she hasn’t left me yet. To Look on You will be hitting itunes some time in the next week. A new official web page is almost completed and should be posted shortly. This will be a surprise to those who know that the old one hasn’t been updated since it said my CD was coming out May of 2004, Yikes! I know it’s bad to leave it up like that, but look people web sites cost money and I’m poor. Anyway, this one looks incredible and will be up soon. My songs are now registered with CCLI, so if you’re a worship leader with a CCLI license and you report using a song of mine in worship I get royalties. Show me the money!
Last weekend we played a college conference with Voddie Baucham. If you’ve never heard him speak, he is incredible. Well, it was our first gig to play with a new bass player. His name was Allen and he is pretty incredible (I think that’s the second time I’ve used “incredible”, ok, no more uses of that word in this blog.) I don’t know if the Allen thing will turn out to be permanent but we are going to be booking him to play with the band through the end of the summer. Good bass players are hard to find.
Well, we are officially scheduled to hit the studio in Atlanta on August 14th. I think this album could be a real watershed moment for us. Or maybe nothing positive will come of it, who knows, but I chose to be an optimist (today at least).
Now on to my deep thought. I’m sure most of you have heard the quote from St. Francis of Assisi that goes something like, “Go out into all the world and preach the gospel at all times, when necessary, use words.” Most of us understand the heart of what Saint Francis was trying to say. He’s trying to communicate to us to live out the gospel by our lives. Ok, so it’s widely quoted, but is it true? Before I say what I think about it, let me first say that just because a quote is from a dead monk and it is widely quoted doesn’t make it true. It’s only true if it squares up with what the bible says. Now, having said that, here’s my take. The fundamental problem with this statement, or at least modern interpretations of it is this: You can’t preach the gospel without words. It is always necessary. Why? Because the gospel is a message. The message is this: that Jesus Christ was God, that he came to this earth lived a perfect life, was crucified on the cross for our sins and rose on the third day forever defeating sin and death. That’s the gospel, and if you don’t’ believe me go read 1 Corinthians 15. This message requires words because that’s how God chose to give it to us through the bible.
Now what St. Frank was saying is that our actions should also preach the gospel. I think a more accurate way of describing the relationship of our actions to the preaching of the gospel is to say that they evidence the truth of the gospel. They prove that Christ has accomplished something in the lives of those who believe. Now is it always necessary to share the gospel every time you do a good deed? No, I don’t think that’s what the bible teaches. The ultimate point of doing any good deed is what? To glorify our Father in heaven. That’s not to say loving our neighbor as our self isn’t huge, Jesus gave that a huge place of prominence in his teaching. In fact it was right up there with the commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul. God is glorified when we help someone in his name even if there is no chance to share a gospel message. I do think however, he is more glorified when we help someone, and the gospel is shared and accepted. It’s a case of good, better, best. Or glory, more glory, the most glory. Ok, my point in all this is that to “preach the gospel,” words are always necessary, because the gospel is a story and a message and that requires words to communicate.
A recent Derek Webb statement in CCM about the gospel including the coming of the kingdom has stirred some thought so I’ll respond to that after I have some time to research the issue. Basically he says that what I talked about today is one side of the gospel coin and the coming of the kingdom is the other. By the coming of the Kingdom he is talking about instituting the values of heaven (no more hunger, thirst, wipe away every tear) here on earth by feeding the hungry, ministering to the poor etc. So is this what Jesus meant by “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven?” We’ll see.
Ok, well that’s all for now, be on the look out for the album on itunes as well as the new www.mattchristenot.com. Sorry this is long. Later.
Matt
