Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God (I Corinthians 4:2-5, ESV). I really just dont listen to Christian radio anymore. I realized the truth of that statement just this past month, and Im going to claim it. I dont reach for the Radio button on my cars sound system unless Im desperately lacking a decent CD or two, and like many people my age, I never leave home without the kind of music that feeds me. I made up my mind pretty early that Id never take the leap and go all-digital. Ill always buy a CD over a download, mostly because I like to hold the booklet in my hands and browse through the liner notes. As a musician myself and fairly tough critic of what I listen to, I like to know the names of those who are making solid art, to delve into their stories, to listen to their struggles via blog posts or video journals or social media. But I also like to just let their music speak for them. And speak it does. Most of what Im listening to is challenging my views about ultimate reality, the essence of humanity, the vitality and honesty of the church I love, the God I serve and seek, and the cultural and ecclesiological image of the Savior who makes it all worthwhile. But almost none of it comes from Christian radio. Dont get me wrong. The Christian radio station in my area is solid. It doesnt include anything that would make me squirm for the sake of the young ears in my household. But, in my opinion, thats a big part of the problem. Unfortunately, our station has, until very recently, run with the tag line with which Derek Webb expressed his frustration in the interview: Safe for the whole family. Music created by Christians, just like preaching and leadership by Christians, cant be safe. It cant be watered-down or lukewarm. It needs to be equal parts hard-hitting challenge to seek God earnestly and encouragement in the pure Gospel of Christ crucified and risen. Unfortunately, most of what I hear on Christian radio is SO light on the former; hence, my aversion to the whole genre of Christian Hit Radio (or Adult Contemporary, for that matter). The death of CHR brings up questions that faithful Christians (especially artists, meaning anyone who creatively expresses the truth of Gods Word, in any medium) MUST ask themselves. Should marketing drive art? Should a pastor pander to a certain group of members in order to make sure the lights stay on at his church? Should a Christian be ambiguous about his beliefs when hes around non-Christians? Should a church ever, ever tweak the expression of its theology (or, God-forbid, the theology itself?!?) in the name of remaining relevant to the culture, even if it means sacrificing the truth of Gods Word? For a Christian, I think the answer to each of these questions is pretty apparent. Quite subtly (and often not!), weve applied the laws of economics and growth that have made our country so successful (also debatable), and we use them to define how we approach being church. Supply. Demand. Fulfill. Instead of setting the bar of virtue according to Gods standards and encouraging the culture to meet it, weve gradually set the bar lower and lower until the Holy Church that Christ died to save has the tendency to

look more like a country club for neo-Pharisees than a life raft for sin-bedraggled survivors of lifes ravages. Lowering the bar is pervasive in our culture, touching practically all arenas and walks of life, but the last place it should ever happen is among Gods people. The bar should always be set so high that no one could ever reach it. It is only at the intersection of our failure and depravity and Gods goodness and love that we begin to understand the deep riches of Gods grace and mercy to us in Christ. God gives all good gifts. But He also demands that we use them well. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more (Luke 12:48, ESV). When talented people dont use their gifts well, they dishonor God. When artists dont develop their craft and produce good art, they dishonor God. Everyone is going to be held accountable to God for how theyve used their gifts. He alone can judge them. Its not up to us to do that (see the quote above from I Corinthians 4). Its given me no small heartache to observe how some Christian people have hypocritically blasted Derek for such a brutally honest piece of art as What Matters More from Stockholm Syndrome. I believe that any Christian should always take the plank-tospeck tack when exhorting someone away from what they perceive as sin (Matthew 7:2-4). On the other hand, righteous indignation and its expression against believers missing the point and their unwillingness to deal with their own sin is understandable, if not warranted. No, using coarse language is not honoring to God (see Luthers explanation of the 2nd Commandment), but when no other language exists to express how messed up (for lack of a stronger term) something is, an expletive is used grammatically to communicate exactly what it was designed to express: strong emotion. A Christian with a filthy mouth becomes a hypocrite, but a Christian whose frustration leads him to express strong emotion toward unrepentant sin is, at the very least, better understood. Luther once said, Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly. Sin will be our companion until death becomes the mechanism to hack it away from us permanently. In the meantime, unrepentant sin should be dealt with boldly, believing that God will use it to exhort sinners to the truth, and always being aware of our need for humility before God. Certainly, nobody should be allowed to play Jesus, violently putting an end to the economic blasphemy that was happening in the courts of His Fathers house (John 2:14-17), but therein lies at least a beginning point to understand His radically righteous fury over sins hypocrisy, and our participation in that indignation. As a Lutheran, I love the words of 1 John 1:8-9 that serves as the preface for the Confession and Absolution liturgy at the very beginning of each divine service in our tradition: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We get our sinful garbage out of the places where weve been hiding it or ignoring it, and we ask God to get rid of it. Ultimately, its simply a confession of hypocrisy. We call ourselves Christians. We dont live like we believe Jesus words, or follow the pattern for godly living that He gave us. Its hypocrisy. And the worst deception is that it doesnt matter or doesnt apply to us. When we confess our sins, God gives us a way forward. When we refuse to acknowledge and confess them, they hold us back from

