Posted on 01/03/2020 7:55:20 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Audio Transcript
“Reckless Love” — megahit worship song. Its lyrics have reached millions and inspired over a dozen emails our way in the last month, like this one from Tim, a regular listener to the podcast. “Pastor John, hello! Over the past couple of months, I’ve been hearing the song ‘Reckless Love’ playing in churches and on the radio. One of the main lines in the chorus celebrates ‘the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.’ My question — is this a biblically and theologically correct way to describe God’s love? Is the term ‘reckless’ too reckless? I don’t want to sound judgmental, but every time I bring it up, I get called a Pharisee for focusing on just the one word rather than the message of the whole song. Just hoping you could shed some light because I truly believe that words matter, especially in songs of worship and praise.”
My response to this concern needs to be expressed to two different groups of people: pastors and lead worshipers, and the congregation. On the one hand, I’m lumping pastors and lead worshipers together as worship-service shapers, and the congregation as the other group. You have the shepherds to feed the flock with songs, and the sheep who are asked to savor the truth and the music that they’re being fed.
I have two words for the pastors and lead worshipers and something for the rest of us.
First, we live in a time of unprecedented wealth of Christian music. There is no shortage whatsoever of older songs, newer songs, and fresh renditions of older songs that are rock-solid in their biblical content and creative, fresh, and powerful both in their lyrics and in their tunes.
Pastors and lead worshipers are never boxed in to using theologically defective or musically dated songs, if they don’t want to. If you want to be theologically and biblically faithful as a lead worshiper and feed your flock with the richest of biblical food and the most engaging of tunes, there is a wealth of old and new to choose from so that you never have to sing something theologically defective or misleading or unhelpful.
The second thing I want to say to pastors and lead worshipers is that it is your primary responsibility to build into the minds and hearts of the people the truth that portrays Christ and the Father and the Spirit and the way of salvation in biblically faithful ways so that the people’s minds engage with spiritual reality, not just imaginary things.
You are aiming for people’s hearts to move toward authentic spiritual affections rooted in that reality. That’s your job.
Third, a word to the congregation. The concern that Tim is raising for us here is this: What does a congregation or an individual in the congregation do if a song has defective lyrics, especially if we think the song is theologically or biblically defective, not just poetically defective?
Tim gives us this specific example of a popular song right now called “Reckless Love,” but there are many such problems in many songs — both old and new, not just new. So let me take this one for an example as to how we might respond when this happens.
“Reckless Love” has a refrain that ends like this: “Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.” Now, I don’t know enough about the theology of the author to know what dimension of the meaning of reckless he intended. I am aware that today there’s a kind of theology that sees God as not knowing the future and therefore treating him as though he could take real risks since he doesn’t know what might happen.
In the second case, the giving of his Son might be described as reckless. He might have given his Son for salvation and not have succeeded. I mean, there are a lot of people who believe this, who believe that God doesn’t know the future exhaustively; therefore, he’s taking real risks because he doesn’t know what the outcome is going to be — at least, not in the short run.
If reckless sort of fits into that theology, I would regard it as heretical.
Now, I hope the author did not intend it that way. In fact, it seems to me that there’s good evidence in the song that he didn’t mean it that way. But the reason the word reckless raises the question is because, in modern English, you have to work really hard to put a positive meaning on the word reckless in relation to God.
If you just click on a good thesaurus online and look at all the meanings associated with reckless, here they are: audacious, brash, carefree, careless, daring, foolhardy, hasty, ill-advised, imprudent, negligent, thoughtless, adventuresome, adventurous, breakneck, daredevil, desperate, devil-may-care, fast and loose, feckless, harebrained, headlong, heedless, helter-skelter, hopeless, hotheaded, inattentive, incautious, inconsiderate, indiscreet, kooky, mindless, playing with fire, precipitate, brash, regardless, temerarious, uncareful, venturous, wild.
Now, that is the general sense that one gets when one hears the term reckless driver. He doesn’t care about what other people do or what he might do to other people.
But maybe the author used the word reckless in the sense that God’s love may look (to an outsider) foolish, ill-advised, brash, and breakneck, but in fact the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. The recklessness of God is more assured of success than the most carefully executed plans of men. Maybe.
In other words, maybe he’s treating the word reckless the way Jesus treated the word hate when he said you have to hate your mother and father in order to follow me (Luke 14:26). Well, it looks like hate to a lot of people when you follow Jesus and leave your mother and father behind.
What should you do as you sit in the congregation if you don’t like this word reckless, and you have all these negative connotations in your head? One of the things you do is look at the lyrics of the song to see if there are evidences of how the word might be construed or intended.
Here are a couple of examples. The song says, “Before I spoke a word, you were singing over me.” Now, in my mouth, those are radically Calvinistic lyrics. God only sings over his own people. He doesn’t sing over those who are in rebellion against him. He sings over his own people (Zephaniah 3:17). If you are one of God’s own people, before you spoke a word, he loved you. That’s unconditional election.
