Remember Christ (Part 1)
We've recently released a new song called "Remember Christ".
Perhaps you've heard it recently as we've sung together in services! I want to share some context and inspiration behind the song.
The message of "Remember Christ" can be summarized by 1 Corinthians 15:1-4:
"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scripture…."
The apostle is reminding us of the centrality of the Gospel in the Christian life. It is a matter of first importance in our theology, in our affections and how we walk day by day. It is not simply a sequential dot on the timeline of our Christian experience. The need for the Gospel is as important as the need our bodies have for food. It is the most relevant and practical message we could hear in light of what we face every day. One of greatest deceptions we can live under is the idea that we've already heard it and somehow need to move on to deeper things.
As a young believer, I walked for some time without understanding the need for the Gospel being preeminent in my daily life. I was quite zealous and religiously fervent pursuing so-called "deeper things". But like a wandering sheep I had forgotten the "rest" I had in Christ.
I think it is common for us as believers to walk through seasons of faltering and wandering. Look at these words in Jeremiah 50:
In those days and at that time,” declares the LORD, “the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the LORD their God they will seek. “They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction; they will come that they may join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.
My people have become lost sheep; Their shepherds have led them astray. They have made them turn aside on the mountains; They have gone along from mountain to hill And have forgotten their resting place.
We can forget the "rest" we have in Christ. It can take some time before we return to that rest. Our religious endeavors and fervent pursuits can be exciting at first. We are seduced into thinking that God will be impressed with the fervency of our performance. We run hard after our schemes as if we're going to find the reward, the "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow. But soon our excitement and fervency turns sour and we begin to groan under the weight of the demand we've put ourselves under.
Scriptures like, “Grace and peace be yours in abundance in Christ” can seem more like “weariness and misery be yours in abundance in Christ”. The words of Jesus saying, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest” seem strangely foreign to our experience. We hear Christ's voice not as a comfort but as a hard task-master cracking the whip.... “come to me and I will cause you to lose sleep at night because you’re not doing enough." I've discovered through personal experience that God will let us run until, overcome with sorrow and exhaustion we begin to look up for relief.
Now, let me say that there has never been a time in my life when I have entirely regretted Christ's calling me and choosing me. Looking back on it now I’m thankful that God is sovereign even over our wandering. Still in light of that, it was a dreadfully miserable season in my life that I would never want to re-live. No discipline is pleasant in the moment, it’s painful, full of sorrow but afterward, what it yields (Heb. 12:11)! The sweetness of the comfort and relief every thought of Christ now brings is absolutely worth the discipline and sorrow it took to get there.
The primary motivation for writing the song "Remember Christ" was driven by the need to remind both ourselves and those around us that there is never a different standard by which God accepts or interacts with us. The basis of our relationship with God, the gifts and grace He gives and our freedom from sin's bondage, never shifts from Christ's work to our work. We will go deeper into the topic of sin in the second half of this blog….
Please look out for Part 2 coming soon!