True Worship or Spiritual Cavities?

There is a topic at frenzyboard concerning the song "Friend of God" Basically, here's what it says:

POST: I don't like that song.
POST: Me neither.
POST: You guys are crazy, I like that song.

Ok, I'm just going to copy and paste my replies now, along with anything that you might need to read to understand my point.

as of late I'm becoming distressed that most of the songs we hear on the radio, and sadly in the church, speak nothing of the cross. Most of the stuff is all "feel good" tunes, nothing with any real meat to it. Nobody seems to want to sing about the cross & why He hung from it, ect.

POST: Quote:Nobody seems to want to sing about the cross & why He hung from it, ect.

We do a lot of self-degrading songs, er, you know what I mean. Heart of Worship, Give us Clean Hands, that sort of thing.

POST: I don't think there's anything wrong with celebrating you're relationship with God. Yes, there is sorrow and pain in being a Christian but there's so much more good then bad. All of the suffering and trials are nothing compaired to the good that is to come. You can't dwell on sorrow, that's not what it's all about.


MY REPLY: Yes, but sugar coating everything doesnt do any good either. You have to look at the bad to see just how great the good is. If God saved me from good how powerful and mighty would that salvation be? But He saved me from the trenches, He picked me up when I was absolutely at my lowest point covered in filth and sin on the verge of death and eternal seperation and He called me. He cleaned me in His Son's Blood.

If all I ever thought about was that I'm a friend of God and that He is one "rad" dude what good would that do me? If I only look at Him as my friend, I can lose perspective of the work He has done and is continuing to do as my Savior. Like Vanilla Sky said, the sweet just ain't as sweet without the sour.


"(Chorus)
I am a friend of God
I am a friend of God
I am a friend of God
He calls me friend

God Almighty, Lord of Glory
You have called me friend"

There is no meat to this, this doesn't speak anything of what Christ has done for us. It's fluff, it's sugar & if that's all one listens to I would tend to think you'd end up with spiritual cavities from eating all this sugar. A balanced diet is important. Yes, I may be a friend of God. But He is my Lord, He is my Savior, He is my redeemer, He is my protection, He is my peace, He is my guideance, He is my Creator, He DIED for me, and He ROSE for me. He bore my sins, He bore my shame, He bore the WRATH of the Father for me. He's more than my friend, He is more than anyone could ever express, He is "my all in all"

...
My point is not that you can't worship Him for calling us friend, my point is simply that as of late it's the soft songs, the feel good songs, the ones that don't speak anything of what He has done for us to be able to call Him friend that are always being played. Ok, not always, but they get played WAY more than anything that's going to make you think about why He was on that cross. At least that has been my experience as of late.

Nobody wants to feel bad, and it seems like the Pastors & music directors are catoring to the "nobody wants to feel bad" idea that's floating around. And I'm not trying to make it sound like we should walk around in sackcloth weeping, but there's got to be something in between.

It's not even just about the music, the sermons in a lot of churches are like this. They are self help books with pulpits. There's no talk about sin, or hell (at least not in a Biblical context), there's "are you disconnected from God? Do you feel sad? Well, there's no need for that! God doesn't want you to feel bad about what you've done, get over it and join us in happy land. Oh and make sure you join a small group b/c anyone who is anyone is in a small group"

Sadness and grief and things of that nature are good, they lead to repentance...If you feel badly b/c you've sinned you'll be wanting to get right with God. If it is condoned within the "church" why repent? Nobody cares what you're doing.