Here’s another example: “Before I took a breath, you breathed your life into me.” In my mouth, that’s a radical affirmation of the Calvinistic doctrine of sovereign grace, irresistible grace. Since the Bible doesn’t teach that God breathed life into us before we were physically born, I take the words “you breathed life into me” to be a reference to the new birth.
The song is saying that the new birth happened to me before I took any breath at all, meaning before I did anything to signify that I had life, which is exactly what happens in the new birth. It is a sovereign gift of God. We don’t make the new birth happen. God makes the new birth happen.
Now, I don’t know whether the author is that Calvinistic. I kind of have my doubts, but I don’t know. But that’s the way I would sing these words, if we ever did sing it. That’s their most natural meaning; at least, I hear them that way.
This means when I get to the word reckless, I’m going to put a meaning on it that ascribes to God absolute control over the objects and circumstances of his love, because that’s what’s implied in those previous lyrics. I hope that those who love the word reckless in this song also love the Calvinistic theology in the rest of the lyrics.
Here’s the point. If you’re in a church that’s basically singing sound and helpful lyrics, and along comes a song with questionable words, then either stop singing if your conscience won’t let you sing, or put a meaning on the words that you are able to affirm.
Now, lest you think I’m asking you to do something quirky or unusual with new songs that we don’t do with old songs, consider one last illustration. Most gospel-loving evangelical churches (including mine) love to sing Charles Wesley’s “And Can It Be.” Great song, right? But what do you mean when you sing, “He left his Father’s throne above / So free, so infinite his grace / Emptied himself of all but love . . .”?
Give me a break. He did not empty himself of “all but love.” That is absolutely not true. He didn’t empty himself of righteousness and wisdom and justice and holiness and deity. Well, you can either protest the song to your worship leader and stop singing the song, or you can stop singing, or you can do what I do. You can take it as poetic license for overstatement in a poem and construe it to mean, “He emptied himself of everything he needed to empty himself of in order to be as loving as he could be.” Something like that. I don’t think Charles Wesley was a heretic — not like that, anyway.
But take the next verse. Most Calvinists love to sing the next verse. It sounds exactly like what we believe, right? Sovereign, irresistible grace to the dead and imprisoned sinner: “Long my imprisoned spirit lay, / Fast bound in sin and nature’s night.” That’s original sin. “Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray; / I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. / My chains fell off; my heart was free; / I rose, went forth, and followed thee.”
When I sing that, I’m singing like a full-blooded seven-point Calvinist. “My chains fell off; my heart was free.” I’m free because of the sovereign grace of God and that only. Charles Wesley didn’t mean that. Charles Wesley (being the good Wesleyan that he was, not a Calvinist) probably did not mean what I mean when I sing that verse.
He meant that God’s prevenient grace overcame original sin and struck off the chains of helplessness and put me in a position where I, with newly granted, autonomous free will, may or may not leave the prison. My choice is final and decisive: “I rose, went forth, and followed thee.”
That’s not what I mean when I sing that song.
Back to the pastors and lead worshipers. Please do your job, and do not ask too much of the sheep. As we sit in service, give us songs whose original meaning we can joyfully affirm because they are fully biblical.
Don’t give us too many where we have to change the meaning in order to be faithful.
Study: AC/DC's 'Highway To Hell' More Theologically Accurate Than 96% Of Modern Worship Songs
https://babylonbee.com/news/study-highway-hell-theologically-accurate-96-modern-worship-songs
U.S.—A recent survey performed by CCLI confirmed that AC/DC’s hard rock classic “Highway to Hell” is more theologically accurate than 96% of the songs that most worship bands play on any given Sunday.
The study examined over 800 songs and compared their theology to the Scriptures, and found that the Australian rock group’s 1979 classic was “significantly more accurate” than over 96% of them.
“While modern worship songs tend to contain little theology, an anemic view of sin, and a poor understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit, ‘Highway to Hell’ has a very biblical view of the doctrine of hell,” a CCLI rep said. “Lead singer Bon Scott had a clear understanding of man’s natural inclination toward sin and the inevitable judgment of God that follows.”
“Highway to Hell” was the nickname for the Canning Highway in Australia. It runs from where lead singer Bon Scott lived in Fremantle and ends at a pub/bar called The Raffles, which was a big rock ‘n roll drinking hole in the ‘70s.
Excellent trivia. I never knew that
“But maybe the author used the word reckless in the sense that God’s love may look (to an outsider) foolish, ill-advised, brash, and breakneck, but in fact the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. “
Bingo.
