Responding To God: Proclamation

Growing up, my father was not often an expressive man. His love was one of action; faithfully working a job where he was unappreciated, underpaid, under a boss of little integrity, all to provide for his family. It was a given that he would be at every game, every meet. He was not a man of many words (unless I was on the field, then he definitely had his fair share to say!), but spent the majority of evenings watching television and reading. Even without a ton of conversation, it was a guarantee that every night, he would say these words:

“Matthew, I love you.”

It was a proclamation of who he was, lest I wonder what was going on in his thoughts regarding me, or what his priorities were. This had a profound impact; never have I doubted my father’s love. Had he assumed I gathered from his faithfulness in providing for the family or showing up to cheer me on, I can’t say for sure his love would have been clear. He could have been written off as a workaholic or man living vicariously through his son’s athletic achievements. His daily proclamations secured his love in my mind.

In the same sense, as followers of Christ we should proclaim who we are, what is going on in our thoughts, what our priorities are. Jesus Christ is the head of the church (Ephesians 5:23), the foundation (1 Peter 2:4-8), and “we are members of His body” (Ephesians 5:30). Yet, this truth is not a given in the minds and hearts of every church gathering on a Sunday. Several months ago, one of the pastors of Vintage21 visited a large church where the name of Jesus was not mentioned in the songs, the sermon, anywhere, not even once. With rampant individualism and spreading pluralism, it’s likely that people would not assume the head of that church is Jesus Christ.

“Show me a church’s songs and I’ll show you their theology.” (Gordon Fee). Prior to the visit mentioned above, this quote struck me pretty hard. As I took a fine-tooth comb to the lyrics of songs, they were seemingly strong in their theology, but the name of Christ was surprisingly absent from most titles and lyrics. Even songs that were about Jesus seemed to shy away from saying His name. If Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, as He claims in John 14:6, then every service should be about Him, and it’s His name we praise. He is our reason for celebrating, for gathering, for living. Since that moment, it’s become a goal to lift up the name of Jesus over and over. As my friend Thad said the other day, “There’s just something about that name.” Without it, our ritual acts of gathering, preaching, singing, taking communion, giving are left wide open to interpretations. If you come to Vintage21 Church, you’ll know where we stand: Jesus is the One and Only.