Sermon Sampling, Worship Arrangements and The Point of the Cross

"How He Loves" David Crowder Band (feat. Matt Chandler and John Piper)

So it's Sunday, and as such I decided to post this video for reflection to worship leaders and churchgoers alike. Be sure to watch it before reading on.




I picked this particular video for three reasons:

1. I love this new sampling technique, and wanted to show that while it is not BRAND new, it is just now becoming popular in "main stream" christian music culture.  I have been seeing on youtube and other places. It is where people take songs, and interweave samples of sermons from noted speakers like Matt Chandler from Texas and John Piper from Minnesota. Why this is valuable is because it couples beautiful music and doctrinally sound speech in a way that is almost poetic. Now, both Chandler and Piper will tell you that they shall never be poets, but in this context the music and the message can intermingle in a way that resonates with the thoughtful and the emotional.
2. I wanted to touch on the musicianship of the song. It is originally by John Mark McMillan, and is done justice by the Crowder boys. The musician ship is excellent, and I feel that it is representative of the nature of the worship leading community. Songs that are written for Jesus seem to resonate with people, and in a setting like church musicianship you'll find more often than not that unlike popular music, things like copyright infringement don't hold nearly as much water. In this case, I'm sure that permission was asked as a courtesy, of course. But what is interesting to take away is that there is a sense of unity among christian musicians, in that we want our music to be sung, and (on the whole) as long as Christ is being magnified details like author and original arrangement aren't as big of a deal. Crowder's version of this song is vastly different from McMillans, which is different from Kim Walker's version. Does this mean that Crowder and Walker are wrong for changing the original arrangement? Obviously not, in the context of the millions of people who have been touched by them.
3. The most important aspect of this video is the message of the gospel. If you choose to call yourself a worship leader or christian musician or church musician or anything of the sort, we must never forget our call to profess the gospel and the good news of the cross. 

The heart of this video is clear: that we are not loved by God by what we do or have done (bad deeds OR good deeds), but by what Jesus did on the cross. 


Please do not let this go by unnoticed. It is the foundation upon which our entire faith rests. Sing it loudly, pray it at every opportunity, teach it to your congregation, let it saturate every decision your team makes. It is truly all that we have. 

Have a great Sunday!

-Adrian

Stuff to think about:

Romans 8:1-11 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.