Reckless Love
by Cory Asbury
Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me
You have been so, so good to me
Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah
When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me
You have been so, so good to me
When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me
You have been so, so kind to me
And oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah
"Highway To Hell"
Livin' easy
Lovin' free
Season ticket on a one way ride
Askin' nothin'
Leave me be
Takin' everythin' in my stride
Don't need reason
Don't need rhyme
Ain't nothin' that I'd rather do
Goin' down
Party time
My friends are gonna be there too
I'm on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
Highway to hell
I'm on the highway to hell
No stop signs
Speed limit
Nobody's gonna slow me down
Like a wheel
Gonna spin it
Nobody's gonna mess me around
Hey, Satan
Payin' my dues
Playin' in a rockin' band
Hey, mamma
Look at me
I'm on the way to the promised land
I'm on the highway to hell
Highway to hell
I'm on the highway to hell
Highway to hell
Don't stop me
I'm on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
I'm on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
(highway to hell) I'm on the highway to hell
(highway to hell) highway to hell
(highway to hell) highway to hell
(highway to hell)
And I'm goin' down
All the way
I'm on the highway to hell
I have not felt comfortable with that song, and “reckless” is why.
I do not sing songs with lyrics that the discernment of The Holy Spirit tells me are not true/right.
Good topic!
Probably more like a patient and tired love for a child who refuses to become an adult, after thousands of years. Lol.
Our youth minister sings that song as he leads the early congregation at my church and I am always aggravated at those lyrics.
I am left with the impression that he--the youth minister--thinks that song will appeal to the teenagers in his youth group because they are themselves at that "reckless" age. Perhaps he wants them to think "God is like me...reckless."
Obviously, God is NOT. Not like the teenagers...and not reckless.
We really ought to ask the writer of the song IN WHAT SENSE he is using the word “reckless”.
As Piper writes:
If you just click on a good thesaurus online and look at all the meanings associated with reckless, here they are: audacious, brash, carefree, careless, daring, foolhardy, hasty, ill-advised, imprudent, negligent, thoughtless, adventuresome, adventurous, breakneck, daredevil, desperate, devil-may-care, fast and loose, feckless, harebrained, headlong, heedless, helter-skelter, hopeless, hotheaded, inattentive, incautious, inconsiderate, indiscreet, kooky, mindless, playing with fire, precipitate, brash, regardless, temerarious, uncareful, venturous, wild.
Now, that is the general sense that one gets when one hears the term reckless driver. He doesn’t care about what other people do or what he might do to other people.
But maybe the author used the word reckless in the sense that God’s love may look (to an outsider) foolish, ill-advised, brash, and breakneck, but in fact the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. The recklessness of God is more assured of success than the most carefully executed plans of men. Maybe.
In other words, maybe he’s treating the word reckless the way Jesus treated the word hate when he said you have to hate your mother and father in order to follow me (Luke 14:26). Well, it looks like hate to a lot of people when you follow Jesus and leave your mother and father behind.
But since we have not asked the author, we can only speculate.
I wish for quiet during communion but our worship leader wants to blare rock music through the PA system so I can’t concentrate on praying. The song they played recently claimed.
“You are the hurricane. I am the tree.”
First, I’m not fond of the modern overuse of informal pronouns when addressing God. I, Me, You... Like Jesus is somehow your BFF, not the Eternal and Holy God.
Secondly, hurricanes are destructive. They destroy trees. Maybe God is a hurricane to the believer in the same way he is “reckless”, but I just found the comparison inappropriate.
Finally, can we stop equating worship with volume? Jesus didn’t go off alone to have a rock concert. He went off alone to pray silently. I know, there are verses in Psalms about making a joyful noise to the Lord but, really, I prefer some quiet reflection as part of worship, not just blaring amps.
I’m so tired of these debates. You’ll always find people who quibble about every worship song.
RE: I’m so tired of these debates.
We don’t like debates, but many people are UNCOMFORTABLE with the words of some worship songs.
We don’t quibble over things that are considered minor.
The question is this -— is the issue worth discussing or debating ? Is it minor? Or is it a major issue that goes into how people perceive the God they worship?
Otherwise, one can also say that the issue of Justification By Grace Through Faith Alone, the issue that sparked the Protestant Reformation should really be a minor quibble that need not divide Christendom.
You could say the use of the word is hyperbolic, but if you want to know what he means by it, you just have to read the rest of the lyric. I don’t know the song, but the lyric is fine. Maybe “relentless” was a better fit for what he wanted to say, but for me it’s nit-picking.
..John Piper has some wise commentary on this. In the post modern so called church culture, sound theology is sacrificed for feelings and entertainment value. Reckless does not describe anything about the perfect Lord—but it does this song...
I agree with you that a better word should have been chosen.
This is the Dictionary definition of RECKLESS:
(of a person or their actions) without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action.
SYNONYM: Rash, Careless, Thoughtless, Heedless, impetuous, ill-advised, misguided, harebrained, unwise, ill-conceived, imprudent, mindless, unthinking, etc.
God is ANYTHING BUT any of those.
No wonder many worshippers feel uncomfortable with the use of the word when they hear the song.
bmk
John Piper.
http://www.bobthune.com/2015/12/why-i-disagree-with-john-piper-on-christians-and-concealed-weapons/
John Piper does NOT have a biblical position on Gun control. He values politics more than the bible.
Romans 5:7 “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.”
Consider: If someone dares to for a righteous person—isn’t it the height of recklessness to die for sinners
The full passage reads:
Romans 5
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So if you have any power or godliness at all, “reckless” will seem unseemly.
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