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John Newton

 

Marylynn Rouse fills in the background for some of John Newton’s wonderful hymns…

The Music Exchange from Richard Simpkin: I couldn’t move a fly!

(view original article here)

The letters column struck back!

Thank you to Dave Kimber for the response to my previous article, which shows that the Word versus Spirit issue is very much alive and kicking.

I need to answer a couple of points, in which I may have been misunderstood. First, I’m not sure from my article that anyone could deduce that I’m a cessationist. I’m very much convinced that the gifts of the Spirit are as useful for the building up of the church as they have ever been. As I said, I prayed earnestly for the gift of tongues. The prayer may have been answered in the negative, but I don’t know yet! All I know is that if it would useful for the building-up of the church, then the Lord will equip me with whatever gift is needed to glorify him.

Romans cures doubt

Second, is a defence of my use of Romans 8.16. Dave suggested that this is a non-Word reference to the work of the Spirit. However, I chose this verse because Romans 8.16 is very much the Word of God. In Romans 8.16 the Spirit is stating clearly in the Word of God that I am born of God. It was Romans 8.16 that I needed at my time of doubt. The Spirit may have spoken to me outside the Word of God to convince me, but as David Cook (Australian preacher) said to me just last week, ‘anything you hear outside the Word of God is a hunch’. Just a hunch. Only the Word of God tells me that I am a child of God because Christ has made me righteous by his blood. Praise the Lord that his Spirit, through the Word, gives us real assurance and therefore real life.

Can’t sing? Not a Christian?

I’m keen to follow this up because, as a church musician, I’ve seen countless young people who have their assurance of sonship based solely on a musician’s definition of the Holy Spirit – one chap doubted he was a Christian because he couldn’t sing, so didn’t experience the presence of God in the same way all his friends seemed to. Even more seriously, if our definition of the work of the Spirit is derived by any other means than God’s Word, we are in serious danger of creating God in our own image.

Of course, we are all limited and fallen in our understanding, especially me (as Dave Kimber correctly implies) but as I said in the last article, I’m going to hold on to the truth that Jesus’s words are spirit and life, because I don’t trust the other ‘spirits’ who try and convince me otherwise. A hunch is worse than second best. However, holding to the sufficiency of the Word of God as the way the Spirit works gives freedom rather than constraint.

Stott stood firm

The Word/Spirit dichotomy was well illustrated in a book by Jean-Jacques Suurmond, called Word and Spirit at Play, where the Word and Spirit play a game together – the Word brings order, and the Spirit brings life and vigour. The same idea was encouraged in the UK when a chap called Michael Harper (1931-2010) believed he had received the baptism of the Spirit in 1962 (a second baptism, as he was already converted). Noticing dull and lifeless worship in evangelical churches, he was keen to encourage these churches to become more open to the Spirit to bring things to life. Fortunately, John Stott and others stood firm and kept their confidence in the Word of God as the means by which the Spirit works, although others followed Harper’s lead. Harper himself ended up as an Archpriest in the Antiochan Greek Orthodox Church.

Spirit at work

Church musicians, when the Word of God is spoken or sung, the Spirit is powerfully at work, whether there is any immediate outward manifestation or not. I’m deeply thankful for this assurance, because sometimes I feel the music I produce wouldn’t move a fly sitting on the piano strings, let alone a tired and discouraged congregation member. His Word will not return to him empty, so keep teaching and singing the Word of God, because ‘the words I speak to you are spirit and life’, (John 6.63, ESV).

Richard Simpkin is Director of Music at St. Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate, London.

This article was first published in the April 2014 issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, visit us online or subscribe to EN for monthly updates.

The Music Exchange from Richard Simpkin: Word and Spirit

I work with brothers and sisters involved in church music from all over the world.

One of the very good things about this is that you are forced to think through theological issues carefully, so that they don’t become merely personal theological idiosyncrasies. Taking one particular stand on an area of theology can feel like a petty thing to do, as it can alienate you from the majority. It can also mean that it becomes the main issue talked about instead of the gospel itself.

Last one standing

However, some issues are worth taking a stand on even if we’re the last one standing, for the sake of the gospel, and the protection of the Lord’s vulnerable sheep.

The issue on the table is the relationship between the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. The Bible is clear that the Word of God and the Holy Spirit work in perfect tandem in their work of bringing life to unbelievers and in helping believers remain in Christ. The way the Spirit works is through the Word of God. This means that, if a church is committed to teaching and obeying the Word of God, then the Spirit is powerfully at work. It’s not as if there are two different types of church – ‘Word’ churches and ‘Spirit’ churches. Nor is it that the preacher ‘does the Word’ and the musicians ‘do the Spirit’. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit; the Spirit is the very breath/Word of God. One doesn’t work apart from the other. The late John Chapman said that you could-n’t get a cigarette paper between the two, but he was only stating in his own words what the Bible has already said so clearly.

Shifted by criticism?

As evangelicals we believe this, but we are always in danger of shifting, maybe because of lack of theological clarity, or maybe because people visit our Word-centred meetings and tell us that the Spirit isn’t there. We believe in the sufficiency of the Word of God, but criticism of our ‘Spirit-less’ meetings makes us think that maybe we need to change things to be more Spirit-aware.