Gods purpose. Living in repentance is the only way. And it applies to Christians in every field of service to God, even (if not especially) the arts! We all need the truth spoken into our lives, calling us to repentance, assuring us of Gods love for us, and calling us to live in the faith we confess. Christians who create art need to be asking ourselves some tough questions: Is what Im creating authentic? Is it helpful? Has God really gifted me to do the delicate job of crafting new psalms for His peoples public adoration, or are my gifts better used in their day-to-day meditation on Gods Word? Do I have an attitude toward the music business of entitlement or entrepreneurship? Does my art deliver the heavy truth of our inability to please God, and/or does it proclaim the death of Christ as a cleansing of sin? (Is there balance between Law and Gospel?) At whom is this music aimed? Whos the target audience, and will it hit them where they are? Will it heal hearts wounded by this world? Will it help people really take stock of their lives in relation to God and His truth? Will it call the complacent to see their errors and repent? Will it call the penitent, heavy heart to believe that Gods forgiveness and love is real? Ultimately, will the art I produce express the real, hard-hitting truth of the human experience in relation to the sinless Son of God and His call to follow Him, no matter what? I really like Dereks philosophy about his music business. Hes got a small tribe. We buy whatever he puts out because we know that hell always challenge us and shake things up. Hes not out to have his name in lights or live in a mansion. He simply wants to be faithful to the calling and gifting that Gods given him: to be an agitator for people who seek God. And he wants to scratch a living out of the deal so he can focus on his art. I think this model fits very well with Jesus pattern for discipling His followers, and the template He left for His church. God hasnt called leaders in the church to disciple thousands. He wants His people to be faithful in discipling a few. As a pastor, do I have a niche in my church, a few people to whom I can speak openly and honestly about what God has called us to? Yes. Am I going to have that close relationship with everybody? No. Can I be comfortable with that? Im starting to be. Can others? I certainly hope so. Should pastors and other leaders have the same ultra-niche mentality toward the church, as opposed to the American, everything-bigger-is-better, megachurch mentality? I believe its more faithful to Gods design for discipleship, life-on-life ministry and service. Everybodys got to have their little tribe. So many characteristics of our current culture point to a re-emergence of the early church. It is a group of Jesus disciples, grown organically, not in the big marketplace of the institutional church. The church is the place where God has placed His gifts of His Word and the Sacraments, but the institution should serve the vision, not the other way around. The same should be true with music. It should be grown organically, entrepreneurially, with emphasis on solid music and songwriting, not sales and marketing. Its a brave new world, its a dizzy daydream, but its a beautiful vision of integrity and spiritual grit for those who have eyes to see and hearts to courageously follow God. The parallels between the music marketplace and the institutional church are staggering, and some of Jesus followers have had the courage in the past to challenge the status quo, creating disruptive moments where were forced to break out of our comfortable paradigms and faithfully to confront our own hypocrisy. The leaders of the Reformation in the 16th century serve as solid secondary models to us after the apostles and leaders of the early church. Luther in particular used biting sarcasm and dialectic with

such ease against his opponents that some question if he was constantly stepping over the line, using his gift proudly and without the gentleness and respect God demands (I Peter 3:14-16). But sometimes the forcefulness of the enemys schemes needs to be answered in kind, with courage, wit, and stinging rebuke. I pray that God continues to send agitators into the artistic community of Christian sub-culture and stir things up, demanding that we wrestle with the questions wed rather not address. As Christians, can we create authentic art that doesnt fall into the JPM trap; that may, in fact, not even mention Jesus at all? Can that art be effective at starting the conversation that leads the listener not only to generic truth, but to the One who is the Truth? What is the quality of our art? Does our art simply entertain or does it edify? Does it amuse or affirm? Can we push aside the proud impulse to be well known and simply be faithful? Does our art contribute to the poverty of Gods people, the famine of Gods Word (Amos 8:11), or does it place wholesome, life-giving sustenance into their very mouths, food that doesnt need have the stamp of the corporate machine on it? Are we willing to call people to true discipleship, the kind that Jesus meant when He said, Follow me? Discipleship, following the Savior, is not a soft pitch. Far from it! It requires complete and total sacrifice, examining ones heart constantly, and being willing to make big, drastic changes to be faithful. Can our art express the enormity of that, or does it denigrate following Jesus to the shelves of self-help gurus, like the Prayer of Jabez phenomenon did? This is not something we can afford to get wrong! And yet, somehow, in the midst of our history of failures and false steps, in the midst of our faithlessness, God is faithful. The Gospel isnt going anywhere. It will survive for all time, in spite of the church, in the same way that children survive their childhoods in spite of their parents best efforts. Sacred art comes from the heart of the artist, as a fragrant offering, ascending to the nose of God and meeting His approval. Not the market, Christian or otherwise. Not other Christians. God alone. If we artists steal from God by not offering up the best work that is possible for us to create with our gifts and talents, will God accept our stolen gift? (check out Ecclesiasticus 34:21-22 in the Apocrypha) If any offering doesnt please God, then as a Christian who makes art, whats the point? To please man? Gain the whole world and lose your soul? Who is the intended recipient of the art/music? If its God, the art is sacred, and He alone will judge its worth. If the aim is to please people, its secular; can God bless it? What is the role of the hearer? Of music? Of a sermon? Who can be a judge of a mans heart and his offering? God alone! In the end, I want God to look at my art with joy in His heart. I want Him to see the body of work my life produces as a faithful reflection of His image in me. I pray that you desire the same. SDG. Rev. Aaron M. Schellhas January 18, 2013