The Music of the Gospel
Keith Johnson, director and organizer of the seminary classes, wrote an article about the music of the gospel. He said to imagine a young man sitting in a chair listening to his ipod play music through headphones. He taps his foot, snaps his fingers, and juts his chin with the beat of the music. Keith then had us imagine a deaf guy walking into the room, and out of curiosity, he picks up an ipod, puts on the headphones and begins performing the same actions. The deaf man taps his foot, snaps his fingers, and eventually even learns to jut his chin in synchronization. Keith asked us, “If you are an outside observer and walk into the room, what do you see? Two people apparently doing the same thing, listening to the same thing. But is there a difference? Absolutely.” Keith continued, “The first guy hears the music and his actions are a natural response…being deaf, the second guy is merely imitating. He is not listening to anything. There is an important spiritual parallel here…” Many times in the Christian life our words, actions and service is a behavior learned from watching and imitating other Christians, and not a natural response to the love and grace of God at work in our hearts. Keith explained that the purpose of the classes is not just to learn more scripture, to complete a certificate or degree, or to have more knowledge of how to do ministry. Instead it is their desire that the classes will spur us on to hear “the music of the gospel” so that our ministry continues to be a natural overflow of God’s grace in our lives.