The criticism of our meetings is fair – our meetings can often be dull and lifeless, but we need to be clear that, though this may be to do with badly-led singing or hardness of heart, it has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit being absent or powerless. If we teach the Bible clearly, then we should have a deep awareness of the work of the Holy Spirit as he is wielding his sword, ‘for the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow’ (Hebrews 4.12, ESV).

As soon as we try to drive the thinnest of wedges between the Word and the Spirit (e.g. by thinking that music can direct a movement of the Holy Spirit), then we start to define our knowledge of God through our own ‘spiritual’ experiences and not by the Spirit’s own revelation of God in his Word. This doesn’t just cause a lack of assurance in believers, it also opens up the door to things like the Toronto blessing and all the stuff about music ushering in the presence of the Spirit. It also means that those who think they are ‘Spirit’ Christians start trying to convert ‘Word’ Christians into ‘Spirit’ Christians (as if this were possible) rather than trying to share the Word of God with those who really are in the dark spiritually.

Hold on to the truth

Speaking from personal experience, my own assurance was rocked when I was at university because I had a friend who claimed she would make me into a charismatic within a year. I was keen to hold on to the friendship, so I prayed and prayed for the gift of tongues (well, my friend’s definition of the gift of tongues anyway) to no avail. I wondered whether I was a Christian at all, but the Lord restored the assurance of my adoption when (through the Word of God) the Spirit testified with my spirit that I was a child of God (Romans 8.16).

Church musicians and pastors, please hold on to the truth that when you preach and sing the Word of God, then the Spirit is mightily at work, even if your meetings are accused of lacking the Spirit.

It isn’t the job of a pastor or a church musician to bring the Spirit to life. Keep teaching and singing the Word of God, because ‘the words I speak to you are spirit and life’ (John 6.63, ESV).

 

Richard Simpkin is Director of Music at St. Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate, London.

This article was first published in the February 2014 issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, subscribe to EN or contact us for more information.
http://www.e-n.org.uk 0845 225 0057

The Music Exchange from Richard Simpkin: Wincing in worship!

Being a sensitive muso (and most of us musos are ever so sensitive), I have a long memory.

Even though I’m always saying that it’s important to focus on the words of songs, I often find myself thinking about the comments people have made about a particular song rather than about the song itself.

So this article is me getting some of them on the table. If you’re a church musician you’ll have many more to add, but please indulge me just this once for an article that serves less to help musicians in their godliness, but more to remind me of how much I need to grow in humility. It would be worth saying that the views below are not all from those who attend the same church as me either.

New tunes
I’m going to start with a comment about a hymn that I’d written a new tune to. The tune had just received its first outing, and I was looking forward to some positive feedback: ‘I was just wondering if there might be another tune for that new song we sang this morning. The lyrics are absolutely fantastic but wasn’t so sure about the music.’

About a different song: ‘Simpo, did you write that new tune?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Not one of your best.’

Sounds familiar?
Here are tune similarities that some have picked up.

‘No eye has seen and no ear has heard’ — the tune for the chorus is the same as the Toys R Us theme tune. ‘Give thanks with a grateful heart’ — a dead ringer for ‘Go West’ by the Pet Shop Boys, (though I think ‘Give thanks’ pre-dates ‘Go West’, which was originally written for the Village People in 1979).

In addition to these, there are often comments about which tune to sing to which hymn. There are many who have problems with singing the Londonderry Air (‘Danny Boy’) and Austria (to ‘Glorious things of you are spoken’), though some are quite vocal about their preference of Austria over Abbot’s Leigh.

Misheard lyrics

Here are some comments about lyric misunderstandings.

‘I am the Lord of the Dance, said he’ — ‘What’s a dance settee?’ ‘My Jesus, my Saviour’ — ‘I can’t stop thinking about icing cakes in the chorus (‘Icing for joy at the work of your hands’)’.

Here are a couple of comments about some of the stylistic decisions I’ve made.

Minor intro into ‘In Christ Alone’ — ‘I hate it’. ‘Be thou my vision’ in 4 time rather than 3 — ‘I hate it’ (different person this time!).

Theology?
There have been various theological points made, all of which could be disputed as they are comments about man-written songs rather than the Word of God itself.

‘Blessing and honour’ — The choreography’s the wrong way round, ‘Your kingdom shall reign over all the earth’ should refer to the one like a son of man who is presented to the Ancient of Days, not the Ancient of Days himself.

‘Oh, to see the dawn’ — comes over as being Catholic (because of seemingly wanting to see Jesus’s wounds). ‘You’re the Lion of Judah’ — Jesus didn’t descend into hell.

And here are a couple of very subjective comments about particular songs.

‘Everlasting God’ (‘Yesterday, today and forever’) — ‘Is there any way we could make sure that song disappears and never comes back?’ ‘Indescribable’ — ‘Unsingable, unscannable’.

There we go. Who’d be a church musician? As I said, I’ve only gone for a small selection, and I’m very blessed that I don’t get much negative feedback from my own church family at all. Please pray that we church musicians would remain focused on our responsibility to lead people in the praise of God, and that we would praise him ourselves while leading others. This is the best way we can be of service to God and to his people, rather than becoming slaves to our long memories.

 

Richard Simpkin is Director of Music at St. Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate, London.

This article was first published in the July 2013 issue of Evangelicals Now. For more news, artciles or reviews, subscribe to EN or contact us for more information.
http://www.e-n.org.uk 0845 225 0057